7

We're celebrating today! All weekend, actually, as we have another birthday tomorrow!

I wrote all about greeting #2 into the world and how I felt about the little guy a couple of years ago. So this year I thought I'd share some great #2 pics I found in this computer. They all made me smile and are HIM.

:: his chore was sweeping. grammie n suggested he vacuum since the broom was too big.

:: he hates loud noises. grammie n suggested wearing a stocking hat to cover his ears.

:: another spring cold turned bronchitis or pneumonia.

a new baby brother in the house meant covering real well or

wearing the mask from the hospital.

:: always in costume.

:: nature lover. found a snake. followed it around the yard all afternoon.

:: artistic. so creative. so detailed.

:: see him right in the middle of the fish-cleaning lesson.

totally into seeing how a fish is put together and what it all looks like.

:: always in costume!

:: see those freckles across his nose. love. love. love.

:: wanted to hear the crab scream as they went into the boiling water.

:: takes his job as crab counter and master-in-charge-of-the-crab-cooler very seriously.

:: had heard about a string tied between a tooth and the door pulling out the

tooth and had to try.

:: finally went to the diving board. needed just a little assistance

to jump.

:: is good at school. likes to be good at his work. hates to write.

loves to color.

:: loves playing games. all games.

:: hates getting his face in the water.

:: got over it and loved being thrown into the water over and over.

Oh, #2, I love you so!

Happy Birthday!

some knitted goods for grandma

My grandma was over for a visit a couple months ago. While she was here #1 was practically attached to her. Sitting with her and visiting the whole time she was here, I loved it.

We were showing Grandma all the different projects we had going and #1 pulled out a fingerless mitten I had made awhile back. I had already taken apart the pair to use the yarn to finish another project and this mitten just lays about at the bottom of the knitting basket waiting for another life.

Grandma looked at the mitten and realized she would love a pair. They would be just right to keep her hands warm but would not hurt her fingers as other gloves do. The arthritis in her hands has gotten quite bad in the past couple of years and traditional gloves restrict her fingers too much.

I love being asked to knit something! So to the yarn store #1 and I went looking for a soft yarn that wouldn't itch in a great grandma color!

And so I've been traveling with yarn and knitting needles since.

to the beach

to the pool

in the car

This week I got the knitting done and blocked them and this weekend while we've spent most of the time resting and relaxing I got them put together.

#3 modeled them for me too. Actually all the kids had to have a turn trying them out. All agreed they were soft and warm...perfect for grandma!

I'm excited to send these off tomorrow. My sister said something when we were at the park where I was working on them about it being a fun project knowing that the grocery clerk, the bank teller and all grandma's friends at the senior center will know what a fabulous grandchild she has...who knit her some fingerless mitts!

Mr.Wiedz: No regrets.......Right......

This is going to be short and sweet as my vicodin is wearing off. To make a long story short, yesterday I took the plunge and got a vasectomy. What was supposed to be a 30 minute procedure and Tylenol, turned into an extremely painful 1.5 hour procedure that when finished, and I quote the Dr "The procedure did not go well". Great........at-least he is honest. As it turns out, my second VAS tube tore in half as the Dr. was trying to isolate it. I received a few extra stitches, major discomfort and pain.

All this said, I am not going to be a loud mouth patient, complain and say this was the worst decision I have ever made. What I can say is that I will NOT be going back under the knife, regardless of the outcome, you can take that to the bank. The swelling is quite bad. I am faithfully icing, rotating two bags of peas and a large ice pack. I pray that the swelling gets better in the next 24 hours.

The lesson here for me is to remain steady, and listen to the Lord. If I had to go through this, all to realize maybe I should have waited on the procedure, I am now listening. Mrs.Wiedz is being a strong supporter and I am grateful. I will update over the next few days.

Be safe,

Mr.Wiedz

6 months

Wow! Six months already. It feels like a really long day ago that I brought him home.

And I keep seeing this picture float across my screen saver page...it just kills me.

And spending many days like this...

getting pictures like these...

Living in a house full of siblings can be fun, but it will also result in embarrassing photos we'll use in his high school yearbook or his wedding reception slide show...

It's been a fabulous 6 months...

6 months of... I wanted to say bliss, but really, it's mostly just a lot of hard work. This one, he makes me weak at the knees when I look at him. My heart physically aches if I allow myself the moments to stare in his eyes. But, I'm tired :) and the days are LONG.

Worth it? Every single second!

