Problem Solved!

Well, we have managed to fix our litter box problem. Praise the Lord for that! We started out just adding some baking soda - I know that baking soda is known for it's odor controlling abilities, but I was shocked! It really made a huge difference. We also moved the litter box into the laundry room, which is in the basement as well, but is a bigger room and also has the dehumidifier in it. Lastly, we bought an Oust room deodorizer. I love Oust for taking care of odor problems and this thing is just a little diffuser style thingy that cost $3.00. It has very little scent to it, but it really helps. This morning I came downstairs and actually thought the basement smelled nice. I'm thrilled!

Litter Box Woes . . .

Dear Abby-

So, it's a good thing that Polly is sweetest little critter ever! Her litter box is about to freak me out! We have it in our basement in the bathroom and it is making our entire basement stink! (And our basement is where we have school - so we spend a lot of time down there!!) We are currently using Tidy Cat litter for Small Spaces and Multiple Cats (For one teeny little kitten!) - It's what my friend Amber uses and I've never smelled anything in her home. I think that part of the problem is the fact that our basement tends to be rather damp (We always have a dehumidifier running) I'm sure that's just compounding the problem. I have been emptying the litter box daily but that doesn't seem to matter, Ugh! Any suggestions?

Sincerely,
Stinky in St. Louis

Life with Polly

We have all fallen in love with our little Polly. She is such a sweetie. So far she is really very friendly and we're hoping she stays that way . . . that's the problem with cats . . . you never know whether you're getting a friendly one or not! Obviously, she gets loads of attention. It's not uncommon for her to run and hide when all four girls are around (and let's face it - who could blame her! - Especially when Meg and Julie start jumping!) but she's getting braver when it comes to that.

Right now, Julie has very little interest in her - in fact, she still calls her a "goggy" or a puppy. She'll get it eventually! : ) If she sees Polly she says "Hi goggy" and will sometimes walk up and pet her, but that's really it.

Meg would hold the cat all day long if I'd let her. She likes to hold her tight so she can't get away . . . we've been working on that with all three of them. The first time I told Meg to let her go b/c she wanted to get down, Meg picked her up by her neck to put her on the ground. When I saw her I said "Oh Meg! No! You don't hold her by her neck! Put her down!" Well, apparently I startled her. She sat there frozen with poor Polly dangling by her neck. She was rescued quickly and no harm was done.

Emma . . . my pathetic little Emma! She tends to be my . . . hmmm . . . how should I say it? My "intense" child. She has a hard time laughing at herself, gets her feelings hurt way too easily and takes life way too seriously. She has taken it personally any time Polly has scratched her, sometimes resulting in tears. (Not b/c it hurts, but b/c her feelings are hurt) Oh Emma! She's learning. When she's not bossing her to death she thinks Polly is wonderful and can't get enough of her.

Ali is pretty mellow with Polly . . . that's no shocker. She is learning the art of letting Polly come to her - realizing that the best way to get a cat's attention is to ignore it. She has drawn many pictures of Polly with hearts and stars and flowers and curly-girly handwriting. She cracks me up!

Polly experienced her first real bath on Sunday. The girls were in the tub and curiosity nearly drowned the cat. She jumped up on the edge of the tub to check it out and fell right in. She scrambled her way out (Scratching Emma in the process and, of course, hurting her feelings!) She was a pretty pathetic looking creature!

Aaron and I have enjoyed our evenings with her. She tends to be very playful and snuggly once the kiddos are in bed. It's sweet to have her climb up on my lap, snuggle up and take a nap. Our neighbor says she's "Andrea's cat." It's nice to have something in our household that prefers me . . . as the kids are all daddy's girls!

Our Newest Addition

A few days ago all 6 of us were walking out a Walmart and there was a girl there with a basket full of kittens. We oohed and ahhed and then left. We are currently renting and are not allowed to have pets, but those little cuties tugged at our heartstrings. Aaron and I chatted on the drive home (which is about 5 minutes) and thought maybe we should ask the Drewes (who are our landlords and church friends of ours) if we could have a kitten. We thought maybe they'd make an exception since they know us well. Aaron called them right away . . . they said a kitten is fine, but no dogs. Within 10 minutes we had the girls at Miss Sherry's house and Mommy and Daddy were heading out on a "date." Ali and Emma kind of grumbled to Miss Sherry, "I hope they're not getting ice cream without us!" They crack me up!


