Pudge is mobile! He pretty much skipped the army crawl and went straight to the up & down movement on his knees and/or his feet! He’s still slow at it since he makes more vertical movement than horizontal, but he gets there! Not too shabby for being just 5 months.
My girl Evan is special… in almost every sense of the word!
We recently had VBS at church, so she’s been thinking a lot more about heaven, hell, Jesus, sin, etc. That’s a good thing, right? She’s 4. 
For an illustration of her “specialness,” read the following conversation I had with her a few days ago:
Evan: “Mama, do you know what is higher than an airplane?” (We were outside.)
Me: “No, what?”
E: “GOD!” She giggled. “And…?”
She obviously wanted me to answer her. I followed her lead.
Me: “Jesus?”
E: “Yes!! And…”
She wanted another answer. Thought I was on to her, so I followed her lead again…
Me: “The Holy Spirit?” I completed the Trinity. Had to be right, right??
E: “Noooo!! Satan!!”
Me: “Evan, Satan isn’t in Heaven with God! Satan is in Hell, remember?”
Evan stopped and looked around, puzzled.
E: “Hmm. I haven’t seen him!”
Apparently our little yard qualifies as Hell on Earth. Now you know! 
Anyone out there miss me? Didn’t think so!
I haven’t given up blogging. In my heart of hearts, I still think about posting funnies all the time. I just rarely make it to the computer to get them entered. Guess I’ll need to download an app for that on my phone!
Which brings me to today’s schoolwork. If you’ve lost count, I now have 4 kids officially being homeschooled. Andy’s 8 and doing 4th grade work, Brady’s 7 and doing 3rd grade, Connor’s 5 and doing first grade, and tiny Evan is 4 and doing Kindergarten now! She’s very proud of that!
Ferris is 3 and will not be outdone. She begged and batted her eyes and acted so grown up that I bought her some preschool books, just to make her feel special. Her attention span for school is amazing!
Back to today, though! Part of the reason we love our curriculum is that it focuses on character and proper decision making. For example, Brady’s reading lesson today was discussing the Biblical idea of turning away wrath with a soft answer. To apply it, he was to give an example of something someone says that demonstrates wrath and then reveal a “soft answer” to politely refute the comment. Here’s his example:
“You stink!”
I’ll admit that I chuckled when I read that… but the next part sent me over the edge. His rebuttle?
“I know.”
I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried!!
Five of my kids were wedged side-by-side on the couch together this morning, watching some animal education show.
I looked over and they all seemed to be leaning toward the middle and Brady looked half as wide as normal. I asked Andy to scoot over a bit.
“Andy move the other way a bit. Brady looks squished.”
Brady piped up, “It’s OK, Mom. The creamy filling of the Oreo is the best part, too. I’m just in the middle like that.”
Funny, funny boy!
It’s hard to believe Ian is already three months old… Or that Sweet Baby Gray turned 2 yesterday! OR that Nate is celebrating his 9th Father’s Day today. Wow.
Much has been happening with our very busy family. Here’s a photo update for you:
You may remember that we bought a used shuttle bus in January… then spent several weeks having it painted. Well, at the end of April, a construction worker slammed into the back of that bus while I was driving. Praise the Lord, I was alone and not severely hurt.
After weeks of research, the insurance company deemed it “totaled,” so the search began for a “new” bus.
Meanwhile, baseball season began! Our three oldest boys are in three different divisions this season, which means three different teams. LOTS of ballgames.
Connor (5) is playing T-ball on the Mets. In this picture, he’s playing 1st base!
Of course, the girls are designated team cheerleaders. Ferris is wearing her dress in support of Connor’s Mets here.
Brady’s 7 and he plays for the Rangers this season. He often plays catcher, which he LOVES.
Andy is 8 and playing for the Cubs, a minor division of our baseball league. He’s doing real pitching now and is really doing well at it, too! He also plays first base. He looks handsome in his uniform, too, but I somehow haven’t caught a photo of him doing it yet. I’ll have to snap a picture of him soon! Believe it or not, I tend to have my hands full most of the time during games because Nate’s the coach. 
