January until now

I made a new post for each month, except this one because I'm not really sure where January, February, and March separate, without looking at the computer tags on each picture to find out the dates.

You can click the links on the side bars and go to each post, or you can click older or newer post at the bottom to see them all.

(All the months are all out of order.)



So, the day after we got back from Texas with our dirty van (it looks like it's been all over the state of TX doesn't it?) we had to scrape a ton of snow and ice off the drive way so we could have a not slippery pathway for unloading the thing.

In case you can't tell, he's not really reaching the pavement here.  That's all ice.  He had to get out some sidewalk salt to help the process.

"Welcome home, guys!"

The rest of my Christmas present from Brandon:
Kirsten's school dress and school furniture/supplies.

Jubilee's first pig tails.  They lasted about 1 minute. 

Draco (Noah's new T-rex) is eating McDonalds chicken nuggets.

Washing dishes.  Emma LOVES the backpack Rachel gave her.

Cowboys and Indians...or maybe not. We have swords, shields, nerf guns, teepees.... ;)  

We read something about pioneer school children and so we were pretending to be pioneer school children one day.  Maddie was napping, but as Kirsten was a pioneer school girl, the girls were insistent that she had to join us.

"Look!  I made it!  I made this!  It's a...um...It's um...a sheep!  I made a sheep!"

Why should I bring over a stool?  Dangling is so much more fun. 

Uh oh!  Someone let Maddie get ahold of a marker.

Me:  Maddie, where are you?
Emma:  She's brushing her teeth with us.
Me:  Maddie doesn't have teeth.
Emma: (carries Maddie out like this.)
*Yes, those pants actually are size big girl...like maybe Abby or Emma.*

Fuzzy head

This was about 1pm

Then suddenly it looked like this:

 like an hour later:

Caught in the act...sneaking on my computer... 

Then there was the day Jubilee stuck a piece of a spaghetti noodle in her ear.
I was doing laundry.  The kids were doing dishes.  I heard her scream and she came running to me.
She was crying and I couldn't understand her but at last she dried up enough I could make out the word "ear".

I looked and could see nothing.  I got a flashlight and looked again but saw nothing.  By this time, she was no longer crying, but she said, "Noah put a spaghetti noodle in my ear."
(which, I truly believe to be a lie because Noah was shirking his work and not anywhere near her.)

I had her lay on the school desk with her ear facing the floor (gravity!) and I tried to see if it would shift down enough for me to see it.  I saw that her ear had begun to bleed.  It was just a single drop and it only traveled to the opening and dried out there.

I called the doctor.  It was after hours and they said I could either take her into the urgent care that's a 20 minute drive in good weather... or I could bring her in in the morning.  It was up to me and didn't sound terribly urgent like "bring her to the ER now."  So, since it was snowing so hard I couldn't see my neighbor's house...

(those pictures from above..I don't think that was the same day, but if it wasn't, it was similar.)

We decided to wait till morning.  I just didn't feel good about driving in a blizzard 20 minutes in good weather, by myself with all the kids.  Brandon was at work.

So I turned on a movie and Jubi fell asleep next to Abby, curled up on her shoulder.  When I checked Jubi a bit later, I could see the noodle had moved out a tiny bit and I could see the end of it.  Since it had done this much on it's own, I had her lay down on the school desk with her ear pointed downward.  I wiggled the top of her ear a little bit and the noodle just came right out.

She looked at the noodle and said, "Now can I eat the noodle?"

Obviously she was in so much pain.

 

I brought her into the doctor today and he looked into her ear, cleaned out some of the dried blood and ear wax, looked again, cleaned some more, used a machine to measure ear drum function...used it again. Checked the other ear. Used it again. Used it again... Cleaned some more. Looked again. Used the machine again... After tons of looking and cleaning and using the eardrum function meter he said, "You're a bit of a mystery."

