Justin Pictures

These are some pictures of Justin from the last couple of weeks.....

Justin and Sara Kate at their field trip to the Max and Ruby play.

The mighty hunters are ready to go (at 6:00 a.m.!!!!!).

Justin is checking out the scenery and watching the turkeys.

Ready just in case Daddy sees something!

Randomness

I have been working at trying to record some of the cute stuff the boys have said in the last couple of days.  Aaron, in particular, has kept us rolling with some of his stories.  I'm sure I will be posting more of these cute stories and pronunciations in the next few weeks....

Zachary-isms:

tench ta pur: temperature

ter moniter: thermometer

bungled: bundled as in "I'm all bungled up in my blankets!"

Justin:

Justin is just being his cute self as usual.  He is really enjoying playing board games, and he and Drew played six or seven games of Chutes and Ladders earlier today.  It was so funny - when he had to go down the slide, he would put his hand over the bottom of the slide so Drew couldn't slide his piece to the bottom.  Then he would laugh hysterically.  It was so fun to watch.  :)

Justin also went on his first hunting trip with Daddy on Saturday.  They didn't see anything, but they had a great time.  Drew said Justin spent the entire time chattering about things in the woods, hunting, and all kinds of stuff.  While they didn't see any deer, they did listen to and watch a flock of wild turkeys for about an hour.  According to Justin, a turkey says "goggle, goggle!" 

Aaron:

Monday, Aaron was playing with an empty rubbermaid crate in the living room.  You know, the long, shallow under-the-bed kind.  It usually holds the kids' Thomas the Tank collection, but that was all over the living room floor, so the box was empty.  He was crawling with the box upside down hooked over the heels of his feet so it was dragging behind him.  As I was cleaning, I tuned in to his somewhat constant chatter and heard the following.

"I crawling on the floor with the box, mommy!" {Insert distressed sounding voice}  "Mommy, the box is following me behind my back!!!!"

Tuesday, on our way home from Zachary's open house, Aaron was in his car seat playing with a Little People car and a Little People girl.  The girl was contendedly getting in and out of the car and driving around Aaron's car seat.  Then, I hear a small "Uh oh" from the back seat.  The conversation proceeded as follows: {caution:  the following excerpt contains potty-training talk - not for the faint of heart}

Me:  "Um....uh oh what, Aaron?"

Aaron:  "Sher (Aaron's word for she/her) has stinky feet."

Me:  "Okaaayyy...why does she have stinky feet?"

Aaron:  "Because sher has stinky pants.  Ewww..sher has stinkys in there." (Looking at the bottom of the Little People girl)

Me:  "Does she need her pants changed?"

Aaron:  "It won't come out."

Me:  "What won't come out?"

Aaron - very matter of fact: "The stinkys won't come out of her."

Me: (thinking "what in the world do I say in response to that????)

Aaron - very vigorously shaking the Little People girl up and down:  "Mommy!!!! It's coming out!"

Me: "Um....what's out?" (cringing)

Aaron:  "The stinkys all comed out.  Whew!  Sher is all clean now, Mommy."

Where do they come up with this stuff??? :)

Sara Cake: Sara Kate (Justin's best friend)

Fwumbers: Slumbers (Aaron's stuffed bear)

ars cream:  ice cream

fwippers: slippers as in "I have my fwippers on my feet!"

Hope you enjoyed the funnies!! :)

AWOL

I am just writing to let you know that I really have not gone AWOL!  This has been such a busy week, and it is only Tuesday!!

Zachary's class had their open house today (where all the parents could come to school for the day and "shadow" their student.).  It was  a very busy day, but we enjoyed it.  Zachary, of course, loved showing off his classroom and what he does.  I will do my best to post some pictures in the next day or two.

Caleb is fighting another runny/stuffy nose, but I think it is directly related to teething.  His bottom right tooth is on the verge of coming through, although he will be a day or so late in tradition!  He is officially 6 months old (as of 6:28 pm today), so his first tooth will come at 6 months, not at 5 months like his three brothers.  He's showing us all that he will be a different person than his brothers! :)

Justin is counting down the days (and would be counting hours if he knew how!) until his first field trip EVER on Friday.  He is so excited!  He had a great day at school today - music class and chapel in one day.  In music class, they have started practicing their songs for the Christmas program already.  He said that Mrs. Riley told them they had to practice now so they could sing them by Christmas! :)

Aaron is being silly Aaron.  He had lots of fun this morning at Zac's Open House.   He made friends with several of the moms from the class, and he was a very good helper when we set up the refreshments and cleaned up at the end of the day.

