Millie Grace is 1

I can't believe its been a year! What a wonderful year it has been to have the joy of Millie Grace added to our family. Here are some facts about her:

She LOVES her siblings. She calls all 3 of them "bubba" which Hattie doesn't love.

She sleeps wonderfully. Naps like the text books say she should.

She eats more than any of the other kids. I'm sure that will taper, but for now, she's bottomless.

She has an obsession with clearing things, like the coffee table, bookshelves, etc.

She makes funny noises, like, "ooh?" and "muh?" all the time.

She is a sheer delight!

We are so thankful to have her in our family.




She really enjoyed her cake!

Reruns

Back in September the kids and I listened to Focus on the Family's Radio Theater drama, Anne of Green Gables. We all enjoyed it SO much. (it was not my first time hearing it, I totally recommend it!) Anne made a comment I almost posted..."I can't imagine a year without October." Then she goes on to talk about how beautiful it is.

I agree. Especially living in at the foothills of the mountains here, October is breathtaking. However....I would have done fine to have skipped October of 2009! This has been a rough month for the Jennings family! Why can't everyone get sick at the same time? OR at least two at a time. Everyone here had their own sick days. Hattie, Silas, Millie, Luke, Mom and then Dad. We missed 2 Sunday's of church. 4 weeks of Wednesday AM bible study (one was due to car trouble). Between Silas and Hattie they missed 5 days of school. One night of Boy Scouts. Its been AWFUL!

Unfortunately, the TV has been on a LOT more than usual. I mean, what else do you do with a sick kid who just sits on the couch, all pitiful? And when mama's sick...what can she do but sit the kids in front of the TV so she can rest on the couch!! I didn't take the kids to the dr at all. They recovered and bounced back fine in about 3 days. But on my 3rd day I was worse. So on the fourth day I dragged myself to the urgent care and was promptly diagnosed with Strep.

ANYWAY...I was thinking about TV.

Daytime TV...what a waste of time. Talk shows and reruns. Reruns of talkshows even! Some cable channels are dedicated to RERUNS! It makes no sense why someone would spend their time watching reruns to me. Now there are some old goodies. Remember? Full House, Saved by the Bell (I've seen even the reruns 4 times)...but I wouldn't use my precious time in front of the TV watching something that I have seen before. Maybe you would. I don't know. Maybe its just my stage of life right now.

My dad LOVES the Andy Griffith show. He will watch the rerun even though he can tell you "this is the one where...". My sister Holly loves ER. She will turn it on while she's doing something like folding clothes. Jody will even watch replayed FOOTBALL games! That's desperation, in my opinion. Kids will watch anything, they don't care if they've seen it before.

It annoys me, can you tell? I'm SO glad we are all feeling better and can get outside!

Wordless Wednesday: Pumpkins

Wordless Wednesday: Help!

Milestones

So many things are happening here at the Jennings home! Nothing extremely exciting or out of the ordinary for an outsider but to a mom...its big stuff! And as usual I have a running commentary for it all! You may ask why I share all my thoughts, I say (like Anne of Green Gables) if you only knew what all I thought about and DIDN'T say....

Silas: lost his front tooth. I have inherited an obsession with wiggling/pulling teeth from my dad. He pulled ALL our teeth. He got a thrill torturing us with it. I don't know what it is, I don't want to torture, I just want to PULL the loose thing OUT! Silas acts as if I'm going to stab him with a knife when I say please let me wiggle it. In fact he said last night if I pulled it out I might as well kill him. {What???? Where did this drama come from???} I gave up. That thing was so loose. I put the boys to bed, very discouraged because I wanted to pull it out. I had just sat down and I hear..."Uh mom...I pulled it out." I was excited, yet disappointed. Hattie and Luke promise me that when their teeth get loose I can pull them...we'll see!

Hattie: She is thoroughly enjoying being in 5 day K-4 at her school. She talks about her best friend...who changes daily. She LOVES to write letters. She copies words or phrases into little notebooks all the time. Her handwriting is adorable and very legible and neat! But the best thing that is happening with her is her appetite. If you know Hattie you know she is tiny. She has been at the very bottom of the charts since she was a year old. She still it. At 4.5 years old, she weighs a whopping 30lbs soaking wet. She eats very healthy, but just not much. I think because she is burning up so many calories at school, her appetite has increased. She is not fighting so much at supper time and actually eating!! Its so wonderful!

Luke: oh Lukey...so fun. So funny. SOOOOOOOO talkative. And FINALLY potty-trained! I know that if you just wait till their ready they'll be ready. But Silas and Hattie were not even 2 and wearing underwear. I thought at least he'd be ready around there. NO. After much crying, screaming and the like (mostly done by ME)...its as if a light switch was flipped and Luke decided he wants to wear underwear. We have had one accident in the last several weeks. YAY!!! One in diapers....

Millie Grace: She's doing so much! She took her first step yesterday. Jody missed it, but the other kids and I saw it. Everyone was cheering and screaming and she almost started to cry, then she smiled. She's taken a few more, but prefers cruising. She is saying some words...more, mama, dada and a lot of babbling. She is very tiny still, but loves to eat. Certainly she'll be on the gain at her year check up....can you believe she is going to be 11 months NEXT WEEK??? Where has the time gone?

Cool Critters

Last week our church had a block party. It was amazing and free and fun! My dad, Joy, Jody and I volunteered and my mom brought the kids after Millie Grace's nap(I'm glad she volunteered to do that so we could help out with other stuff....she had the hardest job!). I took a break from face painting and enjoyed the Critter Keeper's talk about his exotic animals. He weaved the gospel into his talk beautifully. The kids LOVED it, and I did too! Here are some fun pics from my mom's camera!Silas was mesmerized!

Aunt Joy and Millie Grace
The bearded dragon right after he slurped up a grub!

