The house as of Sunday 9/27

The pictures do not do them justice.


My doors... oh the doors! I am in LOVE with the 2 doors you see here. I didn't want a run-of-the-mill door for my current front door and entry door at the top of the stairs but I was resigned to just buy one from Home Depot(or cheapo as some would say) because I didn't think a nice door would be in our budget. However, we found a surplus store that has tons and tons of amazing doors that were already reduced hugely and then they have been having a 50% off sale for this month. It actually ended up being cheaper than going to Home Depot and these are really nice doors! The front door is really my favorite and I was sold on it the moment I saw it. The outside will be painted black to contrast the white siding and also go with the black shutters that we will put up(um, do you know how silly expensive non-vinyl shutters are? Almost as much as the windows! It's insane).




The siding on the back side is the same height as you see here but it looks like a lot more because there aren't all the "gaps". However, I didn't take pictures of that so you will have to wait till I remember the camera again.

Enjoying the weather

Watching a bluebird in the tree make lots and lots of noise.




Since fall does not look to be coming anytime soon I am letting the kids enjoy the outdoors for as long as they can. Their absolute favorite thing to do is to eat lunch outside. I don't join them so that they can feel all grown up(so they say) and I love to sit at the window and listen to what they are talking about. It is so interesting to listen to little one's and what they think is important.



This was taken Sunday through the screen under cover:) I thought they looked so cute laying all together like that. They were talking about the bees that kept landing on their food and how annoying they were.

Update on Justus

I am SO sorry that I forgot to update on Justus. I guess no news is good news, right? Well... he does have a murmur that can be heard BUT it is an innocent heart murmur which is completely harmless. God is good! One less thing for this Mama to have to worry about!

Praying Mantis

or the "green husband eating thing" as the kids call it.

We have found a few of these in our front yard this summer and the kids are fascinated by them. They sat and watched this one on our patio table for an hour and asked all sorts of great questions. This, to me, is homeschooling at it's finest. We were able to research the Mantis online and learn lots of neat facts about them. Later on that afternoon we found another one about a foot away from this one that looked a bit different cause it was against our brown siding(mantis' are master's of camouflage) and the kids began to yell at it, "Go away! She is going to eat you after you mate!" It was pretty funny. Malakai asks, "Mommy, you're not going to eat Daddy, are you?" Silly boy!

Today

Today is Justus' cardiologist appointment. Pray that he will hear NOTHING wrong and we won't even have to do the EKG. I will update this evening when I get home if I can.

Fall is nowhere in sight

September is my favorite month. It begins to get cooler but is still warm enough to leave the windows open during the day. The air has this amazing smell to it no matter if you are at the ocean or in the forest. It is obvious that fall is coming. About 2 weeks ago I was sure fall was arriving but now it seems to be nowhere in sight with the temperatures reaching into the 100's down the hill and in the high 80's up here in the mountains. I am wishing heartily that fall just got the memo a little late and this will be the last week of these hot temperatures. Maybe by next week she will decide it's time to cool down at last?

Kelly and Justus

(This is Justus' I-don't-want-you-to-take-my-picture-cause-I-want-to-go-and-play face)


I just remembered last night that I haven't told you all the WONDERFUL news about my brother Kelly! He had his PT Scan done a few weeks ago and got back the results last week( I think?). Basically, there is not one single spot of worry or concern in his whole body and he is completely cancer free! Also, he has accepted a job in Texas and will be leaving sometime later this year. It was a BIG decision for he and his wife but one that the rest of the family fully supported him on. I can't wait to go visit them along with my friend Ginger whom I have never met in real life. Ginger has also adopted from Liberia and has a large family (that will get larger in a few months!)

In Justus news...
You may or may not know that he has battled with severe eczema since he was 3 months old. It has been a LONG road of frustration and trying anything and everything someone told us too. Nothing has worked. His skin cleared up(from the open wounds) dramatically once we took him off of dairy but he continues to scratch incessantly almost all the time. For the last year and a half we have tried to get him tested for allergies but our previous doctor would not write us a referral because of his age. Now that we have moved we were able to get that referral, yippee! His ped did order a blood allergy panel to be done and it came back that he was allergic to most things(wheat, peanuts, walnuts, shell fish, soy, corn, milk). Right now we are transitioning him to an all rice, veggie and fruit diet. It has been hard on the little guy and we haven't seen a change in his skin at all so I am anxious about getting that appointment soon(I'm suspecting he may also be allergic to the tomatoes he so passionately loves).
Also, as the doctor was doing her normal things with him she listened to his heart and listened and listened and listened. By 10 minutes I was getting a bit nervous about why she kept moving him around and listening again. Basically, she hears a heart murmur and was surprised that he has not been diagnosed with one before as he is almost 2 years old. We have a cardiologist appointment, with the same doc who saw Isaiah, on Friday. We are trying very hard not to worry about things until we know for sure as the ped said she could be wrong but that she wanted us to follow it up just in case(I really love this new doc).
Honestly, I am pretty P.O.ed at our old doctor right now(who I really liked at the time). When we suspected Isaiah of having an arythmia she blew it off saying she knew best and she didn't hear anything(even I could hear that something wasn't right!). Turns out he does have one, even though it's nothing to worry about. I am wondering if it is something she missed because of her high and mighty attitude and her rushing to get you out of there. I am very happy with our new doctor who spent 45 minutes with me, answering questions and really listening to my concerns. Also, he is really underweight for his age and she is thinking it could be related to a heart condition. She is saying it could be "failure to thrive" but won't go there until we get more answers and she gets his past records. Prayers would be much appreciated.