I'm falling asleep at the computer, so I'm taking that as a sign that I should go to bed.  Pictures will be coming in the next couple of days.....

Nancy

Not Me! Monday

Well, I thought I was doing pretty well this week as far as "not" doing anything to crazy - until....

I did not lock my keys in my van while grocery shopping Saturday morning!  It only took about 20 minutes for my husband (and 3 kids!) came to bail me out! :)

I did not make four DOZEN sheep cookies (!) for Zachary's class on Sunday afternoon.  Bleat, bleat, bleat......

I currently do not have more laundry than couch space in my living room right this very minute.....

And, I am not sitting on the small space of couch left blogging while ignoring said laundry! :)

Y'all have a great week!

By the way, you can check MckMama's website here for more Not me! Mondays.

Tagged!

I was tagged by Brittany!

“7 Things About Me” … i.e. blogging about 7 things you may not know about me.

The rules:
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write 7 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post.
4. Pass on the tag.

1.  I have moved 10 times and lived in 4 states - IN, TN, GA, and SC.

2.  When I was younger, I used to tell people that I wanted 12 children.  Still sounds kind of fun! :)

3.  I have more projects on my to-do list than I will have time for in the next five years!

4.  I love to sew, crochet, cross-stitch and scrapbook when I have the time (which is not very often!).

5.  I rarely paint my toenails....my husband thinks it's disgusting! :)

6.  My favorite author is Karen Kingsbury, followed closely by Beverly Lewis.

7.  I absolutely LOVE fall....which means Christmas is right around the corner!

Now, I tag anyone else who wants to play....just post a link in the comments to your blog, and I'll read your list!

Nancy

Not Me! Monday

Yippee!!  It's time for Not Me! Monday again!  As always, you can read the original Not Me! Monday post on MckMama's website here.

I did not vacuum the house for twenty minutes in hopes that Caleb would finally give in and go to sleep without his pacifier.  It didn't work, but at least my house got vacuumed! :)

I most certainly did not wait until my MSC (Many Small Children) were safely sleeping in their beds to sneak over to my neighbor's house while she was out to dinner to see what kind of landscaping she has paid to put in on the opposite side of her house.  And, while I was sneaking through her backyard with just a keychain flashlight, her motion sensor lights absolutely did not come on lighting up her backyard for the rest of the neighborhood to see!  And knowing said lights came on (obviously!), I did not keep on sneaking around to the other side of the house to look at her landscaping!  I mean, if I did things like that, which obviously I *don't*, what kind of neighbor would I be??? ;)

I did not lose Caleb under a pile of clean laundry in my living room when he rolled over into the laundry basket and pulled clothes down!  No way!!  Who has that much clean laundry piled up and not folded???

Glad not much happened at my house this week!  Y'all have a good week!

Nancy

Saturday of Fun!

Well, we definitely had some fun today!  The kids were up playing this morning before we left to go to Sky Top Orchards to pick some more yummy apples.  They have fun playing with their GeoTrax.

While his brothers were busy playing, Caleb was on the floor being absolutely cuter than any baby should be.  These are a couple of the cutest pictures.  Look at how cute he is!!!!

No pictures, please.  :)

After a fun, but chilly morning and picnic lunch at Sky Top, we came home with loads of apples!  We picked Granny Smith, MacIntosh and my personal favorite, Cameo!!  After we got home, Drew left with Derek to hunt for the afternoon (They saw a small buck, but they're going to let him get bigger for next year! :)  So, while the cat's away, the mice will play!

First, we made pizza for supper.  The kids had a great time putting sauce, ham and cheese on the pizza.  It was yummy!

Then, we cut open some of our Granny Smith apples to see the star inside.  After we took the seeds out (The kids want to plant them.), I cored the apple halves and filled them with peanut butter.  Yummy dessert!!!

So after pizza and apples, we decided to cut open our pumpkin so I could cook it.  Zachary decided that he wasn't having anything to do with the slimy pumpkin at first.  By the end, he was scooping seeds out with a spoon.  The pumpkin is cooked, the seeds are washed, and in the next couple of days hopefully we will get them roasted.

Zachary's comment was something like "Ewwww!  That's really gross!!!"

So, all in all, the kids had a really great day.  Aaron told us "Thank you for going to the apple store to play" about half a dozen times today.  Everyone is sleeping soundly and we're hoping for a good night.

