6 Things about Natalie’s birth:

1. She was the Millenium Baby in our small Ohio county – and the first baby for several other counties around.
2. I thought she was going to be twins; I was huge because she was breech until a couple of weeks before birth.
3. She is the only one of our children to be born on her due date.
4. Her labor was 30 hours long.
5. We went to a New Year’s Party 25 hours into labor, and left 2 or 3 hours before she was finally born.
6. She was 23 1/2 inches long at birth. Yes, the midwife checked 3 times.

6 Things about Natalie Now:

1. She is raising pet gerbils, along with her sister Megan
2. She is our darkest child; her eyes were brown at birth
3. Pink is her favorite color
4. She hates the sight of blood – anyone’s blood
5. She loves to dance, and practices in front of the mirror
6. She’s our high energy girl – she loves the trampoline!

The cat knocked the digital camera off the counter and now it’s dead. Er – the camera, not the cat. We forgive the cat. The dangling wrist strap was just too much for a cat to resist, even if he’s huge and fat and lazy and gives his mice to the other cats when he’s done playing with them.
But the upshot is, you’ll have to look at this crummy phone-camera photo and imagine just how beautiful and creative and lovely our 7 foot tall oil-based enamel tree really is.
Now imagine it with a stained-glass style star at the top, and cord run up over the 7 ft. wall to plug in on the other side – no visible wires, and the star is all lit up.
The tree is draped in strings of beads (or, if you’re young and naive, pearls).
All of our ornaments are hung from thumbtacks, with the oldest and most precious up out of the reach of little hands.
There is the ornate 8″ violin from my grandparents (I took 8 years of lessons & played briefly in the Albuquerque Youth Orchestra);
There are the flat gold-toned ornaments in the shapes of angels, stars and wreaths, one for each child for each year, hand engraved by Yours Truly at WalMart;
And a few surviving ornaments from hubby’s childhood.
In other parts of the house, we have crocheted patchwork stockings, patterned after the ones that hubby’s Pampa made for hubby and the other grandchildren – one for each child, and a huge one to replace hubby’s that I lost while using it to design the pattern for the others; the don’t touch delicate white nativity that holds a tealight candle inside (actually a set of 3); my Father Christmas snowglobe (we don’t “do” Santa, but do enjoy the Old World portayal of Father Christmas – so much classier than our own Santa Claus); and several more nativities, the Advent calendar, and other odds and ends.

In other news, the in-laws arrived tonight so I may be scarce for the next week. We’ll be working on the finer points of 13 people, 1160 square feet, way too many Christmas gifts, and one bathroom! Never a dull moment!
Have a Merry Christmas!

I just have to take a moment to brag up my 7 year old Megan.
Today, she made and served macaroni and cheese for lunch with just a little oversight and no help at all. Next time she will remember perfectly.
She makes a mean fried egg – cooked just right and salted to perfection.
She knows how to set up the coffee at night, and begs for the privilege of crawling out of her warm bed at 6AM to start it up.
She has a servant’s heart, boundless energy and an eagerness to tackle any new task that is set before her.
I just love that girl.

Just a quick thanks for all the nice comments that Lydia and I received on our handiwork. Here’s an old picture of the Easter dresses from back when we only had 5 girls, 6 and under. This was only the third time I had ever completed a sewing project, and these babies had lined bodices, petticoats, princess seaming. The works! Note the matching headbands.
That was a lot of fun, and a lot of late nights.
All of the dresses are still in circulation, but they have moved down the line a couple of notches.
As a side note, when I made these dresses I had a neighbor who grew up sewing all her own clothes. She would cook up an idea at my table: “hmmm…the girls need coats. I think I’ll make them some.” Then she would hit WalMart on her way home (not an easy task, since we were next door neighbors and WalMart was hardly on the way).
The next morning, her 2 girls would be sporting brand new custom made windbreakers with hoods, zippers, and appliqued butterflies and ladybugs, all of which cost Matti $3.75 to make.
You say patterns cost more than that? Matti never used patterns.
She also made 5 of our girls personalized quilts (they still have them, Matti!) and the cutest animal head pillows.
She said she was impressed with my 5 dresses, but I had to impress this upon Matti: for her, sewing was like vacuuming the living room. A quick job you do when you have the time, inclination, and a working vacuum cleaner.
For me, it was like giving birth. Really: I’ve given birth just as many times as I have finished a garment, and the sewing probably took longer.
Matti, if you’re reading this, could you sew me a quilt for my bed? It’s a queen size; I could send $3 or $4 to cover materials (you always find the deals!) and could you have it here this week, since the weather is cold?

