Guess Who Rolled Over Today?

Yep, Miss Lillie rolled from belly to back - she surprised even herself...

Attn: Mary Poppins

Here is the picture man again - Avery loves sidewalk chalk. He had gone on a trip with daddy down the road to play in the creek and had to strip down to his diaper when he returned because his clothes were wet and creeky. He refused to come in before he did a little chalk...




















Maybe he will grow up and be like Burt from Mary Poppins - drawing pictures on the sidewalk for passer-byers to enjoy (except I hope he gets paid better). Speaking of Mary Poppins - I am so very envious of those snapping fingers of hers right now. I have so many things I want to accomplish everywhere around me - organize the house, get school for Isaiah planned out, do some more things at work - all of that plus I want plenty of time to waste and goof around (a few of my most famous past times). You know, like she did - visit interesting people, go on day trips, dance with cartoon penguins...Yes, I want the cake and I want to eat it too...as Mary Poppins herself says, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down! So to accomplish all of the things on my list I need those snappin' fingers.

And no, I would not rather have the wiggly nose of Samantha on Bewitched - its just not as becoming and I would not want the nutsy coo coo family that comes with it. So if I could choose a super power it would be the Mary Poppins magic. I would be able to sing and dance and I would always have self-control. But since I don't have the magic, I will just continue to chip away at everything and eventually I might just get it done - maybe the real super power I need to tap into is "time management" - what a yucky term!

So what superhero powers would you want?

Haircut Saturday

Isaiah got a hair cut right before he left on vacation with my parents. I take him to a walk-in type place for his hair cuts because he hates having it done and it always ends in a distressing experience or all out fight if I do it at home. There are times when we can get it done peacefully but I have to catch him at just the right time and in just the right mood. If I take him somewhere he sits still, it's relatively cheap and there is harmony in the home. After he has his hair cut the place always lets him choose a sucker as a treat.

Yesterday Huston needed his hair cut. Huston is a much more patient client so I have always cut his hair at home. When I mentioned it to him yesterday he asked me if he could get a sucker afterwards - I figured that it is only fair since that's what Isaiah gets and I thought about all the easter/halloween (yes, halloween) candy we still have lying around. So I agreed. Huston sat so still and when we were done I gave him a sucker. Avery saw the sucker...

Now Avery has never had a haircut. First of all, unlike his brothers, Avery's hair has taken forever to grow and has come in very thin and wispy. Secondly, I have tried to get him to sit still for a haircut a few times but no go - the boy would have none of it. Suddenly bribery came into play here - I told him that those suckers were haircut suckers and if he wanted one he had to let mommy cut his hair. So he sat in the chair and I went for it - he sat so still the whole time and I was amazed that we were finally able to give him a good hair cut - his first!

Here is the after picture - the freshly shorn brothers. The funny thing is it was not until I looked at this picture that I realized how much these two brothers look alike. I always thought Avery favored Isaiah a little bit more than he did Huston, but now with the same hair I see a strong resemblance! Click here if you want a before picture of Avery...

I Don't Care...

We read this book to Huston and Avery tonight - now Avery keeps saying "I don't care." I guess he didn't quite get the moral of the story :o)

Desperados

Yeh better watch yerself o'er here...we's got the law in town...















I guess you could call Avery the gentleman crook with the clip on tie added to his western wear...

A few moments later, Avery found an ingenious idea on how to hold an apple while eating it...why, you just stick it into a cup of course.

Avery's Art

Have Fun Isaiah!

We said good-bye to Isaiah last night. He started on his first major trip without his us early this morning. He spent the night with Gran and Grandad so they could get going pretty early. Here he is looking big and sitting on his luggage - ready to go (he kind of looks like he's up to no good)...and I guess I was ready to let him go too.


