This was only his first shirt.....

Timothy changed his shirt again and then finally gave up and just abandoned the whole shirt idea completely then......

Morning at the playground

The little monkeys had a ball......it's great to stop there after school starts, we had the place to ourselves again.

Then a little break for some watermellon and to watch a little dog go down the slides(I'd never seen that before!). Then some swinging and more running around and crawling.....great use of their energy. It didn't stop them from creating havoc in my house when we came home, but it felt good to provide them with sunshine and fresh air(sort of) and excersize. A very nice morning.

that's definitely my kid

Leanna accidentally touched a bug yesterday and was so grossed out that she fashioned this cover for the finger that touched it. She wore it for an hour or two after washing her hands.

(lack of) Camera skills

Did you ever try holding the camera at arm's length and taking a picture of yourself and someone else? It's not as easy to get a good picture as you'd think. Apparently I do not have Jamie's skills with a camera, or else she's just really photogenic. Or both. She posted some pics of her and her son on her blog a bit ago, I'd link but her blog's private.
So I tried it yesterday with the kids. Let's just say you don't need to see the results.
Also, I learned some scary lessons about me and genetics. But the kids really liked seeing a picture of me with each of them, separately. So I kept the pictures, though it pains me. : )

Yay me!

Guess what I'll be ordering after income tax returns (and after bills are paid, of course!)?
It's worth it especially now that the weather is so much nicer.....I'm out everyday with the stroller and not just to school-there's also grocery shopping, the parks, walks, appointments of all sorts........the more walking I do the better it will be for me. Within the past week two of my kids have asked me if I have a baby in my belly again. For the record I do not. Justin asked if I had four in there, and then happily speculated that then we would need four bassinettes! (We could use them to store Mommy's lost marbles then!!)

I think I'll look around some more to see if I can find it at a better price(but not a cheap version that will break). Hopefully this exists!!

A note for me, not for you: Also check out prices for similar covers.

My type of humor

I love this post. I love fisher price little people-both the old fashioned-OMGtheycouldchokeachild! kind and the modern ones. (Really, ask my Mom about show and tell) I love that this woman made up a story around a scene she found and posted it. I've made up little stories in my head before, but never thought to share them with you, LOL. Maybe I should??

Brothers, laughing and playing

Justin found a new way to make the baby laugh, and Timothy is quick to immitate. Even though they do fight, they really are very very close.

free paint samples-free of chemicals

The Freshaire Choice Paint is the first ever and only tinted paint to contain no VOCs, harsh chemicals that make paint smell like paint. Go to the linked page, choose your samples and call the toll free number.

Natural Beauty

Nothing is more humbling than to look with a strong magnifying glass at aninsect so tiny that the naked eye sees only the barest speck and todiscover that nevertheless it is sculpted and articulated and striped withthe same care and imagination as a zebra. Apparently it does not occur tonature whether or not a creature is within our range of vision, and thesuspicion arises that even the zebra was not designed for our benefit.-Rudolf Arnheim, psychologist and author (1904-2007)

Relief

Just wanted to note this while I remember.......
Tom's been going to bed early all week because he has to get up at 4:30 this week ( I know! That should be illegal!) And so as I do my cleanup I get to pick the channel on tv, and tonight I was lucky enough to find one of my favorite shows-John and Kate Plus Eight. I find it inspirational.
Anyway, they were talking about taking their kids to a furniture store to pick out beds for the younger set of multiples and how they had to be sturdy pieces of furniture. They mentioned that their older two girls had never broken or destroyed anything, but the younger ones just do it all the time. (An excitement bell went off in my head! You mean someone else besides me deals with this!!) And then they said it probably wouldn't happen with anyone individually, but all together they are a force that takes it's toll on things. And that accurately describes my kids as well......really it was nice to see that my kids aren't the only ones who like to get into EVERYTHING when they go out as well. I know so well the look of frustration on the Dad's face as he tries to manage all the kids in the store. Sometimes I feel like I am doing the worst job on the plannet as a parent, so it's nice to see that even parents who have their act together deal with that stuff sometimes too.

