Thursday, December 31, 2009

Peanut Gallery

When my brother and I were growing up, my parents would tell us "No comments from the peanut gallery," especially when one of us was in trouble. I agree and our kids are told the same thing or at least something to the same effect. Sometimes the reasoning is not for the typical but the atypical. I sit here writing this with two kids in the corner since no will admit to opening the door and are blaming it on each other. I have asked them repetedly "who did it" to no avail. I try again, "Does anyone want to cop to who opened the door yet?"
Before anyone can answer the peanut gallery aka Seth my one-year old answers, "No."
I burst out laughing before I can stop myself and everyone joins in. While the teachable moment was not quite lost, it was drastically delayed.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Gifts

This is the first year we have split up gift giving into a few days as opposed to planning all of our festivities on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

This was sibling gift day.

This is Nana day.




I forgot the camera the other days but the kids liked having 5 days of Christmas instead of the normal 2. I liked it because I was able to remind them numerous times about the etiquette of gift giving and receiving. It also made for a much more relaxed Christmas for Brad and I. This is a tradition we will be continuing!

Monday, December 28, 2009

Our New (to us) Table

This is it. Do you know how many more people can fit on benches than chairs especially our little guys. Trust me when I say a lot! It even has a little storage under the benches on the sides.
I am so excited! I have wanted a table like this for a very long time.
Yes that is our old table with way too much stuff on it in the corner!
See the plant. I give it 24 hours before it gets knocked over.
Anybody want to take me on?

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Gingerbread Houses

Last night was Gingerbread House night at Awanas. We were invited to bring friends and family to help build and decorate gingerbread houses. This is the second time we have done this and it might have to become an annual tradition. Last year, Erik was the Sparkie. This year, Erik "graduated" into TNT so now Jeremiah is the Sparkie and absolutely loving it. All this to say we brought in our crew plus the kid's Nana to make some gingerbread houses.

Jeremiah's pitched roof fell so he resigned himslef to a flat roof quite well. (It was easier to decorate a flat roof.)

Matthew and Nana's gingerbread house. (Their roof did not fall.) Seth trying to get in on the action.

Matthew telling Seth not to touch his creation.

If you can see, Daddy helped build a second house to be an in-law's quarters. Then it turned into a outhouse,(Daddy's influence), then an office. Oh, that extra frosting on Matthew was Daddy's help too.

This was Seth's contribution to the night.

Daddy keeping Seth occupied or at least trying to. Seth was not going to buy it for long because...

this is what Seth really wanted. He found out he is tall enough to pull this off the table. I could not get a picture of him trying to reach everything on the decoration's table because I was constantly grabbing the bowls of candy from him!!

During all this Erik was in his class at TNT.

Erik's class at TNT (The girls were told the boys had their rabies shots but even with that encouragement you can tell they are not convinced of that fact.)
All in all, a fun night but I am glad it is an annual tradition instead of a monthly tradition. I am worried about next year when Seth will be able to reach all of the candy decorations!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Messes

I wish I could say this is the first time I walked in on this...

or even the last...



but somehow even I cannot delude myself into thinking that. Hopefully, it will be one of the last times.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Pictures



I finally up loaded the pictures my photographer and friend Randi gave me.


As you can see this is why she is such a great friend.


Just wait these are from the beginning before they started acting up.


Trust me it did not get better



Matthew saying, "I'm done."


Then this is Seth saying, "I'm done. Let's go."
But as you can see from all the updated pictures on the kids somehow in all of this she managed to get some great shots. You go girl!!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Acting like a Fool!

Can you guess what Seth is doing here?

He is blowing dust (or some sort of small particles) on the ground. This is right after he turned around in circles until he fell down!


And to make this even better he is very proud of himself!! Needless to say this was after bedtime and Brad and I were laughing hysterically as we watched. We grabbed our phones, and the cameras to take many pictures as we tried not to fall down laughing. I love my babies and how they can lighten the entire day at any given moment!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Do Not Leave Your Laptop Unattended

The previous blog was posted by Seth. I had to leave it so sometime in the future I can show Seth his first successful even if unintentional blog post. I went upstairs to quickly (or so I thought) talk to Brad and then checked on dinner. I guess during this time I left my laptop in the reach of Seth. While stirring dinner, I heard Erik say "Seth! Seth! Mom!"
My response is typical mother response of "Hold on, and unless it is an emergency please do not yell."
"Mom, Seth has you laptop."
"Be right there, hey wait I didn't post anything!"
So the moral of this long winded story DO NOT LEAVE YOUR LAPTOP IN REACH OF A 1-YEAR-OLD!!! (My husband tells me this constantly. I must be a slow learner.)



