Books on the nightstand

I may not have been typing much (in fact, for about a month, I hardly even looked at my knitting - gasp!), but I have been reading. Mostly, I've been working through the fiction on my list, since it hasn't demanded much brain-engagement. Here's a quick look at what's made it's way across my nightstand:
Entwined - Very much like a grown-up's version of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. It was fine, passing the time, but not much more. Might keep you entertained poolside for a couple days this summer.
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society - A story partially told through letters that wasn't annoying - how clever! Really engaging story centering around the Nazi occupation of Guernsey and a storyteller who falls in love with the island and it's people. Good, good book.
In the Company of Others - If you've read any of the Mitford series, you'll know Father Tim & company. Set in Ireland, many of the usual characters are missing, and there is quite a bit more intrigue than in some of the other books. If you know and like the series, then you'll enjoy this one, too, though it wasn't my favorite.
Peace Like a River - An act of one son's foolishness sets a family on a trip across the country, with the errant young man leading the way, the FBI chasing behind and seeing miracles all around. Interesting and well-written.
Romancing Miss Bronte - This was one of my favorites. Knowing very little about the Bronte family, this novel offered some engaging history as well as a great story. It's considered fiction because there is so much to the story that can't be qualified, but the author had clearly done her homework and put more than flesh (perhaps a lovely Victorian gown?) on the skeleton of known facts of the Brontes. If you are limited in reading time, this is one to make time for.
The Forgotten Garden - The granddaughter of a foundling on an Australia-bound ship decides to find out what her grandmother never could - who she was and why she was abandoned. Sounds complicated? The author does a pretty good job of laying it all out and allowing the reader to follow the twists and turns without a headache. Another good, undemanding vacation read.
Room - This was hard to read. Not difficult - it's written from the point of view of a five year old. Hard - said five year old's mother had been abducted and imprisoned for 7 years in one room. As he was born in this room, this little boy knows no other reality. It was interesting and thoughtful, but hard - I'm still not sure how I feel about it.
Left Neglected - I just finished this one last week, and it was another I really enjoyed. It examines a condition known as Left Neglect - literally where the patient has no awareness of their "left half" - from the perspective of high-powered career exec who suffers this trauma following a car accident. Without making moral judgements of the main character, it leads you down the road she must take through recovery - and what "recovery" actually means. Another book to add to your list.
At the moment, I'm working on Awakening the Quieter Virtues. I've only finished the first chapter, but it's looking really good - I have high hopes. :)

Pinning Away!

At the beginning of the year, I had this great idea of trying to do/make/cook at least one thing each week from one of my Pinterest boards. Of course, soon after that my morning sickness/tiredness struck, and all good plans were put on hold. Now that I've been making up for lost time, here are a few of the pins I've tried:

Mega-yum. Everyone loved this dish, which fed us two dinners with some leftovers besides. Great for a crowd.

These are actually for dinner tonight. I made them for the kids for the first time when Toby and I were going out to dinner. We each had a bite and briefly considered changing our plans! They're fun, easy and score some "Cool Mom" points. I could always use a couple of those.

I made these for Ellie for some of her Littlest Pet Shop toys. They get played with sometimes, but not as much as I thought. And not in the way I thought. Whatever, they're still cute.

The tutorial I used talked about these as "time out" bottles. We don't do time outs, but they still looked like fun. Going with plastic bottles is the best way - I used old Snapple bottles because it's what we had, but I'm always super nervous when they're played with away from a carpeted floor. Everyone likes them, though - I made one each for Ellie and Dan, but they are not the only kids around here who like spending time with them...

Any other good Pins out there that I'm missing? Or massive disasters that would best be avoided?

