The Simple Woman's Notebook

The view from where I sit ...evidence of little people everywhere! I like that my house looks like children live in it. Really.

Outside My Window...beautiful cool evening. Tomatoes and pepper plants probably aren't digging the chilly weather though.

I am thinking...that it's a privilege to change diapers, tuck little people into bed, kiss boo-boos, teach a child to read, play The Tooth Fairy, be "nurse" to someone sick, cheer on a brand new potty trainee, love a child who is acting unlovable.

I am thankful for...a sweet husband who never fails to ask what tempting food he can bring home for me. Just while pregnant though! He is sweet not to ask me that question when I'm trying to practice food discipline!

We are learning...that the caterpillars we found at a restaurant the other day don't like any of the plants in our yard. I don't want to say "I told you so." but I'm this close.

From the kitchen...I flee. Gag!!

I am wearing...my pj pants and a t-shirt. Love living in the pj pants!

I am creating...hopefully a family that will carry on our Christian heritage to future generations. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth" 3 John 1:4 (NIV) I'm applying that to my grandchildren, great grand-kids, and so forth.

I am going...to plant cucumbers this weekend.

I am reading..."Baby Catcher" by Peggy Vincent. For at least the tenth time. No joke.

I am hoping...to find our new midwife to be one of the two we are interviewing this week. I hate interviews.

I am hearing...a bit of wind outside. So peaceful.

Around the house...our new microwave still smells like burnt hair after last weeks burnt macaroni incident. Brand new microwave. Supposed to go over the stove but so far it's only made it to the top of our dresser.

One of my favorite things...when my girls come up to me and spontaneously throw their arms around me and promise they'll always live with their Dad and I. Next door at the furthest and always with a sister or two (and a bunch of animals) for roommates.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Midwife interviews. Tour of an organic farm.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

God Knows.

Once again, the school year is winding down.

All I can say is "THANK GOD."

It has been very challenging to keep up with our work over the past few weeks since Baby Garrett #5 decided to make her/his prescence undeniable. I usually love our school days but lately it is all I can do to put one foot in front of the other. I'm like a giant baby myself: I eat every 2 hours, spit up, pee constantly, need a nap (I'd take 2 if it were possible), wake up all night long (again with the bathroom thing), and cry a few times a day. In fact, I do want my Moooooommmmmmmmy!

But God is good. All of the time. And with Him, all things are possible. Even making it through the miserable first part of pregnancy for a busy homeschooling momma.

We are a week away from finishing our science course. Reese finished math for the year. See, God knew what was coming even though I didn't. Back during last summer when I was consumed with planning our year out, I thought it was kind of crazy that we would be done with science so much sooner than our other subjects. It sort of bugged me because I wanted all the subjects to end close to same time. And sometimes I got frustrated when Reese would drag her feet on her math lessons. But she finished her book at exactly the right time. Any sooner and we would have started on the next book and it would have been a little tough to justify ending her math lessons for the year right as we started a new book. But God knew! She finished her book the week I found out I was pregnant.

God has given me the amazing gift of feeling pretty good in the mornings. By the afternoon I can barely get off the couch. But that's ok because we have Netflix and a toddler who faithfully takes at least a 2 hour nap in the afternoons. This allows me to get what we need to get done in the mornings and take it easy in the afternoons.

Hailey has soccer at 6 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When I first heard this schedule, I grumbled inwardly because that would put us home to do dinner and baths after 7. But God knew! God knew that afternoons would be especially tough for me and that it would be a wonderful blessing to have a later practice so Jason could be available to keep tabs on the younger girls and watch Hailey for most of her practice.

Things are a little rough right now. And probably will be for the next 6 or 7 weeks. Gaaaaah--that's a long time. But wait. God is GOOOD. Take it one day at a time. A journey of 1,ooo miles begin with a single step. My help comes from The Lord. And God knows what is coming up. I don't. So I am happy to trust in Him. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" Romans 8:28

Who Cares About What Other People Think Anyway?

Uh, the unfortunate answer to that would be: ME! I care what other people think! And I wish I didn't! And collectively, I really don't but when I am talking to someone face to face it turns out that I do find myself wondering what they think of me.

Particularly when it comes to my little brood of girls.

So the girls go everywhere with me. And no matter what, we always get comments. Which I try to let roll off my back or to take in a positive way. But I don't always succeed. "Don't you guys own a t.v.?" has been my favorite so far, btw.

I understand we probably look a little chaotic thundering down the isle at the grocery store but really, we only have four children! People react like we have 20. I am always ALWAYS careful to respond kindly and cheerfully that our children are a blessing and that I enjoy them very much--yes, even though they are all girls. And most people are very sweet.

But sometimes they say things like "Bet you were hoping that last one was a boy." and it makes me really sad! Because I love the fact that I have 4 girls. And I adore each one and am so grateful to be their mother. And I don't want my girls to ever think that maybe I didn't want them or wanted them to be of the male gender. Sure, we'd love to have a son at some point but if we don't, then we are ok (my husband being part of the "we"--he loves his little girls, too).

And then there is the pressure to have everyone behave super awesomely out of this world when we are in public. If you see a family with two children and one is having a fit then it's "Bless that poor mother's heart." And if you see a family with 4 or more children and one is misbehaving it is "That mother probably doesn't have the time to discipline her children."