6 months...

This is the last post that you'll see #5's face. Mr. Wiedz has a rule about names and faces which I've figured could be...relaxed a little with this baby stage. Now though I'm back to honoring his wish of keeping our names and faces off the internet.

Food

Mr. Wiedz thought I'd never do it.

And I was close.

He's the baby after all...food now means food most every day until he's eating on his own, until he's refusing to eat what I want him to, until he's grown up and going to collage...you see what I'm up against! Keeping him from eating his first bowl of rice cereal will keep him my baby forever!

But growing up must be done. He is 6 months old, (tomorrow, of all things) and grabbing at, wanting, and watching every bite we put in our mouths. He's nearly sitting up on his own. Basically every sign that they say in all the parenting books means he's ready for food.

So #5 had his first rice cereal dinner the other night.

He loved it!

Va-cay!

The Wiedz family headed out for a family vacation a couple days after Labor Day. Mr. Wiedz's aunt and uncle own a condo at Sunriver in Eastern Oregon. When Mr. Wiedz called her to set up a time for our family to rent the place she let him know the rental fee during the summer months and the rental fee after Labor Day. Always the bargain hunters, and at the time newly decided on homeschooling, we went with the after Labor Day dates for the significant savings and stretching our new homeschooling muscles with an unconventional vacation date!

We packed up our family games in case of needing to be in the condo. And found the condo came with a small stash, including Battleship! Oh, what a success that game was! So many destroyers sank! #2 has promptly but it on every gift-giving idea list. The first evening we were there was a little chilly so we made ourselves a fire and got out some games. Just the perfect kind of family vacation fun we were looking for.

We also packed all the children's bikes for use on the fantastic paved bike/walking trails throughout Sunriver. We rented bikes and a baby trailer for ourselves to use and by the end of the trip purchased the whole package as the rental place sells off their inventory at the end of the season for a great discount. Mr. Wiedz got a lot of use from the bike and trailer and the car remained parked for the duration of the vacation.

#4 still uses a trike, the paths and the kind of riding the big kids/Mr. Wiedz were doing just weren't for trike-riding so we let him ride around in the parking lot and I took him on his own ride one afternoon. He was so excited about going on a bike ride! Every time we'd mention loading up for a bike ride he would run out and get on his trike, it would take a lot of discussion to get him in his trailer.

One of our bike rides was to the resort park. The kids had a great time climbing, swinging, running, and playing.

Of course there was the pool for use by the condo visitors/residents. The first couple of days was kind of chilly but most of our days there the weather was perfect and the kids and Mr. Wiedz had so much fun doing "cannon balls" in the pool. There was a kiddie pool and a hot tub that #4 liked the most.

While we were there I realized how much work a vacation is. Mr. Wiedz and I were exhausted. Mr. Wiedz won an award for keeping up with the kids...they would come in from a bike ride peeling off their clothes to change into swimsuits for a swim then get back in from swimming ready for another bike ride. One of the days Mr. Wiedz went back and forth with the children, 3 bike rides (2-4 miles long) and 2 45-minute swims. I had it easy with #5 in the condo taking naps and knitting mostly.

Before we left #1 kept saying how she hoped this would be the best vacation EVER! and I think we accomplished that!

Mr. Wiedz: Karma

I had the opportunity to have lunch with the children today. I sat on the curb at Subway today and waited for the family to arrive. As the old suburban pulled up and stopped, the children poured out of the vehicle like ants floating on a piece of chicken sinking into the water, trying not to drown. Ok, bad analogy, anyhow, they jumped out into my arms, into the parking lot, careless, carefree, priceless smiles. Their was once a time when I would see the family and get so stressed out than I would growl and pick at Mrs. Wiedz and the kids, but not today.

Anyhow, something very unique happened as I held little Bro.bro in my arms, bro bro hanging on my legs. As we walked in, a young man, not more than 16 opened the door for me and the children. Now take a moment, think about what I just said, a brain dead kid, 16 years old, opened the door for me as I held to children, politely offered to let us go first in line, then sat in line and waited. Normally, in this circumstance, it seems as if it is a race to cut in front of the family.

Anyhow, the children and I politely moved forward, ordered our 6 sandwiches, enjoyed our time in line, while this kid, likely on his 30 minute lunch break patiently waited, no complaints, no foul looks, no comments, just waited. I thought for a minute, "What is wrong with this kid"? They simply don't come this way anymore. So I thought, I am going to buy this kid lunch. A trivial gesture, but nice none the less.