So we quick rushed back to Walmart, only to be disappointed. The kittens were not there anymore.


The next day we ended up contacting the Humane Society of Franklin County to inquire about the adoption process. I decided to take Ali out on a "date" and let her pick out the kitten, while Emma stayed home with Aaron and set up the litter box, etc . . . We wanted a young kitten and she had to be a girl (as my children would have no use for anything male!) Our eyes were quickly drawn to our little girly - Mommy monopolized the naming rights (purposely avoiding the "what should we call her" argument that I knew would ensue) and called her Polly. She is absolutely darling and seems to have taken a liking to her new home.


Emma knew that were were bringing home a kitten, but Meg did not. Here are all the kids crowding around her box as we opened it to Meg's confused exclamation of "It's a cat!"


Emma's first snuggles


Meg learning the ropes of how to hold a kitten

A Busy Weekend . . .

Jenny Schafer (formerly Lowe) is a college friend of ours who came with her husband (Kent) to spend the weekend with us. They recently finished language school with New Tribes Mission (Jenny finished in December, Kent in May) and were married in June. They are now preparing to go with New Tribes to Mozambique, Africa. There they hope to make their way to an unreached tribe, learn their language and bring the gospel to them. They will be coming back in October to speak at our Missions Conference and hope to head into the field in summer/fall 2008.

It was such a blessing to have them with us for the weekend! As I previously mentioned, the girls were all beside themselves anticipating their arrivial. It was really quite funny for me to watch them . . . they were so excited, but once the Schafer's arrived they (the girls) seemed a bit overwhelmed. After weeks of talking about how they would welcome them, they stepped back and looked nervous . . . Thankfully they warmed up gradually. Kent and Jenny spent plenty of time playing ball and reading to Julie (in response to "a wee, a wee!" trans: a read, a read!) All four enjoyed spending time with them and were sad to see them go.

Aaron and I really enjoyed our time with them as well. It was wild to hear about some of the training they have had and to think some of the experiences they could have as they go into the field. It's really mindboggling . . . the cultural obstacles they will have to overcome, not to mentions language barriers. When they leave the States they will first head to Brazil to learn Portuguese (which is the official language in Mozambique, though only about 30% of them speak it fluently). Then after immersing themselves in one language for a time, they will be off to Mozambique to learn another (and probably be exposed to many). It was awesome to see their heart for these people. We look forward to having them back in October.

While our weekend was great, it was also exhausting. We had two other families over to meet the Schafers, plus church on Sunday morning, not to mention the tasks of daily life. All 4 of us (adults) went to bed at 9:00 Saturday night and were still tired the next day : ) Pretty sad, I know! So, now I'm trying to jump back into my week . . . let's face it, I'd rather still be visiting with friends!

Preparing for Company

This past weekend we had some guests stay with us. The girls had been anticipating this for several weeks and were giddy and full of ideas on how to welcome them. Ali had many menu suggestions, including the lemonade seen here. Ali and Emma (and sometimes Meg) are at a point where they are really eager to help in the kitchen. (As you can imagine, it's a fun idea, but also tends to slow me down a lot.) They thoroughly enjoyed helping with the lemonade and were very proud to share it with our guests!

Nothing Like a Good Book . . .

All of our girls LOVE to read. Of course "reading" is a relative term at this point. Ali has just sped her way through The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and loved it. Often times I stop and realize that I haven't seen Ali in a while and discover that she is snuggled away in her bed reading. She is my one who would rather read than play (especially playing outside - not an outdoors kind of girl).

Emma is reading but her reading material is still pretty simple. A good Dick and Jane book is her thing. Unfortunately, she can't read in her head so well yet, so when it's reading time at bedtime, she mostly just looks at books, so as to not disturb Ali (who shares her room). She wants so badly to be able to read like Ali. The other day Ali told Emma that she thought she was wierd b/c she likes looking at books that have no pictures in them when she can't read them. Emma was obviously hurt and after some parental intervention things were dealt with . . . but in the end Emma told Ali that she likes to look at those books b/c she likes to pretend she can read like a big girl.

