My 3 girls....and some twin shots.

I know, I know, Leighton doesn't look all that cute in this picture, but I thought it would be good to give a fair representation of my day. :) Poor baby girl is getting over the roseola virus (three days of a fever, and then a full body rash) and there are several spots in her mouth that I can see the swollen-ness of teeth about to pop through. She was miserable today...and cried everytime I wasn't holding her. I'm headed to Wal-mart first thing in the morning to get some baby ora-gel... hopefully she'll be doing better tomorrow.

The babies have been fighting over the toy walker...usually Leighton will get it and start walking and then Matthias will realize what a great idea it was and grab it from her and go speeding off. Their cheeks are full of goldfish crackers in this second picture. I cannot believe they turn one in 3 days!!! I almost can't believe I survived this first year! The year went by so fast even though there have been days that seemed like forever. We're having a party on Saturday, so I'll definitely be posting pics of babies and cake and such. :)

I've been trying to process through some thoughts from a women's conference I went to on Saturday. Several women from my church drove out to Sarasota to hear Tara Barthel speak on "Women and Peacemaking-a Journey of Grace". It was a great day of being reminded of the Gospel and our call to resolving conflict in our lives and seeking lasting peace. She talked about how we tend towards making hypocrites out of our children when it comes to conflict...well, it was actually a quick point she made, but it stuck with me...probably b/c our kids have been fighting a lot lately and I've been thinking and praying through how to address it better. The fact that we "force" our kids to apologize to each other, when in reality there are a lot of times that they really aren't sorry for what they've done...probably just sorry for being caught. And then, to have the other child say that they forgive their sibling for what they've done, when in reality...they're mumbling out "I forgive you" with a bad attitude. There is definitely something to be said about creating a habit of apologizing and forgiving, but there's also something to be said about taking those moments of conflict and using them as teaching moments to remind them (and myself) that we forgive because Christ has forgiven us!.....not just b/c mommy told you that you need to. Getting to the heart issue with the kids (especially the big kids) has been a challenge for me lately...but this peacemaking conference was an encouragement to me in the midst of it.

random stuff....

Matthias learned how to climb up onto AJ's bed today. He was so proud of himself and was very upset when we got him down. Yesterday he climbed up onto the coffee table. We've entered a whole new world of possibilities with this new ability!

The friends that I've made in town have mostly been through storytime at the library. A couple of us decided to make a trip to Sebring (the 'big city') to go to the children's museum. AJ had a great time with Noah and Emma, and the babies had a good time in their padded baby space. :) (despite missing their morning nap). We ended our morning with lunch at Burger King and naps in the car on the 40 minute drive home.
Josiah has learned what he needs to know in order to get his white belt...so, he is thrilled that he is able to wear his 'gi' to karate class tomorrow. He's the youngest kid in the class and is doing a great job of listening and learning...plus he's really enjoying it!

keeping busy...

Josiah has decided that it is fun to hide his little plastic bugs places that I would least suspect so that I'll scream when I see them. Now, I am typically not a screamer, but when there is a millipede on my toilet seat (under the lid) I do scream....so he got me good with this one. Many of the frogs, lizards, spiders and scorpions that showed up all over the house got me, too...but that millipede was the worst. (oh, and tom put a grasshopper in my sock drawer, that one got me, too)
They really are excited about their new pets although their expressions don't show it. It was just the end of a very long day (and over an hour at petco). Josey got seamonkeys for Christmas. There's a little plastic container that you put water in and then you pour on these little eggs (similar to yeast granules)...five days later little amoeba-like shrimpy things are born....they reproduce and die and reproduce and die....anyways, after the seamonkeys hatched one of the two big kids made a comment about being so excited about "our very first pet!". It was sad and funny at the same time... I think that's when I decided that we needed a pet, and we needed to start with baby steps...what better way to do that than with some fish! so, the 3 neon fish aren't named yet although we suggested randy, paula and simon. Kylie's fish is fish-stick...and AJ's fish is named wish-fish.

Today tom and I made yo-yo balloons for the first grade fundraiser...we brought them home so we could both work on them in the comfort of our home....here are the 3 little ones helping us out. :)

what he doesn't have in teeth he makes up for in hair!

I think Matthias is going to need another haircut sometime soon. He has had the most hair out of all the kids.
We had a little book time while Leighton was still sleeping today.
Here's a pic of their first bath together in the "real" bathtub. Matthias is definitely outgrowing the sink.

a pic for grandma....

Here's a picture of Leighton and her four teeth for grandma. She actually looks a little scary, but was laughing like crazy. :) She's had them for a while, and Matthias still does not have any teeth yet!

the kids and orange-picking!!

Kylie is incredible with the babies...she really enjoys being with them and is so helpful when it comes to caring for one while I'm tending to another. They're getting bigger and bigger, so it'll only be a matter of time until they get a little to hefty for their big sister to manage. (look at Matthias' shoulders compared to Leighton's!, actually his whole build is so different than hers!)
AJ continues to be a fun-loving sweet girl...she loves to wander around the house dressed up in whatever she can find and be silly. Her latest thing is putting baby links like a bracelet on her wrist and asking people to guess what she is. Josiah has a Star Wars Lego game that he plays and we know that AJ has watched it many a time when she likens herself to a "rain-corn"...which means rancor. In the movie/game he has a chain around his arm. She's a funny little 3-year old. :)
Josiah likes nothing more than to climb trees any moment he can. Sadly, we have no climb-able trees in our yard (we actually only have two trees, a dead grapefruit tree and a short maple tree)... but we did go to an orange grove owned by friends from church on sunday afternoon and spent some time picking oranges and watching Josiah scramble up trees.
We picked over 100 oranges....and will be juicing them for days and maybe weeks to come (until they go bad)....4 oranges makes a good-sized glass of juice to drink. It's quite the change from growing up in Virginia and picking apples for fun. We really had a fun time.

Ramen....

After I posted the picture of Leighton last night, Tom and I went searching for pictures of the other kids with ramen noodles. We found a blurry one of AJ....Kylie and Josey were pre-digital camera when we took their pictures. :)