Christmas Day

The kids have had some wonderful fun this morning! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy! And since blogger isn't being nice today I'll have to post about them here instead of near the picture where I wanted to. Avery got her first tea set for Christmas. Let's say it all together now, "awww, cute!!!" She loves banging the teacups together, so so far she isn't playing with it a whole lot differently than a little boy! Evan and Aidan are SHARING the pirate set that Aidan got from his South Dakota cousins. Toby is coloring on his new little cardboard house. Believe it or not I actually love building stuff like that, so while the construction could have caused some major payback gifts in the future for the South Dakota cousins, I'm actually quite thrilled to be able to say that I put it together! :)

Home again, home again

Well. We've had quite the week around here. Monday afternoon Avery started throwing up. And had a fever. And a owie spot on her leg and behind her ear. Thursday when I got her up, the sore on her leg was oozing and the foot was red, puffy and hot to the touch. So, off to the doctor we rushed. Hyper Doctor Lady (whom I will not voluntarily be going back to by the way) rushed around ordering tests, taking swabs and ordering labs. Within an hour we found ourselves checked in to the hospital and the precious baby girl had had several pokes, proddings and an IV. With an eventual diagnosis of a strep infection, a staph infection and roseola we camped out in the hospital from Thursday morning until Saturday night. Avery was hooked up to an IV which dripped high powered antibiotics straight into her bloodstream. Thanks to some girlfriends who brought me sanity and clean clothes and Jim who kept the boys under control I was able to stay with her the whole time. Plus, I sort of had to stay since I was the source of the only food she was interested in eating for three days!

Well, alls well that has ended well. Avery's home, the house and I are recovering from being gone for a few days and the boys are up to their normal antics. Avery's sleeping up in her crib and I'm getting caught up on blogging and laundry.

That's all for now. :)

Praise Baby

I found a great link for a free Praise Baby bib and a $5 coupon for a Praise Baby CD. All you have to do is to be one of the first 300 to post this pic and you win! I am looking for new music for the kiddos, so I'm hoping this will be one they love!

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

Yes. I have found the stockings. The day after I went to Hobby Lobby and bought new ones.

And we've spent the last 2 days with Toby and a stomach virus. No, I take that back. Jim spent the last two days with Toby and a stomach virus. The bottom kind which isn't all that fun with a non-potty trained kiddo who yells like a banshee everytime you come near him with a wipe because his little posterior area is as red as a tomato. I took Evan to his Christmas program rehearsal on Saturday morning. Jim stayed home with the 3 lil'uns while I did that and also stayed home with the Toby while I took the three non-Tobys to church. Then Jim stayed home with Toby and Avery while I took the two big'uns to their program last night. What a man.

Edit that last paragraph in your own mind however you feel would make more sense than what I've actually written.

And now Aidan has the bug, but at least he can take care of himself. I'll just have to wash the toilet forty-leven times today in a (probably futile) attempt to avoid this bug myself.

And if these kids aren't healthy by tomorrow I'll have to miss the MOPS Christmas meeting. For the third straight year. Pray, y'all. Pray.

Holy Cow, It's December!

What happened between my last post on November 20 and today? Well, let me think...

We've put up the Christmas tree, though we seem to have lost the box with the stockings and our Advent calendar in the move.

I've tried to potty train Toby. Note the word TRIED. Not so good so far. We'll keep trying.

Jim finished his 15th-ish play The Miracle Worker. It was indeed a miracle since some of the actors weren't solid on their parts until opening night.

Avery is still not sleeping through the night. We usually have a 12, 3 and 5 o'clock show. This morning I asked Jim how many times he thought she got up. He said, "uh, zero?" No dear, three. Well, at least someone is getting some sleep!

Evan has his Christmas concert at school tonight and at church tomorrow night.

Aidan has his Christmas program at church tomorrow night.

I've signed up to make a 8x batch of chili to trade meals with 7 other women in an attempt to fill up my freezer with yummy foods. We'll see how that goes!

I've got a sewing machine for my birthday. I've got about 10 projects lined up in my crafting cupboard to do before Christmas. If I don't get to yours you might get it for Christmas next year! ;)

Especially Heather

I met Heather through a series of blog links and also in person when she visited our church last spring. She is fighting (and I do mean FIGHTING) brain cancer. She wrote this and since my brain is too fried from lack of sleep and getting ready for Thanksgiving I decided to just link you up to her blog so you can read it yourself. It reminds me of the whole vision of the Christian school where my husband has given 13 years of his life and where my son is a second grader. Christian Worldview. God should not live in a box to be taken out on Sunday morning and maybe Wednesday night. He should not be tucked away when we are not in church. All of life is to be lived with a Christian perspective. When I'm washing dishes, when I'm taking out the garbage, feeding the chickens and children, changing diapers, doing laundry or any of the million mundane tasks I can use those as opportunities for prayer and thanksgiving! No, I'm not perfect and many who read these words on their screens will be laughing their heads off at these words coming from my fingertips! The Christian walk is just that, a walk. It isn't a destination I can arrive at in this lifetime. So, with that in mind, I will go take care of some bitty bitties. They are my job, my vocation, my calling, my blessings to treasure and care for in this life. Head over to read Heather's post from this week. You'll be glad you did.

Out of the mouths of babes

Today we were driving along to the grocery store. Aidan commented from the back seat, "Mom, I see signs with red circles and a line through them," he continued, "they mean don't ever, EVER, EVER talk about the letter P!!!"

You've been told!

Two in one!

Yes, this is the second post on one day! Woo hoo! Makes up for the entire weeks that go by with no posts. So, I started out this morning with a dead mouse in my mud room. Yes, better than a live mouse, but stil, why do the cats need to show off their (s)kills???
Then after a full morning of shopping (yeah, got some Christmas shopping done!) I came home and made the kids spaghetti for lunch. Yup, sauce and all. I'll leave the mess to your imagination. Aidan decided to help me out by getting himself seconds on milk. We HAD 1/2 gallon of milk. Wednesday is shopping day. I guess we're not having cold cereal and milk for breakfast until after grocery day! Yup, Aidan spilled the majority of a 1/2 gallon of milk all over the (clean of course) dining room floor. Then he decided to help me make myself a cup of coffee. I HAD enough coffee to get me through till grocery day on Wednesday. Now my house smells like a Starbucks and I can't even have a cup of coffee! Yup, he dumped the ground coffee I was going to make myself for today and tomorrow all over the kitchen floor. I'm not desperate enough to sweep the grounds up and make it anyway. I have instant coffee. That'll do until Wednesday.
So, if I seem a little testy between now and Wednesday it's because I haven't had my coffee! Once I get the kids downfor a nap I'll mop the dining room floor, sweep and mop the kitchen floor, start dinner and rotate the laundry. And hide the Christmas gifts I've purchased. And be thankful that I have these "bitty bittys" to make a mess of my house. I know that many Mamma's arms are empty and they would do anything, anything to have a messy house to clean up.

I need a hobby

So I was browsing a friend's MySpace and came across this quiz. Seems these people know what they're talking about! Now excuse me while I go do something really important...like alphabetize my spice rack.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central   "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The Midland
The West
Boston
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Contest winners

Okay, I've heard back from both of my winners about publishing their names. And without further ado: Congratulations going out to Amy and Liz! Your bracelets have been made, strung with love and prayers from Minnesota and are heading out to your homes tomorrow morning. Blessings to you!

