Hurdles

"I think I like math" . . . words we never thought we'd ever hear.  Words that signify overcoming a huge hurdle.  Yay!

Our goal homeschooling is not for our children to be top scholars, but we do hope to instil a love for learning and a good work ethic.  We want to give them educational building blocks that will help them on their road to discovering their life's purpose.  We want them to explore, appreciate, and celebrate their unique God-given abilities, while encouraging growth and learning in all areas.  

Tesfaye is growing in leaps and bounds with his schooling.  Several subjects are clicking for him!  This is truly amazing, especially considering he's not even 3 years into his English learning. 

He's had a tough road. Tesfaye has some serious school-related scars from his past.  This brilliant, talented, hard-working, eager child hits a roadblock when it comes to school.  In a previous schooling situation, he was repeatedly told he wasn't smart and was no good.  That cut him deeply and is, understandably, hard to overcome.  It's been a long road trying to build up his confidence.

Tesfaye is competitive and loves being the best.  School is the one area in which he doesn't believe he can excel and this has handicapped him greatly. He possesses all the tools necessary, he just needs confidence.  

Reading still remain a major roadblock.  He knows how to read and has the ability to be a very good reader, but he refuses to read.  He doesn't believe he can.  It's sad to watch him struggle.  Past scars run deep and are incredibly hard to overcome. 

We pray Tesfaye's self confidence will grow and past scars fade.  We pray he will learn to see his self worth in God and not in his own accomplishments, no longer putting unrealistic pressure on himself to be the best.  Failures happen, that's okay.  We know God has a promise and a purpose for this child.  We pray he comes to realize that he is loved unconditionally by the God who created him. 


Tesfaye truly is a very bright child.  With his naturally competitive nature, he has picked up the scholarly strategy game of chess incredibly quickly.  A few weekends ago, Hendrick, Tesfaye and Davis competed in a local chess tournament.  Tesfaye won second place overall, winning one game in just 4 moves!!! 

*Tesfaye's proud chore-money purchase: remote control helicopter! 

Hair

We spend more time on hair (thinking about, planning, working on, styling) in our household than I ever imagined. One daughter is blessed with fine, ultra-tight-"s"-coiled hair . . . two have incredibly fine, wispy, forever-bed-head, crazy hair . . . While they all have beautiful hair, not one of them has "easy" hair.  But we're learning!

And I'm trying to teach my bigger girls how to take care of their own hair.
Like I said, we're learning!

Our go-to style for Hiwot is yarn twisties.  Twisties are a big initial time investment, taking about 8 hours to complete over the course of a week, but she loves the styling freedom they allow (ponytails, barrettes, beads) and getting to decide how long she wants her hair.  I love the protection they give to her delicate hair, and their low-maintenance (we can keep them in for nearly 2 months!)  But I want her to LOVE her natural, loose curls too!

To give ourselves a break from twisties, she's been sporting super-cute loose curls.  We're getting better at loose hair.  Last week, I trimmed her hair a bit to promote healthy growth, and "shingled" her hair (a way to minimize frizz and define the curl, applying a curl-defining cream or gel to damp hair).  After a week, it still looked great!  I think we'll keep this loose style for a bit longer, re-shingling as needed.  She's very proud of her curls! 

Maegli has sported crazy, wild wispy hair for a long time.  Her hair is so delicate, so fine, and never lays flat.  Now that she's a big 6-year-old, we're trying to keep her hair a bit less crazy.  Her hair grows so slowly, but I do trim it every few months to keep it healthy.  She is learning to wet it down and brush it each day, and we often pull it up into pigtails. I hope someday, her hair will be thick enough for us to play around with more creative styling.  But I want her to be proud of her hair as is.
Maclaren appears to have been blessed with the same wispy, wild, super fine hair too!


I hope to for all my girls to learn to love and appreciate their own hair - they all have been blessed with unique and beautiful hair! 


