Spring is in the Air

We had a good morning of school, which surprised me as I was lazy abed this morning. I can't seem to adjust to the time change. I'm staying up terribly late and then dragging out of bed.

Rachel is making really good progress and today, after some instruction from me, was able to do a worksheet page all by herself. She was so thrilled. She is very motivated and wants to learn to read so badly. There is a quite a bit of competition between her and Gabe. She is just amazed at how much Gabe knows and I've told her it is because Gabe can read!

Bessie checks out the TOG manual for next weeks reading
Dan picked the dollhouse furniture to keep
him happy today
Hannah and Gabe play with a couple of
magnet sets while they wait for their turn with mom
Rachel loves school
After lunch the kids went outside for a while. We have had some wonderful warm weather the last few days and the snow is melting quickly. Of course, this means lots of puddles and mud. They all were very wet when they came back in. I think every boot in the house is sitting next to the woodstove drying.

Bessie had her piano lesson this afternoon, so we dropped her off. Brian picked her up on his way home. Hannah and Dan fell asleep in the van and it was a very quiet drive.

Gabe loves our video camera. It is an older one, so we let him use it. He has one tape that his and he tapes and then tapes over again. He and the Littles have such a fun time with it.

Gabe and Dan watch the latest taping
Brian wanted to try and drain some of the water that had settled in our driveway. The puddles were huge and the mud was really bad. He dug a shallow trench across the driveway and out to the ditch. The water seemed to be draining well, so hopefully this will dry out soon.

Gabe sitting in the ditch and trying to stop the flow
Bessie took a run while we worked on the driveway. The younger four were soaked when they came in. I took Gabe and Dan right up to the shower as they were also quite muddy.
I had made chicken vegetable soup for dinner. It was yummy. Everyone loves soup and we try and have it at least once a week.


The girls all took their turn in the shower after dinner. It was a very full day and a good one with lots of outdoor time. The air has felt so springish the last few days, although most of our yard is still deep with snow. The birds are singing more and the sun is higher in the sky. All the signs that spring is indeed on it's way.

Bessie's Plane Day

Today was Bessie's Plane Day. The arrival day we celebrate with each of the children. Bessie, being our first child has a special place in our heart and the day we picked her up at the airport was so exciting for us.

We traveled three hours to Logan Airport in Boston, MA on that day. Mom and Dad had come with us. We were surprised at the airport to find Sue, Rob, Arolyn and Meredith waiting for us. They had driven down from NH to welcome Bessie home.

The flight was scheduled for 10:20pm, but never arrived until just before midnight. I can remember being so excited that I thought I might faint. My heart was pounding and the anticipation was tremendous.

They let all the other people off the airplane first. Several people beamed and commented on how cute the babies where. (There was another baby coming at the same time.) One woman stayed and said she had held Bess all the way from Detroit and what a little doll she was.

Finally they came out with our little treasure and we were overjoyed. I cried. We cooed over her and held her and patted her little head which had very little hair. She was so curious and looked around at everyone.


What a night that was. The woman who had escorted the babies here did not speak any English and because it was so late she was very confused about what to do next. She was continuing to Tampa the next day to visit her son, but didn't have any arrangements for staying anyplace for the night. Thanks to a nice maintenance man who was still in the airport, we were able to get the the number of a phone interpreter who was able to help us understand the situation. We made arrangements for a local hotel to come pick her up and make sure she got back in the morning. It was after 1:00am before we finally left.

Bess was good in the car on the way home, but fussed some at begin in a car seat. It was 5:00am before we finally made it back home. We had a 9am appointment with the pediatrician. We didn't get much sleep that day, which was Friday. Overnight and the next day it snowed and snowed and snowed. We had one of the worst snowstorms ever on March 13, 1993. We were house bound for several days. If I remember correctly we received 31 inches of snow in that storm. And thus began our life with Bess.

Fourteen years later

Full Saturday

We had a full day today. The weather has finally moderated and it was wonderful. The snow is melting some and the wind was finally warmer instead of bitter.

I had some packages to box up and get out in the mail. A few years ago I bought an inexpensive postal scale. It has been wonderful to have this. I can weigh my stuff at home and put the packages and money right out in my own box. I guess you can even print postage labels from online these days. I haven't tried that yet.

Bessie worked on a word study she is doing. I think De'Etta, one of my cyber pals, has inspired her with her word studies and Bess has really gotten into digging deeper. She is reading a book on modesty and finding a lot of "flaws" in their scripture references. Not that she doesn't agree with some of the stuff in the book, but she is learning how to be more discerning when it comes to how some authors use scripture to back up their point.

Bess working on her study

Brian worked in the kitchen. He painted the ceiling, did a bunch of re-wiring, put the hood-vent back up and did some spackling. Tomorrow we will head to Lowe's after church and pick out some paint! Hurray!