For those who weren't so lucky as to win, don't despair! I have plenty of materials to make you a bracelet, too! Simply send me an email or comment and I can make you one and ship it to you for just $6! As I did for the contest winners, I will also pray for your family as I custom make your Mother's Bracelet.

Oh my word

Mention free stuff and suddenly a little blog in small town rural America is the place to be! I have emails out to our two lucky mammas. When I have their permission I'll post their names and link you up to them. For now let me say congratulations, thanks for coming and hope to see you again here real soon!

Another Bloggy Giveaway!

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting another giveaway carnival! Click here to go to a list of what will probably end up being hundreds of awesome giveaways. Anywho, as I did during Shannon's springtime carnival I've decided to give away a handmade item. I will custom make one Mother's Bracelet for two lucky winners!

Each bracelet has a colorful design (or I can do all one color, your choice). Each of your children will be represented by a silver colored flower bead. The bracelets are made from colored, polished, stone beads and silver colored flower beads and spacers. All you have to do is leave me a nice comment telling me why you'd like to win making sure I have a way to contact you and I'll choose two lucky winners on Friday, November 2 around 1:00 pm assuming the kids are napping like they should! And since I know you'll be entering dozens of contests, I'll even contact you if you win! Easy as pie. :) I would also be happy to make non-winners a bracelet for just $6 which includes shipping to the USA!!! :) Good luck!

Hippie Mamma

For years I have been lovingly teasing my friend Mel about her "hippie" tendencies. She buys some organic food products for her kids, makes her own baby wipes, uses non-toxic, chemical free cleaners/shampoos/soaps etc etc etc. Well, we are both on a baby food making kick. Yesterday we spent actual mommy time talking about the various benefits of old-fashioned versus quick cooking oats. Maybe we need to get out more. Anywhoo, this morning I actually ground some whole grain oatmeal in my mini-blender, cooked it (yes, on the stove even!) and mixed it in with equal parts homemade applesauce which I made from the apples from the apple tree on our yard and home baked pureed acorn squash purchased from a farmer down the road. So, for breakfast, Avery clamped her mouth shut when offered a mixture of applesauce/squash/oatmeal. She'll be having it for lunch! Fortunately the little boys just thought they were getting applesauce oatmeal which they love! Little did they know I was sneaking a veggie in there, too! Yeah for me! That means I can feed them frozen chicken nuggets for lunch guilt free!!! :) Hey, I said Mel was the hippie, not me!

The Faith of a Child

Here is a touching (and of course humorous) story of young faith. Oh that we would have the faith of a child!

Monday Morning

I'm having a problem with the blog that I remember having when I was in sixth grade. We had journals in homeroom. Sometimes we were given the topic of "freewrite" where we could write anything we wanted to. I hated freewriting. I could never focus on one topic. I think I remember writing something to the affect of "I don't know what to write here" and calling it a day. Mrs. S. commented, "just focus on one thought at a time". Ha! Thanks fo the idea! Wish I had thought of that! ;)
I have grand plans for today. It seems that I try to get the house tidied up during the week so we don't have to spend the entire weekend cleaning. Then Monday morning comes and despite the fact that we're out running errands or doing outside things I still have to spend all of Monday morning cleaning the house anyway! What happens???
We've been a little concerned for our neighbor who owns the cornfields we live in the middle of. This fall has been incredibly rainy and he hasn't been able to get out in the fields to harvest. Yesterday, in a cold drizzly rain, the combine (I think that's what it's called!) started running through the fields. Stupid city people that we are, we got bundled up and ran outside to watch! Dang, that's something to see. The thing runs along, chops down the stalks, shucks the corn, yanks the kernels off and spits the cobs out naked and broken up from it's backside. Evan went out with an ice cream bucket to glean the leftovers for his chickens. He was out there for over a half an hour and barely covered the bottom of the bucket! Amazing isn't it? This huge machine does such an accurate job that a gleaner would starve on the corn leftover.
Well, as exciting as this post is, I'm going to just hit "publish" and go pay attention to my kids!

A new link

Jim has joined the land of bloggers! Click here and read his touching tribute to his mom. And if anyone could tell me how the heck to put links on the sidebar so I can link to some of my other favorite bloggage I'd be most appreciative! :)
Edited to add: Nevermind! I figured it out! Yeah for me!!! :)
Also, adding an update on Evan's Bible study. He weenied out. He claimed stage fright and told me not to invite his friends over for Bible study. So, we didn't push it. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak it seems.

Poor Kid

Today I was able to leave the kids with a friend and go volunteer with Evan's class. Before I left Toby I changed his diaper. Since he'd sort of leaked out of the diaper, I decided to just let him run with no pants. When Amy wanted to take the kids outside she put a pair of her daughter's sweatpants on him. Purple sweatpants. Now, I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I didn't think it was a problem. Toby, on the other hand, certainly had something to say about the situation! The following is just a sampling of what I heard on the twenty five minute drive home. "I don't like these pants. They're terrible. I don't want you to put them in the dresser. Put them in a box for Avery. I don't like these red pants. These pants are awful. Take them off me. I've got a plan, take my seat belt off so I can take these terrible pants off. They're so bad" and on and on and on. (No, colors aren't his strong suit!)
I'll be sure to let you know when Toby is on Oprah for the trauma caused to him by making him wear purple pants! ;)

A Gift

When I was little I remember my mom cleaning (or at least really really tidying up) before her parents would visit. I tried to do this when I was a young bride before my parents would visit. Mom insists that she's coming to see us and not the house, but for some reason I never believed her. I was in this imaginary competition with my sisters to show our parents that I was the "better housekeeper". At least I think it was an imaginary competition. They may have been having the competition with me too, but only in their own heads of course! Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the gift. Mom continues to try to tell me that she's coming to see us and not the house. Well, now I'm going to accept that gift and not knock myself out trying to clean the house! I know there are some mommies who feel that they have to present their parents with a spotless house and beautifully made meals from scratch only to have their parents find something that needs cleaning, fixing or salt! Thankfully, my parents are not that kind of parents. I'll try to tidy up, might even make it around to vacuuming, but I am not going to knock myself out trying to out do my sibs! So, Mom, Dad, when you guys come tomorrow, you'll see the house as it is. I'm thankful that you know we live here in our house. We make a mess. We have a pile of happy kids. And I'm glad you're coming to see us!

Evan's most recent

Last night I was driving home with Evan from an event. During the course of the twenty + minute drive he formulated a Bible study plan! He's going to invite two (good reading) friends over to his bedroom next Friday at 5:30-6:30. They'll have a clean up committee first (to clean up his room), then they'll have a little supper and read their Bibles together. Then they'll have a little more supper, read some other books for a little bit, then "get right back to the Bible" and maybe talk a little bit about what they've read. Meanwhile, Jim and I are to have a Bible study with Mrs. M, his teacher! Mrs. M was telling the kids yesterday how she tries to read through the Bible in a year. He wants to provide her with a little "help" in doing that by inviting her over to read through it with Jim and myself. :) He also noted that if he's going to lead this study he'll have to do some studying ahead of the meeting! I asked him where they would start reading. "At the beginning of course." Duh to me I guess. The best part is that he came up with all the details himself. I inserted just a couple of ideas into his head to help with details such as day and time, but he came up with all the rest on his own (including the clean up committee)! Please join me in praying for this budding Bible study group. Jim and I want him to be successful in this endeavor to encourage his desire to learn more about the Word and in sharing that love with other students. We believe. Help our unbelief.

