A fun pic

The two middle kids have been planning ever since last Sunday to make 'silly' hats and wear them to church for the 'silly hat' contest taking place this weekend during the Back to School Blast going on during the services. Here is a picture of the results from their work with Daddy.

When we got to church we did not see any other children with hats on their heads...besides a boy or two in a baseball cap. Our two quickly removed their hats...embarrassed, I think. It turns out Hailey misunderstood, and we never checked her info.The silly hat contest was for the teachers....but, everyone liked their hats, and Hailey said the kids and teachers kept wanting a demonstration of how hers works. So, they had fun anyway. I guess next time we'll know to call the church or check online before gathering supplies for hat-making.....

Beach Day...for some

Today is a beach day...at least for some of us. There was one who did not want to go, and that got me out of the mood to go, so I stayed home with Emma and 'the one'. We have gone through baby clothes to get ready for the new little one, found some much-needed hangers that were on the shelf in Emma's closet, washed a load of laundry, and packed some things in a box that don't belong to us and need to go back to the owner. Right now Emma is having a snack (me too!), then we'll play some...maybe out in her pool, we'll see. It is still very hot here, but I can feel a hint of a cool down. Instead of 96 every day it's been about 91. I know that isn't a whole lot but it actually makes a difference. It hasn't been as miserable to be pregnant during an entire Florida summer as I expected...maybe because I've been inside a lot.....but I am looking forward to the milder temperatures that are on our way. It's all down hill from here..yay!

My due date is October 26...I'm a bit over 31 weeks right now. Officially I have about 8.5 weeks left, but if I stay with my usual pattern I don't have more than 6.5 weeks....I've never made it past 38 weeks and that was only once. So we'll see what God has planned for this one. Honesty, sooner rather than later is better for me. Obviously I want the baby to make it to a good gestational age but once that happens I am ready....I love being pregnant, but it does get difficult to move around. I'm freezing everybody out of the house...they are always wrapped up in blankets around here. You would think we were still in NY! I have difficulty reaching my feet or even seeing past my belly to my feet! But it's all good....it's been a great pregnancy. I really could not have asked for anything better. We're just waiting until I get to my 35 week visit to have another ultrasound, the we'll have to begin making some decisions. My prayer is still that the baby will be a 'normal' size, not too large, and that she will make an appearance on her own before the 38 week mark. Once we get there is is MUCH more likely that we will have a c-section. I know many, many people do that and things go fine, I'm just nervous about it since I've never done that. There are pros and cons about each scenario....God will be there either way so I know I'm covered. ;) As always, prayers for us are coveted.

Another link

Here's a link to an article I stumbled upon today....

A link to an article I needed to read today....

Maybe it can be an encouragement to someone else, too.

Our Sunday

Since we go to the 9 a.m. church service each Sunday, we are usually home by about 10:45. This week, we decided to get our swimsuits on and head to the pool before lunch. Karl went with the three older kids on bikes so they could play a little basketball first, while I walked, bringing Emma in her wagon. It was hot out, and I move fairly slowly, but I still got there in about 15 minutes. (we have to walk all the way from the very back of the community to the front where the clubhouse is) The water felt great. I didn't stay in too long, getting out to bask in the sun a while. Everyone had fun, but we soon headed home for lunch....Daddy was hungry! After getting home and changing into dry clothing, I discovered I had a tan, just from the short walk and then just sitting in the sun I guess. Not a burn, a slight tan, so that was nice....I've been needing some color. We spent the rest of the day just hanging around the house.

A day of work...

Today, we had a 'work day' after breakfast. We had so many boxes in the garage, and no idea really what was in them, that we decided to go through them and throw things out, then consolidate the rest. We made quite a dent in them, and though there are still plenty of boxes out there we accomplished a great deal. We were able to load the truck with some things for Goodwill, and now it is easier to walk through the garage. We do still have to sort through a few boxes that say 'glass' or 'china' because we know there are some things we can get rid of and some we can't...planning to do that relatively soon. Logan and Hailey took turns watching Emma, switching every 30 minutes, while Karl and I worked. Corbin was in and out playing near us or inside with his siblings...some of the time Logan and Corbin had 'sword' fights in the driveway with empty wrapping paper tubes. ;) We spent the afternoon relaxing some....we were tired. And tonight we had our weekly date...a day early. Tomorrow...looking forward to church.

More disappointment...

Well, we looked at the house, bid on the house, then found out today that we did not get the house. Someone else made a better offer apparently, even though we offered $5,000 MORE than the list price....amazing! We are very frustrated with the entire process. We're considering various possibilities....just have to pray, and talk, and wait and see what happens I guess. It's very expensive down south, and our idea of 'affordable' has had to change. It seems quite outrageous to be honest. So, just asking that you all continue to pray that we will be able to discern what God would have us do here. Thanks so much!

The never-ending home search....

