It just gets away from me…

I feel that way about a lot lately: The days, the weeks, the month, the entire season of SUMMER! It’s been insane! Matt and I are in crunch time. The county-fair-craziness is literally 2.5 weeks away, we’re hoping to finish up the majority of inside projects so that we can be back in our home for my birthday {July 21}.

Matt and I have been putting in late nights working on the floor and painting, while spending the days with life as usual; meaning he’s working his crazy-long days, and I’m entertaining 4 kids and running the shuttle to swimming lessons. I’m not quite sure where the time has gone, but it’s gone all the same.

This weekend is Operation GET IT DONE so that we can put the house back together. There will still be a ton of things that need to get done: Molding, doors, painting, trim work, CLEANING {OH MY LORD THE CLEANING!}, tiling and a whole lot more, Oh, and the ENTIRE OUTSIDE! EEeek! I try not to think about it too much, because I start having cold sweats.

Not to mention there are still kids that need to be fed and watered! And Avelyn, Bless her Heart, decided yesterday was a good day to get hurt at the park. I figured it wasn’t much, took her home and let my mother in law assess the damage, and it was decided she needed x-rays on her foot.

While it’s not broken, she can’t walk on it, which means carrying her around and keeping her siblings AWAY! Next week she goes to the orthopedist to determine if there is further damage and whether it should be casted or not. I did just find out though, yesterday morning, that they do make waterproof casts now. She did get a bit of a thrill from the kid-size wheelchair.

I’ve been rather remiss in the blog documentation and pictures department. I’m not entirely sure why, but I do know it’s partially because things are starting to come together {and not in 5 weeks THANK YOU! HGTV!} and I want to do a big reveal. If you’re on Instagram that really is where I share a lot more of the secrets!

Last Sunday night we were at the house until almost 1am, getting all of the ikea cabinets in place, so that my FIL and our contractor could install them all before Tuesday when the countertop people were coming. It was all going great! Countertops would be here the end of next week. Then I decided to change the island. Now we’ll have 3 of our 4 countertop pieces next week, but not the island. I was losing sleep over what I was worried about, and it’s fixed and I think will be so much better, but will be a bit of a delay.

Here’s a bit of a tease of the kitchen. This is the top of my new stove and you can see the color we painted the walls.

I still have to paint the mudroom, the living room, the upstairs bathroom, and ALL OF THE TRIM. Lots of work there. And it all SHOULD be done by the end of the week. All that to say we really would appreciate your prayers in getting things pulled together and with Avelyn’s foot.

Happy Independence Day!

I had to drive a-ways today, to pick up the floor sander for the weekend. As always, I listened to my favorite radio station and they had an Adventures in Odyssey episode on about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which was fantastic.

The one thing that always gets me about so many holidays, especially the 4th of July, is how we’ve lost the magnitude and the importance of what these holidays represent, especially what the people were risking. They were committing treason against the crown of England, risking not only their lives, but the lives of their families. All of it for something they so strongly believed in, that made it all worth it. Not many people have those strong of convictions about ANYTHING anymore.

So of course after getting all teary eyed and thinking about the birth of our nation and what was lost and won in the battles, I stuffed these four in the car and headed to my parents for a BBQ.

Don’t they look thrilled.

That’s a little better I suppose‘

That’s some Daddy! Carrying 3 barefoot kids at once through the fields {this picture is just such a blessing to me, because, honestly, 7 years ago we didn’t know if he’d be able to pickup a 5# bag of flour}.

First time I was on a 4-wheeler in years, easily since before Ave was born.

The boys!

The girls!

Hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July!

A Weekend at the Beach

This past weekend we spent the night at Ocean City, NJ: My MIL had rented a house for the week on the beach. The kids had so much fun, Avelyn didn’t want to come home and was quite upset when we did.  A beach post wouldn’t be completely, nor would any vacation for that matter, without a plethora of pictures.

The kids had varying opinions of the beach. Avelyn loved it, no surprise there. Henry, at first, didn’t even want to touch the sand {no surprise there either}, we did finally get him to be held in the water by the end of the weekend. James didn’t want to get OUT of the water. Elanor tolerated the water, but by the final afternoon she was enjoying splashing in the shallows.We finished the weekend off with an ice cream on the boardwalk, then headed home.

It was a short, but sweet trip. It went far better than I expected.

Bring the Rain

Despite the sunny, warm weather this past weekend it poured: Buckets and buckets full. I woke up on Friday morning, thinking about the ensuing craziness of the weekend. Matt’s brother and his family would be visiting for Easter weekend, which meant that there would a total of 6 kids and 3 dogs, in addition to adults, tearing around the house all weekend.

I checked my email, “Dad is back in AFib”. I called my mom to find out what was going on. The game plan was to actually try the cardio-version {electric paddles to try and shock the heart back in rhythm} in the hospital later in the day. I talked to my mom around 4:30 and it didn’t work, but they were going to keep him overnight for observation and try some different meds.

