Summer 2013

Here is a glimpse of our summer.  We will work from most recent pictures backwards.  I was afraid the summer would not be that fun for the kids because of my morning sickness which as an effect I felt little motivation to "do" and be creative for them.  But through God's mercy it was a wonderful suummer!  Thank you Lord!


This is our new Saturday tradition!  He LOVES it so much. 




He melts me. :) Oh, that smile...


What a great Dad!!


This is pretty much what we do every evening, what the kids ride their toys.  I love it!  It gives Clay and I a little time to talk, in between saving Boaz from severe injury, and some crochet time for me.


"BUG!"  said, Boaz




Boaz can ride the scooter now.  Slow and steady is the way.


Athanasius...he is so sweet!  He is my little partner.










Athanasius the Strong.

Where is Ellie in all these pics? This was the evening she was in bed with a high fever.  She was so exhausted and out of it I do not even know if she knew the boys were outside playing.  She is fine now.  Boaz picked up the fever two days later, but Athanasius is holding out.


Ellie saw someone with a hair wrap and wanted one.  Good ole Youtube came to the rescue.  I think this cost me less than a dollar.  My arms were exhausted afterwards but she loves it and I am so happy!  It has been two weeks and it still looks good.


"Help me," said George the Cat.




George actually seemed to be enjoying the close proximity, he was purring.




Eleanor and I were doing some MM pictures and she wanted to include Marie the Cat at the end.  I love it!








Everyday he is so excited to do preschool!


Ellie does a great job playing with Boaz while I do school with Athanasius.


Observing the trash truck.


Feeding the chickens one of the last cucumbers on the vine.  They loved them!


Boaz squirting Ellie with his Squirter.  It did not even phase her.




A goodmorning smile.


Another beautiful smile!




Marie wasn't a fan of the squeeze hug and scratched him.  That did not deter him though...he had other plans.




Bo's other plan was to put Marie in the computer chair and push her around.  I think she liked it.








This is what I got when I asked Athanasius to smile.  With morning sickness and lack of energy I allow the kids to where what they want...at home that is.  They love it.  They will probably look back at when I was pregnant at some of the best times of their lives.  I can hear it now..."I wish Mom was having a baby because then we could do whatever we wanted."  


Oh man, that smile...


No outfit is complete in the midwest without cowboy boots.


Boaz's new favorite thing is art.






 So far three of the five people in this house are lefties...what are the chances?








Our first eggs!




This is part I of our summer photos.  For now, I leave you with "Little Red".  The leader of the pack.  The kids love to pick her up, I however, do not touch chickens.  As far as baby news goes we are 20 weeks along.  Half way to baby! 

Good Reads

For me, pregnancy is a time when I like to read, a lot.  And this pregnancy, although only 15 weeks along is appearing to be no different.  

 

The first book I read was Atchafalaya Houseboat: My years in the Louisianna Swamp.  I loved it! I loved it so much!  This gal and a friend build a decent size house on an old barge.  They had raised garden beds, chickens, crawfish galore and the freedom to learn all sorts of skills, ones I certainly do not possess.  They were able to do all these things mainly because they didn't really have many financial obligations so their time was spent on surviving, but surviving with style.  Swamp style.  It inspired me, no not to go for a morning swim in the nude, although they did their fair share of that!  But to use what we have, where we are and make the most of it.  In our free time Clay and I watch countless videos on youtube of people living in Tiny Homes, converting a bus into a home, or how to build a cob house.  But right now we are in a normal home (pretty awesome still) in the city and that is okay, better than okay.  We have three chickens, a rabbit, two cats, and some raised garden beds that mostly survived my two months of morning sickness and the sporadic watering.  But...if one day one of our teenage kids says, "Mom, I just found an old school bus for $1,000...what do you think?"  I might just say, "BUY IT!"  Or if that doesn't happen maybe Clay and I will build something crazy when we are empty nesters.  Until then I will continue reading great reads like this one, and cultivating where I have been planted. 

