Daddy is really enjoying Mommy’s Christmas presents.

Merry Christmas!

Advent Traditions

There are so many great fun ideas for emphasizing the true meaning of Christmas with your kids.  In retrospect, I think I have tried to do too many things at once in Decembers past and in doing so, was not as consistent or effective in implementing any of them. 

This year I simplified our daily advent activities to the Christmas chain with a verse on it each morning (I love hubbardscupboard.org for bible activities) and the Jesse Tree ornaments and reading each night with the advent wreath.

 

Each night one child had a turn with lighting the candles, opening the ornament for the advent nativity and blowing the candles out at the end.

Again, incorporating FIRE in any activity will captivate the little ones and keep them begging for more.

It was a great Advent season with the kids, and I don’t at all regret just doing these 2 simple activities each day!  Christmas was easy to set up, easy to put away, and without the stress of trying to do too much we were more able to put the focus on Jesus.

Poor 5th child…

 

Since bringing Joseph home, we have been through sickness Armageddon.  3 children with Strep, 3 with conjunctivitis, and 6 of us with some eternal coughing virus that just won’t go away. 

Understatement of the year: I have been doing a lot of laundry.

I would like to forget about this illness period associated with Joseph’s homecoming, so I will leave you with these sweet sibling pictures (taken pre-illness).  This 5th child has been heavily loved on.  And remains healthy, thank you Jesus!

Joseph’s birthday!

My midwife recommended a labor induction cocktail at my appointment today.  I drank the nasty mix after getting home and went to lay down.  Jason was home watching the kids and cleaning up their lunch.  For about an hour I felt some very mild contractions but they were like a distant echo of the real thing... then my water broke. It was 12:30. I brought my hospital bag to the door and told Jason my water broke. The contractions were already getting going. We told the kids we were going to the hospital and got in the car before his parents even arrived to watch the 3 littlest ones. As soon as their car pulled up we were off. Jason drove as fast as the Prius could go with the hazard lights on, flashing his headlights for people to let us through. It felt like God really made the way clear for us as we went down the interstate. Neither of us said anything the whole way there. I tried to stay really relaxed and breathe through each contraction, which were quickly getting more intense. When we got off at the hospital exit the labor felt so intense I said, "Oh this is really bad! Jesus help me!" We got to the street in front of the emergency department and I said, "The baby is coming!" There was no stopping this little man from making his appearance. I laid the seat back, put my feet up on the dash of the car and pulled my pants down. Jason pulled the car right in front of the emergency room door and ran inside to the security guard and told them he needed a doctor to deliver a baby. He ran back outside just in time to see little Joseph's head crowning. In complete calm, he helped his head out, released the cord from around his neck, and Joseph was born right into daddy's hands. He started crying right away and looked so pink and healthy- we were so relieved he was okay. For 30 glorious seconds it was just the 3 of us there at the car. We called him by name, told him we loved him and I held him close to me. I felt so happy we had made it to the hospital and that the hardest part was over! Joseph was born at around 1:15 in the afternoon.  If I hadn’t forgotten our little pocket camera on the way out the door, we would have had some kind of picture of us Post- Prius-Pre-Hospital.  But, we don’t.

Some emergency department people came out to help us with blankets and cutting the cord. It was kind of a surreal experience to get out of the car with your pants around your ankles holding a clamped umbilical cord hanging between your legs in your hand. I really did not care at that point who saw what, I was just so happy to have our baby here safely. We rolled on into the ED where a doctor looked at us in the hallway and deemed Joseph Alive and Okay. The doctor then realized that Jason was indeed the dad of this precious little miracle and not just a Vanderbilt doctor who happened to be walking by and ended up helping a random lady give birth outside the hospital. This still makes us laugh because Jason would be a very unlikely candidate for helping a random lady give birth- he runs from all women's health related issues like the plague. Our new family joke- "Dr. Pereira- Now offering emergency roadside delivery assistance!"

Little Joseph has the distinction of having his daddy's name on his birth certificate in two places- once as the daddy, and once as the "certifier of live birth" - the doctor who delivered him! Not at all what we had planned, but what a blessing it turned out to be. We truly thank the Lord for his protection and guidance in Joseph's arrival.

Fun math activity

This month we are doing a simple activity that the boys have really enjoyed.