My mom calls me around 8pm, “You’re sister is on the way to the emergency room with severe abdominal pain: Do you want to go with me?” Fortunately all the kids were in bed, there was tons of family around, and I walked out the door, fully expecting to be home before midnight. Not so.

My mom and I arrived in the ER around 9pm, to find my sister literally writhing in pain on a gurney, my nephew {who is only 4 weeks old} not happy, and his daddy really worried about the both of them. A little while later they send her in for a CATScan to see if she has appendicitis. We hang around the room waiting.

“We found something rather disconcerting in your CATScan.” Let me just say that is NOT something you want to hear…ever, but especially not at 10:3pm in an emergency room. There was air in my sister’s abdomen, which was causing all of her pain; however, they thought that perhaps her small intestine had been punctured and thus why there was air. Emergency surgery immediately.

4 hours later, at 4:10 am the surgeon comes out to talk to us: “We had to remove a foot of her small intestine. There was a stricture that was causing the intestine to swell and become blocked, leaking gas and waste into the body cavity, we also removed her appendix so that there is no question of appendicitis in the future: My assistant and I believe she has Crohn’s Disease.”

What?!

And just like that…the rain poured down: My father is in AFib, that was non-responsive to shock treatment and my sister had a foot of her intestine removed and may have Crohn’s. And I’ve already been on emotional overload between family visiting, kids that are torqued from our new living arrangements, and just a general chaos.

We were ushered into recovery, where my 21 year old sister lay in a bed, moaning in pain, tubes in her nose, her 4 week old baby cuddled sound asleep against my chest, completely unaware of how his world is about to be rocked. And the rain came down.

I went home. Slept for 2 hours, then proceeded with my day per usual; phone attached to my head talking to my mom, my dad, and every one else trying to figure out just what was going on with every one and keeping everyone else in the loop.

At 7:15, just after the triplets were in bed, my dad called asking me to come help him with my nephew {my mom had gone back to see my sister—the hospital is 45 minutes away}. Out the door I went again. But it was different.

The ride home later that night was different. Instead of fighting the torrents of rain and trying to figure out which way was up and which way was shore…I floated. I rested in the cool evenings setting sun. And there was peace.

In the rain I still couldn’t find the spoken words for prayers or praise, but there was Him and there was hope. Because in the black of that Friday and Saturday there was the hope of Sunday: While Satan may think he’s won the battle, he’s already lost the war. While we awaited the Resurrection morning, the Resurrection had already happened, 2000 years ago, and in that we were free.

~*~*~*~*~*~

As of today, my sister is doing better. She was finally able to sleep on Sunday afternoon, once they got her pain under control. My mom and I have been tag teaming childcare for my nephew. The hardest part for him is that he has been exclusively breastfed, and within hours he went from that, to bottles and formula, because of the medication and dyes they had to use for my sister. He’s a trooper though.

We received confirmation this afternoon that it is NOT Crohn’s Disease, but that they have no idea what is wrong and are sending it out for further testing.

My sister is really struggling with being away from her son, and stuck in the hospital; and her fiance is struggling with having to be at work, my sister being so sick, and not being around his son {while his mother is also very ill in a hospital 3 hours away}.

My dad is not well. The new meds they put him on making him feel absolutely terrible, and he’s also frustrated that the AFib episodes keep happening.

My mom is trying to keep them all together, and has to go back to work on Thursday.

I know your prayers have been flowing, those of you who follow me on Instagram knew last week what was happening; we so appreciate them and we still need so many more.

Raising Generations Today

This past weekend, amidst the chaos that seems to be my life, I had an oasis. A few hours in which I was able to just be, to listen, to talk, to love and be loved, by other moms. If you didn’t make it to Raising Generations Today this past weekend, I am so sorry that you missed it and you can be sure I will let you know when tickets for next year go on sale.

What is Raising Generations Today {or RGT}? Or #RGTHope on Twitter and Instagram.

It’s a conference in Upstate NY for Moms, birthed from the dream of a friend of mine, September McCarthy. A dream, that the generations will draw together, supporting and loving each other as we raise our children to love the Lord. It was, in a word, incredible; as I knew it would be. Knowing September’s heart for her children, for motherhood, for moms, and for the Lord, I knew that this weekend would be nothing less than Christ’s love for moms.

Now I will share my weekend with you.

My mom was supposed to be going with me, but that didn’t happen. The day before we were to leave, my dad was still in A-Fib after 4 days, and my mom decided that she needed to be home with him. A few hours after that decision was made, my sister {who was due this past weekend} went into labor.

Between me and some other moms, we were able to convince my friend and neighbor to go in my mother’s place.

