Wow, it's been a long time since I last wrote.  I don't know how much time I will have to dedicate to entries, but thought I would give writing more a chance.  I do have hard copy journals for each girl that I need to desperately update as well.  We are busy with schooling and life.  We started three weeks ago, and it is going rather well.  I have to say that two books I read over the summer helped to reshape my thoughts on homeschooling. They are, "When You Rise up" by R.C. Sproul Jr. and the other is "Teaching the Trivium" by the Bluedorns.  Very good reading.  It put my worries to rest.  Well most of them anyways.  The girls are all growing!  i will have to try to update my photo album as well, if I can remember how. 

It's been a whole month and not one, I repeat NOT ONE family member wrote me.  Go figure. Well at least if you all ask me about getting updates on the family I can throw a few flames your way    Hee, hee.  Hey I can do that on my site.  Well come to find out I like writing about our days.  There have been a few funny things that have taken place in the past month.  I really wish I could be much better at writing in my children's journals.  I suppose i will have to print out my blog pages and paste them into their journals. 

Well Saoirse is one years old now!!  Pretty incredible.  We forgot to do the "tell the future" tradition for the child's first birthday.  IT was a tradition that I did with the other girls, I suppose it's not too late, but maybe the results won't be as accurate.  (haa, haa).  You put a shot glass, a rosery, a piece of fruit and a  coin in front of the child.  Then depending on what the child picks up, you find out what their fortune holds for their future.  The coin, would be monetery prosperity, the fruit means they will be a farmer, the rosery means they will be a missionary of sorts and the shot glass, well we just  have to hope and pray they don't pick that one!  Ok, now please understand I don't actually take this all seriously, but My Mom did it with me (and I am sure her mom did it with her...) so it's a cute tradition.  But it looks like Saoirse already has given us a hint of her future calling.....a missionary to Africa.  How's that?  Well today Isabella pointed out that Saoirse had put something into her mouth.  Now the girls had gone a bit wild with the animal crackers one day, and I kept finding them here and there.  SO I assumed she found one (we had just moved some furniture).  I swept her mouth only to discover a bug!!!Yes a BUG!    I was TOTALLY freaked out!!!! 

Well I will have to write more later, Jerry just came in with dinner. 

OK, please respond! 

I have been blogging now for a few months and I have only gotten one response from a family memeber and one response from a friend.  Is anyone else reading this blog???  I know how everyone wanted to have a heads up on how we are doing, and everyone would appreciate it in a real letter form.  But with four kiddos, homeschooling, and my other responsibilities I need to cut corners. So this blog was supposed to accomplish that.  You get to hear how we are doing, AND see how we are doing.  However, with only two responses, it seems I may be wasting my time.  I don't expect that I should get comments every tome I post, but, no-one is saying anything!  Except the aforementioned two people (BTW a BIG thank you!).  So I need to hear from you.  Please let me know if you are reading my blog, let me know if it something you enjoy.  I have limited time, and don't want to spend it on something that is not being useful.  If it is not accomplishing my goal, to reach family and friends, then I will discontinue this blog.  Soooo PLEASE write NOW  so I can see who is reading.  THANK YOU!!!!

Wow!  I can't believe it.  Last night, as the girls were getting ready for bed, Moira came up to me and said, "Mom, my tooth is loose."  I was thinking that possibly this would be a false alarm.  But, nope!!  How can it be?  Aren't they supposed to stay "babies" forever?  I mean this is really not condusive to remaining a baby.  The last part of babyhood is on its way out!  (her teeth that is)  For some reason I wasn't even expecting this.  I guess part of that is because Isabella kept telling us for MONTHS that she had a loose tooth, when indeed she did not.  So when she actually did have a loose tooth, I was a bit surprised, but not shocked.  But with Moira, well I never saw it coming.  Moira told me that she knew somthing was up when we were eating corn on the cob for dinner, and her tooth was not working.  I thought that was funny. 

Saoirse was sick for a few days.  I think she is better, or at least on the mend.  I will be glad when she gets back to sleeping well.  Actually this morning she is sleeping well for her nap.  I am so used to her only sleeping for only 30 minutes that I have "wasted" my time instead of being productive.  And now she is sleeping longer!  Go figure. 

Ok, I have a little rant.  This morning, I in my stupidity happened to call out that there was a white dog running through our backyard.  BIG MISTAKE!! ALL and I mean ALL morning the girls have talked about nothing else!  They are worried that it is hungry, or lost, or hurt......Now you might be thinking, oh, what is the deal they are showing compassion.  Yes, they are, unfortunately they do not show anywhere near the same amount of compassion when on of their sisters is hurt.  Isabella is the worst.  When one of her sis's gets hurt and is crying, she sits there telling them to be quiet because their crying is annoying her!  UUGGHHH!!! 
oopps, I gotta go.....baby woke up.