I bought this amaryllis bulb in the very early bud stage at the beginning of December.  The plant grows quickly and blossoms into a beautiful flower in just a few weeks.  We are keeping a daily chart of the plant’s measurement and how much the plant grew.  I decided to measure in centimeters so there isn’t a need for fractions- we aren’t ready for that yet!  The anticipation of waiting for the flower to bloom keeps them excited to do this each morning.

I heart my new blender

Recently Jason and I were out on a daytime date and found ourselves wandering around Costco.  Yes I know we are sad.  But this rare opportunity to shop without children caused us to pause for samples at the fancy blender demo that happened to be taking place that day.  I have always thought of these appliances as ridiculously overpriced as-seen-on-tv type gimmicks.  However, I have recently been exploring some vegan cookbooks and blogs in an effort to increase the proportion of vegetables in our family diet.  And the seed of temptation was planted when the authors kept mentioning, “and now I throw all that in the Vitamix.”

So we watched the guy (who was a skilled salesman and fancy blender operator) effortlessly make ice cream!  hot soup!  lemonade!  smoothies!  in seconds.  And I am embarrassed to admit, we were sold.

Now, I am not trying to sell anyone a fancy blender, but let me just say that this has really helped us with our vegetable eating goals!

My 3 favorite things to make so far:  green smoothies, green soup, and “ice cream” which is really just fruit and milk blended with ice.  The kids all love it!  And we’re eating up huge packages of organic kale and spinach every week in addition to the fruit and raw almonds in the smoothies.  I find myself actually craving all the fresh, raw green stuff that I put in the smoothies we have been making for breakfast almost every day.  In the summer I look forward to making popsicles and baby food with this too!

This blender is great because:  Its easy to clean- nothing to take apart like a normal blender or food processor.  Its really powerful- it even breaks up the seeds in berries.  It fits under my counter and is really easy to move and store away if needed.  The programmed buttons for “soup” and “whole juice” and “ice cream” are handy in addition to the manual speed control.  I haven’t smoked out the motor yet like I have nearly every time I used my old oster blender.

So there you have it!  Happy vegetable eating!

Gallery

Our oldest son is a prolific artist.  He created this display himself and adds to it frequently.

And no, it doesn’t stop there…

My secret wall hanging weapon:  blue painter’s tape!  They can stick stuff up wherever they want and the paint doesn’t come off. 

Confessions of a self-described photophile

 

I love my camera.  I love my family.  I think my kids are the most beautiful people God ever created.  These delights combined result in lots and lots and LOTS of pictures downloaded to my hard drive.  Sadly, few of these images ever make it outside of the hard drive to be enjoyed in any form.  I gave up paper scrap booking when my FIRST child was still a baby- it was something I enjoyed but it was too cumbersome and time consuming to maintain.  Then in 2006 I discovered publishable digital photo albums that are now widely used and popular.  It is so much easier and efficient and preserves the parts of book making that are most important to me- a place to write about our family memories and enjoy our many pictures- as many as we like!  Still, the discipline of keeping up with creating the albums has escaped me.  The last time I was caught up with our family photo books was in early 2008 after being on bedrest with my third pregnancy.  For shame! 

Last week I finally finished our family memory book for 2008- it contained over 600 pictures and 170+ pages.  Going through the pictures brought back a wide range of emotions- a lot has changed in the last 4 years, some in good ways and some sad.  But that is simply the reality of being human in a fallen world.  More than anything, I am reminded of God’s faithfulness to bring us through all of these things, the blessings that are from Him and His presence in the pain.  And that is what remembrance in a believer’s life should result in- praise and thanksgiving that we belong to Him and nothing that happens in this life will fall outside of His sovereign power.

So the picture albums, they are worth pursuing I think.  My husband whole heartedly agrees.  Here are some things I need to do differently so that I can complete these albums before our last child leaves for college!

-Download the pictures frequently, then go through them right away and keep only the very best images, edit them, and organize them by month and year.  It is discouraging to have to sift through hundreds of pictures just to make a few pages in the memory book.  I don’t need 8 or 23 pictures of the same child in the same pose.  Just pick one and go on!

-Minimize the number of folders for each month to make importing a large number of images into the book more efficient.

I have used the Costco MyPublisher program in years past for our books, but now I am using blurb.com.  If you are the kind of person who enjoys lots of creative control over your layouts and the ability to insert as little or as much text as you like, it is a great option.  I have tried “autofill” and “slurping” from my blog, but I’m just not happy with how those layouts turn out.  I also like that I am designing my book in a local program on my own computer that I can upload when the final product is complete, instead of doing the whole project online.  They frequently have great discount promotions too so I waited for one of those to come along.  I was so happy with how our 2008 book turned out, I am excited to keep going.  Who knows, maybe this is part of nesting!

