Back to School 2012

Our small class ... 

Grant - 6 1/2

Max - brand new

Shari - baby

Nicole - very nearly 10

Scotty - 4 1/2

Our first week was full of fun and surprises ... New books and games, favorite lunches, a picnic at a new park, and an impromptu tour of a fire station.  Scotty was acting too shy to ask any questions, sit in the firetruck or try on the gear, but Nicole wasn't afraid at all ...

We are studying colonial American history this year, and trying to squeeze in as many field trips as possible to match our reading.  Coming up soon are Philadelphia, Jamestown, VA and Mount Vernon. 

The kids have been begging to learn French, so we have started playing Uno in French.  Very fun and funny!  Even Scotty plays in French.  Don't mention it to the others, but Scotty has the most authentic accent.  It's so cute!

Based on a recommendation from a friend, we have started our literature studies with a book about a boy and a bear in Alaska called Gentle Ben.  We are loving this book!  We are learning a lot about Alaska in the process.  The kids can't wait to visit the Alaskan tundra in the fall to see the spectacular colors, and we watched a documentary on the Alaskan salmon run, in which we will take part as soon as we obtain residency.  The locals say you just dip your net into the rivers and pluck the salmon right out.  That's first-hand, not from the movie.  Just watch out for bears. :)

Nicole has been reading the Harry Potter series (finally).  Grant just finished another book from the Boxcar Children.  Scotty's latest reads are on the topics of trains, monster trucks and sharks.  Every night he asks me to read him a bedtime story.  Tonight he said, "I just love bedtime stories!  I can't sleep unless you read me a bedtime story."

I try to find my own reading time here and there.  It usually comes down to a choice between reading and sleeping.  Like Scotty, I absolutely cannot sleep until I have read from one of my books.  Having loved Great Expectations so much, I started David Copperfield.  I really adore Charles Dickens.  For a quick read, I just finished The Giver.  It's a thought-provoking book that channeled 1984 and Hunger Games (think planned society).

I met a woman the other day who said, "I would love to homeschool my kids, but I just don't think I could do it.  I'm not smart enough."  That's something that people say all the time.  I don't know if they really would like to homeschool their kids, but I told her something that has helped me: "Homeschooling is not transmitting knowledge from my brain to the brains of my children.  It is learning and discovering together."  I think most of what we study in school are things I either (a) never learned or (b) don't remember from school.  Every day I learn so many new things ... some from books, some from new places, and some that the kids discover and share with me.  Homeschooling really is the best!

Shari Turns 1

Shari Brooke, at one year old, is still our most contented baby ever.  She is ALWAYS smiling!  You can't help but smile back when you see her huge grin.  She really brings sunshine into the room.

We had a small present ceremony (thanks to her aunts).

And we had a small cake ceremony (thanks to her siblings).

Shari is walking when she chooses, which is about half of the time.  She crawls upstairs (a million times a day), but not down.  When she wants to come down, she sits on the edge of the top step and screams for help.  She says "woof" when she wants one of Nicole's stuffed animals, and she says "mmm" when she eats.  She also makes a noise for something that is yucky (like a diaper), claps her hands when she is happy, and tries to brush us away with her hands when she doesn't want us to take something away (like a book).  She has recently learned to scream a la Scotty, which, in the unlikely event you have forgotten, is high-pitched and eardrum-piercing. And she has the cutest dance moves.

We love our Shari-berry!

Stop Already!

Max is three weeks old today, and if he grows any bigger, I swear my heart will break!

Actually, if I could, I would just freeze the kids as they appear in this picture.  All of them!  I know everyone has the right to grow up and all, but if I could secure an exemption, I would be eternally grateful.

A Little Here and There

All in one day ...

This is right up Scotty's alley, but Grant is the responsible party this time.

Our fridge is on top with the freezer-drawer below, so Scotty had to move a barstool over to stack his yogurt.

Nicole followed patterns and made a paper airplane shop for the family.  Sign indicates they are "free!"  We had so much fun flying these all afternoon.  We got some airplanes to do loop-de-loops and twirls.  Oh what delights can come from such simple things!

Our Big Baby

Shari is almost one year old, and it's nearly impossible to believe that she was our preemie in the NICU last August.  Unfortunately, that has not been her only hospitalization.


