Part 1

 We went on a hike.  :)

 Here's me falling behind because Maddie weighs a ton...
 and she's pushing down on my thighs every time I take a step...
and, even though you can't tell...
this is a pretty good incline
(and I'm out of shape.)

 Last picture of us before we became owners of a new van.  Brandon left us in the car while he ran into see the van he'd been looking at.  It was pretty much closing time and we didn't expect him to be gone long... Emma's face tells you we were wrong.

 "I'm ready.  Let's go."

 Another day, another place to play in the mountains.

 Jubi wanted to touch the water but it was hard to get near it without getting IN it so Brandon is helping her.

 Madeleine is just thrilled to be here, can't you tell?

 Jubilee climbing on the big rock

 Panaroma.  This is a cool thing to do on the camera...but if anyone moves it can get kind of interesting.

Baby Food.
She loves to eat.
Anything.
Everything.
 

Madeleine has marked Jubilee as her best friend already.  I'll be looking at pictures on my computer while holding her and she'll get most excited when she sees pictures of Jubilee.

 One of Brandon's friends from work gave him this large collapsing and expanding plastic ball.  Maddie isn't sure she likes being in the middle of it.

 Occasionally (rarely) two binkies are better than one (or your fingers)

 Mom, take a picture of my cat. (notice the cat-tail for the cat's tail)

 My kids LOVE these little bell peppers.  Raw.  Like as a snack.  They eat them all the time like this.

 also carrots

 These are currently Jubilee's favorite toys.  She LOVES putting them in the car.  She'll say to each one, "Get in your carseat."  It's cute!

 School
Isaiah is becoming such a good reader.  :)  I'm so proud of him!

Jubi doing school....or something.

 They are working together since Noah can't really read at all yet

 Madeleine is doing school with us today.

 She's thrilled can you tell?
Especially now that Jubilee brought her a rolling pin to play with.

 Yay.  Jury duty.  Yay.  Not.  I had to pump milk in a big, private room the first day about every 3 hours.  My set up.

 Actually, Jury duty was kind of fun.
At first, I was worried because Maddie had never taken a bottle yet.
Because babysitting 6 kids could be intimidating and I didn't know how I'd find someone to do it.
because I had to drive "the beast" pretty much the first time ever (Brandon did give me a few lessons on it)
because I'd have to pump and I was afraid I'd lose my milk if they didn't let me pump often enough

because I was afraid Maddie might not go back to nursing if she got too used to a bottle (babies do that.)
because the trial might take a long time

because I'm supposed to be homeschooling

because I didn't have enough gas for more than 2 days of Jury Duty (It's like an hour drive one way)

because I'd have to PARK and then UNPARK (is that even a word?) the beast in a tiny parking lot and possibly drive around if it was full...they have like 3 places to park and I just knew I'd have to go all over with that huge van looking for a spot.

BUT

the days before jury duty, our next verse in homeschool was:
"I prayed to the Lord and he answered me.  He delivered me from all my fears." (Ps 34:4)



AND IT WAS SO TRUE.

I asked a few people if they could watch the kids for me and got several "Yes." and one "Yes! We are actually hoping you DO get picked because your kids are such a joy!  We just love them!"  (This was from the family who watched them when Maddie was born and it was super encouraging.  So one of my fears was laid to rest right away.)

I drove the beast just fine.  Like it wasn't even bigger than anything.  Dropped the kids off.  Found a parking space...in a place where no other cars would be behind me to back over... I'd even say me and the beast became friends.  *wink*

I walked in for Jury Duty selection PRAYING they wouldn't pick me.

But they did.

And right after that, we were given a lunch break.  I texted both Brandon and my babysitter and she told me Maddie was taking a bottle just fine (go figure.  Another fear to be delivered from.)

The babysitters weren't able to watch the kids on the second day but Brandon was and that meant I had his car to drive and that meant I had more gas and I didn't have to park the beast...which was good because on the second day the parking lot was WAY fuller and I had to pick a tighter spot.

They let me pump as much as I wanted.  I didn't lose my milk.  Maddie is still nursing.

it was so true.

 The only bad thing about jury duty.....

It was fun until I got picked as an alternate.
Right at the end when the jury goes to deliberate, they randomly select an alternate.
The alternate has to sit out of the deliberations, but they can't leave until the trial is over just in case they are needed to fill in.