I left home on Friday morning, stopping at my parents’ to give my little sister hugs and love before heading out.

In the afternoon, soon after I arrived in Corning, NY {about a 2 hour drive for me}, I was wrapped in a bear hug by the always exuberant and smiling face of a dear friend, her sweet little peanut smooshed between us. It was the first time in days that I felt at peace and loved.

We were able to chat and catch up for a few hours before the rest of my group arrived. It was time much needed, for me, to vent, to talk, to just release so much of what had been holed up in my heart these past few weeks {poor Trina and her friend Claire}, and to be filled with much wisdom that I needed to hear.

On Friday afternoon I attended a session with Shaun Groves about Depression. I think, to some degree, we all struggle with the hands we are dealt with in life, and trying to find God in them. His session spoke to my heart and what I was floundering with. There was so much truth and raw honesty in his words. Words I needed to hear and be reminded of. If you ever have the chance to hear Shaun speak, take it…you will not be disappointed.

My group, M, S, and R, arrived just in time for dinner {which was delicious!}. After dinner September spoke, sharing her Hope for the weekend, her vision, and her heart for all us moms. It was incredible. And followed by worship led by Shaun. Afterward R and I had Early Bird tickets which meant we were part of a small group of Moms who would get to spend some time with September and Lisa-Jo Baker {one of my favorite moms and bloggers}.

We got some special swag at the party, including cupcakes, a t-shirt, and a book. And we got a ton more swag just for attending the conference! And I gifted myself several books written by the speakers as well {Books are my love-language!}

Saturday morning we had breakfast {which was delicious}, followed by worship in the ballroom. One of the things I LOVED at RGT was the way that worship was worked through the entire weekend, not just at the end of the day.

I attended my first session of the day which was Hope for the Weary Mom with Brooke McGlothlin and Stacey Thacker: The pleasure of which I had to introduce them. They broke Hope into an acronym, which I loved:

H-Honestly admit where you are.
O-Openly invite Him into your mess.
P-Pray continuously: Your sons and daughters need someone to fight for the, that person is YOU. Your prayers will never be wasted on your child.
E-Encourage your heart with God’s word. His word exists to give us hope {Romans 15}

It was a great session!

Lunch was delicious {salad and baked potato bar}! September’s children Sang the Word for us during lunch, which was such a pleasure and treat! After lunch Lisa-Jo Baker spoke. This woman defies description. I have met her several times, between Allume and RGT, and every time I have chatted with her she is just so warm and loving and real. This was the first time that I really got to listen to her as a speaker.

She spoke to the hearts of moms, offering Hope and a God who loves us, and is in every thing that is happening in our lives. Who calls us to rest in Him, to fight for our children, and to love them.

In the afternoon I attended Faith Bogdan’s session about the early years, our identities as moms and how we’re not defined by what we accomplish. It was a really great session too, I don’t have any notes on it though, since I was late and had to stand in the doorway.

Afterward, we had a few more minutes to walk around and check out the vendors, before our final farewell. It was a great weekend, spent with some wonderful ladies.

During the course of the weekend there was exciting things happening elsewhere: On Friday afternoon a new mom was birthed, just as the conference was beginning. My new nephew, Oliver Rhys, was welcomed into the world, by his mom and dad, and my mom at 2:26pm.

As for next year’s conference….you can bet that I’ll be sharing here when tickets go on sale. And you can bet that they’re going to be sold out really fast…so please, if you have any inclination of going, get your ticket early. If you end up not being able to go I’m sure there will be moms looking for tickets last minute. If you know of a mom who would be blessed by such a weekend, but wouldn’t be able to go due to finances, get them a ticket.

Friends, you can guarantee that I’m going to be harassing you to order your tickets…ASAP.

And yes, I finally got to snuggle my nephew on Sunday afternoon.

Provisions and Promises

I started this post last week, before the crazy started again this past weekend: I’ll leave it as it was.
This past weekend is another post, for another day.

Things have settled down a bit from last week. At the very least we’ve gathered our wits about us a bit more and don’t feel like we’re swimming in quicksand.  One of the things I’ve been asking myself is just why is it so hard to remember God’s promises when the proverbial hits the fan?! While the answer is easy {Satan}, that doesn’t make it any easier to remember it, at least not for me.

Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave your or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
Deuteronomy 31:7-8

Be strong. Be courageous. That’s easy enough to do when I’ve got my head on straight and time to think. Even off the cuff, I’m pretty able to keep it together. I’m one of those people who cases a place when I get there…where are the exits? what are the possible situations? I do the same thing in the car or in traffic. I am the epitome of crisis management’s “be prepared”. But even them, I’m relying on me, what I am capable of, and forgetting the only one I should rely on.

