Life With Six

Life is so busy......

2010-08-06T21:42:00.003-04:00

Wow! A lot of time has gone by since I wrote on this blog. Well, obviously, I had to change the blog name since we have had another child. She just had her first birthday. Time flies. We had a double birthday party for her and Mia, who turned three. It was fun. Easy going cookout; we even had a pinata. Can I make a note here that those things are really hard to break! Ok, so a paragraph for everyone...here we go.

Brian is doing well. Although he managed to fracture his foot while working and made it worse by jogging 3 miles a day on it. :-( Anyways, now that seems to be healed. He also shaved his ponytail off!! Thank goodness!! A nurse at one of the hospitals told him that he looked like he was 50. Well, that did the trick and off it came. :-)) Should I tell him I paid her to say that?? Just kidding. His shift at work changed which is turning out to be a blessing because he is home more for the children. He can also spend more time outside working in the yard which I think he secretly enjoys, although he complains about how laborous it is. ;-)

Joshua is enjoying being out of school for the summer. Brian and I (reluctantly) decided to get him a used dirtbike. He is LOVING it. He has a limit for gas per week (or we would be BROKE), but rides as much as he can. He is getting really good and wants to race in the future. I am going to get footage of him on the camcorder this weekend; maybe I'll be able to put it on my blog-if I can figure out how. He also got his braces off last April. His teeth look absolutely gorgeous. If I could only get him to smile more.......

Brianna is 8 1/2 and thoroughly enjoying the summer. Her and her friend Abby swim in the pool every day they can. She has been riding her bike, scooter and skateboard all summer. Ok, so she sits on the skateboard and rides down our street...so what. ;-) She is going to be starting her 3rd grade year of homeschooling next month. Exciting! She is starting multiplication. It's funny that you have to think about how to explain a concept to someone that comes to easy to you. She LOVES to be read to. She is especially getting into mystery type of topics. She still loves playing American Girl dolls and stuffed animals.

Mia just turned three and is definatly THREE!!! She is doing all the typical "three" stuff. Asserting her independence that she thinks she has, having minor meltdowns, etc. Thank goodness for naps, which she still takes. She is a complete love when she wants to be. Very happy and wanting to make everyone else happy. She is sharing well and LOVES her little sister. Now, her older sister, that's another story sometimes. :-) We just got some training wheels for her little 12 inch bike; complete with knee and elbow pads. She looks like she's going off to war or something.

Tessa just turned 1 and it has been a busy time. She is walking, more quickly now. She tries to say: hi, da da, ma ma, go go go (for the dogs) and Ja (for Josh). It's cute, you know. I just started her on real food at about 10 months. She is loving most things. Not funny for us, considering that's yet ANOTHER kids meal that we have to buy when we got out. ;-) She is also a complete love. Very good natured baby. Never cries for no reason. Very happy and loves to be held and cuddle.

I am surviving summer as best I can with all the heat we've had (and no central air). July was very busy for us. We had an exchange student from Italy visit us. Her name is Beatrice. She stayed with us for a month. She is just turning 17 on August 8th. We miss her terribly. She was such a funny and lovable girl. It was truly a fantastic learning experience for all of us. To sit and talk with her about all the similarities and differences we have...it was really interesting. Brianna adored her (she says she always wanted an older sister) and Mia followed her everywhere. When I say everywhere, I mean it. She would have walked right into the bathroom with her...but when the door shut, she would sit and wait by the door for her to come out. Too cute. We have stayed in touch, but I do hope to see her again next year. We also had Brian's mother come to visit for 10 days during Beatrice's stay with us. We had a full house!! It was fun though. I never felt frustrated or stressed out.

Oh, we went to Disney in April. We also went to Washington D.C on the way home. Two major comments: I wish I had more time in D.C and I wish we had not gone to Disney over April vacation. And the Disney thing I mean 100%. We will NEVER go during April again. If you could ever not have a great time at Disney, this was it. It wasn't a BAD time, it just wasn't great. And a person should NEVER not have a great time at Disney, come on. Anyways, there were some really good moments though. If anyone is going in the future, I highly recommend the Whispering Canyon restaurant in the Wilderness Lodge hotel. It is an absolute hoot. A must. We stayed at Pop Century again, which I also recommend for those with kids. Easy in and out with cafeteria style food eatery. I mean, how much time do you spend in the hotel anyways? I would never spend a lot. We left the hotel every morning by 8am and were not back until 9-10 at night. D.C. was marvelous. I must go there again when we have more time. There is so much to see and learn. My father got to visit the Vietnam Wall, which was truly the only thing I wanted to make sure we did for him.