That meant I had to sit in this hallway.  I could no longer go ANYWHERE in this building.  That also meant the only place I could pump was in a tiny, cold bathroom stall... and I had no money for food.  They brought the other jurors food but not me.  Because I was allowed to go to the shop across the street and buy food.  But I had no money so I sat in this hallway for 5 hours while the jury deliberated.  It was no longer fun.  And I was freezing.

 More of the hall.
See the security guard?  Everyone who came through beeped and he'd have to stop them and wave the wand over them to see what metal they had.  It was nearly always the shoes.
The thing that cracked me up was how many different innocent looking shoes would get flagged and MY shoes had a bottle opener built into the bottom of each one (stupid flip flops....thinking I'm having beer parties all the time so they designed them for that...never, ever, ever used the dumb thing...but they are comfy and I like them so I wear them...) but MY shoes never beeped the thing.  Weird.

rest of the hall

soooooooo interesting, right?

Anyway, jury duty without the deliberation is like reading a book without the middle.  I know how the trial went.  I know all the evidence and I know that they found him guilty...but I have no clue WHY they went that way.  5 hours missing.  

Jubilee is feeding a baby

 "Pick me up"

 Playdoh

 Helping Daddy

 "I don't like grass."

 "Really."

 "This has been enough of this experience."

 "Can we go now?"

 "This stuff is horrible."

 "Mommy!  Don't leave me here!!!!!"

 "At least there's no more of that icky grass stuff."

 Playing hide and seek

"Mom just HAD to show Dad my reaction to grass."

Occasionally, when the stool runs off and I just don't want to drag a chair over...."Emma, can you hop up here and get a pitcher down from the top shelf?"

(yes, I did actually need 3 of them...notice the 2 by her feet that I could have easily reached.)

 Me:  "What's so interesting over there, Jubilee?"

 Our neighbor's dog is blind.  Like totally blind.  How have I lived here for 2 years and not known this?  The kids told me and Jubi was talking to him through the fence.  I looked over and, why yes, his eyes are completely clouded and the way he walks tells me's he's blind as a bat.  Now I fully understand why he barks at us so much.  He probably can't smell either.  He has no clue if we're in the yard or if we're the same ones who have lived her forever or what.  Hahahaha  Poor old thing.

 donuts

we got donuts and they gave us hats

because, as Brandon says, it's like a fish bowl full of kids.  

with such clear windows, everyone can see exactly how many kids are in this car.

 In case you are wondering, we are actually not driving in this picture.  That's why Emma's not in her seat the right way.  Just so you know.  She doesn't do that normally.  

I let them take a few pictures while we were stopped at the gas station.  Abby took this one of Madeleine for me.

Emma took this one of the boys 

and these of Jubilee 

Abby took this one of Emma and Jubi

I took this one of Abby and Maddie... 

cute face

Jubilee was reading to the dolls and Madeleine (see above picture)

according to her, this is "Jubi oobi in the bath tub."

her car full of people again

the doll walking on Maddie's head

Pulled this dress out of the 2 year old box and she loved it.  Now I need to iron it.

Made some shirts for the boys

Found Emma and Maddie like this one day while I was cooking.

Making Noah's birthday cake 

 Noah's cake.
I asked him a million times if he wanted the castle painted on there or whatever, but he wanted it like "a blue sky with marshmallows and dragons" so I guess that's what he wanted.

Cuddling up in bed

She fell asleep beside me and I had to get up. 

Jubi took off her own shirt and her baby's shirt and proceeded to give the doll a (dry) bath.

Books of the Bible

What she did while we were doing school one day

Jubilee's cake.
I discovered you can make these cute little figures.  Since I had already made the icing from scratch, I had extra, but you could do it with any left over icing you have from the other kind too.  You simply add powdered sugar (regular works too but it's not as smooth of a dough) and flour until it's playdoh consistency then you color it, shape it and go.  It's edible (tastes like pie crust with way more sugar).  :)  Normally, she picks hot pink or red for stuff.  On this day, she picked green and purple as her primary colors...  I added the pink because I knew she normally likes it.  She loves cats and geese and babies right now so they were the inspiration for the decorations.

 

Jubilee was (purposefully) standing on her head until I took a picture.  Then of course she wasn't doing it anymore and wouldn't do it again.  Haha She's a nut! 

She dug Madeleine's clothes out of the basket and put them on so I buttoned them for her just to be silly.  3-6 month sleepers fit pretty well on a 2 year old, don't you think? hahaha

Noah told me I was pretty this day...right after I got out of the shower and didn't brush my hair and it looked like this.  