Ahhh, yes, sick kiddos.  Well a few days ago Moira and Flannery came down with a fever and stomache pain.  Nothing else happened, until the next day when they had some di.....h.  This was Saturday and Sunday.  Then yesterday they were fine.  Phew, got over that one in a hurry without too much "pain".  But not so fast!  Tonight, Flannery was saying she didnt' want to eat dinner, she didnt' like it.  hhhhmmm, odd, since she has always eaten black beans and rice.  So we offered her some bread.  She has been having stomach pain since we moved and we figured it was her reflux acting up due to stress (it happened when we moved from Charlotte).  Well, she loves  bread, and decided not to even eat that.  Now my brain started ticking.  This was not adding up to pleasant numbers.  Well, about 30 minutes later, she comes up to me and says..."I have to throw up!"  AAHHhhh the joys of stomach bugs.  Not a second after I got her cleaned up did Moira come running in with the same exclamation!  So two kiddos with the stomach bug.  I am praying that it will be very, VERY short lived.  They each fell asleep an hour and a half earlier than normal, each with a bucket by their side.  Poor things. 

i got a lot of work done today.  I was able to get the living room, dining room and kitchen in decent order.  Anything that still needs unpacking is still sitting in boxes, but I have made more of a dent and made sure everything got cleaned up.  Looks good.  I love a clean house. 

The girls have had this small obsession with death lately.  I know 'what a topic'.  But that's what's been going on over here.  I call it as it is.  So anyways, they play out someone, or some animal dying, or they are trying to rescue or something or other.  Well the other day, really took the cake.  Moira came up to me with a picture she drew.  She said 'this is for you Mommy."  Before I even looked at it I said, "Oh, how nice of you to draw a picture for Mommy."  Well there was a person crying and a grave with a stone that had a cross on it with Mommy written on the stone.  So I ask her if this was a pic of me havng died, and she said, yeah, that's me (Moira) crying because I am sad you died.  Then she went off to play.  Yikes!  I have to say that I dont' ever remember drawing pictures about death.   And I drew a lot of pictures growing up. 

We've been having problems with our oven.  it takes about an hour for it to heat up, then it burns everything!  Ugh.  We made some cookies to take to our neighbors, but i feel foolish to bring burnt cookies.  However they aren't entirely ruined so guess who is eating them.  Us!  Add that to not being very faithful to exercising.....I really have to figure a way to get the baby into her bed in the a.m. so that i can go for my walk.  i need to get back into the routine of it.  I miss my walks.  I still have been walking a few times a week, but it has been hit and miss.  Not to mention that I had my quiet time with the Lord before I walked, would read scripture, then during my walk would 'chat' with God.  I am not making light of that, just couldn't think of any other wording.  I really enjoyed that time. 

Well i must be off.  I should catch some ZZzzz'ss  before anyone else wakes up and needs me.

PHEW!!!  Another move under our belt.  This one went pretty smoothly.  Well sort of.  It really seems like EVERYTHING has been going wrong lately.  Our email to people telling about the move details never got sent out and so come 6pm on friday, no one showed up to help Jerry load the moving truck!!  Thankfully a few phone calls changed that and we got the van mostly loaded that night.  Then a bunch of people helped out on saturday to finish loading the rest and to help unload the van at the new house.  Now, a few days later we are more than half way unpacked.  This for me is actually the hardest part of the unpacking.  Life is moving on (laundry, messes, bathes....) but there is still unpacking to be done.  So it goes a whole lot slower now.  I must perservere. 

We find out on Monday if Jerry has a job.  This is with a company who said they wanted him months ago, unfortunately there was a lack of funding, so it was put on hold.  Well come monday they will let him know when he starts.  Supposedly it will be immediately, but we are nervous that they will say something more like " oh, well, it looks like it will be another month.....'  I pray that will not be the case.  He has been out of work for a week and a half now. 

I know i had a bunch of stuff to write about, but for some reason when I get on here, I draw a blank.  Figures. 