Monday Night

There's a toad in my bathtub.
My husband is so strange! :)
Yes, he put it in there.
He'll be taking it back out, too!

Tara and Tater's Egg-cellent Adventure!

Well, Aidan and I had quite the adventure today! It actually started last night when Evan found the first chicken egg near our hen house. He put it in the fridge. Today Aidan and I found a second one. Just before snack time!!! Here are the two eggs we've found so far:

Aidan got to crack his first eggs:

Here's Aidan scrambling the eggs: And frying them up:
And here's the final product! Scrambled eggs fresh from the farm with cheese. What a treat!

Trouble with the kids

Goat kids that is. We came home from grocery shopping to find all three goats in Jim's garage. Leaving three of the kids (children, not goats) in the van, I started to corral the kids (goats, not children) back into the pasture. They'd escaped from a 10 inch high opening under the gate. So, I wrangled the kids (children, not goats) into the house, put Avery down for a nap and plugged the boys in to a movie. Then I headed back outside and worked for about an hour adding some wire fencing to the bottom of the fence that exists. While I was doing that, Aidan decided to help Toby with a box of fruit snacks. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, while I was building a fence for the kids (goats) the kids (children) were inside eating an entire box of fruit snacks (remember, I'd just gotten back from the grocery store). And, being the resourceful child that he is, Aidan was using a scissors to open each package! And, yes, they ate the entire box. And while no children or goats were hurt in this endeavor, I was. I'm full of scratches from the ends of the wire fencing I used. And the fence had to be built in a patch of stinging nettles. And less good ol' Mrs. B (my dear third grade teacher) is reading this and having a heart attack from all the sentences starting with the word "and" I shall now go clean up wrappers from 10 packages of fruit snacks. The end. :)

Edited to add: And when children eat almost an entire box of fruit snacks it does intersting things to their insides...I'll leave the coloring of the contents of the diaper of the youngest boy up to your imagination...

New Kids On The Block

No, this post does not have the intention of bringing back memories like NKOTB, acid washed jeans, leggings or even of big hair!! And I had pictures of all these things, but the links weren't to good things, so just pretend here. I am merely announcing that we are the proud "renters" of these little guys! These three goats (get it, kids, baby goats, kids??? I crack me up!) are on loan to us to clear out our WAY overgrown pasture. Then, next spring when things thaw out we are going to get a few sheep to help keep it down (and provide the boys with valuable learning experiences and stuff).















Oh, and we also got four big black chickens. Pretty soon they'll be providing brown eggs for us! Provided of course that we keep them provided with food and water!



And that is the excitement for our day! :)

News Flash

Vacuum cleaners do not like to suck up little green plastic army men.

Thought you'd like to know.

America's Got Evan

Evan and I have been watching America's Got Talent this summer. He definitely has an opinion on styles of music and various acts he likes and doesn't like! He figured out pretty quickly that Sharon would like just about anyone and that Piers wouldn't. He commented on song and singing styles, on dances, and even on people who weren't being modest in their costume choices (YEAH!). We cheered when good acts got sent through and we cheered when bad acts got sent on. This Tuesday was the finale. We enjoyed all the entertainment and the suspense of who would walk away with a million dollars. The suspense was a little higher than I think the NBC producers intended in our neck of the world because several times the show was interrupted by severe weather warnings! The most fun part for me was realizing that my little boy was growing up. One of the final four contestants was Julienne Irwin. She's 14 and an up and coming country music singer. Evan's comment as she was singing in the finale? "She's so cute, I could watch her all night." :) I guess my little boy is growing up!

Dinner!

Sweet Potatoes:

Sweeter Pota-toes:

Business Idea

I was wandering through downtown yesterday, just getting a feel for my new town. I stopped in several little "touristy gift" sort of shops and came to a conclusion. I could possibly have a little side business here! I have enjoyed beading, making baby shoes and could also make some other little baby items to sell at some of these shops. I'm in the "thinking seriously about it" phase of the idea. What sort of name do you think I should use in my business? I'm thinking something like "Avery's Acres" "Country Kids" "Country Crafts" or something cutsy like that. Well, what do you think? How do I know how to price things? What if I get too many orders and end up not being able to keep up with the rest of my life??? :)

And for your viewing pleasure this morning, here's a fresh shot of the three lil'uns. Evan didn't want his picture taken because he doesn't "smile very well". Notice that they are wearing long sleeves and long pants. In the middle of August. Weird! And yes, I do believe that Aidan's feet are really as big as they are appearing! That kid has grown like a little weed this summer!

The Stupid Tax

This week I've been paying the "stupid tax". This is a random amount of money paid to various people or organizations as a result of a stupid decision. Jim and I coined the phrase after he unknowingly tripped a safety valve on a furnace, causing it to go out in the middle of January. Stupid tax: $74. Lesson learned: don't try to save money on gas by turning down the pilot light on the heater.

Last Friday I bought a blow-up pool for the boys. I figured it was $18 and would buy me lots of kid entertainment. Plus, hey, I could always dry it and put it away and use it next year! First installment of stupid tax: $18 on a blow-up pool plus 3 hours of work in blowing the dang thing up. A moment of panic when I noticed the cats eying the pool...nope. They have not managed to pop it yet. Toby bit a hole in one of the three sections, so it doesn't go quite as deep, but that isn't the point here. We got a second installment of the stupid tax last night when I paid a doctor $45 to diagnose Aidan with swimmers' ear. Then another stupid tax bill arrived at the pharmacy when I had to pay $35 for ear drops for said swimmers' ear. So, I'm up to $98 on a blow up pool, 3 hours to blow the dang thing up, 2 hours at the doctor's office with four kids thank-you-very-much and 2 wakings up in the night to administer ibuprofen before I relented and took Aidan in to the doc. All for a couple of days of them splashing around and causing me extra laundry in clothes (not just swimming trunks, but entire sets of clothes) and towels. Next time, I'm spending $5 on a sprinkler and telling them to run through it in their unders!

Oh, and just so you feel more sorry for me, I've smashed at least a dozen crickets in my house today. And they're just the brave ones who are venturing out, that doesn't include the several I hear hiding in the walls. Weenies. They make a crunchy sound when you squish them, but it's better than their "crick-ey" sound when they crick!

Monday night

I really wish I could say that I have some phenomenal blogging material, but at this time, I'm not sure what that would be! The kids are doing well. Evan and Jim are gearing up to go back to school. We're having a "farm consultation" tomorrow with a friend of mine to see what we need to do or buy to have goats on the farm. Aidan and Toby are three and two and good at it! Avery has figured out how to roll over onto her tummy, but not back onto her back. Since she won't sleep on her tummy I have taken to buckling her into her car seat to sleep. She can't flip over that way! She has gone from sleeping 10-12 hours a night to waking up 2-3 times for Mommy Milk. Yikes! So, maybe that's why I'm living in a fog!
I made 4 pair of the little baby booties Friday night for a baby shower on Saturday morning. Since I bought cheap pinking shears, my wrist is still killing me from all the cutting I had to do. Hummmm....Nothin' much! Oh, in the interest of full disclosure, I have installed a stat counter. So, I do know that people are reading my blog! I appreciate all the readers I have!

Good Kid Award!

