Catching up

It's been a while! Hello there! :)

First off, Jericho is 6 months old. Actually, she's now 6 months and 2 weeks. But, here's the update on her... She's as cute as ever. Smiles a LOT. Loves her Johnny Jumper. Loves her brothers and sisters. Grabs at anything within reach. Drools constantly. Weighs 15lb 14.9oz as of last week. (To put that in perspective, both Victory and Shiloh were around 16.5lb at 1 yr. LOL) She's got the chubbiest little thighs. Thankfully, at this age, it's ubber cute. :)

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My parents are ALMOST in their new home. I think last night was the last one sleeping in the old place. The new place is beautiful. I've admitted to a bit of house envy. Mostly, I think I just love the wide open spaces in the new place. It's not huge, but it's open and homey. I need to get some pictures next time we're up there... We were able to surprise them with a visit this last weekend to help them move. It was great to be able to finally give something back... they are always helping us out, and it was wonderful to return the favor.

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School planning is in full swing. I've decided to go with Abeka this year. I'm trilled to be able to work with Steph and draw on her knowledge to make this a successful year of schooling. I know she'll be quick to kick me in the butt if I start to slack or fall behind. :) Alex will be working on 6th grade, Chase on 4th, and Victory is going to start in K5. Alex and Chase will both be doing 4th grade Science & Health, and History & Geography. Keeping them in the same grade for those subjects will be easier to keep up with. The decision to use the 4th grade curriculum was primarily a financial one... Steph already had 4th grade stuff I could use.

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We're still working out the kinks in a plan to change the layout of our house. It's getting closer, and we're looking forward to the change! The "move" will put all our sleeping space in the lower level, and the living spaces upstairs. It will also mean I'll have a Dining Room that will only be used for eating, and school!!! I can feel the space evolving already. ;) Ahhh, I can breathe!!

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Levi had tubes put in his ears a few weeks ago. He seems to be hearing better, but I'm sure we'll still be doing a speech evaluation once the district starts back to school. He's just so hard to understand! It's improved since getting the tubes, so I think a lot of it is just retraining the word formation... I can't believe he will be 4 in less than a week!!

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Before I go... Did I mention that Jericho loves the Johnny Jumper?
(Oops... grabbed the wrong video the first time... sorry!)

In case you thought I exaggerated...

Earlier today I was talking to Steph on the phone and we started getting feedback (I could do a whole 'nother post on how much I dislike Charter...) so she was going to call me back unless I just needed to go. I said, "I don't NEED to go, but I should. I'll go clean my bathroom. [pause] Tell me to go clean my bathroom!" So, like the good friend she is *big grin* she told me to go clean my bathroom. When I was done I sent her a picture just to prove I'd done it. And so, I'll share that picture with you. The tub (which you can't see) is to the left of the toilet. I'm actually standing about 3 feet outside the bathroom to take the picture. Yes, this one tiny bathroom is what we have for the 8 of us.


And just because it's funny, and relates to the whole bathroom theme... We were getting ready to go to Steph's on Wednesday and I found this in the bathroom. (Sorry it's blurry, but you get the point! LOL) I'm betting on Shiloh, but haven't done any forensics to prove it. :D Yum! LOL

Wordless Wednesday

Post fireworks exhaustion.

This post brought to you by the letter F

Family. Fourth of July. Fishing. Fireworks. Fuchsia. Fun!

We Finished Tim's week of vacation with a trip Pillager. Four of the kids headed up early... Tim's mom brought them home with her on Wednesday afternoon, and my parents took them overnight. Tim and I, Shiloh, and Jericho headed up around lunch time on Thursday. We had a Full weekend, but it was Fun!

Friday Tim and I had planned on doing some Fishing. His mom was going to have a Fish Fry for Tim's birthday supper (his birthday was on Wednesday) but no one has had much of any luck Fishing this year. So, we decided to catch our own :) We ate lunch with my parents and then they watched all the kids while Tim and I headed out on the river. By the time we got back to his parents it started to rain. We decided to go anyway... it quit after about 10 minutes. Each of us caught 3 different species. Tim caught 2 bass, a snake northern, and a rock bass. I caught a bass, a snake northern, and a bluegill. We kept the 3 bass and headed back in, picked up the kids and ate a wonderful meal of Southwest Beef Bake for supper.


While Tim was cleaning the Fish, Shiloh came outside to watch. She was pretty Fascinated with the head and guts still moving after the Fish was Filleted... LOL I got a great video of her laughing and looking in the bucket. It was so Fun to watch her!


Saturday Tim took Victory and Levi down to the river to Fish from his brothers dock. I headed down a bit later and only intended to stay for a few minutes. About 3 hours later I headed back up... we caught several sunnies, and Tim's mom caught a bass. Enough for a HUGE Fish Fry!! Yum! Unfortunately, I caught something else... a nasty sun burn. That's were the Fuchsia comes in... it's the color of my skin. The pictures don't do it justice! (Levi had tubes put in his ears on Monday and I took the little temp strip from his forehead an put it on my shoulder... the temp there was still about 102. Ouch!)


Saturday night we sat in Den and Lynnie's yard and watched while Bob Jr. and Bobby III set off Fireworks. It was a great show! It didn't end until about 11pm. By that point, Shi had fallen asleep in Grandma's arms in the house, Levi had retired to the house, and Victory had come to sit on my lap and ask when we were going to go to bed. :) We went in and I fed the baby while Tim got everything else together so we could head home. Victory fell asleep with her head on the table. I wish I had a picture, but I had to use my mil's camera since ours was already packed in the truck.

All in all, it was a great weekend spent with Family. The kids really enjoyed seeing their cousins. I had some quality time in the boat Fishing with my hubby, and even though I got baked on Saturday it was all good. ;) I'm so grateful to live in a country where I am Free to celebrate. Which reminds me... pray for our country and our leaders. I fear our Freedoms are being threatened on all sides...

Fun and Games

Tim has the week off from work. On Tuesday the kids wanted to play a game so he sat down with Victory and Levi for a couple rounds of Hi Ho Cherry-O. Levi won... both games! After the second game he did a little happy dance. I always forget that I can't turn my camera when shooting video! But, I think it's cute... even if he is sideways. ;)