My awesome husband says I should post this. I generally find that following his direction works out pretty well, so here I am.

Today we ran into a common parenting problem, at least around here. One of our children kept having little tiny sins pop up all over the place. As soon as we’d deal with one, another one would appear. This is something that we encounter with relative frequency, particularly among the more compliant children. No major throw-downs, but just a lot of little tiny weird problems. For instance, my favorite from today, “Sibling X said that they were going to tell Sibling Y that they could use my towel.” Seriously upset over this. Another one was something like, “I’m mad because Sibling X keeps asking what these commas are. I am SICK of it.” Okay then.

This is a great indicator that something else is really going on. It’s not the towel and it’s probably not the commas either. It’s something else that’s a lot bigger and much more universal to mankind. Some kind of something like jealousy, envy or pride, that kind of stuff. Rachel Jankovic has a great post on the run-of-the-mill feminine version of this over here. You should read it. It’s pretty important to figure out what the underlying sin issue is, and as the kids get older, it’s vital that they learn how to do this themselves.  Today I was hitting a wall trying to help this child identify the hiding sin. They just kept throwing up more wacky little misdemeanors. (“I really wanted a donut this morning.” Me too.) I think I said “underlying” about eighty-six times and then realized that we really weren’t getting anywhere.

Enter the sucker fish.

I pulled up this picture on the Interwebz and explained how (some) remora need sharks. It’s how they get around and where their feasts of leftovers and parasites come from. Yum. I then proceeded to name each fish in the picture after one of the tiny transgressions. Then I said that we needed to figure out what the shark was. If we can kill the shark, the remoras will disappear.

Bing!

So anyway, in the hopes that this could help someone else, I offer this blog post. Stop killing remora. Kill the shark.

And since the suspense is probably killing you, the shark, may he rest in peace, was envy towards Sibling X. Not shocking to an experienced sinner like myself, but very eye opening to our kid as they figured it out themselves.

Our baseball obsessed son is amusing. This morning at breakfast he was educating his sisters about the future of his baseball career. “When I turn 8, I get to play in Middle League. It’s like Little League but bigger. But it’s not Big League. And you know what? They have empires there.”

That’s right. It’s Annie Grook’s birthday, people.

At least, I hope I get this posted before her birthday is over. Yikes.

For (part of) her present, I present (hahaha) you all with these darling pictures of her darling youngest niece modeling Annie Grook’s recent darling yarny deed. I’m typically a complete louse when it comes to delivering pictures of her gifted showing off their gifts, but this time I’m only two months tardy! Quite an impressive gift, huh?

See, it’s so exciting, Keelah can’t look away.

Here’s a nice shot of the whole dress. Can you believe she made it?! I mean, she’s typically pretty amazing and all, but this is really just stupendous.

I guess it doesn’t hurt when your model is this cute. There are more pictures over here if you are interested.

Annie Grook, happiest of Happy Birthdays to you! We miss you and can’t wait to see you again. Thanks for all the yarny love.

P.S. Please excuse Keelah’s lack of shoes. She has quite the long skinny feet that are difficult to fit. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find something before the first snow. She’ll be fine.

Well, this has to be fast because I am getting up at five tomorrow morning. FIVE. Sick. Here’s why:

That’s right, the two eldest Higgins offspring start school in the morning. We are very excited. Okay, some of us are also a little sad, but mostly we are excited.

This is the first time I will be involved in a classroom (not counting junior college…and that was in the hood, so really a completely different sort of experience) since I was seven. SEVEN. I think I’m more nervous than either of the kids.

For those of you that don’t know (and care), we’ve been teaching Maggie (and Cal a teeny bit) at home, doing our best to give them a classical Christian education. For a variety of reasons (that I may or may not blog about at some point), we have realized that it’s time for them to be in a day school. The quick summation is this - we are fully convinced that a classical Christian education is what is best for the Higgins family and it is basically absurd for us to keep trying to do that on the homefront. It’s really, really hard. And only going to get harder. Like I said, maybe I can expand on that later.

Providence Classical Christian School has been fantastic so far and we are really looking forward to the year ahead. If you think of it, pray for us as we get adjusted in the next few weeks. We want to be faithful in directing and participating in our kids’ education while we delegate to other faithful believers who are well equipped and experienced.

Oh, and have you all seen (americanized) bento lunches?! So much fun, and all in a plastic box. And don’t get me started on school supplies. I think I’ve sorted and packed their backpacks four or five different times.

Good night!