Meg is obviously a little ways from learning to read, but she would sit and listen to books for hours. Every day after lunch, I put Julie down for her nap and then Meg and I snuggle up on my bed and I read to her. While I'm putting Julie down I tell Meg to go ahead and pick out some books . . . It's is hilarious to see this mountain waiting for me on my bed . . . and that mountain would be bigger, except that she has emptied out the entire book basket. She pretends to read those books which she has memorized. She will often bring me a book and decide to "read it to me" Unfortunately, if it isn't one of the memorized ones, she stops every five seconds saying " Mommy, what does this say?" Oh Megan . . .

Then there's Julie. Julie has just recently come into her love of books. She is often heard (from miles around) saying "Goo" while she waves a book in my face. If I take the book and agree to read it to her she squeels like a pig and flaps her arms like she's about to fly away, saying "goo" (even louder, if possible). If I tell her no she, screams and pouts . . . we're working on that one : )

I snapped this picture this afternoon. It was so adorable to see her lying on the floor with her book . . . it was reminiscent of a teenager lying on the floor with a magazine, headphones on and blowing bubbles with her gum. Thankfully I have several more years before we get there!

And, of course, as soon as I snapped that one, she noticed that I had the camera and turned saying "Cheeee!"

" . . . God's not in this Bible!"

This deusy is from my little Emma! She has a fascination with Bibles. She often asks to look through my Bible . . . though it has no pictures in it, it's still fascinating to her. She's probably the only one of the 4 girls (at this point) who actually knows why some of the text in my Bible is in red (the words of Jesus are in red). Well, tonight she picked up Aaron's Bible and was flipping through it. She looked distraught as she commented "Mom, this Bible doesn't have any red words in it! The red words are God's words, so God's not in this Bible!" I couldn't help it . . . I laughed out loud (which doesn't tend to go ever so well with Emma). I quickly set my little heretic straight and now all is well in the world!

Loving It!

I have now been reunited with my camera!! Yeah!!

Since our first day of school pictures weren't so hot I've decided to add a few more. These are actually classroom shots. For those of you who have never been to our house, our basement is half finished. On the finished side, we have a half bath and two rooms. One is used as a playroom and one is kind of a rec-room (where we keep the computer, piano, treadmill, etc . . . ) Well, the rec-room has now also become our classroom. I am pretty spoiled with this set up - I hope we always have it this good!

School is going really great. We have spent the past week tweaking things here and there, but mostly it has been smooth sailing. I feel like the girls are enjoying what they are learning, and I am enjoying teaching them. Really, I think the anticipation leading up to homeschooling was worse than actually doing it has been.

Here are Ali and Emma hard at work at their desks.

(This is actually an after-school shot - they are just coloring)

These desks are wonderful! We were blessed to be able to rescue them from the dumpster when Aaron's parents cleaned out their old chicken house (which has now been used for storage for many decades). It's nice that they can each have their own space that they are responsible for without cluttering things up too much.

Here's Meg at her favorite school time occupation. It's amazing how long a 3 yr. old can sit and cut paper into tiny pieces! (even if she does hold the scissors wrong!)

And finally we have little Jules (naked after pouring a cup of water all over her dress) enjoying "erasing" the whiteboard. There was a time when I was really worried that she wouldn't be able to deal with homeschool life. She couldn't stand having a door closed on her - but now she will play in the playroom, or her bedroom with Meg and Ali or Emma without pitching a fit. It's nice to see some of that hard work paying off!

Chopping Off the Mullet

A serious pet-peeve of mine: babies with mullets.

Both Meg and Julie had a gift for growing hair in the back, with very little action in the front. In both cases, the mullet had to go.

So here we are . . . my littlest peanut had her first haircut today!

Before:

After:

She did a great job and looks darn cute!

