Some people just aren't happy no matter what. I've posted twice in one week and the news I get back from the farm......well, why aren't there any pictures? Pfsh!

Really, why would anyone want to see a picture of this...

Really. My siblings and I getting together at the farm for the first time in five years can't be that interesting. Right?

Or this? Grandpa not only buys raisins in bulk, he buys popsicles in bulk too.

This ragamuffin clan can't be blog post worthy. Really, three days all out at the farm is not a great moment to take family photos....unless you are looking for life time memory kind of stuff.

It isn't every year that your Pannie Poe turns two, but why does that matter?

Grandpa with his 7 youngest grand babies....no biggie, right?

Big boy turns 6 too, but why would that be news worthy.

Her highness Princess Leah also turned 4 and we even pulled off a party for that, one week after moving across the country. Now this, this is blog post worthy!!!!

Is that better Daddy?

Art- My Way

It seems alot of my life, I've been surrounded by artists. Growing up in small town, rural Texas, we weren't exactly buried in culturally enhancing opportunities. I'd never been to a museum until well into my adulthood and not to an art museum until 2 years ago. Oh the beauty! If you are ever in Toledo OH, you really must check out their art museum, it is reportedly one of the best in the country. I was in awe, but I digress.

My Mother is very artistic. I didn't always know this about her since she was busy being Mother and breadwinner, but when I was in high school, I was on the drill team. One of our jobs was to decorate a football players locker each Friday morning before a game. Most girls had some store bought signs and streamers, but not me. My Mom blew my socks off the first week by hand drawing these awesome gorgeous signs of our mascot, the bluecat. I never knew she had any interest in art, much less talent. Boy does she have talent! She's done some pretty awesome paintings since then as well. Now that she is retired, she is always busy with some artsy thing. Right now, she's buried herself in quilting but still periodically gets the "sewing bug", as she calls it. She hasn't painted in a while, but I'm sure she'll swing back to it someday too.

My childhood best friend,  Sharon, is also an amazing artist. I remember from about third grade on, watching her sketch. She produced some pretty amazing charcoals of dogs! They were always perfect. I would watch her in amazement, wondering how that was even possible. I can't and couldn't draw stick people. Sharon went on to be an accomplished musician and finish an art degree, along with a science degree. She now teaches homeschool art classes and I'm sure is wowing third graders still, lol.

Both of my grandmothers and all of my aunts, also very artistic. I always wondered what happened to me. I did get my share of the brains in the family, but that little or big section of the brain controlling creativity never seemed to be accessible for me. Then, I started cooking. Yes, cooking. I don't konw that many people consider cooking an art form. I probably wouldn't either except that I now, in our church am surrounded by some remarkably talented artists, many who create professionally. I try to find ways to spend time with these ladies, as they are gifted in an area that I really have to work at. As I've spent more time with them, and learned more about their crafts, as well as their processes, I've come to realize that cooking for me is an art. The way they think and consider their ideas and paths is the same way I do cooking. It is a love for me that I desire to contiunously stretch and improve and share. It is a gift that I hope to pass on to all of my children.

So, I want to share some of my art from this season so far.

YUM!

I was chatting with my little sister this morning about a surprise I am trying to plan for my husband's 40th birthday next month. While we were chatting, it is a long process....we have alot to say, you see we've only had 31 years to chat together so far.... my Dad pulled up in her driveway. My sister is blessed to live really close to my Mom and Dad. Daddy doesn't even have to get off of the dirt roads to make it to her house. So, about once a week, he shows up, always with something in his shirt pocket for my nephew, Corbin. He learned not to bring round objects, like apples or oranges because,  you see, Corbin is a BOY and all round objects are balls. So, he usually has raisins. Actually, all of our kids under the age of 10, my older brother has 6 children over the age of 10, know that Grandpa has a really cool farm to play at and buys boxes of raisins in BULK!

Anyway, Daddy shows up and Amie tells him that she is on the phone with me. He is then very quick to point out that he will soon have to cancel his internet access. You never can tell why something like this would need to happen at the farm. It could be because of the latest lightening strike on the house, or because the wind blew out the lines or someone dug up some lines somewhere miles down the road. It could be because so much dust built up in the computer that it needs to be disassembled and blown out with a shop vac. It could be a million reasons on a farm. BUT, none of those was the reason, no four legged animals to blame in any way, shape or form. He said he was going to cancel because I never post on my blog and so he doesn't have anything to look at! LOL!

Really, my Dad learned from some of the best on how to play his cards to get what he wants. Don't you think?