AHHH, yes, I remember now.....I have a dryer that works!!!! YEAH!!  Now for a bit of background.  Our dryer was never broken, it was the poor ventilation in the houses we have been livingin that were the problem.  At our place in Charlotte it took 3 hours for one load of laundry to dry!  That doesn't help when you have a mess of laundry to get dried.  Our last place it took at least 2 hours.  So i had to run it through 2 cycles.  Well, here at this house, it works like it should!  I am so happy.  However there is one drawback.  Whoever designed the house had a flaw.  They put the thermostat right across from the laundy closet (it's all in the hallway).  So I have been doing a whole mess of laundry, very, very happy with all I can get done in one evening.  However Jerry and i noticed it getting colder and colder in the house.  hhhmmmm..   Well the thermostat says it's 70 degress in here.  NOT!!  I have a cold nose and your feet freeze on the non carpeted surfaces.  My theory is that it is indeed 70 degrees in the *hallway*, since the dryer is making it nice and toasty in that area.  The rest of the house is more like 55 degrees or less.  BBBbbbrrrrrrr. 

Ok, I'm off to bed.  It has been a long day.

I put up two cute pictures.  Check them out.  I didn't get a whole lot done today.  The baby has been a basket case all day.  She napped very little.  I did get a bunch cleared out of the sewing area, but nothing packed.  Jerry was called this morning for an interview this afternoon.  It looks like he may be a shoe in.  However, there will be  a pay cut.  I started grumbling, but then on my walk as I was talking to the Lord, I realized I was being like the Israelites in the desert.  They wandered 40 years due to their lack of faith and grumbling.  So instead of being happy that he will have a job, I was grumbling that our new move which was meant to save us money to pay off debt will now just afford us to scrape by.  I am hoping that this too shall pass. 

Well I need to get some packing done.  The baby actually went down to bed without screaming and crying! 

Well that about sums it up for us.  We are moving next weekend!  We found a house that is cheaper rent.  We want to be able to pay off our debt, and we can't do that at our current location.  Unfortunately we will be far from everything we do now, including church.  So we will be looking at other churches as well.  I really like our current church, even though we seem to have had a slow time getting to know people.  Anyways, we will be very busy packing.  I will have Jerry's help as his last day of work was this past friday.  He was supposed to have a job to go to, but that fell through.  Gotta love the contract world.  So we are praying fervently that he gets a job A.S.A.P.!!!!!  We will be moving into a smaller home.  We currently have an 1600-1800 sq. ft. home now and will be moving into a 1350 sq.ft. house.  It has a two car garage and it's on an acre.  So there is space outside to "roam".  I am trying to declutter as we pack.  Of course it seems that everything we own is breaking down now. I mean EVERYTHING.  We'll have to buy things a bit at a time though. 

The kiddos are getting over being sick with a yucky upper resp. virus.  Not fun.  Sick kids for 2 weeks straight.  It was kind of nice that someone at the grocery store noticed we were well.  We have been shopping at the health food store lately and there is one gentleman who mans the butcher counter.  Anyways I was walking past the counter (we stop there last) and he says, " hey, you guys look like you are feeling much better."  I wasn't sure if he was talking to me, so i looked around, and i was the only person there.  So he said, " Weren't you all sick with a flu thing last week?  You look like you are feeling better."  I said, " yes, we are and you can tell by the children running around.'  It made me feel like we were in a small town! 

A good friend of mine volunteered to watch the oldest three girls this saturday, all day!!!  I was able to get a great start to packing.  Not to mention it was much easier to pack up their toys with out them standing behind me saying....No, not that, i need that right now...But the days are ticking!  And there  are only 6 more till we move.  So much to do!!!!

Flannery turned 3 on the 20th!  We had a small party for her.  I will have to put up pictures when I get the chance.  The baby has not been sleeping well at all lately which really limits my time to do things.  She is either in my lap, and grabbing at everything, or on the floor putting EVERYTHING in her mouth.  I mean, EVERYTHING!!!!  She is my only one to put everything in her mouth.  Moira was the best, she never put anything in her mouth until she was two and teething with molars.  She started puting rocks and sticks in her mouth!!  Isabella put some things in her mouth, and Flannery was too busy trying to climb the walls to notice the floor!  But Saoirse takes the cake.  That child puts everything in her mouth that comes her way.  I can't vacuum often enough for this child.  She finds the tiniest thing in a crevice and pops it in her mouth.  UGH!!!  She just started pulling herself to standing.  My bet (if I were taking bets) would be that she will be walking at 12 months.  We shall see. 

