Snuggly

I was in the kitchen making breakfast this morning when Ashlee tapped my shoulder and said, "Mom, quick, you have to come look at Anthony!" Boy am I glad I was able to grab the camera in time. This boy is sweet upon sweet, just snugglin' his blankie.

Our Deepest Fear...

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others.
-Marianne Williamson

Valentine's Day Homeschool Party

I never thought I'd see the day when there would be enough homeschoolers in our area to constitute a party, but today we did and it was marvelous! I felt so privileged to host a valentine's day party at our house which yielded a wonderful turnout of about 40 people. It was like having an entire classroom in my living room! We were blessed with beautiful weather and the kids spent the majority of the time outdoors.

These were the kids' homemade valentines; thank you Martha Stewart and Pinterest!

Katie remedying the situation of one-too-many kids on the trampoline.
This was a good system of distributing valentines. Kind of reminds me of the classroom days when we would walk around to each of the desks!

Nikki and baby Tempe:

Naomi and David:

Katie and Michael:

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hope yours was filled with love.

PSP Time

Looks like someone is sharing his love of video games with his brother a little early. Once upon a time I swore I'd never let video games into my house no matter how many boys I had; then they turned 6 and 8.
Not yet Jacob, not yet.

Pick-Up Sticks

Look who grabbed the spaghetti off the counter by the wrong end! It seemed like an easy enough dinner, until this happened. Now we have one giant game of pick-up sticks =)

I love Having Two Babies...

... I really do. If I had it to do over again, I would in a heartbeat. Little displays of affection like this just melt my heart.

Big Boy!

Anthony had two milestones today: growing his first tooth and his first time in the exersaucer! This toy has seen its way through four kids and is about to be retired. I think of how one day when we're old and the kids are gone, we will be looking at all the baby pictures and not knowing who's who because everyone will have had the same carseat, same high chair, same stroller, same exersaucer, etc. I guess that's having kids close together!

Anthony loved his "new" toy, but I think the other kids were equally excited to see him in it. Apparently a few months out in the garage has brought novelty back to it! Once Anthony becomes mobile, I'll be happy to see the exersaucer off to a good home. Until then, bounce it up buddy!