What an odd year we've had. Blessed beyond measure, but certainly nothing we could have ever predicted. My friends in Ohio have seen the first flakes of the season, although nothing sticking yet. At this time last year, we were preparing to go into hibernation and figuring out how to fly home for Thanksgiving.

This year, we've moved across the country, again. Bought, what could be our last house, at least while we have children at home. I can't imagine wanting to keep up a big house on a big lot for just Robert and I. Of course, I can't imagine alot of things that have happened in my life, before they've happened. We are in a pretty awesome season, one that I am weary from alot, but really, things don't get much better than where we are right now. Or do they? See, can't imagine thing again. We are blessed.

I need to start writing again. I love it. Must find the time. I've started running. I get up at 5:30 so I can get my exercise in before Robert goes to work. It is kind of funny because I then take a shower and nap until the kids get up. I should probably use that time more wisely but I don't do well without sleep. My body is just starting to come around since our miscarriage. It has taken ALOT longer than I thought. And, I'm not just talking about the baby weight I have to lose. My hormones went nuts. It was like I had carried a baby full term, only I didn't have the birth or nursing hormones to balance me out. I really felt crazy for the whole month of October. Thankfully, a wonderful friend from church recommended some herbal teas that have helped tremendously. Now, I'm just back to a normal crazy. ;-)

I got on the computer to figure out our tshirt designs for our Reformation Festival this year, but decided instead to do some kind of update on this dieing blog. Reminding myself that this is my record of our lives since I don't scrap book....although I am considering looking into digital scrapping, since I"m more likely to do something online than on table.

Joshua is now 6. He's lost 5 teeth. He's reading like a mad man, which I personally love to see, since I am a hopeless bookworm myself. Some friends got him a BoxCar Children book for his birthday. He read it in one afternoon. I was shocked....probably shouldn't have been, but I was. So, I hit up Half Priced Books and got him 10 more. He's read one a day for the last two weeks. Must figure out a good system with our library. The small little branch in our town is miserable, although modern. Need to schedule in trips to the bigger one in the town down the road. He's doing great in math also. We started the Math U See curriculum this year and he asked Robert if he could stay up all night and do the whole Beta book. So, like me, Robert got a little pride in the pot as well. Joshua is so big too. The boy just keeps growing and growing and it really makes me wonder where my baby went. I think 6 is my favorite age so far. I just love to watch him growing and developing and love that he can finally have some pretty deep conversations with us. He and Robert snuggle up every night in his bed and "chat". Joshua loves his Daddy chat time, and of course, that just melts me!

Leah is as spunky as ever. She's my little right hand woman, whether I'm in need of one or not. I'm sure that she is certain she could run this house if something were to happen to me. She LOVES twirly skirts and purple and having her hair braided. Every morning now, she takes she and Hannah to their bathroom and "fixes" their hair. Leah's comes out lovely everytime.....she needs a little more practice on Hannah's blonde/curly hair! She wants to read, but really isn't ready to jump on in. I am working with her a little on her letters and sounds and she's picking them up great. Maybe in January I"ll pull out the Bob books. Seems weird that I could have two readers by next summer. Leah is now 4 and well onto 18. Did I mention she loves to play with my hair? She does and I do too, soo relaxing. Maybe someday she'll teach me how to do something with this mop on my head. She's way girlier than I ever was even in my dreams.

Hannah is our little Toots. She is pretty comfortable being the baby star of the show around here. I've realized in the last month that we really do have to start training her. Its been easy just to let the older kids lead her around like their show pony, but her will is starting to show itself. She's pretty independent for being the baby. I think it is because she doesn't realize that she isn't as big as Leah. She just assumes she should be able to do everything they do, and so she does. It is quite helpful for me most of the time actually. She's sleeping in a pack n play now. I think she was too immature to move to a toddler bed when we moved, but I just didn't want to set up the whole crib again for a short while. So, after weeks of battling to keep her in her bed at nap time, which she desperately need, I put her in the pack n play. She loves it and always sleeps in it now. Crisis solved! She turned 2 in Sept and is my smallest baby by far. She is barely into 2t clothes. My other two were in 3t at this point. Makes the clothes budget go farther for sure. She talks up a storm and loves to color with the big kids. And she LOVES her babies. She got a baby bed for her birthday and she carries it with at least one, but usually more, babies around the house ALL THE TIME. She's so sweet and nurturing. It's fun.

Bullets

Sorry for being MIA. Life has been more than hectic. Frantic at times, but we are blessed beyond measure and serve and awesome God!