Well I'm off to read.  I am trying to catch up on my gardening knowledge.  I really, REALLY want to put in a garden this spring.  I will have to buy seeds very soon and get them started indoors.  I am reading a book called "Lasagna Gardening".  I thought it would be about planting a garden for the herbs and stuff needed for lasagna.  Nope.  it's about layering newspapers, compost, leaves and such to make a garden that you do not have to till up.  I am thinking that since we will be busy with moving and unpacking I need to do something EASY this spring.  i want to do a raised bed garden, but that will cost money, which, with no job, we don't have.  We'll have to save that for next year.  I think I will do a small garden this year, and get a feel for the land, and how the sun falls on our property.  Then next year go bigger.  i am also reading a book called "Chicken Tactors", or something like that.  A really neat concept of raising broilers or egg birds, in moveable pens that you rotate over your garden space.  You use them during the off season to pick weeds and "deposit" compost.  Then you have a rich soiled garden, and eggs or meat!  I like the concept.  But too much for us to do this year.  I really want to give it a try sometime. 

Goodnight all!

PS, forgot to tell you about the kid's kut.  my friend took the girls on a walk and they came across a stream and pond.  Isabella was trying to tell me that the water had algae on it, but said "allergy".  I told her it was " algae".  Moira said "What?"  And Isabella told her, you know rivers have allergies too.  Ha,ha, ha.  Too funny. 

Well it happened.  Just when you really can't afford it to.  Moira woke up last night, sick!  She insisted I write about it.  Right now she is tromping around the room as a princess.  SO thankfully she feels fine enough for everyday play.  She has a yucky cough though.  It doesn't sound like the pneumonia like Flannery and Jerry had.  So we shall play the pray and wait game. 

I will have to write about our house hunting.  Desicions, desicions.

Well that should explain why I have not written in some time.  All of my time has been used up dealing with the little monster.  It was indeed a one sided deal, but I am trying as best I can to make the most of the situation.  It does not help that the week before we got the booger that I was faithfully, and consistantly training the children.  All training has since gone down the tubes due to the uneeded (is that a word?) interuption.  We have just started out 2 week school break, which most of that time will be spent in training.  I took the time today to run an errand, so that our week will be free of outside distractions.  Much needed when you have 3 unruley children to deal with. 

To make matters worse we are still trying to find a house to rent.  Now granted there are many, many houses out there that we can afford to rent.  However we are trying to find one that will be much cheaper than what we are renting now, so as to pay off our personal loans.  I do not want to spend the next 10 years doing that, so we are trying to go as chep as possible.  But we are coming up against some "issues".  One, being older homes with mold...big NO, NO.  Two, would be too far to drive to work (for Jerry) or church.  So I am pryaing that God would give us a newer, smaller home not too far away from work/church, that is a whole lot cheaper than what we are currently paying.  Time is a ticking!

This only gets better as Jerry's job has not been locked down as of yet.  They want him to come in to sign the papers, but that is only for the temp service.  He still does not have a start date!  Not good.  Apparently God has more to teach me, or I'm not learning the lesson He's been trying to teach me, because this is only the 20th time we've been through this.  Hmmm....

Here's a funny:  We were eating at really great burger joint this past weekend.  There is only outside eating.  It was a decent day, but a bit chilly in the shade.  Well the girls were complaining of being cold, so I told them to go sit in the sun (there was a small ledge next to us).  So off they went and things were fine for  a few minutes.  Next thing I know Flannery is whinning about something.  She comes up to me, and while doing her whiney voice, proclaims:  They're taking all the sun!!!!  I just about fell over from laughter!  I mean, my kids can really find things to complain about!!  I assured her that there was plenty of sunshine to go around for everyone. 

Ooops, baby is awake.

and some nasty ones at that.  Poor Jerry has pnuemonia, and viral at that!  Flannery has been sick as well with a high fever and has been a basketcase for a week now.  It is possible she  has the same thing as Jerry.  The doctor Jerry saw said he would be feeling bad for two weeks!  Yikes!  Not the best way to start off the new year.  So far eveyone else is doing well.
I got my Flylady calander the other day.  The kids started coloring the pictures at the top of the page.  It has a bunch of stickers to put on the calander to remind you what zone it is for the week and such.  If you've never heard of Flylady, check her out and flylady.net  or flylady.com.  I can't remember which it is on the top of my head. 
School is doing well.  I need to have the girls clean up the school room though as they have made a huge mess with some toys.  Wow, that's suprising huh?   
Oh, it's sooooo cute, Saoirse has just started scooting tonight!  SHe some little crumb on the floor that she reeeaaallly wanted and started working her arms and legs and lo and behold she started moving forward.  Too cute. I was trying to find a smilie that was a crawling baby, but they didn't have one.
Well nighty, night.