So, did I forget anyone?? The dogs are still alive and kicking. And unless God has other plans for us, I believe we are done having children. It is quite busy enough here. :-) I don't know how the Duggars do it. :-))

Is it spring yet?????

2009-03-20T10:50:00.004-04:00

Well here we are in the first day of spring, seems a little chilly to me. Hopefully things will warm up soon!! I am eager to get out in the yard and do some work. Although, being about 6 months along now, I doubt Brian will allow me to be throwing logs over my back. Anyways, I think I let everyone know that we are having another girl. We are throwing around names and seem to always pick at the very end. Tessa, Felicia, Fiona.....I don't know, leaning more towards Tessa. It's cute. Things are going well around here. We had a bout of the stomach cramp flu about 3 weeks ago; went through all 5 of us. Ugh. Glad to be well again.

Joshua is glad to be out riding his bike again. The moment the snow was gone and it reached above 40, they were all out riding. There are still heaps and mounds of dirt across from our house (when will the builders ever finish?), so they have been using these to construct a BMX style course. It is quite amusing to watch them, they have a video camera out there and everything. Joshua is in his second half of the school year. His science fair will be soon. He is doing an experiment that involves extracting the iron out of breakfast cereal. Pretty interesting. Hopefully it will work the way we want it to. Joshua is also interested in joining football for the fall. He has never played before which makes me a little nervous that he won't know what he's doing, but oh well. He is thinking it over, since it is quite a commitment. They have practice 3 times a week for 2 hours during the school year and 4 times a week for 3 hours during the summer. We will see.

Brianna is currently making a fort out of sofa cushions for her and Mia. Mia loves it. She had her birthday in January and is now 7. Did those years fly by or what? We had it at a bowling alley, the first birthday outside of the house for her. She had a blast with her friends. I think it was the first time that most of them ever bowled before. Brianna is getting even better at her reading and I am so happy about it. She is seeing how things tie in together. It is nice to see the expression on her face when she realizes that she did it and didn't have too much of a hard time. She has also taken some classes at Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary and enjoyed them as well. Another exciting thing we did with Brianna was to go to the Providence Performing Arts Center. We took her to see Fiddler on the Roof (one of her favorite movies), with the original actor from the movie playing the lead. It was quite a good time and Brianna was taken with all of the beautiful architecture of the inside of the building.

Mia just now learned how to do a somersault while playing in the sofa fort. It is very funny and she thinks so too. She is chatting up a storm these days. She is just about 20 months now. Time flies. She just loves Rosie and tries to pick her up all the time. Thank God Rosie is a 10 pound Jack Russell and not a 100 pound Lab-she might have a hard time. She is learning the concept of cleaning up. Although, cleaning up usually turns into taking out something else she finds while cleaning up the first item. It ought to be funny seeing her with the new baby in a few months. Every time I see her try to pick up Rosie........hhhmmm, that might be a problem.

Brian and I had a fabulous time in Mexico. I am so proud of him for being nominated for the trip. He is such a hard worker and loyal employee. He went up with all the others and received his recognition. Mexico is beautiful. It is also very different from America though. I had to adjust to going through military checkpoints while driving, and seeing kids running around barefoot in abandoned parking lots. We really have so many freedoms and opportunities in America, and most people take it for granted. Anyway, Brian is also looking forward to digging in the yard. We had a load of loam delivered the other day. It ruined our driveway, ugh. The dump truck was too heavy and...well, you'll see the pictures below. The builders have not given any of us a top coat of asphalt on our driveways, so it was just too much weight. Another thing to fix. :-(

So, hopefully by the next time I write it will be sunny and warm. Flowers blooming and nighttime fires is what I am wishing for soon!!

It's a new year already????

2009-01-08T09:06:00.005-05:00

Well, it sure has been busy around here. The last time I wrote was about 5 months ago!! To start things off, we found out about 2 months ago that we are expecting again. A little surprise. I was busy feeling terribly nauseous for the first month after we found out. Now that I am feeling much better, I am trying to catch up with everything I've been neglecting. Brianna is very excited and Joshua is guarded.....that is unless we have a boy. This is his last chance, I'm sure. He is putting all his effort into hoping it is a boy. We will see sometime next month!!