• Robert got a call from a company in Texas in the spring and started the interview process.
• In May, we flew down and bought a house.
• In June, I started packing us up in Ohio.
• Two days before we loaded the truck in July, we found out we were expecting Lachney baby #4.
• July 4th we pulled back into our former world that we love so much in the Houston Tx area.
• July 5th, Robert flies back for three weeks of work in Cleveland.
• I move us into our beautiful new home with the help of church friends....lots of help. The a/c, hot water, fridge, washer amongst other things all go out.
• The kids and I survive and don't run away screaming, and my sister has a brand new baby boy, Titus that is adorable. We head to W Tx to help with new baby.
• Find out there that our baby died at 8 weeks. We head home for our loss.
• Thursday I ended up in the hospital for a pretty hair raising miscarriage adventure.
• We are all home and getting healthy now. Hoping to soon get a family life going here. Our sweet Rachel Elisabeth is hanging with Jesus until we get to meet her.

Friday Kid Update

Hannah aka Toots has really blossomed the past few months. She is really aware of and understands everything going on around her. She's very playful and always wants to be included with whatever the big kids are doing. But, unlike Leah, she is fine if they will just let her closely watch the proceedings, she doesn't have to be involved, just included. She's a pretty easy one still, but she is starting to flex her "mine" muscles, so I've actually had to start training her. Both of the other kids were already well into a discipline phase by this point, but she just hasn't needed it.

She's still a peanut physically. She is in 18 month clothes that Leah wore at 10 months. She's chubbed up alot lately, so I keep waiting for her to shoot up, but she hasn't really. Maybe she's just going to be our cute little petite one. She certainly has the cute part down. She's even learned this little coquetish look for people when she wants something. Cracks us up, but we all just eat her up.

She speaks really well, like her older brother did. And she's pretty physically steady too, like her older sister. She's her own little mix. But, watch out, she'll steal your heart real quick. Those big blue eyes and little blond curls are just too much!

Leah is still our spunky chick, but she is growing up. She loves to be my helper and left to her own devices, probably could run this house by herself for at least a day....or at least she thinks she could. She really wants to be in the kitchen with me more lately. I need to work more on figuring out how to work in the kitchen with all of the kids. Most of the time, the thought of juggling three in there with me at once is more than I want to consider and so I just always say no when they ask. Leah really loves helping though. She has taken it upon herself for her and Hannah to unload the dishwasher when they finish breakfast and I'm helping Joshua with school. The first morning I thought I'd walk in to a kitchen in total disarray, but it was all done neatly and in the correct spots. I was stunned!

She isn't rediculously advanced academically like Joshua, but I think she might be sharper than he is. She gets things really well, and I often forget that she is two years younger than him. We do bible, music, latin and lots of read alouds all together and she responds as well or better than Joshua. I don't know how well she'll retain it, but she does great for the short term. I think once she decides she's ready, she'll breeze thru reading and basic math skills. First, she will have to learn her letters and numbers though. She has plenty of time, whenever she's ready.

Leah loves being a big sister. She and Hannah continue to awe me with their growing bond. It is just so fun to watch. I really am sooo grateful that God has given us children to watch grow. I know that their bonds will last for a lifetime of love of one another. All three of them just adore one another.....mostly. ;-)

Joshua is really at a transition age. You can see it in almost all phases of his life. His mental/cognitive development astounds me. He's reading so well and every time he grabs a book and sits down to read it to me, I am amazed. He can and will read anything close at hand, and that just tickles me pink. It's nice having another book worm in the family! He also will sit and read to Leah and Hannah regularly. This morning I came downstairs and Joshua had started Leah on her prereading curriculum. Cracked me up. I think she took instruction from him better than me, lol.

Physically, he is pretty clumsy right now. I don't know if he's in a big growth spurt or if he's just at an awkward stage. He has been riding his bike alot and I'm hoping that will help him get back some steadiness....if he doesn't break his neck from falling off first, of course.

You can really see it in his self discipline too. We are going thru the transition that all of the Christian parentings books said would come, even though we seriously doubted it when we were constantly spanking in the early years. Discipline is now changing with him as he is "getting it". It is really fun to be able to talk about deeper things with him and him really get it.

It's a pretty cool stage we are in with him.

Our neighbor cleaned out her dress up clothes that her boys had outgrown.

And in case you were wondering. The ant hill is again vacant and packed up for the next round of visitors. We've since moved on to butterflies. We received our caterpillars yesterday and should hatch butterflies in about two weeks! Hopefully we'll capture some amazing pics to share with you.

