January 18

I was excited to be able to leave the house without any kids and enjoy some adult conversation at book club tonight. For once, I think I am actually going to read the book we picked for next month. I am not sure what it's all about but it's called The Trial and it's written by Robert Whitlow. I am hoping to be able to read it after Kalyn's party is finished and I get all of the paperwork together for the accountant. If you know of anyone who is good, I am shopping for a new accountant. The one I currently have makes my stomach turn and I do NOT like that feeling. I'd rather pay someone I actually like (and who doesn't make me feel stupid) to deal with the IRS and taxes on my behalf :)

I did get to spend some time working on the picture wall today while the nanny was here. I am really looking forward to seeing it finished. It's going to be awesome when I am done!

I took a few pictures of the kids playing outside this afternoon. I love this one of Claire and Caleb both looking away from me. I usually take my pictures with the kids smiling, directly facing me, but as I am learning more about photography, I am starting to venture out and try different types of shots. I am not sure what they were looking at, but I love the profile of Claire, and her pursed lips and how you can still see the other side of her chunky-monkey cheeks. You can tell Caleb is smiling from his dimples and raised cheekbones. Yes, this was definitely a happy moment for them :) Love my kids!

January 17

Nothing special about today, except for my accidentally finding Lysa TerKeurst's blog. I came across it when I was reading the EWomen Newsletter/Magazine and saw an article written by her about her new book, Made to Crave. The DJ's at the radio station I listen to, K-Love, are going through her book together. It sounds like a really good book. I put it on the list to check out the next time I go to Lifeway :) I need to pick up my book for Wednesday Bible Study anyway. I can't wait (desperately need adult conversation even if it is still about my kids) for Bible Study to start back up! I have grown so close to each of the women there and I am looking so forward to catching back up with their lives.

No pictures today! I knew it was bound to happen, and when I realized it did happen, I was tempted to at least get my crummy phone and attempt to document the day with it. But then I decided now was as good of a time as any to drop the ball :) haha! I will take pictures tomorrow! I will take pictures tomorrow!



Here's one of the other pics I turned to black and white for my picture wall :

January 16

Whew! What a day...We took over 400 pictures today. This new camera is amazing! I am completely loving everything about it. I think I already mentioned that I am working on a major project right now, but just in case I didn't, I will let you in on it here and now. When we remodeled in November, we added in some cabinets across from my kitchen table to act as a serving/buffet area. Above that my sweet husband put up 29 black picture frames in varying sizes. I am editing all of the photos for it to be black and white and it is taking quite a while. The goal is to have them all done by Kalyn's birthday party this weekend (along with making a cake and decorations, remember?) so I better get busy. Here's one of my favorite photos that I have edited so far. Jonathan and I hardly ever get to take a picture together. Kalyn took it for us when we were having our little photo shoot after church. She did pretty good for such a big camera :) Hope you like it!

January 15

Oh, I miss the nanny! Oh, how I miss the nanny! Jonathan worked all day today and I am not quite sure how to do it without help anymore :( Having her here three days this week has been such a tremendous help! She's unbelievable -- she feeds us, she cleans up after us, she plays with the kids, and she loves to hold the babies. What more could I ask for?

I can't believe all that I have actually been able to accomplish this week. I, yes me personally, read 5 separate books to my kids, out loud. We also started on The Little House in the Big Woods for our daily reading. The kids are enjoying that book so much. They get really excited when there's a picture. I hope they will like it enough to want me to read the whole series. :) We did homeschool every day this week. My floors were mopped twice in one week. (I told you she was amazing!) I am still caught up on laundry. But best of all, I have had time to take pictures -- my most favorite thing ever!

I haven't spent much time taking pictures today, but I did get a great one of Kalyn playing with Chloe. I can't believe how many pictures Kalyn's letting me get of her lately. I hope this trend continues :)

January 14

So Kalyn's 9th birthday is fast approaching. I really need to get a plan together. We looked at cakes online this morning to pass the time while Caleb and Jonathan were out getting doughnuts. Yummm! We found a ton of really cool ideas. She wants a pink, black and white vanilla and chocolate cake. It has to be at least three tiers since there are going to be so many people here for her party, she told me. I hate to disappoint her but I haven't really given it much thought yet so I think the next few days are going to be busy. She has also informed me that she will need a banner, with Happy Birthday and her name just has to be on it! When we were searching for cakes one of the sites that we were looking had a place where you could search by the age group. Did you know that 9-12 is considered a tween? She said, "Really, Mom, I am going to be a tween already? That's like a teenager, right?" to which I replied, "You already are. You already are."

We started a new Life Discovery class last night at church. It's for teenagers. Yep, she already is.

We did go to the park today, but only long enough to try out the burst mode for like 20 minutes. Yay for me figuring it out but BOO for the cold. Did you know that you could take 472 pictures in less than 15 minutes? Me neither and I am in LOVE! All of my kids were cooperative, too. Even the tween. One look at this picture and you will agree. She is definitely a tween. Far too soon.
Next year she'll be in the double digits :(

January 13

Rant warning: I wonder if I am the only one who pays for it when I take advantage of sleeping in. I did this morning, and I was playing catch up all day. I have decided that I am a way better mom and wife when I don't sleep in. It's like a vicious cycle, sleep in, stay up late, promise myself not to do it again, sleep in anyway, promise myself not to do it again again, repeat, repeat, repeat again. Am I the only mom who can't pull myself away from the peace and quiet and clean of the house at 10:00 at night to get the full eight hours of beauty sleep that I really need ? Why is it that I am dragging all day and then all of a sudden when the kids go to bed I get a third wind and end up still awake trying to settle the nerves at around 12:30-1:00 a.m? It's a lost cause I guess. Oh well. End rant.

