Wordy Wednesday

(Wordy Wednesday because I'm a very wordy person, and could never do the wordless Wednesday - but today its pretty simple!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAKA!

We took her out for her birthday <3 and="" br="" happy.="" she="" surprised="" was="">

Happy Mothers Day, (better late then never)

Mothers and Daughters

by Anonymous

You can see it in their eyes, in tender hugs and long good-byes, a love that only moms and daughters know. You can see it in their smiles, through passing years and changing styles, a friendship that continually seems to grow. You can see it in their lives, the joy each one of them derives, in just knowing that the other one is there... To care and to understand, lend an ear or hold a hand, and to celebrate the memories they share.

A Brief Post on My 'Large' Family

Let me be brief. Or I'll try. It starts with a story.

I walked up the street with my kids all around me. Samuel in the stroller, Klara on her bike, and the 'big' kids walking. It was late in the day, and I could just feel the coolness of the evening beginning. The sky was a beautiful blue, with the sun just starting to streak it with hews of pink and orange. We crossed the road, (Klara got off her bike) and we headed toward the driveway. I saw a few neighbors chatting and smiled thinking how much I was beginning to feel part of the neighborhood.

I need to pause here and say, it hasn't always been like that. I've felt like the odd ball, stay at home mom, large family, ect, but this particular evening, I was feeling as if I had shown them with our amazingness how awesome we were, and I had won them over to accepting us into the neighborhood.

I smiled and waved to them on the other side of the road and made my way up the drive. I thought about joining the conversation but decided to sit on the bench in the front instead.

I watched the neighbors, feeling happy, pausing to watch the kids, and then I checked my my phone.

Voices drifted through the air.....

"I thought to myself, 'how many does she have now?'"

My head slowly came up and I listened intently.

I couldn't here all of it. Hmmmmmm.  Why don't they speak a little louder?

".....about every 2 years right?'

At this point I decided they must have thought I'd gone inside, right?

".....like a bunch of bunnies..." followed by laughter.

My mouth DROPPED open. People only talk like this in the movies, I thought.

Its burned in my brain, the happy neighbor man walking across the grass saying, "Yep, we had 3 and put a stop to that," just to finish it off.

I think I went inside. I honestly don't remember. I was hurt. Insulted. Angry. For a brief moment I had felt shame for my 'large' family, and I was mad at myself for that. I'm not ashamed, at all. I love each and every one of them. If I could change anything, I'd add 3 more....but for that second, listening to them, the desire to be accepted was so strong, I felt a moment of shame. And that made me angry.

Insulted. I see red when I think of the woman's voice saying 'like a bunch of bunnies'. We did not act on wild animal urges. We did not have an accident. We did not make a mistake. We decided to welcome a person into our family. Every single time. Every. Single. Time.

Crazy things go through my head. They think I have to many, so how many is to many? 3 is ok? So at this point what should I do with the other 2? Give them away? Why exactly do I have to many? Can I not handle them? They are clean, mostly well behaved, loved, love in return, learning, growing....Maybe they think I don't deserve 5?

I remember thinking I should shout out, "I'm expecting triplets in December!"

I didn't.

I think (right, ya think?) its been a bit traumatic for me. I've had to share with friends, listen to their thoughts and be encouraged and supported. I spoke with Goran right away, and my Luv put me straight, telling me those people have clearly lost sight of what is important in life. Another friend reminded my how beautiful my family is. Another friend urged me to think how this is likely mostly  more about them then me, its just coming out in this awful ugly way.

I'm not giving any away! I'm keeping them forever. They are a part of me now and forever, and I am so so thankful for all they bring to my life.

And as defeated and hurt as I felt that night, I'm not giving up. We are going to keep being our awesome selves, kind, polite, and friendly, in hopes we do win them over. In fact, if anything, I only want to try harder, stretch out my hand of friendship further, and be the kind of neighbor they want to have next door or down the street.

So as short goes, this is probably one of my longer posts, but it had to be told.

Thanks for listening, and reading.

Swimming

Suddenly it's June and we are swimming.

Well most of us. Small people still need small places to swim :)

Easter Remnants

A few bits and pieces of our Easter.

These boys.... :)

and Klara!

we all went to church Sunday morning. my heart felt so big sitting with my family on that wooden bench <3 br="">

Her Elsa cape!

Looking Back Since January

January began with knitting.

 It continued with loads of snow. 

the birds finally came to the bird feeder!

sisters

samuel spent hours watching big kids at the window. Klara joined him on occasion.

angelina did her own ballet bun, and klara developed a luv for them

 Graphs.

 Being a good homeschooling mom, I try to keep learning fun. I dabble in unschooling when time allows. (thats funny...) Meaning I try to draw them into an activity with lots of 'this will be fun!' 'lets try something new,' and my favorite 'do you want learn something neat?'. Unschooling is so much more work then workbooks and timelines.

Anyways, I decided to have fun with graphs. I bought a giant bag of m&ms.

"Lets make graphs! It'll be fun! In the end...." I get cut off here by Angelina. She groans loudly and rolls her eyes. I narrow my eyes at her. Ruining my great teaching moment. (The end of the sentence was, "...you can eat the m&m's!")

"Do we have too?" She says very dramatically.

I smile. "No. In fact you can go downstairs and read a book."

"Ok!" she's gone.

The others were waiting to see what would happen.

The all get a generous handful, make their graphs with counting, and drawing, using a ruler, writing, and coloring. Learning stuff, but they are having fun, so they don't realize it.

Little Miss 'Do I have to?' comes up at the end to see everyone eating m&m's. Her face falls when she realizes what she passed up. I didn't have to say anything.

A few days later I came home from groceries with a small bag of cadbery eggs for everyone. HER face lit up instantly and she says.....

"Lets make a GRAPH!"

Mission accomplished!
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1 year photo shoot.

u try getting 5 kids looking in the same place at the same time. I dare you.

he is this cute all the time. I will have to see if i can unfuzz this picture. can i?

Maple Syrup Trip

It was the middle of March. It was cold and snowing and everyone insisted on wearing rubber boats. Except me in double socks, everyone ended up cold and miserable. The one that is missing was crying about cold toes. Poor girl. Next time she will double her socks!

I have lots my battery charger to my camera. I'm getting a new one tomorrow and will continue posting better pics. The camera phone doesn't cut it.

Bryan is riding the 2 wheeler. Pics to follow.

Saturday at Aunt Kristyn's

The big kids made clay hamsters and cages. Complete with newspaper, 'lofa', food, water and a spinning wheel.

Samuel and I were able to hang out. We played dino's, and he talked to the big kids through the window bottomless. (He luvs windows!) It was priceless.