Lots of catching up to do.

I thought it was about time I got caught up on this thing.

First are pics of the kids at our wards trunk or treat:











Then come the pics from when we were carving our pumpkin. We carved it on Halloween and it was a good thing cause down here they go bad in two days. Israel slept through it so he isn't in any of the pics. Celestial was hilarious. She didn't dare touch the insides.






























Finally is the pic of the kids on Halloween with our neighbor Sarah. It rained most the night so we weren't able to get very much trick or treating done cause it was pouring. We were all soaked and freezing.



Moving on now, I saw the doctor a couple of weeks ago. We miscarried one of the triplets earlier and now only have twins. The doctor thought that they were both boys but couldn't tell for sure because his ultrasound machine isn't very good. The next week I saw a high risk specialist that has a very advanced machine. They were able to zoom in on the babies. Baby A is 100% a girl.





The pic on the left is of her legs and shows her as a girl. The one on the below is zoomed way in and has an arrow pointing to what you need to look at and if you can't tell that is a girl...





We think Baby B is a boy but he kept his legs closed and the one time he opened them he stuck his foot in the way so we don't know for sure yet but I do have an ultrasound every week now so we should know in the next few weeks. The doctor also said he thought he would be putting me on full, complete bedrest by week 24 or so. He said as in your legs are broken and you have a 105 degree fever. No making meals, grocery shopping, or caring for the kids. I have had trouble doing everything by myself as is (since there are certain things I should not be doing) and have been trouble getting the help I need so I knew staying here alone wasn't an option. I called my mom and we made final preparations for me to go home for a while.

She will be flying out to Florida in two weeks for a conference anyway so we are going to meet her down there with our van loaded full of stuff we need and will be driving back to Idaho from there. We will be staying until I am comfortable with handling everything on my own and have a way to get back (driving back alone with six kids just doesn't seem like a good idea). I will be having a neighbor watching the house for us. Now we just need to figure out what to do with the animals and how to care for the lawn come spring. We have started packing and preparing and two weeks we will be out of here. The kids are so excited. And I am looking forward to having help and maybe even a break once in a while.

Thanksgiving poem

T’was the night of Thanksgiving,
But I just couldn’t sleep.
I tried counting backwards,
I tried counting sheep.
The leftovers beckoned,
The dark meat and white.
But I fought the temptation,
With all of my might.
Tossing and turning,
with anticipation.
The thought of a snack
became infatuation.
So I raced to the kitchen,
Flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge,
Full of goodies galore.
I gobbled up turkey,
And buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots,
Beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling,
So plump and so round.
‘til all of a sudden,
I rose off the ground.
I crashed through the ceiling,
Floating into the sky,
With a mouthful of pudding,
And a handful of pie.
But I managed to yell
As I soared past the trees
Happy eating to all,
Pass the cranberries, please!!
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious,
May your pies take the prize
And May your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off of your thighs!
by Lauren

A day of homeschooling an ADHD child

My son Israel is severe ADHD. If his medications are right on, you can't really tell too much. The problem comes when the meds are off. For example, in the mornings I have to get him to concentrate long enough to take his meds. Seems easy I know, but not so much. It usually takes me hours to get him to concentrate enough to get a drink and swallow their pillows. That is how easily distracted he is.

Today was no different. It took me two hours to get Israel to take his pills and it was too late in the morning to put off school any longer so we had to get right into school. We started with our regular routine and then went into our school subjects. First off was handwriting. Israel had the letter Z today. He was supposed to trace and write four Zs. That is it. Eden, on the other hand, had quite a few V,W,and Xs. She was done with the entire page before Israel had done one Z. My conversation with Israel went like this:

"Israel, here are your Zs. Get started. Israel, where is your pencil?"
"I dropped it."
"Pick it up and start."
"Now I dropped my eraser."
"So pick it up."
"Pop! Pop! Pop!"
"Israel, what are you supposed to be doing?"
"I don't know."
"Your Zs. Where are your Zs Israel. Israel, look at me. Where are your Zs." He then points to them. "Good, now start." He then starts playing with his hair. "Israel, what are you doing?"
"There is something in my hair. I think it is toothpaste. I need to cut it out."
"No Israel. We can wash it out. First do your Zs though." He continues to play with his hair. "Israel, you are concentrating on your hair very well, now try concentrating on your work."
"I need a drink and there is dog hair in mine."
"Fine, you get a drink." I wait for a few minutes and then go check on him. He runs and hides. I find him and he has scissors and is about to cut his hair so I take the scissors and send him back to his work. He continues to play with his hair so I drag him to the bathroom to clean it out. He decides he has to change his clothes now. He comes back and gets something on his shirt and has to change again. He came back with a Hulk shirt. No biggie, right?

