Pictures - YAY!

Yay! Eli's memory card fits in my copier, so I don't have to go through all the rigamarole I do with my own card. Yay! So here's a couple of pics from Eli's perspective:





I have no idea what this is about. Your guess is as good as mine.



I liked Boogie's facial expression on this one.

I Think Isaac Is Talking

I've noticed it for a little while now, but I'm actually starting to think Isaac is saying stuff! He seems to be growing up so much faster than the girls. I think he says, "ni-ni" (night-night), "ah-duh" (all done), "nuh-nuh" (no no) and "daayee" (daddy). When I go in his room to put him down for his nap, he will say, "ni-ni" and shake his head no. I think I've even heard him say, "ni-ni ah-duh" meaning he didn't want to go to bed. Of course, he says, "daayee" a lot. :o)

He's still fascinated by the dogs. He'll peer into their faces while they're on the couch or ottoman. And he's finally starting to play with is toys some! He still prefers whatever you have, but at least he's picking them up now. He may be ready to drop a nap - OH NOOOO! I need that nap to get lessons done! He's started waking up at 6:00 instead of 7:00. NOOOO! Maybe it's his tooth coming in!

Emily Anna is really getting into her beads business. Too bad she doesn't have ready customers; they've set up shop in the basement. She's also getting quite proficient at her different hairstyles. She will make a good babysitter in a few years. She's getting lots of training now with Isaac and helping with 4's,5's & K's at church.

Elisha is still Elisha. You'll usually find her curled up somewhere with a book like I used to be. However, she's a speed reader; I was not. She is also refining her voices. They talk to each other in this funny "English" accent; she cracks me up with the things she says. She helps on the puppet team at church.

Erynn has quite a voice too, but what stands out to me about her is her singing and her prayers. She remembers things quite well and will faithfully pray for them, even of her own volition. She's also warming up to Boogie more and more. She can watch him now for a few minutes at a time. He likes to run through his new play gym with her.

Here's to the End of Mounds of Laundry!

I think we're finally over the ickies. Eddie still gets tired and doesn't have a great appetite, but he's up now. I took Isaac in today. He has an ear infection. I was thinking bronchitis as he sounds very crackly, but she called that something else... The girls still have a stray cough here and there; the dogs have decided to leave the floors alone. So after having done the sheets AGAIN yesterday, I think I'll give the washer a breather.

Isaac enjoyed flounder for lunch, not so much the baked potato. He did like the Wisconsin Cheese Potato Soup that Eddie made tonight while I was catching the girls up on their lessons. BTW, Erynn finished her math book today due to Elisha's not so gentle prodding! :o) Isaac also liked a breakfast bar type thing I gave him tonight. He was shoveling it in!

We had a good time tonight filling our Valentine mailboxes with notes for each other. Even Frodo and Sam got in on the act. Poor Sprinkles got left out, as did Epi (Eli's hamster). Melinda(Erynn's hamster) joined Reepicheep and Oreo yesterday in the little flowered graveyard. :o( Not sure what got her other than she had a spot on her underside and she was about 2 1/2 years old.

Blustery Sunday

Hope you guys are doing well. Eddie is feeling a bit better. Still laying in bed most of the day, but getting up more than yesterday. He hasn't had the flu in a long time, he said. They gave him Tamaflu (sp?); it seems to be working well.

Isaac now has a cold, I believe. I thought it was teething, but I think now it's a cold. All the girls have a bit of a cold, too. Part of the bug??? I think he's going to have slow teeth to come in like Elisha. His top two teeth are there, bulging, with just a nick of white coming through. These past couple of days, he's really gotten into the dogs - like looking at them up close.

The girls are fine other than their froggy throats. I think Emi is recovered totally. It's hard to believe she should get her braces off this November. It doesn't seem like it's been two years. Erynn should be next in line to get that expander to correct her cross bite.

I thought the dogs were going to join us in the sick house, but apparently it was a one time issue. I won't go into details. :o)

Better go. Isaac is tired of window watching. The girls are outside climbing a tree.

