Keeping "busy" =)

No, I'm not up and around yet...I'm keeping myself occupied (a.k.a. :  feeling productive) by chasing links online today.=) And...I just found this one that I thought some of you might like. I was excited as it's a recipe for naturally tinted lipgloss. I've been wondering how to naturally tint some and... voila', here it is.
 http://www.pinkpistachio.com/lip-gloss/

 We ( Aaron, Asher, Wyatt and Mommy) just had a picnic in my bed for lunch. The other 5 children are still at Silla's and Ed is at work. Soooo. Quiet day.
 Well, that's all for now. =)
                             

Our chicks

Our chickies when we first got them!

Our chickies now.

Oh and may I say....  Ed made both the brooder box in the top photo as well as the coop they are in now. =)))) Hoping to add pics of the garden soon too!

Wyatt at one week old

Wyatt is doing so great at one week! We just weighed him and he is 10 lbs 2 oz, so he has barely lost anything at all! He eats like a horse and is just a calm, sweet little guy. The children are loving him, of course and Asher always comes to check on him first thing every morning!
  Aaron got to spend 2 days with a close friend the first part of the week and Priscilla came last night and got my middle 5 children to spend a couple days with her. I'm not sure what to do with my house being so quiet, but I'm glad for the kids' sake. They have all worked so hard these last several weeks to keep the house running (esp. the older ones) and are now getting a little fun time. Ed has been tireless in   everything he has been doing since baby was born. Not only has he been seeing to the cooking and laundry, but he has been building a coop for our chickens and tending our seedlings and building our garden beds.
  Oh, yeah....about that. Lol. So much has been happening I forgot to tell you all that we have 9 chickies. We got them one week before Wyatt was born and they are now ready to move to the back yard. All 9 are going to be laying hens and I believe we have 3 different breeds: 3 Americana, 3 Buff Orpington, and 3 Bard Rock. The kids have loved tending to them! Between the chickens and the garden I can't wait to see what our harvest will be! Anyway...chicken pictures will be in the next post. =)

P.S. I've had several request for more details on Wyatt's birth so I guess I'll be writing his birth story soon. You'll have to forgive me for delaying it....I need a little more time to recover before I can be very objective about it. ;) 

Thanks for checking in!

                                     

Introducing:

                                                      Wyatt Randolph Blakeman
                                                        Born March 22, 5:35 am
                                                 Weight : 10 lbs 15 oz (aka 11 lbs!)
                                                         Length: 21.5 inches


 So happy to announce the arrival of this big little man at looooong last! He is doing super great and I am getting there. =) I'll spare you the details as far as labor went, but will say "His grace is sufficient...". There were thankfully no complications, it was just very long. And may I add...it is so great to be able to breathe and not have heartburn anymore!!!!!
 
 Here are a few more pics of the little man. I'm hoping we can do a photo shoot with all the kids before long!

38 weeks and counting...

