Natural and Organic...the lifestyle: An end to fall... A photography collection

Natural and Organic...the lifestyle: An end to fall... A photography collection

Never thought I would say...

Here's a list of things I never thought (before kids) I would hear myself say...

Stop booby-trapping your sister!
Really?...Really?....REALLY? (which now Nate says too)
Why is Abbie in the sink?
Do NOT tie a jump rope around your sisters neck!
Do NOT pee on each other!
PLEASE pee in the toilet, not the FLOOR!
Here, let me get that booger for you.
Riding in a laundry basket down the stairs is NOT a good idea!
Please take the leash off your brother, he is not a dog.
Take the chicken outside please.
Don't touch the dogs butt!
If you spit water one more time I'm going to pour the whole cup on your head!
If you touch your brother again I will spray you! (with the kitchen faucet in hand)
I am thoroughly impressed with your strength and climbing ability, but please don't use that talent.
WHO colored all over the toilet?
Don't stand on the table!
You are NOT a Jedi!
Don't eat off the floor!
Why is there a sock in my coffee?

Bath time

So, pooping in the bathtub is inevitable with any baby...just surprised it took Abbie 15 months to do it! Granted I wish Jason hadn't been dunking the boys heads in the bath when it happened. Sam yells "HEY, that's POOP!!!" Ick....everybody got scrubbed down!

Breakfast time

Last week I was making bagels for the kids. Nate was a little upset I hadn't bought cinnamon raisin bagels. I told him that he could go grab the cinnamon and I'll sprinkle some on his cream cheese. He goes in the pantry and brings it back and I put it on his bagel. Meanwhile, the other two boys say they want garlic flakes on theirs, so I put garlic on theirs. Nate says he wants some too. I convinced him that cinnamon and garlic probably don't go real well together and I didn't want to waste the bagel because he wouldn't eat it if he didn't like it. They all eat their bagels and then we get on with our day.
Later that day I go to make some bread. I had left the cinnamon out after breakfast so I grab and it and am about to pour it in the bowl of dough when I realize the pour spout doesn't open, the seal had never been broken. I found that weird because I always pour (instead of shake) the cinnamon into the bowl, so how has the seal never been broken? I look at the bottle and it's CAYENNE! Augh! So glad I didn't pour it in the bowl. I lean into the living room and ask Nate how his bagel was this morning and he says "Spicy!!!" HAHAHA! That'll teach him to grab the jar without reading the label! Note-he actually loves cayenne and puts it on most stuff, so this wasn't cruel. And, the garlic flakes would have actually gone wonderfully with it.

Potty training is exciting!

Ok, really it isn't. But I do have to give a big apology to the natural food store we were in the other day, but to protect myself I won't be naming them by name =)

So Jake has been potty training for a few weeks now and is really starting to get it finally. As we were about to head out of the store I decided to go ask where the bathroom was and make a quick stop. So I left the boys (just Sam and Jake) at a table by the door with my bags. When I came back with the directions to the bathroom Jake is proudly standing in the middle of the room and says "Mom, I already peed" I freeze...his pants aren't wet, uhhhh. So I say, "Jake, where did you pee?" and he proudly points and says over there in those flowers. Uh yeah, the flowers were a row of potted FAKE flowers INSIDE the building. Panicking...we ran out the door. Then had a little talk about how you can pee in plants outside...at home...never inside, ANYWHERE.

What happens when you don't tell them...

...to not play with the razor in the shower? Your oldest shaves a chunk out of the youngest's hair. Nice! Luckily he has so much hair you can barely tell. I was freaking out trying to figure out where all the chunks of hair were coming from. Nobody would tell me. Finally Jake says "Nate used THAT thing" and points at the razor. Could have been much worse, atleast there was no blood!

My favorite thing when nursing...

...is when my baby pulls off and looks up at me with such love, gives me a huge smile with milk dribbling out of their mouth =)

Mommy tricks..

These are just a few things I’ve learned over the years I’ve been a mom.

Little one doesn’t want to wash their hands? Fill the sink up with soapy water and let them splash around with a toy. They are sure to get clean. Warning: make sure they aren’t wearing anything you don’t want wet! This also works if they have marker or ink on their hands, which doesn’t come off well with just regular washing. Give the hands a good soak and the marker should be gone! Plus they'll have a blast!

