I didn't do it!!

Well, we figured out how he sliced his finger open. The excuse of the laundry basket did seem a little flimsy (esp. since the said laundry basket in question was pretty flimsy!) but I keep on thinking that my children are going to learn that telling the truth is always much better than lying to cover up. The culprit those mean nasty scissors. BTW my children have had "The Scissors Talk." They are not allowed to use them with out permission and supervision. This does not prevent them from rebellious behavior that will ultimately hurt them whether by physical means, mental or spiritual in the end. This one as the last one just happened to be physical. We are still unsure if he was cutting the sippy cup valves and bottle nipples at the time of the slice which would be why he lied to cover it up or if he was just testing how sharp they are. (Of course, he has to use my scissors and not the less deadly, more kid friendly kind!!) Either way big punishments came when Dad and Mom were enlightened of the situation. We have tried corner time, grounding, loss of privileges, spankings, hot sauce, Asian hot sauce(it's even hotter but he still likes it), to no avail. We keep hearing it is just a phase but you know when in the middle of said phase there does not seem to be an end. At this point, I am opinion to suggestions.

Where have I been??

I have realized that I have not posted in a while. Not for any good reason other than normal busyness around the house plus the added busyness due to holidays etc. I have not even taken any cute pictures of the kids to comment about. It seems like our house has fallen into survival mode which is never fun since you are, at least I am, stressed out all the time (okay not quite ALL the TIME) and I forget to enjoy my life during this season of small children. Just to give some perspective in less than 24 hours we have had the car we are borrowing (while we attempt to figure out what is wrong with our van) alternator go out, woke up to a four-year-old peeing on the carpet in my bedroom (this is after he peed in the hallway last night), one big tantrum and a few small tantrums, a finger slice open, children screaming, giving attitude or flat telling me no (which we all know does not work well for Brad or I), a tornado (of small children wrecking the house faster than I can put things away, not clean, just attempting to keep general order) amongst other things. Right now I can turn to my left and see the kitchen chairs in my living room, since my oldest child was distracted from his chore of sweeping to help daddy clean off the car battery, amongst the normal living room debris that has not been cleaned up since the last sweep around 11am. This has been our normal lately so suffice to say I will try to do better but will DEFINITELY not make any promises!

Art!

Now this is considered Art. I have noticed that boys at least the boys in our house like the hands on projects. Maybe it is in their nature to build things. By the way he is excited about the project he just is in the goofy smile stage so this is his solution to not making the funny face!

This was taken at Home Depot. They at the beginning of each month have a free project for the kids to make. The kids absolutely love it! We try to go there consistently but as I am sure most of you know it is difficult to make it every month with life.

By the way notice all the cones around Erik; that is Matthew's doing. Thankfully, the woman who usually heads the project at the one we go to is super nice and lets Matthew move all the cones around while we try to get the project done before he gets into too many things!!

Our Little Men

Here is some pictures of our children enjoying the Harvest Festival at our Church.




Erik was a Police Officer but he did not like the hat. Oh and those were his dad's socks that he tried to pass off as his.



Matthew was Bob the Builder. Who else? And as always found some candy.

Jeremiah was a Fire Fighter. Thank-you Randi for providing his costume.

Seth was a spider not the best photo but Mommy forgot about the camera until the end. Another thanks to Randi for this costume, as well.



This is the aftermath, not too bad considering that they were over an hour past bedtime.

One of THOSE Days!

