Christmas ornaments

After picking Anna Kate up from school early, the girls and I crafted the afternoon away - working on a variety of Christmas ornaments.

Lucy made 3 - the reindeer, the snowman and the snowflake. Samantha made the red sled.

 Anna Kate wanted to make an ornament for Will for Christmas. I found this airplane on-line, and she made it! With some help from Dad, we got the wings glued straight. 

 This is how the plane started . . . . 5 pieces painted blue. 

 This was the rough one I tried to put together to give her a visual and see if it would really work. 

 Samantha, hard at work, on the pieces of her sled . . . . 6 assorted popsicle sticks, lots of red paint.

  A blurry (sorry!) picture of Anna Kate's plane

Tomorrow, we'll finish them up -- stripes on the plane, hanging strings on all of them, names and years, the snowflake and the snowman and the reindeer need some final embellishments. Then, maybe I'll update this post with better pictures! :)

Some of Gramma Maggy's pics

Proof that every now and then, Will eats a banana. 

 Samantha, sitting in (on?) my boots, reading. Is this cute or what?

 With Gramma's new diet, we had to be uber-careful, but, as you can see, wine is totally safe! Look at Samantha in my boots! What a pose!

 Lucy, striking a pose of her own

 or two

 Dave calls Will's hair "disney boy band" but I really can't cut those curls!

 And a picture Will is likely to really be upset about one day. He loves his sister's shoes. These pink clogs are among his favorites, probably because they are so easy to put on. Yep, that's Dave peeking around the corner of the doorway in the back left corner. (He was probably shaking his head.)

Anna Kate is eight! (and it rhymes)

Anna Kate is eight! Anna Kate's birthday was Monday. She took cupcakes to school - a big hit.
We celebrated on Sunday with our dear friends Peter, Myra, and Elise, and my mom was in town, too. So it was quite a celebration! We loved having my mom in town.

On Tuesday, the first thing Anna Kate said to me when I woke her up for school was, "Mom, I'm eight." She's pretty excited.

She has done a really superb job transitioning to school mid-year. In her stories, I often hear her strong self - she really is strong on the inside and she has a good idea of what she wants. She is brave. She is such a caring person, too. And, I've said this before, a natural teacher. Her El Paso aunties and cousins gave her a "doll school" set for her birthday and she's in heaven, quite literally. Will loves her. She is an avid reader, which I'm so proud of! She's pretty pleased to now own five of the Little House books. And she eats up the American Girl series.

Who would have ever guessed 8 years ago, after that incredibly long delivery, what a great girl we'd have the joy of raising!

earrings?

Then, on Saturday, Anna Kate got her ears pierced! She has talked about it every year around her birthday for a couple of years now, and this was the year! She was so brave, and she was even so mature, when I had to help her choose the titanium earrings, rather than the super cute (but not as allergen-free) Hello Kitty studs.

Waiting 

 Lollipops after

 So pretty. She cried only a little (and I did too!). 

The studs are a kind of pinkish-purplish.

 Of course, we had some other things to do. And we pushed it too long. Will fell asleep in the stroller - not at all interested in his granola bar. And only a nap long enough to prevent any further napping, making it a very long day!

Christmas programs

This was a big year in the Sheehan household! All the girls wanted to participate in the church's Christmas program, which was a couple of Sundays ago. Anna Kate had rehearsals, and Lucy and Samantha practiced at home and on Sunday mornings. It was great.

And then, on Friday, Anna Kate had her first Christmas program at her school. She did a great job - singing right along and knowing the motions, even though the other students had been practicing since October! It was a musical - "A Star is Born." And my mom was in town, too! We both agreed that it was a nice idea to have a story to tell rather than just a few songs to sing!

 Will and Samantha and Lucy were captivated! It was incredible, especially since the program was an hour long!

 Three of four before we left!

I'm not sure how this video really is, but it's a taste anyways! My mom has video of Anna Kate's favorite - "Gotta Get Down" - and we're trying to retrieve it! 

A lot's been happening around here

I was surprised that Will wanted to jump right in to finger painting along with the girls!

