Anna Joy - 11 Months

I am eleven months old, and...

...I officially am not nursing any longer.
...I have finally cut my first tooth!
...I can wave bye-bye.
...I love to crawl up to you and head butt you in the shins until you pick me up.
...I also enjoy pulling myself up on your legs and yelping at you until you pick me up.
...I am also quite talented at just sitting on the floor and reaching my hands out to you and smiling and yelping until you pick me up.
...I am a pro at crawling around after you and crying until you pick me up.
...I love to feed myself!
...I like crayons. Taste great, less filling.
...I have a lot of fun in the laundry room.
...I like to push the laundry basket around while I walk behind it.
...I am really good at unfolding the laundry and stashing it in various places.
...Mommy is totally in denial of my progressing age.
...despite my lack of words, I can definitely get my point across.
...I have earned the nickname Mouse for all my scrounging around and managing to find every single little thing that gets left on the floor.
...I am the quintessential baby of the family...everybody loves the baby!!

The Road Less Traveled

Sounds like the beginning of a deep and incredibly poignant post, doesn't it? Welp, if that's what your here for, then scram. The only thing deep about this post is the amount of pumpkin muck we got into.

I don't ever remember my parent's grumbling about pumpkin carving. It was always just one of those things we did. I don't have any particular memories at all, truth be told, concerning pumpkin carving. I don't ever remember not having that orange, glowing jack-o-lantern on our porch this time of year, so it stands to reason that it must have been a relatively simple process for those memories to be so markedly unremarkable.

Oh, ho! How my memories have either failed me or how my husband and I just stink at traditional pumpkin carving.

We selected a small-ish pumpkin for each child, thinking that a porchful of warm pumpkin grins was just the ticket to all things fall. We took those pretty little pumpkins home and the kids thrilled in drawing their idea of the perfect pumpkin face on a trash bag. I transferred those ideas to the selected spot on their pumpkins, and soon we were ready to start the carving.



Except perhaps not. Those were some tough pumpkins! They obviously did not choose the destiny of jack-o-lanterning and were determined to not give up the fight easily. And folks, those orange gourds won. We admitted defeat for the evening and plotted on purchasing better tools the following day.



Joshua brought home the official pumpkin carving kit and we thought we were all set for some real pumpkin carving. What happened was that we bent two of the miniature saws within the first five minutes. And broke one of the hole poker tools.

Joshua finally sawed his way into one of the pumpkins, started a second, then looked slightly dismayed as he realized how much carving was left to be done. Caps off, eyes, noses, mouths...he looked up at me with a look of defiance in his eyes and announced...

'I am going to get the dremel.'


Yes, we really did resort to power tools for our pumpkin carving. It was highly effective, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Despite the cat's distaste for the added noise.


It worked out quite well, really. I'm thinking we might just make that there dremel a part of our pumpkin massacring tradition!



And yes, I really did trash the majority of that pumpkin carving kit while I did my best impression of Yosmitty Sam under my breath.

In The Silence of This Moment...

There's always fodder for 'Kids Say The Darndest Things' at our house. In general, I try not to subject people to it too terribly much. Occasionally, I have to get some of these things written down.

Sarah Grace is passionate about learning to read. The competitive streak in that kid is about eighteen miles wide, and it is killing her that Thomas can read.

'But why can't I read, Mommy?'

'Baby, you have to learn all your letter sounds first. Then you'll learn to string them together and make words.'

'But I can read because I can talk.'

Oh my, can she ever. Not a meal goes by that we don't remind her at least forty-six times to concentrate more on her food and less on sharing information.

Thomas is giving in on his bid for the presidency. He has opted, instead, to be king. He apparently didn't like the part about needing to be voted into an office and the very real possibility of not being voted for a second term.

Elizabeth, well, she's just sweet. Can't admit to wrong-doing to save her life, but perfectly adorable as she answers 'I doughno' to questions that could lead to proof of her guilt.

As for Anna, well, she has no words. She has screeches and wails and smiles and gibber.

Rarely is there a quiet moment around here...and when there is, I think about the happy noisiness that happens throughout the day. This life of mine is filled with a happy hub-bub.

The Shine On The Usual

Yesterday, in case you missed it, was the six year anniversary of the day my husband and I exchanged our vows. It's the one time of year you can pretty well count on us to do something different from the norm and set time aside for just us. This year, we failed. Circumstances far beyond our control stepped in to insure that we spent our anniversary in a normal, everyday kind of way.

We had already made the command decision to stay home from church so as not to inflict our lack of health on anyone else. We all lolled about in bed until our stomachs drove us to the kitchen. As we sat and ate our breakfast, the kids chattered about all the fall colors. Memories from my childhood flooded my head reminding me of long, winding back roads and ancient trees reaching towards the sky with their coats of colors. I smiled and announced we were going on a leaf ride after breakfast.

