Quick, before I get Sidetrack'd

So, last night the dinner conversation somehow turned to pirates. I don’t know exactly how it happens, but it tends to be a pretty regular thing around here.

Anyway, we were talking about whether or not pirates drink smoothies. E insisted that pirates do, in fact, drink smoothies. Matt asked how she knew….

Matt: “Have you ever met a smoothie drinking pirate?”

E: “Yep.”

Matt: “When did you meet any pirate, let alone a smoothie drinking pirate?”

E: “The other morning, while you were at work and mommy was sleeping. A pirate came into my room. His name was Boyfriend. He was a very, very nice pirate!”

I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes!

I asked each of the big kids to tell me five things for which they are thankful.

E
1. Daddy
2. M
3. Barney the armadillo (littlest pet shop toy)
4. My suitcase
5. Mommy

J
1. Mrs. Burks (BSF leader)
2. Dinosaurs
3. Flowers
4. Mommy
5. M

Back tracking a bit here. At the end of July we celebrated E’s big 5 year old birthday. We spent the day with my parents (Bebe and Grandad) doing things E enjoys. We went to Build-a-Bear, ate lunch at Pei Wei, bought The Princess and the Frog and had cookie cake and ice cream. I think she had a great day.

To capture a bit of her five year old moment, here are a few of E’s favorite things.

Favorite book: Fancy Nancy
Favorite toy: Bebe lovee
Favorite TV show: The Busy World of Richard Scarry
Favorite playtime activity: playing school
Favorite food: ham
Favorite color: purple and pink
What I want to be when I grow up: school teacher

A couple of pretty major milestones over the last year: she learned to tie her shoe and to read

My children call fishing poles “fishing wands” and root beer “root beard”.

I wish I could record all of J’s speech right now to have when he is older. His enunciation, age-related speech “impediments”, tone of voice are just so cute (and often hilarious). I know that all too soon he will talk like a big boy and I love the way he speaks right now.

S is coming into her own in the speech department. She comes up to us and jabber, jabber, jabbers. Sometimes she points emphatically, sometimes she smiles. We know she’s telling us something, but have no clue what she’s saying. She does have a lot of words, though, including “ha-bow” (hairbow), “to-bus” (toothbrush), and the sweetest little “peese” (please) ever.

The other night after dinner we were discussing (at E’s prompting) what to do in the event of fire. J said that if your clothes are on fire you “stop, rock, and roll”.

J says “choke” when he means “joke”.

Any time a question is asked (such as, who wants dinner?) S raises both hands and says “Meeeee!”

J uses the word “usually” in place of “used to”. As in, “I usually tooked a paci when I was a baby.”

E is getting old enough that she doesn’t have many mispronounced or incorrectly used words. She often brings a smile to our faces with her phrasing or use of certain words, but most of her funny “baby speech” is long gone. It’s kind of sad. However, she currently uses the word “okay” like she’s a grown up. She will tell J or S something and then say, “okaaaaay?” in a high pitched voice.

Oh how I love “kid speak”. I’m really going to miss it in a few years when our kiddos are older, but right now I will smile, laugh, and soak it up (and record as much of it as I can).

I want to write, but I only have a very few minutes before the littles emerge from rest time. So, I’ll give you a few outtakes from our day.

~ I am 23 weeks pregnant today. We have a lot to accomplish in the next 17ish weeks.

~ I wore a pair of non-maternity pants to my meeting this morning. I’m wondering how I kept them on my body pre-pregnancy.

~ S got her first busted knee this morning. J was trying to be helpful and hold her hand. He pulled a little too much.

~ We left home this morning in the rain. J had rain boots and no rain jacket. E had a rain jacket but wasn’t wearing her boots. I was wearing sandals. How’s that for prepared?

~ I’m trying a new recipe for dinner tonight. The listed prep time was 20 minutes. It took me almost an hour. And 3 pots/skillets. It’s a slow cooker recipe.

~ J’s birthday is this week. He’s requested a blueberry cake with chocolate icing. And Buzz and Woody on top.

~ E is singing a song to J about “never, ever play with matches.” At least we have fire safety covered.

~ In the car this morning, E was pretending to be a cat named Rainbow. She told me I could call her “rain” or “bow” or “rainbow” or just “cat”.

Hope you are all having a great Monday!

I’m going to do something today that I haven’t done in a while. (It could be because I haven’t really blogged much in a while, but let’s not rehash that.) I am going to participate in Chelsea’s fun little weekly link-up/meme known as Ten on Tuesday.

This week’s questions are all about names. Those who know me well (and know the difficulties we have choosing names around here) know that I have some issues peculiarities quirks about names. So, I thought this one was just too fun to pass up.

1. How did your parents decide on your name?
Here’s how the story goes (correct me if I’m wrong, Mom): Mom wanted to name me Sarah Melissa, but I had an aunt who wanted to use the name Sarah for her daughter. Mom deferred, and neither of my aunt’s daughters are named Sarah. My understanding is that my name (Jana) was some kind of compromise between Mom and Dad and has some basis from Jan on The Brady Bunch. I could be wrong, but that’s the way I remember it. My middle name is my Mom’s name and my Grandmother’s middle name.