He said both of her ears are measuring the same which indicates that the eardrum is working, but both of them are functioning below average and both of them have some fluid on the ear drum like she's had a cold lately (but if she did have one, she never had symptoms of it.) But he can't be sure. He thinks she scratched up her ear canal with the noodle and popped the eardrum. But he doesn't know how bad the damage to the eardrum is because there's something blocking his view and it's too close to the eardrum to mess with.

He thinks either A) the thing blocking her ear drum is this white gunk sitting right on the drum and showing a tiny puncture near it or B) the white thing IS a piece of her eardrum and he might actually be looking at the back wall of her middle ear around the drum and the back wall has a scratch from the noodle. He can't be sure. So he's giving her some drops to treat inner ear infections for a few days and in 2 weeks, he's going to look again. Hopefully, the gunk will be just that--gunk--and will have gone away so he can see how the ear is healing and if it was gunk, it should have healed up nicely by then. If it's her eardrum that's torn like that, then hopefully IT will have healed up some by that point and he can decide if it needs anything done to it further.

We go back on March 12.

We went out to eat.  It was asian food.  Everything I gave Maddie, she said, "yum!"  She loved the fried rice, the ginger dressing and salad, the beef and chicken and the shrimp and the vegetables... everything....even the stronger flavors I didn't expect her to like.


Isaiah made me this picture.  He glued little bits of paper on it and then he made a sign that says "No touchin' " because he didn't want me to get glue on me until it had dried.

I especially love how I have a pet dinosaur on this one.

Jubilee gave birth to twins (of course the blog messed up the order so you have to scroll down a few to see the progress.)

Her crazy hair

Noah plaing army men

Brandon accidentally bought me more creamer.  He knows I love coffee.

twins

Maddie loves this horse right now

It's probably her favorite toy in the house.  That or her stuffed monkey.  Or dolls.  She loves dolls too.  She'll squeal "dolly!" when she sees them and she often drags them around with her.

Electronic flash cards I got for school.
Isaiah is a fast learner.  He is playing multiplication here and is whizzing through his 1's and 2's.  (You can tell, because it makes a faint "yay" or "no" sound when he answers and I set the level and he was getting almost all "yays".  He's really smart with reading and math and super motivated right now.  :)  

The girls doing math. 

Playing legos

Jubilee needed to try on every "fluffy" skirt in the house

Emma was helping her

Abby discovered that Maddie couldn't get out of boxes (for like a day) and so she made Maddie a playpen while they were playing legos and Maddie kept trying to eat the legos.

Of course, Noah had to try a few fluffy skirts after Jubilee was done.

Jubilee decided one skirt was enough

Isaiah LOVES reading to Noah and Jubilee.  Of course, his favorite book is Danny and the Dinosaur.  (I'm pretty sure he's getting at least one book for his birthday.  ;)  Shhh!)

The girls like reading too.

Maddie.  I'm not sure what's going on in this picture.  I didn't take it.  The kids use my camera a lot so I assume one of them did it.  My best guess is that Jubilee diapered Maddie over top of her clothes and other diaper (she's done it before) and that a sibling took a picture.  Maybe even Jubi took the picture, though when Jubi takes pictures it's more likely to be a movie because that red "record" button looks like it should be pushed.

Isaiah made himself a book mark.

Maddie loves to jump now that she's mastered crawling and climbing stairs.

I had a bunch of buckets of clothes out going through them and we were blocking off the kitchen so that Maddie couldn't keep trying to climb into the dishwasher.  She was bound and determined to go in the kitchen with the siblings.  (She couldn't fit her whole body through.)

Jubilee sitting in the toy shopping cart... 

Noah being a goof.

Maddie loving on a daddy doll.

Pictures  (can you believe it was warm enough to be outside like this in the midst of all these blizzards/snows we've been having????)

Maddie doesn't like peas.

Abby likes Anne of Green Gables.  (she's seen the movie, but the book is still a bit too hard for her.)  She was playing like she was Abby of Pink Gables on this day.

