Dropping the Ball

I realize that I have totally dropped the ball on this blog lately.  I have a dozen or so REALLY interesting blog posts formulated in my mind...at least they seem fabulous at 2 am when I am up with Peter.  Then I'll sit down and blankly stare at the computer screen the next day struggling to put together a coherent sentence. 

Peter seems to be regressing rather than progressing in the area of sleep.  He's been up every 2-3 hours each night to nurse and then staying up for an hour or two in the early morning hours.  He also hasn't pooped in a week.  He's passing plenty of gas, so I'm sure that the system is working as it should.  I checked in with our pediatrician about it today and she reassured me that he's probably just getting so much nutrition out of the breast milk that there isn't much waste left to pass through to his diaper.  I've got him started back on some probiotics to help out his tummy.  Hopefully there will be some pooping soon as I think that he does have a bit of a tummy ache.

So what have I been up to during the daylight hours?  The children finished up all of their projects to enter into the county fair and we dropped them off tonight.  As a homeschooling family, it is nice to have a place to display their work and it is great incentive to complete any "almost finished" projects!  I'll let you know how it goes in the judging later on in the week.

VBS started today and it is awesome!  This year's theme is the Luminous Mysteries.  Each day is devoted to learning about one mystery...how cool is that?!?  The down side is that it is at the church that's 50 miles away, so it is a trek to get there.  And when mommy isn't sleeping much it makes the drive feel that much longer!

We had a super successful winter with our crafting business which means we need to replenish our supplies before the fall craft show season is upon us.  Todd and I have been plugging away each evening and are slowly getting our storage bins filled again. 

And did I mention that we re-listed our house?  Yes, we're trying this one more time.  The market has picked up a bit and houses in our neighborhood are selling.  We're praying that it sells and for the graces we need to get through the added stress of having our home on the market, showings, open houses, etc.

Oh my...there's Peter again.  Sorry for the lack of any creativity on this post - just sending out a quick update.

God Bless!

Heather :-)

Carver County Fair 2010

Last week was the Carver County Fair.  We headed out on Friday and the weather cooperated.  It threatened to storm a few times, but held off until we were ready to go home.

The County Fair is a much anticipated event in the Kraft house.  We love walking through all the barns to observe the various animals.  I think we took more pictures of animals than we did the children!

Lillian posing next to the hungry pigs.

Esther was cool with the sheep...until he licked her toes!

Eleanor hitching a ride in the stroller while looking at all the breeds of chickens.

This year, each of the children worked on a project that they could enter into the education division to be judged.  Madeline and Haley earned a grand champion ribbon for their project last year, so the bar was set pretty high.  Happily, each of them received a first (blue) or second (red ) place ribbon.  AND - Haley earned a grand champion ribbon (purple) for the quilt that she made!  They were all so proud of their work and are thinking ahead to next year's entries.  Let's hope we are a bit more organized and start our projects earlier.  This year we did all the projects in 3 weeks...not quite enough time to really enjoy and have fun withe the whole creation process.  I do have to say, though, that it was a good reason to get a project done with a firm deadline.  I have grand ambitions of working on projects with the kids throughout the year and then the projects seem to get pushed aside for more pressing "academic" work.  I am glad that they each completed something and did it all by themselves.

Joseph did a football themed latch hook project - Blue Ribbon

Lillian made a craft project called "A Giraffe, A Lion and An Alligator" - Red Ribbon

Madeline pointing to her horse themed latch hook - Blue Ribbon

Haley standing under her colorful quilt - Blue and Purple Ribbons

Haley in front of her pink snow hat she knitted - Blue Ribbon

Madeline's "Fairyland Fantasy" diorama - Blue Ribbon

After eating lunch and riding the rides (Haley even got Grandma Pam to go on a few of the crazy rides with her!), the weather turned threatening and we decided that it was time to head for home.  It was a great time, but I am happy that it only comes once a year!  :-)

God Bless!

Heather :-)