Have you had one of those days where you are constantly thinking it can't get any worse? We did this past week only it did not stop at one day. It continued for FOUR DAYS!! I love my four inspiring, creative, handsome boys tremendously but there are times when I think they plot in their bedroom at night to see how far they can push the line before mommy is ready to run screaming from the house! We in one weekend managed to ruin the play pen, (The mesh was cut with scissors) draw on the walls on three different occasions by two different children (Now mind you we are a marker free house, or so I thought), climbed on top of the counter and got into the potty training treats in the upper cabinets, woke up the baby more times than I can count, soap was put in the morning coffee, had two dirty diapers taken off and lying on the floor so that we could smear them around, escaped outside front and back stark naked, snuck candy/ junk food, did not complete one chore and that is all I can remember at this point. Thankfully most of it has faded from my mind. I relearned that praying for patience is beyond important and is absolutely vital. I have found that the more I try to do it all on my own and refuse to lean on the Lord or accept help from my husband the quicker I feel like screaming. I also was reminded that helping out does not mean on my terms or my way. On the plus side, Brad and I did learn how to tag team our children more efficiently than ever before!

Lil Chef

We might have a new little one in the running for chef in this house.




He "cooked" tortilla chips for Daddy and Mommy and then gave them to us. We might have to work on that part a little since he just used his hand. His hands, trust me, yuck!

The color Pink

In our house, pink and purple are colors which are rarely seen. When we do see these colors, it usually means someone inadvertently left something here. Today, however, not only was I able to view and sort through clothing with such outlandish coloring, I was able to buy a pink outfit. Before you ask this, this strangely tinted piece of clothing is not for one of my children. (Ha, like I could make them wear pink; I cannot even make them go down the girl aisle in Wal-Mart!!) This foreign item is laying on one of our chairs and unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) will not stay here for long but the sight of such an exotic color was momentous enough to make comment on. I almost included a picture of this unfamiliar and unusual shade. Maggie had her baby and you guessed it. She was blessed with a girl. Now as much as my boys despise "girl" things they liked the outfit and were excited about being able to give the new baby girl a gift. See, there is hope for these young boys. One day we might even be able to make it down the girl aisle!

Art?

We are members of a public charter school. As other members know there are a number of benefits going through a charter i.e. activities, funds, help from a credential teacher, etc. Obviously, with benefits comes drawbacks. One of those drawbacks, is having to state guidelines (i.e. the rules. I knew teaching the kids to follow the rules would come in handy one day) all of the guidelines not just the ones you like (sigh). This is being said because one of the afore mentioned "rules" is accomplishing Fine Arts. Now I am not a huge fan of the Arts. (Gasp) How dare I day such a thing? Now let me clarify before I start getting hate mail :), I am not against them in any way I just believe the Arts are for enjoyment and should not be a requirement. Since they are, does this qualify?


Don't mind the fact that he looks like he is in pain. He was really quite excited about his "volcano." He did have help from some very imaginative friends. (Yes, they were girls.) The boys talked about how the volcano was going to erupt and kill a bunch of people the girls decorated the volcano to make it look "pretty." Now why a volcano is supposed to look pretty is beyond me but it did make it look like something besides just a lump of dirt! If I only had the baking soda in the house, I could have shown them how the volcano could have erupted and turn it into a science project. Now that would have been fun!!

Swim Lessons

The kids were enrolled in swim lessons this year. They loved them. Here are a few pictures of their last day:

Jeremiah is now almost swimming on his own.

While Erik knew how to swim on his own, these classes improved his technique to a whole new level. Erik and Jeremiah would also like to add in a "Thank you very much for the wonderful birthday present to PaPa and Mamma."

Shaving Cream

It's good stuff! Besides its actual purpose it is a very good cleaning agent, (the anti-bacterial kind can disinfect), and a GREAT Art project! Here are some recent pictures to show you how much fun it can be:
We did have friends over. Trust me I do not make my boys wear pink dresses. As you can also see the shaving cream did not stay on the table for long.

You can also put food coloring in it to give a lesson on primary and secondary colors. Be careful though it can stain! (We were a little nervous about having colored faces.)

Thankfully it came out. Otherwise there would be a picture right here of their stained faces!

