Always Unexpected

Lewis is full of the unexpected. When he gets an idea, he’s gotta act on it. When he doesn’t get his way, it’s an all out screaming fit. When he feels like doing something he does it all. 

Has an idea on how to get the little tikes fire truck into the fort in the backyard? Ropes are rigged up before I know what he’s even thinking. 

Wants to bake cookies because we talked about it a week ago? Ingredients are everywhere before my “not right now” registers in his brain. Giant fit ensues. 

Gets a notion to do chores? He vacuumes the ENTIRE upstairs before I can get my pregnant self up the steps. 

He’s just unpredictable, and most days I forget to appreciate the beauty of it as I clean up the messes. 

And some days the beauty is so apparent that it brings tears to my eyes. 

From the principal at school:

This past Thursday morning I walked a kindergarten girl to the gym because she was crying.  As I was walking in the gym Lewis came right up and walk us to her spot in the line. He sat down with her and almost face to face he was saying some consoling words. I couldn’t hear what was said but she was nodding her head yes.  I left her in good hands.  What a true witness of God’s mercy and love!

My skin is like sand paper. It’s a combo of it being winter, dehydration from pregnancy (weekly IV fluids don’t seem to help skin), and my not being able to reach my legs to lotion them at 30 weeks pregnant. Last night lewis noticed how dry my ankles are and said “Mom you need lotion on there. My legs hurt when they are dry skin.” I told him he was right but I can’t reach to put lotion on. He said “do you want me to help?” and proceeded to lotion half of my legs, arms, and hands. When he was satisfied with his work he said “If you need me to do that tomorrow, I can.” 

Such a beautiful showing of love, and so unexpected. 

Trivia Night 2019

We like to switch up the team every year for fun and we had a great one this year! So much random knowledge!

Our theme got honorable mention! It’s always fun to come up with something interactive. This year we delivered boxes of cookies to random tables throughout the evening. 

And we were in first place for a round or two of trivia! We came in 8th out of 25...not bad! It was fun as always!

Creative Play

Elias has been very creative in his play this week. 

His baby was sick so there were a lot of doctor appointments. 

He loves the Curious George episode “Candy Counter”, and the candies in the show look a lot like the pieces to our Memory Caps game, so he started making candies. 

He talked about the shapes and colors just like Goeorge in the show. 

And then put them in his oven to bake them. 

Elias asked me if I wanted to have a picnic with him, so I said yes, and he proceeded to tell me “I just kill this lion. Let’s eat the guts!”

“Do you want some brains mom?”

“Please pass the guts, Mom.”

“Mmmm! That’s pretty good! Do you want to try some?!”

“Ew. This is greasy.”

“Dad, do you want some nose?”

What’s your favorite part Elias?

“I like to make the eyeballs.”

This is what we get for letting him watch Bizarre Foods with us. 

We also had a family movie afternoon and watched Planes: Fire & Rescue. He was GLUED. We just happen to have some of the trucks from the movie from when Augustine was super into it, so he’s been  reenacting the scenes where these trucks go into the forest to make fire breaks. He keeps asking me what each truck’s name is...thank goodness the names are printed on the sides of the trucks!

Valentine’s Day

I didn’t used to like Valentine’s Day, but marriage and kids has made me enjoy it a lot more. It’s easy to decorate for, easy to teach the story of St. Valentine, and really fun to make valentines. I’m a very much prefer a homemade valentine to a store bought one, so each year I pick three options for my boys to choose from for their classmates. 

Lewis chose a fish one. Super simple. 

Augustine chose silly straws. Even more simple. 

And Elias discovered the happiness of glue sticks and stickers. He must have made 15 different valentines. They’re all hilariously cute. 

Grandma & Grandpa gave us valentines and a cake for after school snack, and Grandma Kathleen stopped by with valentines for everyone too!

Lewis’ favorite is the fun dip candy. He traded Augustine for all of his fun dips. 

Augustine’s favorite was the hot chocolate kit. 

Elias’ favorite was the cake, but I didn’t get a picture of him eating it. It took us quite a while to convince him that the cake was for our whole family and not just him. 

More Baby Food

Today’s baby appointment went well. Blood sugars are good. Blood pressure is high maintenance but it’s up to a much better level for now. I’m not constantly dizzy with legs that feel like jello. Baby “is not big” which is the goal, so woot! Only 11 more weeks to go. 

I just wanted something good to eat tonight.  I know low carb will always be *almost* good, but oh well. We do breakfast for dinner a lot these days because it’s easy and Aldi has cheap eggs. These almond flour cinnamon scones rolled out very nicely. The dough was easy to work with. 

They baked up nicely too, and were delicious served warm with deviled eggs. 

I had another one after bedtime and it wasn’t as good. I guess straight out of the oven is best. 

Grocery Store

I saved some boxes from my latest trip to the store. We’ve added more in the last day or two so it’s even more fun! I sat with him and played for about 10 min to help him get into a creative groove, and he got it very quickly. 