It’s hard to remember that God’s got this, regardless of what “this” is. It’s even harder when you feel like God’s let you down, and that’s how I felt that Friday. While the fire was devastating, and many things were lost, and it was another punch to the gut about the building permit and car, my real struggle was with God.

I had been fervently in prayer for the past 12 hours, for our building permit, for our family and for others. Now, before you think that I have this convoluted idea that just because I had prayed means that I think God’s in my court, I don’t. Just as often as the answers may be what I want, sometimes they’re just not. What left me feeling the most deflated was knowing that despite my faithfulness, prayers weren’t answered, and things unforeseen happened {the house fire and the deer}.

My faithfulness, like God goes about rewarding those who have dotted the Is and crossed the Ts on the Christian-To-Do-List. Ha! HE is the one that is faithful, not me. I have no idea what it even means to be faithful: There is only one who is faithful. Regardless of how faithful anyone else on this planet is, there is no one who is as Faithful as God.

He is faithful to the end: His promises and goodness will last forever. Long after I’ve been forgotten. And that’s what I’ve been clinging to: His goodness, His faithfulness, His promise.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

And that’s what I need to remember. This isn’t about me, it isn’t about what I think God should have done. It’s about what God has already done, in and for me: Claiming me as His own, and sending His son to die in my place. It’s about what God will do, what He has promised to me over and over again.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-12

How hard it is to remember that no matter what, God has already provided for our every need and that he will continue to do so, whether it’s our salvation or our sustenance. That He promises to be our refuge and our protection, to never, ever forsake us.

Luck o’ the Irish

I’ve begun this post about 5 times and never get any closer to actually having something that I click publish on. It’s just been like that lately.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and other than the Soda Bread in the oven, you wouldn’t know it it in this house.  There isn't a stitch of green in sight on any of us. Yea, I know….shame on us lol I’m Irish, I certainly don’t need to prove that to any of the 5 other people who saw me today.

Things have been…well not hard, but I guess hard is how you would describe it. It certainly hasn’t been sunshine and rainbows.

For the past week, we’ve been inundated with negative. It’s as though Satan is working overtime on getting us to stumble!

Last Friday was hell.

Matt came home before heading out for the day, to tell me that his grandparents’ house had burned down, to the ground, nothing left standing. Fortunately no one was living there and no one was hurt. But the house was still filled with countless family heirlooms and pieces of furniture that no one had taken out yet.

Then Matt met with the local code enforcer to go over our building plans and submit our application; only to be told that he’s just not too sure that he feels comfortable with granting us a building permit without having certified, official and professional blue prints {to the tune of an additional $8000}.

He keeps having Matt do more and more to prove the safeness of the structure, then when he’s asked to make a decision, he says he has to think about it, again. This has been going on for 3 weeks now. We’re supposed to break ground in a little less than a month, and we still don’t have a permit. Just a bit frustrating.

In the evening I had a Mary & Martha Gathering…which was a good break for me, because I was just blah and wanted to sit somewhere and cry, but couldn’t get the tears out. The Gathering was fun, some high school friends. On the way home I was just thinking on all the good and praising God for his provisions, when a deer ran into the drivers’ side of my van. YES!

At that point, when I got home, Matt woke up {it was around 10:30pm} and the two of us just discussed all that had happened {because we hadn’t talked all day}, and by the end of it we were both laughing, because it was all just utterly and absolutely ridiculous that it was such a bad day.

The weekend was good though. We had a lot of down time to recover from Friday’s emotional exhaustion. I worked on the girls’ Easter dresses. Matt got some more stuff done with the house plans {and possibly found someone to draw up plans}. Life soldiers on.

And now…we’re onto St. Patrick’s Dinner #3. Yum! And here’s a little taste of Ireland for you…my favorite place…Kylemore Abbey.

Ideas for Indoor Fun!

Last week, I shared with you how I was starting to lose it, what with being sequestered indoors for weeks on end with 4 kids 4 and under. This past weekend, Matt and I decided to grab the bull, uhh to do list, by the horns. We’ve been wanting to make a tent/fort/teepee thing for months now, and it was just time.

Activity One – Teepee

We asked Ave if she’d rather have a “house” or a teepee and the teepee won out. We found this awesome tutorial, and Matt headed to the hardware store: For around $60 he got everything we needed. The instructions were pretty good, but the blogger wasn’t quite sure how the previous person managed to get all of the pieces out of a 9x12 tarp, so being the person I am, I spent about a half hour figuring out how to cut all the pieces out of one drop cloth.

The way I worked it out is this way…

I had all the panels cut out in about 20 minutes. The first one took the most work, with figuring out the measurements and such. We used a chalk line to mark it. Then used that piece as the template to cut out the other 4 panels. I did hem the bottom edges that were un-hemmed; I didn’t realize that drop cloths frayed the way they did.

