7 Quick Takes Friday

I apologize that my blog has been so... neglected as of late. That little thing called "real life" has been flying by at the speed of, well... life! Which means that some less important things have fallen on the back burner, for example, blogging. I have had a few things I've wanted to blog about, none being especially post worthy on their own, so I'm joining in on Conversion Diary's "7 Quick Takes Friday" to do a little recap of life at our house lately!

Judah is now 19 months old!

He is as cute as ever! His vocabulary is increasing daily, and he now answers conversational questions, such as "How are you?" and "Did you sleep well?" I have no idea if he actually knows what he's saying, because his answers are always "good" and "yes", but its adorable none-the-less. When he has no words to say, he just makes a bunch of babbling noises with some "ummmmm..." pauses thrown in. (Also super cute, except during church.) He's growing up SO fast, and I know that I'm going to blink and he'll be speaking full sentences without his little squeaky voice soon. I'm going to miss these days!

(Bananas are his favorite snack!)

He ADORES babies. He will come running when he hears or sees a baby, just to look at it, hug it, rub its head, talk to it... this is all a very good thing, considering my next point...

I am now in my 3rd trimester! I haven't blogged about this pregnancy much at all, but all is going well. Uneventful is the way my pregnancies usually are, and this one is following suit. For which I am very thankful - I don't take it for granted! We don't know the gender of this baby and won't be finding out until arrival day, but I will admit that there are small, subtle differences about this pregnancy that make me wonder... (but I don't dare say it!). The anticipation is exciting! I would love to insert a cute belly picture here, but... I don't have any. None! :-( I'll have to take some before baby actually comes!

We are starting Week 12 of Sonlight's Core 3 next week, which means we'll be 1/3 of the way through our school year! I've been really trying to stay on track because I have no clue how much the arrival of #6 is going to have me sidelined, so I'm doing as much as possible now so that we'll be able to take as long of a break as we need. Its going great! Do I still love Sonlight? Absolutely. This is by far the easiest year of homeschooling I've had, and I'm "schooling" more kids than ever before (4th grade, 3rd grade, Kindergarten, and Preschool). I attribute alot of the "easiness" to the switch to Sonlight. Yay!

Just for an update on the shoe solution - it is working! Amazingly well!! There's been ONE case of misplaced shoes. Unfortunately, that did not happen on a day we had to run errands, but the culprit was required to wear the pink flip-flops for all outside play and chores that day. And that was torture enough for him, so the infraction has not happened again! My debt of gratitude again goes out to my dear friend and her husband who came up with the idea!

Want to see my new entryway organizer? It was hand built by my very own, sweet, hardworking hubby! He knew that I had been longing for some Ikea cubbies for a while, and took it upon himself to surprise me with these - which blow Ikea's out of the water!

I LOOOOVE it! Currently, the baskets are designated for: blocks, library books, co-op supplies, and shoes. There is one empty basket right now, but that will be put into use for hats, gloves, and scarves as the weather gets cooler. It is absolutely perfect!

I've discovered a small drawback to the "color-coding" system that many large families (such as ours) implement. All of my boys have specific color plates, cups, and bowls, which makes serving meals and clean-ups super, super easy. However, Judah has now developed color confusion! Everything that is red, he calls "Nay-nay" (his name for Nathan). Yellow is "Joel". You get the picture. So I've been taking the time to be super specific about colors - pointing out "red" things and emphasizing the word "red", etc. I don't think it will cause any lasting color identification disorder, but it is kind of cute. Which is pretty much like anything Judah does. Yes, I'm biased ;-)

Lest anyone think that I've forgotten that I have 4 other children besides Judah, here are some recent pictures from a disc golf outing (a very popular activity at our house). They're getting SO big! *sigh* I tell people that's why I keep having more! ;-)

Mr. Nate!

Joel in action (he's hardly ever NOT in action!)

Ezra lining up a shot

Isaac, just being Isaac :-)
(Can I add a note and say its unbelievable to me that my firstborn will soon be 10! Yikes!)

So that's about it in a nutshell. We're busy, busy, busy, enjoying God, living life, and loving one another. What more could I ask for? I am truly blessed!