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.