Here are Ferris and Evan, ready to cheer on the Rangers and / or the Cubs (which conveniently have the same team colors!)
About a month after the bus crash, we found a used replacement. It’s actually much nicer than the first. The Lord provides in mysterious ways!
We bought it from a shuttle service, so Nate had to remove some stickers.
The kids really like the nicer inside. Comfy seats and a DVD player are a plus. I like that I get to sit next to Nate, as this bus has a “co-pilot seat.” (They actually have car seats in the bus… The girls were just in the bus playing in this photo.)
Baseball season is continuing, so we’re still on the go. Ian enjoys being outside during the games, which helps. He turned 3 months old this week.
He’s a smiley little guy who is still fought over by his siblings. He doesn’t seem to mind all the attention!
Grayson turned TWO yesterday.
His love for baseball already runs deep! He’s often seen running around the backyard with his big brothers, loudly mumbling “Hey, ba-er, ba-er… ‘WING!”
Today we took Nate out for a steak dinner, so I snapped this shot of the whole gang whie we waited for our table.
Connor (5.5)… Ian (3 months)… Ferris (3)… Brady (7.5ish)… Andy (8.5)… Evan (4.5ish)… Grayson (2 years, 1 day)
Ian is settling nicely into our little family. He’s loved and adored and his feet probably won’t hit the floor until he’s 4 or so. I’ll post new photos of him soon.
For now, though, I wanted to leave you all with this little gem of a conversation between Connor (5) and Ferris (3).
Ferris had just come in from playing outside. As she and Connor interacted and goofed off, she got a little to close to him (and his bare feet.)
“Hey,” Connor said. “If you’re going to step on my feet, take off your shoes first!!”
Ferris will turn three on March 4. She’s know for quite some time that the baby is coming in her birth month (or as she calls it “Marching.”) Yesterday was March 1.
I was sitting on the couch at the end of a long day. I put my feet up and Ferris immediately snuggled up next to me. She sweetly rubbed my belly… then, as if bi-polar, shouted “GET OUT!!”
I guess she’s eager to meet her newest sibling. She has said for months that she gets to be the first to hold him/her. We’ll see if it works out that way.
About a half an hour later, she leaned over and sweetly whispered to my large baby bump: “I love you, Baby I….” Then she screamed, “NOW GET YOUR HINEY OUT!!” Where does she get this stuff?!
I know I’ve been relaxed about posting lately… Along with entering the final stages of iBaby’s pregnancy, we’re in the middle of sign-ups for our baseball league. Because I’m the Player Agent, that means I get to enter LOTS of players’ registrations into the computer. Spending LOTS of time doing that…
Anyway, I had a baby appointment yesterday. Because I’d been uncomfortable with some of iBaby’s positions lately, I asked our midwife to be sure the baby isn’t breech. (You’d think I’d be able to tell, but I still can’t!)
She felt around a bit and said, “Nope. That’s the head down here and that’s definitely a little rump… Here’s the back.”
“OK, good,” I said. “I was afraid he or she was breech.”
Our midwife laughed and said, “Oh, you’ve got a pelvis like a Mack truck, so I wouldn’t ask you to have a c-section anyway. You’d be fine to deliver a breech baby!”
Um… Thanks… I think!
Over the past several months, we’ve been giving the “older boys” the responsibility of unbuckling the car seats of one of the younger three children each when we arrive somewhere and are parked.
Sometimes they need reminded: “Unbuckle a sibling!”
They do, and we all pile out of the bus like clowns in a VW bug.
Saturday, we arrived at a surprise retirement party for my Dad and the big boys were so excited that they tried to get off the bus before helping.
Evan, afraid she was being left behind, screamed, “UNLOCK YOUR DUMPLINGS!!”
Hmm… Close!
