Fall

The weather here decided to warm itself up and it has been beautiful this week- highs in the 70's, lows in the 50's! We decided that this good weather meant it was finally time to use the M150 firecrackers that Poppy Hatch had got the kids. Tyler had built a house out of Popsicle sticks and his goal was to explode it with the firecrackers. So we headed into Kensington Metropark to accomplish this goal:

As we hunted for a perfectly secluded to spot to accomplish our mission, we came across lots of acorns. The kids thought they were pretty cool:

Once we found our secluded spot, the kids sat down a safe distance away and got ready to see some action:

**Side note: Lucy got the red mark on her cheek while her and Ben were rough housing. I heard a thud and then Benny cried, "I didn't mean to!" He later told me he slipped and fell on her face. Sad day!

Boom!

And...lameness! The house did not explode! One of the walls kind of broke but not at all what the kids were hoping for:

Penny was bored by it all:

Tyler made several more attempts to explode it but to no avail. The kids got a little closer each time, after the realized that it was doubtful there would be any flying debris:

Poor Tyler did TOO good of a job building his house:

This week I have not only been blessed with good weather but I've also been feeling blessed with good neighbors. Stefanie has been such a good friend to me. This week she had us over for her son's birthday, then we went together to a Fall event at Milford Central Park Saturday, and Sunday we went for a walk. It is so nice to have someone who I get along so well with living right next door to me. And our neighbor across the street, Aline, made this cute pacifier clip for Penny:

Some other moments from this week:

And all over the place were seeing splashes of color. I am loving my first experience with the colors of Fall. So pretty! These are 2 of my favorite trees I've seen in our neighborhood:

Things

Have I told you that we got a dishwasher!? I can't believe I forgot to mention it but about a week after sweet Penny came into our lives, so did this lovely machine:

It's timing couldn't have been better because I literally do not have time to hand wash dishes anymore. I am SO grateful for it and I find myself frequently wondering, how did we ever survive 8 months without it!?

And speaking of making our lives easier, this week our Landlord finally got our downstairs tub fixed. Previously the knobs were broken and it was stuck in shower mode. Our kids are not much for showers so that meant that we were always dragging them and their jammies upstairs for baths. No need to do that anymore because we now have a functioning downstairs tub- wahoo!

And it wasn't just household items needing fixed this week...The boys have had some major behavior problems that needed to be tackled. I have been feeling like all I do is yell at Steven when he is home from school and Ben has gotten into a fair amount of trouble as well. In one of these moments of frustration Steven informed me that we should make a behavior clip chart like he has at school, so I did: 

We started it yesterday and it did not go well for the boys. Steven ended the day on the bottom and Ben was on the Chore Jar. If they end the day on the top they get to put 2 warm fuzzy's in a jar (if they end up on green they get to put in 1) and when they get 10, Tyler will take them out for lunch/dinner at McDonald's. Today has been better and hopefully when Steven gets home from school it will stay better. Even if they are still trouble though, I am just happy we have a system in place with set consequences so I am not constantly just yelling and making up consequences on the fly. And hopefully, eventually, their behavior will improve too...

Now for some going ons with the kids....

The other night Ben woke up crying. Tyler went to check on him and Ben said he was scared because a ghost shut his door. Um..creepy! Usually it is Steven who sees ghosts but apparently Ben is starting to see them too- heaven help us!

He looks so cute but he has been absolute trouble this week! He keeps telling us stories from school that sound like he's been trouble there too and than he flashes this grin- like his smile makes it all better. One such story had to do with moving his clip on his behavior chart at school. He informed us that he moved up to the top of the chart but then he went down because he wanted to be on the starfish instead (there chart is fish theme). He wanted to get in trouble and move his clip down!? I am so sure!

Observe Penny's cry cry face above. This is still how she is 97% of the time that she is awake. Thankfully for her first day at church she was the other 3%. She did really great which I was so thankful for. I had been really nervous about going back to church for a billion reasons but it went so well. We somehow got there right on time, she behaved and I was able to be with my primary class during the last hour. Yeah! Here is a picture of her (obviously not at church) during that 3% time, the time where I am reminded how gosh darn cute she is:

And lastly, Miss Lucy. Last week you may remember I taught Lucy the value of using "please." She has clung on to that phrase and uses it often (not just to hold the baby). I love it when she has manners. Too bad I can't always fulfill her "pleases" and this leads to tantrums. Tantrums then lead to time out. This morning she was having a tantrum because she wanted my phone and I said "no." And when I told her to stop or she was going to have to go to time out, she went and put herself in time out. It was AWESEOME!

Here she is with her favorite sister:

Life With 4 Update

This week was my first week officially on my own with 4 kids and it definitely had some rough moments but I survived. I am still constantly nursing Penny and that makes being a mom to all my other kids super tough. It also makes getting anything done around the house tough. Thankfully my constant nursing has paid off and when we went to the doctor Wednesday she had gained 6 ounces- YIPPEE! I'm going to continue to nurse like a crazy lady and if she is still good at her 1 month appointment (which is actually when she is 5 weeks old), then I may allow myself to cut her off some.