While fully aware that I have been putting off updating my blog, I will say that I have tried a couple time lately and been distracted every time.
  However that may be...here I am now. I'm am just about to wrap up the most necessary of my sewing projects. Not that I will ever "be done" but at least what I have done should last if the baby decides to come at any time now. =) We can't wait! Ed gets off in the morning so I have been "suggesting" to baby that would be an ideal time. =)
  My latest project, is a bedding set for the sister of a dear friend. She couldn't find anything she liked so Monday evening they all invited me to go along while we shopped for fabric and nursery decor. Ed was home that evening so I had a long-overdue, and very-much-enjoyed shopping trip with Britney Harper and two of her sisters. We left about 6 and didn't get home until 10, but surprisingly even then I wasn't tired. Must have still been running on adrenaline. =) It was such a fun outing! So then, yesterday, I got all of it sewn up and was so thankful that it came together as easily as it did. The Lord blessed so much!
 I will be posting a bunch of pics (computer allowing) to my "projects" page instead of here, so you will be able to click over there and see them.
 I guess today my goal will be (besides updating my blog) to get the kids on some more school, as well as more stuff printed out.  As far as the kids are concerned....we are finally coming out of a "colds and flu" spell. I do still have a couple sniffing and coughing, but thankfully looks like everyone is on the mend. I have been prepping all the kids to take on more responsibilities around the house for when the baby comes. I can't have everything falling apart while Ed is at work. And the kids are plenty big enough to help too. I'm so thankful for how responsible they are getting to be and how willing. Aaron, Lela and Alyssa take turns helping get meals ( I don't know if I mentioned getting a ton of freezer cooking done so it's easier for them). Aaron pretty much takes care of changing and bathing Asher all the time now.( I'm hoping to start potty training as soon as the weather is consistently warm.) A couple weeks ago I realized I needed to come up with a good solution for keeping up with that little whirlwind of ours so I created a harness system. He wears the harness and I ( or whoever is in charge of keeping an eye on him) wear the belt with a long ribbon that clips on the back of his harness. It really works to keep him from wandering off with out us noticing. (i.e. while I'm sewing or teaching) We only use this at home but it has greatly reduced the chaos and I feel better knowing that when I can't get up and chase him he will still be safe. He had gotten to the point of being able to open locks and doors and would go out on the front porch and greet the neighbors. !!!!!!! Thankfully we have really good neighbors, but that still scares me to death, so....hence the "Asher Harness". But...the upside to that is he is with me most of the time and helps with whatever I'm doing, which he really loves. And I do too.  Oh, and his latest thing is obsessing over his shoes. He LOVES shoes and gets soooo frustrated when he can't put them on right. To the point I've had to make it a discipline issue. If he can't get them with out pitching a fit he can't wear them. =/
  Ky is going through a phase where she goes between being super helpful and super whiny... but I'm still always surprised at how much she can do well. It is now her and Levi's job to fold all the towels and put away all the ones they can reach. She is so excited about this baby coming (as are all the kids)...she has lately been bringing me her favorite stuffed animals and putting them in the baby's cubbies "for the baby to play with when she comes".  Too sweet!
  Levi is a great little helper when he's not pretending to be a cowboy. He goes everywhere with a gun strapped on. (Just like Papa does. =) He is moving along well in Kindergarten and I'm hoping to have him reading before long. He is more than ready, Mama just hasn't taken as much time with him as he needs. (ahem)
 Isaac has now entered the ranks of the dishwashers. We had realized he wasn't getting nearly enough responsibility compared to the older ones so I decided to increase his work load. It's slow going  some days, but once he realizes there is no getting out of it or running off to play, he can get his chores done
with surprisingly good results. I have to keep remembering to dish out chores and errands to all the younger ones as well as the older ones, even though the older ones do it better. They all have to learn even if it is inconvenient for me at times.
  Lyssa, Lela and Aaron are all doing well in school, as is Isaac. The girls have been making progress and experimenting with their sewing and Aaron has just been given a computer programming book. And ALL my kids can be found at any given moment of the day with their nose in a book.
  School seems to be a constant re-evaluation process on my part, but I guess that is all of life, when you think about it. My tendency is to try do things they way they have always been done and to feel badly when I don't get everything done (which is most of the time). But I've realized that for our family, some things are not going to change anytime soon and that it's not a bad thing. We will just plan to school year round and if we don't get "school" done every day I'm not going to fret. They have tons of life lessons to learn.
   On that note.....we have recently become the proud owners of about 2 1/2 acres of land and are hoping to build this year as the Lord provides the money. We already have our cabin plans...so it could be sooner than we think or it could be longer. We plan to start with a smaller cabin that we can build quickly and inexpensively, and then once we are on the property we will add on and build a barn, get animals, etc. We are all so excited about "moving to the country" as the kids like to say. It will definitely be a change, but a welcome one. It's probably the main topic of conversation at our house these days. That and baby. =) Sooooo, as I was saying about life lessons..there are loads of them to learn, both now and as we make plans to move in the future.
  I got my seeds planted today...the ones that need to be started indoors. I'm hoping I'm not too late. We have more to plant outside as soon as Ed gets my "containers" built. We tried planting without them last year and got poor/no results so we thought maybe we can control the soil and water better in some box gardens. So far I have tomatoes (2 kinds), onions (2 kinds), red sweet peppers, and red cabbage started and hope to add 2 kinds of corn, lettuce, broccolli, melons, carrots, and green beans outside. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of our endeavors! We are also making plans to visit Charlie's U-pik again as soon as they have produce.
 Well, before I go into labor and this gets filed under drafts...I guess I better quit writing and start uploading some pictures.
 Hoping to blog again soon!