Getting things done

The children have normalized their sleep schedules, so they're now sleeping through the night, and this morning they woke up at 7:30am.  In my life before kids, it would have felt like a travesty to wake at such an early hour, but (as long as I get to bed early enough) I've realized that much can be accomplished in a day if it's started just a bit earlier.

While they ate breakfast, I got these loaves in the oven:


Date-nut mini-loaves (Mary S.'s recipe!) and Honey Whole Wheat (my mom's recipe, of course)

I got the laundry going (we have a tiny washer and no dryer, so this is an all-day job with all of the hanging out of things and such), and then we opened up the two boxes containing our Kindergarten curriculum (Sonlight).


I really, really like it, and the boys were so excited about learning everything, so I feel hopeful for the upcoming year.  Of course things will get crazy around my due date, and I'm not sure how all of it will work with the added time-suck of a nursing baby, but for now, this feels good.

It's 2:30pm.  The children have just finished up their quiet times/naps, and are watching their afternoon video.  We're going to have BLT's for dinner (on the whole wheat from this morning and bacon re-warmed from a pancake/bacon/eggs dinner last night), so we'll go out to pick up tomatoes and play outside in a few hours.  Easy dinners = good dinners.

Here's some pics I've taken of the past week since we arrived here:


Breakfast is fun again at our "new" old table (for the first few days, the boys kept yelling "Hey!  I remember this!!!" about each re-discovered toy and piece of furniture through the house)




Eating pretzels and pretzel rolls from the nearest bakery -- the perfect snack to bring with us while driving onto post to get groceries, etc.



Getting a wagon ride with their two little girl friends by the girls' grandpa


Lavella opted out of the ride ("NO!"), choosing instead to use the neighbor's little car while everyone else was distracted


Having fun at our favorite playground on post after picking up the mail

(The yellow rainboots are actually too small this year, but they insisted on wearing them one last time)

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Independence Day (and, of course, puppies)

Well, I promised these pictures several days ago, and everyone is home now to actually see them in person, but for those of you who are interested, here's a few pictures of the pups at 5 days.









Penny, the puppy that my parents kept from last year's litter (she'll have her first set of puppies next year), thinks that she should be considered a second mom. All that this does is confuse the puppies, and she's not allowed in the whelping box anymore, but I had to take this picture before she was kicked out (she's the one on the left, with the darker puppy thinking he's going to nurse):


What a head case.

Caleb and Jonathan flew in on Independence Day and my parents and all of the rest of our siblings drove back here from New Jersey. While they were en route, Hannah and I cooked a big dinner for everyone (well, I baked, Hannah cooked.)

Lavella helped me with the baking:








We made pound cake (pictured above, in batter form), zucchini bread, strawberry shortcakes and honey whole-wheat bread.

It was the first time we'd all been together in a very long time.





(The only people missing from this picture are Greg and I)

Happy Independence Day to all of our American readers!

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