One quick off topic note before I start with the awards for the day. We did not know any of the victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse. I was a little nervous for a few friends, but all of our friends and family in the Minneapolis area are well. Praise God for that and His blessings on the families of those lost and still missing.



I would like to give the Good Kid Award to Evan, Aidan, Toby and Avery! Monday we had a full day of errands. We left our house at 8:30 and didn't get back until 2:00. We hit the grocery store, a friend's house for lunch (while I ran a quick errand to K-mart) and then we all went to Walmart. There was no fussing, no fighting and no yelling on anyone's part (myself included!). We ended up with a week's worth of groceries for a family of six, prescriptions for the month, and school supplies for second grade. Evan even commented that night that I was being really patient with them (yeah for Mommy!) As a result, the kids were rewarded with a trip to Oxbow Park yesterday including a picnic lunch. Yet again they were superbly well behaved. I've always told the kids that if they're good at a certain place it makes me want to take them back there again. As I was complimenting them on their behavior in the van on the way home Aidan asked, "do you want to take us back there again, Mom?" I do, Aidan. I do.

Quick update

Well, a few weeks ago we thought one of the guinea hens had gone on to that big field in the sky. We even found what we'd thought was a guinea hen skeleton and some feathers, so we WERE pretty sure! When we got home from church on Sunday we were surprised to see all 6 of the hens back out in the yard! We wondered what in the world had happened! Jim went over to investigate and that's when things got interesting. They started screeching to beat all. One charged at him and chased him around for a minute. Then he saw a line of "keets", baby guinea hens, running along one of the buildings! So, turns out that one wasn't killed, but was "brooding" or nesting for the past few weeks. So now we have all 6 guinea fowl (they're obviously not all hens!) and a pile of baby keets. What on earth have we gotten ourselves into???

Cute Kid Quote:
Toby (2) was chatting with a dinner guest and told him that there was a cricket over there by the wall. "What's he doing?" "He's cricket-ing" was Toby's definition of the noise of the cricket!

We Have A Winner

I wanted to wait until I had contacted my winner for the little shoes. Ashley from MA has won the handmade shoes! Congratulations on your little bundle, Ashley! Enjoy!

Blogland giveaway!

Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting a blogland giveaway! Literally hundreds of generous online bloggers are giving away TONS of stuff. Head on over there and sign up to win any of a number of items! I was struggling with what to offer. This morning, inspiration hit! I will be selecting one VERY lucky winner to receive these adorable shoes I just made last night! They are very comfy looking and soft cotton and suede. The main body has little purple flowers and the inside is a small pink floral print. The sole is a faux suede material. I would keep them for my daughter, but she's too skinny for them and they keep falling off her little feet! Hence, they are SLIGHTLY used, she had them on for about a total of 4 hours during which I put them back on about 4 times! So, if you are interested in signing up to win these beauties, please leave a comment. I'll randomly select a winner sometime on Friday. All you have to do is leave a comment, one per customer please and, sorry, but US addresses only. I do have to be able to contact you via email or your blog and you have my word that I won't share your information with anyone. Thanks and good luck!

***The contest is now over and we have a winner! Congratulations going out to Ashley from MA!***

Woo Hoo for Me!

I made a pair of shoes for Avery! :) Here they are! They were really quite easy, just took one short evening. Love them and am excited to make some more. I can take orders if anyone is interested in having a pair made. All reasonable offers will be accepted! :) They're like those little Robeez shoes, very soft and comfy!

And a bonus cute baby picture! :) Don't you just want to eat her up with a spoon?

Pass the overalls, please.

This is me. Tonight. Driving a tractor. Our tractor on our farm. It is actually moving and I am driving it. Whoa. Who'd a thunk???

Farm stuff

Yesterday Jim and Evan took a trip to the Minnesota/Iowa border to go farm stuff-shopping. Their first stop was the home of 78-year-0ld Ron Haugland, grandfather of some of Jim's students. Ron took them around and showed them a few farm stuffs and his methods for modifying and improving old farm stuff. As they were about to leave, Ron said, "Yeah, Roger's a real good son-in-law. 'Course, our politics don't agree. See, I'm a Democrat."

As Jim and Evan drove away, Evan said, "Wow, he's a Democrat." There was contemplative pause, and then he continued. "And we spent all that time with him."

Pictures to come! :)

Works For Me Wednesday

Today's works for me Wednesday is an idea I borrowed from a more seasoned mother. I've made a rotating chore chart for my three boys. There are two circles, one smaller than the other. The outer circle has a job listed and the inner circle lists the names of the kids. Each boy has a different job to do each day. Some people might change the jobs every week or month, but by keeping it a daily change I keep them intersted and excited about the different jobs! Here's a picture of the chart. The mail man has to run out to the mailbox and get the mail (or put outgoing mail into the box). The "Laundry Man" brings laundry down from our upstairs and sorts it into the laundry sorter. The "Odd Jobs Man" does those little jobs that come up and need doing like setting the table or stocking the diaper drawers. All of the jobs are adjustable according to the age of the "Man". Every night after kids go to bed I rotate the name circle one job clockwise. Each morning the kids run down and find out what their job is for the day! Works For ME! Check out Shannon's blog at Rocks in My Dryer for other great ideas!

What I've Learned Today

I'm not sure if I agree or not, but it's fun! I much prefer a double raspberry white mocha, but hey, this is what the computer thought of me. :)

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Bad blogger

Oops. Been a while. We're busy here making some changes here and there. The lady who lived here left a TON of paint in the basement and barn. Jim opened one gallon and it sprung a leak. Since we liked the color he painted our bedroom with it. Yesterday morning. Starting at around 9:00 am. When we had guests coming for his birthday lunch at 11. And of course our house being what it is, I ended up vacuuming a box of cheerios off the floor. Then a half a cup of beta fish food off that same spot on the floor. Maybe I should watch Toby a little better...

We're also discovering a little about asthetics. That gallon of paint that Jim found and used on our bedroom made a world of difference to both of us! It prompted us to figure out a way to get our queen box spring up the stairs. It only resulted in a little demolition of the house, nothing that we can't repair. :)

And, since I don't have a before and after picture of the bedroom, I'll post one of my first home decorating project. The kitchen was in sad shape (which I knew before we bought it, really a step, no, a leap down from my old kitchen). Here is a shot of it:

Pretty bad, huh?

Now here's an after shot:

I added a coat of paint on just the cabinet fronts, some knobs and curtains. you can't see it, but there is also a mason jar of miniature daisies in the windowsill. Pretty darn cute if you ask me! :)

Hummm, cute kid quote for the day??? I know there is one, but I just can't think of what it is. Darn darn darn!

My City Son

Yesterday we drove past a herd of cattle on our way home from church. The following conversation took place:

Mom: Look, boys! Cows!
Evan: Those cows are for sale you know.
Dad: How do you know those are for sale?
Evan: They have tags on their ears!

I give up

Well, I was intending to start a new blog with a new site and a more veiled identity. I've decided that I am just too stinkin' tired and busy to do that, so here's the update from the FARM!!! We are now living on a 5 acre hobby farm right smack dab in the middle of a corn field. Really. If you hit corn or the road you've gone off the land. Children of the Corn, that's my family! (Minus the creepy horror flick parts of course) And oh what an adventure this has been.

