Baby Matthews #5

For those of you who don't know already, we are expecting baby #5 December 3. It's all very exciting of course, but I haven't been feeling that great. This past weekend I had a migraine start that just doesn't want to go away. I also think I'm allergic to being pregnant. My allergies are SO bad. I wake up everynight barely able to breath and with a sore throat from post-nasal drip. Pleasant, isn't it? I'm now at the blessed stage where I constantly wonder what on earth I have done and how I was so stupid to let it happen in the first place!
But there's our cute little peanut sized baby. It was a relief to have an early ultrasound done. See the baby, have them measure the heartbeat (which was beating perfectly). I also love the doctor my friend here recommended and his staff, all of them are outstanding. So, we'll definately keep you updated, and hopefully it won't take me so long to post again!

Marbleworks from Discovery Toys

I got them this marbleworks set from Discovery Toys for Easter! They absolutely loved it! I thought we may have arguments because it was everyone's toy. They didn't really know how to deal with that. They spent the first week fighting and not being able to share, I finally got sick of it and took it away. When I finally gave it back they did a lot better sharing and playing together.
Emily and Benjamin play with the tower I constructed.
Here they are posing for the camera. Emily thought it would make the picture better to hold up a marble for display. You can't even see it, but boy do they love those marbles. For awhile Julia was pretending that they were her students! She would haul them around the house setting up classrooms for them.

Wrestling with Daddy!

Here's the Matthew's kid train. Poor Daddy!
It soon turned into to dogpile on Daddy. Ben got hurt in the tussle and came my way.
Everybody wanted to take a ride on Daddy the horsey!

Tired Benjamin

What do you get when your tired asthmatic two-year old refuses to take a nap? A baby asleep on the couch at 4 pm. He didn't wake up until 6pm, and I have no idea when he went to bed because Scott and I were at the Josh Groban concert. My heart goes out to our babysitter--poor lad!

Emmy's new game

Emily has started playing tea party with her Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses Dolls. It's really the cutest thing ever. She is the best hostess, she doesn't even have a plate or a cup for herself. She just takes good care of all her guests and makes sure they're happy. She even makes sure to seat couples together. Genevieve and Prince Derek always sit together, as well as Annika and Prince Aidan (Barbie in the Magic of Pegusus)!

Happy 4th Birthday Emily!

She really had a shmorgasbord party. We mom's always want a clear theme and matching decorations, invitations and cake. Emily opted for a Strawberry Shortcake cake, a Disney Princesses tablecloth, and Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses invitations. Oh, well, nothing matched, but she was happy!
We invited eight kids, plus my three who were home. We had a royal tea party and cupcakes. By the time 11:30 rolled around I was very ready for parents to come and get their kids. I guess I'm losing my patience.

Sleepy-head Ryan!

This was Ryan the Thursday morning before Spring Break. He knew that Spring Break was coming, his teacher had told him, and he had a hard time pulling himself out of bed to go to the last two days of school before his week of freedom.
It's funny to me--he was the one most excited for Spring Break, and he was the one who spent almost the entire time bored out of his mind! He kept teasing and pushing and messing with his siblings because he was so BORED!

Josh Groban Awake Tour

Last night Scott and I went to the Josh Groban concert at the American Airlines Center in Dallas! My honey wasn't feeling very well, but he came with me anyway, what a sweetie!
I think he's even better live than on his CD's and I didn't think that was possible. He has the voice of an angel.
I learned a lot of other things about him as well. For all his fame and all the money he's making he seems to have stayed very level headed. His first love is musical theater and he still wants to pursue that at a future point in his life. He took a trip to South Africa to perform, and has since become very involved in helping the African countries to improve the quality of life.
He plays the piano very well, and the surprise of the evening is that he also plays the drums very well. He came back out to do an "encore" (I think it was a planned part of the show made to look like an encore so that fans felt satisfied) and rocked out on a trap set! It was cool!
Even though we were as high up as you could be in the AAC, it was well worth it! I would highly recommend you see this concert if you have the opportunity!

Precious!

Okay, okay, I know I said I would stop with the whole Emily thing, but then I found this picture. Doesn't she look just like an angel in her beautiful blessing dress. She was named after her Great Grandma Kohler, Aleen "Sally" Braithwaite Kohler. Her name is Emily Aleen. Her proud Great Grandma sent me extra money because she wanted her namesake to have a beautiful blessing dress!

Sleepy-head

We had a very busy day, and Julia was kind of still recovering from being a sicky. She was SO tired she fell asleep like this on the couch!

