I am almost . . . not quite . . . nearly as head-over-heels with these boys as I am their father.

But the fact is I'm just out-right obessesed with their dad, so not quite.

Here is Elijah, where he fell asleep on the carpet the other day:

Here are the boys watching it snow:

I don't think most people get to see how inseperable these two generally are, because they tend to split up and do their own thing when we visit grandparents.

The copy each other. Constantly.  And Samuel is not above grabbing his brother and physically transporting him back to where he desperately wants to continue playing with him if Elijah's attention span wanes. They giggle, giggle, and giggle some more. Samuel will hoist his brother to the piano bench before he climbs up himself.

Their latest caper:

Yes, Samuel got the stool out from the crack where it stays folded up on the other side of the fridge, he set it up, and I heard him clinking his way into my blue, white-flecked canisters on the counter. Which he wouldn't want to be in unless he could get to the big one all the way back on where he can't reach with .... help.

And of course, his little shadow was right behind him.

Samuel is a cool big brother. When going after some kind of snack, he generally always remembers his little brother. In this instance, it was fruit bars. Earlier today it was apples.

"I like apples," he told me "Yi-ya like apples, too!"

That he does, son.

Did I mention that I love you boys today?

And that I really, really really enjoy being your mommy? 

May your evening be full of laughter and happiness and perhaps even the sounds of a couple of toddlers attacking off-tune piano keys as mine is!

Blessings,
~Ashley~

I have some pictures today! Isn't he just the cutest? I love how for once, his eyes are blue in a picture instead of red. LOL He is starting to freeze for a few seconds when he sees the camera. I mean, seconds. It takes half a minute for the camera to turn on! But I timed this picture well the other day.

Somewhere in the midst of all my "relaxing" to keep baby inside, I've lost sight of the fact that, you know, eventually I do want to have this baby. Right now, it just feels like if I can keep the baby inside, I'm good. And it feels like I'll never hit a place where I *want* baby out. This "feeling" amuses me now that I recognize that it's there.

The other really good thing is that I don't feel "big". I am. Trust me. But I'm not noticing it, really. Okay, it's hard to roll over in the middle of the night and get in and out of the bathtub. Sure. But do I feel like a hippo? Not really. I don't feel any bigger than I did with either of the boys. If I felt gigantic, that would make this much harder. As it is, hey, I'm with child. A certain amount of "my" body is going to be out of my control, like the ease with which I move. It's the price I pay. Okay.

Today is my first "solo" day in about two weeks. It feels good. I'm a bit tired, but happy. It's so nice to enjoy the wintery, blustery day with just my boys. I'm trying not to do anything to jepordize another solo day on Thursday. This is nice!

Oh, the pic below is Samuel and I making spirulina capsules together. I made 359 the other day ... for about 4 cents apiece. Superfood! That's about a 6 month supply for me. One of these days he's going to make them for me, and I'll sit and watch. In payment for putting up with him messing up and interrupting the process and slowing it down helping me. *wink*

Just what ya'll wanted, right? A picture of me with my eyes open?

I'm getting so excited to see if this is a boy or a girl. I'm saying boy, Jonathan is saying girl. I've been wrong twice in a row, LOL. This is the first time I've guessed "boy". The idea of another little boy . . . .  my word! It's just so exciting!!!! I love the name we have picked out for our next son. It goes so well with Samuel and Elijah.

A little girl . . . . wouldn't that be cool? To have both boys and girls? How neat would that be???

I mean, you can't go wrong with a baby boy or a baby girl. There is so much possiblity wrapped up in both . . . we are going to be a family of FIVE. That's still sinking in. I love it! This morning my Jay emailed and said "I wish I was home with the four of you." and I had to think for a second. The four of us . . . wow.

God is so good.

Have a great day!
~Ashley~

It is hard to imagine that in about 2 years, we will begin to officially homeschool our little ones.  Abigail will be old enough to start Kindergarten level and Micah will be doing Preschool.  In preparation, we have been looking at homeschool curriculums for the children.  We have certain criteria that we are looking for that we feel are important considerations to make.

1. The curriculum must be Christian-based.  No exceptions.  The curriculum must come from a reputable Christian resource that will not only teach the courses needed, but also include the Bible's teachings along with the material.