We've encountered petrified cat yack (Which I cleaned up thank you very much), a drippy ceiling in the bathroom, enough cat hair vacuumed up to create an entire new cat, 6 ticked off guinea hens (they screech for about 10 minutes when chased by a screaming 6 year old), blown fuses in the well pump (no water for a day while we figured this out) and the list can go on and on and on...

Last night we were creating a brace thinger so the wires to the well pump don't whack together in the wind and blow out the fuses when it's windy. (Yes, these are all technical terms.) I was sitting on a board while Jim was drilling through it. Toby was telling our friend, Scam (who is un married and has no kids), something that Scam could only decipher as, "I don't want Mommy to get skrewed." Scam was totally amused by this and came to tell us about it. Turns out that Toby doesn't know an electric drill as an electric drill but as a screwdriver. Since I was sitting on the board getting drilled, Toby was concerned that I was about to be "skrewed". So nice to know that he's looking out for his Mamma!

All in all we've had a pretty good time out here in no man's land. The boys have a huge room which isn't even a quarter full of bunk beds, a crib and two dressers, so they have plenty of floor space to play, I mean spread their toys all around. The boys are having a ball with a gigantic oak tree (or it might be maple, city girl can't tell). Anyway, has a tire swing already as well as a "Tarzan rope".

The bottom line is that we feel a little like the Israelites wandering in the desert. They were given enough manna for just the day. We are living out of suitcases, with minimal cookware and dishes, minimal everything until we sign the final papers (financing glitch, hope to close on Thursday). We are receiving just the amount of grace and sanity needed to get through one day at a time. This has been a great lesson for us in patience, working together and trusting in God to get us through one more day. Pray for us this week as we wait to finally close on this house and are able to make it our own!

Did you know?

When done by two boys loading the dishwasher is a full contact sport??? Yes, indeed. Complete with bum smacking and spitting. Don't come over for dinner unless we're using paper plates!

We're moving!

Well, it's official. We're moving away. We're moving to 5 acres away from my life as I know it. Since we're moving, I have decided to take a break from my blog life. Don't worry, I'll be back! This just seems like a good time to put into place some more secure features. A while back I put in a site meter just to see if anyone was reading this thing or not. Turns out, lots of people are! That's encouraging as well as not. I've found some people finding this blog while looking for things COMPLETELY different!!! So, I'll be changing things up a lot including things like using initials for the kids instead of their real names and trying to hide our location better. If you'd like a personal email invite to my new blog when it's up and running please leave a comment or email me directly and I'll send you a link when I have one. Thanks for reading and I'll see you when I see you!

Oh my oh my oh my

We are actually considering moving to the COUNTRY!!! And I am excited about it! Me, who's never lived more than 10 feet from another house in my whole entire LIFE, city girl through and through. I am actually excited about moving myself, my husband and my four kids to a 5 acre hobby farm in a city 15 minutes from my church and life as I know it. Currently there are 2 dogs, 2 roosters, 4 geese (big ol' white ones with the knob on the beak), 4 guinea hens and 4 actual live peacocks living o that property with an almost 60 year old lady. And the animals stay with the property. Yikes. What the heck do you do with a guinea hen or a peacock anyway???

Mommy Bonding

Before I get to the Mommy Bonding story, I'll update you on our house situation. First off of course, our house sold. In a day and a half. With two offers on the table, one of which was above asking price! Second, we have offered, counter offered, countered and accepted an offer. Now, since the home is under forclosure, you'd think that the bank would be HAPPY to get rid of it, collect their money and get on with life! Not so much. We were sent a 12 page addendum with incorrect information on it, told to "just sign it, it's fine" and I don't think so. So, now we've got a message in to the realtor who's working with the bank that says, "put in the right information or we walk". Of course, if we walk, we're walking homeless on June 14. Soooo, needless to say (though I'll say it anyway) we're AGAIN looking for houses. Ugggg!

Now for the fun part! Jim is at Schaeffer's graduation tonight. Evan begged me to go to the park, so I loaded up all four kiddos and off we went! I chatted with a few mommies and their kids in the sand box. One mommy was helping the kids with sand castles when I saw her 4 year old boy run off behind a tree to take care of his business. I told Nikki (the mom) that her son had done so just as my Aidan announced that he had to go potty too and started running off for the tree! Nikki went over just as I noticed that Aidan was not merely watering the tree but adding fertilizer as well. Eeewwww! As I ran to the van to find some wipes and a diaper to put the "stuff" into I noticed Nikki also coming over with a pile of paper towels for HER son's fertilizer! Once we got our respective kids bums and messes cleaned up we went back to the sand pile and commisserated about the wonders of boys. Remind me to remind Daddy that he needs to set up some boundaries for out of doors "business"!!!

I won something!!!

I was invited by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer to participate in a Mother's Day writing contest at Kisses of Sunshine. Sure I was just wasting my time, I zapped out a paragraph introduction to a short essay my mom wrote and passed on to me. You can read the essay and the other entries at Extra Kisses of Sunshine. Enjoy and Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers out there. And a peaceful Mother's Day to all those who are missing their mothers or children or the fact that they are not yet mothers today.

Aidan's take on life

I have two hilarious quotes from Aidan that I've debated blogging about here. I decided to just go ahead and share. If I offend, so sorry, but hey, I can't make this stuff up!

The first one came a few weeks ago. We'd had a speaker at MOPS sharing about how to talk with your children about the birds & the bees, starting with just giving them correct termiology for body parts. I decided that I should just tell the boys that Avery has a v*gina and that it is different from their p*nis. (Shrouding actual terms to avoid sickos from finding these stories, sad, but they're out there.) Anyway, a few days later Aidan and Toby were watching Avery get her diaper changed. Aidan wondered when Avery was going to get her p*nis. I told him that Avery wasn't going to get one, but that she had private parts called a v*gina which is inside her body. A while later I heard him explaining this to his brother. "I have a p*nis, but Avery's is 'in China'!!!" It is soooo hard to try to explain things like this when you're on the floor laughing your head off!!!

The next cute Aidan-ism came just this afternoon. We were at Mel's house for lunch and her newborn decided it was time for lunch too. One thing to note here, I am a white girl through and through. Mel is half Mexican and has a darker complexion. Aidan noticed that Mel looks different than I do and wondered, "Is Ananiah getting chocolate milk?" We were laughing so hard we were crying!!! It was a good thing our friend Mercy who is African-American wasn't there for this one!!!

Works For Me Wednesday

I have a van with two sliding doors. LOVE IT!! Will not go back to a single side slider. Anyway, I also have 4 kids. When I unbuckle them, as I go around to get more out I have the kids "stand on the line" of the parking lot so they're not running around and trying to get themselves run over. If the line has been worn off, I have them stand on a crack or touch the door. Then when we're all lined up and ready to go I tell them they can walk! This really works for me. It gives me a peaceful start to most any trip we take (of course, that doesn't help the rest of the trip, but at least we've started out on a good foot!)
Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for other great tips!

My celebrity look alikes

The View From Here

I am overdue for an update here; it's been a busy weekend.

My parents came up for a visit which was a great diversion from life! We're putting our house on the market tomorrow, so now I have to return to normal and start cleaning and packing unnecessary stuff away (or just give it away). We're not going far, just somewhere with a little more elbow room for boys to run.

Avery is overall doing better. We're learning her "I'm tired, put me to sleep" cues and jumping on them to get a happy napper. She's smiling and cooing all over the place. Quite a difference from the sad baby I had a couple of weeks ago. Zantac seems to be doing the job!

