Teacher Natalie

Natalie has decided she is going to teach Cente. So far he has his colors down pat, recognizes written numbers to 10 most of the time. He made a lego T and brought it to me on his own and said "I made a T." He colors page after page in his coloring book. Now if she could only teach him to obey.

Guitar Boys

When Ethan and Levi play their guitars, Cente rushes to grab his. Unfortunately, he sometimes annoys the big boys and gets moved off the couch to the floor where he continues to play... he might be a blues player when he grows up. He has the look.

Boys helping Todd

Work on the House

Todd's Spring Break project.

Cats

I am taking Levi tonight for his birthday. Natalie is going as well. We have seats on the orchestra level near an isle where the cats run down. Should be lots of fun. The kids haven't seen this one yet. I picked up brochures for next year's Broadway shows and operas. "Les Miserables" is coming as well as "Mary Poppins" and "South Pacific". I am also considering season tickets for the opera. I may get three tickets and just rotate who goes.
Yesterday, Natalie read T. S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" in preparation for tonight. Levi's assignment today is to read it as well.

Dry

We are celebrating a no-diaper, accident-free, dry-bottom day for Cente. Hopefully it will continue on into the future.

Spring Break

We are staying home this spring break so we will probably be doing some spring cleaning. Here is our agenda for Spring Break:

Natalie:

Paint Natalie's room and help paint the little boys' room

Take her Driver's Permit test at the DMV

Help Mom with Spring Cleaning

Ethan:

Watch as many NCAA Basketball playoff games as mom will allow

Yard Work

Make Rootbeer from scratch with kit

Clean out under his bed

Levi:

Watch games with Ethan

Go to "Cats" with mom - a birthday present

Flag Football practice

Build a birdhouse

Help with the Spring Cleaning

To be or not to be....

We have enjoyed "Julius Caesar" so much that we are going to continue on with Shakespeare. Oregon Shakespeare Festival is performing Hamlet from now until October so we will read it and then go watch it in Ashland sometime this summer. They are also performing the musical "She loves me" which I love so we may make it a double show weekend when we go.

That time of year...

When Levi was heading out the door to practice a couple days ago, I told him I would have him play baseball even if he wasn't any good (which he is) because..."You're so cute in that uniform ." He didn't appreciate my encouragement.

Diagramming

Six months into the school year, I have finally admitted to myself that our grammar textbook is lame. It is boring, which I don't have a problem with except that the point of boring in this textbook doesn't seem to be retention. So boring for the point of being boring is not okay. Therefore, I have decided to commit the rest of our school year to diagramming. Whoopee! I love to diagram and it brings me a perverse delight to pull out the whiteboard and call to the kids "Time for diagramming" and then hear their groans from the far corners of the house.

Beware the Ides of March

We decided to read Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar" this month. Natalie's literature class is going through it, so I decided to read it with her and the boys at home as well. We are learning lines such as "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..." I have a children's book that illustrated the storyline and for some reason the boys are always turning to the stabbing scene.

Reading this play in March has some benefit. We are able to, in hushed and mysterious tones, warn each other to "Beware the Ides of March." I think I will plan an "event" for March 15 to really bring it home.

Happy Birthday 3 Year Old Cente

I am not great about getting 11 kids looking at the camera at the same time. Cente and Marcos's brother, Julius, came over for his birthday breakfast. Julius is on the far right and he just turned 5.

I have the world's best daugher

Natalie is a dear. She helps me around the house without being asked. She sees things that need done, and just does them. She is quick to forgive an offense. She never carries a grudge. She is diligent and industrious. On Levi's birthday, she gave me a present with a little note thanking me for being such a good mom to all my kids. Of course, it may have been a little jab at Levi...she also wrote that as Levi's mom, I especially needed a little appreciation gift for parenting him these 11 years.

We love these boys so much!

Our lives are crazy busy with changing diapers, picking up duplos, giving baths, wiping off sticky fingers and faces, cleaning up marker sketches on the wall, folding lots of little socks, reading "Go Dog Go" for the hundredth time, singing "Jesus Loves Me" and saying "Say please....say thank you....obey!" Homeschooling a high schooler, middle schooler, and 5th grader with a 2 year old and 3 year old has been either a complete disaster or a creative masterpiece of juggling and time management depending on the day.

Some days I ask myself what in the world have we got ourselves into... we had no idea we were walking into this adventure when we signed up for foster care 18 months ago. It is a weighty thing to fall in love with these boys and know in the back of our minds that they could be taken away by the whim of a DHS worker. It is good to trust in the sovereignty of God.

Finally

We joked with Natalie and the boys all through the Christmas season that they would be receiving Snuggies as their gift. Natalie actually really wanted one. Grandma took that to heart and found a very cute Snuggie and delivered it to Natalie last week. I don't think I have seen Natalie out of it since. She curls up with her school books each morning in this polkadotted wonder.