It was inevitable, really...

...that this blog would be forgotten. I am sorry for that. I can't promise that I will be any better about posting here, but I will try to try. Really. :-)

I am just going to post a few photos of our most recent birthday girl, Mae. She turned four!! It is hard to believe -- not long ago I was holding a princess of a baby that would cry if you weren't oh-so-careful about supporting her head, even past the point where she could support it herself! She is still a princess, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Here are the photos.

A new picture of our fabulous four!

I am still feeling guilty about making you all wait so long for pictures, so I took some more today of all four kids. I think this one turned out well, and I couldn't wait for a better excuse to post it! Just as a reminder, Benjamin is now nearly 7 months old, Jonathan is 5 years old, Mae is 3 1/2 years old, and Grace is just-about-two. Enjoy!

My bad

It has been a month since my last post! Sorry everyone!! I post mainly on my homemaking blog these days, because what I spend most of my time doing is homemaking, naturally. And then remaking, and remaking, and remaking, and undoing what the kids did, and remaking some more. Yeah. It's like that.

So, anyway, I got to thinking today about how I really should post *something* on this blog, but there really hasn't been much of interest going on here (other than homemaking, obviously). Larry is back at school (sob sob) and I am busy moving furniture around, decluttering the house, painting, etc. Trying to stay sane, or get sane, one of the two. So we haven't been going out much, or having any raging parties, or things of that nature.

I decided just to go around my house and take a photo of each child, doing whatever they were doing at that moment. Here is the result:


Grace and Mae were playing in their room. Probably jumping on the bed at some point there, but smart enough by now to stop when they hear me coming! So, while I may *know* they were jumping on the bed, I can't *prove* it. Joke's on me, I guess...

It strikes me, looking at the photo, that my girls have unusually long hair for their ages. Grace is not even two yet! She kind of looks like a chimp with a wig on, but don't tell her I said that! (Of COURSE, I don't mean it!!! Come on now, what kind of mama do you take me for??)


Jonathan was taking it easy, watching Transformers. He is getting over a cold. I know he didn't sleep very well last night, so he is relaxing today. What a sweetie! And such a boy!


Benjamin is sleeping in a fairly typical Benny-pose. Oh, how I wish I could crawl in there and sleep for a while, too! Or, better yet, in my own bed...


Yes, this baby is exactly as sweet as he looks! He really, really is. I can't wait for him to meet his Grandparents!!! They are gonna love this little guy.

So that, basically, is what they have been doing for the past few days...jumping on the bed, watching Transformers and sleeping. :) Happy days! They are good kids. I love 'em, and I *think* I'll keep 'em. :)

He's mobile...

Benjamin (at not quite 6 months old) has been really working on crawling over the past couple of weeks. He has the commando crawl pretty much down now, and is already causing trouble with his newfound mobility. He is also up on hands and knees throughout the day, although he hasn't figured out how to coordinate the arm and leg movements, yet. It won't be long, though. I imagine we'll have a full-fledged crawler by the time he's six months. I hope he's not too precocious, though. His Grandpa R. was reportedly walking by eight months of age -- I don't know if my brain could handle that.

From time to time (well, okay, daily) we put Ben in his walker, and he is now quite the accomplished walker-walker. Here are a couple of pics -- he started out two rooms away and got all the way to here, and BOY is he happy with himself!!

*Edited to add:* Sometimes it takes a photo to really highlight the chubbiness of my babies. This guy is still 100% breastfed, and I just gotta say it: I must be doing a GREAT job!! Click on the photos to get a closer look at that squishy little guy!! :D

The awesome foursome

I am pretty sure there should be some grandparents needing a fix of baby pics by now... so here are just a couple! Sorry it's been a while. Larry and I have been busy again, with the beginning of the new semester and also with preaching engagements.

The kids are doing very well. All healthy, happy and full of energy, just like they should be. Boy oh boy, I can't wait to have another one! (Did I say that out loud??!) It won't be for a while, though, so nobody panic. ;)

As you can see, Benjamin is growing. And growing. And growing. He is starting to really move around, too. I call it a pre-commando crawl. He's still not sitting up too well by himself yet, but he's a big boy. It must be hard to manage a head of that size. :o) Oh, and you should see the boy eat. He's not eating solids yet, but if we do happen to give him a taste of something, he knows exactly what's going on. He's the first baby of mine that doesn't spit out at least half of what you spoon into his mouth. Nope, down the hatch!!

The others are doing well, too. Jonathan is reading now -- very basic words still, but he understands how to sound words out and he can spell lots of words by thinking about the sounds. Jonathan looooves school -- we tried to have a couple weeks off over the holidays, but he kept asking for it! :o) He's already got some basic math concepts down and he has an impressive list of memory verses under his belt.

Mae is going to be starting Pre-K this year -- she'll be joining in with Jonathan, with a few simplifications to the curriculum. She's only three, after all. Jonathan will wrap up his Pre-K curriculum about mid-year (we started at an odd time, I think) and then I'll go over it again with Mae. I don't think she'll notice if we repeat a few.

Grace is still nursing about four or five times a day. It seems to agree with her. We have eliminated gluten from Grace's diet, due to some digestive issues. We have seen a great improvement since doing so, and now are trying her with rye bread and other non-wheat breads and such, to see whether her sensitivity is to gluten, or just to wheat.

We can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa T.!!! We've been trying not to talk about it TOO much with the kids, because then it will be "When are Grandma and Grandpa going to be here??" all day, every day, for the next few months!! But Jonathan, especially, remembers last time they were here, so he is one very excited little boy. :o)

These little monkeys, oh how we love them!

A pink one and a blue one...

Larry was just asking me today, "When did Gracie grow up??". I don't think she has yet -- she's still my baby girl. It's hard to remember that, though, when she's screaming at me or stamping her feet, hot-headed, tempestuous little thing that she is. But, every once in a while, you can catch a glimpse of baby-ness in her still.

This was a moment when Ben and Grace were saying goodnight to one another. Grace loves Ben, and although sometimes she appears to be intensely jealous of him (generally when I'm nursing him and not her, naturally) she's always gentle towards him (because she takes it out on me, but anyway...). She obviously adores him. Sometimes he gives indications that he finds her interesting, and sometimes he smiles at her or pulls her hair, so I'd say Ben kinda likes his big sister, too. :o)