Toby is a kick. He's such a ham and gives us something to laugh about every day. Right now I'm lifting my self-imposed ban on Caillou. I hate that kid's voice, but since it's keeping Toby entertained, I'll let it go for now.

Aidan just provided me with a reminder that I do indeed have boys. I came downstairs from putting Avery down for a nap. I saw the sliding glass door open to the deck and one "shiney heiney" out there on the deck and Aidan, ahem, relieving himself on the deck!!! It is so hard to explain how we are supposed to use the potty while I am cracking up!

Evan is on a field trip to the MN zoo today. He has directions from his teacher that if he does "one little thing wrong" he'll be in the visitor's center with the teacher for the rest of the trip! I just told him that he had to be good or they would leave him in the monkey cage. Bad idea on my part, he thought that sounded like fun!

My girlfriend Melanie had her baby on Friday. Ananiah Eileen was born on her due date, quite a difference from her big brother who was born at 25 weeks 6 days! She was almost 7 lbs, a giant compared to 2 lb Zane. Everyone is doing great!

In other news, please continue to pray for Heather. She came through her brain tumor surgery well, but found out that the tumor type it is carries with it a life expectancy of 3-5 years. She has three kids ages 10, 7 and 5. The 5 year old is autistic and a heart transplant patient. Pray for Heather, Mark, Easton, Eli and Emma as they deal with this news. Her spirits are good and she is leaning heavily on God to get them through this chapter of life.

Blessed be the name.

Sunday

Well, I'll try to jot a quick note here even though Avery is screaming her head off upstairs and the boys aren't sleeping either! This morning I had a very unusual experience. For the second time in my life I met a friend from the online world. Heather is here from Florida for treatment at Mayo for a brain tumor. Through a series of blog links that I cannot even remember I came across her blog and website. Anyway, I invited her to our church home for the time that she and her husband are here which could be days, weeks or longer. It was such a joy to meet her and her husband Mark. Please stop by her site and read her story. She obviously tells it much better than I!

Well, I tried to get a picture of the boys on here for today, but it didn't work. Oh well. I'm sorry and will try again later!

Not even trying

I'm not even trying to catch everyone up on my life in the past week. I've been a stinky blogger and I'm just jumping in where we are! We've had plenty of cute kid quotes, only one of which I remember off hand. Evan was in the midst of discipline a few nights ago (again). Jim quoted him a verse that was perfectly convicting in the area of the offense. Evan said, "I don't think I like that verse very much!" Toby and Aidan both do and say things that crack me up, but of course I can't remember them. Avery had her 2 month shots on Wednesday. She slept from noon to six today and went to bed peacefully just now at 8:00 pm. I hate to say it out loud, but we may have turned a corner. Earlier in the week we had two nights of 3-4 hours of blood curdling screaming her head off crying. Today, nothing. She's been on zantac since Jim's mom died over a week ago and it does seem to have helped.

As for the funeral, it was nice. We had to sit in the front row which with a 6 year old and a 3 year old isn't as fun as you might think. I finally bribed Aidan that he could have dessert after the dinner if he sat still and was quiet for the rest of the funeral. Yes, in MN we have a dinner after a funeral. A musical called "Church Basement Women" refers to it as the "dead spread". The Lutheran church basement women did not disappoint! I had over 5 dozen ham and turkey sandwiches and 5 tubs of different types of salad (two had jello as their main ingredient) left over. Schaeffer got a nice lunch the next day!

We have all been doing really well with the loss of Grandma. Evan has been extra sassy and squirrly. Toby has been extra clingy. Aidan has been extra good. He even mentioned that he misses Grandma. He says his favorite thing to do with Grandma was to play cards. I'll see if I can find the picture of them. It's really cute!

Anway, that's it from our end of things!

A new woman

Well, the Little Miss is amazing! Last night she cried on and off (mostly on) for 3 hours. Then proceeded to sleep for 9!!!!!!!!!! I actually was smart and went to bed at 10, then she woke up at 6, nursed, and is asleep even as I type this at 7:30! What on earth am I going to do with myself???

Baby in the Bathroom

Well, a while ago I posted about Toby sleeping in the closet. I'm proud to report that I now have another baby sleeping in a weird place! Yesterday I discovered that Avery sleeps well in the bathroom downstairs with the exhaust fan running. I think she has the dreaded "C" word...colic. She's on zantac when I can get it in her. Tastes nasty! I've spent hours holding a baby who is stiff and screaming in my ears only to have her puke cottage cheese on me, let a huge diaper area bomb loose and then fall sound asleep. Ahhh, the joys of motherhood.

Quick update

Just a quick update here. Jim's mom passed away this morning around 9:00 am.

Update

I thought I'd better jot down a quick update before anyone worries too much about last night's post. Avery had a much better night last night. She woke up at midnight for a quick feed. After that she curled up in that newborn curled up frog position on my chest complete with little bursts of milky newborn breath on my neck. Good thing she's cute. She was also up at 4:30, this time for about 45 minutes. Much better than 2 hours! Thanks for the prayers and notes of concern last night and this morning. We're doing fine. Thanks!

Prayer requested

We are really under stress around here. Little Miss Avery is really having a tough time right now in falling to and staying asleep. Crying on and off for hours is not uncommon, day and night. Last night I was up for two hours alternating between nursing and trying to transfer a sleeping baby to the crib. Co-sleeping isn't much better; believe me, I've tried! Anyway, the boys are getting stressed (and neglected I'm afraid), I'm stressed and of course Jim is stressed! With the lack of sleep I'm having difficulty maintaining myself as well (not the house, just emotionally keeping up with life). Add to this the fact that Jim's mom isn't doing well. They signed up for hospice care a few weeks ago. It's just a matter of "hurry up and wait" to see how long we have Grandma here making memories with her and the grandkids. Plus, we're looking to relocate (within the area) to gain some land, gain some breathing and running room for boys and lose a bad neighbor. Anyway, I'd appreciate prayers for our family in the coming weeks as we adjust to these three major life changes! Thanks.

Easter pics

Since it takes forever to load a picture on my computer I decided to make these smaller. Anyway, aren't they adorable?? How was your Easter?

Easter week

In honor of Easter week, I'd like to share the following site. No peeps were harmed in the making of this site.

5 weeks

Here is a fresh picture of the Little Miss. She's doing pretty well. Sometimes I'm awake with her once or twice in the night. Sometimes when it's only once, it is for two hours, but hey, it's only once! Last night she slept from around 10:30 to 5:45, so I'm counting that as sleeping through the night! (Don't tell my friends, they'll lynch me!)

Denial

I have a huge stack of jeans in my closet. What in the world makes me think that a mere 5 weeks (today!) after having a baby that I can even have half a hope of getting any of them on my body??? Well, hooray for me! I have a pair on! Of course, when I sit down I can no longer breathe, but hey, breathing is overrated, right??? Forget it, back to the maternity jeans today. Life is too short to wear uncomfortable clothes. :)

Works For Me Wednesday

With four kids in the house, we have a lot of toys. Many of those toys have TONS of little pieces. Legos, FP Little People, puzzles, Veggie Tales sets, the list goes on. Instead of having one big toy box for our toy collection, we have multiple little toy boxes. I buy shoe or sweater sized clear boxes with lids and keep each category of toys in a separate box. All the pieces stay together which makes playing with the toys much easier. I also store some of these boxes in the basement and rotate the toys which keeps them fresh and interesting! Works for me! Many more helpful hints can be found at Rocks in my Dryer. Shannon does an amazing job on her blog, so stay and read a bit there, too!

