A top ten in no particular order

Wow....it has been quite a while. Life here is so very busy.  To the extent that my organizational prowess is very lacking.  Last night involved baseball practice for someone.  Not sure who...or when.  Took the boys to practice and ordered Luke to find a coach at the field, look over the roster and figure out who had practice.  Yeah...no one.  Sean has practice on Tuesdays at 5:30, I learned.  It was Thursday.  However, we were out of town on Monday and Tuesday, so Thursday felt like Tuesday, which felt like practice.  It is a new season.  A beginning of baseball season, and a new season of life.  Very busy...but I wouldn't want it any other way.  So in no order, because frankly, I don't have enough time to scroll through 4 months of pictures, here are some things we've been up to.

1.  Lucy (aka Lulabelle) turned 2!  She is full of words, well paragraphs actually.  This is making life so much better.  She is less "fussy" than she has been in the past.  She sleeps better.  And she is now, a big kid, who wants to hang with the big kids.  She loves all her siblings and is quite the little mother to Thomas and her dolls. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, although he places her in time-out quite a bit (she likes to scream these days).  She loves Diego, so her birthday was Dora/Diego.  We enjoyed celebrating her and are so thankful she is part of the family.

 2.  Sarah Clare had a birthday as well.  A big Hobbit party which involved a hobbit menu and inn in which to be served, a hobbit hole cake, a hobbit scavenger hunt, a dragon slaying archery game....very few pictures due to the "death" of the memory card.  (thanks Lucy).  Sarah is such a gift.  She helps keep the house moving and loves her siblings fiercely.  I am so thankful for her generous heart and giving spirit.  The Lord blessed us tremendously by gifting us with her.

3.  Spring has sprung.  It has taken quite a long time. But our days are filled with trips outside and to parks.

4.  Learning all the time.  Dad brought home dry ice from work.  We then learned all about states of matter and changes between states...and made messes, like usual.

Family meetings do NOT always correlate to new arrivals

Due to the lack of good morale on team Kelty lately, I called a family meeting at lunch time a few days ago, to discuss the "new game plan".  I warned Luke of the impending meeting.  Here is the rest of the conversation.

Luke: "A family meeting?   Are we having a new baby?"

Mom:  (puzzled..shocked look on face)  "NO!"

Luke:  "Oh, darn....."


Mom:  smiling and giggling to self so not to be seen by son.

So despite low morale and some questionable behavior, life is good.  Life goes on.  They love each other!

Christmas 2012

I could post pictures of towels, garbage cans, cleaning supplies, mounds of laundry, and sick kids...but I will spare you.  And actually, I'd like to forget those parts.  Christmas this year involved a 24 hour stomach bug spread out over a the week before Christmas with our last victim succumbing Christmas night.  This started our first day of Christmas break, which was a bummer, because we didn't nearly make it through my holiday-fun-things-to-do-to-get-ready list.  We still have ornaments to make, not all the cookies got baked, and we watched nearly every Christmas movie made instead of crafting/baking/having adventures.  After a few of the movies, the kids questioned how it qualified as a "Christmas movie".  My reply was....."Was the word Christmas in the title?"  If yes, it counted.  I am happy to report that the family favorite was "It's A
Wonderful  Life", so all is well.  The Lord blessed us with no illness on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, so we all got to attend Mass together.  It was beautiful as always, and Lucy was so happy to see the statue of baby Jesus on the altar.  Christmas morning brought the standard gift opening craziness, but with limited gifts for all (4 each) it was quite manageable.  We had friends over for a feast of food and lots of playing later in the day.  We enjoyed every bit of the break from school considering the circumstances, and Mom managed to lose a few pounds over the holidays.  This is usually the case in the throws of a stomach bug.  I just can't eat much with constant visions of vomit in my mind.  Hoping next year will be a healthier Christmas!  Now we are doing a few school-ish items and scheduling a slew of needed appointments for various things...fridge repair, hearing checks, etc.  Taking an idea from a friend, we have started "Behavior Boot Camp".  It seems that our chores are being done very well, and most folks are NOT speaking nicely to one another....all in all morale is a little low.  So.....we have new, laminated chore charts (it just makes me feel better), and Saturday computer time is no more.....until we can all treat each other more nicely.  Hoping to be back to the normal routine mid-week, next week.

