AdventuresX4

Painful Blood and Last Names

2009-04-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

so, I'm TERRIBLE about keeping this blog up to date. In general our life is just crazy and I don't always have the time to put two thoughts together. But, I have a strange but funny tale to tell.

Natalie is a touch on the dramatic side. We've been struggling with lots of tantrums, throwing herself on the ground and crying, mean words. It's a joy. Recently she was upset during dinner. I don't know what the exact problem was, probably that we wanted her to actually eat her dinner (aren't we mean parents?? ) So she's laying on the ground whining and crying. I ask what the problem is and she says her BLOOD is hurting. It's moving through her body and it hurts!! I suspect there might have been talk of blood moving through our bodies at preschool as they talked about x-rays, but other than that it was a strange strange comment from a little girl!

Thankfully her tantrums are lessening, with the help of a reward chart and the promise of underwear for Sweetbear, the bear she made at Build-A-Bear at a recent birthday party. This weekend we'll go pick out some little bear undies for 2 weeks of no tantrums at bed!

Lastly a sweet story about the little miss. She is constantly drawing, coloring, painting, creating. It's wonderful and we encourage it. One night I was picking up some of the clippings and remnants of her latest creative endeavor and found a napkin which she was practicing writing her LAST name. It was awfully sweet because she dropped a vowel towards the end of our name and made an A into an E.....Of course my husband talked to her about the correct spelling this morning. But none-the-less it was sweet seeing her attempt!

Spider Spray

2009-03-03T18:19:00.001-08:00

I don't mind spiders. Granted, I will ask my husband to kill them if he's around, rather than deal with it myself. I do get a little case of the hee-bee gee-bees when thinking about perhaps that squished spider may not be quite dead. But it's never something I really 'advertise' around the kids.

None the less, Natalie is terrified of spiders. She has called us into her room at nighttime to check for spiders on the walls (we've never found any) She has had the unfortunate event of finding one in her show (poor thing) She has even come running in from outside because she saw a spider in the yard.

Tonight she took a bath and called me in from the other room. She said, I'm scared to be in her because of the spiders. Did you see a spider I asked? No, she replied. I'm just remembering a time when I did see one in here. I'm really worried about it. I couldn't help but smile at her. Maybe because she hasn't been feeling well, or maybe because she was looking so sweet, I had to indulge her just a touch.

So, I got the 'spider spray' out (just a little body spray) and sprayed a little around the room and a touch on her arm and all is well again.

Catching Up

2009-02-23T19:13:00.000-08:00

So, I've sort of 'forgotten' about blogging. Not really completely forgotten, but pushed to the side. Here's a quick update of everyone in the fam....

Brett turned 9 on the 13th. He had a football themed party and had 8 of his best buddies over to celebrate. They had so much fun playing football at the park near our house. I got such a kick out of this group of boys. They act all rough and tough, but as soon as you mention the color pink, or Barbies, they all start laughing and making funny noises at each other.
Ben has resumed his karate lessons and is having a great time. He keeps mentioning playing football in the fall. I've told him he won't be able to do football and karate at the same time. He ponders this for a bit and has said, I think I'll do karate until I get my black belt and then I'll play football! I'll have to make sure to send the camera to his next lesson so we can get some good karate shots of him.

Natalie has Kindergarten Round Up this week. It's a chance for her to see her kindergarten classroom and teacher for next fall as well as get signed up. I'm sort of sad about this. My little girl is getting so big!! I know she'll love every second and I'm actually pretty anxious for her to meet some little girls her age.

Jacob is as always sweet trouble. His newest 'trick' is to tap his cheek and/or chin with his finger and say 'I'm thinking....." of course, his thoughts are pretty funny and range from ideas to transport a cake in the car to whether he's going to take a bath with his sister. I'd love to get a video of him 'thinking' but once the camera is out he gets even sillier!

I have stumbled upon a couple new hobbies. First I taught myself how to knit. I needed a 'portable' hobby and decided knitting was it. After reading many websites, I bought a set of needles and some yarn and went to it. Thus far I have made a washcloth and a bag. I've partially completed a pair of baby booties (for one of my 4 prego friends)

My second hobby, is cake decorating. I have always enjoyed making cakes for my children's birthdays and try to make them as fun as possible. I've made firetrucks, army tanks, pirate ships and princesses. Recently a friend asked if I would make a guitar cake for her son's birthday. I jumped at the chance and decided push the envelope and use fondant (a crazy paste-like frosting that is much smoother than typical frosting) It was a complete blast to do and I'm now looking into taking a class to further my skills.

oh my!

2009-02-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I last posted an update of any sort. Obviously we've been busy, but honestly I'm not quite sure doing what! Sometimes a busy household is led by a forgetful mom!