Above, I don't know why we have those looks of amazement, but it must have been good! Below, the kids hold Julius Squeezer!
And this last one was the next day, ready for church. DD curled Hattie's hair, just like she used to do to me. Hattie has the same straight hair that doesn't hold that curl long too.

Improvising

So often I have a plan or idea and when I go to execute it, I realize I don't have what I need. Here are some examples:

1. Hattie has been sick and she requested pancakes for supper. Everyone in our house loves pancakes. I have a great, wholesome recipe...I sneak flax seed and oat bran and other goodies into the batter. But I realized I had COMPLETELY ran out of butter! I do not like pancakes without butter! Besides my kids need all the fat they can get! I thought I'd change to chili and then Hattie said something about pancakes. My improvision? Blackberry "syrup". I froze LOTS of blackberries this summer. I just blended them up and added a little 1/2 and 1/2 and a little sugar. It was a HIT!
2. When I'm bathing the kids and there is no more soap in that bathroom I use shampoo. I'm not going to leave them unattended! And its soap, right?? No one cares, as long as it is the "non-stingy kind".
3. Our kids go to bed pretty early on a regular basis. And we always read books before bedtime. We also live quite far from everything, like our church and restaurants...so on those occasions when we are running late for bedtime on the way home we have story time in the car. Jody has an ongoing series called "Ephraim the Squirrel" that he makes up or one of us tell a story from our childhood.
4. Sometimes when we run out of toilet paper..................just kidding! Did you really think I would go there? Its not like we are living in Uganda anymore! :)
   

A Monday Morning to Remember

If someone would have told me when I was a teenager what I would consider sleeping in one day I would have LAUGHED in their FACE! But this morning, my husband took the day off (poor guy, it is well-deserved!) and let me sleep in!

He got up with the alarm, got dressed and headed upstairs. He proceeded to get the children up and going, dressed and ready. He fed them breakfast and got their lunches packed! Oh, and he had coffee MADE and waiting for me!

I came upstairs, unshowered and still in my pj's at 7:30. (I never do this. I kind of have a policy of getting myself ready for the day before coming upstairs...because if I don't, I most likely never will take a shower or brush my teeth). I found everyone happy and ready!

Jody then took Silas and Hattie to school. Luke rode along. (Jody does this most every morning) Then he took Luke with him to run some errands. This in itself was a HUGE blessing since Luke is driving me crazy lately with a running commentary on life!!!

While they were gone, I fed Millie Grace (and myself) and played with her a little and laid her down for her morning nap. I unloaded and loaded the dishwashers, got a load of clothes going, looked through the mail leisurely, took a shower and got ready, all by myself. It was GREAT!

I thought I'd get my blog done before they came home, but not quite. Jody has come home and put a new battery in his dead, old, truck. And is now going to eat lunch with Silas and Hattie at their school.

Man, what a productive, wonderful Monday morning! Now its time to go play Hungry Hippos with a begging 3yr-old. Hope you guys have a great Monday too!

Wee-wee-wee all the way home

She's on the move! Not walking walking, but man, is Millie Grace cruising! This baby LOVES to clear the coffee table or end tables of whatever is on them. She delights in pulling books and dvd's off of the shelves. As she intently dug into a drawer the other day she fell in it!! She can spot a crumb from across the room. She may only be 6% (yes, 6. Its not a typo) on the growth chart, weighing only 15lbs 7.5 oz, but this gal is a busy body! Cheese is her favorite, but she eats just about anything. I can't believe she is 10 months old!

Saving on Haircuts

Well, it was just time! (this is not an opportunity for Amens from the Stephens...) Luke's hair just needed cutting. I debated on whether or not to take him somewhere or do it myself. If I took him somewhere I'd have to drive there and back at least 25 minutes or more each way and pay like $15 or more.

So I decided to try it. If it didn't work we could go to Jelly Beans or wherever later. I used to cut Silas's hair, but he could sit still. I told Luke if he sat still I would NOT cut his ear and I would give him a sucker. He did great. Cutting curly hair is easy. You can't really mess up since you don't have to have a straight line. Just cut here and there.

The end result...Jody came home and said, "Hey, Lukey, you got a haircut! I love it! Where did you go?" Lukey, "Da front porch!"

Since Jody shaves his in the shower, I don't get mine cut but every 6 months or so, Millie Grace doesn't have much hair yet, Hattie wants hers long, Silas likes his buzzed b/c I don't have to comb it...Luke has just helped us save some money on the Jennings family haircuts.

Pa and the Big Fish

Look how proud my dad is of his fish!!! I'm so proud of my dad! He is SO funny. There are kids at our church still talking about the "scary Roman guard" from VBS because when he does something, he goes all out! The grandkids call him Pa. He rides a Harley. He's a die hard University of Miami fan. He loves God. He loves his family. He's very generous. He doesn't care about what people think about him. He'll wear anything (he wore this t-shirt that said, "I'm so bad I vacation in Detroit" for the longest time). Gosh, I love this guy!!

I pray my kids grow up and follow in his footsteps of Faithfulness to Jesus and doing whatever it takes!
This is a picture taken in Hawkinsville over Labor Day. Its pretty rare to get all four kids sitting in one place without anyone crying!!

An Old Hymn

While visiting Jody's family in Georgia this past weekend we sang this old hymn at Westview Baptist Church in Hawkinsville. I've been thinking about the words and its seems very fitting for the job of a mom. Here's some of the words:

Little is much when God is in it!
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There’s a crown—and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ Name.

In the mad rush of the broad way,
In the hurry and the strife,
Tell of Jesus’ love and mercy,
Give to them the Word of Life.

Refrain

Does the place you’re called to labor
Seem too small and little known?
It is great if God is in it,
And He’ll not forget His own.