So here, in case either of my 2 blog readers are interested, is a little glimpse of our latest family book!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

 

We did our annual tradition of going to get a Home Depot tree.  We spent a grand total of 2 minutes picking the perfect one.  This year the trees were under this circus tent like thing in the parking lot, which was dark and gave kind of a campy feel to the whole experience.

The decorating free-for-all went pretty well this year; only a few ornamental casualties were sustained.  My policy is: I want this to be a fun memory for the kids, so no being anal about ornament placement or breakage! 

Abby even points and says, “Tis-mus tee!”

Thanksgiving weekend round up.

Grandma came to visit.

The boys showed her their “Super Hero Game”

We ate yummy food.  (Mommy’s tummy grew a lot)

We went to Cheekwood to see the Wild West exhibit.

And the trains.

The boys were obsessed with seeing Buffalo Bill’s guns the whole time we were there.

We really enjoyed the beautiful weather!

We have been blessed abundantly!  Thank you Jesus for everything You are to us and all you have given us.

Keep your game face on

After having 3 babies early at 37 or 38 weeks, it felt like pure torture to be pregnant with my 4th for 40 weeks and 2 DAYS!!!  I felt like I was approaching the finish line in a marathon, and then someone moved it further out at the very last second.  Its all about your expectations!  This time I will be prepared.  No packing of a hospital bag at 35 weeks.  No cute little newborn baby items laying around mocking me that indeed, I am still pregnant.  In fact, at 36 weeks I am trying to forget that I am even pregnant at all.  36 weeks is only the beginning (of the end).  Which can start to feel very long.  No predictions of an early delivery here folks, and if anyone makes a statement toward that end out loud, I just quickly point out that we have a FULL FOUR WEEKS to go.  At least!  Lets all just sit back and talk about something other than the baby that will not be born for a very long, long time.

While we are on the subject, here are some things to never say out loud to a pregnant lady:

“Wow!  You look like you’re about ready to drop that load!”  (strange man in an elevator)

“You must be having twins!”  (gas station attendant)

Generally, commenting on the impressive size, contour, or dimensions of a strange person’s body is not going to be well received and creates awkwardness.  But for some reason, pregnancy seems to cause people to throw their social inhibitions to the wind. Really, unless you are another very huge pregnant lady, it would be okay to NOT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL. 

Last time we brought home a baby…

I was going through some pictures tonight and was reminded of this sweet memory.  The biggest surprise to us when we brought Abby home from the hospital was how enamored little Sam was with his sister.  I did not expect a 20 month old boy to immediately be so in love with a baby.  The excitement didn’t wear off either- there was never any jealousy from Sam!  Frequently we would notice Sam was missing and would find him in our room, sitting next to Abby, softly repeating her name over and over.  He was always very gentle and kind and loved to be close to her. 

Fast forward almost 2 years!  Sam is still an awesome big brother to Abby.  They do have their moments, but you will often find Sam reading books to Abby, helping her climb up on a chair, or take the lids of the markers she wants to color with.  They have special made up games they play together, and Sam can often translate “Abby-speak” when us parents can’t understand what she is saying!  I am so thankful these 2 have each other.

Sam’s Theme Song

Our third child is the most outgoing and gregarious person in the family.  He loves to entertain and perform… and sing worship songs!  We associate certain songs with events and time periods in our family history because when Sam is hooked on a song, he is going to sing it loudly everywhere he goes.  For awhile it was “Everlasting God”  and then it was “Barbara Ann” (beach boys).

Here is his latest-

Camping, Pereira style

Being a Northwest girl, there is some camping in my background, especially in my college days.  Wow, those days seem quite remote now.  Recently boys have been asking to go camping, so we thought we would start small and set up a tent in the back yard.  This was a REALLY good plan!  Of course, we also had to have the essential elements of FOOD and FIRE to make this a truly spectacular event for them.

Abby went on to her own bed and me and my 8 months pregnant belly left the fellas out in the tent with their dad.  With the smell of campfire smoke in my hair and gooey marshmallow smeared on my pants, I went back and quietly listened at the door to Jason telling the boys tales of his childhood.  I felt overwhelmed with thankfulness that my children have this kind of dad.  The boys were completely enthralled, begging for more stories.

