Wonderful weather!

One of the most endearing things about the area we live in, to me, is the weather! Never too terribly hot in the summer time, and always plenty of variety year round! I am a gal who likes change. No, I am a gal who NEEDS change. I like different hair styles. I like rearranging furniture often. I like re-organizing closets and cabinets. I like that we have moved a zillion times in the last 12 years. I find change reinvigorating and a motivation to change things in my life or family or home that need changing. Rearranging a room suddenly makes the room 1. cleaner and 2. fresh. Frequent weather changes, for me, are exciting and help catapult me toward the sort of day I need to have; productive, happy and fun.

This fall has been perfect so far; warm, sunny days mixed with cooler sunny days mixed with cold snowy days! So perfect! Today is a cold, snowy day and I have LOVED it! Waking up to a fresh blanket of white feels so good. It makes me want to make our home cozy with clean spaces and good food and a happy, attentive mother. It makes me want to stay in and be with my family. :) It makes me want to cook for them and clean for them. It makes me happy to look out the window and see little snow flakes fluttering around.

I could not survive in a place where the weather was static most of the year. I need all 4 seasons...and within those seasons I need variety still! I am so happy we have found that in Colorado! :)

Wishing for an automatic!

Man o man o man! Sometimes it is just so hard to get kids into gear to get the things done they need to get done! I know (from remembering my own childhood) that this is not an exclusive problem to homeschooling families. Perhaps it feels more intense to me because they are here ALL day long and thus there are more times in the day where I need to ask them to do something. We have gone through periods of time where kids get up, get their stuff done in a timely manner and without too much reminding and then had their free time. Those times were GREAT! Now, however, we are just coming off the last 3 months or so where I was just "blah" and didn't follow through with the kids a whole lot. Now that I am no longer as "blah," some kids are taking issue with the fact that they need to be actual contributing members of the household and get stuff done. Some kids are taking issue with the fact that they need to learn things (like math....) that they don't want to learn. Some kids are taking issue with the fact that the chores have to be done all the way. Change is difficult at times. When you get out of the habit of things, it can be hard to get back in the habit. Cleaning and doing math are not the most exciting, fun things a kid could be doing. I understand the reluctance. I understand the resistance. I remember having those exact feelings as a kid. And I know now, as an adult, how thankful I am that my parents made me do them. I can say I actually like cleaning. I like the process. I LOVE the result and knowing that I transformed a room from filthy and cluttered to clean and organized. I appreciate the things I learned in school. I appreciate the knowledge gained through study as a child. I did not at the time. This is one of those "Circles of Life." It's a glorious challenge for parents to help guide, direct and get their kids in gear to accomplish the tasks and jobs of childhood....but they'll love us for it later! .....right?

Good excuse for my neglect

I have been so neglectful of my poor blog!! But I have had good reason...the first trimester. Ugh. Some women are able (willing?) to just plow through and live life as normal even though they feel like puking at any moment; like a very heavy, wet blanket that makes you just want to lie down 24-7 is draped over your body; like you haven't slept in months and need to sleep NOW desperately; like your emotions are not your own....I just am not one of those "plow through" women! I become a couch potato in the first trimester. My house is a literal pig sty (minus the pigs.) We eat lots of processed junk food and take out. People may wear the same outfit 2 or 3 days in a row. Kids may watch more than their fair share of movies and have a little longer than normal game time. Ugh. It is not me at my finest, by far! :)

I am now 14 1/2 weeks along with lucky number 7! I am so happy to be feeling more "normal" and not so blah. I have more energy and definitely more motivation! I only have nausea in the evenings and not all day long. I don't get grossed out by everything I eat anymore! I have actually deep cleaned some badly neglected areas of our home!!

We are very excited to be welcoming a new baby into our family. New babies are just magic! And we just think our kids are the awesomest kids around and are so excited to have to have another! This will likely be our last little one, which is a weird concept to me. I have been pregnant and/or nursing for the past 12 years pretty much. It will be weird in a few years when this new little one is weaned and I will be done with this phase of my life. It's a hard concept to grasp.

The boys all want the new baby to be a boy, of course, and the girls want it to be a girl. :) Right now we are at 3 boys and 3 girls, so this baby will be the tie breaker. :) What do you think? Boy or Girl?