Our home

It kind of feels like it's all going on at the moment. I'm sure you know what that feels like, but allow me to unpack that a bit, won't you?
Monday had Abi back to the orthodontist. Since starting her on a course of care to deal with a massive overbite and overcrowding (odd how both can exist in the same mouth) back in March, she knew the day was coming to receive external headgear that she would have to wear 14 hours a day. She didn't like the idea, but had made her peace with it. Well, Monday was supposed to be the day it happened. She was ready, we had prayed, all was a go. As it turns out, however, they were having trouble fitting the anchors in - it seems her teeth have rotated somewhat (I didn't know they could do that!), making it difficult to fit. So, she'll be receiving her headgear in a couple of months when another appliance comes out of her mouth. In the meantime, she was actually pleased to get some braces on her top teeth instead. I think the opportunity to choose different colored bands each month helps alot. :)
Tuesday was my monthly trip to the chiropractor. Toby tends to use the term "vodoo" when mentioning it, but I've noticed it really does help, especially now that my center of gravity is changing on an almost daily basis. The place that I go to I'm quite happy with, in part because they have a room with toys and a TV for the kids to play in so I don't worry about them playing with a TENS unit or snapping themselves with an exercise band. Yesterday, there was a candy machine in the room, one of those old-fashioned gumball machines filled with Mike&Ikes. Unfortunately, this machine didn't require money. Do you understand what that means?! It means that when I stuck my head in the door to check on them, four little faces were looking at me with cheeks so puffed that you'd think they were storing nuts for the winter, plus one somewhat smug face letting me know that they had restrained themselves and had nothing to do with the gluttony of the others. Clearly, my children can't be left alone in a room with an almost unlimited supply of candy at their disposal. To be fair, though, I'm not sure that I could, either.
Wednesday is swim day. That means four hours door to door with travel, three separate swim lessons, and an hour's practice session. Add in any errands to run (like returning 30+ books to the library), and it's a full afternoon. Usually Dan will nap during part of it, and it's always a dance to try to keep him asleep as long as possible, plus finishing any schoolwork that didn't get finished at home. It's worth it, though - my kids are swimming. They swim well. I won't say they're fearless in the water, and I'm kind of thankful for that. I've seen them thinking they're more able than they really are at different points, and this is not an area I want to play around with false bravado.
Thursday is my OB appt. I'm thinking this will be the appt where they give me the details about my glucose test. Man, I can't stand that stupid test. Never having had one in the UK spoiled me. With the last two babies, though, I go for the one hour test, fail it, and have to go back for the three hour test. Ugh. That syrup they make you drink is nasty. And after a fast, too? Awful. I am very thankful I've never failed the three hour test. I am also thankful for the reading, knitting and podcasts that make the long wait much more bearable.
Thursday is also Eleanor's 4th birthday. She's so excited - she's been counting down for a couple weeks, now. We won't be doing anything too special on Thursday because of what we're doing on Friday...
...which involves Toby taking the day off from work, driving up to Lancaster, spending some time at the Veritas Press Open House to do some curriculum shopping, and doing something really fun to celebrate Ellie's big day. I'm looking forward to it, mainly by spending lots of time going over the curriculum we're interested in with a fine tooth comb and trying to see how we can afford it. :)
And Saturday. Our church's Mother & Daughter Tea. I'm looking forward to it, but not as much as my girls, I think. I may have been slightly stupid, but I've signed up to decorate a table, make some food, and lead some of the games. Actually, the games thing was kind of requested of me - it's not the sort of thing I'd really volunteer for. I'm most squirrely about the table decorating, though - I don't have enough cups and saucers (I need 8) and buying new ones is expensive. So if you're local and have some to loan, be a pal and help me out? Thanks...
I know I'm not the only one to have weeks like these, and honestly, it's fine. I like having life going on around me and being involved in all these things. With all of it happening almost at once, though, is making me really look forward to my Sunday. Which is as it should be.