Windows and teeth

On Friday, Jonah and I took the kids over to see the newly installed windows put in the house. For some reason it was really emotional for me and I almost(read: almost) started crying. My husband is amazing, let me tell you! He has worked tirelessly on this house after coming home from a grueling 72 hour shift every week at his "real" job and very rarely will take a rest. He is usually making phone calls once he gets home from working on the house until 9 pm and then is doing research and things until bed time. He is the hardest working man I know and I am so blessed to call him my husband!











On the other front, Alana has a very large "window" in her mouth. Today, she let Sarah pull out her 2nd front tooth and is now very adorable and very toothless. I really love seeing a little kid with a huge gap in their teeth because I think it is so cute!

Just so you know, I took numerous pictures and they were ALL this bad;) Alana needs some picture taking lessons.


This is Alana's normal way of taking pictures with her eyes half closed. She takes after her Uncle Knucklehead that way(my brother Chas).


Here is Alana when I told her to close her eyes till I counted to 3 and then open them slowly. They shot open super fast and this was the picture we got.

Blog slacker

I know, I know. I confess that I am a blog slacker, big time. This whole building a house thing, homeschooling 4 kids, taking care of 2 little one's, cooking, cleaning, baking, organizing, shopping, etc. takes a lot of time and energy. Usually, I can find the time to blog and I still can but don't have the will to write things right now. So, I will try to blog when I feel like it and have something blog-worthy but for now all I can ask is for some blog stalker grace. There will be a time when I will start up again daily but for now, you're gonna have to take what you get. ;)

Loosing teeth

Look at Justus at the bottom of the picture. :)



This is big stuff!



Sarah seems to be our resident tooth puller. I am such a wussy that I can't even wiggle a super loose tooth on my kiddos. I know, it's silly. So, Sarah has taken up pulling the teeth around here and it's amazing that they actually let her! This week Isaiah and Alana lost a tooth on the same day. Isaiah lost his first and Alana lost her 3rd. Isaiah's speech has definitely changed since this recent phenomenon and it is really funny when he tries and tries to say a certain word and then says, "I just can't say it!"

And, if you are wondering about Isaiah and loosing his teeth? It seems that the dentist was all wrong saying he would loose his top 2 first. In fact, his adult tooth was half way through before the baby one got pulled and his other bottom tooth is loose too. So, seems like he is around the 6 years old that we thought! Not a big deal, just interesting.



If you look really close you can see her tooth turned around and facing up. SO GROSS!


Isaiah was very happy with the quarter I gave him for loosing his first tooth.

This week in building

Our roof shingles are beginning to go on today. They will be done by Saturday! Our sheering inspection happens this afternoon, pray that we pass! We have passed all our inspections thus far but this is definitely the hardest one. We also have some things that the contractor who is helping us is worried about so we aren't sure we will pass at all. Jonah is buying the Tyvex to wrap the house. If we pass the inspection that will go on this week, our windows will go in this week and the siding will be delivered on Monday. By the end of next week the house will actually look like a house! Minus a front door and garage doors though. We have to order those this week. Then, we will be all ready to go for winter! Exciting times!

Simplicity

I am longing for simplicity in my life but am struggling for what that might look like. When we moved here to our current 1400 sq. ft. home we got rid of massive amount's of "Stuff" from our very large house. We felt good about it and I looked forward to living more simply with less things. However, here I sit in this 1400 sq. ft. house and find myself overwhelmed at the amount of "stuff" we have in it(not to mention in the garage)! I am eagerly desiring to pare down things that aren't necessary just because I think we may need it someday. One of those places are the kids toys. As I watch them over and over and over again play with the same things (blocks, Lego's, train set and Lincoln logs) I wonder why we have our tiny house stuffed with the rest of these things that they hardly play with. We purged their toys to the point that I almost felt bad about how many I had gotten rid of and now I am seriously considering getting rid of a LOT more.





Another area is clothes. Oh my do we have a TON of clothes! We have been blessed beyond belief with hand-me down clothes(for the little boys) so that I usually only have to buy for the big boy's and some for Sarah. My mom also buys the kids things often, which adds to their wardrobe. What I would "like" to do is keep the kids closet more simple for the season though. Why do they need a choice of 40 different things? Why not 10? We spend most of our time at home(or at the new house) and I have always tried to seperate the kids' clothes into "play" clothes and "outting" clothes. There just isn't enough room and when we move into our "little wood house" (as the kids call it) it will be even tighter.



So, what simplicity things would you suggest for me? How do you simplify your life and home?

Sickies

So far 6 of us are down with the sickies. We are loading up on raw garlic, raw honey, vitamin C and GSE but so far there are 3 with fevers and 6 with nasty coughs. Only Justus and Sarah are not sick. So much for starting school this week I guess. We are only a day behind with the triplets and Sarah is still on track since she is still well. Everyone is laying around doing practically nothing. I am praying the baby and Sarah do not get sick and the rest of us will recover quickly!