Same thing for me. If I am having a bad day or am frustrated with one of my girls and I speak a little too harshly to one of my children or don't have a glowing smile on my face or even look worn out tired (I have allergies--that's where the bags come from!) then people automatically assume that it's because of "all those children" and either feel sorry for me or think that I deserve what I get for being so stupid as to not figure out how to stop the children from coming. No one wants to hear the bad day from a mom of a brood of kids b/c I've made my bed and now I have to lie in it.


So I'm thinking I need a t-shirt that says:

Yes, they are all mine.
No, we are not Catholic.
Yes, we know what causes pregnancy.
No, we are not trying for a boy.
Yes, I do have my hands full but I LOVE it!
No, call me crazy but I am not scared for them to become teenagers.

And I'll start wearing that t-shirt when I start showing with Baby #5 (due 11-11-11)

Hehe :)

We have eggs!!

Yesterday we noticed our chickens making this horrible racket. BOC BOC BOC BOC BOC BOCBOCBOCBOCBOC BAWKBAWKBAWKBAWK!!!!!. I thought, "Well there goes the whole 'chickens are quiet and great for a neighborhood' idea."

And then one of the girls noticed that "Melody" AKA "The Alpha Chick" was in the coop by herself. And a little while later we had a beautiful brown TINY egg! Which was passed from girl to girl to girl to Mom and never was a chicken egg more adored than that little egg was. I'm telling you, it will be a little sad to crack that thing open tomorrow morning.

We came home from some errands and found another egg right next to the back porch step. It was a little larger but still small and I suspected our Australorp, Black Berry. Crazy that two chickens laid their first eggs within hours of each other! Our girls are synchronized! And today we were gifted with two more eggs, right on schedule and by the same girls who laid yesterday (it was the Australorp--I caught her in the nesting box). Hopefully the other two will decide to join in!

It was really hard to concentrate on getting work done yesterday and today because we all wanted to run out and see if there were any more eggs. I was just as bad as the kids. I found all sorts of excuses to walk by the coop. Oh what fun it is to have chickens!!

The girls spotted Jerry, the neighborhood oppossum in our backyard last night. I hear that oppossoms like to eat chickens and I've found some digging around our coop. We put Christmas lights up and that was the end of the digging marks. I wonder if old Jerry is getting braver though. I don't think he can bust into the coop but we are going to further reinforce it this weekend. Hardware cloth my friends. The big guns. No one gets a free chicken dinner on our watch.

Off to do something besides read about, write about, or think about chickens. The obsession is being put up on the shelf for the evening--after I take another peek at our precious little clutch of eggs!

Snow Birds

The recent cold weather was not easy on the chickens (or their momma). We left them outside during the first day of the sub-freezing temperatures. They seemed okay, patrolling the yard like usual. But later I noticed that they were bunching up and looking pretty cold. So I wimped out and brought them into their cardboard box in the garage.



We realized they would probably be happier with a little more room so we took a second box and made a little apartment for them. Sort of like a chicken tenement. They stayed there from Tuesday afternoon until Friday afternoon. It all went well until the final night when they decided to escape. I came out into the garage on Friday morning and they were roosting on some chairs that go to a table we were going to Freecycle. Looks like I'll have some cleaning up to do. Gross!



As soon as it hit 25 degrees on Friday morning I threw the birds outside. They clucked loudly at the snow but soon decided they were so happy to be at the end of their confinement a little white cold stuff on the ground wasn't a big deal.




I hope they enjoyed their pampering b/c they are back out to shiver in their coop at night after their little escape stunt during the last freeze. Well, except for tomorrow when the highs are in the 20's--they are in their box tonight with some heavy baskets on top of the screen lids. I am a mother hen myself after all--can't bear for my little princess chickies to suffer! :)

Brief Central Texas Winter

Besides the horrendous cedar allergies, central Texas is a great place to live during the winter. We usually enjoy a daytime temperature of around 60 degrees give or take 5 degrees. But God must enjoy reminding us of how good we have it down here because most winters we get at least one blast of artic air that tends to last for a day or two. Everyone joyfully busts out the scarves, gloves, and fire logs and we shiver for the day and then the temperatures rebound to where they should be and life goes on.

This year we got an extra dose of winter. We stayed below freezing for 72 hours--extremely unusal for this area. Schools had delayed openings, we had rolling blackouts, pipes froze, plants died, and we had wind chill advisories. As a reward for our 4 days of winter suffering (equivilant to 4 months of winter suffering for all other areas of the country), The Lord sent us some snow to enjoy. First He sent us a bit of freezing rain though so that shut the city down and then came the snow so schools and businesses were closed and most people got a genuine snow day. And sure enough, the day following the snow saw temperatures in the upper 60's. God bless Texas!



We aren't putting the winter gear away quite yet. We have the chance for an ice storm tomorrow morning. Highs in the 20's and then we'll probably be done with our winter weather for the season! Garden time is right around the corner!

More pics from our shoot with Shannon

I am having the worst time deciding which pictures to order! There are so many good ones from our shoot with Shannon Prothro. I need to hurry up and decide because it won't be too long before we are ready to do spring pictures!

For sure I will be getting the one of the Jason and the three big girls--one of my favorite pictures of all time!