While we were there Huston and Avery helped Gran water her flowers. Huston went first and actually watered the plants...Avery wanted a turn so Huston finally handed over the watering can to Avery, and here is what he did with it - maybe not as effective as Huston's method, but still quite entertaining...Avery said, "oh look, a river!" and at least Gran's sidewalk should grow nicely.







































Inside the boys had a pre-trip wrestling match. This will have to do Isaiah for 10 days now...no daddy wrestles until he returns from his trip - dad still has two boys to throw around...these are my action shots - all blurry to show the constant movement :o)
































Daddy gave Avery a couple of turns "up high" as Avery likes to call it - definitely games that this mommy can't play...















Lillie slept through most of it - she woke up long enough to tell Isaiah goodbye. Huston woke up this morning and said that he missed Isaiah already...tough when your roommate is gone - Avery slept in with Huston last night so he could still have some company. We'll see you soon Isaiah have fun and be good...what?...now what kind of mom would I be if I didn't add that little reminder?

It was a Swimming Saturday

A groovy swimming Saturday - I just thought I should sound surfy...anyway, the pool at Steven's folks has officially been open for a couple of weeks now, but either its been busy, coolish, wet or inconvenient to hit it so far, well not anymore.

The whole family "dove" into it on Saturday and we had fun. Enjoy some pictures...

The "sun" bather - as much as a girl can in the shade and with a big floppy swim hat anyway -


At this point she is thinking what a ridiculous set up, that this swimming idea was for the birds. She really got into this lounging thing and almost went to sleep out there. She was so relaxed.
















I picked her up and started to tell her a good story, I explained that swimming is really a great way to spend an afternoon and that she should try it - I think she came around to my way of thinking.


Here are the swimmers - Isaiah loves the water - he and daddy like to play bumper cars with the floaties, Huston is our more cautious water guy but really has gotten a lot more comfortable in grandma's pool. Avery - well he is our dare devil on land and at sea (he and dad especially make a dynamite pair)...



Don't you love this pic of daddy in the frog floaty? And Avery had to come and give mommy kisses every once in awhile - and no I didn't mind that.















Yep, Lillie enjoyed the water a bit after she got used to the noise and splashing around her (and the temperature) She stayed in for a good 20 minutes or so, and then grandma swept her away to change into some dry clothes and her more stylish sun hat...

We all had a good time, but when the whole family was in there, I realized that it won't be long until we will need a bigger pool!

Hey Moms Of Kids in Diapers...

our pediatrician told me at our well child check for Lillie that Dow Chemical, the folks that make the absorbing agent for all diapers have increased the cost of this necessary diaper ingredient by about 30% - so therefore the increase in costs will be pushed along to the consumer in a couple of weeks to a month. He says it will effect all brands of diapers. I don't know if this is true - I haven't researched it, but when I told my husband he told me to go stock up. He's not the type to usually care, so I thought if he found it "alarming" maybe I should pass the info along to other moms so you could stock up too if need be. Happy shopping.

Oh Tuesday

This coming Tuesday is going to be the beginning of some new adventures. First of all our oldest, Isaiah, will be traveling with my folks to Pennsylvania to attend my cousin's wedding. My dad is a former minister and has preformed many marriage ceremonies on my mom's side of the family. This one is another that he will officiate and they will be gone for 10 days. I have mixed feelings about it of course...I am excited that Isaiah gets to go and know my folks will take good care of him, but I have those mama bird feelings watching my baby bird test his wings and do one more thing independent of me. I know I am supposed to be working myself out of a job - its just kind of hard to go through these little exercises knowing that it is strengthening me for the real thing that will come sooner than I would like.

I also am kind of bummed because selfishly, he is by far my biggest helper. He loves his siblings and does so much for them, which really keeps me for losing my mind some days. But on the other hand, Huston really needs this. Isaiah can bully Huston by trying to parent him and they always seem to think that they need to be doing the same activities at all times, which lately has caused a lot of conflict. Huston really steps up to the plate and becomes a lot more confident when Isaiah is not around - and really he and Avery seem to get along a bit better too. Who really believes in the concept of the three musketeers anyway? (in my opinion its not even that great a candy bar) - I find that three heads are just one too many most times. I am hoping that 10 days without older brother will be enough time to really plant some seeds of independence into my little middle man Huston. Heck, I might even get a little bit more quiet time because often times Huston skips a needed nap because he knows that Isaiah is not sleeping. So there may be opportunities ahead of getting all three children napping at the same time - one can dream...