2. Do your initials (First, Middle, Last) spell out anything fun/funny?
Nope. I grew up JCW and am now JCG. Nothing funny there.

3. Did you take your middle name from childhood or did you take your maiden name as your middle name? (If unmarried, what do you plan to do?)
I kept my middle name from childhood. I love my middle name, and it is part of my family history (see answer 1).

4. Are you or will you name your children thematically (ie. same first letter, all of same origin…)
No themes here unless you consider the fact that all of our children have traditional first names as a theme. I don’t.

5. Did you decide on baby names as a little girl? Did you stick to them or change your mind?
I had a bunch of names that I liked growing up. We have used none of them. I am just fine with that.

6. Does your family have any names that have been passed down through generations?
My middle name, as mentioned above. But, more impressively, J’s first name is a family name in Matt’s side of the family that goes back hundreds of years. Like to the mid-1500′s if I remember correctly. E and S also have family names, but not ones that have been used generation after generation.

7. Do you look at the meaning of the name or just the name itself?
Both. Biblically, a name was considered to encompass the fullness of the person (personality, traits, etc). I believe there is some truth in that.

8. Do you name pets with human names (Sally, Henry) or with pet names (Fluffy, Mr. Bo Bo)?
We don’t have pets with names. I mean, we don’t have pets, so no names.

9. Are there any names that you have an affinity or dislike for based on a childhood experience/someone you once knew?
There are a few, but Matt has a bunch. That’s one contributing factor in the difficulty we have naming our children.

10. What are some of your favorite names? Why?
I love our kids names (both first and middle). They are strong names with meaning (either familial or the actual meaning of or history of the name). Here are a few more that I really like but I doubt we’ll ever use for children – Annalise, Ellen, Audrey, Claire (or Clara).

So, after writing about not being sure if I want to write, here I am again. However, I’m making a list because this is a bunch of random stuff.

1. I’m tired of the kids “blog names”. I have several reasons: Little isn’t so much my “little bit of girl” anymore and I’m realizing it more and more as we approach Kindergarten in the Fall. Boo – the boy received his name in utero before we knew whether he was a boy or a girl. We’ve never called him Boo; however, Boo (or Boo-Boo) is Baby Girl’s real-life nickname. Sometimes it gets confusing (to me) who I’m writing about. And then there’s Baby Girl…since we don’t know the gender of baby number 4 yet, Baby Girl may or may not be the “baby girl” anymore.

So, what am I going to do about it? Instead of changing their nicknames I’m going to go with single letter designations. Henceforth, Little will be known as “E”, Boo will be known as “J”, and Baby Girl will be known as “S”. And, for now, baby number four will be known as number four.

2. S is walking now! She decided about 3 weeks ago to let go and take a few steps. She’s been building up her “endurance” since then and is on her feet most of the time now. She looks so cute as her tiny little body toddles around.

3. S goes to the doctor again this morning to discuss her weight gain “issues”. At 13 months she weighed 16 lbs. 14 oz. and the doc was really wanting her to be at 17 pounds by then. We’ll see what we find out this morning.

4. I’ve turned that 16 week corner in this pregnancy and am feeling much better. Today is doc appointment day, and I am really looking forward to hearing baby’s heartbeat. I’m hoping we’ll have the big ultrasound 4 weeks from today and find out whether this tiny one is a boy or girl.

5. E and J are doing great. They are constantly making us laugh, making us smile, and making us question our ability to parent. Just as it should be with little ones, I suppose.

I think that’s all for now.

In an effort to get back to writing, I’d love to know if there is anything that you guys would like me to write about. Any questions for me, any ideas, anything you’d like to read about?

We’ve come to that point in our lives where our oldest child will be entering Kindergarten next school year. I don’t really understand how my tiny little bit of girl can be on the verge of school, but so it is.

So, the great school debate has been raging. At least in my mind, Matt might be a little less dramatic about the whole thing.

Public school was never really an option for us. We revisited this decision several months ago and still found it to be true. Now, don’t get me wrong, we are not anti public school in any kind of dogmatic way, it just isn’t the right choice for our family right now.

That being said, let me throw out a bit of the reasoning behind our decision. First, we have a complete and fundamental difference of opinion with the public school system when it comes to worldview. I know there are a lot of great Bible believing teachers in the school system, I know quite a few, but I also know that often their hands are tied by red tape. Second, I don’t like the idea of full day Kindergarten and that is all our school district offers. I could go on, but there is really no need.

I can’t fully articulate my desire to have Little in half day class, but it is one of my personal educational philosophies. And, I kind of like having her around. Think of me what you will.

So, private school? Due to financial considerations (and the full day vs. half day Kindergarten thing), a lot of the private schools in the area were out. The school where Little is currently attending two days a week has a great half day Kindergarten. That was really our only viable option other than homeschooling. On days like today, I still consider it a viable option. But we have to decide quickly, registration started today and their classes usually fill up very fast.