Addicted..hmm...Maybe

We have not had the internet in our house for not quite two weeks. We changed carriers and it just took longer than expected to get up and running again. I have to tell you those were a long two weeks. I am likening it to the last two weeks of pregnancy. So one would think that without the internet to distract me I did tremendous amounts around the house. I am sorry to inform you that my house is messier than it was before. I did not realize how much I really use the internet to lesson plan, manage my life etc (okay so maybe I am just trying to come up with all the positive things I do with it and not count all the ways it wastes my time.) I did have to go to other peoples houses twice to get worksheets for Erik's schooling. (Jeremiah's schooling was pushed to the back burner.) That took longer because we all know that when we go visit a friend even for a useful manner one cannot be rude and ignore them (and I do like to talk so that does not help either). All this just to say we are up and running here again and obviously I use/need the internet way more than I previously thought. Now am I addicted?? I will let you decide but I will tell you I am overjoyed to have it back.

Time-Out

Just to let everyone know that my mother-in-law is having surgery on Monday. Keep her in your prayers and I will be and already am super busy. I will probably not be updating for a little while since just keeping my own homes running will be hard enough.

Hooray for Grandparents!!

I sometimes think that Grandparents are not given enough credit. In our family we have a Papa, a Mam-ma, a Nana, a Grandpa (Great-grandpa) and a Grandma (Great-grandma). The kids, well, actually Erik, named them all (the joys of being first). I love watching the interaction between our boys and their grandparents. On top of this, Brad and I usually get two nights a week off. My parents take them(the oldest two) for one night and Brad's mom takes them another. Also, they will schedule permitting take them, some or all(the oldest three), for part of the day just to give me a break which is extremely helpful esp. around dinner time! As I am sure all you know, especially parents, that children can get into absolutely everything and destroy a house in a matter of minutes and two-year-olds only need seconds!! These wonderful people have saved my sanity more times than I can count. So if you haven't heard it recently from my mouth thank-you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to develop such wonderful relationships with these special boys and for allowing me to keep my mind!!

Gym

I have been going to the gym for the last week and a half now, Tuesday through Friday. A friend, Julie, and I go @ 5:45, in the morning, (Because when else would you go?) and then coming home and starting the day. Now while I am proud of going for the last two weeks, (okay I did miss on day) my legs are sore (40 lunges will do that to you) and I am very tired at the end of the day. I am getting myself though by knowing that soon my energy levels will raise. Although taking those prenatal vitamins helps tremendously; now if I can just remember to take them consistently! I also know that the more weight I take off the more energy I will have since I will not be lugging that extra fat around all the time. Then I will just have the extra 13 lbs attached to my waist! Thankfully my husband has been more than understanding about my going and the with me for barely being able to keep my eyes open as we put our children to bed. Julie and I(or I , at least) will keep it going by knowing that we are not just benefiting ourselves but our families too. We have both noticed that while we feel better about ourselves we are also more patient with our children (And we all know that while the Lord will give us patience for free we tend not to take him up on it nearly enough!) and have a better attitude throughout the day. So Julie, I will see you bright and early in the morning!

Play Doh the Second

Well, we made play doh. I have to tell you I still do not like the stuff esp. the texture. I did find out something very interesting. Since we had six kids making play doh, I gave them all bowls and had them mix the ingredients together. I had the two oldest (9 years and 7 years) measure out the ingredients, except the food coloring (Sorry guys, even with aprons, I was not about to go there.) and then the children stirred them all together. Now here is the revelation, when working with children do not expect the same out come from all the bowls. Let me explain this further, some of the bowls had too little water, some turned out fine, some had not enough oil etc. After cooking the dough, I also realized some of the dough balls were bigger than their counter parts. Looking back on this I am really not sure how this came as a surprise to me. Maggie and I laughed about it and moved on to the next project. We did some craft projects I found on the Internet and asked our pre-schoolers the colors and shapes and asked our grade schoolers about the fractions of the shapes. All in all it was a good first time. A little hairy at times (esp. when 3 children wanted to knead the blue dough at the same time) but that is what builds our character. In perspective, think how patient God is with us. I as a parent get upset with my children when they fail to follow directions, become distracted, fail to accomplish their responsibilities in a timely matter etc. and we are talking about children here. They are still learning to become responsible, God-fearing adults. How much more frustrated would you be if this was an adult who could not do these things. These are the times when I am so thankful for the infinite amount of patience and love our Lord and Savior shows us each and everyday.
I know I promised pictures but one camera failed to work so I grabbed the other one to take pictures. I came to the computer to up-load a few of them and lets just say it really helps when there is a SD card in the camera, oh well, hopefully next time.

