No dunces here!

We've had a very productive week here at the Becker home school. The kids have been enjoying all the extra space we now have to spread out and work, even if it's only a long card table set up in the new "wing" for the time being. More space to work in also means more space to make a mess in. Paul has developed the habit of not putting away his books when he's finished with a subject, and instead just moving down a seat to an empty spot to start his next assignment. Eventually, he runs out of spots to leave his stuff all over; the other kids came to me complaining that there was no where for them to sit because Paul had monopolized nearly all of the twelve available feet of table space.
While we're all busy studying, poor old Doggers here has to find something to do with herself. Usually, that something is sleeping. She has her choice of beds and comfy chairs, and has been making good use of the sunbeam that now falls on the floor in front of the new sliding glass door in the new addition.
David is still a net liability when it come to getting school work (or any work, for that matter) done. He still believes that each and every one of us have been placed here for no other reason than to serve him. Playing with cute, fat little babies is fun; unfortunately, we do have more things to do during the day besides provide baby entertainment. David remains unsympathetic to our pleas, as thus, we have to hustle to get as much done while he is sleeping as possible.

Conflicts of interest

Joe has trouble getting stuff done some days. Today is one of those days. He has been dawdling and poking and whining about having to read eight pages in his science book for the last hour. He's actually gotten a lot better about ploughing through things he doesn't like to do over the years, but some days he just can't seem buckle down.
Apparently, science isn't Joe's only problem this morning. I'm not sure what transpired that prompted the posting of this notice on the girls' bedroom door; when questioned, the girls said simply, "Joe's being a turd.". I guess I'll leave them to work out their own differences for now. Joe does not seem to be the least bit affected by his banishment, and is happily playing with his robots by himself in his own room.
This little guy seems to be getting along just fine this morning. His mother, however, is rather tired after spending a little too much time last night answering his calls for room service.

Mini-Me

One of the nice things about having lots of big kids around when you have a new baby is that you have a lot of extra helpers. Naomi (age 8) loves carrying David around, which has been tremendously helpful, as David pretty much always wants to be carried around, and I, unfortunately, am not always available to provide this service for him. Mind you, I seldom have to ask the big kids to help with the baby; they are usually fighting over who gets to have a turn with him. Paul is my other main helper. Elena begs and begs to be able to pick him up, but I don't quite trust her with him all by her six year old self, so she can only have him when I'm nearby to supervise. Joe is a little more nervous about holding him, so he doesn't volunteer as often. Renee loves David a little too much, so we have to keep a close eye on her as well, lest she hug the stuffing right out of him.
We are certainly enjoying our new wood stove. I can't believe I've gone my whole life so far without one! As the weather has been getting colder, we've been keeping the fire going more and more. The dog, as we expected, is afraid of the fire; she goes and hides upstairs next to Matt's side of the bed, which is the furthest geographical point in the house from the stove. The dog, however, has developed quite a taste for being comfortable and warm, so I'm sure she'll realize that a winter spent curled up in front of the fire is not so bad after all.

The New Normal

After any period of major upheaval or big changes, it can take awhile to get back to normal operations. Having Baby D was a huge upheaval all on its own. It's finally starting to feel like he's always been here. Even with as many babies as I've had, adding another one is always an adjustment.
One of David's primary occupations these days is chewing on his hands. He really goes at it! If he happens to catch the cuff of his shirt, he'll chew up his sleeve all the way to his elbow. He's been working on getting his bottom two teeth in for just about forever now. I check his mouth every day, but I can still only see the two little bumps on his lower gums with no white in sight. It's just as well; if he's anything like the rest of the kids, those teeth will cost us a small fortune in orthodontic work in the future.
Fixing up the house has been another big upheaval for us. We had our wood stove installed last spring just before the baby was born, and the weather is just right now for breaking it in. Boy howdy, that thing is going to be nice to have! Now if we only had some furniture in that room so we could actually sit in front of our nice roaring fire...
Our most recent major upheaval has been the building of the new addition. Here we see Elena enjoying the view out the big back window in the new part of the dining room as she has her breakfast, while Paul is giving me the stinkeye for reasons unknown. That's eleven-year-old boys for ya.
Our quirky little border collie has survived all these changes without having a heart attack or brain aneurysm, though I think she's quite ready for some peace and quiet. When we brought David home from the hospital, the poor dog ran downstairs and hid under the boys' bunk beds, and didn't come out for nearly a week. After a few days of construction workers being here every day, she stopped her constant barking, but has remained "on guard". When we lit the first fire in the stove last week, the dog took one look at it, turned heel, and headed back upstairs. I have a feeling, though, that she'll come to like sleeping in front of the nice warm fire.

I voted today, too!

While he did not get to cast an actual ballot, David did attend his first election today. All the other kids came with me too, of course. I had a chance this morning while I was out to stop off and cast my vote while I was sans children, but I intentionally waited until later this afternoon so I could bring them all with me. As with all things, they were very curious, and as with all things, they all had an opinion on who I should vote for. I received numerous suggestions of varying degrees of helpfulness on who would make a good write-in candidate for different offices. I also seriously, at least for a moment, considered voting for the "My Rent Is 2 Damn High" candidate for governor. Really, how much worse could he possibly do than any of the other guys?
I should subtitle this post, "In Which the Beckers Go Through Two New Roofs In As Many Weeks." Part of the renovations that we had contracted for included a full tear-off roof. Well, the sub-contractors who installed our first new roof last week apparently did not do such a great job, according to our general contractor (because really, what do I know about roofing?) He brought in a different crew this week, who deemed it necessary to tear the whole thing back off and re-do the job. Now, I really do hate to see anybody lose their job, and I'm sorry our general contractor has to take a hit as well, but I certainly do want my roof done right. I'm very glad that our general contractor was honest enough to correct the mistake. It's the kind of thing we wouldn't have seen or known about, at least for quite some time. But golly, for the love of peanut butter and jelly, I am ready to be done with this project!

Milestones

Yesterday Matt and I celebrated thirteen years of marriage. We've survived a lot- six kids, cancer, even hanging curtains together, as Matt can be seen doing here. We're not real big on celebrating events like this (anniversaries, not curtain-hanging), but I didn't want the day to pass completely unacknowledged. On our way home from group classes yesterday, the kids and I drove across the city to the bakery that made our wedding cake all those many years ago. We picked out a box full of Italian cookies (just like we had at our wedding) and some cannolis to surprise Matt with when he got home from work. Matt, also not wanting to let the occasion pass unacknowledged, surprised me by bringing me home a lobster sandwich from a new restaurant we have wanted to try but just don't have time to right now. We finished the evening by showing the kids our wedding album. They thought all the people "looked funny", as we went through and pointed out all the relatives they know. One child even pointed to a picture of me and Matt and asked, "Who's that?" A lot changes in thirteen years!

Yesterday also marked baby David's five-month "birthday". Five months seems to be about the time babies cross over from being a 'brand-new baby' to just 'the baby'. He still will not eat baby food, or drink from a bottle, or sleep much at night.

We bring the fun!

For your enjoyment, some nice pictures of the kids at the playground. We're just getting back to some of our old stomping grounds since baby David has been born. He's getting old enough to enjoy activities other than eating now, so we're gradually venturing out into the world again.