More Emily

I know this is kind of turning into an homage to Emily. So, one more and I'll quit. She hasn't been taking naps lately, but on the 4th she was so tired I didn't know what else to do with her. I had to go in and wake her up around 4 pm so that she would go to sleep at a reasonable time. She just looked so cute, and of course by the time I got the camera she knew what I was up to and I couldn't get a natural looking picture. But it's still cute.
Here she is finally ready to get up and have the rest of her day!

Happy Birthday Emily!

Tomorrow is Emily's fourth birthday! I don't know why, but the same thing happens each year on each of my kids' birthdays. How can she possibly be four already? The time just flies by so fast. I hesitated to post this picture, I do not look very good at all. But it helps me be patient as far as getting pregnant again is concerned. Look at how huge I am!
Here she is, the beautiful result of all that physical toil. A beautiful baby girl with naturally highlighted hair (lucky girl). She is so calm, so peaceful. She loves beautiful things, compliments and hugs from her daddy! She is definately a barbie girl. For christmas I went overboard and got her all 12 of the dolls from the Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses movie. I thought that she wouldn't play with some of them. But she loves and plays with every last Barbie. She conned her daddy into buying her wedding barbie, and she plays with and loves that one too! When they're tiny, it's hard to imagine what they will be when they get older, but looking back she has always been my precious little Emily! Mommy loves you with all of her heart! Happy Birthday my beautiful princess Emily!

Pretty Princesses

There is a lady at our church who does princess parties on the weekend to make a little extra money for her family. Emily got invited to one, and here is the picture. She had a lot of fun. It's all she talked about for the next week!

Happenings

I always think I need a picture to post on my blog. I haven't really taken any cute pictures lately. On Sunday for our family night we talked about personal responsibility and self-discipline. We created chore charts for everyone (myself and my husband included)! It has been a very good thing. Our kids now seem to sense (on a beginning level of course) that they are responsible for themselves and the things that happen in their lives. We are trying to help them understand that there are consequences for every action. It's hard, as a parent, to stand by and let them fail now, so that hopefully they won't fail later. I think it's one of my biggest weaknesses as a parent, I want them to succeed SO badly that I start micromanaging. The other day Ryan was really dragging in the morning. We were having a hard time getting him out the door and to school (which is only across the street). Scott finally pointed out that he was late for school and that it was his fault because he was ignoring our warnings and suggestions that he was going to be late. He was shocked! He kept saying, "My fault?"
I've also stepped back a litte bit during their piano practice. They do much better when they are "in charge" of practice time. It's funny to me because it seems opposite to logic. They do better when you set the expectation and then let them succeed or fail by their own merits? Weird! As you can tell, I'm still having a hard time digesting the whole thing and effectively making a change.
I also get so frustrated with myself. It's like I can't handle my own success. I was doing so well with the chore charts. We were getting more things done with less struggle, the kids were happier, the house was cleaner. Then Thursday came and I just felt tired and bound. I didn't want to be "tied down" to the dinky little chore chart. I felt tired of being on my kids all the time, tired of always doing something: preschool with Emmy, preschool with Ben, piano practice with Julia, dishes, laundry, etc. So, I sat around and did nothing. It makes me so mad at myself. So mad at myself I could puke! I guess life is about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and trying again. Buck up little camper and drive on!
Tonight was a really fun night. Scott and I went bowling with another couple from our church. We had a lot of fun. Even though I am a HORRIBLE bowler, I have always enjoyed it! A weekly date is a neccessity for every stay-at-home mom of small kids. I always feel so much better about my life when we go and take some time together. It doesn't really seem to matter what we do. It just matters that we're together, and that we aren't talking about the kids or the finances.
Well, I know you don't want to listen to me babble on forever. I just though I'd share some of my thoughts, and hopefully some of you struggle with the same things and feel better to know that you're not alone! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The 411 for those interested

We have had some developments! After feeling like I was pregnant for a month I started my period today. So, no baby in November. Scott and I had a great conversation about the whole baby thing, and we decided to give ourselves and our other kids a little more time to get comfortable, get some more kids in school, get myself exercising, get my house painted, get Benjamin older. Instead of trying now, we are not going to start trying until September. As with most well made decisions, a feeling of peace washed over our house, and where there was stress and pressure before, now there's peace. We are excited for a little more time and we are excited for more babies, just not right now. Thanks for the interest you have expressed, we love that people think about us and are excited for the things that are going on!

Hooray for Ryan!