About two weeks after we moved to Pittsburgh (and just a week before Max was born), Shari came down with Kawasaki's Disease.  It's a rare and crazy auto-immune disease that should not be leaving any permanent damage.  However, it required a five day stay at the children's hospital with IV meds.  Yuck!  Part of the "disease" is irritability, probably due to all-over body pain and the constant feeling that a foreign object is stuck in your eyes.  Because of this, Shari was fussy and screaming at everyone.  My mom spent the first sleepless night with Shari and then was relieved by Clint in the morning.  I came for the afternoon shift and found Shari asleep on Clint's lap.  It was her first peaceful moment since getting admitted to the hospital the night prior.

Clint and I both stayed with her during the days, and I spent the nights on the couch with her.  My mom was in town because we thought Max would be born soon, so she was able to stay at home with the big kids.  We kept thinking that I would go into labor while staying with Shari and then just waltz on over to the Women's Hospital.  But as it turned out, Max didn't come until Shari had recovered completely and had been sleeping happily at home for a few days.  Shari's recovery was rapid, and we were so grateful!  We had an excellent team of doctors looking after her -- all the way down the line of attending, fellows, senior residents, interns and medical students.  I wish I had taken a picture of grand rounds visiting Shari's room.  I think we had 12 doctors reporting on/following her status every morning!


It's strange to have a baby in the hospital, especially when they are almost better.  Shari was stuck there for at least a day feeling great, but unable to be discharged while she was monitored for relapse.  So the nurses brought in toys, and she crawled around her room.  I finally brought her own PJs because the hospital gown was so big!

On our last morning at the hospital, the attending physician came into the room alone.  He gave me a brief report while I held Shari in my arms.  She had grown leery of the hospital staff by this time, due to all of the pokes, midnight alarms for medication, temperature readings, etc.  He held out his arms to her and asked, "Can we still be friends?"  She looked at him for a few seconds and then leaned forward with her arms outstretched for him to hold her.  He took her from me, and I knew we had our baby back.  What a forgiving and trusting nature she has!

Oh, here's a funny tidbit from the hospital.  One of the side effects of Kawasaki's Disease is puffy hands and feet.  The day before we left, the medical student asked me if I thought her hands and feet looked "normal."  I told him that I thought her hands looked better, but it was hard to tell when it came to her feet.  He replied, "Yes, I can see she is a well-fed baby."  Ha, ha, what a porky!  She especially loves her bottle these days.

A couple of days later, my parents and I took the kids to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History while Clint was at work (boo!).  This was the day before Max was born, and let me just state for the record that it was nearly all I could do to walk all over that museum all day long!

But here is Shari, when she was still the youngest in the family, chewing on a seashell in the hands-on children exhibit.  I don't know if this is sanitary, but I figure if she can chew on our shoes (which are impossible to keep away from her -- she might be part-canine), then what harm can come from a seashell?

Papa threw Shari onto the bean bags in the reading nook, and she thought that was great fun.

Even though Shari spent her first nine months in Arizona, this is only her second time swimming.  Our bishop rented a pool a few days ago and invited everyone he knew.  The kids were so excited to swim!  Seeing as the outside temperature was only 76 degrees (and it was 7:30 at night when the party started), I was not sorry to have to sit out with Max.

The kids didn't mind, though.  Kids never do.  All of the big kids took turns playing with Shari in the baby area.  No picture of Scotty, but here's Grant with Shari.

And Nicole, teaching Shari to walk (we're up to about 15 steps at a time). As a side note, and I don't intend for this to come across in any sort of bragging way, when it comes to sisters, Nicole is one of the best.  She loves her siblings with all her heart and will do anything to comfort them, help them and make them happy.  I don't know how Nicole's little body can house her gigantic heart.  We are so blessed to have her in our family!

Hug/reward.

Goggles!

Swimming.

We have so much fun with this baby!  As my mom has been known to say, "Every house needs a baby!"

Our Little Baby

I realize that I have been a terrible historian.  I do have a few pictures and stories to share about Max, but I am sorry to say that the most accurate date I can place on any of these is somewhere between now and three weeks ago.

This is Max's second bath because the first bath occurred five minutes after the ladies of the house left for the library.  The men of the house report that Max's diaper changing required an accompanying scrub down with extra soap.  Upon our return, we found a clean baby boy swaddled in a towel.

At any rate, Max seems to enjoy bath time, which takes place in either the tub or the sink.

Nicole and Max reading.

Thumb sucker?

Smile.

Sleep.

I've labeled this picture "Jumbo Shrimp."  I'll let you guess who's Jumbo and who's Shrimp.

I think Shari is trying to tell me that my "don't touch the baby" plea is going to be worthless.