 Lucy and Anna Kate were in church with us a couple weeks ago for a Family Worship Day, and our pastor was teaching about work. He asked, "Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?" To my surprise, Lucy leaned over and shared, "A farmer or an artist."

 An action shot my girls would probably rather I not share, :) but who can resist showing that Will is eating yogurt (even if a substantial amount gets on his clothes!). His diet is increasing and now includes cheese sticks, bananas, and yogurt.

 Will's favorite activity is building with these traditional big wooden blocks. One of our friends lent us a few until we make the investment ourselves. He loves these blocks!

 Babies, babies, babies. . . . . The girls are always (or so it seems) playing with their dolls and some scenario - shopping, church, school, orphanage, meal time . .. .  . Here's Jasmine enjoying her meal.

 Fall here means lots of leaves. We might have a small backyard, but it is surrounded by large trees that seem to prefer our yard when dropping their leaves! After Thanksgiving (we had a great one, by the way!) Dave and the kids worked on raking those leaves, and they managed some playing too!

 I can't resist a sleeping picture every now and then. I don't think I shared that I finally persuaded Dave to move bedrooms around upstairs. For those who have been to our house, this will make sense. We moved Samantha in with Will when we returned from our summer. Will is such a light sleeper, though, that having them in the room at the top of our stairs made for a stressful nap time, as I tried to allow the girls to enjoy themselves and play but wanted a quiet house so he would sleep too! So, we moved the big girls into the room at the top of the stairs and moved Will and Samantha to the back bedroom. It seems to be working really well.

 Will went to his first friend's birthday party this weekend. He had a ball and really loved his balloon!

 But he felt best when his big sister was close by. He held on to her arm the entire time they were at the table! So sweet!

So, here's a video I couldn't resist taking one afternoon when I noticed what Will was doing. The activity continued for minutes more! It's amazing to me how each of our children are uniquely created, and it is so noticeable at an early age.

school

Many of you know that we have been homeschooling our oldest daughter, Anna Kate. I usually describe myself as an accidental homeschooler. I never dreamed that I would homeschool my children. However, as Anna Kate finished her pre-kindergarten year at a private church-school in town, I started researching and thinking about Kindergarten. I discovered that it is full-day kinder. This was the first domino to fall for us. I couldn't imagine my sweet 5-year-old being at school for six hours a day, five days a week, most of the year. It felt like it was too soon, too long.
Then, we started thinking about our crazy lives on staff, the amount of travel we do as a family, and the way we share in the calling God has for our entire family. We started to realize that Anna Kate would either miss a lot of school days or a lot of Daddy!
So, we decided to homeschool her for kinder, agreeing that we would take it one year at a time, one child at a time. And so here we are. Anna Kate is in second grade this year, and Lucy is in kinder. Samantha could be pre-kinder based on the school entrance dates, but I haven't yet "locked" her in to starting kinder next year. And, of course, Will is not quite two.
The last two years have been an incredible blessing - having all four of my children home with me and home with one another. And we have been able to continue to be the primary influences in Anna Kate's life, continuing to build her in her faith and our family's values. She has received a fine education at home, with individual attention in her subjects and flexibility.
Last spring, I started to feel the pressure and the tension of our life. As we thought and prayed about this year, I briefly researched some schools in our area, but then felt like we would homeschool one more year. And so the year began. And so my inability to do it all became crystal clear.  The pressures and demands of being connected to our local ministry and raising our children well and other things, and my own desires to do it all well are heavy burdens for me. So, Anna Kate is going to a small Christian school in town. After we visited, I knew I wanted her to attend there, but we needed to see God provide! And He did!
Anna Kate is excited. And, actually when I start thinking about it, I can be excited too. I am not excited to have her "away from me" for hours each day. But I am excited when I think about this next step toward independence for Anna Kate.

We'll miss these days

I actually believe most people when they say that we will miss this phase of life, when our children are so young. (I think that's why I keep wanting more babies, to keep it alive.) In honor of that sentiment - we'll miss these days - here are some fun moments from the week.