Tomorrow is June 1st and I will have officially made it 6 months without breaking my new years resolution to go to bed with no dirty dishes in the house! I'm pretty proud of myself and Robert. He's pinch hit for me here and there when I'm not feeling well and even done the dishes for me some just because he loves me. Yup, I married a winner, best husband ever.

We have big things going on right now, and I'm not ready to write about them in blogoworld yet, so I've kind of just been at a loss as to what to write about, so consequently, I haven't. My dinosaur computer also went on strike. It will boot up just fine and dandy and do anything I ask of it, except get on the internet. So, I facebook and email on my phone, but blogging from my phone is not appealing at all, especially when I'm trying to avoid a massive issue in our life on my blog for now.

But I will try this week to get a Friday kid update up. It is well overdue. Maybe I'll get crazy and even post some updated pictures with it!

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Also, Green and Crunchy has another giveaway up. This time its CHOCOLATE!!!!! I won  last time, along with two of my friends. Go check it out here.

Another Organic Giveaway

Green and Crunchy has another awesone giveaway this week. This time 50 winners. Check it out here.

Even if you don't want to enter the contest, it is a great article on Race for the Cure and other cancer info.

A loyal reader contacted me to ask why I wasn't posting, so I cranked up the dinosaur in my office and decided to hop on here. I could say I've been super busy, feeding the hungry, caring for the homeless, visiting those in the hospital or nursing homes or prison, but that wouldn't be true.

Or I could say that I was super busy and my house is now spotless, and my life hyper organised, and Hannah's potty trained, and Leah is reading, and Joshua is half way thru Calculus, but that wouldn't be true either.

So, I'll just fess up. This is what we have been doing.

If you've never had your own ant hill.You really really should. We are all enthralled with it and have learned sooo much about ants. Did you know there is a mortician ant that moves the dead bodies around so they don't get buried??

Ok, we did also have to get ready for small group in our house. So the kids helped fold up the blankets in the living room.

Awesome Organic Give Away!

Go check out this really awesome giveaway over at Green and Crunch from my blog list! She is giving away some free MiEssence totally organic make up and skin care stuff. I've always wanted to try this brand as many of my UBER crunchy friends will only use it.....but it is super pricey and I just haven't given it a blow money priority yet. I'd just be soooooo thrilled to get to try it for free!

Flashback

The weather has been really beautiful here lately but today and yesterday there was a chill in the breeze and I grumbled. So, to remind myself, I pulled up some picks from last April. I really gotta work on this contentment thing!

First, my babies last Easter. Leah and Hannah are soooo different!

Then this. Grumbling no more!

Movie Idea

Robert is out of town this week. Last night, as I put the kids to bed, I was thinking how much better at it he is, than me. See by the time bedtime gets here, I'm done....D O N E DONE! He's had time to recoup from his day and so has a whole cute little routine with the big kids. He brushes their teeth and brushes out Leah's hair, then they all crawl into Joshua's bed together and snuggle up and read the bible and another short story. Then they have prayer time with its own little traditions together. Then Leah goes to her room and Robert and Joshua snuggle up and get some manly time in. Then Robert goes and snuggles with Leah and ta da, everyone is happy. I read the bible, pray and turn out the light.

So, last night I was thinking about how alot of people talk about the fact that no one can understand the 24/7 stress on a Mom, stay at home Mom in particular. I had an idea for a funny comedy movie. It could start with your average american family....or even better, one with more than two kids. Dad goes off to work, Mom stays home and does everything and Dad comes home and wonders why she's tired and dinner isn't ready.....you get the idea. He grumbles about what does she do all day and somehow, either a dream or weird alternate reality, the next day, his job becomes a 24/7 ordeal like hers. He wakes up with a jr staff member or two crawling into bed asking what they are having for breakfast at the board meeting that morning and if he can reach a file folder for them on the top shelf. Someone interrupts his shower with a mundane question that could have easily have waited. He heads down stairs to get coffee but the coworker before him is drinking that last cup and no one bought any more to make, oh and the donuts are all done too and three others are asking him what else they can have for the visiting high school kids for bring your kids to work day. He breaks away for a necessary bathroom trip only to be interrupted as he drops his pants by someone needing an emergency signature..... His day continues in a similar fashion. As he heads to his car, he realizes that his boss is in it with him and making the drive home talking about high level, A game stuff....oh and he's staying for dinner too. Finally dinner is over and bedtime approaches and a call comes in from a foreign customer with urgent, but unimportant assistance needs. He's woken up several times in the night by same customer whining over minute details that don't really matter and just when he finally settles into a good sleep, those same two jr associates wake him up wondering again about a breakfast option.