Next, I read The Shell Seekers.  At first I wasn't sure I could get into it.  But then I just kept on and finally got to the point where I couldn't put it down.  I would tell Clay the story as I read and he didn't think it sounded all that interesting.  And I realized as I spoke it out loud it didn't sound that great, but it was!    For one thing, her characters are wonderful.  I could relate to the main character Penelope in some ways.  She was frugal, loved to cook, loved her children, loved beauty, her furnishings were old but well taken care of, her home always smelled good and possessed a sense of warmth.  Penelope possesses two paintings that her late artist father left her, now his pieces are going for absurd amounts of money.  What will she do? Sell, or keep her treasured paintings?  Her greedy grown children want to get their hands on them, will they?  It may not sound all that thrilling or interesting, but it is. :) I really enjoyed this book and recommend it.

 

The last book I just completed was  A Thousand Splendid Suns.  There were many times I did not think I could finish this book because the suffering and cruelty was so intense.  But I am so glad I did!  This is another page turner.  I read this one in three days.  My husband, who actually is more of a reader than I am but with his new job which is quite physical compared to teaching has a hard time staying awake at night to read when before he would easily read until midnight, said, "I wish I could finish a book that fast."  My reply, "The kids have a two hour nap time everyday where I lay on the couch and read...nothing else really productive takes place."  Whereas before I was pregnant I would have filled it will a to do list. Nowadays it is just the necessities, food, dishes, laundry, home school...and...reading. Bliss.  Anyhow, this book will take you through Afghanistan from the early 70s to 9/11.  I knew nothing of their history and misery of war year after year.  

 

 

 

 

Presently, I just started A Prayer for Owen Meany by: John Irving and I am already sucked in.  I think this is the book Simon Birch the movie is based off.  And just yesterday I received Redeeming Childbirth by:  Angie Tolpin in the mail.  I read the first chapter last night and think it will definitely be beneficial to help shape my heart and attitude in this pregnancy.  My main struggle in pregnancy is fear.  Fear is so dangerous and paralyzing.  You name it I can be worried about it or contrive some story in my head of a possible outcome to a possible complication.  Hopefully God will use this book to help me focus and say no to the lies that come swimming through my head.   

The kids have been speeding through books as well.  I will post more about the chapter books we have been reading together.  We had some really great weather for a couple weeks and now it is back in the 90s.  The other evening Ellie came in the house to get some water, I asked her if she doing okay?  Her reply, "Oh, it's just the hottest day of my life."  It was hilarious, I started cracking up.  But she pressed onward and returned to the beloved sprinkler.   Summer is almost over and I can barely believe it.  But Fall is always beautiful in the Ozarks.  And with the coming of Fall means the coming of winter and then the coming of Baby!! 

Have you been reading anything good?  Do you have any recommendations? I would really love some!  

Blessings, So Many Blessings

Here is a quick look in to the Little Yellow House today...Boaz came down with a fever last night.  When the big kids were babies they would just lay on me and cuddle.  Very sweet. But Boaz has appropriately been renamed "Little Tyrant" because he wants everyone to know just how he feels.  We do sympathize with him and we love him but the Tylenol had to be issued.  He is a funny little guy always wanting to be right in the thick of things.  I can only wonder what this time next year will look like with a more mobile two year old and with his personality.

As I write Eleanor and Clay are coloring downstairs, simultaneously Clay and Athanasius are watching some soccer player do stuff on youtube.  I hear things like... "Whoa!"  "He's kicking it thru a moving tire."  "Babe, you gotta see this."  ---- Oh wait, they are all looking for me now. :) I love them.  

Previously I was crocheting in the kitchen while Athanasius was finishing his dinner.  Many a meals he is the last one at the table.  So I thought I would keep him company, the crocheting must have given him a boost of energy (it is his scarf I am working on) because he finished and left me.  Soccer on youtube was waiting.

We bought a season of the Duggars.  I know, we are cool.  No, but we are happy and that mean's so much more.  The past few nights we have watched an episode after dinner.  I remember when Clay and I used to talk about what it would be like when our little kids would actually sit with us on the couch and watch a movie.  Well, it is here!  And it is so fun.  The kids are enjoying it so much more than we anticipated.  

Hopefully, I will have more interesting things to post about, like pictures of our kids.  So sorry to our far away family! Pictures are coming soon.  Good night and God bless from the Pearlsteins.  

Perspective

"If only I had some grease I could fix some kind of a light," Ma considered.  "We didn't lack for light when I was a girl, before this newfangled kerosene was ever heard of."

