A little school

We have a homeschool co-op of four families which meets twice a month to do science experiments and geography. We really enjoy each family. We moms take turns handling each section, making for a nice break.

For geography, we are moving continent by continent. At the end of every unit, each child must present a report on something of their choice from the continent studied. It's been a really good experience for them to be in front of a small crowd.

Sammy's first report was a laugh. Literally. That's all he did. He giggled and barely said anything about the Indonesian houses he had studied. As a mom, it was all I could do to keep myself in my seat and not go "help" him. I silently suffered, pretending he was in a classroom and had to fend for himself a bit. I wanted to avoid what I think is a disadvantage of homeschooling; Mommy always being there to assist you. I try to be quite unhelpful now and then.

Sammy chose the Alps for his second report when we covered Europe. He loved painting his prop. And he did a fine job actually giving the report. We were proud of him for working so hard on what he was going to say. It was a big improvement. Of course, he didn't have far to go to improve from his previous laughfest!

Eli's European report was on Spain. His favorite things to tell about were their enormous annual tomato fight and the Running of the Bulls. He must be a boy. Like Sammy, he did much better the second time around.

Jake chose Austria. Being in fifth grade, he had a little more work to do and complained nearly every step of the way. From the research and notetaking to the rough and final draft writing and finally the practicing of giving the actual report, he realized just how much work goes into a full report. He almost bailed at the last second and then fully enjoyed it. I don't have a picture because his report was a size that could be saved. That's my way of getting rid of salt dough maps and other unwieldy projects: take a picture.

Miriam's job is to be an appreciate audience. But I just deleted her picture by accident. I'll pop it in next time.

Do you see what I see?

I guess it was only a matter of time. And not that much time, apparently. Would someone please tell me where young boys find beetles in the dead of winter? This picture was taken at the beginning of January. I wanted to be horrified. But what can you do? At least they didn't feed it to her.

What color will those eyes be?

After three brown and one hazel ... a momma with blue and a daddy with brown ... what will Miriam have? When each baby was born, Grandma Jan would announce that THIS baby would have blue eyes. She's been wrong every time. Until possibly now.

A hard year and a great wedding gift

On our wedding day twelve years ago, my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Jen wrapped us a box of Christmas ornaments as our gift. It was a delightful gift to open and use. That little box was actually where we acquired our oft-repaired Christmas pickle which has brought lots of fun for four boys. And for a newly-married couple, having something to put on our Christmas tree was wonderful. We hung those, added a few of our own and tied bows made from Christmas fabric on all the empty branches.

There is one ornament in particular from that box that has seen a little hardship over the twelve years. The lovely couple has lost their heads.


I still have those missing heads wrapped in paper in one of our Christmas storage containers. And I still hang our headless ice skaters every year, wondering why I feel compelled to hang a broken ornament.



When I was packing the headless couple away this year, I showed them to Steve. He took one look and said, "It's been a hard year."I giggled, but he was right. It has been. Insomnia for Steve - the complete exhaustion of this pregnancy for me - the extra work of adding on to our home - the boys having a lot of trouble with all our transitions - multiple extra stressors for Steve ... I could go on, but it was just really hard and stressful.

I was thinking this year about my reason for loving that ornament so much. I really think that, to me, it represents our marriage. We made a point in our wedding ceremony of saying the old vows that we didn't think should be considered old-fashioned. "Til death do us part." And we meant them. We know the other person is broken, but we don't turn on them when life is hard. Instead we still go on actively loving them. I'm not going to trade one broken person for another. I'm going to go through life as a team with the one I promised to be a partner to.

Almost midnight

A new mommy of five not sleepy? I really don't know why. We had an active night with our children and three little visitors darting around along with one crying Miriam. But I'm wide awake (and really thankful that Miriam does seem to be improving with me beginning to cut out dairy products).

Speaking of her, here is a sweet sight of Miriam with her pink calico pig which Grandma Mary made it for her. I love it. I can't wait until Miriam can fully enjoy it. Grandma Mary is so special to each of her grandchildren. And she probably doesn't even know just how special she is to her daughter-in-law. I think it's especially fitting that she made Miri a pig. The boys have been calling their sister "Little Snort", because she does just that.

And a not-so-pretty sight -

It's fake. But it's funny. To me anyway. You'll have to ask our nephew just how funny it is to him. We left the four boys with him and his sister (our niece, of course) while we attended a Christmas party. From what I hear, they were having a great time, and when a spill occurred, they took these funny pictures of the boys pretending to vomit.

Not long after ...

... they started vomiting for real. What kind of a babysitter actually cleans your children's vomit for you? The poor guy caught the stomach virus along with the rest of us within a little over 48 hours. And then he moved out of our house.

Amos

Here we find Amos, happily playing in the snow that he loves. I just wish this dog didn't shed. He's pretty cute. Until he requires more cleaning around the house than five children do. The boys know he's on thin ice. They've been offering to pay for all his care. Little do they know, it's not the money.