Play Doh?

I am one of those un-fun moms who is not overly fond of Play Doh, or any of their following. I have deprived my children over the years by rarely letting them play with it. Yet, I have come to the conclusion that I just have to get over it. It is not about my aversion to the yucky feeling stuff but about my children's love fascination with it. Through many people (Do you really think that one person's opinion would be enough for this very stubborn person?) have I come to grudgingly accept the importance of this weird textured item. By way of this acceptance, I made a batch of this white dough. (I left all my food coloring at my mom's house.) Erik watched me make it and thought it looked like so much fun. (I will tell you about how I deprive my children from helping me cook in another post.) We are planning on making more (with the food coloring) come this Thursday with the help of Maggie and her children. (Hopefully, I will have lots of fun pictures to post then!) We are planing on using the dough to help us learn shapes, colors, and letters (and those are just a few of the school applications we have come up with so far!) While I accept that this stuff is important in the development of children, it does not make me like it all that much more. It feels weird, gets all over the place, is hard to clean up, etc. I could go on about all the reasons I do not have a love of the stuff but more to the point it is here to stay. I will use it and not too grudgingly since I am more concerned about my children having fun while learning than I am of it's oh so numerous shortfalls. All that aside, I do have a great recipe for it and love watching my three children play with it. During that time I was able to do quite a bit of research in order to start putting packets together for school. (The joys of home education!) I unfortunately did not get pictures of them playing since I was too busy looking for the right Preschool worksheets for Jeremiah but I promise to do better next time. Until then, here is one of the best recipes I have found so far.
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. oil
1/2 c. water
3/8 tsp. food coloring
Mix ingredients in saucepan and stir constantly. Cook over medium heat until dough leaves sides of pan. (This takes only a couple of minutes) Remove from pan and knead for a few min (or let your children do this cause, eww!)
HAVE FUN!! (This is on the instructions, trust me, this is not my addition.)

It makes about twice the amount than comes in a Play Doh container and has the best consistency and durability of all the homemade dough recipes I have found. It is probably the most similar to the actual brand name stuff and is way better than some of the off brand junk I have come across over the years. Now, I remember than after the food coloring is thoroughly mixed in; we did not have a problem with stained hands but I cannot remember how long that took. I will let you know on Thursday; (esp. if you see stained hands in what I am hoping will be great pictures from our craft/art/science project.)

Blog Crazy!

I have to admit there is something exciting about starting ones own blog. I have justified the huge amount of time to start this by thinking this is a informal way to keep track of our family's happenings whether they be proud accomplishments, cute moments, or just plain interesting(to me at least) esp. since I have failed miserably in the baby book department. I hope years from now our boys will look back and enjoy all the memories this holds. I have had fun just looking through photos deciding which to put up; and those pictures are all recent! I am trying to imagine my life before I was surrounded by guys (even our fish are males!) and I have come to the conclusion it just was not as much fun (or as messy!) So this mommy has scummed to the inevitable and will try to enjoy the masculinity this household emits.

Newbie

Obviously I am new at this and I definitely welcome help and advice from the knowledgeable. I will try to add more pics and info later but right this minute the dreaded laundry (It is now four baskets deep.) is demanding to be folded so for now as a friend says, "It is what it is."

Boys Will be Boys!

Looking out my window the other day I was pleasantly surprised with this view. I have to admit, this is something I do not ever remember doing myself but they do look very happy. This is one of the many times I am reminded that boys are very different than girls and this is par for the course.