A book I have been reading recently was encouraging moms to have regular tea parties with their kids for the purpose of building relationships with them and discipling them through spending special time together.  I think we have found our “tea party” equivalent in the campfire and tent arrangement- it fits with the boy’s God-given design perfectly.

Fire safety.

 

For fire prevention week we paid a visit to our local fire station with a homeschool group.  Ben and Sam loved seeing all the equipment and the real firefighters dressed in their gear.

Afterwards, we did a craft that involved taping a (real) match to a piece of paper and gluing an “X” over it, to remind us not to play with matches.  It only took a few hours for Ben to start asking if we could light the match, and if it would really start a fire.  That craft had to go away in a hurry!

The boys love to play firefighter at home together- here they are dressed up in the imaginary gear they have come up with on their own.  I love the creativity of the swim goggles and the “air tank” which is their sleeping bags.

Gentry Farm 2011

The annual trip to our favorite pumpkin patch was our best ever!  It was beautiful weather and the kids had a great time for a full 2 hours before the little people got tired.  We followed up with a trip to Jason’s Deli, our favorite family lunch destination.  The whole day was a special treat.

 

Just some sibling cuteness.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Big Ben turned 5 this week.  Our second son is such a delightful guy.  He generally has a very easy going attitude and brings an enjoyment of hard work and distinct sense of humor to the mix.  In his free playtime, you can usually find him outside digging a big hole, collecting “treasures” like rocks, sticks, snails and other critters, sweeping dirt to create “smoke” or trying to start a fire by some impossible form of spontaneous combustion (I have not showed him the magnifying glass method or he really will start a fire!)  Ben continues to have an affinity for building things out of yard treasures, blocks, legos, and anything else he can find.  He is doing great with homeschooling this year and is making good progress towards learning to read.  His favorite subject is math- we are using Right Start Math and he enjoys the visual and manipulative nature of this curriculum (and mommy loves teaching it too!)  At his 5 year check up, he weighed in at 42 lbs (74th percentile) and 44.5 inches (80th percentile).  He took the 5 year shots like such a brave little man I think I got more teary than he did. 

Since we have too many children to have big expensive parties for each one every year, we have decided to celebrate certain milestone birthdays extra big- at 5, 10 and 16.  When you turn 5, you can have your party at a special location of your choice.  Ben picked Bounce-U, or as the boys affectionately call it, “The Jump-Jump-Slide.”

Some favorite gift this year for Ben were: a cap gun with leather holster (picked by big brother Jake), a lego set, and a military action figure set (pictured above with the cake).

A Pereira Milestone

Jake fell off the tire swing at a playground on Saturday.  It wasn’t the scariest or most dramatic accident we have experienced with these boys, but this happened to be the first one to require x-rays and a cast!  I knew it would inevitably happen at some point.  Bringing him to the ED brought back awful memories for Jason taking Sam there when he has been so sick, so it really made us THANKFUL that this was not a scary or serious visit.

Jake was very brave and enjoyed recounting the many tv shows he watched during his lengthy wait at the ED.  Wonderful.

He is so proud of his cast and x-ray, which shows his fractured radius and ulna.  It will be a challenge for him to continue working on his handwriting for the next 4 weeks, and sadly he will miss half of the swim lessons we signed up for that start this week.  So sorry this happened to you buddy!  You have been a great sport about it so far.

Seattle trip!

The Pereiras are not big travelers, at least not at this stage of many small children, some of whom need naps and special foods to maintain optimum functioning.  In spite of our lack of travel enthusiasm, we decided it was time to make the big trip out to Seattle to visit my family, and especially the kids’ one living great grandmother, who is now 95 years old and in declining health.  We had not been as a whole family since 2007.

Here are the highlights:

Visit to the aquarium followed by lunch on the waterfront at Ivar’s and feeding the seagulls.

Birthday brunch for Ben at the Space Needle!  A very special and memorable outing!

2 sweet visits with my precious Grandma!  We love you so much!

The boys’ favorite part of the trip… going to the beach!  The water was really cold but that didn’t stop Jake and Ben from getting in.  We were so blessed to enjoy beautiful weather for the whole trip.

One of my favorite parts- having all of my family in the place where I grew up.  There is such a comforting familiarity about being in your childhood home and it was fun to share it with my kids.  My parents were so kind and generous to have us all in such a small space.  Hopefully we didn’t stress them out too much.  I miss many things about living in the northwest- it is always good to go back!