Mommy's reading buddy when Daddy has to work late. (which is pretty much the only time I ever read anymore because I'm so busy with other things.) 

Books of the Bible
We're learning them and I've made a few coloring sheets and blank pages for them to fill in.

I was taking her down stairs one morning and she was captivated by the baby in the bathroom mirror so I was trying to capture it, but then she was captivated by the baby on the phone.

"Oh!  There's that baby again."

 "I don't think I like her.  She has my mommy."

 She looked so cuddly, I just had to take a picture of her.

 Jubilee "holding" Madeleine.

 Choo choo!  It's the diaper train.

 

I LOVE this tree... :)  I can see it from my chair.

We used to have this bath seat.  It had suction cup feet and stuck to the bottom of the tub.  But this tub has texture and nothing sticks to it.  With Jubilee, I just washed her in the bathroom sink until she was big enough to sit up or I ran an inch or so of water in the tub and laid her on her belly in there.  I have the bathtub Jubilee was giving her baby a bath in (above) but it's soooooooo big that it's cumbersome and hard to reach into if you leave it in the tub because you still have to lean into the tub.  Plus Maddie is terrified of water and lying down is NOT her thing.  Even on the carpet.  She only likes to lie down on her back and not in water.  So I thought I'd see how this went.  It wasn't so bad...doesn't float or slide around...holds her upright...is water proof...but she still hates water.

I'm really not sure what you are supposed to do if your tub has texture on the bottom. 

 

This is the American Girl Emily doll that Emma LOVES.
This is what she asked to be for Halloween.
She has also been asking me to make "any" kind of matching outfit for her and her doll.  Anything.  At all.

So...
I've been putting it off because I didn't have blue fabric with cherries and cherry blossoms...but then I had this GIANT blue turtle neck and a stroke of brilliance...

I cut it down into a dress and drew like 20million cherries all over it.  By hand.  With a mostly dried out red fabric paint marker.

She loved it so much she put it on right after a shower while she was still wet.  Hence the soaking hair on both of these beauties:

With dry hair and her two dolls who look just like her.

(We don't actually own the Emily dress for her big doll either, but Jubi has a shirt that fits the doll and has cherries on it.  I might have to draw a few cherries on some scraps one day and make her a closer one, but this is good enough for now.  :)

She loves the dress soooooo much she pretty much wears it like every single day and I've had to peel her out of it to wash it over night a few times only to find her back in it the very next morning before I even woke up.  Hahaha  I'd say it's a success.

This puzzle at my church teaches kids how to open pretty much every lock in their house.

I'm not so sure I like this idea.

I mean, I'm torn.  On the one hand, it would be good in case of fire or something...but on the other hand, some of those are on there for a very good, child-proof reason in MY house and I'm not sure I want her to know how to operate them.

Did I say how much I love this brilliant red tree?

Brandon opted for pie for his birthday.

I used playdoh cutters for the people.  They aren't very "sharp" so it left the edges more ragged than I had pictured, but it turned out okay.  :)

 and he's happy. :)

(side note...using the tens and ones method for candles the most candles you can have with an age of 2 digits or less is 18.  That means you are: 18, 81, or 99.  So, by that logic, in about 11 years, and from then on, you can expect us to be "nearly burning the house down" almost once a year until the kids stop turning 18.)  hahahaha That's your random thought for the day.

Maddie got to lick the pie spoon.

She loves it and won't give it back.

School.  I realize like half of my pictures are of school.  That's probably because my phone with the camera, the camera, and the school desk all live next to my chair.
(Emma's glued into the Emily dress)

The kids thought it was funny when I told her her school was to learn how to roll over or entertain herself for a while during school.
This is the thrilled face she gave me for that idea.

Piper Emily (the doll) had to do school one day too.  Emma packed up her backpack and sat her at her desk and gave her some papers and school supplies and stuff while I was working with a different kid and she was "on break."  Piper sat quietly and did all her work.

Jubilee did not.  She got into TONS of stuff on this day and here is is crying because I got her out of the laundry room where she was messing with soap.

Bull the Trex had to join school too.  He's watching Emma.  I'm not sure why he's not watching Isaiah.  He's holding Isaiah's blanket though. 

She did not enjoy her school work and failed the whole "entertaining herself" part.

