yesterday in the car

We were on our way to visit Jon's maternal grandparents, and to get his grandmother to hem Nathan's gi pants for me, and so I was explaining to Jordan that grandmother was going to sew something for me...

Jordan:  Mommy, you cannot sew?

Mommy:  Well, I'm not any good at it, and Grandmother's good at it, so I'm going to let her do it.

Jordan (after about a minute):  Mommy, you are good at doing the vacuum cleaner.

karate

The 3 boys and I are taking karate (Ishinryu) together, it's so much fun. They especially got a kick out of me having to drop and give the sensei 10 pushups a couple of times for saying, "OK" instead of "Hi, Sensei," which means "yes, Sensei" in Japanese, though I'm not spelling it correctly. Anyway, here's a picture of sweet Nathan...

today in the car

Jon called me on my cell phone to let me know he'd safely arrived in California...

Nathan:  Oh!  Daddy made it safely, just like I prayed for last night!

Mommy:  You prayed that last night?  Thanks, Nathan!

Zach:  And I prayed for Daddy to be the President of the United States!

real men wear dresses!

Lots of new posts, I know! Last weekend we had our friends and Jon's brother's family over for dinner, and at one point three of the kiddos came down like this. From left to right that's Jordan, Gabe, and Joy.

bedtime for stuffed animals

Jordan plays with her stuffed animals all the time, and is pretty maternal with them. Tonight she was playing up in her room very quietly for an extended period of time, then asked if she could turn on the fan in her room because her animals were going to bed. Here they are, all nice and cozy! Sooooooo cute.

jordanisms

After I had loaded a van full of bikes, skateboards, lunches, and kids, and we got down the road a little, Jordan said, "Mommy, you sure have a lot of kids."

Out of the blue the other day, "Mommy, I so love my mommy."

"dydabetes" (pronounced like die-duh-beedees)

new link

There's a new link on my link list, for the nie nie dialogues. I heard about her on the news this morning, a fellow blogger and mom of 4 who was in a small plane with her husband when it went down near Phoenix, AZ. Anyway, she has burns on 83% of her body, and her husband does on I think 15% of his, both still in critical condition. She seems like such an awesome person, we could all be praying for them...

back in the swing of things

I figure I better post something since it's been awhile....

The kids and I had a very uneventful flight home this past Thursday, in fact, I told Jon that I couldn't believe I was saying it, but it was a piece of cake flying with those four kids!  They were just angels, and it helped that the Tampa International Airport is so incredibly efficient, too.  Jordan now loves to color, which is a great way to pass the time on a plane, and the boys either listen to their music, read, or draw...I actually read a book!

Today I go to a women's brunch with some ladies from my church group, then Mychael has another flute lesson, then we go to Jon's grandfather's birthday party (Jon actually still has all 4 grandparents living, it's amazing!), followed by a cookout with our church.  Then, we officially start our school year tomorrow, here's what it's going to look like, at a glance:

Mondays, Mychael and Nathan take elementary band (M) and music (N) at a local Christian school;  the three boys may be taking karate at a dojo that teaches Ishinryu, which is what I studied for several years growing up

Tuesdays, school as usual

Wednesday, Mychael has band, once a month we do Meals on Wheels, karate class (if we choose to sign them up)

Thursdays, school as usual, co-op with friends (she's teaching Nathan violin, I'm doing science with the kids, and we will exercise together)

Friday, school as usual, plus any field trips

Field trips may be on any given day, and we will also be going roller skating once a month

Hopefully I can pull it off this year, I'm always nervous and excited about starting a new school year.  Zach's motivated to start reading, and the big boys are especially excited about their instruments.  I hope to find a dance or tumbling class for Jordan so she has her "thing."  Looks like a full year for our clan!