"That's so," said Pa.  "These times are too progressive.  Everything has changed too fast.  Railroads and telegraph and kerosene and coal stoves -- they're good things to have but the trouble is, folks get to depend on 'em."  

Laura Ingalls, The Long Winter

I laughed to myself as I read this to the kids at lunch today.  And just a couple weeks ago I was getting nervous because our electricity had been off for a few hours!  I like to imagine life like this, it is such a mystery to me.  I can't imagine some all the things Caroline Ingalls had to do, and in a way I envy her.  I have come home so many times from Walmart claiming, "That's it! I want to live off grid."  My very sweet and might I add very level headed husband just laughs at me because he knows I wouldn't last a few days let a lone a few hours.  For example, Clay asked me once if I wanted to try a camping trip with the kids, I asked, "how much is it to rent a motor home?"  

I can understand why some people want to go off grid.  But for now maybe I will start using my cloths line and wearing an apron while I work.  I am thankful for these sweet stories and the thanksgiving we learn from their perseverance.  

Here's to Nine Great Months

Boaz is nine months old today! We are so thankful for him; we can't imagine life without him.  He has so much personality, he will definitely be able to keep up with the other crazies. :) Enjoy the video!    P.S. Ellie is talking to Aunt Abbey and Boaz is sucking on some fruit in that green thing.  For some reason I feel like I need to explain.

Christ the King Dance

Here are some pictures from our church's annual conference!  We kick it off with a fun Ball and dinner.  I like to take pictures of us when we are dressed nicely and going out the door.  These short photo shoots seem to work nicely with little kids that would rather not be in a picture. 

Athanasius is trying to get Ellie to dance again.  He would have danced all night but Ellie was done at this point.  And he only wanted to dance with her! I wish I had grabbed a picture of Clay he was looking quite handsome all dressed up. :)  But such is the life of a photographer.  We are trying to make a point of taking more pictures of us and our kids, not just our kids.  We do not want our kids to look back and say "hey, did I have any parents?"  Sometimes I wish we had a House Elf from Harry Potter.  If we did one of their tasks would be to take family portraits of us!  Do you know the only family picture we have is our church directory picture.  That is sad coming from people who love photography.  

Needless to say our church knows how to have a good time, and for that I am thankful.  To be around cheerful people that love God and life is blessing.   

Did you ask yourself, do Clay and Brooke dance?  No, no we are flakes.  But one day we plan on learning.  When we joined the church I was already expecting Eleanor and it didn't take long before even walking was laborious.  If I walked fast I would get a cramp in my side, ya know that cramp runners get.  Clay would laugh at me.  I love him. :)  Right now we are off to the side supervising the twirling and spinning of preschoolers and let me tell you that can be quite the job.  This is the season we are in and we love it.  We are trying to savor it more because one day when my hands are free and there isn't a heavy baby on my hip, I am going to wish there was. 

A Happy Birthday

We hosted a birthday party last month for Eleanor and Athanasius; it was so much fun! We started outside playing in the pool and eating lunch.  We did a little face paint, but there was so much going on that some kids weren't that interested.  Quick suggestion: buy face paint and let your kids do it themselves.  They will get very creative and it will keep them busy for awhile.  We broke it back out the other weekend and they had a blast! Anyhow, then we went inside for cake and ice cream.  It was then that I realized our kitchen felt on the smaller side.  It is funny how our house feels just fine when it is just us but then add five extra adults and seven little kids and all of a sudden you are walking side ways everywhere.  







A boy and his cake.  Love this one. 

While Athanasius blew out his candles with super speed Eleanor savored the moment.  There must be something so magical about a birthday cake and candles.  I love the expression of her little friend in the back ground.

Although Clay and I are into photography we are lacking in the documentation area.  There are so many other things I wish we would have gotten pictures of too but at least we have these.  After the cake the kids opened their gifts which took all of 30 seconds.  The older they get the faster they open. :)  Then to keep things moving everyone was exploring the kids room.  While the kids were playing Clay and I were at trying to untangle all the helium balloons that were tied around the deck! We had not realized how windy it was and how tangled they were.  Well, it all worked out.  A friend of ours who is studying to be an engineer thought cutting the strings would be a good idea.  I am amazed how much kids love a balloon.  Already looking forward to next years party!