Why do they have to feed me peas?

Surprise.  You're on Isaiah-Camera.

Jubilee trying to fit her big 2 year old self into another doll sized toy.  This time she really got stuck and I didn't think I'd be able to get her out without disassembling the stroller.  At the last minute, her leg slipped free.

I just realized this is the best picture I have of the cake Emma decorated all by herself.  :(  

cousins!  Maddie looks so big next to Miriam!

Maddie LOVES this doll.  By the way, I don't know if I told you or not, but it's name is "Mama Lynn."  

Maddie thinks this doll is the perfect size to be a playmate.

See, the doll can even wrestle her back!

"Dolly!"

Abby was pretending like she was a girl who dresses up and carries a sword and goes on adventures.
Emma was pretending like she had a pet red panda (one of her birthday presents that the mailman kept for a long time.)

Maddie has discovered the "hideout" behind my chair.
In order to rock/recline, my chair is out from the corner a few feet and Maddie loves to crawl back there and hang out.

Hide out again

Jubi being a goof

Hide out again

"Oh no!  Jubi's in my hide out!"  ;)  Just kidding.  She loves her sister! 

Snow ice cream

Even Maddie liked her snow ice cream

By the time I get the littlest ones (Jubi in this case) dressed...

The ones like Abby have been out there for a while and are ready to come in.  (She would have been warmer to get better pants and to zip her coat, but what do I know?)

"Jubi, you are the last one.  Aren't you cold?  Don't you want to come in?"
"I not cold!"

(but I am lonely.  I guess I'll come in.)

Emma didn't take the time to find a coat.  She dashed out with Abby, got abandoned by Abby, and came back in to find her friend.

I like this snow stuff.

Isaiah's thinking, "I don't know why we have to have this cold white stuff.  Dad's right.  Texas is warmer." 

Playing cards 

Jubi's doll from Aunt Liz was "born" on Maddie's birthday.  :) 

"It moves!" 

"Wow!  That's so cool!  I wonder if I can move it more.  Oops!  Ran into the door." 

It was sooooo warm on this day.  I made them all go outside and build a snowman with me.  It was really so warm I didn't even make them put on coats.   Isaiah was too busy eating an orange he'd brought out to do much more than follow us around the yard.

Maddie's thinking, "I wish I could move in this thing.  Or get a hand free to touch that white stuff."

Most of our yard is in shadow and most of the snow is not very good for making snowmen because of this.  I've tried before and failed.  But I read that you can use a spray bottle.  So we did and it worked.  :)  We only had to refill the spray bottle one time.  :)

Giving up on pushing it since it ran into the door.

Abby and Emma did the most work on the snowman with me.  Abby loves building snowmen and wanted to go build one in the front yard for the neighbors to see as soon as ours was done but it was getting cold as another storm was moving in so we didn't.

"Haha!  I got a hand free!  Now to taste this white stuff!"

I made them take a picture with the snowman.  By this point, Jubi's boots were wet and it was starting to get colder.  Noah had already gone inside and when I'd asked him to come out for a picture, he'd run over to the snowman barefoot and I'd had to bring him shoes as he wouldn't go back to get them.  They were in the playroom.  I carried him back to the kitchen and got them, but he wasn't too happy that his feet were wet and cold.  The others seemed happy enough.

Our snowman lost his nose and mouth but was still standing so the girls made him a baby. (these are out of order.  The baby is a few days later.)

Reading.  Guess what book that is?

Close up.

Emma licking the snowman

Baby snowman f

sledding?  Sort of?  The snow was really, really slick this day so they were sliding around on it. 

I made Jubi come in for a coat because it was getting cold.  You can see the sky is all gray and cloudy.

Back out she goes.  She loves being outside.

Wha happened to our yard? 

All the kids wanted to try out their new school "computers".   

