Sunburns and Shylie

My sweet sunburned little guys agreed to let me post pictures of their faces. What troopers!

These were all taken the night we went skiing. You can see how miserable poor Shannen is. Shadd is still his happy little self!

Shannen holding Shylie yesterday.

Taken this morning. They are feeling much better, especially Shannen. Shayden and Shannen's faces were swollen looking but today they are looking normal. Shannen's eyelids were still just a bit puffy this morning, but at least he can smile about it now.

I just had to post a few pictures of Smiley Shylie. We can't help but smile when we look at her!
Babies are truly just a bit of heaven on earth! Such a sweet delight!

Who needs lots of toys when you have big sisters to entertain you?

Update on life

I figured it was about time to update on life here in Neyville.
Tuesday we spent the day up at Dodge Ridge. All the big kids snowboarded or skied. Our sweet Kee family went also. We met up in Oakdale and followed each other up there. The kids all had a great time hanging out with the Kee girls. Duane, I, and Rose Ann spent the day being "lodge bunnies". Okay, so maybe Duane wouldn't like being called that!

Poppet and Lolly loved spending the whole day with Laine and Ainsley. They colored, were goofy, watched cartoons on the laptop, were goofy, ate lots of snacks, and were goofy again. Ainsley and Poppet are just about the cutest things you've ever seen together! The day was beautiful so they were even able to sit outside at the table and color out there for a little bit.

I feel like a terrible Mama though as I didn't even think about bringing sunscreen or sunglasses for the kids. Rose Ann had some sunscreen and I put some on Shaylah and Shadd but the others had already headed out. By the time they were done with their lessons and came back in they already had very pink faces. They ate lunch and I intended to put some sunscreen on them before they headed back out and somehow forgot. Shayden and Shannen have the most awful sunburns I have ever seen. I went to bed praying that this wouldn't do any lasting damage to them. That is seriously how bad they are. I would post photos but I don't think they would appreciate that. Shannen can hardly move his mouth because his whole top lip is all blistered. Shayden complained about his eyes hurting and he has small blisters on one side of his face. Words can't describe how bad I feel! I gave them the day off of school yesterday and let them play board games and read instead.

This has been another really fast month. Unfortunately time just goes quicker when you have a baby around. Shylie turned 4 months on Monday. (sniff, sniff) She is just too cute! We would all probably admit that she has us completely wrapped around her little finger. She just loves to watch her older siblings. She is quick to smile at any silly thing they do to entertain her which makes them try to be even sillier for her. She still has her head of hair. I have never, out of 9 babies, had one that actually kept their hair. I've had some born with hair but by 4 months there is nothing left but soft fuzzies. There is actually enough hair that I could put a clippy in it! She really is at a great little age that I would love to freeze.

We have the best new tutor that started coming this month. Her name is Molly. Shannen was really not looking forward to me bringing in a tutor....until he met her. I quote..."she is NOTHING like I thought she'd be, she's pretty!" She is the sweetest little college gal. Since we had the funding through school I really felt like I could use a little help while having a little one and two busy toddler/preschoolers. I was looking for someone and praying and then we got Molly. She comes twice a week for an hour and a half. Right now all she is doing is math drills with the boys and helping them master their multiplication facts. She is such a blessing!

Shyloh and Jeff just started the "Masters cleanse" yesterday. They are not eating and only drinking a mixture of water, fresh squeezed lemons, and cayenne pepper for the next 10 days. We'll see how that goes. We are going to root them on! They really want to make some health changes and lose a bit of weight too. Shyloh already has her wedding dress and wants to make sure she fits in it well!

For Valentine's Day we went to San Fransisco with Jeff and Shyloh. Since this was their first Valentine's Day together they wanted to do something special but don't go anywhere alone so they decided to ask us to double date with them. I hate San Fransisco but if it meant spending the day with them I was up for it. We had a great time and I even forgot I was in that awful city for a while! The weather was a little drizzly but the sun still managed to peek out once in a while. We walked around the pier for a while and then went to dinner. We did get separate tables for dinner so we could each have a little time alone with our honeys. Duane and I really had a nice day. Hopefully they did too! We enjoy getting a chance to get away with Shyloh and Jeff when we can. Time is short with them around all the time so we like to take advantage of those one on one times with them. We are already planning another dinner date with them when they are done with their cleanse.

Two weeks until we start our birthday kickoff. Poppet turns 4! She kicks off our birthday season. I always love this coming up season. Spring is around the corner, lots of family gatherings, then summer comes with lots of swimming, barbecues and more family gatherings. Fun, fun, fun!

Mama and Lolly

Laine, Poppet, and Ainsley coloring on the deck.

Ski lessons

Pink face after lunch... this is nothing! You should see this poor little guy today!

Shayden getting ready to head out

Best buddies! Aren't they sweet?

