62.3 pounds

That is how heavy the boxes we recieved today for Mary's upcoming year of school were. She now has a stack of books and workbooks that is over a foot tall. I don't think the implications of that have sunk in yet, because she is super excited for school to start. Up until today she was often heard to point out that while Isaiah and Rebekah start next Thursday, on August 27th, she didn't have to start until September 8th. Today she was complaining that she had to wait longer to start school.

Books and more books weren't the only thing in all the boxes. She also recieved pictures of art, acrylic paints, paint brushes, modeling clay and oil pastels for art this year. For science she recieved a magnifying glass, an advanced rock and mineral collection, wall maps, pipe cleaners, more modeling clay, safety glasses, a large test tube, packets of sand and one of gravel, a magnet set and a thermometer. For American History, she was sent an inflatable globe and more wall maps. Combined with all the things that she will be doing on the computer, I am very satisfied that she is going to have a great year learning and doing new things.

In other news, today Isaiah is going out to a ranch to learn about and perhaps ride horses for his Cub Scout den meeting. He is so very excited and Mary and Rebekah (fervent lovers of all things horse) are very envious.

Brownie Points, Please

There is a new system of work and reward in our home. It started a couple of weeks ago when I asked one of the kids (Isaiah, I think) to please run upstairs and fetch the wipes and a diaper. Feeling his age, he asked what he would get for it, and I told him he could have a brownie point (to me a brownie point is when you don't get anything but goodwill from a person for doing something). He went and did what I asked right away and I gave it no more thought. Later, while I was upstairs making lunch, Mary rushes into the room, with Isaiah and Rebekah close behind wanting to know what she could do to earn a "donut point, too." Several days passed with the kids frequently asking what they could do to earn points and arguing over who would do the small something to earn a point. They kept a running tally and talked about it A LOT. I must admit, I found something for them to do every time they asked.

They were all approaching double digits, before they realized they didn't know what exactly brownie points are good for. Mary started grumbling that it was just another way to get them to help out at home, besides their daily chore (she is starting to catch on too quickly to some things). So I decided that they could redeem brownie points for various things, extra time on the computer or video games, staying up a little past their bedtime (that one won't work during school), or other special things. They can also lose brownie points, especially at bedtime if they don't go when they are told. Bedtimes have been much nicer, a good deal less wandering of the halls, and what not.

I just have to add this picture taken last Sunday. What a Cutie!

A brief glimpse of our recent vacation

The campsite.

Happy to be out of the car!

We took a walk down to the river...this place was so beautiful!

Emma and Ben sitting on a stump.

Next to our camp was a nice grassy area the kids had lots of fun playing around on.

Feeding the anemones at the Aquarium.

The cutest kids ever!

We were all getting splashed in this picture...

The ride home.

(Steven took this picture with one hand while driving)

Unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera with us while at the Zoo. But we had a fabulous time!

Not quite a year...

Well. Hmm. I have recently been enjoying my sister's blog. She lives in Richland and so we don't see each other terribly often. It has been lots of fun to see what she and her family has been up to. I am a horrible correspondent (this is not a new development) but I am going to try to do better (again). So much has happened and not happened since I last posted.

As far as the not happened...in my last post I talked about working on the basement and Mary hopefully moving into her room soon. I wouldn't say she has totally given up hope...but she still is waiting. A while back we moved her into the game/computer room, so she does have her own space now, but it isn't the same as a fully functional bedroom. We have made tons of progress on the basement. We are so stinkin' close to finishing all the mudding and sanding. I would say mere hours away, if we could just put the time in. Texturing would be a one day project, and then we could get the entire basement carpeted. We haven't really worked on the downstairs bathroom, other than some demolition, but that isn't going to be carpeted, so it is not a priority for us now. I would love to have the rest finished before school. That is always such a busy time.

The most recent happening was a family vacation to Seattle to visit Woodland Park Zoo and the Seattle Aquarium. We had a really great trip. The first night we camped as Kanasat-Palmer State Park. It was absolutely beautiful. Our most favorite campsite ever, I think. Though we had a great time on our trip, it was really nice to come back home.

Birthday Musings

Well, this has been a really busy year. Buying a home and the subsequent process of remodeling said home has really been a time consuming project. Today we had concrete poured in the front, increasing the width of our circle driveway by five feet at the center and also filling in the ugly strip between sidewalk and street. I am so excited to begin the planting perennials in the half circle. Looking out the front window will soon be a pleasure instead of a pain. Tomorrow we have home teachers coming over to help work on the basement. I am hoping that Mary's room will soon be occupied.
Benjamin has a bad cold and the past two nights have been awful. Last night after falling asleep at ten, he woke up three times during the following hour....I stopped keeping track after that. We walked or dozed in the corner of the couch, with Ben on my shoulder so that he could breathe easier. Hopefully tonight will be at least marginally better, I am sooo tired!
The kids love being back in school. In his own words, Isaiah has "the best teacher ever!" Rebekah is thrilled to have brought home her first homework today and Mary is very excited about participating in either band or orchestra this year. Emma ranges from being moderately to severly disgruntled about not being in school, and tells everyone she sees that she will be in kindergarten very soon. Benjamin is talking just a bit. His words are hi, uh-oh, and hot (at least those are the ones that we understand).
We are thinking about getting a cat. This would be our first real pet. (We had fish when Mary was a baby) The only reason we haven't already gone out and got one, is that Steven and I are somewhat concerned about how much love it would recieve. (Way too much?) Well...I have one more bathroom to clean and the little girl's room to straighten.

Patience Iago

Well, we did it! We made an offer on a house. Now comes the hard part. Waiting. I must confess that I get overly excited about most things and that I HATE waiting. Even though we could know as early as Wednesday, it seems like such a long time. We have already started planning the changes that we want to make to the basement, and I have priced out many of the items we will want for our home...lighting, paint, appliances, etc. I have picked color schemes. I hope that if our offer is accepted that the month it will take to close will go fast. Thank goodness February is the shortest month.

Other news of note for us is the winter weather. We got about a foot of snow Saturday and Sunday. Since we already had some on the ground, we have several feet in the yard now. The roads are horrible, even though they have plowed some of them. The kids got a snow day today, and around dinner time they canceled school for tomorrow as well. Tonight and tomorrow we are supposed to get a few more inches, then more on Thursday, and still more this coming weekend. Emma keeps asking when summer will be here.

On a side note, on Sunday Isaiah said that he wished he could speak another language so that he could talk to the Wales in Wales (meaning his cousins). Steven told him that they also spoke English and Isaiah was relieved apparantly this has been weighing on his mind. It will be so much fun for the cousins to spend some time together this summer.

Self Control is Over-Rated

As Steven has mentioned in his blog, we are looking for a house. I really hope that it will be a fun process, I will admit that I am a little nervous about it. But what I am really struggling with as of late is the impulse to pack up the entire house. (I haven't mentioned this to my husband...). I have always been an early packer. During our first year of marriage we considered moving and I packed everything up one day while my husband was at work, and we lived in and out of boxes for a short time before we decided that we were staying. So then I had to unpack everything and put my house back together. However this time I know that we will be moving, but the timeline is uncertain. Truthfully though, the only thing stopping me from pulling out the boxes from the shed (we have moved so much, that we keep all the boxes handy) and packing everything up, is the fact that our house is so small, that there is no room for them once they are packed up. This fact doesn't keep my fingers from twitchng and my brain from trying to find a solution. I know my husband will be shaking his head as he reads this, but he has likely been expecting it, he knows me too well. I will most likely restrain myself until something is certain, but then again, maybe I won't.