November? Are You Kidding Me?

My little Supermen and Ninjas:

Happy NOVEMBER! Can you even believe it? We're officially into the holiday season. I'm in shock. October went super fast and ended with the Pumpkin Party at church. My guys had a blast and this was the aftermath:
What was that? You want a closer look?

I seriously don't understand how they sleep like this! Levi is usually cuddled up on the foot of the bed with the dog. Lately they've been asking for Zephan to join the mix, but he tends to get Levi riled up and subsequently ends up back in his crib. Maybe someday we'll need the crib for somebody else, then we can debate the pros and cons of the dog pile sleeping arrangement with yet another brother.
Speaking of baby, I'm once again pining. Zephan is waaaay too big and is more enthused about playing (even cooperatively - gasp!) with his brothers than he is about being my baby.

Micah is still in the "rolling his eyes stage" of our discussion about another placement.

I say, "I know you, you old softie. You'll fall in love with a new one just as quickly as you did with our sons." to which he says, "Yeah, like I did for our daughters, too. Remember them? Rayna? Savannah? Secilia? Selina?"

Sigh. I remember. All to well. And I don't blame him for wanting to shield us all from the pain of loss. Especially Solomon who has such a soft heart and tender spirit. It would be really difficult for him to lose a child who he had come to view as a sibling. And, hey, we've attained permanency twice in a row - we're due for a good old fashioned heart-break, right?
Sigh.
It's hard to know what to do.
So, I'm praying for wisdom AND PATIENCE. When it's time we'll BOTH know. In the meantime I'm finishing up some projects. Pre-nesting, you might say. The boys decided on a color scheme for the Cluhouse (with surprisingly little input from the Mama) and we ended up with this Americana-type look:

We stuck some hay bales and ropes inside and threw together some super-easy festive curtains. You know, the kind that only need a tension rod, a yard of fabric and a package of plastic rings. We'll make some for Christmas, too. It's just too cute of a detail to pass up :)Micah just needs to put in the door and steps and we'll be all set! He's also talking about finishing the inside, but we'll see. For now they're having fun graffiti-ing the walls with their crayons. It makes me smile.

Fall Fun!

Happy harvest, everyone!
We're all enjoying ourselves over here. We were invited to my niece's Grammy's house for a pumpkin party last weekend and had such a great time! We got to spend the night out on the farm where they have an assortment of rescued critters, lots of land to play and run and awesome gardens. Here's Lana helping the kiddos pet Phillis the Hen:

Above is Sneakers and below are the hens:
We brought our own pumpkins to carve, but we didn't need to, as there were so many that had grown right there on the farm. There were long tables set up with all manner of carving instruments, cider on the tap and a fire going. It was a pot-luck and there was soooo much yummy food!

There were tubs of warm water at the end of the tables to rinse slimy hands and towels to dry them - a great idea! Here are some of our creations:

Below is Solomon's Bumkin Pumpkin

and above is Malachi's Arachnaphobe Pumkin:

Mommy did a bat and moon

and Uncle Shawn did this spooky guy :



and our collective work for the evening:

It was so peacefull and pretty and in the morning Solomon and Malachi helped gather eggs for a french toast breakfast. I adore their hen hut! Saturday we have a party at our church but it's early in the afternoon which frees up the evening to settle in with a hot cup of coco.

Oh, and the boys and I made these fall leaves to bring to share. They're made out of basic pie dough and painted them with food coloring and egg. They were very pretty - too bad I left them sitting on the counter. D'oh.

More random updates...

The month is going waaaay too fast! Micah's fully entrenched in Nursing School now and working full-time as well. It's busy, and we squeeze in every moment we can with him.
We got the Zephan's full DHS file/medical records and were shocked at the extent we didn't know. Keeping in mind we DID know about the various cocaine, alcohol, pot, anti-psychotic overdoses during the pregnancy and also the severe beating she endured while carrying my son. I am IN AWE of God's protective hand over this child. I will also try harder to remember that the strong will I sometimes battle is the same strong will that refused to give up in-utero. He's my miracle.

Malachi impressed us all by earning his yellow belt!! He did great and it was so cool to watch him, the littlest in his class, work his ninja. He's got his Daddy's talent. And he's adorable.
As it's been getting cooler outside, I've been finding him and Furgus cuddled up. Those creatures are kindred spirits!

