Art Critics

The other day we went on a field trip to the Virginia Museum of fine arts with our awesome homeschool group. It was the first time I had taken the hooligans to any type of museum, much less a museum where there are people who can be considered "critics". I was a little afraid of how it was going to go when we got there. It has been a crazy morning, it was raining, I was stressed out, I have four kids, they climb on furniture...not the type of people you want to take to the museum. Typically.

I was blown away by how well things went, however. Especially Jericho, who walked around the museum with his little notebook not making any noise or breaking anything or falling down any stairs or irritating any siblings or even talking about poop. Talking about poop is his favorite hobby...Not exactly art critic material.

I decided to overlook the fact that he laid on the floor in front of every piece of art that we were studying. Sometimes you just gotta silence your inner germaphobe long enough to keep the peace. And I really wasn't wanting to mess with a good thing. He even drew little pictures in his notebook. It was pretty cute. I can't imagine the things he would get away with if he was that well behaved all the time.

There were a few instances of hooligans not appreciating the art. There was one piece that was made out of old car parts, and Merrick was sure to point out that it was a piece of junk. Although thankfully it wasn't very loudly. There was one #tearsofshae incident where she wanted to write all the Japanese characters on a particular painting. I'm sorry I haven't taught you Japanese yet, dear. I'm obviously a homeschooling failure. ;)

It really was a fun trip, though, and I LOVE how they enjoy the weekly art study we do. This was an awesome way for them to experience art first hand, and I was thrilled they enjoyed it. We will definitely make a point to go back. (But maybe not before I've taught Tirzah Japanese. Tears of Shae are no joke.) As hard as homeschooling is, it's equally as rewarding to see them loving to learn and getting to be a part of it.

Losing My Religion

Typically the hooligans all get new outfits on Easter. I feel kind of cliche doing that, but hey, they love it. And they always looks so darn cute it's hard to resist. We usually line them up on the way to church, trying to take pictures even though we are already late. Everyone freaking out and not looking at the camera and me being afraid someone is going to fall into the dirt or something. It's a very religious experience. ;)

I decided, since it's Fancy Pants's first Easter, and since there are ironically not nearly as many pictures of her as some of the earlier born hooligans, that she was going to have her own little photo shoot in her Easter dress. (This also saves me time, and the risk of losing my religion on Easter morning when I'm trying to take pictures of an uncooperative baby.) I've also decided I'm going to get all the hooligans dressed up for a trial run so that we avoid that whole shenanigans completely, but that's another day.

Once I started taking pictures, I realized that she's pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. I was aware she was pretty stinking cute...but good grief. As Billy likes to say, "kill me dead". I'm afraid she will probably use this to her advantage once she realizes it. So don't tell her I said anything. (Kind of like her brother Jericho before her. I've thought all my babies were adorable, duh, but his big brown eyes just won me over...and he bats them at me frequently and gets away with way more than he should.)

Its fun, as she nears her 9 month birthday, to see her personality starting to show. She is amazingly happy, and entertains herself most of the time. But there is some sass in there...we all know she's fancy. She makes faces at her siblings, she will yell at them if they bother her, she's been known to yank Tirzah by the hair if she wont get out of her face, etc. I try not to laugh, cuz they usually have it coming. (She was making faces at Tirzah in the picture below.)

When you're the baby in a family like this, you do what you gotta do. And I'm gonna do my best to not let her get away with too much trouble making. But YOU try to say no to this face:

Just a trim?

We are always getting Jericho and Merrick haircuts. Their hair grows super fast and is really thick. Jericho is like a sheepdog, and his hair grows straight down into his eyeballs...so he gets haircuts even more frequently than Merrick, whose hair miraculously stays out of his eyes.

Tirzah is often asking to get a haircut, just because it must be fun if her brothers are doing it. The thing is, her hair is not like her brothers' hair. It grows incredibly slow and is really thin. It's about 593 different lengths. I've done all kinds of things to encourage it to grow. We trimmed it all up, gave her vitamins, stopped putting it up in hair ties so that it wouldn't break off easily. Still...it just didnt seem to grow very fast. (If anyone has any thoughts on this feel free to chime in. Her doctor doesnt seem worried, but sometimes I just wonder if I'm missing something?)