Brianna and I started our homeschool year again in September. She is steadily advancing in her reading skills and feeling more confident about it. She is also learning how to tell time. We have taken a few trips since September. Plimoth Plantation was probably her favorite so far. She thought it was so funny (and cool) that they say yea and nay for yes and no. We, of course, had to speak like that for about a week afterwards. Brianna is involved with homeschool co-op this year. Last semester she took classes about storytelling, crafts and desserts. This semester she will be taking jewelry making, crafts and God's Green Earth (about recycling). She is very excited. We finished making a volcano today as well. She found an old kit of Joshua's in the basement that he never made. So upstairs it went and we had fun (yuck) getting our hands nasty in brown plaster yesterday. She formed the volcano and today she painted scenery on it. We waited for dad to get home so she could "make it explode". Mia did not like that part very much.

Joshua has established a few friends in our immediate area. He loves to ride their quads and dirtbikes. Boys being boys, they drilled a hole in one of the sleds and dragged each other around behind the quad during the last snow storm. I have visions of the ER all the time with these boys. They are nice boys and they live very close to our house, which is nice for him. He is not very fond of school at the time being. Although he loves the "social" aspect of it. We'll keep trying. A few months ago, he and his father purchased a go-cart (think more like dune-buggy). It has required more repairs than it has seen rides, but oh well. Men like projects I guess.

Mia is walking, running and talking lately. It is amazing how well she communicates with us. She knows a few ASL signs and uses them, but her language skills have also jumped recently. So funny. She loves daddy and has him wrapped around her finger. She took a slight head dive in the driveway last week and you should have seen the complete PANIC on his face. Of course, it hurt, and she did have a few scratches and a bump. But, boy, you would have thought she severed her arm!! Dads, their not use to seeing these kinds of things often, you know? Anyway, she is such a good baby (she still qualifies as being a baby right...I hope). She is also trying to figure out the whole potty thing, which is kind of early for me. The other two didn't finish training until 3 years old. She likes to go sit on it once she has already finished. Hhhmm, aren't you supposed to do that BEFORE? Oh well, she'll get the hang of it.

Brian has been a working machine lately (anything new?). He is enjoying working on the go-cart with Joshua when he has free time. Now that golf season is over he can relax at home on the weekends. Nice. He is such a dedicated worker, he recently won an award from his company (along with 40 others). So we are going to Cancun next month-all expenses paid! Yahoo!! It will be so much fun, we can't wait! Of course, Brian is already packed (his style). I will pack the day before I'm sure (my style). We have never been anywhere out of the country before, what a treat.

I have been here, there and everywhere. Managing things, being sick, refereeing kids and animals (what was I thinking getting that second dog?). The last 3 months are a blur. We had Halloween for the first time in our new neighborhood. Brianna was a princess, Joshua stayed home to give out candy and Mia rode backpack style. ;-) Thanksgiving was delicious over my parents' house. Thankfully I was feeling well enough to eat. Christmas was fun and burdensome at the same time. The children had a good time and loved their gifts. Of course the highlight is signing the "12 Days of Christmas" at my parents' house. Complete with costumes and accessories. This year I was Maids-a-Milking (funny); which I distinctly remember being stuck with many times before. Brian was 2 turtle doves, very interesting, you had to be there.

So here we are in the new year. Things look challenging with the economy. Hopefully the future will look brighter for those suffering job loss and financial struggles. The baby is due July 15th, so that is something to look forward to! Hopefully I'll write again sooner than later .

Summer happenings.....

2008-07-29T07:20:00.005-04:00

Wow, I can't believe that summer is almost half over! We have been trucking around doing various things. First, we spent a week in New Hampshire with my mother. It was very nice and relaxing, aside from the many days of rain we had. Mia had her first experience with a lake and sand. At first, she was very irritated that the sand didn't come off easy, but instead stuck to her hands. She got used to it and explored. Brianna had a few run-ins with some very friendly ducks on the beach. It's amazing at how some animals get accustomed to people being around.

We went blueberry picking a few weeks ago. If you can believe it, we have never been. It was really nice! The place we went to was local, in Carver. There were SO many blueberry bushes/trees. Nice fat blueberries with deep color. We ended up with so many blueberries. I think it was about $1.70 per pound! I compared it with the store and it would have cost me much more. Brianna and I froze almost all of them. We have since made very delicious blueberry muffins. Fresh blueberries are so yummy! :-))

Mia has just had her first birthday! Ugh, time flies, doesn't it? We had a little birthday with the neighbors, my mother and Brianna. She had her first cupcake, sort of. She planted her hand on it, saw the frosting stick to her hand, and proceeded to try and wipe it off with her other hand. Didn't work. So she was a bit distressed about the mysterious glob, and let out a cry. I saved the day with a wet paper towel. :-) She received some very nice gifts from my mother. Some nesting blocks, stackable disks and a pull along toy. She loves them. It's so neat to see her try to figure them all out. She loved it when we made a tall tower out of the nesting blocks.