It was not the best-est leaf ride I have ever been on. With all the rain, the trees just aren't their usual bright colors. But the enjoyment of getting out of the house, the change of scenery, the fun music on the radio, it all mixed in to make a very nice distraction. We stopped in at Wally Market to grab up a few things that were needed to get us through since I had not been to the grocery store in over a week, and continued on our way back home.

It was then that I realized that there was no way I was going to make it all the way back to the house without starving to death. I needed a coke and some salty fries. McDon@ld's was the only thing that could keep rescue me from certain death.

When we finally made it back home, the kids romped around a bit enjoying the sunshine, and then everyone except me went to lay down for a nap. I tip-toed to the sewing room and made myself comfortable.

We had spaghetti for dinner. It later occurred to me that we could have eaten by candlelight, in honor of our anniversary, but at the time, I was more concerned with getting food in everybody's little bellies. After dinner, we had planned to carve pumpkins, but that fell flat due to a terrible lack of planning on my part.

We'll have to do that some other time.

We put the kids to bed, and settled in to enjoy the evening in our own separate ways. It was highly un-romantic.

Tonight, however, we put the kids to bed and left them in Granny's care as we went off in search of chocolate. I suggested a favorite country food restaurant that has been tempting me with advertisements of scrumptious chocolate fudge cake. Tonight, we went and had ourselves a dessert date. We discussed politics, religion, our family, ideas and goals and dreams. We joked on the waiter, who was a hoot. I wrapped up in Joshua's jacket, which smells wonderfully of him, of familiarity, of comfort. We held hands and meandered about the country store.

It may not have been a big anniversary get-away, but it was a get away. And our anniversary? It was a reflection of our lives, and the contentment found there in.

It was all perfect. Right down to the french fries.

6 Years Ago...

...we looked a bit more like this.


5 years ago, we looked like this.


4 years ago, we looked like this.


3 years ago, we looked like this.


2 years ago, we looked like this.


1 year ago, we looked like this.



And now, we look like this.


There is much more to it than how we look at any given time. It's the time we share together, the good times and the not as good times. It's how much we love each other and how much we love our children. Most importantly, it's how much we love our Lord and how we respond to everything that He allows to happen in our lives. It's a ride that I would share with no other.

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart. I am so excited about sharing many, many more with you.

Little Bits From The Sick House

If you follow me on Twitter or have seen any of my recent FaceBook statuses, you are well aware of the fact that this is not the house you want to be living in right now.

Sarah Grace got the party started with a bit of a cold. It got bigger so she shared it with Thomas. He added to his own misery by cocktailing that cold with the flu. Then Anna came down with croup. And then I sat in the ER with little Anna last night until the steroids kicked in and my baby began breathing normally again.

To say that today was not very productive would be an understatement. In fact, I was so wiped out that I just kind of drifted through the day. I did cuddle with children frequently. And I did tuck away a few moments.

Like when it took Sarah Grace and Elizabeth nearly half an hour to get Elizabeth's pull-up pulled up. And the giggling that took place in that hilarious half hour.

Or the look on his face when Thomas realized that the muffins he was enjoying so very much were made with pumpkin. 'But pumpkins aren't FOOD, Mom!!!'

And when Anna found that if she flipped the nipple on the bottle, it would make a satisfying popping sound and water would fly out.

Then there were those first few moments of nap time. Everybody cried for a few minutes, then peace. They were all so exhausted that after the obligatory wails of protest, they slept for no less than three hours.

And this Mama? She reclaimed her calmness.

Curses, Foiled Again

Let me just get this off my chest. I can't get video to upload, I can't get pictures to download. Your little peepers are doomed to a life of picture-less blather. Or at least until the bad techie karma leaves.

It kind of fits, though. This lack of computer savvy coincides with a houseful of sick little children. So it's not like I have tons of time to tweak pictures, find words, and add posts. My lap is being vied for at nearly every moment of the day, and I suspect that the weeks usual activities will be put on hold until this cold quits kicking their little tails.

However, there are those incredibly long naps that sick children are given to taking. And what do I plan to do with that time? Work in the kitchen!!! I am trying to 'cook ahead', doubling or tripling recipes and freezing things so that I can provide myself with a get out of jail free card on an evening when I am feeling particularly lazy.

I am also undertaking some baking experiments that make me smile, even if I don't like the results. I love to bake. It's better than cooking regular food, if you ask me, but alas I can't bake my way through meal time every day of the week. We used to have baking day, me and the kids...I am looking forward to implementing that wonderful time of fun and silliness into our routine again.

And there you have it. A lot of words that amount to nothingness to anyone besides me and my desire to blog, it being all therapeutic and all. I will tell you this, a little teaser: I have some cutie pictures of my kids on my iPhone (that I can't download yet) and some very embarrassing pictures of myself and another recent experiment that I just might post. So y'all remember me and my bad karma when you think about your desire for another Aubrey Antic, m-kay?