The youngers went outside to play. The warmer has created some very large "ponds" in a couple areas of our yard. The water doesn't seep through the icy places, so it can get quite deep. Gabe and Dan thought this was wonderful and promptly spent most of their time rolling in this large pool of water. By the time they came in, they were soaked to the skin. It looked like they had jumped in the river.

Gabe and Dan warm up after the "plunge" into the water

After lunch the kids and I went to the library. I picked up a couple more books on tape and everyone else picked out books and a few movies.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in play, reading, stitching and a few chores.

We had a great day.

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Socks!

Okay, so I was bored today and sent out a request to my loopy friends for a new blog challenge. Liz posted back and said "How about your favorite socks?". Well, I opted for me goofiest pair. Okay all my blogging pals, your turn!

Here are my black socks with white poodles.

Bessie did opt for comfiest, her ultra soft, pink stripes

Noah's Ark

Here is the latest block I've been working on for my stitching group. This one was a bear to work on. It was not hard, but there are very large areas of the same color and a tremendous amount of 1/4 stitches. I am glad this one is done. It came out nice and the quilt is going to be great, so colorful and bright. All the blocks are from the Beginner's Bible.

Family

Momma, Daddy, Bessie, Dan, Hannah, Rachel and Gabe

Some days, when I feel myself overwhelmed, frustrated and weary with the task ahead of me, I lose sight of how far we have really come with the new kids. Today I received a wonderful reminder of the progress we have made. This is a picture that Rachel drew of our family. We are all smiling, happy and holding hands...how much better can it get and of course, we are all wearing crowns...the royal family you understand! It was a priceless "God gift" for me today and it made me so happy that this is how she perceives our family.

Help from Mr. Teddy

Still trying to find the right mix in the bedrooms, we moved the kids beds around again tonight. Dan's was now closer to the window and with the high winds tonight, he was a bit nervous of the sound. We reassured him and he settled down. Later when I went in to check on him, he was sound asleep with Mr. Teddy helping him with the scary noises. He is so cute!

Routine and Doctors

We have settled into a pretty good routine with our morning school work. We don't always get to history and science after lunch, but at least we are get the basics in. This year, I am happy with that.

Our main challenge has been Dan, who is so active and hard to keep occupied and out of trouble. I finally realized that I needed to keep him with me if I wanted to get anything done, so each morning, he picks out a few things he wants to play with and stays in the kitchen with me as I work and help the other kids with their work. He seems to enjoy this time and does quite well. I would like to work up special "school time" boxes for him with toys that are only used during our school time. This hasn't happened yet, but Bessie and I are brainstorming.

Dan picked the play food and dishes today

Gabe works on telling time

After lunch, Hannah, Gabe and I headed to the pediatricians office. Hannah here well visit appointment. She did great, well until she needed to get a shot, but that doesn't count in my book. She was cooperative, didn't fuss and was pronounced very healthy.

I'm going to be brave!

The kids played outside for an hour late afternoon, despite the tremendous winds and rolling snow squalls. Hannah couldn't wait to try out her new purple snowsuit. They had a blast outside and were reluctant to come in for dinner.

Busy Sunday

We had a busy Sunday. It started with Sunday school and church this morning. Our pastor and his wife were away this week on a trip to the Holy Land, so one of the elders filled in. He did a terrific job. I think it is a great thing when others can step in for the pastor if he is absent.

We buzzed home right after church, changed clothes and made a quick lunch. The kids ate in the van and we headed over to mom and dad's for a family get together to celebrate Hannah's birthday.

It was a great day. The kids played outside for quite a while. It snowed on and off while we were there and it was just below freezing, so it wasn't too cold.

Abbie Lots of happy faces

All the kids except Gabe and Zeb came in and Hannah open her presents. The boys wanted to see what she got, but didn't want to come in to stay, so they stood in the doorway and watched and then quickly went back outside.

Hannah was thrilled with her gifts. Noona and Papa had given her a pretty hat and Noona made her a fleece cape. Glenn and Theresa and gang gave her a water baby doll, a pretty purple snowsuit, a fluffy white snow hat and the coolest looking pillow purse. I had never seen such a thing. It was very fluffy and soft and had a pouch to put things in. It was pretty cool.

"See my new things!"

The boys finally came in just as we were singing Happy Birthday to Hannah. She did much better at blowing out the candles this time and managed to get them all by herself.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in playing hide and seek, talking, laughing, snacking and basically having a wonderful time.

Julia, Bessie and Mariah
Mariah and Hannah with her new water baby

We headed home about 5pm. Brian had duty this weekend, but he was home when we got there. We gave the Littles a light supper and headed them off to bed. They must have been tired as there was no talking tonight.

A very nice day!