Seth is better today.  Now I am sick with a bad cold, and so is Ethan.  We both started getting it yesterday and today Jacob, Grace, and Rich have the early symptoms.  It’s just one of those things ….. I had to cancel an exciting play date, an important dentist appointment, and wonderful art lessons because of the bug going through the family.  Then, we were out of milk so I decided to buzz downtown quick to get some and would you believe my battery was stone-cold dead?  If it had been a regular healthy day we would have happily gotten ready to go and then stood in the driveway together, crying hysterically in disappointment over it. 

We had a nice day of schooling, and blowing our noses, and getting Seth out of mischief….Sarah is crawling like a pro now.  We have wooden floors throughout the main floor and it’s so cute to hear her hands slap-pat-pat-pat as she travels.  I’ve had to start digging things out of her mouth–she particularly loves wood pellets and legos.

I thought I would post some random family pictures from the last few weeks.  I’m starting to feel better about blogging.  For a few days I wondered if I was all done with it, I felt like there was nothing left to say.  I’ve blogged for 5 years now!  But with the amount of people living under our roof, I suppose there is bound to be inspiration and plenty to talk about….

My mom was born less than a year after her big brother and there is the cutest picture of the two of them having their bath together in the kitchen sink.  I can see it in my mind…SO darling…a black and white photo of smiling roly poly babies.  I thought of that picture when I stuck Seth and Sarah in my kitchen sink two weeks ago.  Oh it was so fun to let them splash, play, and laugh together.

Sarah Joy

Seth William

Ethan Gregory

Yours truly, with Caleb James

Sarah started pulling herself up 2 weeks ago.  Guess where she did it first?  At the library!  It was so exciting.  I sat her down on the floor at the play area, Caleb and Seth were playing right next to her at the low train table.  I stepped over to pick out a couple books and when I turned back she was standing straight up holding onto the table!  I squealed, “Who put her like that?” and quizzed all the children and they all said they didn’t do it.  Then I grabbed my cell phone and got a picture of it. 

This one was taken one of the first time she did it here at home.  And now she pulls herself up all the time. 

This is one of my favorite pictures…a candid, unplanned (like most of my pictures happen), of Jacob and his baby sister.

Jacob is so tall and lean….this past Sunday he didn’t have church pants clean so he borrowed a pair OF HIS DAD’S!  They were a tad too big around the waist but the length was perfect. 

Here’s another version of the same picture…and Sarah is sucking her thumb here.  She does that now and then.

And here are some pictures of my husband launching his boys through the air.  I took a gazillion of these but I’ll just share a few of Seth getting a turn.  We were all laughing so much and the boys NEVER EVER wanted him to stop.

I am pleased to report that we have been playing with the same play-doh for a YEAR.  All thanks to the big tubs.

David played with it yesterday and made this fabulous castle.

And Jacob designed a bridge.

I have made it a habit to thoughtfully (*snicker-snicker*) arrange a nice hour or so of quiet time every afternoon….everyone in the house is required to go away and be quiet.  It is so ingrained into our lives that the children sometimes request it before I’m even ready!  Since the four older boys share a room I have found that it is best to bring the little ones up nearer to me, so I can make sure they behave. 

I was on the couch yesterday, with sick Seth on one end, and this handsome boy on the other end.  We three were all being quiet together.

A few minutes later he was fast asleep. 

These last three pictures were taken this evening.  Seth is feeling better which means he was all over the place trying my patience while I was making dinner.  I finally had Jacob buckle him in his high chair and I thought I was brilliant for giving Sethie some water to wash his cars.  I remember years ago, little Jacob washing his cars for LONG periods of time, it kept him nice and busy.

Not so with Seth.  I had just enough time to take a picture…and then he was done with washing thank you very much.

So then my next brilliant idea was to let him play with dry beans.  I got the bag from the cupboard, not realizing that it was opened and I dumped some.  My wonderful Christian Mama used to playfully “swear” using the word “BEANS!” when I was growing up so I took the golden opportunity to say the same thing when I was dumping them all over.  “OH BEANS!”  The kids laughed.

Seth played with beans a little longer than he did with the water and cars.  He used a small spoon to scoop some beans up and put them into a cup.