Family Funny

Erynn and I were talking this morning (she's got the bug now) about going to the beach while reading a book of poems. One of the poems was about the beach and they made a car out of sand to sit in - it was so cool! We'll have to try it. So I was saying to her that we'll have to figure out how to teach Isaac to swim. She said, "Well, you could take him to the SPCA." :oP "The SPCA?" I said. "No, the UPS..." :oP I didn't know the postal system and the dog shelter gave kids swimming lessons! What she meant was the YWCA where I had them take lessons with a homeschool dad who rented the space there. I hope he's still doing it when Isaac is 4 (the youngest he'll do them). He had the others putting their head underwater the first day! We had tried with Emi for 2 years! Even Poppa had tried.
A cool thing happened yesterday, too. I was updating some friends on the health of our house and likened this bug we caught to a boll weevil since we had just heard a song about the harm/nuisances the boll weevil caused in the past. Well, my friend Kevin, e-mails me back and says his dad knows the guy who designed the "trap" they used to catch these bugs. How neat! He says we can set up an interview with them, too! The girls are supposed to do an interview for the Language Arts lesson. What timing. Now, we just need to get everyone well and get Eli home. She doesn't want to come home to all this yuck. Well! She did take a bulk of her work, but she's having a high time in High Point. Going to the movies, going to two basketball games - won the door prize at last night's, eating lunch with people, going to the hair dresser (or whatever you call them nowadays - cosmetologists???) with Granny. He asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said a cosmetologist and a model.He said she should be a model. There is one place I've heard of that I would consider sending them to for that sort of things. It emphasizes much more than what is normally taught in that arena. It talks about manners, and choosing your own style, etc. You have to be in 8th grade though.

She and the other girls are pretty insistent on the cosmetologist idea. They have it all set up - who will do the hair, who will do the nails, etc. :o). I'm looking forward to the discount, right girls??!! And I hope they get a masseuse there! Isaac better learn to walk soon, or I'll need a brace for my back sooner than later! This boy likes to eat (though he does have stronger preferences than the girls did from what I remember - which isn't saying much these days). He will eat a whole slice of bread, a couple of jars of baby food, some small chunks of whatever we're eating and drink at least half to a whole bottle of milk. He seems fine on cow's milk. Actually, I think the formula was what was constipating him before. We are doing organic for him though; I don't want to introduce those hormones to him at this age! He'd be a huge monster at the rate he's going. :o) He loves meat and bread. He will shovel the bread in faster than you can put it on the tray. He also loves to be "free". He likes to crawl all around. He figured out how to get down the steps last night. We bought him this crawl through toy for a birthday present and gave it to him early. He loves it, especially when Erynn will go through it with him. It's SO funny to watch. He also likes his ride on cars; took one to church the other day when we had a meeting, and one of the girls was pushing him down the hall. He had a blast. Caught all the other kids' attention, of course. His buddy, Jonathan, had to have a ride, too. He's a couple months younger, so he didn't quite get it as well (have to lift their feet a little). Maybe we should have named Isaac David instead (the story of Jon. & David in the Bible). Still no top teeth, but they are bulging.

PS - the girls love their comments from you guys on their blog and e-mail. :o) Maybe you could send one to Erynn at groovygirl@nc.rr.com to cheer her up???

Ahh...the joy of laundry!

Schoolin' the Boys

Since Elisha is in HP, Emily Anna is sick and Erynn has already done her work, we thought we'd take our "free" time and give the boys an education. Who do you think learned the most? Sam is eyeing Erynn's math; Erynn is teaching Isaac about dogs (notice her location), and Frodo looks extremely excited about the new Kidsville paper.

Christmas pics

Just a little late here, but as Lu Hsun would say, "Better late than never!"

Family Site

Arghh!I already lost the first post! Anyway, I am hoping to give you guys a way to check in with us more often. Hopefully, pictures will be easier to put on here than at hsb. You can still check on the girls' sites. They love to get comments! (hint, hint)

Jeff & Betsy, Wesley & Liz, Rob & Amy, their own sites are as follows:
Emily Anna: www.homeschoolblogger.com/mimispage
Elisha: www.homeschoolblogger.com/brookiesblog

They also have e-mail. Would love to correspond with family via the written format (hint, hint Granny :o)).

Emily Anna: simplyme96@nc.rr.com
Elisha: oldbluejeans@nc.rr.com
Erynn: groovygirl@nc.rr.com

Eddie's own is ewetmore@nc.rr.com