The rest of the instructions on the blog were easy to follow. I did end up serging all of my inside seams, because of how much the fabric frayed and because it strengthened the seams too. We didn’t have ribbon on hand to finish the inside ties, but we did have some good rope that Matt pulled out {one of the perks of having a nautically-minded husband…you always have rope}.

I thought I had this great project for Matt to do, and it ended up making more work for me than him. Matt had all the PVC pieces together in about 15 minutes: I spent about 2 hours {with the ties being stitched in} sewing together the whole actual teepee {not quite what I had planned on doing during nap time}. The whole thing came together awesome!

We do think that there needs to be some adjustments on the teepee frame, because the legs on the front get spread too far back and then the teepee falls over. Have to figure that out still.

Activity Two – Doorway Bean Bag Toss

Before Christmas everyone was asking me for gift ideas for the kids, but we really didn’t WANT anything more. One thing we did find was a 3-in-1 monkey toss for a doorway, which looked pretty awesome. Then they were out of stock, so my mother in law, crafty lady that she is, made something similar.

It was pretty simple construction on this, and wouldn’t even need to be made as fancy. Depending on how much you spent on fabric, will determine just how much the project costs. If you could find $1/yd fabric, the whole thing could be made for less than $20, plus the rod for the doorway {Target has tension shower rods for $7.00}.

My mother in law asked how high and wide we wanted it to be {it did end up being a bit longer than we needed}. She took 2 pieces of fabric that were the same size {she was going for fish and picked these fabrics out}. On the front piece she cut out holes and then finished the holes with a bias tape {if we were to make this again, I think the holes would be smaller—they’re about the size of a small dinner plate, which means the kids fit through them}.

Then she stitched the two pieces of fabric together on the short ends. With it right side out, she stitched another row about 3” down from the top, to create a sleeve for the shower curtain rod. In the bottom you can put a a shallow tote or an old cookie sheet to spread it out and way down the bottom. I ended up going back through and stitching the sides together, because the kids kept climbing between the 2 layers of fabric and pulling the whole thing down on their heads.

My mother in law is a seamstress, so the kids got actual fish-shaped bean bags, complete with painted gills, spots, and faces. You could just as easily stitch together squares or circles. Our fish weigh around 4ounces, which is a good weight, and are filled with dried beans {but you could use rice to fill them, too}. This project could be as simple or as detailed as you want to be. Honestly, your kids aren’t going to mind too much either way.

That’s what we’ve been up to lately. Believe me, the TV is still on way more than I would like, but most of the time they’re not even paying attention to it…they’re too busy moving furniture and making mountains out of cushions…yes I am one of those moms. I figure furniture can, and will be, replaced eventually, but these days inside…they can’t.

Just a Touch of Cabin Crazy

Most nights, I lay awake in bed; assessing the day’s craziness. I often thinking about what I could do differently the next day, what I would do better, and all around thinking of all those “good intentions” that I have for my children {most of which do not come to fruition}.

This winter has been a bit of a challenge. It’s really our first winter with mobile triplets, plus a 4 year old. It’s the first winter in which our house has felt too small {the kids pretty much spend their time in our living room}. It’s the first winter when we really could have gone outside, but didn’t because it’s been consistently too cold {YAY! For a REAL winter!}

Yesterday I kind of lost it, I may have gone off the deep end, I may just have thrown all sensibility out the window. I searched pinterest for some fun inside activities, and realized that most of them required forethought and planning. Then I figured what the hell and threw my arms in the air. I pulled out the blocks; I pulled out the play dough; I pulled out every single one of those things that make way too much of a mess.

And, I let this happen….

And this…..

And yes, even this…..{I will forewarn you to  turn off the sound, so you don’t have to hear my blaring voice}.

And you know what...it drove me a bit batty: Wait, I’m not going to lie, it actually drove me more than a bit. All of those things on the table and floor, the play dough that was ground into the cracks in the wood floor and the rug, all of it everywhere, made me want to pull my hair out. Because I know there is no point in cleaning it with little ones still up and about, and that as soon as they wake up from their naps, it’s going to happen all over again; which means mommy and daddy get to clean it up on their time.

You see this is one of those things of mommy-hood that I really don’t like: The mess. You know what I did like though…watching their creativity, watching the fun they had being in an off-limits room, watching how they actually behaved pretty well, despite my sewing machine and china cabinet being mere inches away.

But it is also one of the things that we need to do, allow the mess and the creativity. Allow them the opportunity to discover and learn who they are. Even if it does mean an hour spent with a steak knife cleaning play dough off the floor {and I truly say that with a smile on my face}.

How to Pursue Your Husband

You can find this post over on my new blog: Be sure to head over and check it out at JessicaMWhite.com

What’s Going on in The White House

I keep waiting for this ride to slow down so that I can get off for a bit and recuperate, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. So much has been going on around here in the past month or so! And none of it is little stuff, it all seems to be life changing, HUGE things.