You get the idea. Anyway, I think it could be made into a hysterical movie if done by the right people.

Friday Kid Update

Joshua- My sweet boy is a big kid now. He can be the best helper ever, like last week when he woke up early on laundry day, and so gathered up everyone's laundry and took it down to the basement before I was even awake. ***He also LOVES to help with Toots. He likes getting to her after nap before me because he's figured out how to push the rocking chair over to the crib and then get her out. He only bonks her about half the time....which are odds that he finds completly acceptable. I think she must too because she never fusses when he comes to get her. ***He does wonderful school work, when he feels like finally doing it. He must have a fabulous imagination because he can sit in front of his work book for hours doing nothing....then when he decides to finish he just whips out great school work. I flipped thru some school eval books the other day at the library while the kids played and I think he's about 2nd or 3rd grade reading level and probably 2nd grade math. So, I'm counting this year of school a success! He's fallen in LOVE with the Billy and Blaze books. I got two from the library for him and he's read both of them every day since...must find some more in the series! He loves to read and is thrilled that he nows get quiet reading time instead of naps most days. He quite happily stays on his bed and reads for 2 hours.....I can say that he gets that from me!

Leah- She's my little princess....that just happens to also play in the mud and dirt. She will quickly let you know that she only likes to play with the little worms, not the big long ones like Joshua. ***She also is a little helper. This morning after breakfast, she cleaned all of the downstairs rooms so they would be ready for me to vacuum. I went upstairs to work on some laundry and heard her messing around in the kids bathroom. I walked down to find her cleaning it too. Now if I can just get her cooking, then I can almost retire, lol! ***She has a big scratch across her neck right now. She fell off of a friends slide last weekend. Poor baby. It is healing really well though, thank you Lord for Super Salve.

Hannah- Is a bouncing, busy, blond haired, blue eyed little charmer. She's growing quickly too. ***She has begun idolizing her Lala and follows her around all over the house playing. This morning while Leah cleaned in the bathroom, Hannah happily sat at her feet playing with the pony tail holders. I asked Hannah if she wanted to come back down with me and she said NO***which, btw, is her new favorite word, sigh. She sits and just says NO NO....NO NO LALA, NO NO BUBBA.....NO NO. We are working this week on her learning that that sentiment doesn't work for Mommy. ***She eats like a horse. Seriously, girl out eats me every meal and most of the rest of the family too. She wakes up saying, oatmeal?, breakfast?, Lunch??, EAT??***She calls Robert, Doe. It is pretty funny. The other kids have started calling us Doe and Moe and so she calls him Doe. It is so cute. If he is the one that puts her down for nap or if she knows he's home in the morning, she calls "DOOOOEEE" "DOOOOEEEE" and if he doesn't answer she's say, in a sassy little voice, "DOE, TOOTS!" He and I die laughing, every time.

We again attended the Medina Tax Day Tea Party today. It was really really wonderful. You want to know why? Every speaker, every single one of them that we got to hear, stood, literally, in the town square and talked about turning our country over to God again. I was BLOWN AWAY! Praise God for His name being proclaimed in the town square!! May He be praised and worshiped thru the actions of this current administration.
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In other news, I feel really fat. I'm heavier now than I've been non pregnant ever. For some reason, I am putting weight on. I'm not eating great, but not horrible either. I've actually reduced my overall calories a good bit since weaning Hannah. I'm working out, though sporadically. It just doesn't make alot of sense. I could understand if I wasn't losing right now, but putting weight on is making no sense at all. Guess I'm going to have to buckle down and cut out all of the bad stuff. This is pushing my limits here.

I am doing some intense cleansing right now. I did the Young Living 5 Day Nutritive Cleanse. Then, I immediately started a YL Liver cleanse support, Juvatone and two digestive enzymes to help with the lack of digestion that was creating my gout problem, Essentialzyme and Polyzyme. I've been doing that for a few weeks now and now I've added in a kidney and bladder support, K&B. It should take me another month to finish all of these ups and get back to just a maintenance level of the enzymes. Hopefully then, my liver and gall bladder will be healed enough not to cause me problems if the Lord blesses us with another arrow for our quiver.

I feel like I should post something here, but don't feel like there is much to post right now. Things are clicking along well, funny how that coincides with the BEAUTIFUL weather we've had the last week. We've had 5 record breaking temps already this month. We are LOVIN it!!!! The kids are getting an awesome base tan for the summer, although I am learning about the different skin of a blond haired blue eyed girl, than my two darker children. Gonna have to put sun block on Hannah often. She has ended up slightly burned every night....oops. The rest of us don't burn unless we are in full sun for a full day.