An entire "super" load of pink clothes. Seriously, I did a super-sized load of laundry that was all shades of pink! Three little girls and one Mommy do that to a household. I also did five other loads of clothes, not to mention sheets and towels, this week.

We've been sick this week. Samantha asks for "hough drops" instead of cough drops, since her "c" is still not clear.

We turned on a movie (a sing-along, which we will probably never choose again, for the record) for the kids one evening, while I cooked dinner. Samantha came in and asked me to pause the movie so she could go to the bathroom. So, I paused the movie. A moment later, Will found Dave in the kitchen and insisted he come to the living room with him to "fix" the tv -- indicating this by pointing to the tv, making grunting noises, and showing his sign for "more." Will loves tv (a little scary, frankly).

Will also is starting to learn animal sounds and body parts. So, every time we see a dog in person or on the tv, he starts barking. Will's bark sounds like a small dog with a high-pitched bark. It's the cutest. He can also identify a nose, eyes, and mouth (id'ed by opening his mouth wide and sticking out his tongue). We were teaching him ear last night, which is so much harded to locate! He's doing a great job, if only he would learn to use the same hand as the side of his head he's trying to reach!

Forest animals

Grandma Sheehan brought this activity to Anna Kate when she visited. We started building the animals while she was here. We finished! And it's so cute! Forest animals out of pipe cleaners! 

Stockbridge 2011

Again this year we went to Stockbridge, MA to celebrate fall with our small group. We went in early October (I'm a little behind!) but I wanted to share a few pictures anyways. The weather was amazing this year. We were a little too warm in our long pants and shirts. We enjoyed great fellowship, food and, of course, fall! 

This is Lucy and Mary.

 Lucy climbed a tree.

 We tried to get a picture with all the kids. With 16 kids, 7 and under, my picture is missing Will, and a few heads are hidden!

 We went on a little hike.

 And, best of all, Grandma Sheehan was there with us this year to enjoy it all.

Happy 4th Birthday, Samantha Joy!

Ah, the sweetness of my littlest girl, Samantha Joy! On her birthday, October 25, as I tucked her in to bed, this was our converstaion:

M: "Good night, birthday girl!"
S: "Thank you for getting me a present."
M: "You're welcome. I like giving you presents to celebrate you."
S: "What did you give me?"
M: "A tent, a princess castle tent."
S: "Right."
Then we had some more conversation about her other presents and her day.
S: Grasping my neck tightly with a hug (she gives the best hugs) "Mommy, you are the best Mommy in the whole world."

You can't really teach that. I don't know where it comes from in her, but I love it. She is so expressive, in her words, her emotions, her actions, even her affection is totally intense. And it one of the things I adore about her -- the way she already goes after life. She is spunky, opinionated, joyful, fun-loving, a bit mischievous at times, energetic . . . .

Anna Kate's gym class

Anna Kate really is a teacher, and here she is leading a gym class one night after dinner. The super cute stuff, of course, was before I turned the camera on. But I got a little! And I love that Will is joining right in. 

on display

One afternoon, Anna Kate and Lucy were so busy playing in their room while I cooked dinner. Right before it was time to eat, Anna Kate asked me to come up and see what they were up to. Let me tell you - you never quite know what that means. At times, it has meant that they have "rearranged" all their things (clothes, toys, etc), or maybe they have switched beds (bedding and all!) or many other surprising but mostly harmless things. This day, they had created "displays" with their baby dolls. Aren't they adorable? Complete with a "toy box" at the foot of her bed, pjs and a robe, books and animals. 

 Lucy set up something similar but much more difficult to photograph, since her baby "Sara" is in a pack-n-play with the diaper-changing attachment on! Nevertheless, you can see their sweetness!

Dave was camping overnight one night while Kathleen visited. We always like to have a tea party with Grandma, so we did it while he was away.

 First, the girls made these fall leaves and hung them from twigs.  

There was food to prepare. The girls made and decorated sugar cookies. We made a savory ebelskiver and a sweet one too. Cheddar popcorn, fruit and veggies and tea, of course!