Still here

Well, now - it's been a while, hasn't it? A 10-week blog break wasn't exactly part of my plan, but it has been kind of nice, in a way. My brain couldn't seem to cope with more than the bare minimun for a while there (and sometimes even the minimum was stretching it), so it was good to take a breath, narrow my focus and keep this family in clean clothes. Most of the time.
As for now, I've been feeling great, pregnancy-wise (and otherwise). The whole second trimester is such a pleasure - more energy, sleeping and waking at normal times, looking pregnant rather than just fat...good stuff. I think I may have started my nesting phase early, as I've gotten so much organizing and decluttering done the last couple months. It's as if I've been making up for the first couple months when I couldn't sit down without falling asleep. Now, the kids know not to sit still for too long if they don't want to end up in a labeled box...
For the curious, I am currently 23 weeks/almost 6 months pregnant (had to check my handy "What to Expect" app on my phone to remember this), and last month we discovered that we are having another little boy! I was truly shocked, as I was getting a major girl-vibe. Everyone was really excited to hear the news - Noah really wanted another boy, Ellie wanted a girl but had already declared that she knew it was going to be a boy, and Abigail couldn't make up her mind which she preferred, so wondered if there was a chance that it could be twins - one of each. How very diplomatic of her. :)

Multitude Monday

Today has been such that I am now in the middle of making dinner, reminding children to clean up and typing my blessings all at once! God is so good, though - the effort is worth it!

• hearing the baby's heartbeat - nice and strong!
• getting to know the other parents whose children swim with mine
• retelling the amazing stories of God's faithfulness in the lives of our Care Group members, and even how He has preserved past generations
• a helpful homeschool review with one of my favorite people
• a fun Keepers at Home meeting, where my girls got to learn how to decoupage - and not in my house!
• taking Abi and Anna to a baby shower and seeing them learn to love serving others
• joining up to a new Bible study of Proverbs
• seeing lots of things crossed off my to-do list!
• playing Bananagrams with the girls
• reading stories with a snuggly boy

Multitude Mondays

It's been a couple of weeks since I've had the mental capacity to do more than dress myself and feed my family (and not always in that order). So, in the past couple of weeks, some of my multitudinous blessings have included:

• Toby having an enjoyable and safe trip to the UK to visit family
• watching movies with my kids
• getting up to speed with House on Hulu in the comfort of my bed
• other than a single sick kid one morning, the rest of the family remained healthy
• a snuggly morning where Dan joined me in bed and went back to sleep for an hour
• taking the kids to spend some Christmas money on fun craft projects
• finishing The Trumpet of the Swan together and enjoying the children enjoy the story
• everyone pitching in to get chores done together
• the hours they spend playing Lego and creating
• Toby's safe return!
• praying together
• roast chicken
• the new season of the BBC's Sherlock

 

Multitude Monday

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

Proverbs 14:4

I need to remember this verse often. I like things to be clean, though I'm not naturally the tidiest person around. Still, to put in the effort to pick up and put away, just to find another mess can be very frustrating. It is then that I must give thanks for these mess-makers, knowing that in them and through them, a harvest of righteousness will be reaped.

 I am thankful for:

• Abigail, my beautiful, bossy eldest child
• Anna, the competitive "spit fire"
• Noah, who will have a better understanding of women because of all these girls
• Eleanor, the passionate little mommy
• Daniel, who makes everyone happy and crazy in equal measure
• the next one, who we're all looking forward to meeting this summer
• 

Loving the Little Years

Loving the Little Years is a little book about loving little people in the midst of all the "little" trials of the every day. Very sweet and encouraging (and rather funny), it doesn't take long to read and the kids like the messy kid on the cover. I liked and needed the reminders that while I am called to lovingly and faithfully parent my children, my own efforts along are insufficient for the task and I will consistently mess up and come up short if I try to do this on my own. Only the truth of the Gospel and the power of God will be enough to go beyond raising well-behaved Pharisees and instead move young hearts to want to love and serve Christ. And while I'd be lying if I said I didn't care if they behaved well in public, it's much more important to me that their hearts are bent toward worshipping the living God rather than the opinions of man. I just need to remember that during the next toddler meltdown - remind me, would you?

If Jospeh had been a girl...

...I think his father would have given him this shawl, instead of the coat...

Made from one ball - yes, one ball - of Noro Kureyon (Japanese for "crayon", apparently) sock yarn. All the details you'll need to make your own (it really is quite easy) can be found on my ravelry page.

What they love

They love coloring, preferably together...

...and camping out in the study in their new sleeping bags...

 ...and building Lego creations...

 ...and eating - always eating...