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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Mommy Boy

In my house, we do not have any other females. I am the only one. Even our pets are males. (We have Betas and the males are the pretty ones, my terminology not theirs.) We do have Goldfish but if you ask any of our boys they will tell you the Goldfish are males too. So it should come to no surprise to me that my three-year-old does not naturally use female pronouns .(He would have no problems if we spoke Chinese though!) Now come to find out that not only do I have to correct grammar usage but I also have to explain that we are not a gender neutral society. My older two boys went through the stage of defining everyone they knew as a boy or girl but Matthew did not really go through that stage so I am a Mommy boy, aka Mommy to boys (in my head at least). I wear this name with pride since we do have all boys. I love my sons and feel blessed that God has given us so many boys to raise into men. There are times when I need some "girl" time though not just adult time but time around other females. The grossness factor alone can be quite overwhelming. There are just so many ways boys are different than girls and sometimes I wonder, especially since I do not have another female on my side, if I am up to the challenge! Only time will tell...

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Baby Dinosaur

Did you know we have a baby dinosaur in our house? Now we have a daddy dinosaur and sometimes a mommy dinosaur depending on his mood. If you have not guessed by now, Matthew is always calling Seth his baby dinosaur. When I tease Matthew and tell him Seth is my baby boy he says, "You call him baby boy, I call him my baby dinosaur." He is the daddy dinosaur and sometimes amazingly enough he is the mommy dinosaur. He has "Bubba" or brother dinosaurs too. Every once in awhile he trips me up when he asks where his baby dinosaur or Bubba dinosaurs are but for the most part I remember. I love watching his imagination work but it does makes me wonder what we are going to have in our home next?

Friday, October 23, 2009

Maturity

Erik, my oldest, is now eight years old. He is hard working and caring in so many ways but this has caused some growing pains. It seems as though I do not allow him to do things that others do. This includes using the stove (he likes making eggs for breakfast.), and shampooing the carpets just to name a few. This all came about by him throwing a crying fit one night when he stayed up too late. Needless to say he did not go about it the best way but it did cause Brad and I to reevaluate what we allow him to do. We now allow him to make eggs in the morning but he has to make them for everyone. We are now spending more "adult" time with him and allowing him to help in projects and operate some of the machines that were previously off limits. (I have a Kirby and I do not want it broken by improper use.) One side benefit came yesterday when the Seth was sick with a temperature, Erik was able to go shampoo the carpets at Nana's. This was something I had intended to do myself. I am both sad and glad that he is getting so big. I am also very thankful that he is so eager to help and to make sure he understands how grateful we are Brad and I are taking him to lunch today. It seems as if they grow up so quickly and I am sure before I know it he will be ready to operate even bigger machinery, like a car. No more of that now I starting to hyperventilate.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Clothing Swap

I just attended my first clothing swap. I have to say I love the idea. Someone was cleaning out her children's closet and noticed she had a lot of extra clothes. She happens to work at the ARC child center at the junior college and promoted this idea of a clothing exchange. Everyone brings the extra they have and swaps it out for stuff they need. I quickly went through my kid's closet and weeded a bag out. The friend that told me about this and I headed out there today. There was tables set up for all the different sizes and one just laid out on the appropriate table what they brought and then went through and grabbed what they needed. Essentially I picked up some of what I needed and was rid of my extra in a short time. This will work for me every time. Obviously not a perfect solution since I need 3t and 18month jeans and was only able to get one of each but did I mention it was FREE!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

How Polite!

Seth this morning told Matthew "Tan-tu" today after Matthew gave him his cup. My heart melted that he was talking and was so polite. Then I remembered last night when he was laughing at pretend farts. Yup, all boy.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

One of many ways women are different than women

Earlier I was wondering why even though I am sick, aching all over with an upset stomach and so on and so forth I am downstairs washing the dishes. As I went to take some medicine, I noticed that both sinks were full of dirty dishes and could not force myself to go back upstairs to bed knowing that there was no more room in the sink for my children to put their dishes. So thirty minutes later when my slightly upset stomach became extremely upset and the dishes were down to half a sink I went back to bed. Why can't I just ignore them especially when I am sick?