And here’s my biggest draw back to sending her there…I would have to get 4 kids (yep, you read that right, 4) up, ready, and in the car to get Little to school by 8. Then we would have to unload everyone to walk her into school. And then repeat the scene to pick her up at noon (there’s the downside of half day Kindergarten). Again, think of me what you will, but these are very real considerations in my life right now.

And now we come to homeschooling. Let me start off by saying that just because I’m addressing it last in no way indicates that it is our “fall back” option. I’m not so naive as to think it won’t be painfully difficult, especially in the early going. In fact, homeschooling has long been our first choice.

So I think this is where we’ve landed. I’ve been reading the laws that govern “home schools” in our state, researching curriculum, and praying that this is, indeed, the right choice for our family right now. We have been blessed with a large number of homeschooling families in our life, and the feedback, encouragement, and ideas I’m getting are wonderful! We also have a great homeschool support group in our area, and, of course, Matt’s parents who have “been there, done that, and lived to tell about it.”

I believe that there are times in life where we have to choose between the “good” and the “better” or even between the “good” and the “good”. And I believe that, for us, this is one of those times. I also believe that God equips and supplies, and we are relying on His provision as we enter this new chapter. Matt and I truly believe that this is the right choice for our family (our WHOLE family, not only Little) at this point in our lives. Your prayers, feedback, and words of encouragement are coveted.

Let’s visit Little’s fourth birthday one last time…

Since Boo’s birthday in April, Little had told me that she wanted a rainbow cake for her birthday. I had it all planned out in my mind – ways to ensure all the layers of the cake turned out (unlike Boo’s), what icing to make, how to decorate it, what to serve it on. Then, the Saturday morning prior to her birthday she and I were out running an errand and on the way home she told me that she changed her mind, she wanted cupcakes instead.

I kicked back into idea mode and began figuring out what kind of cupcakes we might make. I considered borrowing the Wilton Big Cupcake cake pan, but Little really wanted individual cupcakes. Next, I thought of those pull-apart cakes where you use a shaped pan to make a variety of different cupcakes that make one “cake” (yeah, that description isn’t great, this is what I’m talking about). Finally I settled on just plain ol’ cupcakes.

The next challenge was finding a strawberry cake recipe. I have a recipe from my grandmother that I really like, but it uses gelatin and boxed cake mix. Since we are trying to limit our processed food consumption I was trying to find a recipe that was truly a from-scratch recipe. Thanks to dear ole Google, I stumbled upon a recipe at A Dash of Sass and it was wonderful.

Since we weren’t doing a rainbow cake I decided to do several colors of icing so the cupcakes would look pretty in the cupcake stand. I settled on vibrant blue, pink, purple, and green. I was very pleased with the colors. (the icing is a double batch of Wilton’s buttercream icing made fairly stiff and divided into fourths for tinting)

I used a large tip to pipe the icing on in swirls. (Funny story – the couplers I had were too small for my decorating tip. I had to forcefully hold the tip on the bag with one hand while piping the swirls. As long as I held it in place tight enough everything was fine, but if the tip slipped icing went everywhere) Then I placed the cupcakes on the stand. Matt added some sprinkles to the blue iced cupcake on top – per the birthday girl’s request. The candles were put in place and lit.

All that remained was the blowing out of the candles and the eating of the cupcakes.

Based on the icing on faces and the rapid rate of cupcake depletion, I’m pretty sure they were a hit.

Last weekend we celebrated Little’s fourth birthday. I can’t believe my first baby is four years old already!

All she has talked about for months is being able to wear a seat-belt instead of the 5-point harness on her carseat. She’s excitedly proclaimed about a million several times that, “When I’m four I’ll get to wear a seat-belt!”

Matt’s parents came into town for the weekend, and the kids had lots of fun playing with Nonnie and Pops. It is always nice to visit with them since we don’t get to see each other nearly as often as we would like! On Saturday, Matt’s grandparents (Grandma and Papa John) came for a visit. Little was very excited that everyone came for her birthday (which she shares with Pops).

Her only birthday requests have been a horn, a drum, and a guitar. Any time anyone has asked what she wants for her birthday, her reply has been a horn, a drum, and a guitar. [editor's note: Mommy & Daddy were not thrilled by the prospect of instruments but knew that one set of grandparents or the other was sure to buy them]

So, of course, her Nonnie and Pops found a music set that included a horn, a drum, maracas, a tambourine, and a pair of cymbals. [editor’s note: Mommy & Daddy were really not thrilled about the cymbals] And, she got a new carseat that doesn’t have a 5-point harness. She was very excited!

She also got a bunch of art supplies (thanks Aunt Lu and Sarah!), several games, the adorable fishy outfit that she’s wearing in the first picture (thanks Grandma and Papa John!), and a variety of books and other gifts. And she gets to celebrate again this weekend with Bebe and Grandad.

I think she had is having a great birthday!