1/52–Handlettered

I saw a challenge on Instagram late one night and thought... I need to do this one!

It is a handwriting challenge.  I am totally the person who has about 3 different types on handwriting up my sleeve.  And will doodle and write things over and over.

I have notebooks from high school filled with doodles.  A lot of them say "Jesse". And "Frey". Writing names is my specialty, I guess.

Week one challenge was a word or mantra for the new year.  I had my mantra already picked out for the year.  I never do this but this year I felt the need for one.

Keep it simple.

In keeping this simple mantra I would only let myself write this out once.  With a pen.  No erasing.  No rewriting.  Simple.  This is super hard for me!

I tend to make things more complicated then they need to be.  For example... Homeschooling... I have my kindergartner doing two curriculums!  Why?

Having guests for supper... I will search pinterest for days finding an elaborate menu instead of just busting out a tried and true recipe that we know will be a hit.

Meal planning.  I will also spend way too many hours trying to plan the perfect menu for the week.  To get to supper hour and I am getting frustrated because the kids are wrestling and the baby is hungry.  Get my elaborate supper on the table and all I hear is... What is this?  I don't like this?  So Jesse said we go back to the basics and we do a two week rotating menu.  Wow!  Talk about keeping it simple!  It works great!  Grocery shopping is a breeze.  I can plan a month at a time.  I hear, "thanks mom this is the best supper!" Way more often!

I even took "keep it simple" right down to my hair and makeup.  I am working on just blow drying my hair straight.  No straight irons or curlers.  I also have just been rocking mascara most days.  I just don't have time for all that jazz on a regular basis.  I will step it up a bit on Sundays or a special day.  But otherwise simple is it.

Keep it simple!

Simple.

Little Brother–Baby Sister

Melanie is just about on a bottle full time (besides before bed and her many mid-night feedings) and the kids love to feed her too.  It is a special moment.

Which is great for me because when I am not taking pictures of the moment – I am off running and doing my thing.

So sweet!!

Melanie caught Max’s cold he had in his eyes.  Which is why her eyes look a bit red and swollen.  Unfortunately, I had to let it take its course with her.  They wouldn’t let me give her eye drops.  She is still waking with yucky eyes every morning.  Mallory caught it too, but I quick gave her the drops and she was done with it in two days.

Such a special moment.  Such a special bond they will have too.

Homeschool Morning

On a typical day we start school at 9.  They start their day with filling out their calendar notebooks. 

This day they were making snowflakes out of blocks.

I got these blocks when Mallory was 2, I think, and the public school was having a garage sale.  I scooped up so many things.  Not even knowing that in three years I would be homeschooling and how handy these items were going to be.

Even the table and chairs we use are from the garage sale!

Look!  She does selfies and she doesn’t even know about selfies!!  They love my old camera!  Some day I should do a blog about the pictures they take.  Hilarious! 

Mallory doing her reading lesson.  She is the most wiggliest reader ever!  She stands and then sits and then stands and then sits… she can not sit still while she does her reading lesson!  It is the strangest thing.  Today I moved us to the couch to do her lesson so she couldn’t keep sitting/standing.  It worked!  So I think I have to do her lesson on the couch from now on.  She is doing great with her reading and sounding out words.  Super proud of her.

Oh yes!  Little Miss!  We dug out the walker for her over Christmas break so she had a new toy in the school room.  Huge fun!  She can even push herself backwards.  *no stairs for her fall down… we are in the basement*

At the end of every reading lesson they have you write a sound.  Well Max came over to write the letters too.  I have not tackled his pencil grip.  I will.  I have asked him to hold his pencil the correct way but for some reason he does not like the way it feels.  He always goes back to this. 

Then it was a math lesson.  Right now she is up to adding 10s.  She is learning different ways to add… this day was with a number line.

Every other day we read a chapter book together.  Right now they are in love with the Magic Tree House series!  Huge love!  Like they don’t want me stop after our two chapters!  They would read the entire book in one sitting if I let them.  The bad news is this is the last book I own.  So we either need to get it from the library or I need to get them ordered ASAP!  I kind of want them to take a break and read some different books, but it is going to be hard to convince them of that.

And that was a homeschool morning.  A rather quick morning actually.  I think we pushed everything into the morning so we could have the afternoon off so I could get some jobs done.