Tuesday I will also slip over to my parents' emptier house (my grandma will still be there) and will sleep there that night and as late into the morning as I want to. Steven has taken Wednesday off of work so that I can attend a home schooling conference in St. Charles. I go just for the curriculum fair - I don't venture into the break out sessions. So I will have a whole day to think, plan Isaiah's school year (at least sketch it out) and decide what I need from the fair. So a quiet evening, a restful night of sleep, and a day of my own (with shopping no less) awaits me next week. I can't wait.

So this weekend I need to get Isaiah packed, figure out some fun things that I can do with the younger ones while he is gone, and kind of plan out my alone day. It should be fun.

Look Who...

...is 3 months old today!



...lost his second tooth!















Yep, Isaiah lost his bottom front tooth last night. He had to have his top front tooth pulled almost a year ago now because he had bumped it out of place in a fall and it was getting an infection in the empty space in the gum line above the tooth. Confused? Anyway - this was his first natural tooth loss - it got wiggly and I pulled it last night - I didn't know I was going to pull it until I wiggled it and saw how very loose it was! His tooth is in the baggie he is holding and his fist has two quarters stuffed into it - maybe we'll go by Sonic today between 2-4 and put those quarters to good use!

Mess - Everywhere You Look

Remember those messes I was telling you about - welcome to the pit that we are living in.

The living room...

The kids' rooms...

the bathroom....ewww

and even my office at church

But - I am slowly making some progress, all the while wishing I was taking a nap :o) but it does make me feel a bit better to see some rooms looking back to "normal"...
And yes as of right now there are only two rooms that are done - but slow progress is still progress right?

Fun on Saturday

Saturday was BJC day at the Cardinal baseball game in St. Louis. My dad works for a hospital in the BJC system and received 10 free tickets to the game through the generosity of some of the gals he works with in his department. Steven, myself, and our two older boys traveled with my mom and dad to St. Louis, met up with my brother and the three oldest of the four boys he and his wife are fostering and we had a great time in St. Louis.

We rode the metro to get to downtown...Huston is still talking about "that train" - here is a picture of Huston enjoying his ride and Isaiah with one of his cousins - they liked the tunnels.














Once we got downtown we walked to the first event - a company picnic - free food and tons of blow up games. Enjoying some lunch - hot dogs and chips...


Isaiah has become a lot braver than he used to be - he had no problem doing the obstacle course game and Huston did it too up until he hit the climbing wall - then he bailed. His cousin Zack did it with a little help from the man upstairs :-)

We stood in line for a few more games...


Next we walked to the ballpark -


it was a beautiful day for baseball and our seats were in the shade. I had all of my baseball essentials - a score card, a Coke, some nachos and peanuts - life was good. Before we started having kids we went to ballgames all the time - I love baseball, but really when they are younger it is more of a hassle to go than its worth in my opinion (not to mention its quite expensive). But some of our kids are getting older now and they really enjoyed themselves - our tickets weren't all together - so we were split up 5 and 5 but we still had fun.

Huston got a little tired but he really sat pretty good - he and daddy explored the ballpark quite a bit - it was our first time at the new stadium.

The Cardinals won 3-2, Isaiah says he likes the Cardinals now (his Papa has been influencing him to be a Royals fan, but really there is no comparison - one plays baseball the other doesn't) and he learned a little bit about keeping score. We rode the train back to our vans, stopped off at Uncle Jason's house and said goodbye to our cousins, ate at Lion's Choice - an establishment we greatly miss (10 cent ice creams for goodness sakes!) and we went home after a long day of fun. (sorry, this is not a good picture of them - I took it from our van)


Thanks to grandma Gloria and Aunt Carol for watching our littlest ones, and thanks to the gals grandad works with who gave us the tickets. It was so much fun to see a game once again!