Calvin (while doing unrelated copy work for school), “Do you think that we would have to have lamb in heaven for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day?”

Me (while wondering why he was thinking about this), “Probably not.”

Cal, “Yeah, probably chili sometimes too.”

Well. Aren’t you glad you moved with me? I mean, with the flurry of posting over here I’m really supplying you with a wealth of viewing / reading material.

I have a lot of excuses. Most of them involve a baby shower. And I’m not kidding about that.

So I’ve missed two weigh-ins. The first one (now eight days late) was 156.5. I thought that was decent, seeing that I had definitely slacked off. And then the next week was worse. I really, really slacked off. I’d tell you those excuses, but they are so silly you wouldn’t believe me. So my second weigh in was shocking to me as I was pretty sure I’d be back up over 160. Nope, 156. I guess my eating plan is helping! Yay. I’m back being much more intense for the next few weeks. I’d love to be at 153.5 this week, making it ten pounds total.

Alright. That’s it for tonight. I am going to squeeze in a post this week showing off the fruit of some recent crafting flurries. I’ve got sort of freaky (but cute) little girl t-shirt nightgowns, a yellow handprint, a few things featuring bunting (both my dad and skh didn’t know what bunting was…do you?) and revised flip-flops for giant toddlers. Oh, and a head full of box braids. Fourteen.

Yay for my new site! (Thanks, skh, you’re the man.)

Yay for 157.5! That was six pounds in the first two weeks, and I’m very glad.

Tomorrow’s weigh-in is probably not going to be quite as happy, but that’s okay. I’m very encouraged and ready to keep on working at it.

Just to round things out to a nice Trinitarian three, this is a great message from Doug Wilson. Sean passed it on to me and now I continue the favor. “This is what the life of faith consists of - exalting in victories before the battles.”

Okay. It’s kind of completely not finished at the new place, but I’m moving anyway. No more blogspot in my name! Please join me at www.hobbsandbean.com.

If you are one of the seventy-seven people subscribed to hobbsandbean, please update your feed. But seriously, seventy-seven? There is no way that is right. I counted up everyone I could think of and I got six. I think feedburner is broken. And to be completely honest, I think you have to update your feed, but I’m not sure. I don’t understand any of that stuff and the ever brilliant skh did it all for me. I just know that that really is the right feed. Cause he said so.

If you come on over to the new fancy site, you’ll get to finally see my six-day-late weigh-in! I know you’ve been waiting for that. I’ve also got some completed (yes, that’s right, completed) crafty things to show off. But that won’t be till tomorrow. Or sometime in November.

Kthxbai.

NB: I lost the comments on my last few posts when we moved…please note the importance of having a good moving buddy. Sorry about that!

So, I know I said I’d be updating at the end of the two weeks, but I think the added pressure accountability will help me keep moving along. Besides, the original plan was for me to have a weekly weigh in until I get wherever it is I’m going. I lost three pounds the first week, and I’m very thankful and pleased. The first couple of days were brutal, but I think I’m decently adjusted to the plan at this point. I do really like the structure and am finding that I’m thinking about food a whole lot less than I was, which is a very good thing.

In unrelated news, I am loving Pinterest. It’s great. You can find me here. Pin awesome things for me to admire. skh and I were talking about ladies and social interaction and have noticed that just like in real life, it’s generally better for us feminas to have something to do while we chat. Keeps our hands busy and our mouths less likely to go places it shouldn’t. Ravelry totally wins in this respect for social media for me, but it’s quite yarn specific and Pinterest is doing pretty well in my book. It might be a horrible idea if you struggle with envy, but I love having a place to visually file all the little bits and bobs floating around in my “someday/maybe” list and my bookmarks. And there are lots of people there with really great collections of beautiful things to peruse and be inspired by.

And I have pictures.

Click on that picture to see a bunch more.

Kit’s shrug didn’t make it in time. It did get done, but not for Easter. She was very sad. And cold.

Not really. Here she is modeling her shrug later.

Aren’t you impressed that I got an American Girl doll to stand in the grass by herself? I was. Calvin was watching and laughed hysterically every time she fell over.

I also didn’t get any hair things done for the girls, and both of the men’s ties didn’t get made either. Oh well. Who cares about things like that when this is your pack of kids?!?

There, I said it.

Okay, for any of you who are here for cute children, here you go.

Now go ahead and skip this post. Not about cute children. Sort of maybe caused by some of the cute children, but not about them.

