Why we love this school...

Bailey left his backpack at home today and I had to go back to drop it off.  When I walked into the classroom, I saw over 25 2nd and 3rd graders working SILENTLY... Yes, you could have heard a pin drop and it was about ten minutes before lunchtime.  They were all mostly sitting on the floor, a few at tables all working.  It was a beautiful sight:)   

Hanging out

Just a random picture I took of the girls in their bouncy seats.   

Addison looks like Winnie the Pooh to me here.

Miss Bug Eyes Kate, herself.  I call her Yertle the Turtle.

Sick Bed

Apparently in Ben's family they had something called the sick bed when everyone was home sick.  This is taken from our dreadful week where our house was falling apart and we were sick.  Earlier I too was in the sick bed.  Kate and Addison are in a nearby fold n go (not sick thankfully).  This is how we spent two days!

Dear Kate and Addison

I wanted to write you this note.  Right now you are both sleeping and I am trying to get things cleared out and unpacked in our new house, so this will be short.  Although I love you both deeply, your nursing days are sadly over.  I will still pump some breastmilk for you, but it will be mixed with formula.  Now some say you will not be as smart as kids who are breastfed longer.  If this ends up being the case, then the two of you can sit down with your father and I and come up with adequate compensation.  Maybe a new car or a nice vacation?  The fact of the matter is, it was taking a long time to feed you.  Since you do have a sister and two brothers, it is only fair to them that I allow myself to be able to take care of them too.  Besides, look how much fun you are having when they give you the bottle!  Really, consider it sibling bonding time.  Although your other siblings were breastfed a lot longer, do not think that we love them more than you.  If your brains have not developed at all, ask them to read this letter to you.

Love, Mom

Curtis Earl Photography

Addison

Kate on left, Addison on right

Kate on top, giving Addison loves

Addison in purple, Kate in pink.  

Kate

My brother, who is Curtis Earl Photography, came over last night to take pictures of the girls.  These are the top picks of the night!  Kate was easy at first, then got mad at the end.  Addison would not even hear of having her picture taken until Kate was upset, then she was mellow.  These turned out so cute and we didn't even have to leave our house:)

The Week In Review

So I really should be working on the house right now, but I need to document this week!  Oh my goodness:)  Now, a disclaimer....I am not complaining (well, not REALLY).  I am merely documenting this for our posterity when we print this blog!

We moved into our new house last Saturday.  It was hard work, but it got done.  Ben even stayed up all night Friday night in the rain putting the kids beds together at the new house!  He's crazy, AND he scared me when I said goodbye to him at 2 a.m. Saturday morning with the thought in my head he would be back in about an hour.  When I woke up at 4a.m. to feed the twins and he wasn't home, I waited until 4:30 to call.  When his phone rang two feet away from me on our dresser, I thought maybe he was home.  Well, I looked around and no Ben.  I waited until about 5 a.m. before searching for the extra key to our van and preparing to car seat the girls so that I could go look for him.  I go out to the garage and there he is, pumping out our food storage water tanks!  Well, at least he was safe, even if he is still nuts and I was without some sleep.

Saturday we got moved in.  We were brought dinner, thank goodness! Ben finished pretty late and looked like he was going to drop dead any minute, but it got finished.  He did have a good time in the attic helping the cable guy (well, it was not a good time, but our cable got put in the way we wanted).  The installer did the cable wrong, but Ben was able to fix it. Good thing installation was free or we'd be sending THEM a bill! We had help from many people in all aspects, so it could have been much worse!  Sunday, we are both very sore but make it to Church with all the kids, all of us in Church clothes...not too shabby.  The week doesn't start off too bad, well.... 

unless you count every time I would wash a load of clothes, the garage would end up flooded.  

So, Ben worked on that, crawled under the house and was able to re-attach the pipes.  Now, during this time I ended up very sick.  Tonsillitis...  Fever of 101, achy, sore, coughing, feeling like I got ran over by a bus.  Thursday morning I know I am not able to get the kids to school.  Well, I didn't have to because they ended up both being sick too!  I was never so excited for my kids to be sick. I guess because it gave me a good reason for keeping them home from school.  

So here we are, Bailey Emma and I are all sick... but we have a VERY healthy Nathan terrorizing the house and then smiling:)  At once point there was blue permanent marker on our wood floor (which Ben did get out).  The twins remained healthy, just a little stuffy in the nose.  We mostly spent Thursday and Friday all in my bed watching cartoons all day.  

So Friday afternoon I am feeling better.  I decide to take a shower.  Well, I had noticed funny sounds from the toilets and showers all day, and when I went in to see ours there was "dirt" all in it.  I thought maybe leftover from Ben being under the house.  I washed it down, then got in the shower.  Well, the shower wasn't draining anymore so I rushed through and got out.  It took a while but the water eventually went down.  Come to find out from Ben that wasn't dirt (my contacts weren't in).  There was a sewer back up.  Ben to the rescue again borrowed my dad's snake and tried to unclog the pipes.  He couldn't get the right angle so he called our landlord.  She said there was a problem with sanitation before and they had to dig up the whole front yard to fix it.  Ben called their 24 hour line (by this time it was 9 p.m.) and they came out to fix it in a few hours.  So, our showers are sewage free thank goodness and we are also getting a new dishwasher  today from our very embarrassed landlord (Oh, did I not mention that the dishwasher likes to leave soap all over the bottom rack of dishes?!)  

I know this story might have a few holes as I am trying to hurry.  ATT should be here soon to fix our phone line (which has not worked since we moved in!)  and I need to get things going.  Quite the week, yes.  We made it to the other side.  The kids are fever free today and my husband will continuously have the title of MacGyver .  He's been up in the attic, under the house and who knows where else to get us going!  

Is anyone else tired after reading this?   

9 Years!

I woke up this morning to find this cute little note on my kaboodle (yes, I do own one!)  Ben had written an excerpt from "our song"-- "To Make You Feel My Love" by Garth Brooks. It is our anniversary today.  I thought how cute to leave me a little note...

Then, I went to turn on the computer before waking up the kids.  Another portion of the song.

Then, on to get Nathan's milk out of the fridge and yet another one!

On the oven nearby was a box of doughnuts...

Then, in Addison's car seat was a card.

It was truly a nice surprise.  Ben is not one to usually do something "cutsey" like this, so it was an even bigger surprise.  The doughnuts entice the kids to get out of bed and get ready for school quickly, and I don't have to cook breakfast!  Everyone is in a better mood and we do not have to rush out the door for school.  It was a great morning, despite me having another round of a cold and sore throat.  And here I thought "number 9" is an uneventful year:)