Squirmy diaper changes that you could arguably call wrestling matches? Let them hold the diaper while you change them. Or give them something special they aren’t usually allowed to play with. It should keep them fascinated long enough to get that diaper changed.

Boys love mud. Let them play in it. It makes them so happy. You can always scrub them down later.

Give a boy a bucket and send them outside. It’s amazing what they will come back with. A wide variety of leaves and flowers for one, which can be used for craft projects. Find something they can do with what they bring back. There are tons of things that can be done with sticks. I’ve yet to figure out what to do with the frogs.

Such a joy!

Jacob has a special gift to make anyone smile at any time. I so appreciate that about him.
All four kids and I are sick...Jason is a little icky but not as bad as everyone else. So it's really run around here. Feeling like poop this morning but still having to carry Abbie around because she feels like poop too was exhausting. I put her in the Bjorn to give my arms a break and then sat on the toilet...not to go to the bathroom (it's not one of THOSE kind of stories), just needed a place to sit for a minute. Jacob came in and sat on the package of toilet paper on the floor in front of me. I said "nice chair you have there Jake". And he says "Yeah!" I said "it's nice and squishy, huh" He says "And it moves!!!" as he rocks back and forth on it with this huge smile on his face. His whole face lights up when he smiles, even when he's sick. He finds joy in the smallest things and spreads his joy to anyone around. Love that kid! I had to smile with him =)

Be careful when overdue with a baby!

So in October I was due with baby #4. At 2 1/2 weeks overdue I wasn't all that worried, just annoyed that baby wasn't here. I was 27 days late with 2 out of 3 of the boys. Yep, almost four weeks...doesn't that sound fun? So on October 26 I headed out to the chicken coop in the evening to lock up the chickens. Jason wasn't home yet and most days it was my job to get them in the coop at dusk. Being hugely pregnant, this was not my favorite job. Chasing little boys with a huge belly is one thing, chasing chickens is something else. Everytime I went out there is was a huge ordeal. They would run in and out of all the doors while I tried to get them back in. Sometimes this would take a half hour or so just to get them all contained. But this day I thought I was smart. I would close the gate on the outside run, run into the coop and shut the sliding door behind me and run over and close the little chicken door. I figured even if they went out the little door they weren't going anywhere because the fence was closed. Brilliant plan. And it worked great, I actually got the little door closed before any of them ran out. So took my time feeding them and went to leave....but the door wouldn't open. The sliding door isn't on a track and is incredibly heavy. With my giant belly I could not get the leverage to get the door open. I had it open about 2 inches and I was trying to wedge my arm in it and push it open. It wasn't happening. So I'm starting to panic a little. The boys are alone in the house and I'm stuck in the coop with the chickens. I am using all my strength to get that door open...wouldn't budge. I had my shoulder wedged in trying to push it open and I hear from across the yard "Are you ok?" Jason was home! He had come to save me!!! He came running and let me out. Meanwhile, I had been having contractions all day,and the whole time I was in the coop. Yep, had the baby later that night! So I trapped myself in the coop while in labor, just didn't know it yet. That could have been seriously bad. I'm sure none of those chickens are trained in midwifery!
On a brighter note...our baby girl was born the morning of October 27. We got a pink one!

Hello, Hello, Hello....

Yes, I am still here! I had no idea it's been so long since I've been here. I couldn't even remember the web address! I will try to be better about keeping up and adding some fun stories. I'll go back now to a few I remember and try to entertain you =)

What are you doing?

I was sitting at the table waiting for Jacob to finish eating tonight. I glance over and Sam is digging around in his pocket or something. I asked him what he was doing. The response I got? "Just moving around my balls." WHAT??? Now we've never referred to them as that. So I said, "Uh, what are you moving around". And Sam says, "My balls mom". And then walks down the hall. I was laughing hysterically at this point and yelled for him to come back. He walks up, and now he's laughing like crazy as he sees me laughing with tears coming down my face. I reach in his pocket and what do I find? Two bouncy balls. HAHAHA!