Field Trip

We recently took one of our first official field trips since living here.  There is a drive through zoo/animal park nearby, and the kids and I headed out with a homeschool group.  We had a really fun time, especially the reluctant to go 12 year old.  I definitely had my hands full corralling all the kids, but that same 12 year old was very helpful.  It took Sean a bit to warm-up to the idea of feeding animals out of his hand, but he is my cautious one.  After several times of watching mom, he finally gave it a try and then enjoyed himself.  It was wonderful to enjoy a sunny, warm day with friends and some of God's creatures...all except the bee that met Max's forehead.

Water Babies

The three big kids have been swimming on a swim team since this past summer.  They had their first meet a few weekends ago, and I finally got some photos.  I am thankful for this activity for many reasons.  They are having fun, making great friend, exercising, and learning a life long set of skills.  On Thanksgiving, while we were talking about what we were thankful for, they all mentioned their swim coaches.  It is testament to the kindness and dedication of those wonderful coaches who spend endless hours at the pool.  There are meets nearly every weekend, but due to the fact that sitting at a pool all weekend long with little ones and driving all over the state is not something I can fathom doing, we will only swim the local meets for the time being.  The kids seem ok with that.  Turns out my kids love the breast stroke and do well at it.  Sarah placed in both her breast stroke events, and Luke placed in the back stroke.  It is funny to watch Sean swim.  He is nearly the smallest little guy out there and focus can sometimes be lacking.  He swam one race with goggles around his neck....because he forgot to put them on.  Patrick had to run to the bathroom and pull him out of the "potty" moments before another event.  But he has fun and loves to win his heat.  There was a big learning curve at the meet as I tried to read heat sheets, figure out what b times were, and learn the system of "body art" that involves a sharpie, hard to decipher swimming lingo, and arms/legs of children all in order to get them to the blocks at the right time.

Bumpy Dad

Background:  Patrick had a zit on his forehead.  It was a normal, average, ordinary zit...not Mt. St. Helen's.

Max:  "Dad, what is that thing right there that is red and bumpy?  You don't look like normal dad."

Patrick: "Oh, this right here...."

Max: "Yeah, you don't look like normal dad.  You are kind of bumpy...like bumpy dad."

About know...Patrick is smirking and I am doubled-over!

Patrick: "That bump will go away soon."

Max:  "Oh and then you won't be bumpy dad anymore, you'll be normal dad."

Normal dad......OK?!  Nothing in this house is normal....ever....and that is how we like it.

his thesis to dad

Life with an "almost-teenager" is so interesting.  Here I am twelve years after his birth still changing diapers, scheduling naps, and taking care of babies.  And then there is Luke.   It is so very interesting to see his personality develop and his interests in so many things bud. For instance, he loves to follow politics.  What twelve year old asks to watch debates or the McLaughlin group with his parents for fun?  While watching election returns last night he pulled out a section of the Wall Street Journal that he had cut and kept in his pockets.  As results looked less and less favorable for our candidate, he tried to reassure us with different ways Romney could win.  It was all listed on his "WSJ cheat sheet". (Alix, you would have been so proud!) Somedays it is frustrating as I see those eye rolls (that I am not supposed to see), or hear huffing and some sarcasm sneak into his tone.  But most days he is super helpful, full of laughs, and ideas.  This is one of his latest ideas.  He typed up a thesis to give to dad explaining his cause.  I figured out how to scan a document, just so I can remember this years later.  This is just so Luke.  He handed it to me with a smirk and the following comment:  "It is full of charm, wit, and logic."  So....very Luke