An Action Packed Three Weeks

We have had an "action packed" three weeks. It started a little over three weeks ago when Mark headed to Texas for some training for work. He left on Sunday, and was due to return on Friday afternoon. I have to admit that I hate it when Mark has to travel! We all miss him! It always gives me a renewed respect for single moms, because it is hard to parent alone! We had a pretty good week, and had made it to Thursday night. I put the children to bed, rejoiced that it was my last night of solo bedtime routine, and headed to bed early.

Around 11:00, I heard a blood curdling scream and was across the house before I was even awake. I realized it was Eli and grabbed him out of his bed. I thought that he was having a nightmare, so I tried to wake him up. He stopped screaming, and I realized that he had slipped into a seizure. I was terrified! Olivia had a febrile seizure several years ago, so I cognitively knew what was probably happening, but emotionally, I was a wreck. He had been congested for a few days, but he did not feel like he had a fever. I called Mark (who was nine hours away), and he calmed me down a bit. He called our neighbor, and then got in the car and started the long trip back in the middle of the night with no sleep! I called 911 and my friend Stacy. The first responders were there within about five minutes, and I gave Eli to them and got dressed. His seizure lasted almost fifteen minutes. He was starting to come out of it when the ambulance got there. Our neighbor arrived, and I got into the ambulance. As we were pulling out, I saw Stacy running barefoot across my muddy yard (It is a precious memory of a faithful friend). She had gotten to my house in record time.

We arrived at the emergency room and they put me in the waiting room. Another precious friend, Melissa, came to sit with me. I was so thankful that she was there! They came to get me to try to calm Eli down. He was exhausted and very upset. He had a 102 degree fever, and so they began looking for the source of the infection. They did blood work and a chest x-ray. It ended up that he had an ear infection. The doctor decided to keep Eli over night for observation, and we finally got into a room around 3:00. It took about four attempts to finally get an IV in, and then they started an IV antibiotic. We finally got to rest around 4:00.

Stacy stayed with my children through the night. They had no idea anything had happened until they woke up the next morning. Mark arrived around 9:00. I was so thankful that he made it home safely. He was exhausted! Eli and I were able to come home around 4:00. I put him down for a nap around 5:00 and he slept all night until 6:30 the next morning.

After the terror and exhaustion of the night faded away, I was overwhelmed with thankfulness. I was so thankful that our little man was ok. I was also incredibly thankful that we have only lived here seven months, and God has already given us people that we can call on when we need them. Over the next few days, we had several more people tell us to call them when we need help. I often wish that we could be close to our family, but that does not seem like a possibility right now. God has blessed us so richly with Christian brothers and sisters while we are away from our family. I am so thankful!

Our Little Fish

Eli loves to take a bath! We got a new bathseat for him, and it has been a great product! He is a cute little fish!

Three Princesses and a Prince

The girls were invited to a princess birthday party last month. They wore the flower girl dresses from my brother's wedding. I was able to slow them down for a few moments to snap a few pictures. Isaac tagged along to play outside with some other boys (they wanted nothing to do with the princess festivities!). I snapped a few shots of him getting some energy out on the "jumpoline" (as Anna Grace calls it). Eli stayed home with Daddy, which was a very nice break for Mommy!

It has been far too long since I last posted! We have finished six weeks of school, and my multi-tasking abilities have been stretched to the limit! This has been my most challenging school kick off so far (Warning, small whine ahead!). Between schooling the three older ones, keeping Eli out of trouble, giving Anna Grace attention, and keeping up with my household duties, I am wiped out by bedtime! Mark has been tackling our backyard drainage issues much of the past six weeks, so he has not been able to help as much as usual in the evenings. On top of that, I had a bad case of mastitis this month, which had me down for several days. As a result of all of that, there have been times when my joy has threatened to run away! In spite of the challenges, I am still so thankful for the opportunity to homeschool the children. They are truly a blessing! Now that we are settling into our school year, I hope to be more regular at documenting our day to day life!

Unplanned Science Lessons

We have had a few science activities the past week or two that I can not take credit for! Olivia got her little hands on a packet of sunflower seeds a month or two ago, and our house is looking quite sunny! The children decided to search for the seeds inside the flower, and had a great time harvesting the little black treasures!

Our Sunny Girl--

Treasure Hunting--

My dad gave me a Salvia plant when we moved into our house. I planted it by the front steps, and we have had a great time watching that plant! It attracts lots of butterflies, moths and bees. Anna Grace has especially been a moth catcher.

The Salvia plant has also attracted a beautiful spider (I never thought I would call a spider beautiful!).

Mark and Isaac were outside, and Isaac heard some chirps coming from one of the trees. Mark lifted him up, and they discovered some newborn baby birds. Mark became the elevator to help each of our children see the babies. It was quite exciting! I decided to call the little one with his mouth wide open Eli. I think he resembles our little Eli! I sympathize with that Mama Bird -- she has some meal planning to do!


I need to get busy and provide them with some resources to learn out more about the science adventures they have had!

Class Portraits

Not Pictured-- Eli, who was fast asleep!

Our First Week of School

We finished our first week of school this week. Olivia is in Kindergarten this year, so I am "officially" teaching three students this year. Anna Grace joins in when she is interested, and Eli is into everything! I read a book about "Workboxes" over the summer, and I am trying out a few of the ideas this year. I adapted the system to fit our family. Each of the children (besides Eli) has a tower of drawers. I separate their work for the day into the boxes, and they work start at the top and work their way down. Some boxes are tagged "work with Mom", and they work on those boxes with me. If I am busy with someone else, they skip that box until I am ready to work with them. Some of the boxes have games or other fun activities. Anna Grace has preschool activities that she works on when she is interested. I am very pleased with how it is working. It helps to solved the problem of everyone wanting my attention at once, because they know what to do next if I am busy. It also helps me to be more prepared for the day, because everything is laid out the night before. We are off to a great start!

Our Workboxes

Here they are hard at work on their journals--
Here is Eli doing his "work"!

Our Class Portrait--