"Israel do your work now. You only have four Zs and Eden has done all hers and is starting on math. You will have less time to play if you don't get this done."
"Why is Hulk green?"
"We can talk about that after school Israel. Where are your Zs. Israel, where are your Zs?"
"Why does Hulk have hair? Monsters don't usually have hair."
"Israel, do your work. We will talk about this later. Where are your Zs?" He points. "Ok, start."
"This Hulk up here looks brown. I thought Hulk was green."
"Israel, your Zs!"
"Is that a snake?"
"Israel I don't care if there are snakes all over the floor, just do your work!"
"Something just flew by me. What was it?"
"Israel, look at me. Where are your Zs. Good, now write them." I finally got him through it and pulled out some addition. "Israel, what is 7 + 4?"
"Why is this ink brown instead of black down here?"
"Israel, what is 7 + 4?"
"And why does the 9 look like that? That isn't write. They should type it the way we write it."
"Israel, what is 7 + 4?"
"11."
"Good, write it down."
"Is Luci watching her potty movie?"
"Israel, write your 11 right here." Then he runs into the living room to see what Luci is doing. "Israel!" You get the point. So, that is a glimpse into what a typical day can be like for him. And people ridicule me for letting him be on meds. I am sorry, some kids need them. On them, he gets through his work usually in an hour or so. Could you imagine being so easily distracted? I know I am very thankful I am not ADHD or ADD.

Perfect homeschool example

So we were doing our usual homeschool stuff today and we were talking about temperature for science. We had a thermometer and checked the temps inside, outside in the sun, in the shade, room temp water, ice water, and between the kids hands and had the kids guess the temp before we checked it. We then talked about what temperatures are used for. Then, I thought we were done. The kids immediately grabbed the thermometer and mixed the room temp water with the ice water to see what would happen. They were amazed. Then Israel asked for hot water to try it with. Then they wanted to try boiling water (had to use a candy thermometer). Then they took it outside to see if it had become warmer since we were out there. Israel even took a bath with it! They were so fascinated! Had they been in public school, when the subject was over, that would have been that. Now my kids were able to guide their own learning and learn so much more than I had planned and enjoyed themselves. What better example of homeschooling can there be?

Big freaking news!

What is that you ask? An ultrasound? Yep. A baby? Not exactly. Look close. It's three babies. That's right... TRIPLETS!

I went to the doc today and he wanted to pinpoint the due date so we did an ultrasound. I was not concerned about multiples. First we saw the twins and I was shocked. It was a little while before we found the third. I could not believe when he said there are three.

We are doing another ultrasound to make sure there aren't more than three and also to check on the third. He is a little concerned about the size. So we should know more in a week. I will be seen weekly until we know if I am going to carry all three. Prayers for that would be great.

As for what we are gonna do with seven kids and Ben in Iraq, I have no idea. We are just playing it day by day. We need a bigger van, a triple stroller, more carseats, etc. It is going to be interesting for sure.

Israel's birthday

Today is Israel's 6th birthday. We started it last night with his birthday party. The kids had a great time giggling while trying to blow up the balloons.




He had a few friends over and we had a treasure hunt to find the pinata (which I made) and then broke the pinata. We had a few problems with Israel being overly excited and he got to the pinata before we were ready so I had to put it back together as best I could.

The kids had pizza, chips, and fruit for dinner with some juice and we turned on the old transformer series to watch while they ate. Then we had cake and ice cream. Israel told me he wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and M 'n Ms on top and chocolate ice cream. Definantly my kid. My friend Verna offered to make the cake and in less than 24 hrs she came up with this:
Isn't it perfect? Israel was so excited and loved it! When Israel opened his gifts he was very excited to see that had got guns. Four water guns that become one from one friend and a really fancy Nerf gun with a laser from my mother in law. He loves them! And so did the other boys that came. Unfortunately, the extra bullets my MIL sent to go with the gun are not the right ones, but don't worry. Luci found a great way of playing with them.


Some of the boys were not old enough to spend the night so we only had a couple spend the night (which was fine by me). Ben made the mistake of turning on Narnia for the kids at around 10 pm so they were up until around 1 am. Then they were up by 7am this morning and guess who was up with them last night as well as this morning. Me! When I got up with the kids I made cinnamon rolls as Israel had asked me to do. Then we had Israel open his gift from us. We got him a bike and a bell to go on the bike but we only wrapped the bell. I had the bike waiting outside. He opened the bell and I told him he had to do it outside. He was happy with the bell, but kinda disappointed you could see. Then he went outside and saw the bike. He loved it! Israel isn't the type to show much emotion. His excitement is more of a quiet excitement, but we could tell he was excited. He just kept thanking me for getting it and rode for quite a while. When I have a chance I will try to upload the video cause of course we had to get it on video.

As for the rest of the day, I am still waiting for the other kids to go home, then who knows what. Ben is taking a nap and has tons of Army stuff to do today but I am hoping we can get atleast a little family time today. We will see.

No updates

Ok, so I have been really bad about updating the blog but there are reasons. Ben is gone right now, we are still homeschooling as we go year round, the kids have been sick, I am in school right now, and sometimes it feels like nobody reads these things. It is so hard to know or not. So here is the deal, if you do indeed read any of these blogs, leave a short (or long) comment to let me know so I don't feel like I am just writing for the air around my home. Thanks.