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!