Our big event was the 9th birthday of our oldest. Our sweet baby boy is turning into a handsome young man! We've had a busy weekend of celebration and activities that aren't over yet. I'll post pictures soon!!

I don't even know what to say

2009-01-30T14:45:00.000-08:00

I was in the other room and my husband came in giggling and holding the camera. I have no idea how these pictures occurred, which is probably good.

Big Sister

2009-01-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight Brett took the older two boys to Ben's Karate lesson. Jake also asked to go with but Brett said that it was up to Ben because it was Ben's lesson. Ben's been sort of in a mood lately and told Jake he couldn't go. Poor thing was heartbroken. When the boys left he was sobbing, hiccuping sobbing in his room.

Natalie said to me, "We could give him some candy and make him happy" I told her we could and to wait until the boys were completely gone before mentioning it to Jake. Jake came out of his room and stood by Natalie as Brett drove away. She put her arm around him and said "Are you okay Jakey? Do you want some candy? When the boys leave we can have some candy" Of course this was all said in her "mommy" voice, that sweet nurturing voice she uses with her babies.

Even though Nat and Jake are only a few pounds different in weight, and a few inches in height, she still pulled him onto her lap and held him while their brothers left. Then they went and picked out a piece of candy and pulled out some board games to play.

I watched in complete awe of how my sweet baby girl took such good care of her little brother. And to think, it was only earlier that afternoon that she was telling me how much he bugs her!!

Mad Libs

2009-01-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

Let me first preface this by saying that raising boys is a whole new world to me. I grew up with a sister and girls are MUCH different than boys. I'm slowly getting used to the world of farts, burps and 'boy talk' My older boys (aged almost 9 and 7 1/2) get National Geographic Kids magazine each month. In this issue was a Funny Fill-In (aka Mad Libs) This takes boy talk to a whole new level.

Below is the story that threw my boys into fits of laughter. When I say my boys, I am including my oldest child aka my husband.

I tried ice-skating for the first time today and I guess you could say I have beginner's luck. I picked out the stupidest black skates and laced them up in poopy knots. Nosily I stepped out onto the creepy ice. I farted off the wall and into the middle of the rink. So far, so good. Then, out of nowhere, a group of stinky athletes pooped by me at about septimillion miles an hour. Somehow I had skated into the middle of an fooseball ice game! The next thing I knew, I was farting all over the ice. As I attempted to barf around the players, I saw a baseball bat coming straight toward me. Before I could move out of the way, it hit my weinie and burped off my boob. I tried to stay on my feet, but began peeing around and around. Instead of creating a figure eight, I was making a figure (100). When I finally came to a stop, a loud buzzer sounded and the players yelled, "Hot Momma!" That's when I discovered I had accidentally scored a goal and won the game!

M.I.T.

2009-01-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

We refer to our 5-year old daughter as M.I.T. (mom in training) She is constantly mothering her brothers, often times with an arm around her 3-year old brother guiding him through some sort of obstacle. She'll carry her 'babies' around with her and shush, snuggle and love them. It's very sweet and such a good example of her girl instincts.

Tonight at dinner, little miss MIT reminded me to ask everyone about their day. So, I started with her and asked "How was your day Natalie? What was your favorite part?" We go around to each person and share our day. As usual, the answers got long and goofy. I would wait for the stories to end before I move onto the next person. Soon, Natalie took over the question asking and I reminder her that it was MY job! She giggled and stopped. After one of the boys finished, I obviously didn't move to the next person fast enough. She quickly prompted "Mom! Ask the questions!"

My Sweet Boy

2009-01-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

My oldest son is nearly 9. So close to 9 that it almost makes more sense to refer to him as my 9 year old than my 8 and 3/4 son! He is tender-hearted and takes the responsibility of being oldest very seriously. He is also very adventurous and is able to tackle any new opportunity without fear or hesitation. (something I admire greatly)

I just returned from a 2-night stay in Washington with a dear friend. I left on Thursday and returned Saturday morning. Friday night, as my friend and I were on our way to dinner, my cell phone rang. It was my husband, asking me to speak with our oldest as he was missing me and was pretty upset. He then turned the phone over to B.

My sweet boy was crying to the point of hiccuping. He said to me: I miss you! I assured him that I missed him too and that I would see him the next day. I asked what made him miss me so much. He said, We're having Mac and Cheese!!

Apparently my husband decided that it was a good night to pull out the homemade mac and cheese that I pre-made and froze a few weeks ago. This is a favorite in our house and B's absolute favorite (it's his birthday meal of choice) When he sees me making it, I can count on a 'Sweet' from him and a little dance of joy. Sometimes I make it just to cheer him up. I usually make a double batch and stretch it for a meal and leftovers.