McDonalds was not this exciting when I worked there

Sure, we occasionally had people go through the drive thru in their pjs, or once in nothing at all, and you deal with your occasional run of the mill weirdos........

things are looking up

I think it's a better day today-although we were running later and Justin complained about walking the whole way to school. Then at Justin's request, we walked to the store again. He wantedfood to eat, specifically macky-Roni! It was nice though because I managed to distract him by talking about how all this walking would help build his muscles and that someday he'd have bigger faster muscles than me or his Daddy. He got a big kick out of that thought and then spent the rest of the way there telling me his muscles were growing already and that he was faster than me! So I kept calling him a stinker and he was laughing and forgot to be too tired to walk.

Then we stopped to watch a digger (like above). He and Timothy were fascinated. He's seen them in books, but never in person. I've explained what the trucks do but it's completely different to see it in action. They didn't want to leave!

Jacob and food

Jacob likes bannas, apples, and sweet potatoes (somewhat). He did not care for sweet peas, or avacado, really though he was starting to tolerate both more by the time we were finishing the supply. We'll be trying green beans next.

The apples and bannanas were homemade baby food, but then I was out of organic stuff to make. Homemade is cheaper!! The sweet peas and sweet potatoes were organic store bought, which aren't cheap. It's really not as difficult to make your own as people think.

Speaking of Cinderella........

While I remember......Sunday Leanna yelled at me in frustration, "You have me doing all the work here!" It probably didn't help her mood that I started laughing.
I don't think she does quite enough (which is my fault, not hers) but I do wonder if any of her friends do chores at all. That's a whole post in itself-the short version is that I think chores are very good for kids and that most modern kids do not have enough responsibilities at home. People always worry about kids in large families-larger than mine-doing too much but I'd be willing to bet that those kids get far more benefits than kids who do few to none.

I've recently been consciously working more on teaching Justin to do things so that he will be able to help out more and be more self-reliant. He's definitely ready for it.

I didn't expect her to be yelling that at me for a few more years though, LOL.

Bad day

The calendar page if from March but it applies so nicely!! Well it started out fun with no sleep.....Leanna spilled chocolate milk all over her pink pants, so it was a rush to try to clean them and find her a new pair. Tom's working an early shift this week so I had all four kids with me to take Leanna to school and I had to go to the bank and they don't open til 8:30. It doesn't make sense to go home, I'd just have to turn right around again to come back so I bought some milk and a coffee at the gas station across the street to help kill time. They didn't have the little 50 cent bars the kids like so Timothy started crying. The coffee I bought was cold after I poured the milk in (this is not typical, usually it's still steaming hot) so it didn't help to keep me warm while waiting for the bank to open. : (

Our new stroller doesn't have any place to hold the adult's drink, so I have to hold it and the handlebars and Justin's hand. Not easy, so when I saw the baby was sleeping, I thought I'd set the coffee in his little drink holder tray. Since the coffee was cold there was no chance it could burn him. As we were leaving the bank, literally seconds after I told checked and told the teller that nope, he's still sleeping! Jacob woke up and reached for the coffee and had knocked it over. Now the stroller will smell like the coffee-mobil. (See me trying to find a bright side. Sort of)

It was not a good start for the day.

At home I was feeding Jacob when Timothy wandered into the kitchen. A few minutes later I go to check on him and find the above picture. Again, the bright side would be that he was trying to mop it up himself. There were only two eggs left intact. Four were cracked but whole so I made eggs, Leanna did eat them later so they weren't wasted. I don't know why Timothy touched them-he doesn't like eggs! But he tried a little before I put them away, hence the above picture of him with a plateful of eggs.

Then, since he was on a roll, I guess, Timothy put his hands in his diaper and pulled out two hands full of, well, you can guess.