Robert has decided to join me in the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred program. He is dieing.....it's that good! Seriously, it is the best workout I've ever done. If you are a workout kind of Mama, or need to be, this thing will kick your tail into shape real fast. And hey, it is in your own home, so moan and whine away. You'll be glad you did it!

Trying to get our diets back in line with a healthy lifestyle. So much easier to do in the summer months with abundance of fresh produce and warm salad weather. I'm going to try soaking our oatmeal tonight instead of quick cooking it like normal. Also looking into more probiotic foods, on the list to try next is Miso soup.

HE IS RISEN!!!!!

Today we celebrate Resurrection Day, aka Easter. It is the celebration of the Messiah's resurrection from the tomb, conquering death and sin! For us, he made himself sin, who knew no sin to be sin. He was cursed, mocked, beaten, broken and hung on a cross. Three days later he rose again and showed himself to hundreds of people walking, talking and eating. He ascended to heaven and TODAY he sits at the right hand of God the father and intercedes for our sins. Our sins are forgiven, if we will confess them and accept his sacrifice for us on the cross. We are then a new creature and walk with him daily until he calls us home to be with him for eternity. If you don't know these truths in your heart, ponder them, read a bible, ask a friend. I'd love to talk to you about it. He changes life. He is life.

I am blessed.

Friday Kid Update

A little comparison picture from our recent visit to the Creation Museum. Amazing how fast the littles are growing up.

I'd love to post about all of the kids doings for the week, but we are too busy outside soaking up sun and 70 degree weather. So enjoy the pictures!

Hunkering down. It has been cold again. We even got an inch of snow last week, but it is gone. And the cold temps will be too starting tomorrow. Sunny and in the 60's even 70 one day thru Saturday. I am praying it will hold on thru Easter on Sunday but that isn't the forecast. Little flouncy easter dresses just look cuter in a sunny spring like day.

Friday Kid Update

Joshua- Can't stand for me to do the dishes. Seriously, it cracks me up. If I put away the silverware, guaranteed the next time he is in that drawer, he will be straightening every single piece. LOL! I LOVE IT! The other day he asked me to please not put away the silverware, he would do it so he didn't have to fix it later. Music to my ears!!! I, of course, told him that things can't always be his way and it is ok for things not to be perfect sometimes, but I'd let him fix them, this time. ;-) He has also fallen in love with Linking Logs.

Leah- Is becoming a little Mommy. She's beginning to build the beginning of her best lifetime friendship. Hannah fell down and bonked the other day.....nothing was hurt but her pride but she wanted me to snug snug with her. I was in an intense part of dinner and couldn't. Leah stood up from her toys across the room and held her arms out and said "Toots, snug snug?" Hannah ran over and snug snugged with her big sister and I melted into a puddle on the kitchen floor. Since then, Leah looks for chances to love and bond with her sister. They happily walk around the house together looking for babies or grocery carts or tutus or whatever, Leah is so sweet to her. They will be bestfriends for life.

Hannah- is finally growing. She is a chunky monkey right now. She's still very short but lately when I carry her on my hip, there is something there to hold. It is nice. She's been so petite and dainty all this time and it has just been weird to me since J and L were ummmm, not. Physically Hannah is really small, but Robert and I were just talking that mentally and independently she is so far ahead of where Joshua and Leah were. She isn't as verbally advanced as Joshua was but I think she is smarter. Or maybe it is just that she's baby #3 and so she thinks she is 3 or 5 years old already.

Since I ranted in my last post about people commenting on our familiy size, I thought I would share a great article from Above Rubies magazine this issue. By the way, their magazine is FREE, so if you like that article, you should get their magazine, it is a breath of fresh air for today's women!

In the newest issue of their magazine, their is an article about family trees. There are pictures that say alot more than I ever could on the issue of children. You can see the whole article at http://www.aboverubies.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=948:family-planning-family-trees-gods-weapon-for-victory&catid=35&Itemid=62

First is a picture of what we pray our family tree could end up looking like.

This is what our family tree could look like if we only had 4 children.

This is what the family tree of most American families will end up looking like unless the trends change.

Any questions?