I was very pleased to open Ryan's school folder and find this inside! An outstanding spelling test. It came at the perfect time too, I had just started feeling discouraged about his spelling tests. I have a tendency to underestimate Ryan, but he is so capable if I just keep constant gentle pressure on him to succeed. Yea Ryan!

Okay Last One (for awhile anyway)

Okay, I'm sorry! I have just had so much fun remembering the books I have read and loved. In Inkheart, Cornelia Funke talks a lot about how we leave pieces of ourselves in the books that we read. And when we open them again after a long time, we can find ourself there, the person we used to be when we first read. How that part of ourself becomes a permanent part of that story. I feel the same way. I started reading this series The Xanth Series by Piers Anthony when I was in high school because my brother was fascinated with them. They are really cool. I'm planning to go back and read them. All I remember about this one is the main female character. And I won't say anymore because I'll give the coolest part away.

I read this book The President's Daughter by Ellen Emerson White (and if your interested in reading this one be careful, there are a ton of books titled The President's Daughter make sure you get the right one!) when I was in Middle School in Dousman, Wisconsin and I have never forgotten it. There is a second book, I think called White House Autumn that I liked even better!

I have read the first two in the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. I like them a lot. Artemis Fowl is a genius 12 or 13 year old boy who finds the sacred book of the fairy world which has been forced underground for fear of humans. He devises a plan to make off with some of their fairy gold! Does he succeed?












I absolutely love Gail Carson Levine, and if you have seen the movie of Ella Enchanted you have to read the book. The book is 1000% better. The movie totally slaughters the magic of the book (I made the mistake of reading the book first :( )
I also love this one by Gail Carson Levine, Two Princesses of Bamarre. In my opinion it's even better than Ella Enchanted which is on my top ten of all time reads list! There are two sisters, who are princesses who are as different as two sisters can be, and they find out how much they need one another on their perilous journeys.






I have also like every book of Vivian Vande Velde that I have read so far but this one Wizard at Work was a short and entertaining read. A wizard's work is never done, characters from known fairy tales send for him to help them figure out their problems. It's a cute, light, fast, fun read. A good one for mom's of little kids who don't have much time to spare.

Upating Book Reviews

I have had such rave reviews about my book reviews that I thought I would go back and do a little ex pos facto (in the past) reviews. These are some of the books I have read recently and love. The first one is entitled the Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. I absolutely loved it. It's themes are hidden potential and how we wouldn't get anywhere without the people around us. How it's hard for some people to show love, but if we look really hard, we can see it in their eyes, and in everything they do. And how it is so very important for each one of us to improve ourselves with the time we have been given on this earth, and if possible to help the people around us improve too.
The next one is called Inkheart Cornelia Funke. It's dark at times, but not gross scare your hair white dark. I think sometimes it's good for us to think about the darkness in this world so that we can identify the light when we see it. Meggie's father has a gift, he can read things out of books because he has such a beautiful voice. One night he reads a villian out of a book called Inkheart and his wife disappears. Because the catch of his gift is, for everything that comes out of the book, something must go back in. Meggie and her father have to find a way to defeat this villian. I am currently reading the sequel called Inkspell.

The next book is called The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. It won the Caldecott medal--enough said. It's a must read. The heir to the throne is snubbed by the royal court and the people because she is the daughter of a "witchwoman". She takes up a perilous journey to save her people and prove herself the rightful heir to the Damarian Throne. As you can tell, I really love books where people work hard to learn and grow, and go through perilous journeys having learned valuable lessons and become better people. That is what life is all about, and we may not do it in such a glorious fashion as it is done in works of fiction, but we navigate our own perilous journeys on a daily basis.

The last book that I have up here is a work of adult fiction--a genre which I usually steer clear of--except the classics of course. But this one drew me in. I think because of it's connection to Shakespeare. It is fiction, and I can't remember is Shakespeare is accused of murder or if one of the players (actors) in his company is. But a detective has to solve the case. I love this book because it really lets you understand the world that Shakespeare lived in. Beautifully done.

First Book Review

As inspired by my good friend Tami, I thought I would review the books that I read, so if anyone is searching for a good book, they can find one easily.
I just finished reading this book entitled Spindle's End by Robin McKinley for the second time. I love this book and I love Robin McKinley. She has found her nitch in writing by taking fairy tales and retelling them. It's not something I would attempt, because fairy tales are so beloved and such a part of most people's childhood memories. But she does a beautiful job. I also love her book entitled Beauty which any of you may have guessed is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
This book is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and I really don't want to say much more about it, because there are so many twists and turns that I don't want to give any of it away.