Mixing Paint + No Shoes

Last Wednesday morning I had an early morning chiropractor appointment.  All three kids did too.  Now, they do not like the chiropractor.  Mallory thinks it hurts.  Max just is being Max about it.  So I am preparing them and telling them they are tough they can do this!  It will make them feel so much better.  Both are battling colds and a little adjustment always helps them.  Anyway, I have convinced them not to cry (mostly Mallory) and let Dr. Jenny adjust them. 

Time to leave.  Everyone get your gear on and lets go.  Max needs socks so he runs to his room and he is taking forever in there.  I go look and he says “Mom I found my belt.” and he is holding up Mallory’s yellow plaid belt that goes with a pair of her shorts. 

Maxwell David!  You don’t even have socks on yet!

I know Mom.  But I found my belt.  I was wondering where my belt went.  And I found it.

Max!  That is not your belt!  That is Mallory’s belt!  Get some socks on and get ready!

I can’t find any socks I like.

I grab a pair of socks and he attempts to tell me they hurt his feet.  I am not buying.  So I put these socks on and he starts to cry.  I tell him all he has to do is wear the socks to Dr. Jenny’s and then he can come home and rip them off.  I send him downstairs to get shoes and a jacket on.

I grab Melanie and my grocery list (because I have to sneak to the store afterwards) and go downstairs.  Max is struggling with his jacket.  I get his jacket on and I guess I scratch him or something and crying happens again!  I put his hat on and send him to the van.

I am putting Melanie in the van and I look over at Max and he is sitting there in just his SOCKS!!!  He doesn’t have any shoes on!!

Max!  Why don’t you have your shoes on?!  Now mind you almost the entire state of Wisconsin canceled school this day because it was 35 below zero!  And my child is about to leave with no shoes on!  Thank goodness I looked at him or imagine how embarrassed I would have been getting to the chiropractor and he has no shoes! 

He tells me, “You told me to get in the van.” 

Ahhh!!  Pull my hair out!!  In the moment I was so beyond frustrated.  That night I am telling Jesse and I am laughing so hard I am crying! 

We came home and mixed paint to see what colors we could make.  Melanie sat on the counter and chewed on my lens cap.  I drank coffee and took pictures.  It was a rough Max day the rest of the day! 

Melanie Mae–6 Months

Thinking about Melanie being 6 months…  At first it feels like the time went way too fast.  Then at second thought it feels like she has been with us forever.

Her personality so far is very relaxed.  She doesn’t cry a whole lot.  Unless… we attempt pictures.  She is very content where ever we put her and if she gets bored she give us a little whimper.  But full on cry is not her.  For example I have the carseat cover on her carseat.  It goes over her face while I am outside.  There will be times where I carry her into the house and get distracted with the kids.   Look over and her cover is still over her.  She can push it off – but she doesn’t.  She could give a yell – but she doesn’t.  She just waits for me to come back and get her.

She knows how to roll – but she doesn’t do it very much.  She is working on sitting.  She likes to sit and dig in the toy box and pull out all her toys.  I still have to sit behind her because her balance is not the best yet.

Ah her nickname.  Before she was born I so very much wanted to call her Lanie and thought that was what we were going to do.  It never stuck.  I tried.  And I tried again.  And I sometimes still try.  It seems to be that we all call her Menie.  Which is what Max started.  Sometimes Max calls her Melon.  Sometimes Mallory calls her “Little Baby Pumpkin Pie.”  Which is kind of long, but she busts it out ever so often.  Otherwise she is Menie or Melanie. 

She is babbling!  I have heard her do “da-da-da”.  She also tests out her high pitch squeal.  Then she growls!  Like real growl!  It is the best when she growls. 

Third baby we start feeding her whatever we think she can do.  She is a big fan of food and not afraid to sample anything.  At Christmas she was sitting in the middle of the table (as usual) in the middle of us all.  Some how she reached behind her, grabbed Grandpa Dave’s spoon which was covered in a green minty-alcohol ice cream drink (a grasshopper).  She had cleaned the spoon before any of us noticed!!  She was extremely sneaky because like I said, middle of the table in front of us!  Green was everywhere!  She was not happy when we took the spoon away.

Sleeping.  Ugh.  She does not sleep through the night yet.  She had it, then she stopped.  She is getting up once and sometimes twice a night.  I just have to feed her and she is back to sleep in 15 minutes.  I am not sure that she needs to eat… it is just the easiest and fastest way for us both to get back to bed.  I like sleep.  I don’t do well with less sleep.  Her naps are a rough too.  She takes naps.  But they are real quick power naps.  30-45 minutes.  And she takes about 3-4 of them a day.  Now that I write this all out… the girl is in need of a schedule make-over!  The trouble with having older siblings and doing homeschool is we do things during the day and so our routine is not the same every day, like it was with the other two.  I can’t complain at all either because she is so easy and content and go with the flow. 