Day 5 of my cleanse was yucky. I started the day off hungry and sad not to share a yummy family breakfast on a lazy Saturday at home. Since it was the last day, I really had no motivation to find the good. We ran errands and so I missed my morning snack and things went down hill from there. We headed to the mall about 5pm to find shirts for the boys for some spring pictures in DC in a few weeks and I started feeling AWFUL. Light headed and dizzy, lots of "I NEED SOME FOOD" signs. So, I told Robert I had to eat. He said he thought it wasn't really a big cleanse so eat whatever I wanted.....BAD IDEA. Lets say that I am well aquainted with the mall restrooms now. I got home and put tons of oils on and took some internally and started feeling much better. My sweetie and I snuggled up and I snacked on some cantalope....MUCH BETTER CHOICE and all was right with the world again. It was a pretty good movie too. No Greater Love, check it out if you are the movie viewing type.

Today was a low key, everybody gets to eat kinda day. We had a nice time at church and then went to Golden Corral. We always get comments about how well our kids eat, but especially there because we all eat a LARGE salad before anything else. Everyone oohs and aahs that our kids don't complain about salad. I think that is sad....that our  kids are so exceptional to eat salad or to eat what we give them without complaint.....ok, these people don't see all of the work that goes on at home, but anyway.

You know something else I get in public ALL THE TIME. I mean EVERY time I go out, especially without Robert. Something along these lines...
THREE, my, you are brave.
Are you crazy?
I don't know how you do it?
I'd never do something like that.
and so on and so forth, honestly, it happens so often that I am just mad about it. Seriously people. I have THREE kids. That is barely replacing my husband and myself in the world. Three. Please. And to be honest, it isn't that hard most days. Yes, it takes effort, but guess what, so does getting out of bed period. I think our standards and views are so stinkin warped, and I am sooooo sick of it. Really, get over yourselves for a bit, ok. Oh, and keep your judgemental nose out of my personal fertility,  k? (ok, I feel better now) I usually smile my nicest smile and say something like.
Better to have my hands full than empty.
They are a blessing.
It sure is fun.
Every once in a while, I'll be blessed by an older couple. Usually, the man says something like "we had little stair steps just like that" or "God bless you. Aren't they great?" with a big smile on his face. Thank the Lord for those little bits of encouragement. There certainly isn't alot of it around lately.

I just finished reading The Pacific. Deep stuff. I wonder if our boys in the military today are the class act that they were in WWII, I doubt it. I wonder how we can instill the same love of God and country in our sons. We will start with a study of the constitution soon, since it might not be around much longer....afterall, we live in a socialist country now. Sigh.

5 Day Cleanse- Day 4

As advertised, today was much easier until I made dinner. This morning was great, I even skipped my morning snack option. I won't say I felt like a million bucks, but I did feel good. Wasn't hungry or crampy or achy or had food cravings and hunger. I did get hungry towards dinner but I think that was from skipping the morning snack and eating the wrong afternoon snack, a fruit instead of the almonds, (must touch up chart reading skills before teaching Joshua). Then, I made the tortilla soup for small group tonight. It smelled sooo good, I wanted a big old bowl full. Then I fed Hannah and had to stop myself from popping chips into my mouth as I fed her, a bad habit of mine that needs to be broken. Somehow, I survived the soup, it even tried to lure me away while I was putting it away. I'm eating my apple like a good girl. Tomorrow is the last day and I'm glad. I want to eat, but I am glad I did this.

5 Day Cleanse- Day 3

As advertised on my handy little chart for this, day three was MUCH better than day two. Still a little hungry but 90% fewer cleansing symptoms. I did start to feel yuck this afternoon but that was because I fell behind on my water intake and some other contributing factors. They say day 4 should see the end of specific food cravings and an increase in energy. I hope so because I realized today that I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with the house this week and we have small group here tomorrow.

Monday night we went and celebrated Joshua finishing his first math book and his second phonics book. We've taken the rest of the week off from school except bible.

5 Day Cleanse- Day 2

Day 2 is supposed to be a hard day if you are heavy detoxing, and I am guessing that I am, I know I need to be heavy detoxing. My attitude right now is this if for the birds. I didn't realize how much clean up eating I do. If there is a little something leftover or just a small bag of cookies or something on the counter, I'll pop it in my mouth. I've been dieing to finish off a last piece of corn bread on the counter. Yesterday, I was a bit hungry but pretty good. Last night I had a craving for chocolate so bad I would have armed wrestled a gorilla for some. Today my cravings weren't as bad, I'm just hungry right before time for my next round of stuff, and I'm achy in my joints, and start to get a headache until I guzzle a glass of water, I'm pretty fatigued today and just generally blah. All sounds like signs of detox, but I was hoping for more exiting proof than body response proof, if you know what I mean. The detox poops thus far have not shown up.

