I've missed blogging...

Sooooo sorry I haven't blogged in so long! I have been very busy and pretty exhausted! I have a problem with sitting down to blog without taking a while!!! I am hoping to at least get back to blogging once a month and preferably once a week! :) Not sure which will happen! A lot has happened since my last post in August! We all had the flu about a month ago and praise the Lord our family all went through it and it lasted only a week as no one had it for longer than 3 days! I didn't take any pics of that week, though!!! Hahaha! It's a pity though, because that's the week Titus decided to walk! He had just turned 9 months! Crazy boy! I was certain he would walk earlier, which he did, but no more than a step was what he attempted at 7 and 8 months repeatedly! Asher turned 3 years old as of October 20th! He had a Spiderman theme! :) I'll also include some pics of Lenci's 4th bday! :) In September we started Kindergarten for Zoe! That has kept me on my toes more than anything! :) Just making sure that we stay on schedule and with all of the flu and stuff! You can imagine! :)

We also found out that we are expecting BABY #5 on April 27, 2010!!! We are soooo excited! :) Once again we will not find out what we're having! :) I am now 16 weeks pregnant and about 3 weeks out of the first trimester!!! Although I don't throw up, this time I experienced more nausea than usual! I REALLY thought I was going to throw up on a few occasions which is a first for me, but I never managed to get to that point. I am so thankful that I have mild morning sickness, if any at all! I do, however, find myself soooo exhausted that I cannot even keep my eyes open during the first trimester! It's always the first indication for me! I was very happy to have some energy back now! We will be going to the midwives again and I am already back on my special pregnancy diet that the midwives put me on to prevent gestational diabetes! I haven't ever actually had it, but that's what midwives are great at, PREVENTION and educating the pregnant mother to be wise with food so that we can avoid certain situations! :) I know I never shared my last birth story! I really need to do that! It just seems so long! I WILL!!! I will post it before baby #5 is born! :) Haha, that way I won't be behind and have 2 birth stories to share! :)

I am looking forward to the upcoming holidays! I absolutely LOVE fall!!! Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorites of all of the holidays!!! :) Yay! I have already started crocheting gifts and I will hopefully not be crocheting until 4am again this Christmas Eve! Hahaha! ;) I have several requests from the kids! I'm going to be crochet 2 girl snakes and 2 boy snakes, 2 girly ponies, and some doll clothes accessories! :) VERY EXCITED! I have also had a few orders that I have taken! One Spiderman blanket and 2 baby cozies! :) Fun!

Here are some pictures from Lenci's 4th bday party, the first few weeks of school, a sono pic of baby #5, Asher's bday, updated pics of Titus and a pic of Lee and me at the fair when we took the family! Fun!





































































































































Very long post, sorry! Hopefully I can get back to posting now that I can keep my eyes open! Very fitting also that I would choose the day after Fall Back (Daylight Savings Time) to post this! Another great day for our night owl family! Hehe!

P.S. The Spiderman blanket I made for Asher is in his bday pics! Zoe and Memaw helped him get it out! :)

Business as usual!

I have been away for while again, busy as usual!!! I need to set aside a day that I sit down and blog, but I haven't determined that yet, so we shall see! Anyway, I thought I would update you all as to what has been recently keeping me sooo busy! Haha. Well, Lenci turned 4 on the 18th!!! I cannot believe it!!! We have had two family parties so far, with two more on the cLendar for this weekend! Haha! It's been super fun! She is getting to be such a sweet young lady! The other night I was refilling drinks at the table and I overheard Lenci informing her siblings that she was a "woman"! Hahaha! I explained to her that she is a little woman, but not quite a real woman. Never a dull moment... :)
The other thing that is consuming my life at the present is Titus!!! He started standing about a month ago, and I am shocked that he isn't walking around even though he's only 7 1/2 months old! He has taken a step 3 different times and then he bonks his bottom down again. I was thinking he may skip crawling, but since he started the crawling stage his EXTREME ambition to walk and keep up with his siblings has slowed down some. I am, however, constanly following him around and saving his little life from the choking hazards his big brother and sisters have been leaving around! Wow!
We are also sooo excited about starting kindergarten homeschooling Zoe!!! We have lots of friends at church who will be doing school too, and I'm super excited!!! We have her curricullum all picked out and will be starting school after Labor Day! :) Yay! She is already doing some very basic reading and I look forward to teaching her phonics!!! She's a great student and loves to learn! Pictures are soon to come! :)

Adventures in cloth diapering...

