This will be quick...

I am tired.

I have 4 kids.

I guess this is reasonable.

Here are my four kids with my husband on the couch.

I think we need a bigger couch.

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We had a very kid-centric day today. We went to one of those indoor play facilities for no joke, about 4 hours.

It was epic.

Since we'd basically blown nap/rest time and praying if we kept everyone moving for a few more hours we could score an early bed time, we decided to press on with the fun and took the kids for Fro-yo.

Chilli bean and Jenkins could not be bothered to pose for a picture... there were jelly beans and fro-yo present.

Here is Jenkins' opinion of a licorice jelly bean.

Chilli bean wanted to make sure Daddy wasn't holding out on her. She was fond of any jelly beans... regardless of their flavor.

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The baby boy shall now be referred to as "Banjo" thanks to the social security administration who sent me his card with his name misspelled.

Really?

Really.

And the worst thing is, I get to spend several hours at the social security office with confirmation of birth forms, hospital bills, etc... because of their error.

Good thing I have tons of time on my hands.

Anyway... Banjo is dang cute... and is already 1 month old!

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I braved a walk with all 4 this week around our neighborhood.

At some point along the way, I decided to make it a "nature walk" and encouraged Sassy to pick collect some specimens.

She made the following upon our return home.

I should probably rotate that for you... but it would take too much time. So you'll just have to turn your head sideways to read her sweet handwriting labeling each of her items.

Jenkins also collected some "nature" items.

He was not interested in the labeling, and preferred to just fill my coat pockets with his treasures.

Love him.


Maranda

The little man

I'm utterly miserable 39 weeks prego as of yesterday.

I guess I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up, but the midwife got me all excited on Tuesday telling me that I was 4-5 cm dilated already and that I should expect to have this baby any minute.

Why do they do that to me? Get my hopes up?

Sigh.

It's fine... I mean, I want the baby to come when he's ready, but I am sorta starting to feel like he might be stalling. I have been having contractions for days... days I tell you!

If I make it to Monday's appointment, I really think I have earned a few more centimeters of dilation and I think that I should pretty much be able to sneeze at this point and pop out a baby.

Seems fair to me.

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Stop the presses...

We have an update! This post was started mere hours before I went into labor with our sweet baby boy!  I am happy to announce that our precious little man arrived at 5:48 am on Saturday, January 26 - weighing in at 7 lbs and 7 oz, 20.5 inches long.

He is a delight and so far a very chill kid, though I do wonder if he is just doing that sly baby thing where they act all tired and mellow for the first week and then show their true colors. Time will tell... but regardless, I love him so much and we are thrilled and blessed to have him in our family.

Speaking of mellow and tired... I certainly am... well, at least the tired part. Thus, I will continue this post with mostly pictures from some of the past few days.

Sassy and Jenkins came to the hospital to visit. Sassy is in love.

Eli was primarily concerned with the fact that there were graham crackers on my bedside table.

He also thought that the curtain was cool.

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Can I just tell you once again how amazing this woman is...

My mother-in-law, Debbie.

She is an absolute angel.

Not only did she come to help me out the last week of my pregnancy, but then she stayed at our house and wrangled 3 wild critters, BY HERSELF, while we were at the hospital. She truly is incredible and you have never met anyone with such a generous, considerate, loving spirit. Thank you so much Debbie... I love you dearly.

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Here we are...headed home from the hospital. 

So precious and wee.

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The kids made an adorable sign to welcome their new little brother. 

I still haven't taken it down. 

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Chilli, the baby lover of the family is so excited to have this new little doll. She keeps saying, "BeeBee! BeeBee Bruder!"

Sassy, and consequently Chilli, began begging me to let them feed the baby. Sassy was particularly distraught that she did not have the proper "equipment" to feed him, so I being the wonderful engorged mother that I am, pumped for them.

I made their day. 

I'm happy to report that Mr. Jenkins is now acknowledging his brother's existence, however, he is not nearly as enamored with him as the girls are.

He did engage in a little game of "doctor" with his sister.

The report was positive. He is in fact a baby.

Nurse "purple kitty" concurred.

That is all for now. I hope to post more pictures in the coming weeks, but I also hope to sleep... and I'm not too sure either will happen.

Maranda

Chuck Morris

Mr. Ben, our beloved basement tenant who recently acquired a feline, has been in Uganda for the last week. We miss him, but are excited that he is getting to teach and train pastors seeking to learn more about God's word and theology.

In his absence, Sassy has been charged with attending to Chuck Morris.

As you can imagine, this is hardly a burden for her.

Although, I'm pretty certain Chuck is quite eager for his "daddy's" return.

Honestly, the cat is quite compliant. And although there are times when I can tell he is "over" being a baby doll, in general, he has proven to be a very good playmate.

When he is agitated, I feel like he tends to take out his frustrations by being obnoxious.

For example blocking Brent's view of the football game.

Or hiding in a closet for so long that we fear some child has released him outside. We were so panicked the other night I was practicing my speech on how I was going to tell Mr. Ben that I managed to lose his new cat. 

We found the rascal a few hours later in Chilli's closet. 

My personal favorite was finding him on my dish drying pad...

...because that's not disgusting.

I caught him on the counter again the other night literally chewing on the handle of the spray bottle I use to shoo him off tables and counters.

He's bold.

But, again, he puts up with a lot.

This is the "bed/cage" Sassy made for him. It is complete with a cage door, secured with scotch tape of course, and a sign she commissioned me to write stating: This is Morris' home while Mr. Ben is away.

Mmmm....Cozy.

And I did find him in the playroom the other morning in this predicament.

So, I guess I can't blame him for attempting to escape to higher ground.

Bless his heart.

