While I continue to not clean the kitchen...

 It's Saturday afternoon, Molly is asleep, Eric has Will and Dom at the soccer fields, and John is content playing in his exersaucer.  There are loads of chores to do, but I don't want to do any of them.  Seems like a good time to catch up on the blog.  The above picture is one I discovered as I uploaded our camera photos.  Molly regularly swipes our camera and takes literally hundreds of pictures.  I happened to like the above the best of the many pictures she took of John in the swing.  In John news, he has two teeth on his bottom gums.  Yes, this is on the early side.  And, yes, there has been a sharp learning curve for nursing with teeth.  Emphasis on sharp.

 Let's see...since I last blogged...we seriously considered buying a house for about 24 hours...then we seriously considered moving to another rental for about 96 hours...then I realized that between having a 4 month old and homeschooling and Eric's new work schedule, we probably have more than enough on our plate and probably shouldn't add an unnecessary stress.  So, we are staying put and once that decision was finalized, we jumped into our school year quite enthusiastically.  And now that I reflect on that paragraph, I realize I could just leave it out entirely.  But, I won't.

 This year we are trying out a new math and science curriculum.  And I think we are all happy with both.  Molly is adamant on some mornings that she wants to do school, too.  Luckily, Nana sends us a puzzle magazine that is perfect for Molly and she can do many of the pages on her own.  My patience can be stretched pretty thin and, honestly,  has snapped a few times.  Generally when I'm trying to get the boys started, John is screaming for me, and Molly is requesting an opportunity to learn in a very persistent manner.  However, now that we've been at it a couple of weeks, we are into a routine that has worked out quite well.  It helps if Molly is playing in another room and John is sleeping.  But, even when that isn't the case, I now know to just avoid new material until that is the case!

 This past week we learned about molecules and everyone enjoyed working with the materials.  And eating them.  Oh, and I should also add that both Will and Molly are sporting patches to strengthen their left eyes.  Luckily they both wear them on the same eye for my sake.  This therapy has been going quite well.  They only need to wear the patches a couple of hours each day and we are more likely to forget to remove the patches than to remember to put them on. 

 Last week, Molly asked to get the train tracks out.  Engineer Will was super excited to make and complete a train track.  He also re-introduced Molly to her namesake engine that was purchased shortly after she was born.  I know she has played with it before, but it had been so long that she did not remember it.  It has been a lot of fun to hear the kids play in the room together and create stories.  I think John enjoys the live action show as well!

 Last night we made the big leap of sending Molly to a big chair to make room for John in the booster seat.  I purchased this chair for Dom 7 and a half years ago and it has held up very well.  The kids were all so excited to have John sit at the dinner table with us. 

 I wish it was a little better picture documenting this momentous occasion...but, just imagine we had china and a beautiful meal...like most nights...As it turned out, we had waffles to mark this long anticipated event!