A is for Advent...

Advent is upon us already, and we are enjoying the change of our usual school routines. We will spend the next four weeks preparing for baby Jesus to come and getting our homes and hearts ready for the grace-filled Christmas season.

This year, with so many preschoolers in the house, we are doing an Alphabet Advent. There are 26 days of advent, so we are doing one letter a day until christmas. We have made our advent chain as in years past, but this year we have a letter for each day and an associated activity. Thanks to the always inspiring Jennifer at O Night Divine (a fabulous blog for advent/christmas ideas), we were inspired with many crafts, books and activities.

A is for Advent Wreath: light the first candle, Angels: color a picture

B is for Bethlehem, baby, birthday: read the story B is for Bethlehem and make our own nativity picture collage in the style of the illustrator Elisa Klevin.

C is for Cookies (gluten free of course... the recipe is from Carol Fensters 1000 Gluten-Free Recipes) and D is for Decorate. Yummy!!

A smile to cheer your day

Just look at those little cheeks. Isn't that enough to make your day brighter? (and people feel sorry for me, having so many little kids around... if they only knew how sweet they can be).

6 weeks old

Samuel is already 6 weeks old, and he's a cutie pie. He hardly ever cries, is very peaceful, and smiles for his family often. We are all quite smitten with him :-)

The twins especially love their little brother. They are always checking on him, kissing him, rocking him, and wanting to hold him. It's so good for them to be the 'big' ones now. They 'help' with diaper changes, putting him in his carseat and even keeping him happy if he gets fussy. They have tried to play swords with him, but to their dissapointment, he can't hold one yet.

I can only imagine the craziness when Samuel starts running around the house with them in another year. Next xmas will be fun indeed! Four boys under 7 can liven up any house.

And here are all of my wonderful children! Six little blessings.. each on different in their own special way, and I'm so privileged to be their mommy.

And on we go...

Another season in our life over, and a new one beginning and I feel like I've just emerged out of this big fog, and walked into this new world, fresh with possibilities and sunshine!

Life since twins has been so so crazy. Especially life since unexpected twins.... double especially since becomming pregnant with child number six after unexpected twins. (and did I mention they are BOYS? TWO of them?? and the crazy age of three?).

Most of my pregnancy was filled with fatigue, worry and weariness. I had no idea how I was going to cope with another little child to take care of... no idea how homeschooling would be managed, no idea how I would feel physically or mentally.

But then along came Samuel.

And the lessons were learned all over again.

'Melanie' , I heard whispered to me,

'children are a gift'

'Change your expectations'

'Live one moment at a time'

'Let people help you'

'You are loved'

And now I know it will all be ok. Life is hard at times, but so manageable when I look at all I have been blessed with.

Babies are such a sweet precious gift to a family... and when little Samuel, in turn, becomes another crazy three year old, maybe God will bless us with another little baby to remind us of the sacredness of human life and that we all need to live one moment at a time.

baby news

Sean & Melanie are overjoyed to announce the arrival of:

Samuel Lewis Blair

Born Oct 19 at 5:36pm at home, weighing in at 7lbs.

Mommy and Baby are relaxing at home and are doing great after a relatively short labor.

Samuel was very alert right away and is very curious about everything going on around him. I believe he finds his many doting siblings the most interesting!

Thank you to all our family who helped with the other kids and with the house while we were occupied with his arrival!

Many Blessings,

Sean and Melanie

I'm an Auntie!!!

Welcome to the world little Lukas William!! You are adorable and we are so happy you are here.

Love, Auntie Melanie

My little midwives

Some people's kids play doctor... mine play midwife.
Good thing too, because if my labor is as short as it was when THEY were born, I might need the help :-)

Hide and Seek with toddlers

I love watching the twins play hide and seek together. It's their new favorite game.

They recently turned 3, and are just so cute right now. While their language skills are a little behind, they certainly make up for it in exuberance.

Here's how it goes: P will hide somewhere (usually while JP is watching LOL), and then JP will say "me 1, 4 5" (meaning I'm going to count now). He then runs away to a different room and counts to 10:

"1, 4, 5,6, 8,9, 10! ME COME!!"

P giggles in anticipation in the other room, while JP runs to where he's hiding and yells triumphantly,

"Found ya!!".

Then they trade places and repeat the whole process 5 or 6 more times, usually using the exact same hiding spot. This can keep them occupied for a good 30 min or so, and they've been doing it a few times each day for the last week since their big brother taught them how to play.

I'll try to get a video of it next time they do it, because it's just so cute. Problem is, they are both usually missing at least one important item of clothing, so I'm not sure they'd appreciate me posting it on the internet :-)