Firehouse Tour

We are not officially part of a "homeschool co-op", but sometimes we leech onto one for their fun field trips. This time we headed to Minooka's firestation for a lesson in kitchen safety and a tour of their new facility. Their first safety lesson was "always work in the kitchen WITH an adult". Oh, boy, if they only knew... I'm not even out of bed when the kids start cooking. Although, in my defense, we have an electric stovetop with no open flames (the main concern for "fire"fighters, right?).

After a *free* pizza lunch (yay!) and our kitchen safety lesson, we were divided up into groups, each led by a firefighter, and given a tour of the new station. They divided us by table sections and our family got its own firefighter guide, Matt. We were introduced to him and, with astonishment in his voice, he said the typical, "Are they all yours?". "Yep", I replied. Then you could see his head physically bounce from kid to kid while doing the math, and came up with "Seven?" "Yep", I said (with a big smile, of course). He came back with, "My grandma had 13... I don't know how she did it." It's funny how many people relate our family to one they know that has alot of kids. I guess in their mind, it brings us a bit closer to reality? (OR they're just letting me know that we're not alone in the world, I'm not sure...)

At first, Firefighter Matt was a bit cautious, not knowing what these little homeschoolers were going to put him through, saying several times, "I don't know how you do it." I have to admit that at the point of taking the tour, I did look like I had "my hands full". I didn't know how extensive the tour was going to be, so I came unprepared... no stroller, no carrier... I had Selah in my arms which made it difficult to guide Nathan (who desperately needed his nap at this time!). I reassured Firefighter Matt that it was much easier at home than at a firestation.

After seeing that the kids weren't going to harm him in anyway, and realizing that they really were pretty well-behaved kids (aside from little Nathan who wanted to touch and climb on EVERYTHING), he started to enjoy himself. He had fun showing the kids the equipment and hoisting the kids up into the trucks (I had my hands full, literally, remember?). The kids had a great time too. I think we saw every nook and cranny in the entire station. Ellie and Grace were interested in finding out what lay behind every closed door. Along with the fire engines and ambulances, we saw the offices, the men's and women's locker rooms, the utility rooms, the dorm rooms, and just about every storage closet they had. We even went into their loft to see more old, stored supplies. The girls (and Nathan) would walk into a closet and just look around (many were empty because of the newness of the place). I'd have to say, "OK, come on out, let's keep moving."

We all had a lot of fun and learned a bunch. We now know the difference between a "firetruck" and a "fire engine", and that they no longer have those cool firepoles that you see in the movies for sliding down when the alarm goes off. As a peace offering for firefighter Matt, we went home and the Seth made a cute "Thank you" poster which everyone signed to take back to our tour guide. Hopefully, he won't soon forget this family... with nine people, chances are pretty good we may need his services at some point in the future...

Football in the future??

I am not a football fan. I don't mind watching the super-bowl, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoy the commercials as much or more than the actual game... I also have no intention of being a football-mom. Although at this point I enjoy watching my boys toss the football around the yard, just the thought of their knees bending the wrong way when they tackle eachother makes my own knees weak. I'm well aware that a future in football means a future of injuries, and I'm just not interested.

The boys enjoy tossing the football around and tackling eachother (outside, of course). They like it even more when we have friends over and they can get a little game going. They also like to toss the football across the living room and make diving catches onto the couch. At the expense of our ceiling light, they won't be doing that anymore... But I do allow them to play "football" with Nathan inside on occasion. After all, Nathan is only 2. That fact alone should keep them subdued, right? Nathan seems to be entranced by the thought of "taking down" his bigger brothers. They play along and will let him tackle them, and he loves it! (as you can see from the video)

Just today, the boys, in their sweetest voices, asked if they could play flag football this fall at the CYC. Yep, I know where this is going. No little boys are going to pull the wool over my eyes... Sure, flag football sounds harmless enough, but today it's flag, tomorrow it's tackle and the next day we're paying for a broken arm... Nice try boys, but for now we'll just sit on the sidelines and watch some other mom get that bill... :)

Seventh Baby Syndrome/ Selah's 1st bath

Seventh Baby Syndrome: the realization that many of the things you did, and baby products you owned with baby one and two were completely unneccessary, and take up too much ever-needed space and/or time.

I must have decided that one of those space-wasters was the big plastic baby bath tub, because I couldn't find it anywhere. We really only used it for the "First Bath". Each "bath" after that would consist of Paul handing the baby to me in the shower to do a quick wash and handing him/her back out. It's much more efficient and keeps baby warm. That works until they can sit up and then they take a bath on the floor of the shower or with another of the younger kiddos.

I almost skipped the whole "first bath" scenerio, but for the sake of pictures in the baby album... here it is. Selah's umbilical cord fell of at 5 days old. All the kids born in a hospital took around 2 weeks to lose it, but the ones born at home were all under a week. I attribute it to the wash-down they give the babies in the hospital. It's well-known that babies are born with a great deal of good bacteria on their skin and when they have their first wash within hours of being born, all that good stuff gets scrubbed off (as well as being chilled and having to lay under a warming light away from mom for at least an hour... a lousy introduction to the world). At home, aside from maybe a washcloth to the hair, I don't give them a bath until after their umbilical cord comes off, giving them a few days to absorb that good bacteria. After all, I'm guessing, God wouldn't put that all over their bodies without reason...

This picture reminds me of when she was first born.

One thing that we haven't skimped on, though, is daddy's help with the first bath. He's been there for each one to take pictures and wrap baby up afterward. Makes for a great daddy/daughter picture...

... and a Happy New Year!

Well, it's a New Year and things are still rolling along... the kids stayed up with us until 11 and we watched the New York count down (on the internet) and had our traditional super rich and creamy homemade eggnog. Nathan was so cute as he tried to figure out why everyone was saying "cheers" and tinging their glasses together. I assume he gave up trying to come up with a reason and just joined in the fun because he would just go around to everyone and insist that you bump glasses with him.

Grace had sparkling cider (we still have her off wheat and dairy, which has been a pain, especially over the holidays... no more ear infections as of yet, though!)

Ellie

Selah with a crabby look on her face. Though she's not a crabby baby, "angry eyebrows" seem to come naturally to her.

Finally!!! The pictures for this blog have been sitting on my computer for a week waiting to be typed up and posted. I have bunches of thoughts in my head, but finding the free hands to type them up is proving a bit hard right now... so for now, it's mostly pictures :)