7 Quick Takes

~~1~~

Favorite number.

Do you have a favorite number?  Four is like music to my ears.  My birth-date is on the fourth, but I just have a thing for even numbers and I find four to be so appealing.  Twos (because of course, the square root of 4) and fours are where it's at, and I was so happy that my first 3 kids were all born on evens...2, 22, and 20.  Then we had Thomas on the 21st.  At least there's a 2 in it, and it's our anniversary date (only chosen because it was the only date left!), but I will sure do my best to make sure any future babies have a good birthdate!  Ironically, I'm not attached to the number 4 as in 4 children, even though we're always getting comments on having the "perfect" family with 2 of each gender.  I have a hard time choosing a favorite color or favorite food, but ask me any day my favorite number!

~~2~~

Weaning failure.

Yes, I went almost 6 days without appeasing my nursing toddler and then caved in with the cries of the wee morning hours today.  My body was just not handling the transition well, and I was literally starting to erupt like a volcano last night, milk flowing down my shirt.  And don't ask me how many times I've started to cry this week for no good reason.  It was time to give myself a break, and my baby a little night-time comfort.  Even though we had a little setback, hopefully I'm getting close to one of the few times in the past decade when I won't be nourishing another human being inside or outside my body!  I think there was only a 2-week span when I had weaned Ellie before getting pregnant with Steven Joseph.  Yay for a break!

~~3~~
resolved2worship blog.

These are the most beautiful photos I have seen in awhile.  I love her words, too, about God being ever present through the storms of life.  But I just can't get those images of her four angelic girls out of my head.  Her photography is stunning, as are her children (4 girls and 4 boys ;)

~~4~~

One

 Two

Three

 Four

Oh yes, I like that number!  My four sweetest blessings!

~~5~~

Homeschool.

We plan to start on Monday, although I still don't have all our books.  I need to stop myself from researching new (expensive) programs.  I'm excited about our new science book with accompanying journals and lab kit, and have just found the next perfect (expensive) spelling program for Mary Clare.  Then there are the other reading and spelling programs that I keep reading about which might be just right for Steven Joseph and Ellie.  Ah, where to stop?

Finally our co-op plans are coming together.  We'll be going to our parish each Friday morning, where Steven Joseph will attend the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program (Montessori religious ed), and hopefully the girls will get to have some structured classes with their parish homeschool friends, too.  I was going to run the nursery at another new Catholic co-op, but after some time of discernment it seems right for us to attend the activities at our parish.  It will be nice to get out of the house every Friday morning, and hopefully attend daily mass there, too!  And I might even get to do some training to become a Good Shepherd Catechist.  It's something I've always been interested in, but wasn't offered in Houston.  So excited!  Have any of you been involved with this program?

~~6~~

Houses.

I'm tiring of looking for houses.  It's actually that we can't seem to find a neighborhood/area that we really like and is in our price range with homes that don't require major renovations.  It may be that we just stay in our rental for awhile, but it would be nice to be putting our money into an investment, along with having room for guests and a nice yard (two of our big priorities).  Tonight we rented another RedBox movie for the kids to watch while we drove to a nearby town, and we drove around during naptime today, too.  I know that the right home always comes at the last hour for us, but it's hard to be an internet-searching addict, always scouring for the newest listings!  We are so picky!  I do enjoy the thrill of the hunt, though.

~~7~~

Savior Neighbors.

As I'm here talking about wanting to move, I will say that we have 2 nearby neighbors who continue to save me from losing my mind during hard weeks like this one!  I had really had it one afternoon, when I got a text from one neighbor offering to come take the girls over to play.  She also brought 2 bags of adorable clothing that didn't fit her daughter!  Another day, the grandma neighbor came with her granddaughter and both my girls went over there to play for a few hours (and both my boys fell asleep, score!).  Finally, today the first neighbor invited us to the pool this afternoon, saving me again from those long hours waiting for Daddy to come home.

~~~

And so we've survived the last week of summer.  I can't say it was great, but I will say that I have almost made it through, and we have lots of things to look forward to in the coming weeks!  Bring on the fall activities!