Brianna has been having fun learning how to read and playing the day away. She has re-found her marble/block mazes. It is amazing what you forget that you had in an untidy room. We have also introduced her to the world of paper dolls...anyone remember these? She absolutely loves them! They have updated the concept by giving a numerous amount of sticky circles instead of having to bend down tabs to keep the clothes on. She starts a sign language class this week as well. She is very excited to learn a language that no one else in our family knows. Sneaky. ;-)

Joshua has been riding his BMX bike all over creation this summer. Good exercise. He goes up to New Hampshire to work at a camp for the month of August. It is a good, fun time for him AND he gets to make a little money as well. Good deal. He will be starting 7th grade this September. Time DOES fly.

Brian is continuously beginning new projects in the yard. He finished my other 3 planter boxes, planted some more flowers and plants AND started to make a water feature in the yard! It will look nice when finished. I'll post more pictures as it comes along. He has found a new hobby of golfing as well. Not for me, I find golf to be......boring. Sorry for all you avid golfers out there.

Not much to report on myself. I did take a basket-making class at Soule Homestead last weekend and had a good time. I must say, that I think my basket looks quite cute. I am really interested in making more. Brianna would like to learn as well. I'm sure I won't update again until the summer is close to being over. Hold onto the summer as long as you can! :-))

An end to the shuffle....

2008-06-13T08:09:00.006-04:00

We have been very busy lately and I have been neglecting to write our current happenings. Finally, a brief moment to collect my thoughts and write. Here we go. I think it was around the beginning of May that our homeschool group went to McDonalds on a rainy day for a field trip. The children got a kick out of it. They were able to see where they make all of the food and store the soda. I think the greatest part of the trip was when they were each allowed to wear a drive thru head set and listen to the orders being taken. They thought that was so neat. I love tours. It allows the children to see what goes on behind the counter, where they are usually not allowed to go.

Next, on our way home from New Hampshire, on Memorial Day weekend, we stopped at the Rainforest Cafe in Burlington. I had never been there before and that was a good enough excuse to stop and try it out, since we were going right by. It was really cool! More restaurants should be like this one. There were leaves, trees limbs and various other green forestry looking things all over the ceiling. You could not see one "real" piece of ceiling. All of the lighting and duct work was hidden perfectly. There were animals (not real of course) all over the place. Some were discretely hidden in the forest background and some had more obvious "stations", where you could walk up close and take a look. Every 2o minutes there is a "thunderstorm" , where various lights flicker to simulate lighting. There are also loud, but not too loud, thunder sounds. All the while, monkeys, birds and elephants make sounds as if they are disturbed by the storm. It is all very cute and distracting-for those waiting on their food. :-))

Around the end of May, I set up a homeschool field trip to a local dairy farm. We have been to this dairy farm before with another homeschool group of ours. It was as pleasant as the first trip. The family that owns and runs Arruda's Dairy Farm are so incredibly nice. The children saw the calf barn where all of the new calves are housed and grow up. Then they were shown all of the various farming equipment and told how it works and what its purpose was. Then, the highlight, we were brought into the milking parlor. It was very smelly, but so interesting. It is so important that children get to see where our food comes from, not just the grocery store. It is also such a great thing to teach the children the importance of patronizing local businesses. They were also able to view where the bottling of the milk happens. In the end, they were offered a cupcake and a container of milk. Yummy!!

The beginning of June was Joshua's and Brianna's dance recital, their last one. We will not be participating in dance until further notice. It is such a commitment of our time and resources (gas, money, etc). I have to say, I am so relieved that it's over. They did a great job on stage. Joshua was in tap again and Brianna had a tap/jazz/ballet combo class. Brianna would like to get involved in Girl Scouts in September. Joshua hasn't figured out what he's going to do.

We have been continuing to work in our yard. It is looking so nice. I have finished the stone walkway, and Brian finished all of the pathways. He also made me 3 planter boxes for Mother's Day, he still has 3 more to make. We bought a hammock and two Adirondack chairs, they do their job, making me relax. We have had our fair share of animals this spring. We had not seen much of anything for a while, but the coming of spring has given us visitors! We have had a slew of snapping turtles this past week. I'm thinking they are making the trek up the hill to lay eggs. not sure though. We have also found that a small bird of some kind has made a nest under our porch. Perfectly made nest, I have to take some pictures to post. We also saw a young buck in the field below our house last evening around 6:30pm. He was watching all of us, watching him. Last month we had a little excitement when a coyote ran across the field around dinnertime. Brianna is convinced that one of them will come up and try to eat us soon. I'm so excited to see so much wildlife in our backyard!!