Timothy and Jacob were both very needy all day. Timothy knocked over the trashcan, spilling garbage all over the floor. Justin knocked a pile of clean dishes back into the sink while washing his hands. Leanna's homework was extra difficult. Tom went to bed early and left me with four crying kids, Leanna still trying to fix her homework, trash to take out, a huge mess to clean, and food to make for the two who fell asleep early because of the earlystart to the day, and all the clothes and stuff to get ready for another early day tomorrow. Some days I miss my sanity more than others!

the epitome of Leanna

I love this picture of Leanna.........hair flowing, big smile, full of energy and motion, full of life and laughter. That's Leanna.

personalised Food pyramid

My pyramid has stuff you can print out for kids to show the food groups, and they have a worksheet you can print out to check how you did yesterday and aim for tomorrow. I might also have to use that one myself! It also had food groups for moms (or other adults) including pregnant and/or breastfeeding Moms. I'm printing out the results for me. It's a starting point anyway, in the war against bad food!

With a little help(er) from my friends

I found Bob the Builder hanging out in Tom's toolbox. It amused me to think that maybe he brought along a professional to help on his jobs.

(Ok, ok, so probably one of the kids dropped him in there. I like my version better though!)

I just like these pictures, dirty face and all

These are from the other day, the first and only really nice day we've had this year. We took advantage of the weather and spent some time outside.......I can't wait for another day like that!

Father and Son

It makes me very happy to note that Tom's been making more of an effort to pay attention to Justin lately. He really just soaks up male attention for about the past year, and when the attention's from Daddy-well, that's just the best!!

Here's Justin with his tools, which he grabbed when Tom asked him to help put up the new door. He really loved that Daddy let him use the real drill to put a screw in. Although he complained that Daddy still held onto it-he wouldn't let him do it completely by himself!

Fiji water

We just tried this when we went to Barnes N nobles for that bookfair. Tom didn't like it, but the kids and I thought it was fine. It has a soft taste to it because it naturally has silica in it. It's supposed to be the first "carbon negative" product-so it's supposed to be good for the envirnment and good for you. I ran across a link to their website so I thought I'd add the link here in case anyone's interested.

A Good Mom

We're hard-wired to respond to babies

Even you Claire!!

We are drawn to a baby face, whether or not we claim to like children. Our brain can't help itself. Our neurons reflexively respond to an infant's big eyes, broad forehead, button nose and tiny chin, University of Oxford researchers recently reported in the online journal PLoS One.

stolen (old) property

After we brought Leanna home from school today I was planning to cut the canopies off the old double stroller to see if I could clean them and somehow sew them onto our new one and also clear out all our stuff from the bottom so I could put it out for trash tonight. You can only put large items out on a Thursday night. But the stroller was gone. Someone took the stroller off our porch! And the weird thing is that they left the wheel that pops off here. What are they going to do with a stroller with three wheels? And a broken basket. And it was clearly an old stroller that was well used, it was quite dirty. Who would come onto our porch and take that????
I'm actually kind of upset, for one thing we still had stuff in the basket underneath. Leanna was upset because we think her pink Disney princess hat was in there, and I think one of her old hats that Aunt Cindy made was in there-the raspberry one. Probably toys and a pacifier or two. I feel mainly kind of violated though, that someone came onto our porch to take something. They weren't just looking to recycle things because they didn't take the old screen door(we just put a new one on) or faucet that Tom has just laying there.

Watching his brother develop

Justin got all excited this morning: "Mommy! The baby has teeth! The baby has teeth!"

He's had them for quite a while now, but I guess Justin hadn't noticed yet.

I'm crossing my fingers, the past few days Jacob's cheeks have been smooth, not scale-y like usual. They still get bright red, and other places on his skin still have the harsh scaley patches, particularly his hands. But I'm hoping this means it's just a phase and he will slowly outgrow this.

From overheard in NY

Angry woman to friend: I have a contention with the way people pronounce my daughter's name. I did not name by daughter 'Lady Nasty'! I named my baby girl 'La Dynasty.'--JFK

Using your powers for evil

I used to love taking messages back and forth between my parents. There were never any messages like this though.......

How Green Are Your Underwear?

How could I resist an article titled that way?