On Thanksgiving my sister announced that she was pregnant and due the end of March {with a little boy}! We’re all excited for the new addition this year, which will be one of MANY in 2014. We have no less than 6 or 7 babies being born this year, and we’re only into August due dates!

Just after Matt’s birthday we lost his grandmother; which was a hard, HARD blow for all of us. His grandfather had passed away in January 2013 {1 year ago today} and 11 months later his grandma was gone. I am so glad that I get to spend some time with her {sans kids} before she passed away. 

Matt and I started dating almost 14 years ago, and within a few months of that both my Oma and my Opa passed away. It was really hard on all of my family when that happened {my Oma was only 69 and my Opa was 77}; I missed my Oma and Opa so very, very much.

But God gave me another set of grandparents during that time, Matt's, Grammy and Poppo. Not a replacement or a substitute, but someone to love me and give me the hugs and love that only grandmas {and grandpas} can. They both have been an incredible blessing in my life and we owe so much to them.

When my Oma died it was really rather sudden, and there were things that I wanted to say to her that I just didn’t. I was 17, I didn’t know the importance of saying those things, or that it wasn’t “cheesy” to do that. With Grammy I don’t have that regret; I was able to thank her for being my Grammy too, because she was...in every way that mattered.

Onto happier things…

We celebrated Christmas and had it very low key. It’s not easy when your family all lives within 10 minutes of each other and you feel like you have to see everyone. We decided to spend Christmas Eve with my family and go to church with my parents; which was wondering, since we were able to do Santa Claus with the kids. Henry DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL!

Then we spent Christmas Day morning home and just enjoying some quiet time together. In the afternoon we headed up to Matt’s parents and did Christmas with them. It was actually one of the nicest Christmases we’ve had, because we weren’t running. I’m thinking this is going to become our tradition.

Not soon after Christmas Matt’s sister’s water broke. {I don’t even remember if I ever even mentioned that she was pregnant?!} On the 27th our niece, R, was born, 5.5 weeks early. My sister in law had the same due date as I did with the triplets {February 2nd}, so we now have LOTS of Christmas birthdays! She’s home from the NICU now and doing well. We were able to meet her last week.

New Years’ was incredibly eventful. Matt was in bed at 7:15pm, it was a regular work week and day for him. I went to bed before 11pm. I just did not see the point in staying up, alone, to ring in the new year. We don’t even have TV that I could have watched the ball drop.

Ave has been very busy with numerous science experiments {and awesome Christmas gift that she received. She’s been very interested lately in learning how things work. I can see the big girl lurking just under the surface sometimes of the little girl in front of me. Things that I think won’t have much affect on her, seem to devastate her {a broken toy} and things that I think area going to be a big deal, aren’t. It’s crazy. She and I went to her first movie a few weeks ago…she thought that was pretty neat, but decided that she’d rather stay home and watch movies.

The week after New Years that triplets had an Early Intervention Assessment. We’ve noticed that they’ve been, what I consider, very delayed in speech. Avelyn was talking up a understandable storm by 20 months old, and these guys have less than 20 words each.

The EIA was great. The people who did the assessment, we’re really helpful and told us that the kids are doing great, being either AT LEVEL or ABOVE for their actual ages. The big thing is the speech: Both boys qualified for help. James is having a hearing test in the next couple of weeks, and then we’ll setup an appointment to come up with a plan for them.

It feels good to know that we’re doing something. And we’re also working more with sign language, which we’ve always done, but stopped because we felt that was perhaps hindering their speaking. It was good that we did stop because we then noticed their speech. The EI people did tell us that there is no harm in continuing to sign, so we’re back at that and learning new words.

I don’t know if I ever mentioned it, but I’m working on the route with my dad twice a month {have been since October}, making deliveries and driving the truck. It’s great to get out of the house a bit, and bring in a little extra money, and my MIL watches the kids on those days. But sometimes it is hard losing that day at home. I’m usually up and gone before 6am, and depending on the weather and how many deliveries get home anywhere from 4pm to 9pm {most of the time it’s closer to 9pm}.

Progress is moving forward with our home renovations. Matt and I have been deep in discussions the past few weekends tweaking our construction plans and deciding where we can cut a few expenses and what things we’re not at all willing to give up. The more and more we work on these plans the more excited I’m getting about all of it. I keep having to remind myself that there is a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY long road ahead.

I think that’s the majority of what’s been going on. We’ve certainly managed to keep our plates full lately!

How are you doing? What’s new in your life?

Ps. sorry for all the crappy iPod pictures. Very often that’s what I have at hand to take a picture.

Cookies & Memories

You can find this post on my new blog JessicaMWhite.com: Click HERE.

a Silent Night

You can find this post on my new blog JessicaMWhite.com: Click HERE.

