New Project

Joe has this week off so we have made every effort to not be bored...

First: Joe removed the walkway to the house. We are going to put pavers in, a lovely English cobblestone feel.
Second: Joe started to remove the driveway. Next week we will have the cement poured.

Here is a picture of some of the rock and dirt that will go beneath the pavers.There is no end to the diligent workers who are always ready to give a hand! ;) More accurate: some of us would preferr the sand and gravel to become the permanent landscaping. :)

Halloween Pictures

We had a great time dressing up and meeting/talking with neighbors that we normally don't get to. Here are a few pictures of the day: The children each carved a pumpkin, Jonathan did his entirely on his own!

Queen Elizabeth
The Dragon.


Parrot Abbie

Squanto Jon Joe

Update

I have not listened to any news this morning. I just came in the house and from our driveway you can see a wall of flames that must be Poway. In the back yard, over the fence, far to the south you can see what looks like enormous flames, but I suspect that it must be exhagerated due to the smoke. It looks very errie. It must be Chula Vista. To the southwest you can see the hillsoutlined by fire. I am very sad for the people who lost their homes.

Fire!

Nearly four years ago we had the terrible fire, called the "Cedar Fire" which burned down many homes, including the home I grew up in. Sadly, there is another terrifying situation with fires surrounding our San Diego county area. We got a call at 5:00 this morning from our next door neighbor's son, who lives in Escondido asking if we could take his mother-in-law with us if we were evacuated, they had just received the reverse 911 call and were trying to make it to our area. Joe's family lives in Escondido, so we started our day in panic mode.

Tonight, we have my dad and mom and Emilie, Ryan, David, Gannon, and Bonnie sleeping in our home. Deja vu.

At this point it doesn't look like the fire is close to Crest, however, the winds were extreme when our family left to come down here.

We have had two unique times to speak with two different neighbors about the Lord, which has been very special. Crisis brings out our mortality and our need for meaning and purpose.

Pictures

I am so disappointed. I have not been able to down load any pictures for a while. I don't understand why. :( My camera says: initializing connection, but then nothing happens. I have some special pictures. Maybe I can use word pictures to describe the physical characteristics of my family.

Elizabeth has more flaming red hair everyday. Mom always talked about Colin having hair the same color as pumpkins. That is the exact hue of Lizzie's hair. She has two darling teeth on the bottom with four teeth on the top and two more on the bottom coming through now! She is always laughing and giggling and twinkling. She loves people more than toys. Her eyes are turning a chocolate brown. She has the most precious dimples in her fingers and elbows! :)

Thomas is blond, eager, and exact. He is all two--terribly terrific! ;) Sometimes he can be frustratingly exact about some detail that I can't figure out. He is delightfully snugly and talkative. He loves to make everyone laugh. He has the biggest eyes that notice all details. He lives most of his life in straight lines.

Abigail is looking all little girl now. There is not even a hint of her toddler days left. Her arms and legs are so long and thin, very graceful and feminine. Her hair is still baby soft but growing longer. She and Lizzie both have beautiful, dark eyelashes. She is can be very tender and sensitive with her interactions.

Jonathan is tall, thin, and eager. He is such a good biggest brother. He has blond hair and big hazel eyes. He is a delight to talk with and has the most interesting inventions he has been creating this week.

A few fun and useful tips!

As we are finding ourselves always in the fast lane I am always on the lookout for ways to make our path as clear as possible (cleanliness-wise). Thomas is in a stage where he is always changing--he can change five times in an hour! Abigail is the most attentive mother and always has her stroller LOADED with dolls, stuffed animals and all the paraphernalia that is necessary for their health and well being. Elizabeth is always searching for anything to dump out and taste. Jonathan is always building things with legos, duplos, connex... The combination of these four very unique and persistent personalities is often...chaos. So, here are a few things that we've been doing to try to maintain some semblance of order:

1). I printed out clip art pictures that represent each chore that needs to be done in each room (a picture of a dresser, a boy clearing off the table, duplos, rocks, a proper place setting on the table....) Each child is given a card as their chore for that time. We have really been enjoying this as it sets a specific area that the child is responsible for rather than "It's time to clean up."

2). Jonathan and I have been doing an "extra chore" every day. Jonathan is a very detailed person and loves to tackle a small area, he is very overwhelmed by a large area (just like his mom!) So he has cleaned the pots and pans drawer under the oven, the bottom shelf in the fridge, under the kitchen table pedestal, under a wire book shelf in the kitchen, the silverware drawer... His diligent work has added such delight to my life by having these little areas glow.
Also, Abigail is pretty thorough with her scrubbing fingerprints, so I've been giving her a quarter of a Mr. Clean eraser and giving her one area that needs to be cleaned. I like the Mr. Clean eraser because then I don't send her off with a squirt bottle full of cleaner. Wonderful!


3). I've been working on establishing routines that are do-able for those hard to get to but vitally important for our health and well-being areas. For our bathtubs I purchased the cheapest shampoo and everytime I take a shower I lather a washcloth with just the shampoo and clean the walls. It works so well because it cuts grease so well. Abigail is my little helper in all things clean and she usually takes a shower/bath in the other bathroom, so that covers the tubs. Also, cleaning out the car! We have been stopping on the way home from violin every Thursday and vacuuming the car. This past week I got out some baby wipes and asked Abigail if she would like to wipe the dust off the dashboard. She was excited so off she went. Jonathan was vacuuming and when he was finished he couldn't get a wipe fast enough to help. I will be doing that more often now that I know the level of enthusiasm! ;)

4). I try to always have bedrooms clean and everyone dressed to their shoes with their hair done before breakfast. It just makes life much easier if we are all presentable and ready for the day at breakfast it isn't 1:00 when I see that Abbie's hair hasn't been brushed. It all naturally has a time, before breakfast. I also like to quickly clean the mirrors and counters of both bathrooms to make sure there are fresh smells and sparkles in the bathrooms. It is nice to know that these things are done.