It lasted maybe, MAYBE 10 minutes.  Perhaps less.  I don’t know what to do with him.  I asked the children what they liked to do when they were his age but they all didn’t know—they couldn’t remember.

This evening Rich got home in time to eat with us and that put me in such a jolly mood.  I love it when we are all together for dinner.  I was so glad that I even made dinner…I almost went with leftovers because I was not feeling well.  But when he got home I had spaghetti (with homemade sauce) finishing up on the stove and we all sat down and I felt so happy to look around the table.  It was the very first time Seth and Sarah were both sitting in their own seats.  Sarah was in the high chair and Seth was in the tall chair.  I sat between them and helping them both along in their meal was almost like juggling! 

I hopped up to take this picture.

Rich is outside charging the battery up on my vehicle.  Caleb is trying to peel his own orange.  Ethan is reading, Sarah is sitting on the floor eating a sheet of paper, and Seth is in bed.  It’s been a lovely day.  I hope yours was, too.

PS.  As I was proof-reading this Rich came downstairs!  I was completely shocked.  For an entire hour I was sitting here blogging, passing the time away while he was “outside charging my battery”.  And all that time he was upstairs charging his own battery!!…he fell asleep in Seth’s room when he put him to bed!!!!  He took an hour long nap!

After we arrived at our hotel on February 13th, and settled in, we took Sarah outside and sat her down.

I was ready with the camera to document her first glimpses of sand and ocean.   She was so cute.

First she looked one way.

Then she looked the other way.

Down.

Mama.

Mama?

That was that.  She looked unsure so I scooped her up and we went on a walk.  The next morning, I sat her down she had thought about it a lot and decided that she hated the beach.

For the remainder of our visit (until one last try right before we left), she stiffened, flailed out her arms, opened her hands, and wailed every time I put her down on the beach.  Even if I spread out a blanket, she was scared.  Was it the sound of the waves crashing?  It can be sort of scary sounding if you aren’t used to it, I suppose.

(By the way, on the 14th, she did wear her Valentine’s Day dress that I had made her.  I had found a pair of red knit capris, with bows on them and also a short sleeved sweater, to match.)  She was our pretty Valentine’s baby, even when she had her I*hate*this*dirty*sand melt-down.

We didn’t torture her.  It was nice, actually, to hold her in my arms by the seaside.  She was so content and quiet there.

I’ve blogged on my birthday for a few years now, so I don’t want to miss this one!

It’s sure been nice, so far.  Rich took me and the children to (guess?) Crackerbarrel for breakfast this morning.   It was fun for us and the man who sat at the table next to ours.  Apparently he was the type to be amused at the antics of large families; Grace reading her book through EVERY distraction, Seth picking up his plate and handing it to Ethan when he was all done, Caleb getting one last spoonful of hot chocolate (and dribbling it across his chair) before getting up to go to the bathroom, Rich and Jacob’s friendly competition over the peg game, David crying out “BACON IS FROM PIGS!”, and everything else said and done.

After breakfast, guess what?

I got a picture of a robin!

It, along with it’s brothers and sisters, and a bunch of cedar wax-wings, was gorging itself on tree berries.  They were a delight to see.  They made us think of spring, even on this very, very (very) cold day in February.

Sarah sat up like a big girl, in a high chair, at breakfast.  She ate bits of pancakes fed to her from the tippy end of my fork, gently.

She was exhausted by the end of the event, and fell promptly asleep when we were driving away.

All softy pink.

Rich picked up a pretty birthday cake for me from the wonderful Publick House bakery.

Now that we are back home, we are getting prepared for *****guess again?!?!*****vacation in NAPLES, Florida!  I hope the sun is shining, I hope it is shining HOT, I hope the sky is blue and the SUN IS SHINING and I hope to lay and SOAK the bright yellow/orange HEAT into my pale, dry, wintery, depressed SKIN.  Tomorrow at this time, Lord willing, we will be there (at the beach, hearing the waves, in the SUN!).  Rich and I are, of course, taking baby Sarah with us, as I am still nursing her and could not ever leave her behind at this age.  We delight in taking along our babies, anyway.  The other six will be home, here with their Grandma.  I can’t tell you how many times I had to explain exactly WHEN she was coming; “No, not today, Saturday NIGHT, actually YOU won’t see her until SUNDAY MORNING, when you wake up!  Let me show you on the calendar even though you still won’t quite understand …. and next time, my dear, I will not TELL you she’s coming until she’s pulling IN the driveway!  I know.  You are SO excited.  We ALL are!”