  HAPPY NEW YEAR
There is a lot to catch up on.  We spent Christmas in NY.  Everyone was sick, but we still had a good time.  It had been two years since I was last in NY.  It was great to see everyone again.  The trip up went great.  I had put together some luch bags filled with a few small things like snacks, stickers, new crayons and such for every 100 miles.  The kids really looked forward to getting a new bag.  The baby did great as well.  I won't have time to fill in how everything went as it is bedtime.  But I wanted to let you know we had a great Christmas and a really fun New Year's.  We just spent this evening with Jerry's parents celebrating Christmas.  Lots of celebrating this year   We got a few cute pics of all the cousins together.  I'll have to get them up for you all to see. 

Hello to all my loyal readers!  I wanted to let you know that I am taking a trip up north for a week to visit family.  We were supposed to leave tomorrow, but my sister, her kiddos, and my mom are all sick.  So we will take all day Sunday to get there, then we will crash at the hotel and venture out on Monday morning to see everyone.  I can't  wait.  I have been very busy getting ready.  I have made two dresses for Moira and am in the process of making two for Flannery.  They are all the same dress, just different colors.  I will have to take a pic of Moira modeling her new dress when she returns.  Currently Jerry and the chitlens are at the movie store renting a movie.  I had put the finishing touches on our "raw" dessert.  I told you I had gotten a couple of raw "cookbooks" out and I tried out the applesauce (yum) and not the Carob-Hazelnut Torte.  I took a pic.  It looks great, but I don't know how it tastes yet!  I'll let you all know later. 

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas!!!!

Well it's been a while.  I tried a couple of times to write in my journal, only for my computer filter tell me that these pages were restricted.  This happens every so often.  We will be changing filters soon though, so I am hoping I won't have any more problems.  Well we had two weeks where the girls got sick to their tummies.  Thankfully they are better now and we are trying to dig out on the mess that had piled up while I was running back and forth with a bucket between girls! 

We had a family picture taken.....FINALLY.  It;s not the best, cut will do.  The great thing is that we got the "Smiles Card" from Sears so we won't have to pay for their sitting fee for two years.  So when they have those coupons for $5.95 a sheet, we take the kids in and we get to try as many poses as we want.  And that will hopefully help out with family memebers who want pics. 

I had a prayer answere recently.  The girls were taking ballet in the fall but we had to stop the classes as it was too costly.  Well they were just crushed, not to mention Flannery wanted to dance sooooo bad.  So I have been praying that God would open a way for them to take dance again.  Well I belong to a homeschool email list and someone on there advertised dance classes fo a one time (small) fee for the whole sping semester.  With Christmas and a whole big deal with our landlord we were going to be short on cash in Jan. when the classes start.  Well I emailed the instructor and she said we could pay whenever we could!!!!  Thank you Lord!  She also has a Mommy and Me movement class for Flannery's age.  I know Flannery is going to be goo goo gaa ga over it.  It is here in our town.  THe only drawback to that will be if we move farther away come March.  But we will deal with that when it comes.

Our move is still an ongoing prayer request.  We really want to find a place with land.  I am praying that it will have a decent house on it as well

Well we only have three more days to get ready for our trip up north.  I have quite a few things that I need to get done.  So taa taa for now.

Hey all.  Before I forget, I have a question for you...Did you know that milk is sweet????  I found that out after this first weeks on the Maker's Diet.  There is basically no sugar.  You are allowed some berries, but that's all folks.  It's been pretty hard.  Poor Flannery has had it the worst.  You can ask my sister, Tracy, she can tell you.  She heard her screaming while we were on the phone.  Screaming for Gummies, peanut butter and jelly, and something else that I have forgotten by now.  My body is slowly adjusting to the no sugar.  I woke two nights ago at 4 AM with the shakes.  Today I was able to get up at 7 AM and shower before that familiar uneasy feeling struck.  But for the rest of the day (starting close to mid morning) I feel great.  Anyways, with no sugar, and with me feeling yucky the other day I decided to grab a small glass of milk.  And it tasted sweet!!!  WOW.  Amazing. 

Ok, onto other things...the girls and I (except for the baby) got the stomache bug.  Wow, what a horrid day.  By the evening Isabella was still sick.  Everyone else was sick for a total of about 6 hours.  She was still going strong.  She looked horrible and started to get some weird stuff going on, including blurred vision.  Well that just about freaked me out (OK I was totally freaked out) so I took her to the ER.  It was close to 9 PM when we got there.  They took us pretty much right away.  They gave her some IV fluids and some potassium.  THey have this wonderful cream that numbs your skin so you don't feel the needle going in.  It worked like a charm.  Anyways, we were there for 3 hours and got home around 12:30 AM.  Can you say "tired"?  But she looked sooooo much better!! 

