The Fantastic Four

Silly Girl!

One day Daryl came up with this idea to put Lilly's hospital hat on her head. She is so excited about her little sister. She goes through the baby clothes daily and tells me how cute they are and how pretty Lilly will look in each outfit. Even though she is not into wearing clothes she is happy to dress Lilly in various dresses and onsies.

If you came to my door right now, you would see that none of children are clothed. It's not because I don't believe in clothing my children or because I got a late start to the day. It's not even because we are in the midst of moving and I just have so much to do that it I bypass clothing them. My children can undress in record time. A common phrase around the house is,
"Where are your clothes?!" or
"Why did you take your clothes off?" and
"I just put those clothes on you, don't take them off!"
Dressing four kids multiple times a day gets old real fast so... I just let it go. AND it doesn't matter what the temperature is in or outside of the house, they still take them off and then complain that they are cold!

Where is Spencer?

A fun game of hide and seek. Spencer has a favorite cabinet in the kitchen that is just his size. He loves to open it, sit inside and close the door behind him. It's cute to see his little face peek out as he laughs at his cleverness. I am in the kitchen so much that it is no wonder that my little shadow found instant entertainment to occupy him while Mama prepares each meal and snack.

Corey the Gymnastics Wonder

Our cousin had her fourth birthday party and we were invited to celebrate with her at Gerstung. I took all the kids with the help of my mom. Chaotic but the discovery was worth the labor. There were almost 20 four-year olds at this birthday party and while two of my children were apprehensive and pensive, Corey literally jumped into action. He was clearly in his element. From the trampoline to the wedges and swinging from the trapeze swing, he was a natural. The instructor commented on how focused he was throughout the exercises. I was delighted to see my son having a great time and discovering a talent whether he was aware of it or not. Now, it's my task to nurture this talent while allowing him to still be a kid and have fun with it. It's exciting and to witness your child excelling in something positive is a definite perk to motherhood.

Creativity

Mom letting Nic make his own Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich



The kids created this train track all by themselves, no adult intervention.



The kids and the GEO TRAXS. 6:30 am until 3 pm of non stop creativity.

Elizabeth Gilbert on Creativity
Ken Robinson on Creativity

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."

"Mistakes are the portals of discovery."

It's hard to be an adult and feel comfortable with your kids making messes and mistakes ALL the time. The messes and mistakes occur because they are learning and discovering. It's NOT a bad thing. I keep telling myself, "spilled Cheerios is NOT a bad thing. Spencer is developing his fine motor skills." or "A collage using glue, crayons and my nursing pads is Not a bad thing, it's an art project for Daryl. Yes, not my choice of medium but she is being creative." I want to allow them to discover the world and themselves but still maintain order, decency and integrity.

"Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence."
Norman Podhoretz

Baby Lilly

My friend Holly took these pictures of Lilly when she was 8 days old.
Seeing how beautiful these turned out I wished I had them done for our other children too. Sorry to say that Alisa offered to photograph the boys and I never took her up on it. I was so consumed and overwhelmed that I let it pass me by.

Having Lilly has been a delight. My recovery has been the best out of my previous sections. Hooray! The kids still adore her and I love holding her throughout the day. I love the way she smells. Hearing her baby snorts. Watching her stretch. And catching the random smiles that are just so cute!

I recently saw my niece Mya and she told her mommy that she wants to have a lot of babies just like Aunt Cole. Babies are the best! Love you, Mya!