Despite feeding her all the time, she still finds lots of time to be awake and fussy. She is also up at least 3 times during the night. She is definitely turning out to be one of my hardest babies (or maybe I've just blocked out all the trauma caused by my previous babies?). She is lucky that she is so adorable and that she has occasional moments of contentment to keep me from going crazy:

I think Steven is really liking this school year better than he did last semester. He is talking more about things he does in class and the kids he plays with. All positive things too! This makes me happy that I didn't have him loop up with his Kinder teacher. He just didn't seem happy in that class.

Thursday night at dinner we asked Steven what the best part of his day was. His answer "Doing my homework!" I wonder how long that will last.

Also, Steven is getting in touch with his nurturing side. The other day he put one of Lucy's baby doll diapers on this giraffe. Yes, it was backwards but I think we can rectify that. I might just be able to have him change Penny's diapers soon:

Sometimes Lucy totally ignores the baby and other times she starts shouting "Mine, mine, mine!" which is her way of expressing that she wants to hold Penny. And yes, she sounds exactly like the seagulls on Finding Nemo. Getting annoyed with her way of asking her, I finally told her, "No! Say Please!" So she did. It was super cute and had to be rewarded. 

Often when Penny cries (which is often) Lucy will say, "Ok!Ok!Ok!" in attempt to help Penny feel better. 

Now that I have a newborn I look at Lucy and can't believe what a giant she is. How did she go from being my baby to being such a giant!? 

Oh the poor middle child, Benny! I always have a hard time thinking of things to write about him. He is much quieter around the house now that Steven is back in school. He loves to kiss on Penny (usually when she's just fallen asleep). He is doing good with the preschool workbook we are working on and he knows most of his ABC's. I can't believe he'll be in school in just 1 more year. I may not have any fun stories about him but I do love my middle child Ben:

And because I feel the need to complain, the weather here has already cooled down. With lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s. I already turned on the heater because I am a huge baby and it's only September! September people! I keep looking at the extended weather report hoping it will warm up again before we stay permanently cool but unfortunately it seems fall is here to stay. Wish me luck because I am not sure I can survive a full Winter!

School Starts!

Monday was Labor Day and so I appropriately spent most of the day laboring by going grocery shopping and cleaning the house. My mom and I did take a lunch break with Penelope to Olive Garden. We got "lucky" and the cook made the wrong pizza, so since we had to wait longer for him to remake it, we got a free pizza! Cheapest lunch I've ever had! Here's a pic of Miss P sleeping during our meal:

She looks deceivingly chunky. Reality is, though at one point she was back to her birth weight, she has lost weight again and now I'm having worries that I'm not making enough milk. This means I am having to constantly nurse her in hopes of upping my supply, which leaves me little time in the day for other things. I am also trying to eat things that are supposed to up milk supply and I am drinking lots of water. Hopefully when I go in for the weight check next week, her weight will be up again and I won't have to supplement with formula!

On Tuesday Steven started first grade at Kurtz Elementary. He is in a strange class this year. Basically it is two classrooms with no wall in between. So he has two teachers, Mrs. Rupp and Mrs. Klein. However, Mrs. Rupp is his homeroom teacher. Mrs. Rupp told me they do lessons as a whole group (both classes) and then return to their desks to practice the concept. It will be interesting to see how this works for him. I hope he won't be distracted by the 47 kids in the room, especially since 2 of his friends from church and his neighbor are in that room.

Lucy wanted to hold the sign too and wear a backpack and who can say no to that cuteness?

This week has definitely been adjustment now that I have to wake up and get ready in time to take Steven to school. It was so nice to have my mom there so I didn't have to load all the kids in to take him to school and back. I'm not sure how I am going to get through this next week without her. It is so hard to manage the other kids when I am constantly breastfeeding. It equals lots of yelling from the couch on my part. Anyways, here are some cute pictures of Grandma with her babies:

On Wednesday evening we went to our photographer's home to get Penelope's newborn pictures done but it did not go well at all. First off Steven was not cooperating and being a total stinker for the family pics. And second off, after doing one "pose" for the pictures, Penelope began to cry and wouldn't calm down for anything. Thankfully we have a great photographer and she offered to come to my house for a redo on Thursday. And thankfully Penny decided to cooperate Thursday and I think the pics are going to turn out great. Here is one she put on Facebook to preview:

And I'll end with a Steven story. Last week Steven informed Grandma that at nighttime spirits surround his bed but in the morning they go back to Heaven. When Tyler and I asked him about this, he repeated that information and added, "And sometimes, when no one is looking Jesus comes too." Tyler asked him what Jesus says to him and Steven's reply was, "Goodnight!" But of course! Isn't our kid just super spiritual!?