Birthdays!

How has it been almost a week since Bitsu's birthday?? Where does the time go?

Bitsuanit's birthday was on the 26th. We went out and did a bit of shopping in the morning of which she bought a case of 250 tiny stickers for herself :). What does one do with 250 tiny stickers? Then we went out for ice cream (Carmen got to eat part of the cone. He kept coming back for more. For a kid who never gets sugar, I'm sure it was heaven :)). We hid presents around the house that she had to find and had her favorite dinner: lasagna. She also was supposed to go swimming with her friend Mary and the pool was closed THAT day for cleaning! They only close twice a year. It was such a bummer. They went to an arcade instead. "Not nearly as fun", she said :(.

Carmen's birthday was today. We didn't do anything. We kept telling him it was his birthday and he kept telling us, "No." I made him steak for dinner, his favorite, and he gobbled it up but that was the highlight of the day.

I had such a wonderful day. My kids all have colds. Today, both Carmen and Zoya woke up with a runny nose. So, I pulled out the vitamins, the fruit with high vitamin C, the juice and spaced it out throughout the day so that they could have something to fight with. It was such a wonderful feeling to realize how blessed I am to be a stay-at-home mom. I know some moms have to work or would rather work but for us, I am so glad to get to be around, especially on days like this. It actually was a joy to serve my kids. I NEVER thought I would hear myself say that. But, there it is. I also had one of my college girls over and it was a joy to serve her too but it doesn't quite compare to being a mom :).

One Down...Four to Go...

Turism got her braces off! Hurrah! Bitsuanit goes in next week for her evaluation and she should be getting hers on in the next month. It's never ending :)

First Day of School!

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Today was it. And there is some grieving to be done. But let's begin with the highlights.

Everyone had a different reaction. Turism mentioned how much she really liked this summer. She played, almost every day, with her best friend Mary, who lives up the street. She read a lot. Neither of those things will she have time to do much now that school has started. She only has 4 other kids in her classroom this year and she hopes to have some friends in the mix. She is hopeful but wasn't thrilled about returning to work :).

Bitsu was matter-of-fact. She just had this last week off to hangout with her sisters and is back to routine. She got right back into it and has been very diligent all day. She seems to be indifferent. One thing I have sure loved about her is there is not an envious bone in her body. Last night she prayed for Tihi to have a wonderful first day and that she would do well. You would think that she would be angry about Tihi going instead of her but she isn't. She has been nothing but supportive, which is awesome.

Tihi is absolutely thrilled. She couldn't wait, talked about it all the time and was so excited. She was more subdued once she actually got to school and was around people but that's her personality. She is much more the observer and holds back, watching everyone else. She is in a class of 12 total and it seems like such a great mix of kids. I think it's going to be a great year for her!!

And I am grieving the loss of the kids around the house and the help that they provide. One reason this summer was so relaxing was because we all shared the load. Suddenly, all three of my helpers are gone (even though Bitsu is here, I don't disturb her) and I am stuck with 2 young kids! How do people do it??!!! I found myself running around all morning: changing diapers, helping Carmen go potty, feeding everyone, etc. Suddenly it was 11:30 and I wasn't sure what I had done. Yikes! Soon, NAU will start up and our work will begin...I think I need a nanny.

Family Week

It's the last week off. Monday starts the chaos. Turi and Tihi head off to school (Tihi for the first time!!!!!). Bitsu, who has gotten off this week with her sisters, starts school again on Monday too. She will be homeschooled this year and already started in June. Curt and I return to work. Suddenly, our summer of relaxation and fun is over and I can already feel the stress.

So, we decided to take this last week and make it "Family Fun Week". We would do something every other day that was a family event and special. It all began on Sunday. I pulled out all these games that have been stored that originally were too old for the girls to play and we started learning them all. We found some real duds and some really fun ones! We started learning games at 9am that morning and weren't finished until 3!

Tuesday we took the girls camping. Now that was a hit. Everyone could not get enough. We live right on the edge of the forest so we packed everyone up, drove 5 minutes and unloaded :). We had the girls set up the tent and gather the wood (they said that was their favorite part. They wandered into the woods for about 30 minutes. We had wondered if they were lost!). Then we built a fire and cooked our dinner. After dinner, the fire turned from a normal campfire to a 10ft. flame and the girls roasted marshmallows and ran around like crazy. It ended with a night in the tent, looking up at the stars.

Thursday we had something planned but on top of family fun week, we had normal life. We were ALL exhausted. We decided to take the day off. Pathetic, but true :). It was really refreshing. We had a low key day that ended at the library were everyone picked new books. We haven't seen the girls since :).

Tomorrow will be spent at our church, where we will help with painting some of the Sunday school rooms. We didn't want family fun week to be only about us and fun but wanted to spend a day doing something for others too. More to come on that...

Blessed

I have no pictures for you. Sorry. Curt is on a climbing trip and took my camera :0.

But I did want to write, in case anyone still reads this :). I have just realized in the last 2 weeks how amazingly blessed I am. I have 5 kids. Five. Wow. Each one is special and unique. I realized today how easy they all are. Sure, there's always sin to deal with and some days it feels more overwhelming than others. But today, I got to help Turi and Bitsu have some time with the Lord, I read a story to Tihi, I watched how much these girls love on the two younger ones (Tihi is currently attempting to teach Carmen to jump rope) and realized just how amazingly well they respond to us and to the Spirit. It is such a blessing and an honor to raise each one and it made me realize why the Duggars had 19. If I didn't have to birth them all, 19 would sound like a great number too :).