He understands the money part way too well. “Mommy, I need to beep your card.”

Lewis wanted to play but was being quite bossy and Elias finally said, “Lewis, you can be my assistant.” I had no idea he knew the word “assistant”, let alone use it in context. 

He must have packed up groceries in the bags and then restocked the shelves to do it again 20 times over. Then his big brothers set up a restaurant next door and called him for grocery delivery. Such easy fun!

Fix-It Man

He was trying to find a place to put his hammer yesterday as he worked so I showed him the tool belt. 

He couldn’t believe there was such a thing. SO handy. 

The washer/dryer had all sorts of issues, but he got it working again. 

Cousins

Me: spell brother

Augustine: b r o t h e r

Me: spell trouble

Augustine: t r o u b l e

Me: good! Spell cousin

Elias: I’m so glad I have Thomas. 

What Elias Has Been Up To

Playing Zingo. Correctly. From start to finish. 



Listening to books on tape from my childhood. The kid loves The Lion King. 

Painting the edges at grandma’s house...for pretend. 

Making valentines for all his loves. 

Playing and playing and playing. He loves sets of any kind with lots of guys and pieces and trucks. He’s starting to whisper-think which is my favorite preschool age habit. 

Getting a kick out of his tongue matching his jammies despite being diagnosed with the beginnings of croup. 

Family Pizza Night

I just couldn’t cook the other night so we went to Blaze Pizza. It’s really a fun place. 

Build your own pizzas. 

And they have vegan cheese for the Elias’ of the world!!!! He was so happy to be included. 

Valentine’s Day Fun

When the living room has lovely decor, my brain is happy. So once in a while I have a happy brain day when I redecorate and/or rearrange. 

This time: Valentine’s Day. 

I found the wall words on clearance after Christmas. I didn’t know it at the time, but it fits perfectly with a Valentine’s Day theme...and the crucifix too. 

Due to four (big) things breaking in our house and the car dying all in one week, I made most of the decor this time (thank you Dollar Tree!) and I like it. It was fun to be creative and use my crafting skills. 

Elias loves the banister hearts. He told me “that’s impressive, Mommy!” I’m amazed a two year old can appreciate my efforts. 

Pregnancy

Baby #4 is just as difficult to grow as the rest of them have been, although he is taking it to a new level lately. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for another member of our family and I know he is totally worth the sacrifice, but gratitude doesn’t belittle the crosses. Severe morning sickness finally calmed down at 17 weeks. I started monitoring my blood sugars at 12 weeks and sure enough have been balancing carbs ever since. 

This grain free “bread” came out of the oven looking amazing...and then I sliced it. The longer it sat the greener it got. Literally. It turned green. And it didn’t taste good enough to keep eating. 

This grain free pancake recipe (also great as muffins) is a winner. 

But this paleo pumpkin chocolate chip bread is the gold medalist. It is insanely good for grain free. 

We figured out last week, after half the night in the hospital, that my blood pressure is too low. That makes for some scary symptoms when you don’t know what’s going on. Four hours of problem solving and two liters of fluids later, we went home at 4am. I’ll have to have weekly fluids until delivery. Hello again, first trimester. I did not miss you. 

Day By Day

Lots of fun little every day kind of life stuff lately. 

Went on a field trip with both big boys. I was officially with Lewis’ class as a chaperone so I didn’t get a picture with Augustine. We attended a stage performance of three Eric Carle stories. Very creative with puppetry and lights. We sat next to Lewis’ very best friend. They’ve had a lot of play time lately because her parents are doing a project in our house for us...they’re really good at fixing old house problems! It’s been fun to get to know them. 

I’m sure everyone at some point in their life reads like this, right?

This was a really cool ramp that Lewis made. He modified it quite a few times and the little brother was very impressed. 

This was cute once and won’t happen again. He often calls me to fix things around the house, but this time he crawled all the way in to the dryer. We told him from now on he has to stick to the pretend washer and dryer. 

He’s so good at bible study. He doesn’t like the babysitting room, so as long has he’s quiet I let him stay with me during bible study. He always does a great job playing quietly and being creative. 

It doesn’t hurt that his buddy is usually there too. He waits patiently through the whole study and then gets his quality time/convo in with her at the end. 

Augustine is so happy outside. Being cooped up is hard for him in the winter. This day was so lovely and warm. He went outside three times, with just enough time in between to eat, use the bathroom, and dry his winter gear. 

Elias enjoys watching guitar lessons about as much as Augustine enjoys having them. Mrs. Butler is always kind and lets Elias have a few minutes to strum her guitar at the end of the lesson. 

Oh Lewis. His brain thinks so differently and creatively than mine. I never know what is going to happen next with him. He brought home this paper and thought it was hilarious that he named his snowflake after me. We had a good laugh. Now he is signing all of his papers with my name instead of his own...not sure how that’s going to go over at school, but he finds it equally as hilarious.