Baby Chicks Day 1

We finally made the plunge and bought some baby chicks. We've wanted to for years. Not only will it be good for the boys, but with the cost of organic eggs these days, why would we not?? We have a small post office and I went down there yesterday to give them my cell phone number in case I wasn't home when the chicks came in. The mailman proceeded to hand me my mail...small, very small, post office. This morning I get a call from the mailman (yeah, the mailman works at the post office in the morning) He says, "I have a bunch of baby chicks here yelling 'Amanda, Amanda, Amanda!'...you better come get them!" So I get the boys ready because they were too excited to stay home. We pull up to the post office, didn't even have the boys unbuckled yet and the mailman walks out with the chicks and brings them to the car...along with our mail for today. Gotta love small town post offices! We get home and luckily catch Jason before he's pulled out of the driveway so he can see the chicks before he leaves for work. He carries them in and opens the box. First thing that happens?? Jacob reaches in and grabs one around the neck and picks it up. Poor thing didn't open it's eyes after that for awhile (he was standing up and breathing though). After they all got moved into their temporary home I let each boy hold one. Nate and Sam were fine but I was monitoring Jacob like crazy. So he's petting it and loving it...and then grabs it by the neck again!!! Augh! So he lost the chance to hold the chick's for awhile. Meanwhile Sam starts freaking out...I look over and he poop on his leg...lol, first victim! Just glad it wasn't me =) Sam kept yelling at the chick, "I'm not a toilet!" over and over again. The boys spent a good chunk of the day watching the chicks after this. Jacob proceeded over the day to throw a basket ball, a couple wrappers, a magnet, a spoon, and a couple other things into the box with the chicks. And while I was making dinner I heard glass shattering and I went running. Jacob had grabbed the chick's light and smashed it against a post, shattered light bulb everywhere. After it cooled down, took care of that and gave them a new light. Then later in the evening our hunter cat came in from outside and was very interested and jumped on the box twice. But she decided to leave them alone. We'll see how the night, and day # 2 goes!

yummy!

For a long time Jacob called both Nate and Sam by Nate's name. But he called Nate, Nate-dog. And he called Sam, just plain Nate. I tried over and over to get him to say Sam but he wouldn't. One day a few weeks ago, Jacob was running around the house yelling "Yummy, Yummy" I asked him if he was hungry and he looked at me like I was crazy and kept running around and repeating it. Finally he finds Sam and runs up to him, points, and yells "Yummy" So I guess Yummy is better than calling him Nate. He's gotten to a point now that occasionally he says "Yammy" instead of "Yummy". Either way it's really cute.
On a side note, the other day Jason was talking to Jacob and said "you're trouble" and Jacob looks at him and points and says "Rubble!" Jason laughs and says "No, you're trouble" and Jacob points again and says "Daddy Rubble!!!" Then he looks at me and says "Mommy Rubble!" Not sure how I got dragged into it! But now he's doing it to his brothers everytime they do something he doesn't like.

Air for the tires

I have two tires on my van with a slow leak. I have yet to make the hour and a half drive to go get them fixed so occasionally I have to go put some air in them. My car has this cool feature (maybe most cars do now, I don't know) where it shows me on the screen on the dashboard what the tire pressure is of each tire. It will alert you when one is low, or two. On our way home the other day I stopped at the gas station to put some air in them so I wouldn't have to the next morning since they were starting to get low. On a side note, I think it's ridiculous that we have to pay 75 cents for AIR. That's dumb. Nate was getting tired and hungry and a little weepy, so I brightened his day by asking him to come up to the front seat and yell out the window to me when the numbers changed since I don't know how to read the gage that comes on the air hose (after this experience I now do know how to read it). With the first tire I told him to tell me when it got to 35 or higher. So after what seemed like forever he finally yelled out the window 3-6. So I put the cap back on and started to walk to the other tire, glancing in the window at the screen as I walked by. It said 63!!! Which I probably wouldn't have freaked about except while I was sitting there forever blowing up the tire I read on the tire that it said to not go over 40. And then later when telling Jason about it he informed me that the tire could have blown up in my face!!! So by the time I had let enough air out of the tire, I had ran out of time and had to pay another 75 cents. So new plan for the second tire. When the tire is low it highlights it in yellow, so I told Nate to tell me when it turns from yellow to blue, thinking I'm really smart. So after a little while, but not nearly as long as the first time he yells out the window that it's blue. I put the cap on and walked over to put the hose away, as I glanced in the window again. This time it said 56! Augh! Apparently he wasn't watching and didn't really noticed when it changed colors. So again had to let a bunch of air out. Luckily, neither tire blew up in my face and it all ended well. But I learned my lesson =)