Hello friends! :)
Sorry I haven't posted in a while!!! I have been super busy lately!!! I decided to cloth diaper my two youngest!!! We have now been in them for about 3 months and Asher has been actually wearing underwear the last 2 weeks!!! Yay!!! I was hoping this cloth diaper thing would push him in the direction of being potty trained, but I think it has really just pushed me in the direction of potty training!!! :) Hahaha! He is a pro now!!! And I am a pro with the cloth diapers... okay, just kidding, but I am really liking them!!! I thought it would be CRAZY since Titus is my 4th, but there have been sooooo many good things about it! I really wasn't planning on making this a blog about the pros of cloth diapering, but since I'm on it, I'll just organize these thoughts and give you a list of the benefits of cloth diapering that I have thought of so far! :)
Sooo...
1. You'll save money!!! We were spending over $80 a month on the cheapest Walmart brand of diapers between the two boys, (which I know is on the cheap side) and now we are able to just use the same ones over and over again! :) I love knowing that even though I'm not working I can do this extra little bit to save the money that my husband brings home!!! :) I feel like a much better steward of the money that God has provided! :)
2. They're SUPER cute!!! They have so many cute little diapers and it makes changing diapers fun!!! I know it sounds weird, but I feel like I have a cute little diaper collection! We even have some with froggies! :) I just love matching shirts to Titus' diapers!!! :) They have become an adorable addition to his summer wardrobe! :)
3. Less trash!!! I am not your average environmentalist, but I have seriously noticed a difference in the amount of times we have to take out the trash, meaning less work for Lee (since that's his job here, hehe)!!! Diapers take up so much space! We are making less trash, thus spending less on trash bags as well!!! :)
4. Less smell! While we're on less trash, I may as well mention that there's less smell!!! While the poo in the disposable dipes hang around until the trash man comes, the poo in the cloth dipe is flushed away to "poo-land" with the rest of the family's poo! Hehe!!! I read about some people having a smell in their houses with cloth diapers, but we haven't had that smell at all!!! I don't know why...
5. I am doing better with keeping up with the laundry, mostly because I have to!!! Hahaha! It's a MAJOR motivation to do laundry when your clean floor depends on it! Hehe! But really, diaper laundry is really easy! It's like one load a day, depending on how many diapers you have! I do one load at the end of the day!!! I have felt soooo much more organized with them!!! I've also learned more about laundry from having to know how to sterilize them!!! :)
6. I feel so much more accomplished!!! Never in my earlier motherhood days would I have thought I would cloth diaper, but here I am, and with my FOURTH!!! Weird!!! It seriously NEVER crossed my mind before because I thought it would be gross, but I actually feel like it's cleaner for us in some weird way!? :) Once I googled cloth diapering and I read up on it, I realized how much easier it was than I thought it would be!
7. No more asking the Hubbs to stop on his way home just for diapers!!! That was something that I was doing frequently, and I am happy that he doesn't have to worry about that anymore!!! Now we can look online for great deals!!! I have actually had some great friends pass LOTS of diapers down to me from their outgrown diaper stashes!!! Sooo much fun!!! The LORD provides!
8. They have free patterns out there!!! Not only can you buy them, but you can make them!!! They're not that hard to make, and I'm not even that accomplished on my sewing machine!!! There's just something fun for a girl like me to make my kiddos diapers!!! :) Makes me feel so frugal! :) I need to make some more because Titus has outgrown them and I now know more of what I'm needing! :) The ones I made before were made out of a SUPER cute blanket and some unused fleece and flannel scraps that I was going to use for Christmas presents for the last few years! It really gave me the motivation to get my sewing machine out and learn more how to use it! :)
9. Cloth diaper mommies are like instant friends! There is just something kindred in it, and if someone sees that you cloth diaper they know you instantly have something in common!!! :) I'm serious, too!!! I have so many friends who have found out that I cloth diaper and I have talked to them more, probably because I asked them questions, but they were more than happy to share their know-how with me!!! :) There is a lot to learn, but it is learned fast, and then you can pass on the information!!!
10. They're softer than disposables!!! There are so many different kinds of cloth diapers, but the one thing they have in common is that they are soft!!! Most of the insides of the ones I have are fleece!!! I know, weird, huh? The ones we made were fleece and flannel!!! The more they're washed the softer they get!!! :)
11. They leak less! I know it sounds like it can't possibly be true, but after diapering 4 kids, the cloth are my favorite!!! I had more blowouts with the disposables for sure!!!
12. I can't help but think about the ladies down through history who cloth diapered their children, and something about that is comforting! Maybe I'm weird or a nerd, but I have had so much fun with cloth diapers so far!!! I also look forward to them!!! That is definitely something I could not say about the disposables!!! Hahaha!