W.I.P. Wednesday

I managed to get quite a few things started and finished since my last post. The kids’ Christmas outfits are sitting patiently by waiting until Christmas Eve, the jammies were finished just in the “Nick” of time for St. Nicholas Day, and I got the binding stitched on the boys’ quilts…I’m now just hand stitching it down.

I love how the boys’ quilts came out. There are a couple of spots of quilting, that I would’ve done differently {more symmetrically}, but they’re beautiful still. Once they’re finished, I stitch the label on them, and pack them away until next year…when, hopefully, the kids will all move into their big kid rooms!

And here are the kids in their jammies! We had to pull out one pair of bottoms from last year for Ellie, her nightie kept hiking up on her and she was getting cold at night. I had to bribe them with chocolate to get this picture.

Linking up with Lee at FreshlyPieced.com

a Simple Christmas

You can find this post at my new blog JessicaMWhite.com: Click HERE!

W.I.P. Wednesday

I picked up the boys’ quilts last week!!! I have yet to pull them out and look at them, but I will have to this evening after the kids go to bed. I’ve got a couple of things in the works. Next week is St. Nicholas Day, which means I’m in the process of making PJs for the kids {I guess it’s going to be a tradition}. I had bought a TON of fabric last year, with the intention of making ALL of us PJs, but that didn’t happen, so I had plenty to use. I did decide to do something different, the girls are getting nighties, the boys are getting pants.

Growing up my Oma made my mom and I beautiful matching nighties with buttons on the front and puffy gathered sleeves, hems down to our toes, they were beautiful. I cannot find a pattern like that. They were probably from the same pattern that my Oma used when my mom was a little girl. Someday….

In the mean time I wanted something simple and easy, and since I couldn’t find a pattern that I loved I started searching for alternative methods. I found one using a t-shirt that was too short, and adding the skirt to the bottom. Bingo! That’s what I did. I had a few trials and error, I haven’t sewn kids clothing since LAST Christmas.

I took the shirts that I used as the tops for last year’s PJs, trimmed the bottom and stitched on a skirt. Ellie’s is still super long, but I’m not sure if I want to hem it further or not. These will probably fit them for a few years, since the top is so stretch, which was somewhat problematic with sewing. I’m not at all familiar with sewing with knits, but didn’t feel like investing too much time and energy into research.

I still have the boys’ pants to do, they’ll have the same shirts from last year too {there are perks to intentionally buying clothes that are too big…they last longer}. I think I’m going to use a current pair of pants as a template, because last year it was a nightmare trying to find an easy template that was free.

So, what’s on my list of things to accomplish in the sewing department:

• Start and finish the boys’ PJ bottoms
• Alter the kids’ Christmas outfits from LAST year {yay for them coming out too big…I just need to move buttons and let out hems}.
• Cut bias binding for the boys’ sailboat quilts and stitch on
• Cut bias binding for MY quilt and stitch that on
• Start working on a baby quilt for my SIL…{I can’t start until this fabric is released though}
• Figure out what I want to do for the girls’ quilts…I’m thinking a sampler, but I want to put their names on them the way I did the boys {but not with the call signs}

And add to this list the rest of the Christmas stuff I’d like to do. Christmas is going to be low-key this year, I’m not even sure how much we’re going to do with gifts. We’ll have our tree, doing that Sunday, and stockings and Christmas lights and cookies, but I don’t think I’m putting up my village {James will break it} and I’m not doing a ton of baking. I do need to get our Christmas cards finished and mailed, but that won’t take long. I really do love this time of year.

What’s on your to-do list for the next few weeks?

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced today, for WIP Wednesday.

Homeschool Preschool

This post does contain affiliate links. Please view my disclosure policy Here.

We decided this summer that we would take the first few tentative steps into homeschooling. We knew that we wouldn’t have to report anything to our local school district until Ave is 6 years old, which for us will be 1st grade {for the triplets we won’t have to report until they’re almost 7, 2nd grade, since their birthday is after December 1st}. For now, homeschooling is about fun, finding out what works for us, and how we want to function as a homeschooling family.

Over the past few years I’ve collected quite a few things for homeschooling via the internet, most of them free. Now, I don’t know if you could legitimately managed to homeschool for free through high school, as I haven’t researched it, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I’ve managed to get some great e-sources for only a few dollars, from other moms who have put together curriculums, and I have found a plethora of things that were free.

There is one great blog site that I HIGHLY recommend called, 1 + 1 + 1= 1 {that is a link} written by Carisa. I had the privilege to hear her speak last year at Allume, where she discussed being a homeschooling mommy blogger {got all that ?} She has a vast multitude of information on her blog about how to beginning “schooling” with the under 5 group. Also check out the blog Confessions of a Homeschooler: Another great resource of materials!

