Neglectful

I've been slacking. I have been feeling too sick to think about what to post.

We had a lovely holiday. We were a little too busy, I think. We can never seem to slow down when we go to Oregon. We rush around trying to see everyone and do everything and there is never enough time for everything we want! Sigh. We'll just have to take another trip. That's what I tell myself every time.

Camping was...interesting? My personal opinion? I loved the campground, but found it stressful with young children. Too many trees - they could just go wandering off. And we probably should have had the food station at the site where Josh and I were - it was larger. Camping with a lot of little children is somewhat stressful. I thought our meals were tasty - but maybe we should try a different system next time? Mom and I talked about trying it with everyone reserving their own site, planning their own meals. The kids could play together during the day - we could do campfire together during the night. What do other people do for their large family campouts? All I know is that I didn't have quite as much as I was hoping to have, but I plan to next time. :-)

We went home with the beginnings of colds. Natalie, Kenna, and I still have them. Oh, they're lovely. Natalie is supposed to get immunizations tomorrow but I think we'll pass until her little body has a chance to be healthy for a bit. Immunizations are always a bit of a bear without added viruses.

So what's new?
Natalie is starting to sit up unassisted.
Kenna is starting to string together short sentences (very short). "Mama! Baby sad." Hmmm. Could that be because you just sat on her and squished her? Only kidding. Kenna is usually too busy to trouble the baby. Usually. Except early in the morning when I'm hoping for a bit more rest and so I tell Josh to bring her into bed with me and Natalie (who is up even earlier!). Then she has nothing but love for her baby sister. Remember when Heather coined the phrase "squishy hug of death"? Well, Kenna takes that quite literally.

Brynne loved her first week of school. She's got a group of friends and enjoys herself tremendously. She loves her teacher. Her reading teacher is going to be another teacher that she already knows and loves. So all in all, a great beginning!

Hannah is getting organized for school. We've got a schedule. We've got a plan. We've even got some of our books!

Logan is...difficult for me. The little boy is SO smart! He is so BOY! He doesn't want to sit in one place very long. I do a lot of his schooling verbally/aurally so that we are interacting while he bounces, and hangs, and wiggles his way over the furniture. It just reinforces my personal belief that desks and boys under 8 do not belong in the same room.

I've been reading lots of books. One of the good things about being sick is you can do stuff like that. I finished a book called "The Name of the Wind". If you like the Robert Jordan books you'll probably like this. They are not really the same type of story, the writing struck me as similar - or the setting. Or something seemed familiar!!!
Mom has gotten me reading her D.E. Stevenson books, which are very Britishly entertaining (love British humor). I'm also reading my second book by Meindert DeJong, called "The Wheel on the School". The first one that I read was "The House of Sixty Fathers". Meindert DeJong is an award-winning author. The books are simply written - for children - but not simple books. Oh, and last but not least, Josh and I have been reading/listening to "Artemis Fowl". I've read the 1st and 4th books. Not sure where Josh is.
I've also listened to some of the Chronicles of Narnia on CD during our travels. Love those books as well. So all in all, a wonderfully literate couple of weeks!