I weigh one hundred, sixty-three and a half pounds and it’s time to do something about it.

Okay, this is where I typed a bunch of disclaimers. And then I deleted them. And then typed them again. Including this picture of my husband who still registers in some “overweight” categories based on his height.

by Lukas VanDyke

Then I deleted them again. I’m leaving them deleted. Just go with that’s how much I weigh and for me to be in good physical shape to give myself to my family effectively, I need to lose some weight.

I’m not sure how much I need to lose. I’m thinking somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds. And for those wondering, no, I am not basing this on my pre-baby athletic self. I am, however, basing this on my pre-two-rounds-of-hyperemesis self, so it still may not be realistic. I guess we’ll see.

Step One. Two weeks of relatively intense (for me) focus on getting rolling down the weight loss hill. I’m bodybugging, staying active and (again, for me) on a tight food plan. A smoothie for breakfast, a Lean Cuisine for lunch and dinner and approved snacks up to 1500 calories. I’m hoping to lose four pounds in these two weeks, putting me under 160. Then I will blog the results, reevaluate with my very wise husband and go from there. Oh, and I do get one freebie meal per week. Sadly, I started this yesterday and used my weekly freebie yesterday on my date night with skh. But today I was very good. And my freebie was yummy. Olive Garden.

Alright, there it is. My extremely silly post about how much I weigh. Thanks for reading! Feel free to encourage or kick me if I need it.

Femina (love it over there) is hosting a little Easter blog party, and check it out…I’m participating! This will make four entire posts for this year. Maybe this will develop into a pattern! Maybe not.

Speaking of patterns, oddly enough I have actually blogged two other Easter related posts in previous years. Any sort of pattern on a blog that gets updated twice a year is strange, really. Remember tiny(ish) Calvin who hated his tie? And last year’s skirts?

Anyway, my original Easter blogging plan was to post pictures of the creations once they were finished, but this blog party sounded like fun, so here I am, taking a break from endless knitting to give a few shots of the WIPs (“works in progress” for you non-Ravelry-ers).

First up, THE DRESSES.

You may wonder how, exactly, it is that all the dresses are actually completed sewing-wise. It is not 2am on Easter morning, you know. Well, for some reason I thought Easter was at the end of March…no idea why, but I’m glad I did, cause this is the first sewing project I’ve ever had done really early. I likey. But that had it’s own drawbacks…it allowed time for me to decide they needed embroidery. And then decide that the Target sweaters I bought weren’t nearly as cute as hand knit shrugs. And of course we need a matching tie for Cal. And matching hair things. And so it goes.

(Quick question about the dresses…please weigh in on this vastly important matter. Have I crossed the cute matching line into embarrassing territory? It’s cute to me, but is this weird mommy behavior? Hey, I should figure out how to add a poll or something. Back to the post now.)

Here is Cal’s tie. And the girls’ hair things.

Just a little left to do there.

And the shrugs? Here’s Keelah modeling hers.

And yes, that’s probably dangerous.

For any interested parties, the pattern for the dresses can be found and purchased here (proceeds go to the designer’s family’s adoption!), the shrug pattern is here (or on Ravelry - Something Beautiful Shrug) and the tie pattern is over here. And big thanks to Ginger and Sage for teaching Maggie and I how to embroider. Every single time I start embroidering I can hear Mr. Bingley saying “You all paint tables, and play the piano, and embroider cushions! I never heard of lady but people say she is accomplished.” It makes me laugh. If I turned these dresses into cushions, I’d be accomplished now.

One last thing. Just so you know that I do have the ability to say no, when I stumbled upon these last night, I decided to save them for next year instead of staying up all hours of the night to make fifty gazillion of them for Easter baskets.

Besides, they totally would have ended up in Hallie’s mouth.

Alright, thanks for stopping by! See you after Easter!

Yep, chicken feet.

Not amazing, but it’s something. Three box braids to be precise.

Mr. Brian brought over his motorcycle and let Cal sit on it. Later that week Mr. Brian let Cal play with his sword from the Marines. Calvin thinks Mr. Brian is just a little awesome.

Hallie accessorized herself. We don’t normally keep ear-warmers on our kids when they are inside.

skh says I need to get over how many things I’m not blogging and just post something. So here is something. Two somethings, actually.

Hallie is potty trained. Mostly. Yay! I took a couple of pictures of the trainee.



