Camp Akita!!

One of the great things about homeschooling my kids is that I get to spend so much time with them.  But one of the hardest things for them is how much time they spend with me.  Don't get me wrong, they spend lots of time with friends and cousins, but sometimes they just need a fun day with other kids.  So that's what we did today. 


Camp Akita is just a little over 30 minutes away from us and they have opened up their camp to our homeschooling coop for free once a month.  Today was our first day out there and we had a blast!!  It was a little cold and wet, so we spent several hours out there at the lodge doing crafts and playing games.  Look what a great time we had!

Petra supplied a craft for all the kids to do together.  Even Micah enjoyed that and he doesn't usually like to stay in one place for too long. 

Jody organized games for the kids.  Relay races are always fun! 

This game was a big hit.  I can't remember what she called it but we used to call it "the blob"!

Who says you have to group kids together by age?  We had 15 kids ranging from one month to 13 years old.  While I don't think Isaac actually had any strong opinions, the rest of them seemed to have a great time together despite their age differences.  And how great is it to see the big kids playing with the little kids? 

Growing, Growing, Growing

I actually posted the birth story yesterday so I could post this today. 

Isaac was 7 lbs 15 oz at birth, my second biggest baby (Chloe was 8 lbs 3 oz, Jadon, 7 lbs 12 oz and Micah 7 lbs 5 oz).  At 10 days old he was 8 lbs 2 oz.  At 2 1/2 weeks he was 9 lbs.  Who knows how big he is today, but I would not be surprised if he's already pushing 10 lbs.  He really likes to eat!!  So Friday, I decided to document my little porker.  Although any excuse to take pictures of my baby will do, right?

Number Four

While I realize this post is a little late in coming, I thought I'd fill in a little info about our newest addition.  Isaac James was born Tuesday, Sept 15 at 6:05 pm.  Although I had been having strong contractions pretty regularly since Sunday morning, they never really got to the point of actual labor until Tuesday afternoon.  Every time I thought they might be going somewhere, they'd slow down to about 20 min apart or even stop completely.  Tuesday morning, I woke up at about 4:30 am and had pretty regular contractions about 7 or 8 minutes apart for several hours.  I even went so far as to ask Kevin to hold off going to work until they slowed down to 10 to 12 min apart by about 9am. 


After lunch, I put all 3 kids down for naps and laid down myself.  At that point, the contractions were coming just under 20 minutes apart and were really just a nuisance.  All that changed at about 3:30pm.  Jadon got up from his nap a little after 3 and I got up soon after.  In the next half hour I had 3 or 4 contractions that were only relieved by walking around the house.  Ellen came over for some reason I can't remember anymore but she had to follow me around the house in order to have a conversation because I could not stop pacing.  At this point the contractions were still 8 or 9 min apart, but they were definitely more intense.  So I called Kevin and asked him to come straight home after work.  Then Ellen, Megan and I took the kids to the park.  I figured I had more room to pace there and maybe it wouldn't look so funny. 


Soon after that Kevin came home and grabbed my bag and headed to the park to pick me up.  We got to the hospital at about 5pm.  I was only 3 cm dilated, but the contractions were coming fast and furious at that point.  The nurses kept talking about when I got into "active" labor, which blew my mind because I couldn't figure out how much more active it could actually get.  My midwife was not on call so the OB came in a few minutes before 6.  My water still hadn't broken, so she thought she had a little more time.  In reality, she had no time to spare.  My water broke before she had a chance to do it herself and along came Isaac James. 

His delivery was a little scary because the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, and so tightly that they made me stop pushing so they could cut it off before he was completely delivered.  Thankfully, he is just perfect despite the momentary panic in the room.

Jody and Mark came by shortly after his birth so Jody could document our newest gift.  What a blessing he is! (And how great to have so many photographers in the family!)

Science lesson

Remember the "Song of the Cebu"  fromVeggie Tales?

Well I always thought they were fictitious animals.  Apparently, though, they really do exist.  Right here in central Illinois.  Even Mommy has to learn something new once in a while. 

There is a pumpkin patch north of us, about 45 minutes that I've always wanted to go to, but I've never gotten around to it.  So last Friday Jody, and Megan and I had plans to take the kids finally.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate.  So on Wednesday, after naptime, I packed up my troupe and took them myself. 


They had a blast!!


This place has fun little petting zoo with, you guessed it, Zebus!! 


They've got a fun playhouse, big enough for my girl, with slides for getting down from the house.

They've also got a corn maze that looks pretty cool, but it's kinda expensive and not something I want to do with four kids anyway.  But they also have a "corn shock" maze just for the kids.  All three of my biggies will tell you this was their favorite part. 

Of course they have pumpkins, some of them are enormous!!

This bad boy weighed almost 900 pounds!!


It was really great to do something fun with the kids.  I think they've been getting a little stir crazy because everything seems to be about the baby lately, so I was glad to get out with them.  Of course we did bring little Isaac along and he stayed warm and content with Mommy in his snuggly little sling right up until we left. Then we had to document the day with a picture of all four of my kids together.  I just think they are darling!

Baby brother love

I know it's been forever and I've not done much to satisfy the need for more pictures, but you'll have to forgive me. I've ignored my camera a lot these past couple of weeks. I'll try to do better. In the meantime, here are the proud big sister and brothers. Megan came up to the hospital with Kevin and the kids after Isaac was born and she took some pictures of my kiddos with the baby.

They just dote on him. Jadon loves to give him kisses. I am constantly reminding him to kiss hiss head, not his face. Micah ignores the baby most of the time, but every once in a while, he finds the need to come play with him or hold him for a bit. I think he'll like him a whole lot more when they can do a little more playing instead of just watching. Chloe is having a great time being a big sister to a newborn. She's a great helper. Isaac hates to be left alone, so she often volunteers to talk to him and keep him calm while I'm occupied with the other kids or doing dishes or fixing dinner. She's also gotten to be a big help with Jadon. He usually goes to her for help making his bed or putting on his shoes or coat. She definitely makes the transition to Momma of 4 a lot easier for me to handle.

We're having lots of fun, but life is definitely a challenge right now. We're hoping to start school again next week and get into a more normal routine. I'll let you know how that works out. Hopefully I can give my camera the attention that it needs, too!