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Rescheduling

I have noticed a gradual change in my life. When I was single, rarely did I ever reschedule outings with friends and when I did, it was not usually me finding the need to change the plans. Then I had my first child, I noticed I would preface making plans with at times with: as long as everything works out I will see you on ... (See, I learned pretty quick that a baby makes you have to reschedule from time to time.) Now that I have four children, that preface is a given. When our family commits to something, I will do everything in my power to hold to that commitment but things come up. If you have even one child, I am sure you understand what I mean. Unexpected things constantly and consistently crop up to name a brief few: illness, exploding diapers, injuries(esp. trips to the emergency room), disobedience on the part of one or many (I am not even going to get started on some of the stunts they have pulled right before we were supposed to walk out the door.) and the list goes on. Thankfully most of the people I am around understand and know about that preface even if it is not verbalized but every once in a while I run into someone who does not. This is to those who do not: I guarantee I am truly sorry and disappointed if I have to reschedule with you but especially at this time in my life rescheduling is essential and not only done for my benefit but your as well because seriously who want to have a child who is throwing up on there hands. I do not ever appreciate it and I gave birth to them!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Classes

Our school like most charter homeschools offer classes every week. This was our schools first week of classes and while my children love the classes I have to admit when we got home I was exhausted! My kids were ready to do a five-mile-marathon. I on the other hand was ready to sleep for a week. Jeremiah attended 3 classes (Math, English & Spanish) while Erik went to 2 (Math & Spanish). My big question is someone able to explain why today was more tiring then when I am the primary teacher?

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

FYI

Erik "Mommy you need to make more tea tonight or tomorrow just an FYI."

Friday, August 28, 2009

Mean Bees

We had fun at our school's meet and greet today. The kids played at the park (It was hosted at Freedom Park), ate chips, salsa and Taco Bell for lunch and had a great time until... the end when Matthew was stung by a bee on his finger. I pulled the stinger out (Yes, I know that you have to be very careful about not squeezing the stinger or it will release more venom but a three year old does not and will not keep still to be able to remove it properly.) and Randi rushed him over to put cold water on it. (Of course, we did not have any ice!) I grabbed the antihistamine spray, a band aid and a penny. (I heard from a circulating e-mail that something in the penny counter acts the effect of the venom and have been wanting to try out the claim. I just did not think my three-year-old would be the Guiana pig! According to further research the e-mail was more than likely false.) Put it all on him and came home during which time he proceeded to tell us that ice would make him feel better, watching Bob (the Builder) would make him feel better and eating various assorted treats (IE donuts, cookies, ice cream, etc) would make him feel better. I did let him milk it for the first day. On another note, he seems to be absolutely fine which I believe is due to his hardiness but has since told "I like bugs but bees mean." and "I no like bees."

Friday, August 21, 2009

Chore Charts

I have been talking to my friends recently about chores and schedules since school is upon us. I have noticed that when my boys are on a fairly consistent schedule everything in our house runs smoother. I also read something from Christina in her blog Hands Full and Loving It (mostly). She made a comet I whole heatedly agree with:
"Want to know a secret? It doesn't really matter what system you use to get your kids to do their chores. What matters is that you change it every once in a while."
I have notice I receive less resistance when I switch up the chores every few months.This is very brief overview since we will be changing again because of school season I have to work out new schedules.
For now Erik is responsible for sweeping after every meal (the first two he can do with the sweeper) after dinner he has to sweep (with the broom) and mop. This is usually not done until the baby is in bed though because we have had a few accidents. He also needs to go through and make sure the kitchen counters are tidied up.
Jeremiah is responsible for unloading the dishwasher. He also has to wipe the table and chairs after every meal.
They are both responsible for keeping their room clean and doing general pick up. Depending on the day I let them know if they have extras IE Erik wash dishes or Jeremiah wipe kitchen counters.
Matthew has to do chores with me and as I designate. He is old enough to do them but I do not expect him to remember what they are without telling him. Also, he still does better with specific directions IE go put this toy in the play room.
Seth is growing into the lets see how much havoc I can wreck stage so we usually just try to distract him and get him motivated to throw things in the basket or box. This sometimes backfires as he will dump it or try to take the things out faster than you are able to put them in.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Stubborn or Cautious?