*Maclaren watches and learns and tries to treat her own hair like her big sister Hiwot's hair.  Poor thing doesn't understand, her fine hair doesn't need globs of oil.  And coconut oil doesn't wash out of delicate wispy hair very well.  Even after several washings with dish soap, her hair looks plastered in these pigtails:

5 months

Dabney Hazel is 5-Months-old!!!

Babies always seem to grow too fast . . . 

but it feels like Miss Dabney has been growing at warp speed.

Wasn't it just yesterday when a sweet 6-pound-baby surprised us, arriving 5 weeks early in our bathroom?

Now she's 5-months-old, nearly 15 pounds (she's big!), and has teeth!!! 

I'm afraid to blink, she'll be sitting, crawling, and walking before we know it!

We enjoy this precious babe so much.  Her kicking legs, bright smiles, and coos bring so much delight to our household.  She is incredibly loved.
Life seems to go bye in a blur, but I want to keep snapshot memories.
I am so thankful for Dabney.   

At five months:

kicks

coos

open-mouthed smiles (the biggest I've ever seen!)

happy girl

reaches and graps

starting to roll

superman

likes to be held in a stand

snuggles

cradle cap - eczema :(

gassy (it's quite impressive)

2 teeth

nurses 6-8 times each day

sleeps 8-10 hours at night

stays downstairs all day, sleeping wherever

(this is the least structured we've ever been with a baby!)

goes everywhere with mama :)

still sleeps in mama and dada's room

happily held by anyone, and is held a lot!

very laid back and low maintenance  

she's an incredibly good baby! 

Tuckered

One benefit (from a parents perspective) of children playing hard during the day . . .
They're tuckered out at night! 

The other night, Davis fell asleep at the top of the stairs . . . I think he was on his way to bed.

Sleeping in the hallway might have had something to do with it too.
The past few nights, it's been incredibly cold, and our house is not equipped for below freezing temperatures.  The boys bedroom is over our carport and doesn't heat as well as the rest of the house.  Despite space heaters, when the temperature drops, their room is really cold!  So, the boys have been camping out on the floor in the hallway and in the girls room.  They kids are warm, but no one is sleeping well.  It's been a party every night! 

The combination of hard playing and missing sleep from hallway partying has resulted in some incredibly tuckered out kiddos. 

I know they'll be thrilled to be back in their own beds soon!

Mac

When did Miss Mac grow up?

Maclaren will be turning 2 in two weeks!  She's become such a "big girl":  eating with us at the table, drinking out of cups, going up and down stairs, playing independently, belly-riding on scooters, coloring, accessorizing with jewelry, and trying on shoes.  She's quite funny going through our shoe bin, trying on everyone's shoes and clomping around the house in them. 
Maclaren is still not very verbal, but she's starting to chatter.  Every once in a while, she'll surprise us all with a very clear word, incredibly pleased with herself. 

Maclaren's latest funny: when the infant bouncy seat is unoccupied, she has taken to lounging in it.  She crawls in, leans down to turn on the vibrations, and lounges! 

She's so pleased to be one of the girls :)
(Their bedroom is one of Maclaren's favorite places to play - she loves the doll house!)

And Then There Were 2

Just shy of being 5-months-old . . . Little Miss Dabney is sporting TWO TEETH!!!

She wears them well :)

Sharing

Captured: two wispy-haired sisters sharing a moment . . .

(Maegli is very proud of her new jewelry box - thanks Gramma!)

Banks

We are finding, training a new puppy in a houseful of kiddos is more about training the kiddos.
 It add a whole new dimension, and requires a whole lot more effort, but it sure is fun :)

Our Bike Gang

The kids have taken full advantage of the warmer temperatures to tear up the grass, roaming lakeside in their bike gang, and taking turns zipping down the grassy slope behind our home.

We are so thankful they enjoy being outside, and so thankful they have so much fun together! 

Who Has Her First Tooth?

 This girl!!!