Brianna is learning how to read! We are so excited for her. She is taking to it very well. She loves to do "school work" every day. We still have a long way to go with the reading, you know the English language and it's quirks. Joshua is very excited about public school ending next week. I can't say I blame him. :-)) Mia is starting to walk. Just the beginning, taking 4-5 steps at a time before falling on her bottom. She is getting her own personality lately, very cute. She is such a cuddler!! I do love it!! I can't believe she will be 1 next month--say it isn't so!! I will try to post more often after this, since we are not so busy anymore.

Trees to logs to mulch.....

2008-05-08T19:01:00.004-04:00

We went on a field trip today to Brightman Lumber/Sawmill in Assonet. It was really interesting. Aside from the day being rainy and dull, we saw some really neat things. The man giving the tour was very friendly and more than willing to show us around. With the economy the way it is, things are slowing down for them, so he had some time. First he showed us where they roll the logs in. A machine rolls the log and takes the bark off. Then it rolls it down a slope, out of the way, towards another machine. This machine takes the debarked log and cuts it into whatever shape and length it needs to be. All the while, rolling it to cut a new side. At the time we were there, the logs were being cut up for mulch. He showed us the store house, the different mulch piles and a building where they use a huge planer to smooth (sand) the wood. When the economy was not so bad, this company would dry/cure their own wood. But with the rising costs of fossil fuels, they have had to stop that practice. Sometimes I overlook and don't pay attention to some of the more obvious things. For example, I did not know that a knot on a piece of wood is an indicator as to where a branch was. I would tend to think that many people would know this-but I didn't. It's so neat to learn new things!

Simple beginnings

2008-04-29T08:45:00.006-04:00

This is my first attempt at blogging. It seems alot easier to me than mass e-mailing friends and family members all of the new happenings in our life. The pictures I have posted are quite large and I am not sure as to how to make them smaller. I will have to replace older pictures as newer ones become available. The first two are obviously older and the lower one is from last month.

It has been very busy around here lately. Let me start with Joshua. Joshua is now 13 and hopefully has stopped growing for a little while. He stands at 5' 10" tall and has a size 11 man's shoe. He is in middle school and his favorite subject is Science. This is his last year in dance and his recital will be in June. Joshua is a member of youth groups at two different churches. Last weekend, Joshua participated in a fundraiser with our home church. It was titled "30 hour famine". The money raised was donated to World Vision for world hunger. The childrens' last dinner was at 8pm Friday evening. Their next meal was not until 3am on Sunday morning! During their fasting, they held a car wash to raise money and went bowling for fun. The car wash raised $500.00!! He said he had alot of fun and made close friendships during the fasting.

Brianna is 6 years old now. She is officially my life's assistant. She helps all the time in so many ways. She is a natural with her sister. Mia adores her. She is doing well with her studies. She is learning all about the sun. To make understanding the sun more interesting, we are in the process of making a sundial and sun oven. We can't wait until they are finished. I'll post those pictures when they become available. She is learning about money and numbers into the hundreds. She loves being read to. Her favorite stories so far have been the Chronicles of Narnia and Meet Samantha (American Girl story). We love to take walks behind our house to the cranberry bogs. She recently caught a large tadpole with a makeshift net that we made. She is watching and caring for it diligently, waiting for transformation. This is also Brianna's last year of dance. In the fall, she thinks she might like to try out soccer or Girl Scouts.

Mia is currently 9 months old. She is crawling like a pro, and standing on her own. She has mastered getting from a crawling position, to squatting, then standing on her own. She has had her first four teeth come in all at the same time; in a matter of 10 days. She has tried some "real" foods, although not many. She likes Cream of Wheat a little, and also likes pureed carrots and sweet potatoes that I make for her. She is getting quite a personality at this point. Smiling, laughing, observing. Honestly, she is such a well adjusted baby.

Brian has been busy transforming the yard. We had a large area of overgrown land behind our lawn. We figured, why not make it useable? So we have been getting our hands dirty for weeks trying to use every free moment to clear it out. So far, Brian and Joshua have made a fire pit out of large rocks, and I have made a pathway made of flat rocks I found in the woods. It is coming together quite nicely. There are also two trees that are perfectly spaced to fit a hammock! I'll post pictures of our accomplishments soon.

Having two dogs sometimes makes me feel crazy! We have had Wanda for 6 years. Rosie, however, is a new addition. We have only had her since March and she is currently 3 months old. The two have grown to love each other. They share the same pillow for resting and play all the time. We have had our challenges though. It will get much better as Rosie gets older.

Last minute addition: Mia has just taught herself how to clap! She is quite enthused about it.