There were several preschool and kindergarten curriculums as part of the Ultimate Homemaking Ebook Bundle that I had promoted in May. The whole bundle was just under $30, but it had 2 full homeschool curriculums in it, and a ton of other homeschooling materials….definitely something to keep in mind for next year’s sale.

What we went with…

My sister was homeschooled and one of the curriculums my parents used with her in Kindergarten was Sing, Spell, Read, and Write…which had this really catchy song for the phonetic pronunciations of the alphabet. Put it this way, it’s been 16 years since my sister was in Kindergarten and the song is still in my head. It must be good. However it was backordered. Thus why I didn’t share a homeschool post in September.

We soldiered on.

I pulled together a bunch of things myself: From an alphabet to hang on the wall with bible verses, a selection of books from Sonlight's preschool curriculum {I love their literature selections, and will most likely be using them for English, Writing, and History when we get into the higher grades}, as well as something I found online, ABCMouse.com. They had a free one month trial and we figured we’d give it a shot.

I was impressed, but realized that Ave wasn’t. She was frustrated. She was used to an iPad, that she had to touch the screen to use, not a mouse. I figured after the free trial we definitely wouldn’t be signing up, because she never wanted to play on it, despite how fun it was. Then it “clicked” {pun intended}.

After a few weeks she figured out the mouse, and away she went. She loves the music videos for each letter of the alphabet, she loves the puzzles, she loves the games, she loves that she gets to have a pet hamster and that playing all these “games” gives her tickets to “buy” things for her hamster.

ABCMouse.com ran a promo in September, that you basically got 2 years membership for the price of 14 months, which made the cost a bit more reasonable. At that point we had to move the computer into the kitchen, because she LOVES, LOVES playing her ABCMouse.com.

I figured she was having fun with it, but how much learning was actually going on: Umm more than I realized. Ave went from not knowing ANY of the letters in the alphabet by sight, to knowing almost HALF of them after just a few weeks, including what sounds they make. She’s now able to right her nickname {Ave} as well as about a 1/3 of the alphabet. I was impressed.

One thing I do realize with Ave is that unless she wants to do it, she’s not going to, which is absolutely going to be an issue when she gets older and HAS to do certain things. I just know that I will have to think outside of the box and about how Ave will be interested. She’s not going to be the kid who at 8 years old picks up an encyclopedia {never mind the fact that they don’t exist anymore} and looks up “Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo” because they want to know why the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were named that {yes, that was me…I even proceeded to write a 2 page report on each of those people…I was weird, I know. And yes, I did that for fun.}

For right now we’re doing a mix of her ABCMouse.com program {when she asks…sometimes she doesn’t want to}, reading quality literature and science books {from our own collection and from Sonlight’s Reading List, as well as doing lots of hands on activities. Most people wouldn’t even see the “schooling” that is going on, because it’s not sitting at a desk for an hour and doing paperwork, it’s reading together and playing games, answering her questions {“Mommy, how do you spell ______?”, “Why does ______ happen?”}, and doing our own research about the why and how of things. Which, in my opinion, is how learning should be.

*I’ll be sure to post a follow up on how our homeschool room is setup. This post was just getting too long to include it.

*If you’re thinking of homeschooling, I highly recommend checking out the Home School Legal Defense Association…they have an incredibly amount of information on their website. Also seek out reputable homeschooling groups in your area, fortunately for me, I’m familiar with a lot of them, because my parents homeschooled

Let it snow!

I’ve missed blogging…the whole just sitting down and sharing with you {or over-sharing as the case may sometimes be}. This post will be chock full of all the fun things we’ve been up to!

Yesterday we drove to NJ to visit Ikea {one of my FAVORITE stores!} We’re still planning to go ahead with our big house repair/renovation for next spring and wanted to start looking at cabinetry and all those other things we’re going to need for the new kitchen. I LOVE doing this! I don’t love the prices though…why is everything so expensive?!

We picked out two finishes that we really liked on the cabinetry, and then lucked out with getting doors in those finishes in the As-Is section for $15. At least we’ll have them on hand when we look at other cabinets online or locally. They’re 2 completely different looks, but both lend themselves to a more traditional country/cottage feel.

Then this morning was a big surprise…we got snow last night. And not only did it snow, but at 3:15 this afternoon, there was still snow on the ground! Avelyn was outside promptly this morning to play in the snow, unfortunately it’s not the best packing snow, but she had fun. {You can visit my friend Natasha’s post for 25 things to do on snowy days}.

When I brought the trio downstairs, we were sure to have them look outside…

they didn’t quite know what to make of it. They made even less of it when I took them outside for a few minutes…

they lasted about a half hour before everyone had enough, besides Avelyn, and wanted to come in. Hopefully we get a good snow soon…there’s nothing quite as depressing, for me, as getting ones Christmas tree in mud.

What things are you looking forward to this time of year?