Some of the more "fun" things we got for school this year.  (Don't worry, there are actual math books and stuff too.  ;)  )  We got each of the 4 big kids a tablet "computer" that they are using to read books on.  (I can get them a ton more books this way as electronic books are cheaper than paper books and there are lots of old free books out there that the kids are enjoying too.  :) )  These school computers can play a few educational games too.  :)  We've been doing LOTS of reading and math practice on them.
I got Jubilee a "laptop" that does the ABC's and stuff like that.  She loves her computer.  :)
I got two electronic flash cards (those orange and green things).  The girls and Isaiah are working on learning +-x/ on them.  :)
Those owls are timers.  They set the timer and do X minutes of Math or X minutes of reading or whatever.  Each kid can better keep track of their own time this way and if someone moves on faster than someone else, I don't have to either make everyone wait or keep track of separate times.  We also got the Liberty's Kids DVD series.  It's a cute 40 episode show about the history of America.  It's really interesting and the kids love it.  After watching the Boston Tea Party episode, they were playing Boston Tea Party in the playroom.  :) (with pretty good accuracy too.)
The girls first book on their tablet was about Sacajawea.  They LOVED reading about her.  Abby especially loved it.  She worked hard and read the whole chapter book at a remarkable speed (compared to normal) telling me things about what she was reading as she read it.  She and Emma organized a Lewis and Clark expedition in the playroom at one point too.
Isaiah's first book included a pussy cat...which he pronounces as "puss-e cat."  hahahaha   He loves reading and is always asking me if he can get his Dragon Touch out to read.  (The tablets are called dragon touch tablets by the company so we call them dragon touches here because, of course, that's cooler than tablet or computer or e-reader.)

This is what my car looked like when I had to chip off 2 inches of ice to take Jubi to the doctor to get her ear looked at.  Brandon had to work the morning shift that day, even though he'd done the night shift before and so I had to go alone and dig out the car alone...and by the way, this thing hates ice.  We did okay, but it was scary for me.  I'm glad I only had to go a short distance.  My doctor's office is right next to the King Soopers.  Like a block further down that road.

snow snow snow.  I'm thrilled.  Brandon's not.

"Take a picture of me and my legos"

Of course we had to take a picture of Peek A Boo with a bonnet.

doing school 

Noah's my hardest one right now.  He abhors writing.  He is taking a while to learn his letters and numbers.  The others learned by watching that Leap Frog movie when they were about 2 or 3.  Noah is much to "mature" for that movie and doesn't like it.  If toothless was teaching ABC's it would be another story.  I think here he's watching Isaiah read the math problems to him.  "One plus One equals two.  See, that number is two."  I can't really move forward with him because he doesn't know his numbers or letters, but he doesn't want to learn them either because it's "boring".  Yet, the kid memorizes movies the first time he sees them and I showed him the cover of one funny book that he's been quoting the title a billion times since then.  He just isn't interested in doing his numbers or letters.  They are "boring".  I've found a train game for his Dragon touch that he loves and it teaches the letters so I'm hoping this will help.  We'll see.

Here Noah is playing his train letter game.  He also doesn't like to sit still.  At all.  So I was letting him do school like this.  (The bad thing about these Dragon Touches--they are GREAT for reading, which is what I bought them for.  They do everything I expected.  But as for games, they suck the battery so fast it's not even funny.  But as that's NOT what I bought them for, I don't really care.  When I let them play games on their Dragon Touches, I make them go and sit by a plug in with the power cord attached.)

Coloring a Sacajawea picture.  Abby went for realistic with brown clothes and dark hair.  Emma went for bright and colorful.  Jubi went for blue.  The boys colored Dragons since they weren't reading about Sacajawea.  Honestly I thought Jubilee would want a dragon too, but she exclaimed "Sacajawea" when it was being printed, so I made her one too.

ABC games on the kid computer.  Jubi loves these.  They are definitely baby games according to Noah.