End of February

It seems not much picture worthy is happening lately which makes blogging hard.  I have to actually think of things to say.  It's been either snowing or freezing with terrible windchill for the past few weeks and so we haven't gotten out of the house much.  I hate to drive on the hills when the roads are bad, and when it's windy and cold it's just so miserable buckling everyone into the car 100 times!  Plus the news makes it seem like the temperatures are going to be end of the world terrible or the snow is going to be feet deep and it gets in my head, makes me scared, and gets me to forget I'm a Montana girl and can handle this stuff easily. 
      A couple of weeks ago Quinn was tromping around in her rainboots and tried to climb up the stairs after me.  She fell.  She limped around for a day or two and was fine, then she fell again.  Then I was giving her a piggy back ride down the stairs like I always do and we "fell" together!  Really we slid down the stairs like we were sledding on my bum while I tried to stop us- feet forward, and she was grabbing my neck sking on her tummy- feet back.  Alex and Heidi were walking down the steps at the same time and when we all reached the bottom they were frantically asking for the phone so they could call 911.  Everyone is fine, I let the girls play nurse on my sore body and ended up having a dr. apt the next day anyway for the baby.  All is well, except now Quinn refuses to go up or down the stairs by herself- and I've sworn off carrying anyone up or down that death trap!  It's terrible.  I really can't carry her up the stairs anyway as my hips have turned to jello already and I feel like I'm already doing the 9 months pregnant waddle.
    We have taken it upon ourselves to be the neighborhood snow crew.  Since the days are warmer when it snows and the girls love playing in the growing mounds we go out and shovel for the neighbors until my body aches or Quinn's fingers have gone numb from pulling her gloves off.  She usually does this so she can reach in the bag and throw salt all over our dry porch while I'm preoccupied.  We've been borrowing the neighbors snow shovel because I wouldn't let Tyler buy one we wouldn't use when we were going to probably move this summer. Last year it barely snowed at all but was FREEZING, I'm now finding out that was an odd year and I may not have to brace for the terrible terrible cold like I've been doing.
     Last year we started Alex and Heidi on Brady Academy home school in June just directly after Alex finished all her Kindergarten course work.  I figured our 5 months of travel would mess things up plenty and we needed the extra work in summer to stay on schedule for 1st grade.  Well we did better than I thought and I was surprised to see that we only have 2 weeks left in the math curriculum, and a few more days left in our literature/phonics program!  I suppose we are nearing our 9 months of school mark and should be finishing up, but I was mentally in the Aug- June school track still.  I'm excited for the freedom this is going to give us, I feel like I've "done my duty" and made sure Alex completed the set, accredited 1st grade curriculum.  She has learned everything "they" want you to know if 1st grade and now I can spend the next few months trying out a few of my own things and letter her do a bit more exploring on what kinds of things she wants to learn.  For some reason she loves doing those colorful workbooks you can find and so I'm sure we will pick up a few to keep her practicing math etc.  I'd be tempted to jump into second grade subjects and get ahead once more,  and I'm sure we will venture that direction in our learning,  but we are still so unsure where we are going to be this fall or what we will be doing, and depending on where we go sending Alex and Heidi off is a possibility.  I do anticipate homeschooling again, and I look forward to it- but I also know my attention will have to be split even more as Heidi will need more academic attention as she solidifies her reading and math, plus I will have a newborn attached to my hip- I'm just unsure I can do so unless the conditions are right! 
    Tyler and I have been rolling all the situations and places we could move around in our heads now that we have the luxury of time together.  His new rotation has been heavenly- I get to eat breakfast with him in the morning and a lot of the time is he home for the day by 3 or 4!  We've had family dinner, family scripture study, and family prayer daily plus weekly FHE and Saturday family time together!  He even has time to study for his big end of school test, do a few things around the house and read to the kids everyday.  For the first time in nearly a year I feel like we are once again together as a happy family with a survivable amount of stress!  I'm trying not to get used to the luxury of Tyler, knowing that in 2 weeks with the next rotation everything is going to change, but knowing that spring is near and he only has 2 rotations left makes my heart sing! 
       March is nearly here and we are bracing for birthday month/s.  We try to make birthdays centered on family fun instead of gifts and we may even have Tyler's parents here for Alex's day so we really do have something to look forward to! Alex lost her 3rd tooth last week and it was one of the big front ones.  I was so excited for her but sort of sad to see that little girl smile disappear forever.  She is going to be 7 in a month and she really does seem like she is all grown up!  Alex is pretty particular about what she wears.  Comfort is HUGE for her and so things like jeans, or lose pants or tight pants, cut too high or low, and shirts with the seam in the wrong place or of the wrong material are a no go.  It's nearly impossible to dress her in anything but the few pairs of stretch pants that fit just right and a handful of shirts plus maxi skirts.  She would live in maxi skirts if I would let her leave the house in them.  I'm thinking of taking her to target for her birthday and letting her have a "shopping spree"  where for the first time in her life she gets to choose what her clothes are.  What a huge step!
       Heidi is excited that she will no longer have the "last" birthday.  Her's is in May and baby boy is due in June so this is very exciting.  She has also decided to grow out her bangs- right as Alex's are finally long enough to tuck behind her ear from growing them out.  Groan, here we go again!  She has also reached a new level of stubborn where she feels she is ALWAYS right and will calmly fight you to the death about a subject if she feels she is correct.  It's half hilarious and half obnoxious.   Her top bunk has become a room unto itself- completely full all of the time with books, toys, puzzles, papers and any other treasures she sees fit.  If something is lost, check Heidi's bed.  She claimed all the stationary as her own because she said "I need it, I'm an artist."
      Quinn is slightly less bull headed but not really, maybe I'm just letting her get away with more?  Tyler thinks so.  She is the center of attention and entertainment during every meal and gets her sisters (and father) laughing uncontrollably everyday at dinner.  Tyler calls her his 'Minion' because she often acts just like the Minions from Despicable Me.  She is usually very demanding and we have been pretty insistent on teaching her please.  Yesterday I noticed that the demanding part hadn't stopped but instead of saying "No, No, NO" she now says "PLEASE. please. PLEASE" as she runs off or hits you to get what she wants.  She has become obsessed with Elmo, but every time she sees an electronic device she points and excitedly asks for "bee dooo" in reference to all the Minion clips that Tyler has shown her.  Last week she went to the toy room on her own during school while I was teaching Alex and Heidi, it was amazing, I was so happy that she was playing quietly instead of ripping up worksheets or pulling hair .  Then she walked down the hall saying "gross" with a handful of poop.  She had been exploring in her diaper and left a nice surprise in the toy room as well.  All things considered this hardly phased me, although it did remind me of when Alex pulled a similar stunt at her age and I caught her cooking in the toy kitchen during nap time with the contents of her diaper.
       In general life seems to be getting happier the more uncomfortably I'm feeling physically.  I'm just not sure if this is correlation or causation.