It's recently grown/thickened up a teeny bit. When we were having Jericho's hair cut one of the stylists suggested we try trimming it all up again to make sure the ends were healthy and giving it a chance to grow. I didn't want to cut it...it's taken SO long to get any length to it at all. BUT I want to be sure we are doing what we can to help it grow. I took her in to have it trimmed, and we ended up deciding to just trim the whole thing so it was finally the same length. (I don't think this has ever happened in the history of Tirzah Shae.)

At first I was thinking this is not a good idea. But it turned out so adorable on her. She loves it, and I made sure to ask her what she wanted before we cut it. She looks way more grown up, and I do think it helps it look a bit thicker and fuller. (She also was blessed with some cuh-razy cowlicks in the front AND the back, and her hair wants to part on both sides of her head. As you can see...Tirzah's hair is also a drama queen. Bless her heart dealing with that head of hair and its schizophrenia as a teenage girl. I'm sure there will be tears of Shae.) Here's to hoping this helps it grow...but I'm definitely ok with her not growing quite so fast.

Perfectly Imperfect Memories

My kids are pretty good about smiling for the camera. I have a bazillion pictures of all of them, so we've got the photographic part of our family history covered. It usually takes a bit of reminding to get them to all look in the right direction, but once I get them all focused, I usually have a few seconds long window of opportunity to get the shot. (Sometimes, though, someone slips through the cracks and is making a really odd face...or is staring off into nowhere and obviously not paying any attention to my commands to say "cheese".) See Exhibit A, Jericho:

Sometimes you also have the shots where someone has annoyed the baby. She has had enough of whatever this "cheese" business is. That would be the point when you are just done. Just put the camera down and walk away until everyone has as least napped or possibly even slept overnight, or eaten. As you can see Tirzah is trying to calm her down while still holding onto the "cheese face". Jericho? Well, Jericho just isn't really even trying. He is 3 years old...need I say more? So here is Exhibit B:

Honestly though? I kind of like when the shots don't come out right. They are probably going to be some of the ones that I get to look back on and remember just how hysterically fun these guys are.

Battle Wounds

Last week the hooligans had a few rough days. Several injuries occurred, and while thankfully none of them were serious, they definitely came with a lot of tears and bandaids. (I mean, bandaids are like a local anesthetic, am I right? Slap that sucker on there and suddenly no one is crying. I wonder if these work on #tearsofshae?)

The first injury was a slingshot wound. Merrick has a slingshot, which he was instructed NOT to shoot at the house or any siblings. Said slingshot somehow shot a rock right into Tirzah's forehead. (Ironically, this week we are studying David and Goliath in school...this will make an excellent hands on example at Tirzah's forehead's expense.) I was in the house and heard the screams through two doors. I have gotten really good at not reacting. (I guess that's good, I'm really not sure about anything anymore) when Tirzah screams and cries. It's 99% of the time absolutely nothing wrong with her. So I figure enough of me staying calm will eventually rub off on her. Please please please.) So I calmly went outside and assessed the situation. We got the story straight, and cleaned it up and put a bandaid on it, and then the slingshot was put in time out for what might be an indefinite period. 

As you can see...Jericho injured his middle finger on broken glass he found out in the yard. (How do they always find the things that YOU don't even know are there that will definitely get them hurt or in trouble???) He doesn't get why this is not a good way to let Mommy take a picture of your boo boo. But it did make me laugh pretty hard. It was just a small cut, thankfully. And thankfully Merrick missed Tirzah's eye. I'm sure there will be lots more boo-boo's in our future...for now I'm just thankful that I still am required to kiss all of them.

I Said Yes

Recently Billy has had several chances to take Tirzah out for "Daddy/Daughter dates". She always loves it and eats up the attention. Most recently she went to a local church date night with him for an event they were having where I was doing the photography. It was fun to kind of watch from the sidelines and see the two of them having fun together.