And somehow, using my womanly persuasive arts, I convinced my darling husband to leave it (work) all behind.  Namely, the blackberry.  Really?  A REAL vacation? 

I am aching-happy in my heart, thinking about the wonderful life GOD has blessed me with. 

I don’t deserve a single good day, yet He has given me 35 good years.

Now someone tell me.  Am I this tired because I’m a mama of seven?  Or is it because I’m so old now? 

The sun is shining today and what I see through my windows is so pretty.  Everything is coated with a crystal clear casing of ice.  The trees are glimmering as they sway gently in the wind.  There is enough warmth, now, to make things drip a little, but this morning when I went out it was hard and cold.  So much so, that I could hear everything sharply and easily, as the many sounds bounced off hard surfaces.  The sounds were strange, too.  Once, I looked up searching, and saw the ice-covered leaves softly hitting into each other.  I heard a bird peeping in a pine tree and I studied it until I recognized a cardinal hopping from branch to branch, coming back to life as the sun came up.  I heard sounds like little animals scurrying about, but I did not see any.

I am taking deep breaths as I sit here.

My life is full.

As I perform one motherly duty, there are 4, 5, or 6 others developing around me at the same time. 

I walk away from feeding Sarah her carrots, because someone needs me, and when I get back to her I find Seth feeding her.

I have 5 children working on school papers at once.

Hungry and thirsty.

A dog who steals food from the kitchen and tries to run out the door every time it opens.

A husband to care for, who needs me.

A toddler who sits on his sister any chance he gets, even though he loves her so much.

Loves her so much that he goes off to find her if she’s tucked away somewhere, napping.  “Baby!  Baby!” he says, as she wakes up too early from her nap.  (again).

Little boys who need training.

Bigger boys and a bigger girl, who need a listening ear, and motherly council.

And my own self to take care of; spiritually thirsty, hungry, and not feeling very bright or attractive.

I’m tired.

So I’m taking a little break from blogging and internet.

I know I don’t even have to say a word.  I could slip away and slip back, and my friends would still be here.

Friends need no explanations, because we love each other no matter what.

But I just wanted to let you know.

I’m praying for everyone—

and I need lots of God’s mercy and grace and strength, too.

Sarah Joy looked so bright and cheerful this morning as she played.

I put her baby-doll up like that so she would try to reach her.

But then she noticed Ethan coming downstairs and started to smile big, for him.

Then she saw me sitting on the floor, and starting crawling.

Later on, I was helping Caleb with his numbers worksheet and in came Grace, with her baby sister.

“Mom!  She needs you!”

So Caleb’s paper still remains, only half done.

But I got to visit a little with my girls, and I got a few snapshots.

And Seth has kicked lil’ Sarah one too many times just now….so I really must be flying.

My babies need me.

See you soon, dear ones!

Just had to share one more picture from the day.  Seth was so precious as we sang Happy Birthday to him.  He sang right along with us and then we taught him how to blow out his candles.  We clapped and clapped and then ate our wonderful cake—(a white cake mix with homemade frosting).  I frosted it to look like a basketball.  I also made cupcakes, each one with an S piped on it (my personal favorite initial, anyway).

Then we did math.  We figured out that since Rich and I were married, I have served cake and performed birthday celebrations for 67 birthdays.

I am overwhelmed with thankfulness, for God’s rich blessings.  (One of which is the much needed energy He has given me, to be a mom). 

This handsome little whippersnapper got the perfect gift from his Papa.  A basketball hoop just his size. 

Jacob and Ethan put it together for him first thing this morning and he has been in his room playing with Davy, ever since.

The movements and excitement are hard to photograph. 

I made them both sit down, just for a moment.

Aren’t they so cute?  After the pictures I even got to shoot a couple baskets, myself.

Happy Birthday Sethie!  Mama loves you more than words can say.