6 Kids 5 And Under

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it would be like to have a big family. That's something I do on a regular basis, actually, but it's easier to visualize right now. Generally I've got a cluster of kids that are all pretty close to the same age. When we take the quad stroller and go walking, it's obvious to anybody paying attention that there is no way these kids could all be mine. Oh look! Four babies all around the same age-ish and then two more who just learned to walk! Not physically possible, not to mention one is Asian, two have red hair... whatever.

However, right now I've got two sibling groups who dovetail into each other, and then two infants. Today we went walking and I had Aurora, my Friday girlie who still needs a good Disney name, O'Malley, and Sebastian in the quad, and Duchess and Ariel walking. A man and his dog stopped to talk to us and made the predictable comments about my hands being full, just seeing the big kids who were petting his dog. Then he walked on by and saw the girls in the back of the stroller and just stopped in his tracks and goes, "HOLY CHRISTMAS!"

And I realized that for the first time in awhile, ALL the kids could conceivably be mine, biologically. The four bigger kids are all about 15-16 months apart, and Aurora and {help me think of a name for this new baby} are 6 weeks apart but look like they could very easily be twins.

5 1/2, almost 4 1/2, 3, almost 2, and 6 month old twins.

Good grief. This could be real.

I did tell him that most of them are my day job and only 2 belong to me. I have a feeling I'm going to want to start claiming them all though, just to see what people say to me. :)

25 Random Things About Us

This list is going around on Facebook, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to show off snippets and pictures and stuff that's happened so that I'll be caught up once and for all...

1. Snow White graduated and went to her new school at the beginning of January. We all miss her and the kids ask when she's coming back to visit. I hear she's doing fabulously well in her new place, which was never a doubt in my mind. She'd outgrown me. :)
2. Simba thinks he is one of the big kids now and I keep finding him in weird places quicker than I think he ought to be able to get there. He was trying to scale the shelves but got down when I went for the camera.
   
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4. I've also found him on top of the table this week, but I was too busy running to get him before he leaped off the edge to get a picture of it.
5. I have a new part-time baby girl who comes on Fridays sometimes. I can't think of a good Disney name for her.
6. It is taking Aurora quite awhile to get used to the fact that she has been dethroned from the title of The Only Infant In The House Who Should Be Held All The Time And Not Have To Watch Anyone Else Be Held Or Heaven Sakes Fed!
7. The big kids divide on gender lines most days now. Duchess and Ariel want to have tea parties or play Sorry! in another room, and O'Malley and Sebastian like to hang out and smash trucks into each other.
8. Most of them have a Webkinz account and so when they go outside they want to dig for gems or else make "gak" or "gunk" and stir a bunch of mud and rocks around and paint it on stuff.
9. Ariel has become even more dramatic lately and will throw herself into sad-looking positions and whimper and peek out through her fingers to see if I've stopped the universe for her. Usually I laugh at her and take her picture. It bugs her, but most of the time snaps her out of the funk because she wants to see what she looks like.
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11. Muffin Tin Monday has become a pretty regular occurrence around here and they like trying to figure out the theme. Today we had olives, cucumber slices, hot dog slices, carrot slices, cheerios, and string cheese slices. Circles. They were pleased.
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13. Our curriculum theme for February is Blast Off! and we're all really excited about it. I've been finishing up random bits of leftover months that we never got around to, and haven't ordered a new theme box in a few months.
14. I don't think I have found one thing that Simba will not eat. The kid can put away some groceries.
15. On the flip side, most meals he eats more than both Ariel and Sebastian do all day long.
16. O'Malley and Sebastian are trying to potty train. It's in that stage where I despair of it ever happening, but I know that all of a sudden one day it just WILL and I should stop worrying about it.
    
17. Ariel is beginning to drop her nap and I let her stay up two days a week and work on school while I do kindergarten with Duchess. They are learning to skip count by tens, fives, and twos. Duchess is annoyed that Ariel is picking it up as fast as she is- she wants to be the smartest one. :)
18. Duchess loves to hold Aurora and pretend that she's her baby sister. I think she wants to keep her.
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20. I wish I had a wardrobe as cool as Aurora's.
21. I'm really excited about the supply fee this month- it's been awhile since I bought a lot of new things for the playroom.
22. I'm looking at getting this for the babies. It looks like something they will enjoy. You put them on their belly and they can spin around and play with all the different parts of it.
23. I'm not sure what direction I want to go for the big kids- Lakeshore is such an awesome place! There are a million cool things there that would make our days more fun. I think this may be at the top of my list though.
24. I'd also really like a sand and water table that I can use for moon sand, but I'm not sure how practical it would be and if we could keep the area clean enough to not drive me batty.
25. I finally feel like I might be caught up on all our goings-on!
    

Thanksgiving Recap

I did post earlier about some of our prep work for the feast. I think it turned out fairly well. All the kids except for baby Aurora (who slept through the whole thing anyway!) were able to have at least one family member who came for lunch, and we had a lot of fun.

On the menu:
~turkey
~cornbread dressing
~creamy fried confetti corn
~mashed potatoes
~green beans
~caramel pumpkin cheesecake (from the pioneer woman's recipe)

I think there was some other stuff too but it's been too long and now I don't remember.

Supervised Visits As We Grow Older...

Back in November, Aurora got really good at sitting in the Bumbo chair just about the same time that Simba got the hang of crawling. That boy has been on the prowl nonstop ever since! He really wanted to come over and visit Aurora in an upclose and personal way, so I kept having to scoot her over. They had a lot of fun watching each other though- I think that this was one of the first days that Simba even really noticed there was another baby in the house.



In other "wow aren't we getting big" news, O'Malley is tumbling with the big kids on Tuesdays now. It's really fun to watch as they go from being so tiny to being able to bear walk and scoot-scoot and do all the cool physical activities Mimmie does with them.

Beginning the Catch Up!

It is Tuesday. The big kids are dancing with Miss Mimmie, Aurora is sleeping, and Simba is home sick. The kitchen is clean. Therefore, I plan to take the next little while to post on this poor neglected blog! Hopefully I can get a lot done. Usually I hate to post more than once a day because people tend to not see them, but man. We gotta lotta stuff to discuss!

First. I love this post about early homeschooling. This describes a lot of what we do around here, and makes me feel better yet again about not sending home an art project every day. Lots is happening in those early years!

Okay. Off to find pictures and pull together some posts!

Earning His Keep

All I have to say is this:

If Simba had an outfit like this, my floor would be spotless ALL THE TIME. This is hilarious!

Supers In the Family

A random funny conversation I heard today between Ariel and Snow White:

Ariel: Do you know about Batman?
SW: Yes!
Ariel: Why? Batman is for boys.
me: Well, you know about him because you have a brother- SW has a brother too, so she knows about it also.
SW: Yeah! My brother does Batman!

Ariel: Your brother is Batman? Whoa.....