I have a two year old!

And a few other kids, but since yesterday was Toby's birthday, I thought I'd share that! We had a nice little party with Zane and his parents. Jim's parents were also able to make it which was extra special.

Today I had a heck of a morning.
Avery slept in which was great.
Toby slept in too, also great.
Aidan didn't, but hey, two out of four ain't bad!
Aidan made a mess out of Toby's new birthday toys. Which of course included toys with small parts.
Avery and Toby woke up. Avery of course wanted to nurse. Toby of course had a majorly messy diaper.
Avery nursed while I lived in denial about how messy Toby's diaper was.
Toby got a bath.
Once the kids were all fed, changed, dressed, changed and dressed again (Avery isn't a very lady like lady yet) we loaded up and went to Java Detour! I figured after that morning I needed it!

At 9:30 a friend and her two kids came over. At 9:45 another friend brought her 3 year old over so she could go to the doctor. So, from 9:45-1:30 we had: 2-3 adults, 3 3 year olds, 1 two year old, an almost 1 year old and a 4 week old. How many does that make???? And we were crazy enough to let the kids play outside, so needless to say I've gotten in my workout for the day!!! :) Phew! Now to try to get in a little rest while Avery and Toby are sleeping!

I did it!!!

I am so pleased and proud of myself and my boys (and girl, though she didn't really have much to do with it!). Tonight Jim and I took the kids to Dos Amigos for dinner before his a meeting at church. As I was getting up to gather my chicks around me to leave, an older woman tapped me on the back. "I just wanted to tell you that you have beautiful children. And they were so well behaved here at dinner! I have a four year old great grandson who cannot sit still to eat at a restaurant." :) Well, I was so pumped from that grand pat on the back that I took the kids to Goodwill after. I figured I couldn't be scared to take all four out by myself (I hadn't done it yet, and Avery turned 4 weeks old today). Well, not only did I find a new exercise ball and dvd for only $7, but I also found the cutest Carters dress for the little Avery. It's hot pink with Eric Carle's "Very Hungry Caterpillar" butterfly on it. It says something about being a beautiful butterfly. Its brand new, with the tags on it and I got it for only $5!!! Yeah for me! Downer? I only had $5 cash on me, and no checks in the checkbook. So, I only got the dress. Dang, now those rock hard abs will just have to wait...

Just for fun!

This you have got to see! http://www.pasa.ch/ASA/Pages/PoPo/fun.htm My boys had so much fun watching this over and over again!

Two Toby Tales

The other day I was nursing Avery with a very interested Toby audience. As Avery was latching on, Toby started cracking up. He was just laughing and laughing. Finally, when he was able to take a breath, he said, "she ate it!!! She ate it!!!" Apparently he thought that was pretty hilarious!

This morning we had the possibility of a much more serious story. In the rush to get all of us ready and out the door to church, I left a fresh cup of hot coffee on the edge of the counter. Toby was puttering around and pulled it down on top of himself. Jim and I heard a sudden howling cry and rushed to the kitchen to find Toby covered in hot coffee and screaming. Thankfully, he had only a mild red patch of burn on his chest in a ribbed pattern from the sweater he was wearing. We got him cleaned up and into fresh clothes. He was pretty traumatized by the experience, or maybe it was trauma from the kitchen sprayer we sprayed cold water on him with. He kept saying, "Coffee burn Toby. Aidan no burn coffee." Usually his sentences are pretty put together, so with this sort of wording we knew he was pretty scared. During church I was in the nursery and checked on his chest. The only remnant of his morning was a patch of sticky carmel hazelnut creamer dried into his hair. Well, at least he smells good now. And we figure he won't be much of a coffee drinker...

Another cute kid gem

Last night we were doing something which I can't remember now. It was a fun family time and we were joking around together. Jim commented on some point of my mothering and I commented back, "well, nobody ever accused me of being a good Mommy!" Evan piped up and said, "yes, somebody did". Thinking I was about to have something sweet and sentimental to write in today, I asked Evan who had said I was a good mommy. "You say it!" He responded. Well, at least I have one cheerleader!

Baby News

Well, the news is that there is now news! Avery Rose Kluth was born at 7:17 pm on Friday, Feb 23rd. She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz (my smallest one) and measured 20 inches long.

I started having contractions on Wednesday. They kept up on Thursday and on Friday changed from a strong ache to a sharper pain. I called, drove myself in and was dialated to a 3. They decided not to send me home (because I probably wouldn't make it to Monday, nevermind that there was a blizzard!) so they did the c-section a few days early!

Avery is just a joy. She has a little dimple on her right cheek just like her Gramma Ginny. I'm healing up better than I have for any of the c-sections. The boys are doing fine. Evan is taking his role as biggest brother like a champ. Aidan as usual is rolling with it and Toby is a little melancholy but with me home now will probably perk up in a day or two.

Humm, she's sleeping now, nobody else is in the house. What am I doing on the computer??? ;) Night night!

Baby news

Well, the baby news is that there isn't any. I've been having lots of contractions, pretty strong ones compared to what I remember having with the boys. They aren't doing anything like getting themselves in a pattern, so the birthcenter doesn't want to see me yet. Boo. But, it was pointed out to my by our pediatrician (Toby's well child today) that with the huge winter storm we're expecting the barametric pressure could trigger labor. We'll see. If nothing else, Monday is the light at the end of the tunnel! I just keep reminding myself that Baby Sister is easier to take care of inside than out! :)

And Toby's well child today went fine. The doc gets such a kick out of my kids. They had a nice little chat before she even said hello to me!

Update at last

Well, I've been unable to get on blogger for a few days because it decided it didn't like me. Here's what we've beeen doing lately.

Jim has been working like crazy on a paperwork blizzard that rivals the snow storm we had a few weeks ago. This morning he participated in a staff variety show at school. He played a Roman soldier complete with one of the fuzzy "mohawk" helmets and a business suit. Naturally, part of his character was to correct a guard's Latin grammar! Notice his fuzzy "cuddle wrap" blanket. I got this for him for Christmas this year. After a lot of teasing himself he's come to love it! :)

I am still huge and still pregnant. I have managed to get a respiratory thing and am coughing. With someone sitting in your pelvis, coughing isn't nearly quite as comfortable as one might think. I also can't just take some nyquil and be done with it. The eviction notice is officially signed February 26, so that means I'm 11 days from a "vacation" in the hospital! :) When I had Toby they came in to tell me that if I wanted to go home early I could since it was Easter. I told the nurse no way, this was the only break I was going to get in a while and that she ought not tell my husband that she offered! :) I also recently finished 4 baby quilts (three are for friends) and am working on 9 burp rags since I cannot find the boxes of them that I have already! If it didn't take FOREVER to upload pictures on dial up internet I'd show them off.

Evan has been invited to participate in a chess tournament on Monday. He will be travelling to a neighboring town with a homeschool group from our church. Since he doesn't have school tomorrow he'll be able to attend the tournament practice session. Should be interesting! He's excited about it and at the same time realistic enough to realize that he probably won't win first place. "But maybe second or third."