Maranda

Dance Par-tay

We had a dance party (or dance par-tay if you prefer) this evening.

Even in light of the handmade, construction paper, party hat - it probably appears like a tame event from this photo.

Don't be fooled.

"Who let the dogs out!?" was on repeat.

Sassy, not only made a hat for herself, but also one for Zelda monkey.

Mr. Jenkins and Chilli were a part of the dance party as well. Chilli had even donned a pair of ballet slippers for the occasion and Jenkins had selected a lion as a dance partner.

However, I guess at some point whilst I was twitching in the kitchen from Cotton Eye Joe and Pump up the Jam, Chilli got herself into a bit of a predicament.

At some point, I realized there was a little voice crying, "I stuck mommy"

Clearly I am a responsible and attentive mother.

Maranda

Chuck

Something slightly miraculous has occurred in the life of Sassy.

She got a cat!

Well... sort of.

Technically, something miraculous happened for Brent and me because our tenant in the basement got a cat...

A glorious arrangement as far as we are concerned.

All of the fun and none of the responsibility!

None of the vet bills, none of the flea treatments, none of the litter scooping, none of our furniture clawed... just daily visits from a friendly, cuddly purr-beast.

And Sassy is over the moon.

He is a funny little critter. Adopted from a local vet, he has a great personality. Plays with the dog... tolerates much chasing love from the children, is friendly and eager to be scratched and loved.

I like him.

His name is Morris.

However, Chilli calls him Norris. She screams his name while running around the house chasing him in her sparkely purple boots.

"Nooooooorrissssssssss....  Noooooooooorrissssss.... Noooooorrissssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Brent and I started calling him Norris as well. However, last night we renamed him, "Chuck" for obvious reasons.

On a totally separate subject.  I have a question...

Does being pregnant make you more clumsy or are you just more aware of your clumsiness when massively prego?

I seem to drop everything I put my hands on.

I am sure I have always dropped toys, paper, utensils, etc... but now when something slips from my grasp, I literally have to decide if it is worth the energy to bend over and retrieve it.

That's pretty pathetic isn't it?

Yesterday the kids and I tidied up the play room and collected miscellaneous toys from around the house before dinner.

But after dinner, there was a reemergence of many items that had been prematurely tucked away for the night.

I committed fully to leaning over and picked up all the toys on the living room floor in one bend.

I'm sure you appreciate the mental picture of me bent over, waddling around the coffee table in the living room picking up (and certainly occasionally dropping) toys.

I figured I'd just get them all while I was down there.

Anyway, after my waddling lap was complete, this is what I had collected.

Ridiculous is it not?

I mean, hardly any of these items are even related!

Earmuffs.
Baby bottle.
Dog guitar.
Books.
Sippy cup.
Purple kitties.
Play mobile people.
Pencil sharpener.
Play dough squeezer component.
Etc...

And the quantity! How did they drag out this much miscellaneous crap in such a short span of time?

I mean, there are three of them and they do have varied interests, but I was just pretty impressed with the volume and variety. Children are amazing creatures are they not?

You know who else is amazing?

My husband.

He has taken to giving the gremlins piggy back rides - or as Mr. Jenkins refers to them - guinea pig back rides, up to bed each night.

Sometimes he manages to take all of them at the same time.

Insanity.

Maranda

Mmmm... Folgers

Brent and I escaped to Asheville, NC last week for a little "baby moon."

We have actually visited Asheville for the past 3 years during this time as he is off from work and in-laws are especially receptive to taking our darling gremlins for a couple of days.

Typically we use a day to do some goal planning and thinking about the upcoming year.

This year, not so much.

There was a lot of eating and some Hobbit watching... but mostly eating.

We spent one morning at a little coffee house in West Asheville and delighted in a very tasty latte (photo above) and some rose hip tea.

I am not even sure what the heck kind of coffee this was... but I think it was grown in a remote mountain in South America where it was then harvested by tiny, winged tree sprites who nurtured the beans for a period of time until they were old enough to be sun-dried on little fluffy pillows of dandelion puffs and raw, unbleached cotton.

Or something like that.

Anyway, the coffee was very tasty.

Though it was nothing compared to my Folgers (apparently roasted by evil ogres), which is currently re-heating in my microwave for the umpteenth time today.

It's okay... it's only 3 pm... surely I'll finish that cup before dinner.

Maranda

Classic Jenkins

I love the boy.

He makes me laugh...

and he's so pretty...

...and he is probably going to kill me one day for my postings on this blog.

Alas, I care not.

Especially since he typically affords me the most opportunities for spiritual growth on a regular basis.

Seriously... the tantrums can be epic.

However, recently, I have found him extra hilarious and I thought I would share of few glimpses into my life with Mr. Jenkins.

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While congratulating him on putting on his PJs (or as we refer to them... "jammers") all by himself the other night...

ME: Great job dressing yourself buddy!
JENKINS: No Mommy! I not dressin'...I jammerin'! I jammered myself!

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Tonight at the dinner table, Brent asked each of the children if they would share something that they were thankful to God for.

Sassy of course said, "cats"

Chilli bean screeched.

Mr. Jenkins said he was thankful that he was going to go to the fair tomorrow.

Nice try buddy.

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My sister got a great new camera for Christmas and has been taking some sweet photos over the past few weeks.

However, my favorite picture from Christmas would have to be the following, taken by yours truly on my handy cell phone.

Yes, that would be the Jenkins... in the buff... playing with his new tool bench bright and early Christmas morn.

You see, the boy was very excited about the Christmas gifts awaiting him and he could not be bothered with silly nuisances such as underwear and clothing following his morning trip to the potty.

Once again... he is going to kill me some day.

Once again... I care not.

Maranda