Our little boy will not walk. I am not worried that he will not ever walk but slightly annoyed that he is not making my life easier by walking. He crawls all over and usually has black on his knees as well as the top of his feet (not the bottom because then he would be walking).


I attributed this to him being stubborn. He climbs and happens to be quite adapt. (He was able to climb half way up a fairly steep slide before an adult decide it was too dangerous.)

I am now beginning to wonder if he is just overly cautious. He will walk with us. He will walk holding on to my capris which seems to me as if it would be harder than if he would just walk. He will push objects around. He will stand by himself. He just will not walk by himself!
I noticed something today as I was watching him play at the park before he does most things he checks a few times to make sure he can do it. He checked his footing three times before he climbed up something the first time. After the first time though FULL THROTTLE! I guess it is time to fall back on the reassurance that he will be able to walk across the stage in time to receive his diploma. (I just am not sure if that is his High school or College diploma!)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I have to do ...?

We started school early this week. Our official start date is September 8 but I wanted to try and ease into things slowly. This way if we have a hard day or if we get behind because of whatever I will not get too stressed out. (I tend to think that if I do not do everything perfect I am ruining my children!) It has gone well so far. Erik and Jeremiah have had good attitudes for the most part but I am also writing this with Jeremiah sleeping right by me as he cried himself to sleep. (He had a long day and drawing lines sideways just pushed him over the edge.) Hopefully this year will go well as this is the first year I am attempting to homeschool not one but two children on top of everything else I already do. I have been praying for patience and understanding and am excited to see what this year will bring!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Begining Engineering

So who would have thought that playing can be art and engineering lessons? For one unit of Art Erik used his K'Nex to build a motorcycle. There are all the pieces he had to assemble and the directions he had to follow.


Here is the finished product. He loved playing with this toy and I think part of the reason was he had to take the time, energy and frustration to build it first! He also learned that following the directions is much more important than it looks. Although, we did have to make some adjustments so as to distribute the weight evenly so it could stand up on its own (minor details!). For his next forage into the wonderful world of engineering I want to buy some model airplanes for him to build so when he is done we can hang them in the newly redecorated play room. (It is in an Army theme. Uncle Ben would be so proud!) Oh, and since Jeremiah is almost in Kindergarten, he will also be doing a few. I love how in Home School you can incorporate seemingly meaningless activities to further teach them about their subjects!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Seth's 1st Birthday Party

Yes, this is our 1 year-old baby. I am still slightly amazed that he is now 1. I am trying to figure out how a year went by when just yesterday he was an infant!


Somehow we missed a picture with him in front of the cupcakes. He did get to eat one and loved every minute of it.

Bumps

At swims lessons earlier:

Jeremiah: "Mommy that guy must be really strong."

Mommy: "Why do you say that, love?"

Jeremiah: " Because he has bumps on his arm."

I am now trying not to laugh; I do however have to turn my head as discreetly as possible and smile. Kids say the cutest things!!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Catch-up

I was talking to a friend last night and we remarked how we are always trying to catch up with our friends lives. It seems like we never know what is going on since so much has happened since the last time we talked. Unfortunately this does not happen with just one or two friends. It seems to happen with all my friends. Just one more of many joys of motherhood that no one tells you about until after you are in the midst of it. In the coarse of the last month we have moved, our baby turned one, amongst many other things. I put the computer in my room when we moved and I am now on it so infrequently I have to go back and look at what people wrote 2 months ago just to find out what is happening in their lives! I keep thinking that one day life will mellow out a bit. Since I now have to go do laundry, vacuum and shampoo carpets, clean up all the "little messes" that happened in the last 30 minutes and get ready for Seth's Party this weekend I know that time is not upon me now nor will it be in the near future. I am also begining to wonder if that is just a pipe dream.

Friday, February 13, 2009

My favorite moments

These kind of pictures happen to be my favorite. When one brother tries to comfort another, not because mom or dad prompted them to but by their own sheer desire to comfort one another. There is just something so touchingly sweet about these moments. (They do not seem to happen all that often and when they do happen, there never seems to be a camera around to capture them.)
BTW if you could not tell, Matthew is trying to give Seth a pacifier to make him feel better!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Have you ever noticed?

That as you have more children you tend to worry about less things.

No, that is not poop and, no, he did not get into it himself.
There is a great reason he is so happy!