Mine

If you have ever been able to visit, you know that Steve and I like to let our guests hold our baby. But it is a challenge, because Sammy does not like to let you hold our baby. Before you get a chance to have us offer a hold, he'll already be in my ear asking for her. If you get close to her with intentions of taking a baby, he'll ask you if he can hold her first. If you think you're pretty hot stuff and actually take your chance to hold her, he will hover around you, kissing her, touching her and saying, "Can I hold her? Because she is MINE." You will feel highly uncomfortable with saying 'no' and not quite know what to do. We will call him over and ask him to stop ... but he is a slippery little thing and will find some other way to pester you.

Until he gets what he wants.

A little something

I've had this little draft sitting in my posts for a long time. So I'll use it. Here are some pictures of Miriam when she was one or two weeks old. I'd have to look in my files to see and since she came down with her first cold this morning, I'm not taking time to do it.

Miriam has been a perfect joy to all of us. She is loved by everyone and snuggled and overly smothered with kisses and hugs and holds by the two youngers. They are all quite patient with her if she cries. Sammy asks anyone who is holding her, "Can I hold her? Because she is MINE." And Silas repeats over and over again, "Tan I hol' him? Tan I hol' him?"

A little sleep smile that was the precursor of all the real smiles we are getting these days. Miriam is a very social little girl. She seems to have smiled and cooed earlier than any of the other babies. She prefers to be held nearly 24 hours out of each day. Plenty of us here are happy to comply.

Steve took three weeks off work when Miri was born. It was just right to keep me from getting as sick as I have with our first three babies. We also had a lovely Christmas as a family. The addition has reached a relaxing point now that our carpet was placed two days before Christmas. The boys are moved into their rooms. The things that remain aren't on a time deadline other than me wanting to park the van in the garage again.

We're spending this week playing with our family Christmas gift ... ping pong ... and doing cleaning and organizing. It would also be nice to have a few days where chores and breakfast are all completed by 8:30 before next week arrives and school begins again.

Our little arrival

We are so pleased to welcome our precious little girl. The whip cream (not the cherry, because I don't like those) on the ice cream sundae that is four boys.

Miriam Aleda Grace Vossler was born Wednesday afternoon on Veteran's Day (we think she chose that in honor of her uncle, USAF Captain Joel Gietzen) at 4:42pm. She weighed in at 7lbs 10oz.

I get discharged this morning to one proud papa and four excited boys. These boys have only seen their sister through Skype. That was a lot of fun. Silas and Sammy just wanted to see the baby and bring her home right then (hours old). Eli bounced around the room hollering, "We have a baby! This is so exciting! I think I'm going to faint! This is the best day of her LIFE!" And Jake got a sweet smile and said, "I love her already."

This year's flu craziness limited me to all but two visitors total and no children. Steve thanked me for choosing him to be one of my visitors. :)

Before they come, I'll tell you that Miri is our Grandma Girl, named after her wonderful and God-loving grandmothers. Her name goes like this ~

Steve's mother is Mary ~ Miriam
My great grandmother's and my mother's middle names are Aleda ~ Aleda
My mother's name means "grace" ~ Grace

Welcome, sweet Miriam! You are so loved. We never expected a little girl to round out our family. Your brothers are so excited to finally see you and hold you. They are arguing over who gets to hold you first. Eli suggested that they all hold you at once like people lining up to hold a crocodile, but you're not THAT long. They are also discussing who gets to sit by you in the van that is now full to the brim. I have a feeling their devotion will never end.

Little bits

Sammy got his first taste of an organized sport this fall. He was on a kindergarten soccer team with his best friend and really, really loved it. Today was his last game. But he has already located an ad in our paper for indoor soccer lessons and is begging for those.



When he grows up, Sammy wants to be a firefighter like Daddy. As far as we can ascertain, this is because the fire stations have a stash of red licorice. But having the building going on all summer around here has added a lot more to his career aspirations. He calls his new career "Worker". This includes all the aspects of building - from concrete to electrical to grout. He gets all dressed up, goes outside and knocks on our front door. He has arrived for work. Silas usually joins in.

When not working, these two are usually dismantling my couches. It never fails that they spread the cushions everywhere at the same time that I need to sweep. That means I not only need to sweep, but I need to vacuum the couches ... again.

And, we can't forget the first day of school ---------------- for our nephew. I can't believe I didn't actually take first day of school pictures of my four boys! They were dressed in their most ragged clothes and so I meant to make them change and get photographed later in the day. I should have caught them while dirty. That's real.

Silas calls these his "babies" or his "boys" (just like I refer to them all as "my boys"). He has quite an array. The baby doll, courtesy of some dear friends, is his favorite. He takes pretty good care of them all. They are always covered up at night. And he only peed on the baby doll once. Little sister better watch out. Speaking of her, only four weeks to go!