A gem from Aidan this week. The lil'uns and I were listening to Focus on the Family in the van on Valentine's Day. They were, shall we say, discussing a topic that is appropriate for married people to discuss on Valentine's Day. One of the women mentioned how "spicy" it was to see a man clean something, extra so if he cleans the toilet. Well, I guess Aidan was listening a little more than I'd thought. He piped in from the back, "Mom, I think I'll clean the toilet for you. It's getting really gross!" I declined on that offer, but let him clear off and wipe down the sink in the bathroom instead.

Toby is being really clingy, but really cute these days. My friend Mel and her son Zane were coming over one day earlier in the week. Toby saw them on the deck, came running over to me saying, "My mommy, my mommy" and clinging like crazy to my leg! Which is dangerous because these days I'm mostly in elastic waisted workout pants which when tugged on by an almost two year old could have disasterous results. Fortunately I've always de-Toby-ed my leg before anything has happened! He's the only one with a really cute recent picture, so that's why he's the only one who got one in this post!

Well, that's about it from our end. Grandma and Grandpa continue to do well and go about their daily activities. We continue to try to survive life with three little boys (and one of us, as was so kindly noted by someone, 200 months pregnant...I DO feel like an elephant!!!) The nursery is ready and waiting for someone to move in. Wait a couple weeks, I'll be sure to post pictures!

Continuing on...

16 days. When we were expecting Aidan and Toby I made a paper chain with the number of days left before "Baby Brother" came. Every morning we'd take a link off, count the remaining number of links and sing, "X more days 'till baby brother comes, baby brother comes, baby brother comes. X more days 'till baby brother comes. X more days." No paper chain for this one. Not yet anyway. Jim's planning on going to Schaeffer to try to dig out of the paperwork blizzard he's under, so maybe today we'll make our paper chain countdown for Baby Sister.

Countdown

19 days left!

Success!

Well, I spent about $20 yesterday at Savers on clothes for the kids. I got some sweaters for Evan. One he'd been "dreaming of all his life" and one is "Caillou's new sweater, too babyish, I won't wear it and you can't make me!" Aidan got some new church shirts and a big fuzzy sweatshirt. Since he's the skinniest kid you've ever seen he loves to sit cuddled up in a big blanket in front of the space heater in his room. He turns it up full blast and just sits there forever! I think he was up there for a half hour this morning alone! If he's not in front of the space heater, he's curled up under the TV stand in front of the heat vent in the living room. What a turkey. Toby got the short end of the shopping trip stick. Oh well, he doesn't care and next winter he'll be wearing the stuff I bought Aidan anyway. Baby sister struck it big! I got her some little sleepers, onesies and a couple cute one piece outfits. I then went to Salvation Army last night after taking Evan shoe shopping. I spent $7 on her and walked out with a Walmart sized bag stuffed full to overflowing. Evan even picked out a couple little cardigan jackets and dresses. I think he's warming up to the idea of a girl.

20 days left. I think I'm nesting. There has already been about 4 inches of snow on the ground in the last 3ish hours or so. I've cleaned the kitchen, made muffins, played 3 different "moving large muscles so they'll take a nap later" games with Aidan and Toby and scrubbed down the stove. I think I'll go have another muffin!

Desperate times, very desperate!

Well, after my sickness on Thursday morning, I spent all of Friday and Saturday on the couch. Baby sapped all my energy and I was left with wet noodle limbs. Yesterday I did make it up to church and even out for Chinese for lunch! Today I'm a little pooped, but will overcome.

On Mondays Savers (a used stuff store) has a $.99 sale on a certain colored tag. The lil'uns and I are going this morning despite the fact that according to the news it is 19 degrees BELOW zero. After being sick and frozen in last week I have to get out of the house!!! And, I'm looking for little pink things!!

Happy Monday!

Contest link!

I'm supposed to link to a great contest for a beautiful piece of personalized jewelery in order to enter the contest. Check this out, it's beautiful! Click on the title "Contest link!" above to enter yourself!

Mamma gets a sick day

Well, long story short, I was awake at 5:00 am with not pleasant circumstances. I have such a good girlfriend. She came and got both kids and took them for the day. Ahh. Mammas don't usually get sick days. Thanks, Em!

Disaster?

I just sent the boys upstairs for "Brother Playtime". I just heard, "hey, cotton balls, let's pretend we're sheep!!!" The question now is should I go check or live in a few more minutes of ignorant bliss???

In other news, Jim and I spent our first night away from all three kids this past weekend. We farmed out the boys and left Friday night for Plymouth (about an hour and a half north). There we took in a hilarious musical called "Church Basement Women" which is a great show about 4 Lutheran church basement women poking fun at the traditions that surround the women who make the church social functions run and Minnesotans in general. It was hilarious, even to someone who grew up neither Lutheran nor Minnesotan! Perhaps it was because I married a former Lutheran and have lived in Minnesota for coming up on 9 years! :) You can read about the play here. Enjoy!

Truth is stranger than fiction!

Well, now I have a reason to tell my kids not to scream! Hilarious, but I could totally see it happening! Chickens are such stupid animals. Of course, if we did have chickens my boys would probably want to try this trick just to see if it would work.

Parenting question

A serving of cheetos counts as a serving of dariy product, right??? And a strawberry jelly sandwich counts as a serving of fruit? In that case, I've fed the lil'uns a well balanced meal for lunch! :)

Watch out Donald Trump!

Almost two weeks ago Evan came bursting in the door in an excited rush. He threw his things in the entryway and headed for the art box. “I have to make a sign, we’re having a sale at school on January 16! I get to take things to sell and we get two dollars in pretend money from Mrs. Hansen and I have to get my sign made!” Well, the first grade sale was all we heard about! Last night we gathered up all the items Evan wanted to take to sell. I made a few beaded bracelets to attract the little girls in his class. This morning we put together the price signs for Evan’s Toy Store. I volunteered to go in and help during the lesson. Mrs. Hansen gave each student $2 in play money. All the children got to buy and sell items brought from home (and got to keep their purchases!). Over half the students spent more than they started with and learned about a “loss” in business. The rest of the children earned more than they spent and learned about “profit”. A majority of the kids who earned a profit had a total of $3-$4. Evan had a total of $12.15!!! His prices started at about 50 cents and went up to $2. As a shrewd businessman, he did not bargain on any of his wares! He also was able to bring home a few leftovers from his store and a lunch box full of toys that he’d purchases from his classmates! I think The Donald has some serious competition coming up the ranks!!!

Be careful what you say

I was reminded recently of something that my Evan did several years ago. I had a friend over who had two small boys at the time. They were getting restless, so I suggested that they pretend to play Joshua and the wall of Jericho. I told them to march around the garage and shout. Well, when the wall didn't come a tumblin' down they took matters into their own hands, literally! The boys picked up some toy golf clubs and baseball bats and smashed out the garage windows!!!

No stinkin' way!!!

I am part of a group of four friends here. One has one boy, one has two boys, one has three boys (me) and one has four boys. No pink in our houses at all!!! Well, we're all four pregnant again! Three of us have u/s confirmed that we're pregnant with girls!!! The fourth is being a party pooper and won't find out. If it turns out that she is having a girl this time around, I'm calling the newspaper. This would be a great "happy filler" story! Here's Tara at 31 weeks! We're thinking that the c-section will be schedule on February 26. Just 8 more weeks!!! We've started getting the nursery ready for Baby Sister! :)