We went to our town's Christmas Tree Lighting the other night.  It was great.  The first thing we came to was a horse drawn "sleigh".  It was this pretend sleigh as it has wheels on it.  But is was being pulled by two beautiful Percheron horses.  I am sure you know that the horses were the hit of the night!!  That's all the girls talked about.  We walked down the block to the tree, we had missed the actual lighting of it.  They has a small stage that different groups were singing on.  They were singing Christmas carols.  Then we went home. 

Saoirse is a holy roller.  Hee, hee, Isabella was one as well.  She loves to roll all over the place and she is quick too.  I tried to give her some solid foods again yesterday and tonight.  We tried it a month ago and she had a lot of problems with it (her intestines).  She does not care for the baby rice cereal.  So I tried putting some mashed peas in it, but I don't think the peas were mashed enough.  Either that or she has my sister's tastes. 

Well I am going to attempt to put up the pics from the zoo.

Well the past few days I have spent trying to log into Bravenet, but our computer filter wouldn't let me in.  Every once in a while this happens.  I have a bunch to update on.  But I will probably have to write about it all later.  I'll updaye you on our trip to the zoo, and our trip to the ER last night.  Isabella had anasty stomache bug and got a bit too sick for me to feel comfortable going through another night with her so sick.  She is fine now.  Right now the baby is rolling all over the floor, which is not baby proof due to the three oldest girls being sick yesterday (I was sick during the middle of the night so I was running on fumes), so no one picked up.  It seems as if the older girls will be sleeping in some, which I am really praying they do until at least 9 AM.  Hopefully the baby will get sleepy soon (it's 7 AM right now) and I can go back to sleep. 

I'll write about our adventures later!

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!  We are pretty much ready for festivities tomorrow.  I have a wee bit more cleaning to do, I will try to get a bit done tonight.  That will leave more time for making my cranberry orange bread and putting together the dutch apple pie.  Yum!  My mouth is already watering. 

I finished my first knitted hat last night.  It is for the Newborns In Need.  It came out pretty decent.  I am hooked on knitting now!  As if I have all this time to knit and sew!  the great thing about knitting is I can knit a couple of rows in between things.  I took it on the ride to church.  I knit a row as we are getting ready to do family worship in the evenings.  It is very rewarding seeing it come together.  I got a few books out at the library and I can't decide what to start next.  I have  a couple of things I would like to make.  There are these really cute hats I would like to make all the girls.  Then there are some leg warmers.  (hey it gets a bit chilly here in the south you know)  And then there is this adorable baby blanket.  This is on top of all the sewing I would like to accomplish.  Not to mention I have to get my house organized before I can do all this!  I suppose that should motivate me to get my house in order so I can spend that time knitting. 
 
I was able to buy Saoirse a few diapers in her larger size.  I had about 10 mediums and 6 smalls.  But she out grew her small ones and needed some more mediums.  I got to get colors this time!!  I buy the Fuzzi Bunz brand from a friend of mine who has an online store.  I HIGHLY recommend you check out her site.  She has the best customer service (herself)!  There only seem to be a million different ways to cloth diaper your baby and she was able to get me started witht he right style after she questioned me about Saoirse.  I love her new diapers.  So soft.  I will have to get a picture of her in the to show you all.  In the meantime check out her site: http://www.aunaturelbaby.com/default.htm
Find the Fuzzi Bunz and I got all the pastel colors plus one white one (6 in all). 

Well check out my hat and a cute picture of Jerry and Saoirse in my photo album.  I must be going, gotta go clean.

Wow, it's been a while since I last wrote.  Goodness knows we've been busy.  At what, I can't recall.  Today Jerry took all the girls out today so I could get some cleaning done.  Now poor Jerry didn't quite understand what I meant by cleaning and was very discouraged to come home after 2 hours to find the living room (the first room you see when you walk in) messier than when he left!  I had spent my time in the kitchen cleaning and organizing.  I got rid of a bunch of canned goods, which freed up space to put out blender, juicer and bread maker on.  That freed up a tiny bit of space on our counter, and over all things look a bit more "open".  I also cleaned out the utility drawer as at least 50% of the time you couldn't get the drawer open.  then there was the actual clenaing of the sink and counters.  After I write I will go in there and mop, then head into the living room to clean that up.  After I do the living room for a bit I will return to the kitchen to clean out my tupperware drawers.  Then the kitchen will be complete.  My goal is to get the kitchen and living room done tonight, and get at least half of the dining room (turned into a craft room) before I head for bed. 

This week I want to tackle the upstairs rooms.  So much to do and so little time

Well I am almost done with the book "The Maker's Diet". I have to say it is a must read!  After Christmas we will be revamping out diet.  It would be too hard to do now as I will be leaving for NY in 3 weeks.  So when we get back we will go on the 40 day diet ans then continue to eat the "Maker's" way. 