Making Memories

Ali's Kindergarten teacher was very much the sentimental type. Throughout the year she would send home various things like this . . . most of which have been saved in Ali's scrapbook. I decided to take a leaf out of her book for Emma (and probably for each of the rest of them!) I showed Ali her old drawing of herself and she was shocked at how she had drawn herself in Kindergarten. It's fun to see them looking back and acknowledging how they've grown and changed. The pathetic thing is that as I read this poem to Emma I almost started crying! I must be becoming emotional in my old age!

First Day of School

Well, we made it. Our first day of school is over (minus a few miscellaneous items). Overall, things went really well. Unfortunately, our day started out . . . rotten! I hardly slept last night, for many different reasons. I have been very tired all day, but I made it. The other big bummer was that I had the kids all ready this morning to take our usual first day of school pictures and quickly discovered that I didn't have my camera!! I apparently left it at my mom's house when we were there a week ago and never needed it at all this week. I'm sure that's no big deal for most of you, but for me to not have my camera for my first day of homeschooling, after a rather sleepless night . . . I wanted to cry! So, I scrambled to figure out what I was going to do. I ended up using the camera on my cell phone and Ali's Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital Camera. The quality of both of these is poor, but Ali's camera pulled through enough that I at least have some documentation. I might need to get over to my mom's house tonight and take 2nd day of school pictures tomorrow! : (

Really, all 4 of the girls did great. I can already see areas where I need to adjust, but for now they are pretty minor. Ali said her favorite part of the day (aside from recess) was History. Emma's was Math (she's obviously her father's child!). Meg enjoyed cutting up paper with her scissors and Julie enjoyed coloring (and, of course, snacking on crayons). Hopefully the rest of our week will go this well . . . with a bit more sleep for me!

The Pre-Homeschool Freak-out!

I'm starting to feel it! We start school one week from tomorrow and I have this sick feeling in my stomach as I ask myself, "What were you thinking?" Many other questions follow that one: "How am I going to homeschool and still accomplish my daily tasks at home?" "Can I add 8 more hours to my day?" "What am I going to do with Meg and Julie for all of that time?" and on and on they go . . .

Then the other half of my brain kicks in and I start answering those questions to myself. I know this is doable . . . Even with all these frustrations, it will still be better than our first grade experience . . . I'll just DO IT! It will just be life for us. When Ali was our only child I often thought that there was no way I could handle 2 . . . or 3 . . . or 4 . . . when the reality is that you just take it one step at a time. It just becomes life as you know it. I'm not the supermom that I thought I would have to be, but that's okay, no one is.

As I look through school books, etc . . . I start to feel really excited and blessed that I get to teach this stuff to my kids! How cool is that! I imagine projects and field trips and snuggling up with good books. I'm so thankful for the additional time to work on character development! How great that when Ali is being lazy or Emma is being stubborn, I can speak to those issues as sin issues (not just as bad choices) and help them to grow in their diligence and teachability. I am also glad [mostly : )] for the ways that God is going to use this experience to develop my character.

So for a while I'm flying high, and feeling like we will make it . . . then the cycle starts again . . . I must be crazy!

So, right now, I'm just praying for diligence, patience and wisdom and trusting that God will compensate for my lack of all three of those things.

Soccer Camp

Our week of Soccer Camp is now over! The girls have had such a fun time, and learned alot . . . but I sure am glad it's over. The camp is run by Tommy Heinemann (a college student from church), and he does an excellent job. The bummer is that it's out in Brentwood. So rather than having to spend all morning in the car, I've just been staying out there and finding stuff to do with the little ones. We found a great park, and an awesome McDonald's with a playplace to pass our time, but I'm looking forward to a regular morning at home tomorrow!

Warming up

Sweet sisters playing on the slide at Broughton Park

Sweaty Girls!

Ali and Emma with Tommy and Janie

(another college student from church

who coaches the little ones)

Happy Birthday Emma!

My little Emma is now 6! We started out our morning at soccer camp and then one of our tires blew out on the drive home. How fun to have a tire go out with 4 tired and hungry girls in the car on one of the hottest days of the year! Ah joy!

Well, little Emma, hopefully the rest of your day goes better!

Fun with chocolate pudding - Age 15 mos


Little Sweetie - Age 2 yrs


4th of July - Age 3 yrs