My little guy..pjs, paci, cowboy boots, Mohawk hat..what a combo

Some current pictures...

I decided to post this so I can try use this for my new profile pic. It's a little more current than my current pic... We'll see if I figure it out now. It's different to operate this blog using my iPad than a regular computer (which we don't have for Internet use).

Another baby on the way!

As I'm sitting here, slowly starting my morning, I decided I should take advantage of my typical first trimester putziness and get some blogging in....

So here we are, expecting our ninth baby (I can't resist, I have to add hopefully our ninth and tenth..yes, I am again holding out for twins). I feel really very good but o matter how good I feel, I always still have the touchiness of what I eat, when I eat, am super tired, can't drink much to stay hydrated (I get very queasy drinking plain water). E is so sweet, he found out that one thing I can drink is iced black tea with lemonade, so one thing he got me for Valentine's Day was a box of K-cups of black tea/lemonade....Mmmmmm! I'm sipping on one now!

On a homeschool note, we have just begun a classic literature class with the oldest girls and alongside it, I am reading to the kids Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens. We also watched a documentary on Charles Dickens, which was very interesting. The cool thing is, in the classic

lit course (it's a homeschool dad and scholar who gives the course on DVD) it is mentioned that every story ever written is a piece of that author's life, be it an actual piece of their life, or a character based on the author himself/herself or someone else they knew, or even something they have vividly imagined or dreamed of (for example, if it's about a make believe land). So, it was interesting then to see this documentary and learn that all of his novels were directly a reflection of pieces of his life. One character was based on a young sister-in-law whom he adored that died young, David Copperfield was as close to an autobiography as a book could be, he used to work in a lawyers office and hated it and learned to really dislike lawyers. So, unsurprisingly, in all his novels, lawyers we portrayed as loathsome fools. What a fun way to learn to really appreciate literature!

On the home front, after a pretty brutal weekend of a couple pretty sick kids while we were out of town for a wedding, everyone is doing pretty well. Yody and Izzy have a newly found friendship. Yodi teaches Izzy some pretty unladylike behavior, which she loves, and she hauls him into playing house and recruits him to be a babysitter or parent with dollies or sits and "reads" to him...

We really enjoyed having a bit over a week of having my sister and girls here! We got a rare outing to MOA and most of the kids got to get wristbands for five hours of unlimited rides at nickelodeon universe. We shopped til we dropped one day, enjoyed visiting when we could getting in, I got in on a ladies' nite, complete with sauna...we went up north for a family wedding and got to visit many relatives and old childhood friends..mmmm, it was great! I think I gained about four or five pounds over this short time period. Ouch. But it was worth every ounce! :)

Well, it's time to get going on Great Expectations again!

Ahh, a new year!

I feel like the year is off to a very good start! I'm not sure why, I just do! I mean, we just had a tummy bug sweep through the household, swiftly and severely enough to merit me calling in to work the next a.m. That was still in 2011 though, AND that's one thing off the checklist now of things to do. "Major flu bug?" "Check!" Now we can move forward into the new year.

Another big plus, I've gone out and run both days of the new year. Santa geared me up to run safely this winter, so I have no excuse. I got a flashing red light to clip on me, some foot accessories involving carbide spikes to put over the bottom of my running shoes, and I got a "worker jacket." I will include a photo of that possibly tomorrow. Suffice it to say that if anyone sees me running in that thing, they may think there's a fleeing utility worker and glance around nervously for the utility box that's about to explode. It's actually really cute and I love it..super comfy and perfect, right down to the zippered outside pockets I can use for a flashlight in one and my cell phone in the other, the soft cuffs that do a swell job at keeping the arctic air out and a hidden hood I can pull out of its zippered compartment to act as a wind breaker over my stocking cap on the really blustery days! It's an honest-to-goodness utility jacket. Oh, the "worker guy" thing...it's what one of my kids said when I opened it Christmas morning, "Oohhhh, that looks like a worker guy jacket!". It is, Dearie, it is. And I....I could be considered a worker guy!

Today it really helped to have a little mutt...I mean, pup...barking so loudly it honestly hurt our ears! As brutal as it seems to have to brave the elements and do what we have to do to burn this high energy dog's excess energy, believe me when I say it, it's truly more brutal to have to endure his barking! Going on a run with him Is well worth the trade-off of him being quiet for a few hours. And, going on a run with him is worthy of a post entirely devoted to that to topic! I will have to post about that when I post the pic of my running gear.

