We're back...

Well, it's been almost a year since my last blog post. I'm not sure exactly why I stopped last fall, but it was probably a combination of lots of things - our first year homeschooling, coaching Joseph's soccer team, Sarah starting dance classes, Joseph and Sarah starting piano lessons, attending a homeschool co-op every week where I taught a Spanish class to 3rd-6th graders, teaching an online Spanish 101 course for the college, writing the Primary program, singing in the annual Christmas concert, arranging and performing in a flute trio, and David getting called to the High Council (meaning he is super busy on Sundays) -- either way, blogging fell off my to-do list.

So, I decided to start again. I'll tell you a little about what we're up to now and do a "flashback" post every now and then to share some pictures and stories from the past year.

For Grandma Carol - This is the bike you helped Kathryn buy.

August has been a crazy month. We went to Redding for a week and celebrated Joseph's birthday there. (That trip deserves it's own post...I have tons of pictures!)

At the lake

They built this in Redding...can you guess what it is?

7th Birthday - Wild Kratts "Cheetah Power" cake

Along the way, Sarah and Rachel got sick and had terrible coughs, which they passed to the other kids while we were all trapped in the van for the 12 hour drive.

The week after we got home the older kids went to a "Little Farmer" camp at a friend's farm here. They had a great time learning about all the different animals and life on a farm. They got to collect eggs, milk the cow, pick veggies from the garden, make butter, and do lots of fun crafts too. (Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of that). But, their favorite part was swinging on the rope swing that went over the creek and then "accidentally" falling in the water. =)

This past Tuesday was Sarah's first day of school. She is attending an elementary level Montessori school that recently opened here. Her teachers are great and her class is small (11 kids, 2 teachers), with mixed ages from 1st through 3rd grade. So far she is really enjoying the peaceful routine, personal attention, and ability to choose her own work during most of the day there. One day she went on a nature scavenger hunt with her class at the adjacent city park. Another day she played a rousing game of chess with a classmate.

First day of 2nd grade

Joseph and Kathryn are starting homeschool on Tuesday, and little David will start preschool at Montessori in the mornings a few days each week. We decided to NOT do soccer this year, at least not formally. We plan to play a lot of family games in the backyard. Sarah's going do ballet again and, new this year: Celtic soft shoe and hard shoe (tap). All three of the older kids will be taking piano lessons of some variety (either a private lesson, group class, or lesson with mom).

David and I are "back to school" too. Classes have started at the college again and David is teaching his regular load. I'm teaching Spanish 101 online again (this is my 3rd year now). We're doing a homeschool co-op again this year. So, it's looking like another busy fall. I'll try to keep you all updated.

Heather

PS If anyone wants to opt out of the automatic email updates when I make a blog post, just let me know by replying to the email. OR, if you don't get an email and would like to, let me know that, too.

May Happenings

Here's a little update from the month, I have more pictures on my camera, but don't want to download them right now (so you may never see them).

I spent my birthday* money on a window. Yes, it's totally worth it. Our laundry area was super dark, so I hired a window guy to come cut a hole in the wall and install a window. All the extra natural light is so awesome! (Thank you to my mom, mother-in-law, and Aunt Carroll for funding this project). But, as you can see, Plan A didn't work out (due to some electrical cords in the wall), so we centered the window, instead of putting it over the washer or dryer and having a larger space for a cabinet. The window looks great, but we still need to tape, texture, and paint the new drywall that we installed to cover up Plan A. When it's done, you'll get a picture.

David's parents came to visit last week. They were here a few days and we spent all day just enjoying having Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Laura with us. It was like Christmas for the kids. Rachel and I got sick and spent a lot of time sleeping, so I was grateful to have the extra help.

This was their first time meeting Rachel. We saw them 6 months ago before Thanksgiving and baby David was really shy around them the whole time. This time, he was much more outgoing and loved spending time with his "Papa" especially. 

This is a dress we got at a yard sale for Kathryn. She wants to wear a dress almost every day right now.

Rachel is 4 months old! She is very active now trying to roll over and reaching for toys. She's not content to sit and play in her swing anymore...though she does occasionally nap there still.

                                     

Her face lights up with a huge smile whenever she sees a familiar face (or anyone who gives her a big smile a little attention). She gets really excited whenever Mom comes around. She likes to coo and babble and "tell stories".

This weekend David starting working on our deck. It's rotted and decayed very badly in most areas. A while ago David actually fell through one of the boards. Today he and a friend ripped the whole thing out. We're only going to rebuild part of it, the section around the right side of the house where the door is. I'll keep you updated on that.

*I celebrated my 30th birthday this month, but let's not talk about that.

Names

Choosing names for our children has been more difficult than I thought it would be.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane. 