So today I forced myself to brave the frigid cold and take pics of the kids outside. Some of them turned out really good. I took over 200 shots even though I still can't seem to figure out the continuous shooting mode but I am determined to work on that tomorrow. Jonathan is not working so hopefully we will get the opportunity. I think the kids are stir crazy anyways from being in the house so much. Maybe we will go to the park...I need to spend some more time with this lens and figure out if it has the right zoom. No edits on these pictures. I'll save the edits for the digital scrapbook pages and not overwhelm myself on the blog right now. I need to save my energy for a big project that I am working on right now.

January 12

Today was very stressful! I was knee deep in taxes and business paperwork so I didn't have a lot of time to play :(
Boo! I am still trying to figure out how to work the features on this camera - like video for one! I missed out on catching Chloe taking several of her first steps today! I have to buy a Class 10 SD card in order for this camera to be able to record movies. I know crawling is about to be a thing of the past for Chloe and I will regret it if I don't get a card in time to record those sweet moments! In my quest to unwind after the kids went to bed tonight and still be productive, I continued trying to organize photo and video folders on the computer. Looking through those older but still fairly recents pics and videos made me realize how fast the twins have grown and how quickly time flies by! I can't believe how much they have changed my life in the last 16 months. They are so precious and it is a pure joy to have these beautiful little girls in my life. My last baby is about to be walking!

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls from tonight after we got home from church. Chloe's got skills when it comes to making a poochee lip and Claire is calm as can be, just taking it all in as usual. What sweet girls!

The Eye Roll

So today I am going through all the pictures on my hard drive and trying to free up some space and I find this picture of Chloe, doing her famous eye roll. Anyone who catches her doing it just thinks it's hysterical to see a little baby roll their eyes so dramatically. And trust me, it's dramatic. She always does it at just the right moment too, which completely adds to the effect. I love it! She's so full of personality! (and attitude!)

January 11

I am feeling so excited and refreshed about everything that was accomplished today! Like it's the first day of the new year all over again :) We have been trying to get our schedule for homeschooling worked out and it has been very challenging with all the kids -- definitely a lot different than just homeschooling one child. Caleb is a joy to work with for the most part. He loves his worksheets and he loves his computer lessons, too. He's a pretty easy going kid most of the time and that is certainly helpful. Kalyn, on the other hand, is frighteningly (is that a word?) like me -- determined to do things her way or not at all. Because that's who she is. I am trying my best to push her in the right direction, and use that strong willed nature for her benefit.

Side Note: I have to give some praise to my super supportive husband, because I get these ideas in my head about what I want to try and he pulls all the stops to make it happen. Yesterday is usually when I want something done, so he does his best to get to it right away :) Love that man! He put up this awesome white board from basically floor to ceiling right by our desk area. He framed it out and it turned out really nice. The kids and I both love it :)

So, on this new board, I wrote out a good morning note to Kalyn and Caleb, and listed their assignments on the board. Since Kalyn doesn't particularly care for worksheets, but LOVES to write on the board, I am trying to take advantage of that for the subjects that are frustrating for her right now by putting those problems on the board. She did so great today! Wonderful attitude, almost all the correct answers, and didn't complain when I made her correct the wrong ones. She's doesn't like to be corrected or critiqued either. Another personality trait that I am quite familiar with! Haha! She gets it honest! I am so proud of her. She got right to work on her assignments as soon as we came back from Caleb's speech therapy and completed them quickly. Her journaling assignment was to write about what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be a teacher of lots of kids so that she could talk all the time and be the boss. She said that she would give them recess six *x* (times) a day. Can you tell she loves multiplication? I thought that was cute but I did make her erase it and actually spell out "times". Attention to detail :)

To top it off today, I was able to take the older kids to the public library, which they absolutely LOVE! I had no idea they'd get so excited about getting 5 books to take home. I think the school library only let them check out two. I also made a quick trip to Kohl's to return something and I found a cute pair of pants for $4.00. Gotta love deals like that! As great as all of that was, the icing on the cake was coming home to a clean house with freshly mopped floors. My babysitter, who is an amazing mom, is now coming to my house, instead of me taking the twins and Kagen to her house. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about letting someone else take care of my housework while I am sitting in the same room, but I must say, I think I like it! I just hope we didn't scare her away :) She said she'd come back tomorrow so I guess it wasn't too bad. I could sure get used to this! I was so happy to have all of my work done today that I decided to make a big dinner and a new dessert to celebrate. Now that's something my husband could get used to :)

This post is a lot longer than I had originally planned so I better wrap it up with a picture for my P365 :) This is Kalyn showing me that she finished all of her work. She's getting Chloe away from the board since she erased the note on the bottom. Please forgive me for the awful glare on the white board but I don't feel like editing today. I am going to catch up on my shows!

January 10

I use an online curriculum called Time4Learning for the kids science and history lessons. They are great -- very interactive, full of games and quizzes that I don't have to grade! Yay! They keep track of everything for me so that I can focus on teaching the kids the 3 R's :) It's awesome that whenever Caleb (or Kalyn) work on their lessons, Kagen can join them, too. Fun for everyone! The boys were really enjoying today's lesson on insects and Caleb got a 100% on his quiz. He was so proud of himself! I love to see my kids excited about their accomplishments.

Today's picture is of the boys in Mommy's bed doing Caleb's science lesson. They are so cute! Even though they make me crazy sometimes, I wouldn't trade being home with them and being blessed enough to homeschool them for anything in the world!