Merrick has noticed Tirzah going on these dates. And he mentioned recently that he wanted to go on a mommy/son date. It seemed like things just kept happening and we couldn't go, even though I kept meaning to take him.


One morning last week, though. He decided to make it happen. He came downstairs dressed in his "snazzy suit" as he calls it, and informed me that he was taking me on a date. I mean, what mommy can say no to that? Billy was working from home that day, so off to Chick-Fil-A we went.



It was so much fun to spend time with this guy. I don't get to spend nearly enough one on one time with each of my kids. I am sad he had to make such an effort to get that time, but also feel so lucky to be mom to a guy who is as sweet as he is. He is the sweetest...y'all don't even know. I was sick recently, and he kept showing up in my room to rub my hair or scratch my back.

I am so proud of the guy he is growing into. Although I wish he would do it a little slower. I am also glad that at this point in his life, spending time with me is something that he loves. I pray we always have the kind of relationship where he wants to be around me. I sure wouldn't mind.

(Smoke) Alarms

Yesterday morning, I was awakened by my sons. This is nothing new...Jericho is the alarm clock that most often wakes me up in the morning. But the oldest one was crying and quite literally freaking out. I thought he had hurt himself from the way he was crying. It came out that Jericho had tried to make himself some waffles. (It's pretty normal for the kids to make their own breakfast. Merrick and Tirzah both make waffles, but Jericho usually doesn't. For obvious reasons.) And that Jericho had definitely overcooked said waffles. The toaster was smoking, so thankfully Merrick thought quickly and unplugged it and ran to get me.

I think it's safe to say Jericho has learned this cooking method from his mother. ;) And like his mother, he should probably stay out of the kitchen unless absolutely necessary. It was a great start to my day, in what has already been a weird, emotional week. Nothing really wrong...I just think the Winter (and being trapped in the house because of not wanting to take 4 kids out into 20 degree weather) is really finally getting to me. But...I do have this to look forward to!

It's more like 172 days now. But we finally officially booked our 10 year anniversary (10 years?!) trip to Bora Bora. I really can't even believe it's happening. I keep telling Billy it's too good to be true. (This has always been our dream trip...and one of those things I guess I never figured we would be planning. But Lord willing it's happening the end of this Summer!) So, I guess I can muddle through a few more weeks of Winter if I've got that to look forward to. But good grief if it snows one more time.

Like Riding a Bike...Sort of.

Last weekend Billy and I got the chance to go skiing with some friends from church. I was 1) ridiculously excited to be kid-free for an entire Saturday, 2) Reeeally nervous that I was going to look like an idiot since I hadn't been skiing in 12 years.

I only looked like an idiot a couple times I think, (like the time I went down about 1/4 of a black diamond slope on my butt) it was really easy to pick back up, even though it's been so long. I am definitely a little sore today though. (Mostly from a few bruises from said slide down the slope, though.)

Billy did really well, too. This was only the second time he has been, and the last time was also about 12 years ago. We both were pretty much in awe of the little kids whizzing past us, headed straight down the slopes. We decided that Merrick and Tirzah need to try it sometime soon, and I'm sure they will put us to shame in no time.

I recently got a fitbit, and realized that skiing is obviously a good workout. We are planing to go again with my family this coming weekend, so I'm hoping all the soreness has worn off by then. ;) Those boots are no joke...I couldn't feel my toes until about halfway back home after we were done.

We have been really having a blast hanging out with this group of people lately (plus a bunch more who aren't pictured). I think for the longest time I have been pregnant or had a brand new baby or Billy's been working on weekends and I was just too tired to even make an effort to be social. My introvert gets even worse when I'm tired and overwhelmed. So now that we are kind of settling into a rhythm it's been nice to get out of the house and hang out with people who aren't asking me for a sippy cup or a snack. I mean, I love filling sippy cups and everything...but adults are kind of cool, too.