Have you guessed what he ate. A chocolate and peanut butter cookie. His dad gave it to him and no, no that is by far not his first cookie. (Side note: Erik did not even get cake on his 1st birthday. Yes, I was a mean mom!)

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Wall Art

Matthew loves his Mam-ma. She is his "favorite." This was taken when I was frantically cleaning the house, due to an upcoming inspection.

Now mind you what they are scrubbing off is the "Art" that he so lovingly put up there on one of his many rampages. Notice how he does not seem to be doing much of the scrubbing. (Hmm, maybe that is why he loves her so much.)

And just when you are sure that your house is truely marker free, one finds that there is another wall to scrubb. I am not sure what I did with all of my time before I had kids!!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

It's a ??

Okay, before everybody starts asking, no, I am not pregnant. I know there are those of you out there that think I will forever be either pregnant or carting around a newborn but you are wrong, for once. I am going to rant for a minute, though. I only post this because one of my dear friends is pregnant and sometimes I get tired of the comments. She already has 5 boys and will be perfectly happy having another one. She is not "TRYING" for a girl and she and her husband will more than likely have more children after this one. I think this is great. I am only saying this for people who need to get over the fact that some people decide and want to have a large family. Even if not consciously decided in advance to have a large family this does not give the right for people to make comments about the number of children anybody has. I am at times shocked, irritated and sometimes absolutely horrified at some of the rude comments sometimes even seemly innocent comments that some people seem to think is their job or duty to make. Here it is in black and white. I am busy. I do have my hands full and, yes, I know how babies are made and different ways to try and prevent having more babies, but that does not mean I will alter the size of my family based on what someone, especially a stranger, tells me. I have four wonderful and for the most part very happy boys! Contrary to popular belief, I have not been "trying" for a girl. I am not only content having all boys but very, very HAPPY. In all reality, I hoped I would have all boys. At one time, I did have to come to God and pray about the unrealistic hope that I would have the "Perfect" family of one boy and one girl. This is not to say that there is anything wrong with that but more with my ungodly ideal. I hoped for a time that my second pregnancy was a girl but when my husband and I found out we were having a little boy I cheered so loud that the workers had to explain to the people at the Expo what just happened. (We were at a baby fair and after deciding we were too impatient to wait another three weeks for my ultrasound appointment we paid to find out the sex of our unborn baby then and wound up with an awesome looking picture of his face! We are a huge fan of the 3d ultra sound machines!!) Again with our third and fourth baby I was so loud with my excitement that I had people come into the room to check on me! Please do not take this the wrong way. I would have been just as happy having a girl. Babies are blessings whether they are male or female. While at times I am overwhelmed with my brood, I would not change anything nor do I wish I had a girl. I praise the Lord for his kindheartedness to let me raise these wonderful creations of His. I have been told by more than one person I am a boy’s mommy not a girl’s mommy. While the first time somebody said this, I am not sure I immediately agreed but after meditating on it and praying about it, I could not agree more. The Lord in His infinite generosity has blessed me with four wonderful boys and I am thanking him everyday for these blessings. So if you see me at Wal-Mart with my brood please if you are not offering help and do not have anything nice to say just keep on walking!!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

I Love DADDY!!

Overheard:

"I uh DADDY!"

It happens to be after 10:00pm and the 2 year-old is somehow still up. He would be trying to charm his way into Daddy's heart so that he can convince daddy to let him stay up or failing that to at least stay in the bedroom with him.

Daddy recorded him (He said it many times.) then left the room thereby crushing his little heart. He starts cry for daddy. Daddy tells him to go to bed. Oh wait, this tactic is not working. He starts crying for mommy. Mommy tells him to go to bed. Still crying for mommy. (Clearly mommy is a bigger softie.)

Less than 5 min. later. Silence. Uh-oh good silence or bad silence. No one wants to check.

30 min later gets hit in the head since he fell asleep with his head inches away for the door.

Another late, late, too late night in the life of the toddler in this house, who has been staying up way, way, way too late.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Still Gone

Okay so even though I have been meaning to tell of the happenings around here it does not seem to be happening. I have tons of cute pictures but do not seem to find the time to sit down upload everything and write a cute little note. I have grand intentions unfortunately poor follow through. This could be why none of my children have a baby book. Well, hopefully I will get out of the rut and up load those pictures and you can see some of what has happened in the last month!