Back to Basics

Hi family and friends!

In an effort to wean myself off social media *ahem*Facebook* and reclaim some sanity, but still keep y'all updated on what's happening over here, I'll periodically try to keep this blog updated. You can subscribe to it for updates (in the menu on the left when you click those 3 lines next to the blog title) and you should receive an email when I've posted. I think. Someone let me know if that doesn't happen!

I'm not even going to try to detail everything that has happened in the last 4 years, because that would be crazy. In brief, we moved to a much larger house on just over 5 acres, are making attempts at that hobby homestead thing, and we're about to add baby #5 to our crew here in about a month!

35.5ish weeks

So I'm just jumping in with some random pictures and info from all over the place and hopefully y'all enjoy them!

Currently the kids are Annie (7!), Hugh (nearly 6), Benjamin (nearly 4), William (surprise! he'll be 2 in October!), and baby #5 arriving sometime in the first couple weeks of August.  If you don't know what it is I'll try to refrain from mentioning it so at least someone is surprised 😉

We're trying to jump into the new school year of homeschooling (which we've always done/ planned to do,  at least for the younger grades) this week to get a routine under our belt before baby arrives and we inevitably take a very relaxed schedule,  or even a few weeks completely off.  So today we took impromptu "beginning of the year" photos to compare with next summer.

These children have zero personality.  Zilch.

Annie (7 in March) shot up in height and abilities this year! My primary goal for 1st grade was to get her reading pretty fluently,  and it was something of a battle until this spring.  I knew something just needed to *click * and she'd take off,  as she's always loved books and Michael was an early reader,  I an avid one.  I can't even pinpoint when or how it happened, she suddenly started sneaking off to read with early readers in...March? And before I knew it she was blazing through all the ones we own and asking for more. I handed her some first chapter books and she'd sit and read through them in a couple days.  Now she's averaging one vintage Bobbsey Twins book a day if I let her sit and read that long!

I have to poke around and find her reading hiding spots!

It's been so great,  you can really tell what developing the imagination through reading can do for an emerging reader! She's overall a much less whiny kid because if she's bored,  hey,  there's always a book to pick up.  She can also read to the boys which is (a) massively helpful! and (b) my sneaky way of listening in to be sure she's reading and pronouncing things properly,  and not purely guessing.

This was a good one - I almost missed her!

Aside from academics, the past two years have sparked her interest in Irish Dance and horses. 

Not sure what her feet are doing, and let me just say that they make those curly wigs for a reason! Easy peasy.

We haven't been able to do dance this spring due to coronavirus, but this summer brought the opportunity to take riding lessons locally with a woman from our parish, and Annie is ready to live at the barn if I let her.

She sits up nice and straight and acts like she's been doing this for years ;)

Teaching little siblings "helper" skills

Christmas 2019 - a brief stint of us being not totally wiped out by various sicknesses this winter.

Such a winner smile - and his dimples stayed! :D

Hugh (6 in September) is our sensitive but goofball big brother. It's been interesting to see his "class clown" personality develop, and it's given me some insights into adults I know who are similar, and realizing that the goofball/joker is often a cover for sensitivity, shyness, uncertainty, etc. I have to remember during his moments of perhaps overreacting to X situation, that this is a trait that will *hopefully* serve him well one day. He's very perceptive of the emotions of others, so we have to be more careful in how we respond with him, as he picks up on a LOT. I noticed it even as a toddler - I remember he'd sit and pick flowers in our yard (Ferdinand the bull, anyone?), would bring Annie a tissue when she was crying, etc. He still picks me flowers and is the first to say "Are you Ok, Mama?" when I stub my toes or whatever. He's showing some skill with front yard baseball, but isn't quite emotionally ready for team sports yet - maybe next year.

He decided he'd like to take lessons too on Annie's third week. I was so proud of him - he'd thought he'd get to ride a boy horse, but they just had a female one his size saddled and ready, and rather than balk and refuse he got on anyway (his first time ever on a horse) and did the whole 45 min lesson! Then complained that he wanted it to be longer! Major steps for a kid who doesn't jump into new things easily.

Blueberry picking! Still gotta have summer despite corona.

He has very diligently held this kitty daily since we told him that doing so would help keep it more tame and not run away into the woods. As a result, this cat is about the most docile outdoor cat I've ever seen, hardly ever putting its claws out when held and just falls asleep in their arms.

Oh man, the day this outfit got passed along from a cousin? Day. made.

Caps for Sale, anyone?

Ben (4 in August) makes up for what he lacks in size with an abundance of personality. He's Michael's mini-me in looks, and temperament wise he marches to the beat of his own drummer. He's more choleric than the other kids, and isn't going to do something unless HE decides to. do. it. He's a pistol in a peanut, but he keeps us on our toes with "Oh man, we thought we had our tricks for parenting our little kids down but then.... we got Ben." Ha! Curveball! But for all his spitfire he's very loving and gravitates toward babies, so here's hoping he's Mr. Helpful when this one arrives! He's also honing his wrestling skills so he can tackle Hugh despite his inferior size. He's built like a soccer player, quick and wiry - we'll see what activities pique his interest in a few years!

Rarely seen without his Robin Hood hat, courtesy of Gram's sewing skills. I think he's always a little shocked when he wears it in public and people say "Hey, how ya doin', Robin Hood?"  like, Waaaiiiittttt, how do you know I'm Rob?

Cruisin' in their jammies.

The boys are on an Avengers kick (thanks to the Legos), so here he's being "little Iron Man" riding inside of "big Iron Man", the robot, and he gets to control Daddy's movements. :D

The longest Ben will sit still, most of the time - to eat.

Silly faces at the OBX last spring - alas we couldn't go this year thanks to corona. :'(

William (2 in October) is in the "mold" of Hugh but has a definite personality of his own. He's also a sensitive soul, and while he's not saying many actual words yet he understands basically everything I say to him. He's definitely our latest talker and walker to date, but I think that can come with the territory of having lots of people bigger than you doing your talking and anticipating your needs! Ben didn't talk much for a while, then suddenly at 2.5 he started speaking in full 4+ word sentences, and his vocabulary is on par with the bigger kids now. As with walking, I think one day Will will just decide to talk, and we'll all be shocked.

I'm supposed to do this, right?

His horsey and blankie - he sucks on the tag of the former and it...doesn't smell great.

He LOVES being outside and esp loves to pet and chase our outdoor cats.

He wants to be up and doing whatever the big kids are doing.

He's a snuggle-bug

So that's a quick run-down on where all the kiddos are at these days, and if I keep trying to add more I'll just never hit "publish". Maybe I'll do some themed posts in future about our various homesteading ventures (chickens and goats and woodland homesteading, oh my!) but for now this will have to do!