As the weather changes, we're also finding other creatures cuddled up in different (and slightly stupider) places:

We've also had a mass infiltration of Blue Birds. They're SO big and beautiful! And really noisy. The boys love to shred the heels of bread and scatter them out in the back yard. The wait is always worth it when the birds visit :)

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Here it is, Fall again, and the weather was beautiful for our annual trip to Bauman Farms. The last 4 years have been rainy, so we found ourselves over-dressed and having to strip off layers. This seemed like a milestone year for me for several reasons; Solomon & Malachi took their buddies and a flash light and conquered the Dark Maze. And when they say dark, they mean DARK. Hay bales make up a HUGE maze which is then enclosed, letting in no light. Most folks take 45 minutes to get through it. My eldests and their buds emerged on the other side, all smiles. Way to go, bigs! Also, this year Zephan wasn't in a sling or a front-pack. I had 4 walkers (runners?) to keep eyes on, but we're falling into a system and my littles are learning to stay close by. This is a good thing!
Zephan really liked the train ride and the apple cider donuts, but all the activity and people (120 from our homeschool group alone) sent him into several over-stimulation meltdowns/panic attacks. I ended up toting him a lot and making several trips back to the van to sit quietly with him for a few minutes at a time, which settled him fairly quickly. Then he was ready to go again. All in all, a very good day was had!
This was the cider room. A big ol' machine presses the apples until the juices flow and they put the fresh cider right on the shelves from there. It's SO good. Right, Malachi?
Then on to the animals. This place has everything cute and cuddly. And I managed to get pictures on this leg of the trip as Zephan was willing to get down and interact with the critters!





I wanted to covertly stash a bunch of these critters in the van, but you know how Micah is about illegal farm animals/more poop in the yard. Kill joy.
And then, of course, we had the huge castle built of hay bales, ginormous swings, obstacle courses and treats aplenty. Tomorrow they're going to lift a 500 pound pumpkin up into the air with a helicopter and drop it on a car. All proceeds donated for watching this event is going to The Make a Wish Foundation.
Cool, cool place.

Brothers: Can't Live with 'em, Can't live without 'em

They were quarreling quite a bit today and I had had enough. "Little boys! If you can't play nicely together and share, Mommy will separate you! Zephaniah Henry, go outside and play in the back yard. Levi Anthony, you go to the nursery and play in there."

10 minutes later:

Levi's looking longingly out into the back yard and Zephan's dragging a table across the yard and putting it under the nursery window in an attempt to break in from the outside.
Sigh.

This & That

Our school year is off and running! (Furgus likes to keep a careful eye on the students :)
I'm teaching 1st grade, Kindergarten and Pre-K this year with lots of field trips planned.
Micah's starting Nursing school in less than 2 weeks and we're enjoying as much time with him as we can as the next 2 years will be full time work AND full time school for him. I'm apprehensive about the amount of work he's taken on, but so proud of his attitude of faith and determination. Even financially, he's planned as well as possible and where he sees (sometimes very scary) gaps in incoming money and expenses, he says, "God's got it. We'll make it!" I'm so blessed to have that guy! Let's see. Updates:

Our little bird, now named Brighten, is growing into an insufferable pest due to all the attention she's received from the boys since her hatching. She'll be our tamest bird by far, although her mixed parentage has made her a bit of a mongrel.

I found Zephan a new shirt which I think fits him nicely as he moves his 2's in just a couple of weeks.

The Clubhouse is coming along nicely...it has a roof now! Micah's trying his hardest to get the door up and siding on it before school begins, but time is getting away from him with school preparations and working overtime.

I've had a few fun craft times with my boys, including beading their Converse, making breads and fun snacks, and doing this to the big boys' socks:

"Why?", you may ask? Because their Sensei spends 10 minutes each class correcting the boys on their right and left feet. I kept hearing, "...now, step forward with your left foot. No, Malachi, your OTHER left." So, I brainstormed and got out my tempera paint and alphabet sponges. Worked great! Sensei LOVED it!

And our first field trip of the year was at the beautiful Oregon Gardens for Homeschool Day. It was gorgeous.

I wish I could have taken more pics, but my little guys need both of my hands. They're such good little guys, but with so many ankle-bitters running around, it's easy to lose track of mine!
It was a great day of hiking, friends, and afterwords we went to House of Dragon, Solomon's favorite restaurant, and shared a couple of Sweet and Sour Chicken lunch specials. Zephaniah's fortune cookie said, "You deserve respect and you shall soon get it."
The kid already shows signs of being a future Mafia don, all he needs is encouragement from a stupid cookie.