I kind of feel like I've been searching for a home for years now, since we've done it several times in the last few years....rentals and to buy. Today we are heading to Miami again to look at a few houses. We placed an offer on a home just Monday, but the owner had already accepted another offer so we lost out on that one. Yesterday Karl set up to look at houses today....then another one came on the market yesterday afternoon that is just like the one we bid on earlier in the week, same model and everything.....only better in some ways. The price is lower, it's pool is enclosed where as the other one wasn't, there is a trussed porch and the other had no covering at all....the inside is not as 'nice' but that doesn't matter so much. The kitchen cabinets are not as upgraded nor are the floors and other cabinetry in the house but who needs fancy anyway? ;) The pool looks large in the picture, but I guess we'll see today if the realtor was able to squeeze in a viewing...I haven't heard what the status is on that yet. Either way, we'll definitely be looking at it, even if it's not until the weekend or next week. It does have one bedroom less than the other one, but apparently the owners of the other house had added a 5th bedroom by enclosing a section of the master bedroom. It made a pretty small room, but that's probably what we would do, add on and have the two littlest girls share the smaller room. It would be closest to our bedroom too, which is good since they're the youngest. Anyway, that's all if we even like it the best and actually get it if we make an offer....lots of ifs. So, praying today that one of them will be what we need and that we can get this taken care of soon....it's getting close to baby time and we need to close on a house and be ready to move by the time the lease is up November 1....and I, of course, prefer to get it all done before baby is here because it will just be that much harder to do afterwards. Prayers are appreciated....

Random pics from our summer....

We don't have any of Logan it seems...guess he was never around when I pulled the camera out? Mostly of Emma, but then she's the one who's changed the most anyway. Enjoy...

Bee Stings and other things...

Friday, I went to Goodwill with Hailey to look around a bit. She lucked out. There were HUGE bags of stuffed animals they are just wanting to get rid of for $1.99. I let her buy one and she found two Webkinz inside...the kids all kept a few but the rest will be gotten rid of soon. I lucked out as well, finding a set of three shelving units for $40. They seem to be made well and fill a need we had. I have created a sort of 'reading center' in our play area...with an area rug, a chair-and-a-half, and the book shelves. Today I bought cloth bins on sale at Wal-mart and brought them home and placed toys and books inside. I think I may need to go buy a few more, but it already looks so much better. More organized and uniform, and the three younger kids love it. They can often be found sitting on the chair or on the rug playing or reading. Even the cats gravitate to it for naps, which is nice because it keeps them off the couches, which in turn means less cleaning overall for me!

We did not actually get to bring the shelves inside until Saturday evening, as it was raining when we got home Friday. Karl and Logan unloaded it all while Emma, Corbin, Hailey, and I looked on....necessary supervisors, ya know. When they had everything out, while still holding Emma, I reached up to close the back gate of the SUV. Emma jerked her leg, began to cry, and commenced rubbing the offended member. At first I thought I had somehow hit her leg with the gate, but I knew I hadn't. At that moment a neighbor stopped at the driveway....I know, crazy right, after months of no contact with neighbors!? She was asking how we'd been (Hailey is kind of friends with her daughter) and gave me one of those shopping cart covers...you know the cloth you put over the cart seat to pad it and keep baby from biting on the cart? Anyway, during this Emma had gotten quiet but she was still rubbing her thigh occasionally. As soon as the neighbor left we came inside and inspected her leg....She began to cry in earnest (I think more afraid we were going to make it hurt more rather than actual pain) and we were not surprised to find a welt on her leg...a definite bee sting. I put some vinegar on it and we kept her awake a bit longer to watch her, to make sure she had no adverse reactions to the sting. Poor baby, I have no idea how she got stung and I didn't. I never even saw the bee. It must have landed on me or her leg, and when I shifted my body to close the gate on the truck pressed her leg against it. She slept fine though, and the next morning there was barely a mark. So no worse for the wear....

I'm looking forward to getting the rest of the toys organized on the shelves and purging the house of the other things we've been using for storage...or maybe storing books, etc. that need to be put away in those now-empty bins. I am planning to rotate out some of the toys because we just don't have room for them all, and Emma doesn't play with everything all at once anyway. That way, I can change things out in a few months and it will be like new to her....plus we can (hopefully) have less clutter.

We finally got our school plan together too. Logan is using the 7th grade curriculum plan from Old Fashioned Education, a mostly independent program. Hailey and Corbin are now combined in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory, with some additional readings and questions for Hailey in reading, writing, science, and history to make it more challenging for her. They were each working at their own level in math already. This plan makes it easier on me to teach them and still have time for Emma and the baby once she arrives. Next year we will re-evaluate to see if we want to continue with this plan or find something else. I'm good with that...

Busy-ness

We're very busy here. Me, mostly trying to make a decision about our school year, what we'll be studying, etc. Stressing a bit about that....

The kids are doing the basics, as they have been most of the summer.....math, English, some spelling and handwriting, and reading a lot. The older two have also been using our typing program and seem to really like it. They have also been writing on their blogs more, though not a lot.

We're also trying to narrow down our home search, which is proving difficult. We have found a few we like, but they don't have pools. I know we can survive without that, it's not really a necessity, but we all really would like to have one. It's just so hot here, and it will be even more so further south. So, we're still looking.....praying we'll come across the right home very soon.

That's about it...keep us in your prayers please, as things are busy and getting busier for Karl with work and of course the not-too-distant arrival of the newest baby, plus our move....a bit overwhelming at times. Thanks a bunch!

An encouraging verse...

A verse to remind and encourage me.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything... then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. Phil. 4:6-7

Something I need to focus on now and over the next few months.

Our Family Christmas Photo....

Well, I've made promises for so long I'm sure everyone has given up, but finally I am posting our family photo from last Christmas. It's not the best photo, but it is the best we could get. Enjoy.