The parent trap

I thought this was pretty interesting, probably mainly because I agree with almost everything she says. And it's stuff I've been saying pretty much since Leanna was born.
The only parts I disagree with: she claims that modern parents don't use playpens because they don't want to limmit their kids's exploration. I think it's because they just aren't needed as much. Kids today spend more time in cars and carseats, more kids go to daycares and preschools so less time at home, and their houses are better childproofed. For me personally I just didn't find it very useful. (With Leanna our house was too small and she didn't get into stuff the way the boys did. By the time the boys are old enough to be crawling or walking over to dangerous things they were old enough to be climbing. My kids all learned to climb rather young.) And we do have a time out Lamb (a stuffed animal with a timer on it's belly to be used for time outs) but it was a birthday present for Justin and I thought it was for the parent's convenience, not to cushion the timeout for the kid! LOL.

I've always thought that those classses for babies were really for the parents. I do like that she explains that the reason there's a market for so many of the parenting specialists though isn't because parents aren't capable or are being too capitalist, but because they often live too far away from family or because more family members (including the parents) are working more and don't have time or energy to help. I wouldn't hire any of them myself-with the exception of a doula, that sounds awesome!-but I think they could be a great help to some parents. The stuff about baby einstein just cracks me up! Especially where she says that Days of Our Lives may have actually been better for them. (For the record I don't watch soap operas, unless you count Tom's show, One Tree Hill.)
Parents are saying: "Oh my God, my child is mesmerized. He loves it!" Maybe. We don't know what is going on inside their brain. Maybe they're like Alex in "A Clockwork Orange," and they're forced to watch these images that they want nothing to do with, and yet they can't move.
That's a terrible thought!!
Anyway, she concludes with the idea that it's better for the kids to reuse, recycle, repurpose. And don't worry so much about buying the right stuff for them. Woo hoo! I'm right on track for once!

The tub video

First real bath in a tub

This is Jacob's first "real" bath in a tub (as opposed to in one of those little baby tubs). I think most people stop using them much sooner but I keep using them for convenience's sake. You don't have to fill a whole tub, just that little thing so it's much quicker. But really he's been too large for it for a long time now. I did have him in the tub with just Timothy before but it was just for an extremely brief washing, no playtime. So this was the first time he actually sat in it without me quickly washing him off and getting him out.

As you can see, he absolutely loved the water. He just kept splashing and splashing and splashing. I think he kept his toungue out the entire time!

After the bath

Happy to be clean!

This subject's been on my mind for a while too...

It's a short opinion piece about our nation's moral compass.

I wholeheartedly agree

This one has always bugged me. (click on the above link) Not that I expect perfection, but a certain basic proficiency should be a job requirement, don't you think??

''And so, in my State of the--my State of the Union--or state--my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation--I asked Americans to give 4,000 years--4,000 hours over the next--the rest of your life--of service to America. That's what I asked--4,000 hours.''

That pledge of Allegiance thing

3 quotes to remember

This is not my writting, I copied this from LargerFamilies.com(For obvious reasons, I like the dedication from Cheaper by the Dozen best):


The three things I most want my children to remember me as aren’t single words, but phrases and ideas...
Dorothy Canfield Fisher once said: “A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.” I’d like for my children to remember me as a pillar of strength who taught them how to be strong men and women who make and stand by their good choices, self starters who can figure out how to navigate through life.
In her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, Zora Neal Hurston wrote: “Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.” When my kids are adults, I want them to remember me as optimistic and confident -- as someone who “jumped at the sun” and encouraged them to do the same at every opportunity.
One of my all-time favorite books as a child was Cheaper By the Dozen, the autobiographical story of the Gilbreth family, written by two of the family’s 12 kids. It wasn’t until I was much older that I could really appreciate the dedication: "To Father, who had only twelve children, and to Mother, who had twelve only children.” I’d like my children to remember me as a mother who treated each one of them as if they were the most important -- all at the same time. I don’t know that there’s one adjective to describe that (maybe one of my kids will make one up) but, whatever that word is, if they use it to describe me, I will be a very happy mom!
Lylah is a full-time editor, part-time freelance writer, and mom and stepmom to five kids. She writes about work-life balance at The 36-Hour Day and blogs about writing at Write. Edit. Repeat.
By Lylah at 03/26/2008 - 14:21
Lylah's blog
2 comments

Stubornness runs in the family.....

