life in alaska

Mornings are a little crazy around here. It used to be crazy until I had a cup of coffee. Now that the thought of coffee makes me want to run for the bathroom, things are just plain crazy. I wish my digital camera had been working...but for a word picture, this was breakfast. Emmie had the saggy pull-up, so I changed her but her pj's were soaked so she remained half-naked for an irresponsible amount of time. I decided to just feed her anyway and wait until I had enough energy to go up for dry clothes. Half-way through breakfast she got the urge to go find her tu-tu, put it on and came back to finish her "yo-yo's" as she still calls Cheerios. She then proceeded to hop up and do a little half-naked ballerina dance between every bite. I figure that I could get all anal and make her put clothes on or I could just be a little bit of a hippie for a while and let her be free and unhindered. She spent the rest of the morning in and out of her unicorn costume while we attempted to do schoolwork. Of course, she demands to have schoolwork as well (she's very insistent and who am I to squelch her little learning-hungry spirit) so it's a bit of a juggle.

Logan's latest is to "attack" Emmie with a giant Elmo (of whom she's now a little afraid.) He makes the Elmo growl and lunge toward her and she is genuinely terrified. It's sad, and it's also really funny.

And Riley - poor Riley's latest is "I want to be alone!" How can she be getting the moody teenage girl thing at 7? She hides with a book and tries to be left alone, but picks really bad hiding spots and gets pestered by Emmie who thinks it's just a game.

Jeff said he didn't kick his coffee over, he sat down hard and launched it off the seat cushion. My bad. Regardless, there was coffee everywhere. The smell of which makes me want to hurl right now.

So the latest around our house is kind of interesting.

I'm expecting...about 9 weeks along...and it's twins.

I'm still a bit in shock - excited, but in shock. Jeff kicked his coffee over when we saw two little crottses in the untrasound.

Riley and Logan have decided it's one for each of them (and needs to be a boy and a girl.) I'll probably take them up on it for the sake of having them help!

So...there it is! Now there are three sets of twins coming within five months of each other at our church!

Logan recently acquired a set of camo coveralls. He has one new goal in life: to go hunting. He asks Jeff every day if he'll take him hunting now. Are you kidding me?

Riley still wants to be a "Coffee Bell Worker" when she grows up. Coffee Bell is what my kids call Starbucks, a holdover from when Logan was two. I usually say something like "it's a great job to work while you're going through college!" Her latest addition of what she wants to be is a race car driver. She's been set on this since driving her own go-cart this summer. She wants me to be looking out for something for her to wear to the Awana "Career Night" that looks like a race car driver. I love her.

Last night we came home really late from our college Bible study, and Emmie was having a hard time going up the steps. She kept saying "Carry me!" and my hands were full, so I didn't. When she got to the top she said "my legs are nervous." I said "do you mean tired?" "No, they're not tired, they're nervous." ???

I went to our church's share and swap this morning and got some stuff for the kids. They each put new outfits on right away - Logan has a Razorback t-shirt and sweatshirt on with new pants, and Riley decided to be "Pink Girl" (that's what she calls it when she wears all one color.) Pink head to toe. Very cute.

When Logan found out I had already gone to share and swap and he wasn't getting to go he sat down and bawled. It was very sad. Jeff took pity on him and took him and Riley up (he was already being sent to the grocery store.) The kids love to paw through the toys - it's all free, but I usually only let them pick one thing, maybe two.

It's cool again after the weird week of warm weather. I prefer my November to be cool. I guess it's just how I was raised. Of course, my southernized children think that 50-degree weather is "freezing" - literally, when it's like this Riley will keep asking if it will snow now.

Yesterday I pulled something out for Emmie to wear and she looked at it with disdain and said "That's not beautiful!" My little fashionista.

The other day Emmie bumped her head and said "I bumped my two-head! Huh? I said 'my two-head,' I meant my four-head!"

Today I heard myself say (to Emmie) "Four plus four is eight, and don't put that pencil in your nose [at which point she stuck it in her mouth] or your mouth!" She was telling Logan (who had asked) that four plus four was ten. Not too far off though.

Anyway, that's my life. Always reminding, always warning, always trying to head off the next imminent disaster. Stop running through the house with that pencil in your mouth. Don't launch yourself onto your brother's head. Don't kick. Don't bite. Stuff like that. It makes my head tired.

Today as we were doing school Logan finished half his math sheet without me telling him what to do. He can't read. I asked how he knew what to do and he looked at me like I was stupid. (But not in a mean way.) He had just assumed that certain instructions were the same and gone ahead with it. His self-motivation is a blessing.

Riley reads really well. I had her reading something for me today and was very happy that I haven't permanently damaged her reading ability. It's scary to homeschool!

Emmie...well, she took a pencil and scribbled all over her playhouse, dumped out the crayons, put orange clay (that's Arkansas dirt) all over herself - twice, and smeared her pbj all over the table. That's just scratching the surface. On a cute note, she asks for "jolly" on her "peenabotter" sandwich. I like that. She also sits with her Olivia book and tells herself the whole story from the pictures. All in all she's a good baby (although she's coming up on three and trying my patience.) Although she tells me that she's NOT a baby, she's a big kid now. I heard her tell Logan and Riley each, apart from one another, yesterday "I'm big now like you!"