Hannah officially weaned this weekend.....ok, with a little nudge from Mama. She's doing really well. I sat down in our rocker this morning. She stopped and looked at me for a while then very quietly said, "night night?" I said, "all done night night, your a big girl" So she walked over with big arms in the air to be picked up and said " snug snug" in a sad little mourning voice. So sweet.

That means that for the first time since Dec 2003, I am neither pregnant or nursing or both. WHO HOO! I know that this might not be a very long norm here so, I wanted to get down to business on my health. I immediately cut out meat. Today I started Young Living's 5 Day Nutritive Cleanse. By cleansing standards, it is not very hard since I love the products, but my body would go into major shock if I jumped into a big dramatic cleanse right now. My liver and gall bladder are as bad as ever. I have a feeling my thyroid is not doing well either since I've been packing on weight the last few months. I need to get my Iodoral going in my supplement regimen regularly again...I've backed off of it over the last six months or so.

Then, last week, I had a gout attack. I feel like a 80 year old woman. Thankfully I figured out what was going on pretty quickly. I put some oils on my foot to help with the intense pain but it didn't cut much off, which I found unusual until I realized it was gout and not muscle pain. So, I looked up a homeopathic remedy and pushed it thru pretty heavily. Within 6 hours I could bend my toe again and by that night the pain was gone. Praise God! I'm so grateful that He has given us herbs from His creation to heal us.

Doesn't that all sound like fun??

You asked for it...

Hannah wondering what all the hubbub is about.

All of the kids passing the time before we leave. I love when they play like this.

Hannah "helping" pack.

Joshua kept running by with the suitcase and the whizzing back by again and again. I finally figured out why when they stopped and Leah's head popped out. It was a blast. We all took turns!

Vacation Day 1 we spent driving down to Cinci, about 4 hours with a quick lunch stop. Sadly the DVD player in the van quit working so the kids had to rough it for the drive. Poor things.

Vacation Day 2 we headed to the Newport Aquarium. We are aquarium junkies and so if there is one near our destination, we will always put it on our agenda.

Hannah visited in style!

Frogs.

Everyone signing with the scuba diver in the tank.

Proof that I was there too and that I need to get serious about my eating habits again....anywhoo.

Speaking of eating habits, after the aquarium, we hit Johnnie Rockets.

We all loved the dance show by the wait staff.

Nope, no mini-me here. I don't know what ya'll are talking about.

Vacation Day 2

We visited the Creation Museum. Loved it all over again.

They are alot bigger this year than they were last. I'm hoping to have a comparison pic up soon.

Those dinosaurs are scary up close.

For the Frye Guys. This is what it looks like before all the snow melts. Remember our lovely picnic last year?

Relaxing in the garden of Eden.

Joshua hanging with Adam and Eve.

Story time.

We are from Texas, and so when we see a dinorsaur, of course, we saddle it and hop on for a ride!

Hannah wants to know what happened to just riding horses.

Ahhh, this is much better.

The Rest of Vacation

We spent at Great Wolf Lodge. We loved loved loved it. Can't wait to go back. Actually, Leah asks every day when we are going back. I had some problems getting my camera adjusted right, so most of these are awful quality shots, but they are the best I have and it is just too cool a place not to share pics.

Doing the Cub Club craft after the Wolf tour. We were the only family that did that tour so it was the Joshua and Leah show, they loved it!

Coats and boots GOOD BYE. Waterpark. Here we come!

Big waterpark, little girl.

Ready, set....

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Guys, this is what warm water feels like. See you can swim in it and it doesn't turn your lips blue.

You can do it...just a few more steps.

Leah has spotted her home for the rest of the trip. The SLIDES!!

Hannah decides to check out the scenery first.

Joshua lived for the basketball water court.

Hannah is pretty sure that this wet stuff is NOT safe!

Joshua and is friends, BBall 1 and BBall 2.

Yup, this stuff is great to look at.

The only thing better than basketball.....WAVE POOL!!!

Slow relaxing lazy river....nope, still not safe.

Everyone else loves it though.

Tree show and story time before bed.

Wylie came out for the bedtime story.

Alot of the kids come down in their pj's.

Leah does not do big scary over stuffed, over sized furry creatures.

This was the coolest floor ever. You can step on and chase these little balls around the image. Our kids would spend as long as we wanted here. So Robert and I would sit at a little table to the side and enjoy cheesecake and coffee.

CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK!!!! Saving our pennies now!