Remember when Joseph was born and we named him Christopher David? He still has a quilted blanket from my aunt with that name embroidered on it. We liked the name, but it wasn't the right one for him. So when he was 8 weeks old, we changed it to Joseph Ephraim, and that name has fit him very well. [There's more to the story, but that will suffice for today].

When Kathryn was born, we took our time naming her, to make sure we got it right the first time. Five days was all it took to settle on Kathryn Grace.

We knew David's first name before he was born, before I even knew I was pregnant. So, he was easy...except for his middle name. We still debate that one. His birth certificate says Jesse, but when he was blessed, David (his daddy) didn't include a middle name.

Sarah was the easiest to name. We knew that we wanted her to share her middle name with her birth mom, and we also consulted with her birth mom to make a list of acceptable first names. We had it down to two choices when she was born, but after meeting her it was easy to decide on Sarah Elizabeth.

Fast forward to January 24, 2012 when we welcomed this little lady into our family -

We tried to have a short list of names to choose from when she was born, but by Christmastime all the kids had started calling her Anna. I thought it was a nice name -- one that honored both of her grandmothers (LouAnn and Marian). But I wasn't convinced that it was her name. Before she was born I spent hours on baby naming websites, skimmed through three different baby name books, and even polled my friends. 

After she was born the kids continued to call her Anna, and without another name possibility, we just decided to "go with it". The days passed and I tried to figure out what her middle name should be. My midwife was getting impatient for us to fill out all the legal forms.

Then I started to think that maybe Anna wasn't her first name after all. It just wasn't working. Maybe it could be her middle name? So we thought of numerous possibilities and name combos. But nothing seemed quite right.

One Saturday evening as I was dressing her for bed and thinking how she didn't really look like an "Anna" to me, the thought came to my mind: She looks like a R__________(I'll tell you the name at the end). She sure did, but it wasn't one of my favorite names, so I didn't think too much about it, until the next day...

That Sunday at church my friend Kim asked me if we had decided on her name. (Hmmm...I didn't realize that anyone knew we were undecided at this point). I answered that the kids called her Anna, but that I wasn't sold on it. That's when Kim told me that she thought my baby looked like a R_____________. (The exact name that I had thought of the night before).

That night I told David about both experiences and he responded with, "That's what I said the day she was born!" Ooops, I guessed I missed that comment. So, we tried pairing this new name with Anna, either as first or middle name, but they didn't fit well together. David said she needed an "E" name to go with her other name.

A couple of week ago David woke up in the middle of night with the thought: Her name is R_____ E___. He woke me up to tell me. We decided that we would take the hint, so we've officially changed this sweet baby's name to...

Rachel Eve

 David and I haven't had too much trouble switching to calling her Rachel. Joseph has it down too. Sarah and Kathryn are working on it. But baby David is adamantly against it. He calls her Anna still and gets mad when we correct him. He says "NO, NOT!"

On a side note: we noticed a few weeks ago that miss Rachel was born on the same date that her great Grandma Wiseman passed away, one year later. (See this post).

Sarah's Big Day

Sarah celebrated her 6th birthday on March 17th. For breakfast, David took her (and only her) out to eat at a local breakfast restaurant. She LOVED it! She ate tons of waffles, eggs, and sausage and enjoyed getting lots of attention from all the people there.

Then she opened her presents.

And modeled her new dance stuff...

She talked to all her grandparents and lots aunts and uncles.

In the afternoon, she went shopping with Mom to get new shoes, a toy, and pick out an Easter dress. She checked out books from the library and played soccer with Joseph.

She had St. Patrick's day green cupcakes for dessert and enjoyed watching a basketball game later.

She claims it was the "best birthday ever!"

Since her birthday was on Saturday, she got to celebrate it on Friday at school. In Montessori the children take a photograph from each year of their life. They walk around the circle of children one time for each year  of their life while carrying a globe of the earth. The children sing "The earth goes around the sun, tra la la...etc." Every time they make a full revolution, they show the picture for the next year. Here are Sarah's pictures - one for each year.

Born March 17, 2006. She weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 21 inches long.

8ish? weeks old. She looks so cute, I had to include it.

March 2007 - one year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

Things she loves....

1. Singing - all day, every day. We live in a musical.

2. Playing outside - swinging, playing soccer, playing tag, chasing the cats, and most especially digging in the dirt/mud and planting her own garden.

3. Helping Mom or Dad make dinner.

4. Reading - she surprises us almost every day with new words that she can read.

5. Holding her baby sister, whenever possible.

Happy Birthday Sarah Elizabeth - we love you!!

David's 2nd Birthday

March 8, 2010

2011

His big day in pictures...2012