Why kids shouldn't watch tv

We really don't let our kids watch much tv. There are a few educational shows we tape for them and there a few movies we let them watch. Well lately Jason has been letting them watch Star Wars, with some censoring of scary parts. So now the kids run around pretending everything is a light saber (is that how you spell that???) Which is fine, they don't hurt each other. But why oh why must they always make Jacob Darth Vader (goodness, is that how you spell that too??) They call him Darth Vader and then run screaming from him. They're going to make him have a complex that everyone should run screaming from him! Hopefully this is just a phaze and they move on to something else soon.

Let's get one of these!

We've had some really annoying car issues lately. Well, really just one issue that has had to be fixed three times. Third time is the charm right? So today is the last day (hopefully) of our car woes. We should have Jason's car back tomorrow morning and be back to a "normal" two car family. Meanwhile, thinking we would have the car back already today, I made a commitment for this morning. Luckily a friend came from out of town for a few days. He went to work with Jason and let me use his car this morning. Of course it has to be a BMW with red leather interior, 6-speed manual. Great car, lots of power...but very nervous to drive when it's not yours! Once I figured out how to start it and put it in reverse, we were on our way. The boys thought it was great everytime I pressed on the gas because the car would take off, especially Sam who would squeal with joy and tell me to go faster. About halfway to our destination Nate says, "You and I really need to get us one of these!" I couldn't help but laugh, he sounded so serious!

Crazy morning

One morning last week started off as a normal morning. We ate breakfast and then I sat and drank my coffee and checked my email while Nate emptied the dishwasher, as usual. Jacob comes running across the living room, trips, falls, and smacks his face right on the wood floor. As he peels himself off the floor, my worst fear when I see a fall like that is confirmed as blood is flowing out of his mouth. I pick him up and try to stop the bleeding and calm him down. It was a lot of blood and I was a little worried it might need stitches (meanwhile I'm home with no car due to some car issues lately) Finally the blood seems to be coming to a stop and I notice the stench coming from his behind. So off we go to change what ended up being a horribly huge poopy diaper. Seriously, it was like a ten-wipes-poop! I'm in the middle of that and I hear a huge crash come from the kitchen and glass shattering. I can't go anywhere since I'm still wiping poop off Jacob. So I yell for Nate not to move. He yells back that he can't figure out how to get around all the glass. I again tell him not to move. I finish up as fast as a I can and go running to the kitchen. On my way I pass the front door and a friend is there knocking on it. She had come by to pick up a box of stuff I was donating to a charity yard sale. I asked her to go around to the other door since she would have to wade through glass to get to the box. I whisk Nate out of the kitchen on my way to the other door and tell the other boys not to move. I load up the box and then come back to deal with the kitchen. One quart size glass bottle produces an incredible amount of glass shards! It took forever to clean up. But seriously, in about 8 months that was the first thing Nate broke while emptying the dishwasher. I think that's pretty good for a 5 year old! But I was sure ready for a nap after all that!

Weee....

The boys like to tell me to get in their airplanes and then they pretend to fly around with me in them. And then I have to get out. Sam comes up to me after he's told me to get in his airplane and flown around for awhile and says "Mom, you're still in my airplane" So I say "Weeee!" And Sam says "You can't say Weee, you're not flying right now." lol, I guess he was right, silly me.

Sam says...

As a preface to this post...a couple weeks ago our oldest dog died....and months ago we found out that we are expecting baby #4 (yeah that's why I haven't thought to post in a while, been busy, and sick)
So Sam walks around saying all the time, with absolute excitment in his voice..."We're getting a new dog AND a new baby!!!!" Such a cutie he is.