Me: (exasperated tone) "Awwww, Timothy, are you stinky again!"
Timothy: "No!!!!!!"
Me: "Do I smell poopie?"
Timothy: "I smell peaches!"

Sock Problems

Justin's recently begun to have issues with his socks. I had really hoped Leanna would be the only one to have that problem.

(For the record, he is rarely around when she puts on her shoes and socks now, usually he's still sleeping. And she's much improved from last year. She doesn't have to fold the socks over the top of her feet anymore. They still have to be correctly positioned, but it's a much less labor-intensive project. So I really don't think it's because of watching her. I think it truly bothers him too).

Genes

I know I mention it from time to time, but I always think it's really cool when you catch a flash of someone you know in someone else's face. You'll probably think I'm crazy, but in these two pictures I can see my father in law in Jacob's eyes and I see my sister Laura in Justin's. Stuff like that blows me away sometimes, it's just really neat to see. Sometimes you can see a relative in a body movement or an expression. Sometimes it's only for a second, occasionally much longer. Leanna recently reminded me of both my sister Claire and my cousin Karissa at the same time. I've always teased (but still been completely serious about) Claire about looking like my cousin Ronnie, but recently both Justin and Leanna have implied that I look like him also. I had no idea. Timothy lately reminds me less of his Uncle Billy and more and more of his Daddy, but also Nanny Sue. I just find it endlessly fascinating what qualities show up where in people. And not just relating to looks, but also character wise. Out of 7 kids and 16 grand kids Claire seems to be the only one to look like Mimi's father (Claire's Great-Grandfather). One little piece of DNA was triggered and he came through in only one person. It makes you wonder what traits of your own will live on in future generations.

Books & bookfair

We went to Leanna's school's bookfair at Barnes N Nobles last night-she did a scavenger hunt and we listened to the principal read Jeff Foxworthy to the kids. Yeah, the you know you're a redneck if....guy. Apparently he's written a kid's poetry book. It was cute. One Mom was like, Jeff Foxworthy? With her hands ready to cover her kid's ears! LOL. No redneck jokes though! Part of the profits during the event go to the school. We did our part we bought two books(though from the cheapest selection I could find!) and a yummy Starbuck's coffee, for charity! Yes, it was coffee for the children! I so wish we had money to spend, there are so many many great books there. I had to pull away a car book when Timothy wasn't looking, and Justin was trying to climb shelves to get books on snakes and bugs.
I overheard the principal telling one of the staff members that they don't get many students to turn up at these events, but they try to make them special for those who do. I thought that was really sweet-it's a very low income, minority school, but the staff is dedicated enough to still try to do their best. I think it would be very easy to get discouraged in a job like that, so you have to applaud the dedication it takes on their part.

Long Hair has it's uses

http://www.parentdish.com/2008/03/26/long-hair-saves-girl/#comments

Easter Silliness

Easter fun

Easter presents

I think the boys' favorite present at Nanny Sue's was the little spinner guns. All the kids liked their Easter socks too-Cars for the boys and Ariel for Leanna (I think Maree was Belle).

Claire and Garett

Yes, that's a picture of Garrett(sp?) playing with the kids' toys. Claire really liked the power rangers, transformers, and remote controlled airplane too. As Laura said, "They match."

Easter outfits-Timothy and Justin

Trying to catch a nice Easter picture of them in their little outfits is like pulling teeth. And because of our late arrival and after dinner complications I had less time than usual to take pictures......so here's Timothy trying to wink and Justin looking so big. Justin's becoming such a little man-it's really taking me by surprise. All the sudden he's heavier and his voice seems a little huskier and he's just.....such a male presence. It's hard to explain the changes exactly, they're subtle.

Easter at Grammy's

While waiting for the Easter ham......

Easter morning

The picture and crayons wrapped in foil was my Easter present from Leanna-she made similar presents for just about everyone she knows, although they weren't all delivered. (I know everyone's dissapointed!) I thought that was really sweet of her to do though. She wasn't worrying about getting an Easter basket, she was busy making presents for others!