I like to highlight my children's strengths and encourage them in their weaknesses. For example, Jonathan slogs through clearing the table off or putting the silverware away, but he loves to wipe things, sweep things, make little details glisten. He needs to learn to be diligent in the more mundane tasks, but there are other jobs that can use his skills also.

My other regular chores we do after breakfast and sometimes we will go room-by-room with vacuuming and cleaning and do a different school subject in each room--just to add variety to our day. Usually we do our whole home before school starts and then sit in the living room and kitchen "doing school". (Which at this point I often feel like the toddler I once was, who loved teaching anyone who would listen to me "teach"... I would even read to the guinea pig!!! :) )

I love to do these little things. My cup is so full.

When I blink too long I often have piles of Thomas clothes; blankets spread out all over the living room with some dollies sleeping and others having tea; a box of legos spilled out all over the den and Elizabeth chewing on a basket full of geode rocks. That usually happens when I'm trying to get dinner on the table. Then Elizabeth starts crying to nurse and then the door opens and Daddy walks in... :)

"One Blessing After Another!"

I was a little bit surprised this evening when I clicked on "new message" and saw that the last time I posted was mid-September! That lapse in time is equal to the hair-raising swiftness of my days. I rush from one adventure to the next all morning, then do lunch and lay down and read with the children. Then get up and rush from one adventure to the next and then Joe is walking in the door. Life is very full, very precious and very swift right now! :)

One reason for the added activity in my days has been the ever-present addition of our Elizabeth Noelle. She has been happily, peacefully around for more than 9 months. However, she is now present just about everywhere. In the middle of the duplos, in the trash in the bathroom, standing-up giggling during Jonathan's read aloud time... Elizabeth is always there, or else, "Where's Elizabeth??????" She is a perfect little vacuum, which is good because both mommy and Abbie love to run the real one, and now we do, a lot more often! She doesn't like to be left alone in a room for a second, though she has no qualms about exploring on her own. Lizzie loves to snuggle and nurse her mommy--which is one of my favorite things too! She brings more twinkles and giggles to our home than we had ever hoped for. Abbie never goes to sleep without asking, "Can I hold Lizzie in the morning????" We are overflowing-ly thankful that God chose our home to bless with Elizabeth.

Thomas is getting more talkative and hilarious by the hour! You never know what he is going to tell you, in all wide-eyed seriousness. The other day we were going to the park and walked past a weeping willow tree and he started telling me about the time a dragon got caught up there and he had to climb up and fight it... the story lasted the rest of the way to the park. He is packed with questions, "Mommy, do crocodiles live in dark water?" "Mommy, do elephants squirt water with their trunks?" "Mommy, do raccoons crash the trash cans?"... He is an avid animal lover. Thomas loves to always be carrying an animal around with him. We are going to the Wild Animal Park with Grandma Barnes on Monday and he has been talking about it for a week. "Mommy, we go the Wild Animal Park with Grandma Barnes? I see lion? I see elephant? Elephant squirt water with his trunk? He squirt me?" His questions are always so serious and he has the biggest eyes. How precious to know his thoughts. He has been inventing the most amazing animals out of duplos. I am amazed at who God has entrusted us with, and grateful, and stretched by our Thomas James.

Abigail Marie, what can I say? Sometimes she seems so much like me it's almost frightening. :) She is very intense about everything. She loves to always be going: cleaning, fixing, picking, swinging, moving. She loves to know what we are doing and likes to go down her lovely little list checking things off. She will often not notice the people until her projects are done, but she loves to have them around to interact with her as long as they contribute to the project at hand. I think if I needed to leave the house for a few days she could take care of things as well as, or better, than I do (just kidding!). She is the most intense baby and young-child lover I have ever met in such a small person. Her yearning to know and interact with any small person is beautiful to watch. She interacts with all ages beautifully. She can be completely wild and uncontrollable. How perfectly God knew we would need Abbie's sweet and feisty additions to our home. Every person in our home benefits so much, just from her sweet presence and tender little additions. :)

Jonathan is getting so tall and strong! He is nearly up to my shoulder in height. He is still so all boy--always ready to wrestle and wriggle. He loves to build, talk, read, do math, tell jokes, run... his interests don't ever seem to stop...unless I can't participate with him. He is so hungry to always be together, actively interacting. He is amazing at scrabble and chess--though I usually ban him from talking during chess because I feel like I am in an all-out war and he is intent on slaughtering me, rather than just capturing me! He is such a great big brother. He can make Elizabeth giggle like no one else! It is hilarious to watch the two of them together!!!! :) :) :) :) He is doing great on his violin, though he usually tells people he doesn't like it. I just got my violin fixed so we have been having delightful times playing together. His reading is blossoming and I love to sit and listen to him read. I will forever cherish these years of snuggling up and reading. He has a special spot, nestled in my arm feverishly reading some interesting book. I have felt so much delight and so much stretching with this dear boy. I am delighted with who God crafted and is continuing to craft in Jonathan Joseph.

My days are long (or was that short???) and very full. I am asked nearly every day what it's like to have four. Wonderful. Overwhelming. Delightful. Intimidating. Hilarious. Frustrating... It is the hardest thing I've ever imagined and my childhood fantasies don't measure up to the intensity that is in every moment.

How wonderful to have these precious four!