Nancy

More pics!

To appease Papa (and return myself back to good standing :) I am posting a few more pictures of what the boys have been up to lately.

Aaron has been a lot of fun the last couple of days (okay, even more fun than his usual fun little self!).  I absolutely love when he is talking to or about Zachary and Justin.  He runs their names together like they are one person.  His favorites are: "Zacdustin" at school."  or "Dustinzac play in sandbox with me."  He also loves to sit on Daddy's lap after he finishes eating his meals.  His question is usually something like "I sit your wap, Daddy?"  Then, once he is seated on Drew's left knee, the statement that follows is "Daddy, I sit your udder wap."  He likes to sit on Drew's right knee so he's closer to me.  :)  He's such a sweet boy!

Caleb is continuing to eat more and more foods.  He loves peas, applesauce, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes and has had some cheerios broken in half and some pieces of bread.  He is not at all content to sit in his high chair and watch the rest of us eat anymore. :)

Field Trip Pictures

Megan, Cade, Catherine and Zachary!

Zachary is milking a "cow!"

Zachary is actually feeding a goat!

Zachary's class at the fire station.

Catherine and Zachary

Zachary

Zachary has had a lot happen in the last couple of weeks, so I'll fill you in a little.

First, he lost his 6th tooth (the second one on top).  He was brushing his teeth and literally brushed his tooth loose.  How's that for easy?  It didn't bleed much at all, for which I am VERY thankful!  He still tends to freak out at the sight of blood, most especially his!

Then, he turned in his first project for first grade.  He chose to do a report on zebras. Do you know that baby zebras are born with brown stripes?

On Friday last week, Zachary (and I!) went on a field trip.  The absolute highlight of his field trip was getting to ride in a school bus!  Having been transported by "Mom's taxi" to school and back for all of his short little school life, a bus was a BIG deal!  And to top it off, his favorite P.E. teacher was the bus driver.  He will not have her until 3rd grade, but he loves Ms. Johnson already!  We first went to a farm and had a non-hay ride (a ride in a wagon with no hay), then fed goats and the kids played some games.  We were also treated to some ice cream! :)  Then we all piled back into the buses and went to a fire station where we had a scavenger hunt.  That was pretty fun!  From there, we went across the street to a small park to play on the playground and have lunch.  Then it was back to school and home.   I had Zachary and three of his friends in my group - Megan, Cade and Catherine.  There is a limit of how many pictures I can upload to one post, so I will be posting the field trip pictures separately.

So that's what Zachary has been up to lately!  If I can get him to cooperate, I'll try to take a small movie of him reading a book this weekend.  He's getting to be a great reader, and the best part is that he LOVES reading!!

Nancy

Just a little fun...

These are some pictures we took Tuesday afternoon after the kids got home from school.  We had a lot of fun playing on the swings.

By the way, it seems that Caleb is coming down with a cold again.  :(  He is stuffy with a bit of a runny nose, and a little more fussy than usual.  But he had mashed potatoes and applesauce for supper tonight and loved it!  :)

Cold Turkey Part 2

Well, Day 2 was SO much better than Day 1!!  Caleb only fussed for a few minutes before supper was ready tonight (when normally he would have happily sucked on a pacifier till his supper was ready).  He went to sleep for both of his naps and bedtime with little more than a whimper!

It's late; I'm tired and going to bed.  I just wanted to let you know how today went.  I will be posting some really cute pictures from playing outside tonight when I am not so tired.  Hopefully tomorrow.

Nancy

Cold Turkey Update

Well, tonight was the test, and it was a loooonnng hour!  Caleb went to bed (the first time) around 6:45.  At about 7:00, I went up to get him and calmed him down (the first time).  After another ten minutes of crying, I went in and calmed him down again.  Then I decided to vacuum the house hoping the background noise of the vacuum would help Caleb go to sleep.  Nope!  When I stopped, he was still protesting loudly.  I went to get him and rocked him for a little while, but every time I tried to get him into bed, he screamed.  It was close to 7:45 by the time I finally laid a very drowsy and almost asleep Caleb in his bed and haven't heard from him since.  Whew!! Hope we don't have too many more nights like that!

Nancy

Life.

Just to catch you up on things today.....

Zachary had a really good day at school.  He was very excited that he completed all of his work ON TIME!  He also came up with some really interesting mathematical terminology.  For example, do you know that Walmart has a "katrillion" shoes for sale?  By the way, a katrillion is all the way from the floor to heaven.  And, furthermore, a "kabillion" is more than a katrillion.  A kabillion is all the way from heaven down past the floor into the ground.  How on earth do they come up with this stuff???