Bull the T-Rex with Isaiah's blanket.  Greeny the Apatosaurus is probably somewhere nearby.

She FINALLY fell asleep on this day and I was able to put her down and finish school without as many interruptions.

We made the 12 disciples.  Abby has 13 because "I'm a disciple of Jesus too" as she says.
They have their names on the back.

Jubilee playing with the example I made for her.

putting them on the strip of packing tape

The boys didn't finish drawing the faces on theirs.

More of what she did while we did school.  This is what a typical day looks like for us.  She moves around to every baby place in the house in the space of our 4-6 hour day and she slowly gets bored with everything and fusses until I move her to the next object. 

She usually does the same thing...gets into stuff...goofs off...eats colors, shoves junk up her nose, gets in trouble, plays with toys, is distracting, wakes up Maddie... Here, she stole the desk from Piper and is sitting in it. Half naked because I stripped the laundry soap covered shirt off of her but didn't take a break long enough to find a new one.  The kids are working on some project not at the desk in this picture, but this is still school time.   Notice the background has become much messier and they toys have migrated around (Bull is gone) because she's (I've) been busy. 

Okay, so I think she's allergic to our current laundry soap.
Like I said, she got into it on this day.
I stripped her and wiped her down with some wipes and later put her in a long dress that was down to her ankles.  At lunch time, she was telling me "Noah hurt me." and indicating both knees.  I didn't see anything wrong with them.  At supper time, she woke up from a nap and was crying and fussing.  At first, I thought it was because she woke up.  But then she told me she needed a bandaid.  I asked where and she said her knees again.  I lifted her long skirt and both legs were puffy and red and looked like a very very bad sunburn.  I bathed her with oatmeal soap and gave her some tylenol and rubbed some hydrocortizone cream on it.  This is about 30 minutes after all of that.  She's eating a marshmallow or something, not crying anymore and the color is going down.  It was WAY WAY WAY worse.  The laundry soap is the only thing I can think of that was something new she'd gotten into.  It was very obviously a contact reaction as it had left marks on her legs and belly but not under the diaper between the marks.  The laundry soap we have is a different kind because they were out of our usual kind so I think it must be the problem.  I'm not 100% sure though and she was better the next day and hasn't broken out since then even though she's worn clothes washed in it.  I'm thinking the reaction was just so bad because she had put it right on her skin and I only wiped it off with a baby wipe not a bath. 

"Mom, can you teach us how to draw toothless?"
(top left (oops!  It's upside down) Isaiah, top middle two are Abby, top right is Noah, bottom left is Emma, bottom right is my example.

Grilling with Daddy.

She LOVES these people.  

She's starting to realize the legs do something to move her, though she has no clue what.  It's always fun to watch them starting to put the pieces together, though.

Jubi changing her babies' diapers. (notice the tiny diaper bag by her foot)

More school.  I decided to cut some cereal boxes into "binders" and glue all their papers into the boxes like a book.  Since I always have tons of these pages and don't know what else to do with them and they just end up all over the house.  We aren't required to keep them here, but if they are going to hang onto them for any length of time, I'd rather it not be in shreds all over the playroom or the bedroom or something.  They are our "brag books" and this way we can show off our progress to anyone who cares to see it...at least until we get tired of this method or something. 

Samantha the American girl was retired years ago.

They re-released her with a few new clothes and stuff.  Her new dress is pink.  Abby is pretty much in love with her and styled her doll after the Samantha in the new dress. 

Jubilee thought I needed a physical representation of myself and Madeleine to remind me what I look like all day.  I especially like the hair.

More school. (oh look!  someone's not wearing the Emily dress)

What school?

Baby food.

like 1 minute later....

all gone and not a drop wasted.  Some babies when they are learning to eat will push the food around with their tongues and end up spitting half of it back out.  Not her.  She swallows it like a champ.  "Gimme more!"

We're working on spacing and lowercase. But I'm impressed with Isaiah's handwriting and reading abilities so far.  He read almost every word on the copy example sheet before he did it.  By himself.  :)

Isaiah's favorite part of homeschool this year has been Beowulf so far.  He re-reads the book all the time.  I pretty much guessed that would be how it went.  If you have forgotten, Beowulf kills an ogre, an ogre's mother, and MOST IMPORTANTLY a dragon.  Isaiah is "all thing's dragon" right now.

reading to Maddie and Jubi during the big girls math or reading or something time during school.