I tried to buy a step aerobics tape the other day, and apparently step aerobics is out of style.  So I will have to look on ebay.  I did buy a tape called "Fat Burning Walk".  That will be for the days that are too cold, or I don't get up in time to get out before Jerry leaves for work.  I am actually starting to gain weight now, and that is not what I want to happen.  I still have a few pounds (ok more like 15) to loose from the pregnancy. 

Flannery has started this new thing of blinking her eyes quickly throughout the day.  All of us have been experiencing dry eyes due to turning on the heat, so I am not sure if this is the cause.  It only started yesterday, but it kind of freaks me out (that would not be hard to do, freak me out that is).  So today I took her to the store with me (just her and I) and she started doing the  fast blinking, so I asked her for the 10th time already, why she was doing that.  She said, "I don't know".  then I asked her if her eyes hurt, itched or if she had trouble seeing, all of which she said no to.  So I said, "Well, then why do you keep blinking your eyes like that?".  Her reply, "Because my eyes do that, see, look..." and then she looked at me and blinked her eyes slowly and in a sort of an exaggerated way.  It was pretty funny. 

Saoirse officially has seperation anxiety.  Jery had her when I went for  my walk and when I went to the store.  She was asleep when I left both times, but when I got back I heard one screaming baby from the driveway as the other girls ran out to greet me.  As soon as I took her she stopped crying.  Go figure.  The poor thing has this mysterious rash.  The doctor said it was just hives.  But this rash kept traveling down her back and out to her shoulders and is not down on her upper arms!  I and some other people think it is scabbies.  As if I have time to deal with that!!!    I have an appointment with a dermatologist on monday.  Funny thing is the rash has sort of stopped popping up with new bumps today.  But I remember Flannery's doing that.  It gave me a false sense of security, believing that she was getting better.  But then her rash kind of exploded all over her body at a fast rate.  Flannery had scabbies about 10 months ago.  I am not ready to deal with this again.  We shall hopefully find out whatit is on monday.

Isabella and Moira got some new shoes yesterday.  We had to go to Stride Rite as the other cheaper stores had junk shoes.  I dont' beleive my 5 year old needs to be wearing 1 and a half inch chunky heels!  We were very dissapointed at the limited amount of selection at Stride Rite this time around.  We picked up some really nice boots and they only went to size 12.  Moira is a 13 1/2 and Isa is a 2 1/2.  So we foudn a couple of more we liked, but again, only up to size 12!  Ugh!   We did get them some Mary Jane type shoes that are nice, but a wee bit too nice.  I was looking for an every day type shoe.  These shoes could go with their church outfits.  Oh well.  They will always looked dressed up I guess. 

Well there is a bunch of cleaning to be done! 

Good Night.

Ahhh, I'm in a funky mood tonight.  It's been a rough day.  And it is now quiet in the house as Jerry has taken the girls to rent a movie.  I'm sitting here with a saddened heart as I have recounted the events of a precious baby that I have never met.  Her name is Katherine, and she is now in the arms of Jesus.  I found out about this family a few weeks ago from an e-mail that I get from Homeschooling Today.  The father is on the board of the magazine.  Six weeks ago they had a baby girl who was born with a heart defect.  They have a website that has tracked her progress from day one.  She seemed to be getting better, something they needed to happen before she could have surgery on her heart.  But then things turned quickly down hill.  I have been in tears about it for days!  The Lord has placed this family on my heart, and I have never felt such grief for someone I never even met.  I suppose that one of the reasons this baby made such an impact on me is because she reminds me of Saoirse.  and every time I look at Saoirse I can not imagine what this family must be going through.  Anyways, I ask that everyone would please pray for this family.  They are the Bakke family.  Their insurance is not going to cover all the costs of 6 weeks of ICU care, and I have the notion to make a baby quilt and raffle it off, sending them the money to put towards the costs.  I'll let you all know when I get it done.  I think as soon as I make the top I will take pictures of it and start collecting "tickets".  Then by the time I collect all the donations I will have it quilted (by machine to get it done faster).  Right now I have to make a few laundry bags for a friend of mine who sells cloth diapers on-line.  After that I will be working on the quilt. 

I have really got the itch to start quilting and knitting.  Maybe it's the fall and cooler (um, well it is supposed to "only" be in the low 60's tomorrow) weather, but I have checked out some books at the library for some knitting and quilting ideas.  Not to mention that reading up on Baby Katherine had sent me to a site called Newborns In Need.  They have a local chapter in the next town over.  They make blankets and hats for premies and other babies in need.  I figured that the girls and I will make a no-sew fleece blanket to send to them. I have about a  half of a hat done as well. 