This was Shadd's first time snowboarding! He slept really good that night!

Smiley Shylie! Check out the hair!

Our attitude

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past.. we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it."

Charles Swindoll

A great video

This is a wonderful message that is to good not to share. It is really long, about an hour, but it is worth the investment of time. Whether you agree with everything or not doesn't matter, I know it will make you think, it did me. I have had an encounter with something much bigger than a 30 ton logging truck and I want my life to reflect that!
I pray you are blessed!
(turn the music off in the sidebar)

A few more thoughts:

Did you ever think about the fact that if you get on a horse you get on top of it, but if you get on a bus or a train you get inside? When you go to bed you actually climb inside and sleep, but if you go to town simply went to that location to do something. If we read the clock we say, "It is nine o'clock," but if we're looking at a watch we don't say, "It is nine o'watch" even though it technically is.

Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.

19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England nor French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? If talcum powder is made of talc, what is baby powder made from?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And, when you want to shut down your computer you have to hit start.

The Everlasting Arms

The Everlasting Arms

Are you sunk in depths of sorrow

Where no arm can reach so low;

There is One whose arms almighty

Reach beyond thy deepest woe.

God the Eternal is thy refuge,

Let Him still thy wild alarms;

Underneath thy deepest sorrow

Are the everlasting arms.

Other arms grow faint and weary,

These can never faint nor fail;

Others reach our mounts of blessing,

These our lowest, loneliest vale.

Oh, that all might know His friendship!

Oh, that all might see His charms!

Oh, that all might have beneath them

Jesus' everlasting arms.

Underneath us - oh, how easy!

We have not to mount on high,

But to sink into His fullness

And in trustful weakness lie;

And we find our humbling failures

Save us from the strength that harms;

We may fail, but underneath us

Are the everlasting arms.

Arms of Jesus, fold me closer

To Thy strong and loving breast,

Till my spirit on Thy bosom

Finds it's everlasting rest;

And when time's last sands are sinking,

Shield my heart from all alarms,

Softly whispering, "Underneath thee

Are the everlasting arms."

By A. B. Simpson

Deut. 33:27 The eternal God is thy refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms...

He giveth

He gives more grace when the burdens grow greater.
He sends more strength when the labors increase,
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed 'ere the day is half done;
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father's full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure.
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again."
~Annie Flint

That kind of girl and sharing spoons

I was thinking about some funny things that have happened here over the last couple of months ago and thought they were too funny not to share.

The first time that Shannen saw Jeff and Shyloh holding hands he was very alarmed and concerned. He pulled me aside and told me with much shock that he just saw Jeff and Shyloh holding hands! I told him that it was okay. He responded with a horrified expression and said, "I didn't know Shyloh was THAAAT kind of girl!! His whole image of her was shattered. After a long conversation with him I restored his image of her once again. :o)

Shannen has also decided that he no longer wants to get married. I let this go for a while but he was remaining very adamant about this and it started to bother me so I decided to push this and find out why. Every time he was asked he wouldn't say anything but, "I just don't wanna." I finally got the truth out of him and after much probing, he said, "I don't want to have to share a spoon with a girl!" (Imagine a very "grossed out" look on an 8 year old boys face) I asked him why he thought that you had to share a spoon and he said, "I saw Shyloh take a bite off the a spoon and then give a bite to Jeff, off the same spoon!" (Okay, repeat grossed out look of horror!)

Hopefully by the time Jeff and Shyloh get married Shannen won't have too many lasting scars!

Spring fever

I can't believe January has already flown by and February has arrived! We've had some lovely weather recently and it has caused me to start getting spring fever. A week ago we spent all day outside pruning trees, cleaning out flower beds and doing all the winter maintenance to get ready for spring. I think that is when the bug for spring bit me!

I am already planning what we will plant in the garden and I am day dreaming about what flowers I am going to put in my flower beds this spring. Shaylah pulled out our little "green house" a couple of weeks ago and has already put a couple of pots in there that she is growing things in. This year instead of buying flats of flowers or veggies already started we are going to try our hand at growing all our own from seed. Duane and the boys are rebuilding one of my raised boxes that rotted out last year. Hopefully in the next week or two we get all of our seeds started so we can plant them in the garden by the end of March.

We are also getting ready to breed our bunnies again in a few weeks. What is spring without baby animals? Even our chickens must have spring fever! We usually only get 1 - 2 eggs a day this time of year because of the cold but instead we are getting 6 - 8 eggs a day!

Well, my mother just really bummed me out! She just informed me that the groundhog saw his shadow and we will have 6 more weeks of winter. Sigh....

Happy Groundhog Day!

Check out those dirty faces from playing outside all day!

Lolly with Pandy, who will hopefully be a mommy in a month!


A few of our feathered flock

What a beautiful sight! I LOVE our home laid eggs!