At 4-1/2 months, she's very advanced, (especially considering she arrived a month early) but, sure enough, little Miss is chewing on everything and sporting a new tooth!  

Lower right-side (not yet visible in pictures) . . . Dabney's very proud!

Introducing . . .

Our new puppy: BANKS

We surprised the kids at Christmastime with a visit to a 3-week-old litter of German Shepherd pups, knowing one of the little boys was to be new family dog.  Merry Christmas!

This morning we returned to visit the litter and pick out our puppy . . .

One stood out to us immediately.  This roly poly pup was incredibly friendly and affectionate, coming easily to the kids and allowing them to parade him around.

. . . and he came home with us!!! 

We stopped at the pet store on our way home to pick up supplies.  We are incredibly thrilled with this sweet furball.  Let the training begin! 

We are excited for this soon-to-be-big-boy Banks being a wonderful companion pet for our family.

*We have always given our dogs "place" names.  "Banks" is named after one our favorite vacation spots: The Outer Banks in North Carolina :)

SIX

We have a new 6-year-old in our household, celebrated with special strawberry cake, and a family dinner out at Red Robin. 

Happy Birthday Maegli!

Our beautiful girl has added so much joy and spunk to our family, with her larger than life personality, and love for all things princess and pink.  We are so thankful for and so proud of our Maegli.

Her 6th birthday wishes:  

jewelry box with a spinning ballerina

princess dress ups with a crown

my own rainbow loom, because Hiwot has one

big stuffed animal unicorn

bouncy castle

princess remote control car

She dreams big :)

In her own words, Maegli's favorites:

color: pink

animal: cow and bee.  cause bees give us honey and cows give us milk.

food: strawberry cake and pizza

resturant: Red Robin

inside activity: coloring

and sleep with Lamby

outside activity: run and play forts

movie: Sleeping Beauty and Airbender,

but I've never seen it before and I can't wait to see it

quality: people like me because I be nice and I behave well

place: Cincinnati with Grandpa and Gramma to have pancakes

skill: princess coloring

school: learning about Pippi Longstocking and Math

activity with mommy: color with mommy

activity with daddy: wrestle with daddy

being a sister: my brothers and sisters like to play with me.

story: The Nutcraker but that's really a dance too.

goal: I want to be a gymnastic girl when I grow up, and I want to dance until I'm 16.

future aspiration: be a mom and adopt.  I want to have 30 babies.  

I do not like tomatoes.  

I do not like to play with thorns.  Nobody likes to play with thorns.  Don't play with thorns.

I do not like frogs or snakes.  

Dancing makes me happy and funny faces make me laugh.

 "I'm Maegli.  My hair is blond.  I like to wear pretty dresses.  I wrestle my brothers and I dress up like a princess.  I like to dance and color.

On my perfect day, I would wake up early, have salad for breakfast, then go to a show.  The Nutcracker is a good show. For lunch I have pancakes and then stay home and color.  I would go to Red Robin for dinner and eat pizza and all kinds of fruit and soda and then go to a movie theater.  I've been to one before.  I would stay up really late.  That would be the best day ever."

Maegli is a wonderfully special little girl, growing up way too fast!  We love our girl!

Roommate

Since birth, Dabney's been our sweet roommate, sleeping in a small crib at the foot of our bed.  This has made middle-of-the-night feedings convenient without disturbing the sleep of her siblings.

It has been a pleasure to share our rooms with such a precious babe.  What a joy to wake up to the sounds of her sweet coos, gurgles, fist-sucking, drumming legs, and waving arms; and to be greeted by open-mouthed smiles and squeals.  

 
With each baby, I intend to only have them sleep in our room until they are sleeping through the night . . . but then I have so much trouble moving them out!

Dabney is sleeping through the night.
I'm not ready to move her out :)

All too soon, it will be time to move her down the hall to share the nursery with Maclaren.  

 Such a dear roommate!