So, anyway, that's just a little list! I know it's not for everyone! In fact, it wasn't for me before now, although I think it would have helped me keep myself more on task had I been doing it all the way through with all four kids! I knew I had to try it, since I seem to get more done when I have more on my plate to do. Don't know if everyone's like that or if I just need to challenge myself... who knows? :) Anyway, I now have this mission and I am on task! :) Soooo to sum it all up, that's why I haven't been blogging! I will try to do better! :)

Here are a few cute pics of the boys in their diapers, Lenci being sweet, and Zoe doing some finger knitting!!! If you have any questions about the diapers, I would be happy to find an answer for them! :) Hope you are all well!

F-R-E-E, that spells free.....

to the first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! Lucky you!

My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a mask. I may sew or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

5 y, 3.5 y, 2 y and 2 m

Those are the ages of the kiddos now!!! Titus is smiling and cooing sooo much!!! He had his 2 month appointment yesterday and we found out that he now weighs 11.5lbs.!!! Crazy boy! He's in the 50th percentile. We were laughing cause Lee was saying "Well, Titus, you are completely average!" Hahaha! Of course we don't really feel that way about that sweet baby boy! He's a complete blessing to our life! Yesterday Zoe told me that he's her favorite baby brother and her only baby brother, and she wanted to know if she could invite him to her bday party, which happens to be next January, hehe! :) She is REALLY starting early planning this year! I didn't mention that she really didn't have a choice about whether or not he was invited! I just thought it was super sweet that she wanted to make sure that he could be invited! :) Then she invited me... Hahaha! About a week ago I crocheted another cozy for Titus! I loved it so much that I decided to play photographer and I ended up with pictures of everyone in the family!!! Here are some of the snapshots that I came up with!

Happy Belated V-Day!!!

We had a great Valentine's Day weekend! Lee was working, but we made a fun day of it anyway! :) I crocheted the kids gifts (again)! Haha! It has now become too much fun and a lot of a challenge to see what I can come up with! :) I made them cup cozies, washcloths, and little crocheted stuffed hearts! :) Sweet stuff! It was a very eventful weekend though! I managed to capture a picture of Titus smiling!!! Even though he's been smiling for about a week now, I haven't gotten a picture of it because the camera was far away and I was holding him with both hands cupping his head! He smiles most when we're talking to him, or when he's in his swing watching his animals spin on the mobile above his head! :) Haha! BUT, what a GREAT Valentine!!! ;) Love it! Here are some great V-Day shots from our house! ;)