Dancing

 Last night, in an effort to calm the kiddos down as they were getting ready for bed, I asked Alexa to play "The Prayer" by Josh Groban because this is one of the songs Hubby and I had friends perform at our wedding.  I started dancing with Hunter, and the next thing I knew, Howard and Caroline were dancing (together) to the music as well.

I don't knjow that it calmed everyone down before bed, but it was a great way to end the day!

Superman!

 "Mama, I have my underwear on the outside because I'm Superman!"

Out Loud

 It takes Lee Lee longer to fall asleep than any of our other children.  When we read at night to the big kids, she has a harder time attending to the story than the other kids and so she often asks unrelated questions, or talks to herself, or talks to her stuffed animals, or reads herself stories.

All of that is fine until she is too loud or disruptive.

The other night, Lee Lee was reading a book to her stuffed animals too loudly and the other kids were having a hard time hearing the book I was reading.  I talked to Lee Lee about this, and then she saw a different book on the ground and she asked me to hand it to her.

I said, "Addallee, you're not going to read this book out loud are you?"

Her response, "No.  I'm going to read it out quiet."

Lullabies

 I'm not sure how it began, maybe because Pa sings to his fiddle so often in Little House on the Prairie books (which maybe you remember, I read to the kiddos at bedtime), but a while back the children started to ask me to sing them a song at bedtime.

Some days I will and some I won't, and, truth be told, I don't have a great arsenal of lullabies.

I alternate the two lullabies from Mary Poppins "Feed the Birds" and "Stay Awake'.  Sometimes I will sing the lullaby from Peter Pan, "Distant Melody" and when I'm rushed, I sing them TAPS.

Well, the other night, a song came to mind that I used to know all the words to, and I do feel it is truly one of the most beautiful and moving songs of all time, and so I sang that tonight for the kids.

Why as it been years, perhaps even a decade since I've heard a great tenor sing, "The Impossible Dream"?

Splinters

We have a new trampoline, which was Christmas/Birthday presents to all the kids from my parents.  Its been up about a week and the kids LOVE it!

The problem is, our deck gives splinters.

The rule always was that kids wore shoes outside... but now with the trampoline, they have to remove shoes to jump, and then end up barefoot on the deck frequently.

That means, we have to do splinter checks every few nights.

Hubby is our splinter-remover and the kids just have to form a line and one at a time, one foot at a time, one splinter at a time, have splinters removed.

Last night I snapped this picture, which I thought was adorable.

The kids got to watch some tv while the splinter-operations were under way.  Lee Lee is holding the Children's Bible Book.  Howard is holding Caroline's hand while Daddy is working on Caroline's feet.  And Howard is saying, "Don't take my picture," while the whole production is occurring.

 

Asleep

Last night I finished cleaning the kitchen and went upstairs to Hubby and my bedroom.  I was very surprised not to find Hubby relaxing, or asleep in our room.

Well, turns out he was asleep... just not in our room.

Three children and Hubby were all asleep in the kids' room with the light still on.

When Daddy Handles Bedtime

This occasionally happens when Daddy handles bedtime...

 

Time For Bed

Last night Hubby and I put the kids to bed and then we were having dinner and working on our budget in the kitchen.  Tracey kept getting out of her bed and coming downstairs to talk to us.  First she told us she heard crickets.  Then, she told us she heard Lexie.  Then, she said that she and Daddy forget to dance together before bedtime, which he had said they could do.

After the third time, we let her know very clearly that it was time for bed and we did not expect her to come downstairs again.

About an hour later, Hubby and I went up to bed and found that Trace had in fact gone to bed... just not hers.

 

 

Our Little Reader

Our precious baby girl is such a sweetheart.  Staying put this spring has allowed us to get into such a great routine, and as a result she goes down for naps and bedtime with very little, if any fuss.

While we have our nightly routine -- bath, story, nursing... she also has her own routine, which includes flipping through books once she's been put to bed.

Hubby and I watch her on our baby monitor, and we both think this is the sweetest thing.  She has two little books in her crib, and she will quietly sit in her crib, sucking on her pacifier, flipping through books for sometimes as long as 15 minutes before laying down and falling asleep.


She's also starting to do this in place of her afternoon nap.  She is now taking a really long morning nap, and then, when she gets fussy in the afternoon, she will go in her crib and flip through books for a little quiet time.

I find her reading in bed habit especially adorable because throughout elementary and middle school, I always had a book hidden under the covers in order to read after I was supposed to be asleep.

We love that she is becoming such a little reader.