Morning Mayhem

Imagine my surprise when I downloaded the pictures from the camera memory card and discovered a morning of fun the children had! The photographer {Madisyn, I believe} caught her brothers and sisters in all kinds of mischief, while Mommy prepared for the day.

 

 

Ben was wonderful at devouring the rest of the bananas.

 Tyler helped himself to the remainder of the cookie dough.

 

Mary Claire and Liberty had lots of carrots {at least they were health conscious}. Maybe that's why Libby's hair looks so orange?!? ;-)

But the greatest surprise was the photo shoot that captured the many faces of Griffin. I hope they make you smile as much as I did. I'm still not sure what prompted him to dig out his fishing derby certificate from June to use as a prop, but the boy has a future in comedy.

Sew Much Fun

Recently we invited the Tims and Mashburn families over for a play/sewing day. While the kiddos played, the mommies broke out the sewing machines.

Needless to say, 17 children {all but 3 were 8 and under} spread out all over the house and yard! I think at almost any given time there were children in every room and the driveway!

Candyce had not made a garment with a pattern so she and Jess choose the same dress to work on. I went back and forth between them and helped them get past any confusing parts. We choose an easy pattern but with a round yoke, it wasn't as simple as we hoped it might be.

After lunch the lure of the AC and Smurfs won out over the bikes and bubbles outdoors. I couldn't believe the boys lined up on one couch and left the other totally vacant.

When the morning began, only the littles were still inside so we blocked off the living room so they couldn't escape. :-) Then all the middle kiddos turned the gate into a pen and had a fantastic time locking themselves in it. If we had put them in it, they would have had fits. Instead, they had a blast playing in the "pen".

I don't know how many chocolate chip cookies were consumed during day but Liberty enjoyed hers more than anyone!

Jess with her almost completed jumper {it needed the collar stitched down and it needed to be hemmed). Candyce cheated and packed up her dress without getting a picture. They both did a great job!

I'm not sure how the Duggar family has such lovely pictures on their website because posing 17 children is impossible!

 

We had a great day and are already looking forward to another! There is talk of making a baby quilt next time. :-)

When Mommy's away . . .

 

The camera will be used!

 

I was quite surprised to download pictures and discover that Griffin and an unnamed accomplice had a little photo shoot.

What can I say, boys will be boys!

The one where I make excuses

This is the post where I attempt to make excuses for not blogging for a month.

Right after I submitted my last post, Henry came down with something. He had trouble breathing one night and I really wanted to take him to the ER. Kent said we should keep an eye on him and he did improve by morning. Henry began running fevers in the afternoon/evening and seemed well the next morning. When Monday morning rolled around I took him to the doctor. He had developed a cough and was cranky. Kent suggested I go ahead and take him in to rule out an infection.

Boy! Did he have an infection! Turns out he had a severe case of pneumonia in his right lung. While waiting in the doctor's office I recalled that earlier the previous week he choked on some peanuts that a certain older brother dumped on the floor. Since there was a possibility that he could have aspiration pneumonia (peanut in the lung!), I was told to return if he didn't improve over night. The next morning we suspected he needed another antibiotic shot so we returned to the doctor. From there, I was told to take him to the children's hospital. Sometime after midnight, Henry was admitted to LeBonheur where we spent a week! He underwent a bronchoscopy where a tiny piece of almond was removed from his lung. Yes, I said he was eating peanuts. We're aren't really sure where the almond came from. Was it in the peanut package? Did he find a stray almond and choke on it at the time he was eating the peanuts? Did he choke at someone else's house, the church, etc and we didn't realize he had a nut at the time?

Needless to say after a week in the hospital, we needed time to recover. {I have pictures so a more detailed post on the aspiration will be coming. ;) }

Then full school began. All of our curriculum {I *heart* My Father's World - more on that later} came in so we dove in with both feet. The first day we didn't finish our school work until 9 pm! A 12 hour day for "school" is not the norm. Thankfully, it's gotten much better and we can generally wrap everything up in 3 hours.

Next, my brother-in-law took a two week vacation out West. This left Kent alone at the office working 10-12 hours days. When Daddy puts in that many hours at work, Mommy is exhausted!

Somewhere along there I also shared some news. We are expecting baby #6. He or she should arrive sometime near Christmas, though Kent says it must before January 1st {tax deduction :) }! Pregnancy in one's early 30s is very different from pregnancy in the early 20s. Couple that with the "fun-filled" month we had and I was just too spent to write coherent sentences.

So, can a get a "Wow, she was seriously overwhelmed" sympathy pass or am I doomed to the blogging Hall of Shame?

{I do have several future posts in my head but another busy month coming up. I'll do my best to not leave you hanging. }