Part 2 Schmart 2!

I've been dreading and putting off updating my blog for a very very long time now. It just seemed like an impossible task.
So, consider yourselves updated (yes, I kindda skipped a couple of months in there, I know)


It's really crazy over here. With laundry piling up and up. It just seems like I have no time for meal planning (which leads us to eat drive thru a lot :( yuck)
or time to just sit and teach or even just play with Toby (good thing he has lots of brothers who play with him) and I miss him, poor little guy!
And Davin is gone, gone, gone till we leave for the Caymans! (home on the weekends...barely)
Although, I did find just enough time to get my brows professionally done (Thanks to Ariel! You're right Joannie is awesome!! And so is Sarah at the Chanel counter who did a fabulous job with make-up, so sad I didn't have anywhere special to go, except for the V.S. downstairs, wink, wink)

BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT:
I got Andrew to sleep all night and even take some formula in a bottle from me.

But then he got a fever on Friday and all went to pots. With numerous nursings through the night and wanting nothing to do with a bottle. He's just been very cranky and is cutting another top tooth (#3 on the top, with only 3 on the bottom).

"Have you seen that Cheerio I just had? Or did Toby take it too?"

We started up with Friday school, which I though we wouldn't do this semester, but Jesus said "Just do it." and I had to put some pettyness aside and do this for the boys. Gabe is taking some neat classes and he is very excited about a History class where he gets to prepare a presentation. He chose to make some sort of Greek pie (the class is called "Drive-Thru History" and they get to eat food from that particular era) and present on Greek warfare and the use of chariots for sports rather than for war.
He is also taking a class "Rocket science" and is in Band (playing my trumpet) and in "Dangerous Book for Boys part 2".

This is just a picture, but for me, it's a special picture. A mental picture of a "quiet" evening (as quiet as you can get in a house with 5 boys). This picture made me pause and I saw these boys 5, 8 years from now. Gabe is seating there, reading a magazine and eating some chips and dip (obviously was there first). Then Isaac and Ethan got there and started talking about something and reaching over Gabe back and forth with chips and toys. And then, there's Toby, trying to be a big boy too and climbing up Ethan's chair for what seemed like a very long time since there was no room for him.
Will they be here? Will Gabe still be here or will he be in college far away? Will they be such good friends as they are now? Will there be girls? Or talk of girls? I just can't help but wonder :)

Such a bond those two!
He is going to be a very good daddy someday :)
He's sure got lots of practice with this specific brother.

Isaac is very busy, but enjoying CYT and all its responsibilities. It's been a great confidence booster :)
He auditioned for "The Music Man" and got a part in it!

We're all SO proud of him! He only had 2 days to prepare for and learn all the words to his audition song. Which was "Bet on It" from High School Musical 2.
He blew them out of the water. Here they were having a nice audition full of songs from classical musicals with a few hand motions and a step to the side...maybe. And here comes Isaac, this little guy (the youngest you can be to audition is 8yrs old) with a hip song, complete with a choreographed dance. He got a big ovation and a lot of whistles from the audience and I overheard some teen girls behind me saying "He's SOOOO cute!" (even though he was super nervous and forgot part of the words and kindda froze his dance for a few seconds)

He is taking fun classes at Friday School: Drama, Pocketbook History about the Pilgrims, and Dangerous book for boys part1"
Something neat about Isaac:
Davin and I were just talking last weekend about him and how he just dislikes "school" and how much he loves "people" and helping. As we were pondering what he could do in life if school wasn't his thing, we said to each other that maybe one day he might be a social worker and we laughed, and also said, maybe he'll work for Gabe, he could be a great PR for him, or a salesman.
Well, last Monday, Isaac had a dream that he was walking from house to house asking people if they had any missing children and he would write it down on his notebook and help them find their children, also, in his job (because he knew that this was his job in the dream) he would help people adopt children. And he went on and on about how much he would help these people and it just touched my heart and blessed me to see such love, such compassion he has for people. He even made a notebook to keep track of all the people he would help (never mind that it used to be his spelling notebook and he just threw all those "used up" pages out to write numbers on the corner of the pages for his new job).

Ethan is Ethan and he's just been in the middle for a little too long, he's getting louder and louder about his opinions and it seems like it's a little cloudy around him lately. You can pray with me for his attitude to improve and have a positive outlook on different situations :)
He is taking a "Playground Games" class and a "Storybook drawing" class and is in "Dangerous book for boys part1" with Isaac for his last class. We decided to switch him up to 1st grade (where he gets to change classrooms and make it to the right class on time) instead of keeping him in Kindergarten one more semester. He is LOVING it!

They all enjoyed Isaac's Roman History lesson project...

...even Toby. (this was a product of Isaac and Ethan ripping the sheets off my bed)

Toby got signed up for preschool for the fall (where Gabe and Ethan went) and we'll see what they teach him there, he already knows ALL his letters, sounds, shapes, colors, numbers. He likes to point out words in signs and spell them out loud. He is such a sweet boy, but still finds his way into the pantry and I catch him sneaking food from Andrew's high chair tray all the time. It would help if this mom got a snack schedule and actually fed the children in between meals! ...I'm trying...

Andrew just turned 9months on the 23rd and the day came and went and I totally forgot! :( I was sad when I remembered. Lord help me not to be so sad when Andrew reaches another milestone (I've been thinking that these are the "lasts" kind of milestones and I just get so sad).
He is cruising around furniture and letting go for brief moments. Crying lots for the babysitter when mom is gone, except for when Gabe holds him, he cuddles up to him and actually falls asleep. He also falls asleep on Isaac's lap when he swings with him in our IKEA chair that hangs from our family room ceiling.

I vividly remember taking this picture.
There wasn't anyone outside the patio door.
At least anyone WE could see :)

Here's a random picture of the man who still makes me laugh.
(I love you hunny!)
Caught playing air guitar while driving with his knee
(a bad habit I now remember who from I picked up myself)

And while he was home for most of Jan. and Feb., he fixed a few things.
Of course, with the help of his little "Handy Manny"...

...and thoroughly reading the instructions, it was a success. Good job, hunny! You know how much I love it when you fix things that need fixing :) (that garbage disposal unit was broken, it had a leak and everytime we used it, it would spray a tiny squirt of dirty water under my sink. Not anymore. And is WAY quieter too!)

He also fixed a hole made by our garage door handle onto the laundry room wall. And finished the trim around the attick ladder he installed last spring. And, and, and, lots of little projects that came off the Daddy list that lives on the top left corner of our white board.


By the way, this post started as a letter to Davin's parents who are missing us while they're vacationing in Klamath Falls at a resort. And after re-reading it, I thought to myself: "Self, that is a pretty good post that just might catch you up to speed on your blog" so, I copied and pasted, and edited, and uploaded :) And voila! C'est magnifique!