Well we got out to vote on tuesday.  Funny thing is  I figured it would be better to go around 9 am as opposed to the evening.  WRONG.  It took us an hour and twenty minutes to vote.  Then Jerry comes home to grab a book that evening, ready to stand in the line and there were all of 8 people in front of him!!!  Not fair.  I had at one point, after standing in line for 15 minutes started counting the people in front of me.  There were 100!  The girls got to vote as well (they had a kid's voting booth).  And they even got a really big sticker and a coupon for a free buffet at the local pizza buffet restraunt.  So guess where we had dinner that night?  As we were getting ready to leave to vote, I was explaining to the girls what behavior I was expecting from them.  The older two went to get their shoes on and Flannery and I were in the kitchen.  Flannery asks "where are we going?"  I told her to go and vote. She says " oh, are we going to stand in the boat?"  I say, "no, not a boat, we are going to Vote"  She says" do we get to go swimming?"  Me: "Uh, no, honey there won't be any water there, we are not going in a BOAT, we are going to V...V...V...Vote"  I was emphasising the "V".  She still didn't get it.  Poor thing.  All there way there she kept asking about the boat.  Although boating may have been more fun...

Isabella just received an invitation to a birthday tea party from a friend of hers.  Poor Moira was in tears, because she was not invited!  She is a friend from church and Isabella and the birthday girl are in the same sunday school class, Moira is in another class.  I told her that some day she will be going to events that Isabella won't be invited to go to, but she was not in the mood to be consoled. 

Saoirse is rolling over to get places now.  We gave her "food" for the first time a few days ago.  I had baked up soem sweet potatoes and we put some in the food processor for her.  She really, really liked them.  She is our first baby that we held off til 6 months for solid food.  Of course, as I was talking to my sister about this, it just seems pointless to feed her anything if it's "dead".  She and I have been reading the same nutrition books of late.  Some of you may have heard the term, raw foods. You see if you heat your food above 120 or so degrees you kill off the enzymes in the food that are supposed to help you digest that food.  So you are over taxing your body by filling it with lifeless foods. And it's worse if you eat processed foods, and white foods (pasta, white bread, sugar, white rice....).  After reading the book' "Toxic Relief" you will never look at your food the same again.  So I was holding off on giving the baby any "food" since she can't chew it up herself, so you have to cook it, and cooking it means killing the enzymes and it all seemed so pointless.  I bought some organic brown rice to put through my grinder and I figure I will make some rice cereal for her tomorrow.  I also bout a squash to see how she like that.

Well, the baby woke up and the puppy is barking to go out, and I'm the only one here to take care of them both.  So toodles.

Well it's been a while!  I couldn't get into my journal as our web filter desided it was a "bad" site.  That is until I sent them a request to unblock it.  So I'm back now.  And lots have happened too.  First off, please pray that Isabella and I will not get sick. Jerry took the girls to a few houses around on our street and at one house they got some small bags of chips (those snack size ones).  anyways I had just taken a bite of some sweet candy when Isa offered me a samll piece of cheetos.  I ate it, but at the end I wondered what type they were as it tasted funny.  After I swallowed it the taste was left in my mouth that was really yucky.  So I smelled the bag and it was gross.  They were bad chips.  I only had a bite, but Isa ate at least two of them I think.  Anyways, I was totally paronoid for quite a while.  The last thing I need to be right now is sick!!  Not to mention having a sick kiddo to take care of along with myself.  So please pray that what every yucky stuff would pass through us without effecting us.

The girls looked really cute in their doggy costumes.  We have a picture of three of them as Flannery had refused to wear her costume.  We got her to put it on at the last minute, but they needed to head out and I didn't get a picture of her in it.  Bummer.  Check out my photo section to see the pics ( I will try to get them on there after I right my entry). 

We had our two week break.  We got the garage sale done as well.  I wished I had more time to organize some things, but there are only so many hours in a day!  We are bacck on to our school schedule.  It has time to get all our stuff done,  but it will take some getting used to. 

I got my ornaments done for the ornament exchange I was in.  Phew! I wished I took a picture of them!  Oh well, I am hoping that I have enough steam to make a few more. 

Now why is it when I am going about my day I think of things to write in here, but I get here and my mind goes blank!  And as soon as I get into bed tonight I know I will think of a ton of things I should have written about. 

Well hopefully I will be able to remember something another day.  I am going to put up the pics now. Enjoy!