Love Note

I know things will change as my kids age. However, today, if this is payment for:

- Sleepless nights

-Whining

- Disobedience

- Illness

- Endless worry

I'll gladly accept!! :-)

Everything about this job is completely worth it.

Princess 2.0

We have observed an interesting evolution in #1's personal development lately.

She has always loved princesses (they all do), but recently she's been telling us she's "grown out of them". I knew there was something deeper going on - As her parents, we can read her in a way no one else can and we knew she still liked princesses despite her protests to the contrary.

In the background, she began developing an intense interest in Star Wars. We own all six DVDs, so she's been asking to watch those. She's also been checking out Star Wars books at the library, pretending her cheese stick is a laser gun and commanding invisible armies from the perch on her swing set.

After discussing all of this with Micah, we think we finally figured it out. She appears to have outgrown the simple princesses and grown into the princesses that exhibit more of the characteristics she finds admirable. The princesses of Star Wars still have beautiful hair, makeup and clothes which she loves. They still have their love stories and get their man. But in Star Wars they also command armies, fight the bad guys themselves, shoot guns, fly ships, are in strong leadership roles, triumph over evil etc. etc.

Personally, I'm loving this! I laugh when people call me a girly girl because while I love clothes, shoes, hair and makeup, that's about where it ends. I'm far from demure and reserved. I've never been afraid to get dirty (see earlier posts about hiking, camping and fishing). My lack of constraint in standing up for my beliefs has ruffled feathers and I've never backed down in fighting for the Good.

Today, she was invited to a "Glama Jama" party (ie-she had her hair, nails and makeup done), but the whole way there, she discussed the details of Star Wars IV with her father. If you want to call her a girly girl, you'd be accurate to some extent, but that hardly encapsulates her and certainly pigeonholes her. She is every bit our daughter and we couldn't be more proud.

Norwex

My friend Julie got me on the Norwex bandwagon and I have been using their microfiber antibacterial cleaning cloths for a few weeks now. Such a cool cleaning tool! The cloths contain silver particles making them effective germ killers without the use of any cleaners or chemicals - just water. This video demonstrates how the cloth kills all of the germs from wiping chicken on the kitchen counter through the use of a test.

The microfiber also makes the cleaning much easier. The grime wipes up without a lot of work which is really nice.

I bought the travel pack which comes with four small cloths. I keep one in the kitchen and one in each of my three bathrooms. I wipe my bathroom sinks down daily with the cloth and I wipe the toilets down every Monday. That's when I wash the cloths (no bleach or fabric softener). I must say things look very clean and it goes so quickly. I'm also no longer running through vinegar at an alarming rate. I'm thinking about getting some more to have on hand for some of my other cleaning tasks.

Thanks Julie!

House Cleaning Gift

After having my 4th daughter, some family members were unsure of what sort of gift to get for us. They figured we already had enough toys and clothes, etc. My grandmother, a mother of five, came up with the idea.....a gift certificate for a house cleaning service!

Some aunts, uncles and my grandmother all pitched in. One of Micah's grandmother's had also given me some money to use in whatever way would be most helpful, so I added that to the pot too. I had exactly enough for two complete cleanings.

I just had the first done. I'm so glad I waited until after Christmas because now I have nothing to do but sit back and enjoy it. My house is so clean and sparkling that I can't wipe the smile from my face.

What a tremendous gift and blessing!!!

Arnold Fashion House

One of the best "toys" I ever bought were a few yards of fabric in various colors on the clearance rack at the fabric store. The girls have spent countless hours creating fashions for the other - wrapping the different pieces every which way to create a new look every time.

#1 got a book on the history of fashion from one of her grandmothers for Christmas this year. Now, they have started working on the fine art of recreating the fashions from the days of yore.

Here, #1 has worked her magic to turn #2 into an Egyptian Queen circa 1800 BC

My wonderfully crazy last few months....

I am behind on everything in every aspect of my life. You name it, I'm behind on it. Why? We welcomed our fourth baby into our lives about 2 months ago. Since then, it has been a whirlwind of love, sleeplessness, new adjustments, dirty diapers and did I mention love?

Her three big sisters absolutely adore her. I'm fortunate to have not had to deal with any jealousy from any of the girls as each new sibling has come into the picture. With the birth of each new sister, they continue to think it's the greatest thing ever. The result is fighting over who gets to hold the baby, constantly kissing her and petting her - especially when she's sound asleep - and lots of singing to her.

I'm tired. Very very tired. Every time I sit down, I nod off, so sometimes it's better to not sit down. 4 kids threw me for a loop. I had no trouble adjusting to 3, so I thought it would be no problem. Not so. I have my theories as to why, but who knows.

For the first few weeks, I stayed very close to home. The baby wanted to be held all of the time and screamed for the duration of every car ride. My potty-training, not quite two year old is the most active child I've ever had (and that's saying A LOT) and frankly, I just didn't have enough hands.

However, Christmas break came at the PERFECT time and everything is getting easier. Micah took a week off and we could work as a team. Not having a firm schedule was wonderful. Most importantly, #4 "aged" a just enough to make things more manageable. Car rides are much easier and I don't have to hold her 24/7. I've had a chance to get my bearings and things are looking up. We also got to do fun things like visit the Children's Museum and take a family hike - Micah had #3 in a backpack and I had #4 strapped to my front. The big girls hiked the 3.5 miles all by themselves without complaint! We were quite the site on the mountain and I laughed at the guy who stopped to count.

Today was the first day back to school for the two older ones and I'm feeling refreshed and capable again. I'm still behind on everything, but at least I can start catching up.

We are so incredibly blessed and filled with wonder and awe at the gifts we've been given. Thank you God!

United Nations Day Celebration

Today was United Nations Day - which is something I never knew existed until today .

#1's first grade class invited all of their families to attend United Nations lunch.

Last week, they worked on decorations. One project was to draw any country's flag of their choosing. #1 wanted to choose a country she's visited, so after examining the flags, she chose Bosnia & Herzegovina. She also made a place mat with pictures of children in their different national garb. And lastly, she wrote out what she could do to make the world a better place - "Be Loving".

The class opened the event by singing three songs illustrating the diversity of the world. They sang hello in different languages and of course they sang "It's A Small World".

We then listened to a handful of parents give presentations on their families' countries of origin. You can see in the picture the two older ones listened intently while sweetly sharing their sisterly love (the reason I wanted the picture).

And lastly, we enjoyed a potluck lunch. Most of the parents brought in a dish from different countries, so we had quite the sampling of wonderful food. Admittedly, I wasn't one of those parents. I had a crazy busy weekend and am 38 weeks pregnant (read: exhausted), the combination of which is not conducive to coming up with a dish and cooking it to feed about 40 people. I'll have to try again for my next first grader.

We had a great time celebrating with our little ambassador.