Ridge The Sweetheart

He really is the sweetest child. He doesn't even know how to get mad and yell. He doesn't throw fits. I get comments about him all the time from family, friends, acquaintances, and strangers, because he is precious by nature. Tonight he asked me to wrestle him and we giggled and laughed and wrestled together. He is always a good time and amazingly compliant. Sometimes he likes to point his bottom to the camera, but this time he gave me his sweet personality. We treasure him. 

Six Chairs Full

Lark has broken all the baby rules. His birthweight was a foreshadow for his life. Breaking the average 10 pound family average, he blew us all away at 12 pounds. He will not be little, no way! It has continued on since then.

His new thing is eating in a chair. He started this thing where he cried SO HARD at dinner. Being the baby, I had no problem pulling him out of the high chair and eating dinner with him in my lap. Something that I NEVER did with the older three. That's called 4th child perk. Anyways, we finally realized that he was crying because he didn't want to be in the highchair. 

The highchair is no more! His first meal in a chair caused quit the excitement. I remember it was one of our favorite meals of greens, pintos, and pickled okra. He sat there with his chin at table level and inhaled his food. 

The first few days of this were very rowdy. He thought he was big stuff and free as a bird. We thought he was hilarious and precious. Things have calmed down and this has become our new norm. 

Here we are! Finally filling all the chairs around the table. It's another normal thing that I want to celebrate and remember. We're a full family of six, filling the chairs, and filling the table. Dinnertime is such a rowdy good time!

Summer Break Blues

The Summer Break Blues is spreading through the whole house right now. We are all missing those slow, long, lazy days. We've been in school for two weeks, and I have to say that the hustle is a HUSTLE. We're back in our groove, but we all miss alarm-less mornings and getting ready whenever we want. Duh. 



I would like to make note of one sweet thing that has happened in our new routine. Burl has become quite the eager helper. Right now Ridge and Burl are sharing the upstairs bedroom, and they aren't allowed to come downstairs until the alarm goes off. Since Ridge is usually up the earliest, Burl plays with him/dresses him/takes him to the bathroom/and keeps him upstairs until it's time to come down. Burl even helps with breakfast. Just this morning he heated up leftover pancakes, and got the babies' plates ready first. He even cuts them into pieces! We tell him that we don't know any other eight year old boy that helps with babies so much!

Now, back to the Summer Break Blues. Friends have asked me how my Summer went. To be honest, I don't know. It was average. It was simple and special and exactly how I wanted (well I would have liked more time). These pictures are from the last two weeks of our break. We lingered in the yard after dinner, made fun drinks and let the kids help, and finally started aggressively attacking our master bathroom remodel. 

We each had our special time outside which is typical of how we like to spend our time. John and Burl threw the frisbee, Ridge played trucks in a small pile of dirt that he found, Fern rode her scooter, Lark pushed the mower, and I was even able to read a little between picture taking! Nights like that one take a lot of work to protect. We're constantly pushing against over-scheduling so we have enough margin to linger in the same place together. It's a good week if we get family yard time every day. 

And here we are. Trying to catch our breath and be ourselves in the midst of our changing schedule. I will say that one perk of school is having the babies all to myself. I'm available for much more snuggles, book reading, and kisses. More on that later!

Have a great living in changing seasons!

First & Third

We are back to school! I have a million thoughts running through my head about school starting again! I'm trying to keep this post simple, because I don't have enough whits about me to say something comprehensive. These sweet pictures are stirring up all the adoring feelings that I have for these four. Here, I'll try to say some things...

Our whole house was sad to see Summer vacation go, but Burl and Fern were excited about their school family. Truthfully, I don't like the hustle and the schedule, but school gives my kids an outlet and opportunity for so much more than we can offer. Burl has already told us in detail about mapping, robotics, and compasses. Fern took a book to school and asked to read it to the class-Three Little Pigs, and she did voices! This was only the first two days!

Ridge, "I showed my bottom in dat picture." 

I keep looking over these pictures and thinking, "I JUST love them so much." Then, I think about the specific ways that I am proud and amazed at them. 

Burl, his third grade goofiness is right on track and we can make him laugh until his neck veins pop out with a simple poopoo joke. He's always jumping around, moving, making noises, and getting in our personal space. But, he's our fun leader and kind to his siblings and eager to help. 

There was a time in Fern's life when we weren't sure that Fern was going to make it through a whole school day because of her shyness. That's until she started preschool then actual school. She has fully blossomed into a leader in her classroom and a sponge of learning (her teacher's words, not mine). It's amazing to see her explode with personality.  

Here I am. I'm another proud, doting mom who wonders how she can love her children so much? I'm so proud of them. I love these pictures and the good morning we had. I'm patting myself on the bargain I had with them-If you don't fuss and let me take pictures of you, we will go to the bakery after school. The hustle continues.