He ordered his $5.00 foot long special, likely saving his pennies. The cashier said, 6 sandwiches, 5 bags of chips, two soda's, 4 cups of water, and I interrupted. "Please add this young man's sandwich behind me, and make it a meal"!. I herd a sigh, briefly looked back, smiled, and said thank you. The look on his face was priceless. The cashier looked up and said "if that's not Karma, I don't know what is". I chuckled, and again thanked him for simply opening the door, graciously, no strings attached.

I paid $31.50 for lunch at Subway with a smile on my face. When was the last time somebody did something nice for you. No, not mom or dad, your best friend, or a co-worker. A complete stranger, furthermore, you noticed. This said, this is less about the stranger, and more about you. The point of this post is to challenge you to pay attention. Pay attention to the little things, and respond with a nice gesture. It seems that as the days go buy, we get so caught up in our daily activities, focused on what we do, our daily lives, and don't recognize the little things. I am not saying I do this right very often, furthermore, this is the first time I have recognized such gesture in 10 years. That said, it sure felt good to watch this young man act selflessly, and it felt good to reward him, see his smile, here his sincere, gracious, thank you.

Be safe,

Mr. Wiedz

We see that every external motion, act, gesture, whether voluntary or mechanical, organic or mental, is produced and preceded by internal feeling or emotion, will or volition, and thought or mind.

H. P. Blavatsky

Now Go!...

Awhile back I made up this series of titles...

The intention was to report on our homeschool adventure as we started out this year. I've gotten a little sidetracked...

Get Ready! hasn't been written yet, the plan is a post about actually getting the curriculum ideas and plan worked out.

Get Set! is posted about "School Prep Weekend 2010".

Go! is also posted about our trial week.

Or Not! as we left for a discount vacation after Labor Day.

And here we are, at Now Go! I'd written myself a note that this post was to be about really doing school and how it was going. I can't really report on how's it's going because it's just the first day.

We called today the first day of school. I even had the kids dress in newish clothes (no "back-to-school" shopping this year) and stand on the front porch for first day pictures. #1 rolled her eyes at me :)

My trial week did exactly what I was looking for; gave us some much needed routine to our end of summer boredom and showed me where my schedule needed to be reworked. Our Bible time was planned to be 15 minutes...now is just 5 minutes of "reading" on our own, but now includes 5 minutes of reading a daily Proverb together and praying through the ACTS acronym together.

Today, as I knew if the Lord had led us differently I would have been putting the kids on the bus, we started our day in the Word together as a family. Did it go perfectly? Nope. All of the kids' eyes glassed over as I read Proverbs 13. #4 scaled the couches and his siblings as we talked about Thanksgiving and Supplication. But we did it and we will continue to do it until the "get it". That "from the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things, but the unfaithful have a craving for violence" (Proverbs 13:2). And they know that the Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication they give the Lord is the foundation to talking to Him as a friend.

The school day ended just like any first day of school too...

Dinner Jobs

Quite awhile back I read this post about dinner jobs. I thought it was a great idea. I loved how she planned the jobs that one person's job didn't rely on another persons...always a problem. I've been wanting to start jobs at dinner, currently we're hit and miss but the person who gets up from the table first without being excused is who has to clear the dishes. Not the best way...though it does keep everyone at the table until dinner's over and it teaches manners.

But I wanted a more routine way of dinner jobs. At our old house I had an S and a C cut out of construction paper that I rotated between the kids for setting and clearing the table. But the ones on the post were cuter and more detailed. I made up what would have been 4x4 cards but I never got them printed.

I put "dinner jobs" on the kids' checklists for each day. Each day they ask me what their dinner job is...I'm not ready for that part yet I'd say. And so everyone shoveled food into their mouths and walked away from the table. Actually everyone took their plate to the sink but I was still the one doing the dishes, putting everything away and taking care of the table and floor.

Today I sat in the easy chair for my couple of minutes of quiet time, the few minutes while everyone is supposed to sit on their beds looking at books, or if you're under 4 lay down and take a nap. I looked at the table and thought about the dinner jobs again. How we needed to get that started. How I wanted it to look.

My old computer files made in my beloved Microsoft Publisher are not compatible with the new computer (a mac) so I sat down to recreate them. And now that I have Internet I thought fondly back to my limited experience with picnik. So I shot a few staged shots. Uploaded. And created some really fun (I think) dinner jobs lists.