By the way, on a mothering note…it adds an exciting and mind-challenging twist to potty training when your subject doesn’t speak any recognizable language. The listed definitions for “Mo’ mo’ mo’” in the Hallie dictionary are getting out of control, and this presents a problem when one of meanings is a very urgent “I need to be put on the potty NOW, immediately, post haste, hurry hurry hurry, can’t go fast enough”. We’re working very diligently on “peeeeeeepeeeeeee” as her next word, but so far it sounds a lot like “Boppa”.

Potty princess has a pretty cute little sister. Keekster freakster is 5 months old. Actually, she’s almost 6 months old, but we’ll pretend that’s not true.




You know, every time I post something, I think about how much I enjoy blogging. I really do. Too bad that I can’t keep any thoughts in my head for longer than 3 minutes.

We’re not ready to really post anything yet, but I can’t stop myself from putting this picture up before I go to bed. She’s just too cute. Love her so much my head might pop off.

I’m not sure how I haven’t posted this yet, but here’s a little something that’s been keeping us busy around here.

The fundraiser is next Saturday, May 15th, and I was just saying that I’ve begun feeling exactly like I did at the end of Calvin’s pregnancy. I really, really, really just want to have this baby. Even if it’s an ugly baby.

In all seriousness, we are so excited by what God has already done and can’t wait to see what He has in store. Our passion for adoption continues to grow and we are thrilled to get to be a part of helping make this a reality for Ben and Katie. Hope to see you all at The Farm!

It’s like a garden theme. But not.

Here’s Hallie, modeling a new-to-her dress passed down to her via Maggie. This dress was a gift from Grandma and when Maggie fit in it, she loved it too. We almost missed the window for Hallie, though - I keep forgetting how much bigger she is than Maggie was and as a result, this will probably be the only time she wears it.

The watering can is not a hand me down but is an Old-Navy-clearance-rack-Easter-basket-turned-purse-slash-diaper-bag. Hallie absolutely loves it and whenever she thinks there is a chance we are going somewhere, she runs to get her bag and then stands at the door, ready to go.

Both girls are going to be flower girls twice this summer, once for Ian and Kimmy and once for Uncle D and Clarissa. Maggie couldn’t be more excited and Hallie has no idea what is going on. However, she does like to try on her dress and spin around in it. I think she’ll look lovely even while screaming at the all of the strangers in attendance. Here she is with some residual annoyance at me for making her stop spinning to pin the shoulders…don’t worry, I used safety pins.

And finally, here’s one I just love, blurriness and all.

Is it too late to post Easter pictures? I’m not sure of the protocol here.

Well, either way, here are the kids, all clean, shiny and coordinated. I’m not sure how those skirts got done, but I can tell you that a lot of gathering is a close relative of love. Kit got a skirt too, but it was late and I forgot the rick-rack. See?

Also note that Kit does not have a green sweater. That is because Children’s Place doesn’t make matchy-matchy things in Kit’s size…and apparently no matter how hot the dryer gets, you just can’t shrink a sweater for a 6-month old to fit an American Girl doll. I’m sure if you weren’t starting this process at 8:30 on the Saturday night preceding Easter you would be able to cut the sweater up and sew it to fit the doll…but I wasn’t in that category. Kit also went to church shoeless as no one knows where her shoes are and I drew the line at her wearing Strawberry Shortcake’s pink booties.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, I heard over on Facebook that Cal’s tie is “tight” and “ballin’”…and now my vocabulary is “fresh”.

For any interested parties, these Twirly Skirts are pretty easy to make. It’s the same skirt I made for Maggie’s 6th birthday…and it works with a tutu under it for the poofiness that is much desired at a tea party.

…this is oddly enjoyable.

I’m not sure, but I think Hallie’s pants were rolled up like that because we’d been trying on sandals. Maybe.

If you’re really sad that video is done and you’re wondering what to watch next, here’s another. I wish I’d caught Calvin’s expressions the first few times skh did this. They alternated between horror and glee as he tried to figure out what was really going on.

And it’s always fun to end a post by asking the baby where her armpits are, right?

I didn’t really expect traffic via the Femina blog party, but was pleasantly surprised by a commenter (Hi, Marty!), so I wanted to extend a friendly hello to anyone that stops by!

Our friend Sarah came up with a great idea for a blog post after hearing a little about why I am never, never, never, ever bored around Calvin. She suggested that I write down every question he asked me throughout a day and then post them all for you to enjoy.

…is awesome. It really is.

It’s Maggie’s seventh birthday today!

Oh, wait, it’s already 12:18am.

It was Maggie’s seventh birthday yesterday!