Today Lydia and I finished her birthday dress. er – her 8 year old birthday dress. Lydia turned 9 earlier this month.
I don’t sew much – did I mention that? My crowning achievement, my magnus opus, was the year I made 5 matching Easter dresses for the girls.
Lydia’s birthday dress is my first real sewing project in over 5 years, so this is a momentous occasion. Last year, I decided to make a dress with each daughter, each year, as a birthday present. Yes, I can hear you laughing. But Lydia and I went to Walmart together, and I helped her select a pattern and fabric. We came home, cut out the pieces, and got to work.
We got stuck. We backed up a little, tried again.
We got stuck. We hadn’t chosen the easiest pattern. Not a hard one, but it had quirks that were enough to throw off a novice like me.
We put it aside and thought about it for a while, and when Grandma (my grandma) came to visit, she helped us through the bit we were stuck on.
We worked a little more, and got busy with other areas of life.
Just today, I pulled out the half-forgotten, nearly finished dress. “Let’s finish your dress so we can do a Home Portrait Studio for your birthday pictures this year!”
And we did. Just like that.
Now who knows the best place to order prints from digital photos?

1. She loves animals
2. Her favorite color is yellow
3. Her smile is like sunshine
4. She loves to talk
5. She looks like her Grandma Coghlan but has huge luminous eyes like no one else in the family
6. She has 2 Mini Lop rabbits named Lilo and Stitch
7. She is a very good worker
8. She donated her hair to Locks Of Love earlier this year
9. She turned 9 on November 1

Happy Birthday, Lydia!

Lights

Today our quality of life took 5 steps upward. That’s how many exterior lights my Hardworkin’ Man installed, along with all the other electrical items on his list. If we count both bulbs on each floodlight, it’s 7 steps.
We all went outside to admire the show when dusk fell and the glorious floodlights on the corner of the deck lit up our driveway and half of the valley below us.
The children are very excited because now they can play outside after dark. Hubby and I are excited because now we can send them out to the car after dark to get the last of the groceries.

Limerick

For Lydia, who waited long to get her limerick. I was a little afraid her limerick might sound mean, but she took it in good humor and is delighted with it. With that in mind, I’ll share it here. Let me just say that it’s entirely true – except the caulking part.
Here ’tis:

Her powers of speech are quite shocking.
Even while sleeping, she’s talking.
The speed of her jaw
fills observers with awe
and leaves us with sly thoughts of caulking.

We finally did it! We went to the zoo for the first time in 5 years, thanks to our Very Dear Friend Kathy who has a Super Duper Pass that allows her to take 5 guests for free.
Cheap and fun: the perfect day! Thank you, Kathy!

The girls spend 4 glorious hours running between 64 exhibits.
Kaitlyn and Megan have notes to prove this.
Kathy and I spent 4 glorious hours following 8 thoroughly engrossed girls through the beautifully landscaped grounds- or 12 girls, if we give Kathy 5 kid-points for her Lindsay, whom Kathy very diligently prevented from being eaten.
Kathy and I have photos to prove this.

It was not too hot and not too crowded as we chased, chatted and counted heads. A perfect S. Texas fall day, with a temp in the low 90′s
The children stampeded from one exhibit to the next, watching as the komodo dragons, lions and kangaroos slept, and the elephants, hippos and monkeys pooped. Well, they did. That’s what animals do. That’s what kids watch. Oh, and the bear cubs played.
We finally tore ourselves away for a 2:30 lunch, ran some errands, and straggled back home around 6. Fishsticks and fries on paper plates for dinner.
What a perfect day!

Our Becca will be so happy!
At her last dental checkup, 4 year old Becca announced that she wanted to live at the dentist, because “the dentist has green walls, but we just have a [dry]wall house.”
If you read my husband’s blog, you know that My Hardworkin’ Man stayed up until midnight texturing one of the bedrooms last night. The job isn’t done yet, but Lord willing we will have the living room and 1 bedroom (not Becca’s, unfortunately) textured and painted by Saturday.
These will be the 2nd and 3rd rooms to be painted.
We worked last night until we could work no more: we called it a night not because we ran out of steam, but because we ran out of mud for texturing.
I guess God decided it was our bedtime. I’m glad He did, because now we’re eager to move on rather than being exhausted from having worked half the night.
I’m so excited about resuming progress on our “homemade house,” another term borrowed from our children. Doncha just love the way their little heads work?

Meet our wonderful daughters – minus the oldest and youngest:

Kaitlyn (10), Lydia (8), Megan (7), Natalie (5), and Rebecca (4).

I won’t try to explain which is which because most days I can’t keep them straight myself.

Children can be so refreshing in their logic, so able to think outside the box. Why do so many of us lose that when we grow up?
Not too long ago, 5 year old Natalie asked me to drive home backwards. “So the mailbox,” she explained, “will be on my side.”

This was taken at 9 months, but she hasn’t changed much. She had her first birthday on July 30 (the 15 anniversary of when we got engaged).

Our precious Rachael has all the wonderful qualities that a great picture like this suggest…sweet, happy, affectionate, gentle. She also has some of the qualities that the red hair suggest, but we won’t go into that. She has some of the funniest mannerisms, and makes us smile every day.

We are so thankful for our littlest blessing! God help us to raise her in the fear and admonition of the Lord. How could we look at that smile and strive for anything less?