My sweet sweet boy missed his momma because he was having mac and cheese that I made! I love that boy!!

Picture

2008-12-28T19:38:00.001-08:00

Natalie and Josey got coordinating outfits from Nana and Papa. They were so cute (and hard to tell apart) I took a sweet picture of them together. It's fun having the girls so close in age, especially being that neither have a sister. While it's fun having boys, I think Heather and I often mourn the fact that our girls won't have the same sister relationship that she and I share.

Jacob gets a little jealous when Josey and Natalie play together (or when Natalie plays with anyone who isn't him) He was pretty upset when I wanted a picture of the girls together. He decided he needed a picture taken with Daddy. But first, we had to have a picture with him making a funny face.

Then he had to put his gloves back on for the next picture. I'm not sure WHY he was wearing gloves in the house, but I've learned sometimes it's best not to ask. He was pretty upset with me for taking this picture. I'm not ready Mom!!

For this final picture he stood in front of Daddy and I don't think his Dad minded one bit. Brett does NOT like having his picture taken. If you look close, you can see Josey peeking out from behind these handsome boys...and Natalie's head is right behind Jacob's. The girls didn't want to be left out either!

Family, Friends and Good Meals

2008-12-28T19:18:00.000-08:00

This year we had quite a lot of snow during the Christmas holiday. My poor parents were without power for 4 days (and 16 hours according to my mom) Thankfully during the evening of Christmas their power was restored. In part because of the lack of power at my parents and part because of the snow, my sister and her children didn't make it up to us for Christmas until the day after.

So, on Friday afternoon, the six of us piled into the truck, which has 6 seatbelts, but proved to be a VERY squishy ride. On the ride to my parents house, my oldest remarked 'I wonder what kind of presents we're going to get' In motherly fashion, I pointed out that Christmas isn't about presents but about many other more important things. I asked him to name 3 things besides presents that were important about Christmas. He responded with Family, Friends and Good Meals. Sounded like a good answer to me!! At 9 he is constantly eating and gets really excited around holidays because of the meals.

Papa carves the turkey with his ELECTRIC knife. We tease my dad every time he uses this knife. My parents think they got it as a wedding gift (40 years ago in July)

Nana prepared the meal while the kids were playing in the snow. I think she was just happy to have the lights on while she cooked!

Here are 6 sweet children lined up waiting to open presents. Miracle of miracles we actually got them to all sit still and look in the same general direction!
Left to right: Ben, Orion, Natalie, Josey, Jacob, Brett

Appropriate

2008-12-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

Lately Natalie and I have been having chats about things that are appropriate and inappropriate. It all started when we saw a commercial for Bratz. I just don't feel like these are appropriate toys for a child her age and I have told her that.

Now each time we see a Bratz commercial she says "Bratz aren't appropriate are they Mommy?" The best part is how she says appropriate....po-pree-ate. We have also determined that the cartoon Chowder is inappropriate. But BARBIE is appropriate.

Brett, my almost 9 year old, asked why Barbie was appropriate but Bratz weren't. 'They are practially the same thing" he argued. Sadly I couldn't come up with a real answer! Something about Barbie is just classier than Bratz. I guess if you really got down to it, both Bratz and Barbie could damage a girl's self image, but I had Barbie and I never expected to have a tiny waist and hourglass figure. To me, Barbie is just FUN!

Regardless, Natalie got her first Barbie for Christmas this year!

Jake's Jammies

2008-12-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

Last night, we were sitting on the couch watching a movie. Soon Jake comes out talking about his jammies. It took us a few minutes to figure out what he was saying. He needed help getting his shirt on, on top of the red footed jammies we put in him before bed, on top of the OTHER jammie shirt he had put on on top of the original jammes My silly boy was wearing 3 pairs of jammies!

He could hardly put his arms down. It was so funny I had to hide my face so he wouldn't see how hard I was laughing! Eventually he got everything on and he headed to bed. I honestly don't know what goes on in his little head, but he usually has a plan of some sort.

My First Blog

2008-12-22T08:38:00.000-08:00

So here is my first blog. I've debated blogging for a little while. I'm the mom of 4 kids and as you can imagine, we have some pretty crazy adventures around here.

My oldest son will be 9 in February. He's pretty high energy, and like his Dad, he needs to be entertained constantly. My 2nd son is 7 1/2. He's calmer for the most part but can be pretty goofy too. My daughter is 5. We call her M.I.T -Mom-in-Training. She's very nurturing, very bossy, very sweet. My youngest son is 3. He is trouble! Sometimes my husband and I just shake our heads at him. Other times we are trying to hide our laughter and put on a stern Mommy face.

I guess we'll just have to see where this blog leads us.