Two teeth!  Not one but two teeth already!  The week before Christmas I had a feeling they were coming because she was pretty fussy and just wanted to be in my arms at all times.  Then the week of Christmas I got sick.  Jesse took all the kids to his parents and I stayed home (so very hard for me to do, to be left behind).  He came home and said, “Melanie has a tooth!”  The day before she didn’t have it… and it happened to pop out on her first outing away from me!  I grounded her!  She can’t leave for another 6 months!

The three kids can’t get enough of each other!  They all love each other so much!  The excitement for their baby sister is so fun to watch!  When Melanie wakes up in the morning and one of them hears her babbling.  They will yell to the other “Melanie is awake!” and they run to her with toys and all kinds of stories to tell her.  Melanie will kick and yell back and give the biggest smiles to them. 

Super Hero & A Cheerleader

Over the Christmas break I did a bit in my Project Life binders.  I am still on 2013… been there for at least a year.  I love them.  It is so fun to see pictures of the kids.  You do not realize how quickly they can change in a year.  Mallory no longer has her baby look.  Max was just two!  Seems like a lifetime ago.

I did a really good job (in 2013) of capturing the every day with the kids.  I have really slipped on it.  One of my need to do better in 2015 is capturing the every day again.

My kids are constantly dressed up.  Mallory is usually a princess.  Whether that be in an actual princess costume or in one of her own fancy dresses.  Max is a super hero.  Or a hunter.  Or an animal.

This day I caught them as a cheerleader and a super hero. 

Finding Max

Ah bedtime.  One of my least favorite parts of the day.  For some reason the kids get really crazy at bedtime.  The giggles can’t be stopped.  The jumping.  The I need a drink of water.  The I need a heat pack.  The taking 15 minutes to get into pajamas.  The crying over Mallory beat Max getting her pajamas on.  On and on and on! 

Just yesterday I told Jesse that bedtime is all his!  He rocks it!  He can be silly with them!  He can read bible stories!  He can pray!  He has patience left!  He gets bedtime!  I can rock the rest of the day with them he can take this job!

These pictures are from before I passed bedtime off to him.  While I was getting Melanie into pajamas Max hid under his bed.  I can’t remember why he crawled under there.  1) He was either mad.  2) He was trying to scare me.

I knew he was under there.  After I was done getting Melanie ready, who is in a great mood.  I put her down on the floor on her belly to see if she could find him under there.  My first picture the settings are all wrong… but I like the picture so I had to include it.  Flaws and all.

Then I happened to catch her rolling over!

She hasn’t rolled much!  I have no carpeting in my house (except bedrooms and I don’t find myself hanging out in them) and two older siblings who run.  So I don’t put her on the floor much.

Max can not get enough of Melanie.  Melanie can’t get enough of Max.  He gets in her face.  She reaches for him and gets him back.

Mallory also loves her baby sister!  Melanie is a huge fan of Mallory!  She squeals and “talks” to Mallory.  Mallory says often she doesn’t want her baby sister to get big.  She wants her to be a baby forever.

Good night kids!  I will see you bright and early in the morning! 

Christmas Eve

I am horrible about getting pictures of the kids on Holidays.  When they are all dressed in matching clothes.  Baths were taken.  Hair was combed.  Teeth were brushed. 

We are always rushed!  Always!  I am always the last one to get ready and I am typically left with 15 minutes.  I don’t get to look like a real human too often, so I take all 15 minutes!  Well… Christmas Eve I said forget it!  Mascara is enough!  I wanted pictures this year! 

It was totally worth it!  I will treasure these pictures for a long time!  And well it was the only picture of them this Christmas!  : )  I never got them together for another picture.  I never got a single picture of the girls in their real Christmas dresses.

We went to church on Christmas Eve and they called all the kids to the front of the church while one of the pastors read a Christmas book.  Mallory and Max went.  Max was hesitant (as usual) but he went.  Each kid that went up put their name in a drawing to win the book afterwards.  As they are reading the book I am thinking… I need to remember this book and add it to our Christmas book collection.  (During Advent we read a Christmas book every night before bed.)  The story is over and they pull out a name… MAX FREY!  He was pretty proud of his new book!