Thriving

 Despite my best intentions to post more frequently, here we are several weeks into Lent and I'm just now getting back around to it!  We have a fairly quick pace here at the Campbell household, and I can never quite seem to stay on top of everything.  But, we are all well and thriving.  We have been blessed with excellent health this winter, and the boys are all doing well.  Davy started eating rice cereal this past week, and he seems to enjoy it.  Jack and Thomas are doing very well in their school studies.  Peter continues to wear his giraffe costume every chance that he gets :), and he is as adorable and feisty as ever.

I am doing well, just a little busier than I'd like.  David and I have been discussing whether or not I should continue to homeschool next year, so we are trying to sort that all out.  It's so hard to know what is best for our family!  I pray that we are able to arrive at a clear decision and be at peace with it.  I love so many aspects of homeschooling, but there are some drawbacks and I often feel stretched thin with trying to meet the physical, educational, spiritual, etc. needs of 4 small people all day long.  I love it, but I suppose the grass always looks a little greener ...  I know there are lots of pros and cons to public schooling also, and we just need to sort out which pros and which cons are critical for us.

I hope to back here soon with more photos and updates!



The boys and I made a crown of thorns out of cinnamon playdough for Lent.  Everytime someone does a good deed or makes a small sacrifice, they can remove a "thorn" from the crown. 



Davy is getting closer and closer to sitting up.

Overdue update

How can it be almost Lent already?  I still feel like I'm catching up from Christmas! Truth be told, I still feel like I'm catching up from October -- our month of Life Changing Events.  :). 

We're all well here in the Campbell household, just busy.  I keep waiting for when things will settle down and get less busy, but I have come to realize that I don't think that's going to happen, at least not for a while!  So I am coming to an uneasy peace with all the things I'd like to do but don't have quite enough time for -- updating this blog being one of them.  If my Lentern plans go as I hope they will, I'll be getting up a little earlier in the morning and hopefully that will give me a few extra quiet moments to put a couple of thoughts and a picture togther here.  Wish me luck!

Speaking of quiet moments, mine is nearly up already! I will close by putting up a couple of recent pictures. Hopefully I'll be back in a few days with more updates.

Davy learned to roll over!

Doing school outside on an unusually warm winter day.

Playdough outside.





Newly baptized!

Hair today...

Gone tomorrow....

We all knew The Hair needed to be tamed at some point, and yesterday was the day!  He did very well during the quick buzz, and we think he looks pretty cute with his new haircut.

My plans to post a new picture every day in Advent kind of petered out, but I hope to keep posting every couple days, if not every day.  The boys (and David) start their Christmas break tomorrow, and I get a little break from my teaching job :), so we're all excited about that.

Pizza party

I am home alone with the 4 boys this weekend (I think this was my first time home alone with all 4!) while David and his mom went to pick up her car and other belongings in Ohio.  In years past, I'm pretty sure I looked at a weekend alone with the kids as being more stressful and exhausting than fun and enjoyable.  But this time I adjusted my attitude ahead of time and that really did make a difference.  We had a great day.  I like the fact that I am raising four children that I genuinely enjoy spending time with :).  I know, it's supposed to be that way, but it's a neat feeling nonetheless!

Today I set out to have some enjoyable one-on-four time with the boys and also to get some chores done, and we succeeded on both counts!  We: watched Saturday morning cartoons, ate french toast picnic-style, played 2 board games, tried to start a fire in the fireplace (we didn't succeed at keeping it lit, but we had fun and made lots of smoke trying), brought a box of emergency firewood into the garage, cleared a space in the garage for David's mom's things, organized the space where Mom and Dad will stay when they visit next week, vacuumed, cleaned dining room chairs, had popcorn and hot chocolate while watching Animusic, printed out interesting Lego instructions which the boys used to start new creations, filed their existing Lego instructions, conquered my Mount Paperwork, gave baths to 4 boys, made pizza, ate pizza in pajamas and sleeping bags while watching a movie, and attempted to allow the boys to have a "sleepover" with their sleeping bags on their bedroom floor.  This last one was a flop since they were making a ruckus and keeping each other up way too late, but otherwise ot was a full and productive day, and I had lots of big boy help getting the chores done.

Great name for a local orthodontist

I drove by his office and his name and profession made me smile.  It reminded me a little of the Amigone Funeral Home in Buffalo :).  I love quirky or funny profession/business names!

School days

Quilts

David has two aunts that sew gorgeous quilts  and have given each of our boys a quilt when they were born.  Thank you, Aunt Charlotte and Aunt Madeliene!