Oh yeah, a lovely event that happened the other day: our deep freeze was meddled with and we did nt discover it until one fine moment when one of the kids went to retrieve a food item from it and returned saying that the freezer smelled downright rotten. Yes indeedy it did! All our meat had rotted and the freezer smelled like we were storing cadavers in it. Thank you little toddler boy! I know you did it! BUT again, it happened in 2011. Done with. Another thing to check off our list. "Get rid of all our frozen foods! Time to start fresh for the new year!" "Check! Done deal!"

So, all in all, a very good start to 2012. A very good start indeed!

Testing

Okay, so now I can see if I can start posting images on my blog again..

See why I never post pics of myself? Eww! Oh well, like someone so kindly reminded me, "Cameras never lie!" Gee, thanks! In other words, no that is not a bad picture of you, you just always look that bad. :/

Mom, you have a BIG butt.

Just the other day, I went into the bathroom to prepare a mop bucket. My reigning princess was sitting upon her throne (the porcelain one). I bent over the tub to run the water, rinse the mop, and so on. Apparently my rear-end was right in her line of vision so she had no choice but to inspect it...and come to the conclusion that, "Mom. You have a big butt." I replied, "Yes I do. And you, Miss Izzy, have a small butt." She then said, in her little dramatically wistful whine, "Ohhh Mooom, when I grow up I want to be a mom just like you!" Then a pause, then, "Even if I do have a big butt. That's okay, right?" I said, "Yeah, that part's pretty unavoidable. When you get to be a mom like me, your butt is just going to be big."

An outing

Tonight, I decided it was high time to take a couple of my daughters out after the little kids were tucked in. These two fine young ladies babysit every Tuesday and Thursday night while I and the two oldest girls go to our martial arts class. E has been traveling the past many weeks, otherwise he is here when we go but they still do the majority of the work when we are gone to class.

We had so much fun tonight! We first went through MacD's drive-through and ordered small peppermint hot chocolates for them and a peppermint mocha for me. Mmmmm. We just sat in the parking lot in a toasty warm car, reminiscing. They remembered many things, "Remember when I ran away, Mom?" Me: "Um, which time?" "The time you had to call the cops to help look for me." Me: "Uh...yeah, I think I faintly remember that! Yeah, I very clearly remember that!" Also, "Remember when you climbed up on the roof and put Christmas lights all along the eaves of our house?" Me: "Yup. I remember that. I loved our house that Christmas." Fia: "I so badly wanted to come up there with you!" Me: "Yes, and I remember clearly fearing you would. You were a kind of fearless little gal." Fia: "Remember when Dad made you hot chocolate while you were up there?" Me: "Yes. And I scooted over along the roof to that skinny kitchen window and you guys handed out the hot chocolate. Then we drank our hot chocolate together, me outside the window, you guys inside. It was a very chilly evening and my hands were really cold. That hot chocolate was perfect!" Fia: "I so badly wanted to climb out that window and come up on the roof with you and help you with the lights." Me: "Yes, and I remember clearly fearing you would. I half expected to see you climbing out that window once you realized you could. And I remember you begging Dad to come out there."

Then, we took off for a little drive around town. We ended up slowly lally-gagging through this most amazing, idyllic neighborhood with houses that look like giant dollhouses and wonderfully landscaped front patches of yard...almost every house with a darling set of porch rockers or porch chairs on their beautiful porches. So then we dreamed of getting either into a larger house or a place with some acreage to roam...and to have a dog...and chickens...and gardens...and apple orchards. Mmmm, dreaming!

Onward to talk of IF we get another puppy, a Golden Retriever/Husky mix. They are called Goberians, I think. From what I read later, they would be very, very good personality dogs for small children, all people, other animals, etc. THey just require very good exercise or they can be very hyper. We plan to have it as a running companion and a sled puller in our yard in the winter, just to give it "work" to do (pull kids in sleds). We dreamed, we schemed, we planned, we plotted. Mmmmm, dreaming! :)

Then we came home to nearly everyone, including the big girls, sleeping!

What a good outing!