2. We want their curriculum coming from a single source.  We realize that many homeschooling families use the "buffet" method in choosing curriculums.  Math form one source, science from another, language arts from yet a third source, and so on.  For the sake of simplicity and also a continuity of the scope & sequence of the curriculum material we want to use one resource for all the curriculum.

3. We want the curriculum to come from a source that offers accreditation.  We wish for our children to be able to receive a diploma from an accredited school once their homeschooling years have been completed. 

4. We do not want to use a correspondance school system.  We do however want a curriculum that will allow us to homeschool & grade the children's work with us sending in reports so that the school can keep the records.

Part of the reason for the accreditation requirement is that we want our children to have the advantage of having a recognizable diploma after they finish their homeschooling.  We are also looking ahead.  Oklahoma has very few requirements made of the homeschooling families at this time.  We want to be prepared in case this should change at some point in the future.  By already being established with an accredited school program, we would be able to continue as we always have with very little changes needing to be made to accommidate any new regulations or laws that should come up in the future years.

We have been looking at Bob Jones University's homeschool program and are very impressed with it.  We are still researching though to make certain that the Bob Jones University program is what we really want to use before making the final decision. 

We have 2 years yet to make our choice.  There are so many options available that it is taking time to find the one that will be best for our family.  I would love to hear from other homeschooling families who use accredited school programs.  What program do you use?  What made that curriculum stand out and become the one you chose for your children?  Are there any out there that we should use caution with?

First things first, I'm an Auntie again!!!

My sister-in-law's dear, sweet baby girl arrived at 11:30pm last night. There is now a Samantha Grace in the family! Isn't that just a beautiful name? She was 7 pounds and 15 oz! I'm so excited for them and eagerly awaiting pictures. Hooray!

Secondly, I'm doing pretty good. Tired. Surely one week of lying primarly on one's side isn't enough to turn one into the biggest wimp on the planet??? I sure hope not! If this weekend goes well, I might be able to handle next week by myself. Minus vacuuming and lots of bending over.

I will be 34 full weeks on Monday. Praise the Lord! Great has been His mercy towards us . . . and tremendous the help of my mom and my second mama this week!

Thanks for thinking of me, ya'll!  Please have a blessed, restful weekend!

~Ashley~

What a Thursday . . . .

My SIL is in labor. I’m so excited!!! I can’t wait to hear how things go for her! I want to call and pester her on the phone all the time . . . she’s in Florida and I’m in Kansas . . . . but that would bug me. Maybe not if my labors tended to move slower, but I don’t know what’s going on, so . . . I’m just trying to be respectful. But it’s sooooo hard!

In the wide world that centers around me, my goals look like this:

• Make it until Saturday morning
• Make it until December
• Make it until December 15^th
• Make it until December 21^st, my 27^th birthday
• Make it until the first of the year

And somewhere in there is:

• For Clare to have her baby first

Her due date was the 15^th of December, mine is Jan 20^th, so it makes sense, right? So far, I’ve made it half way!

The second half is the long distance portion, though!

So far, Sunday and Monday were good days. Few contractions. Tuesday was a bit scary simply because I had contractions all day long. Some were very hard, and one woke me up from a nap! I usually don’t wake up until they are 5 minutes apart – yes, I sleep like a rock. So I took Benadryl and went to our midwife’s appointment that night.

The baby has moved up!

Well, or technically I think I was in our Jacuzzi tub and playing around and manipulated the baby back up . . . but regardless of how it happened (and I’m pretty sure it was me playing around) God has really answered a prayer here!

My midwife said she was pleased with how "in-tune" I was with my body and that I have to keep paying attention. I like it that she takes me seriously - I feel less like a paranoid, jumping-at-shadows mommy. *smile*

That’s the good news. The bad news is that I still have what seems like a long, long ways to go. So I need to keep being careful.

But then it was followed by good news again as Wednesday and today have been really good, low contraction days. Surprising, the way things went Friday and Saturday right after the baby dropped. But very, very encouraging!

I really don’t want to be waited on hand and foot for the next ump-teen days. I don’t really care if my house falls apart around me at this point, if I can just be “mommy” and change diapers and re-heat food, that’s enough for me.

So, that’s my goal. To a function a tiny bit carefully, if possible.

Jonathan is going to observe me this weekend and pass his verdict. He is a hard jury to please, let me tell you. And ya'll thought *I* was the paranoid one?

Thank you for your prayers and for thinking of us!

~Ashley~