Justin had a GREAT 5-year old check up at the doctor's.  For the first time EVER in his little life, he now weighs more than 30 pounds!!!!  We were so excited that he is finally on the growth charts!  He is now in the 2nd percentile for both height and weight!  After 4 years of not being on the charts at all, we are thrilled for small accomplishments.  He officially is 39 and 3/4 inches tall and 32.4 pounds.  He still wasn't speaking to Nurse Cindy when we left (after his finger prick), but all will be forgotten by the next time we see her.

Aaron is still.....Aaron.  Funny, frustrating, cute, tormenting, adorable and aghhhhhhhh!!  all in one little boy!  He LOVES when he is the only "big" boy at home and he can play with Mommy and read books without bigger brothers interrupting.  According to Aaron, the monkeys still live on the moon and party each night when the sun goes down.  "Listen!  I "seerous" (serious)!" is a phrase we hear often throughout the day, usually with his hands turned up and forcefully shaking for emphasis.  Today, "Fwumbers" (slumbers the bear) was "hiding" and Aaron had to find him.  It was so cute to see Aaron "looking" everywhere except where he knew Slumbers was.

Caleb is going COLD TURKEY!!!  Our goal was to lose the pacifier by the time Caleb was 6 months old.  Not having had a pacifier baby before, we are in uncharted territory, but nevertheless, we are working on it.  So far, today is Day One....we'll see how tonight goes.  He really only uses it to calm himself down and most of the time spits it back out before he falls asleep.  He has taken two naps today without it - one screaming at the top of his lungs and the second was very peaceful (he was also VERY tired by the 2nd nap!).

Drew is out looking at a couple of jobs this afternoon and probably will not be back before the kids are in bed.  So, Mommy is pulling double duty tonight!  Maybe I can get caught up on some more ironing before Drew gets home.  :)

Nancy

Not Me!

Okay, so it's Monday again, and time for the world at large to know everything that I didn't do this week!  Also, if you want to read more Not Me!'s, feel free to check out MckMama's blog here.

I did not splurge and have ice cream on Thursday night with Drew because I knew that I would not be nursing for several hours while on Zachary's field trip Friday.  Nope, not me!  Thankfully, Caleb does fine with a bottle!  

And I did not let Aaron run around the house in only his underwear on Thursday afternoon because he came in the house covered with sand from the sandbox and I stripped his clothes off.  And the reason he was just in underwear?  It was so much easier than getting yet another outfit for him to wear for a couple of hours till he took a shower!

Furthermore, I did not bribe Justin with a hash brown and chocolate milk (his favorite McBreakfast) so that he would let the nurse prick his finger and draw blood at his check-up this morning.  Who in the world would do something like that????

And, I most certainly am not going to have to quickly make up for lost time in my house cleaning today because I've been blogging about Not Me Monday!  Nope, I would never do something like that!

Nancy

Charities

Squidoo (an online group that raises tons of money for charities) is giving away $80,000 to selected charities from now until October 15.   There are no catches, and no gimmicks - all you have to do is CLICK HERE to visit their website and vote ($2 per vote) for the charity of your choice (from their list of about 50).

There are several good charities (and some off the wall!) to choose from, but the one that got my vote was March of Dimes.  They provide funding for research to reduce and prevent premature births, and they provide support for families with preemies.  Because of pregnancy complications, we have come close to having two preemies (okay, so Aaron technically was a preemie - by 1 day!), and we have several friends whose babies were very premature.

Each vote gets $2, and you can only vote once (more than that and they will delete your vote(s).  Remember, voting ends October 15!  So, whether you vote for March of Dimes, or something else, support a worthwhile charity.  

Nancy

Eggs according to Aaron.....

As I was putting Aaron to bed tonight, we were cuddling for a few minutes, and for some reason, he had his mind on eggs.  The conversation went something like this:

Aaron: I like eggs.  (Side note, I have not seen him ever willingly eat eggs!)

Me: Really?  Why do you like eggs?

Aaron:  When you bang two eggs they break.

Me:  Yes, they do break.

Aaron:  And then you have to sqeeze them out.

Me:  What do you do when you sqeeze them out?

Aaron:  You mix them up in my birthday cake and eat it! (laughing)  But it's Christmas first and then my birthday cake.

Nancy