Adjusting to our new normal

Here's a cute picture of Olivia.  All of these photos were taken about mid-March.

Here's a good one of Josiah!

Hannah and Nathan!  Hannah is demonstrating some sort of finger-puppet thingy.

I don't seem to have any current pictures of Leah or Seth.  Hmmm....will look and see if I can find some for the next post.

We (I) are slowly adjusting to a new normal with 6 children now.  I can't seem to wrap my brain around having to buffer by at least 30 minutes for any task.  It shouldn't take 15 minutes to get into the van, for instance, but it does.  Shoes are lost, someone needs to potty (usually me), you realize that someone stinks just as you walk out the door...I fear my friends are becoming annoyed with me for ALWAYS being late.  I'm trying, but somehow being punctual is beyond me.  It's immensely frustrating.

In other news, Hannah wrote a book.  A real, live chapter book, geared toward 9-12 year olds (70 pages!).  It's called Icefire and is about a girl who discovers she has a sort of superpower (breathing fire).  We have submitted the manuscript to a self-publishing entity and to a literary consultant (which is a liaison of sorts for publishers).  Both places are reviewing it this week and will get back to us next week to tell us if it's just a cute kid story, or if it might make some money if published.  It's kind of exciting!!

The children are finishing up current grade levels and should be done by the end of June.  We'll take a week off, then start their new grade levels in July.  We will officially have a seventh grader, a fourth grader and a first grader.  Olivia will be doing preschool stuff, and Joe will just be making messes.  

Hannah and Nathan have both grown several inches and can now wear the same shoe size.  Leah is learning to read.  Olivia likes to do things slowly.  Very slowly.  Josiah is 2 years old and can do everything himself.  Seth is 4 months old today and is just fat and jolly and sweet. 

Well, I need to close for now.  I have little ones who want to play in the kiddie pool and I need to be present.