Ramblins

We have a new friend around the house....Mazie. We are watching some friends' dog for the long weekend. Not sure her specific breeding but has some setter and probably australian shephard in her. The boys were so excited. Mazie was checking out the house and the boys were so frustrated she would not stop long enough to lay on their floor to sleep. Should be an interesting weekend. JR has wanted a dog for a very long time. (I adamantly disagree right now until we have a bigger yard and he and I agree on some of the ground rules of having a dog around.) B is allergic to dogs, although he has yet to be affected by being around one. J is quite scared of dogs, regardless of size. Not sure where his fear comes from but will be a fun little trial run for us...to see if we could even entertain the thought of a dog.

Took the Christmas tree down today. I don't mind putting any of the Christmas stuff away, but the one thing I always miss is the glow of the lights on the tree. I love getting up early in the morning, curling up under a blanket on the couch and looking at the lights. As we drug the tree outside, it left a wonderful pine scent all over the room! Putting up Christmas stuff though always motivates to do a spring cleaning of sorts, so maybe I can push on with more purging of stuff.

JB has now rolled over twice, from his stomach to his back. I think both times it surprised him. He is laughing so much these days and it is just about time to break out his 6 months clothes. He definitely is ahead of the other boys in length.

J was making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today all by himself. He insisted so I figured why not. Later I found 3 butter knives, still with PB&J on them slid into the wooden block with the rest of the steak knives. I just had to laugh. Then later that day they were painting and he had paint all over the floor, table, shirt and couch. JR has been driving a lot of vehicles back and forth to the airport. This has meant that just about every night for the last 10 days or so we have had to go pick him up somewhere and then take him to get another vehicle. It never fails, every time in the car B always says "Dad, guess what J did TODAY". My precious middle son. It it can break, he will break it. If it can spill, he will spill it. If he can get hurt on it, he will get hurt. So, often I try to discipline him when he needs it but when he gives me that sideways glance, with that mop of a hair (it has not been cut in 5 months), I crater.

One of the things the two older boys have started doing is wearing one of JRs shirts as pajamas. They drag the ground but they just love it. They also love to play with the rings on my cell phone. To see them running and dancing around the house with those shirts on as the different rings play, is priceless. Again, those very small things that I am so glad I am a part of daily, since God has allowed me to stay home with the boys.

B has taken to calling J "Jake". It brings such a smile to my face to hear it, but it sure makes J sound like a big boy! B has been complaining of a head ache on and off for a few days and today I asked him why he thought his head hurt. Without missing a beat he said "because I have not been laying around watching movies. You see, when I don't lay around and watch movies my head hurts." I wish I could get away with his reasoning.

Some friends are coming over tomorrow night with their 3 kids for pizza and to help ring in the new year, or at least help usher it to the front steps. Not sure how long any of us will last, but sure will be fun to have a house full.

Looking forward to an amazing 2010 and what God has in store for us.

Sledding

Despite the cold temperatures that are hanging on, we got out this weekend and enjoyed the sun and fresh air. B learned first hand how you should never turn your back to a sledding hill. He got taken out by a 3 year old on a sled. Did a total face plant. I was concerned as I ran over to him, but saw no blood!



We also hit the ice skating rink again. Boy, my legs sure were wobbly. It did not come back to me as quickly as I hoped but am proud to say I stayed on my feet and did not hit the ice.

Looks like the next 10 days there will be one day of a high of 33 and one day a high of 35. The lows will be in the teens. I am ready for some 40 degree days! Guess we will continue to get creative with indoor things that burn energy!

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

Today a Savior is born.

What a totally laidback day we have had. We are actually still in our pajamas and from all looks of it, that is where we will stay until bedtime. The boys have been playing most of the day with JB napping on and off.

Has been a pretty quite couple of weeks. We did get out on the ice skates yesterday. B did pretty well. After about 15 minutes he was starting to find his balance. J had fun just walking in the snow. Hopefully it will warm up in the next couple of days and we can get back out there, maybe with camera in tow.
We went sledding with some friends recently. J and I made one run and he was done. There was a little bit of fresh snow and as we went down the hill, it blew in our faces. J's curls were peeking out of his hat and with the cold air, the snow in his hair was turning to ice. It gave me a good excuse to sit in the car with the heater one while watching B.

The boys have enjoyed the climbing wall. The holds are such that they are easily rotated and moved around, so always proving to be a challenge. Both of the boys are now somewhat comfortable going all the way to the top. Here are a few pictures!


Could not get all three of them sitting still at the same time...

JB is doing great. I have started him on a formula with rice starch in it to help him sleep at night. (He was still stirring 2-3 times a night). He is often sleeping 9 hours at night now! I have not started solids yet, and will probably wait another couple of weeks on that. He has not yet surprised himself by rolling over. He is working on the tripod pose (sitting up by himself as he leans forward on his hands). He is very proficient at finding his mouth, whether with a toy or the bottle. He has very strong opinions when he is hungry and tired and screams unlike either of the other two. He enjoys his swing up in the playroom and is mesmerized by the colors on the tv.

baking

Not real sure what we have been doing the last week or so. Certainly not taking any pictures!

I have been doing a lot of baking...unfortunately I made several different kinds of cookies, doubling or tripling each of the recipes, but for various reasons did not like how they turned out. So, we have lots of sweets around! I tried homemade fudge. I made a double batch, in two different pots. One was good the other boiled over and never got to the right temperature. I tried another batch, this time tripling the recipe and boiling it an extra 5 minutes, and finally have something I am comfortable putting on a plate and giving to others.

Bought the boys and I used ice skates today and hoping to hit one of the 'neighborhood' outdoor rinks tomorrow. They are very excited! Also got the climbing wall up in the playroom today(they have not discovered it yet) and hung JB's swing up there. So, there should be plenty of pictures and video forthcoming!

We are all looking forward to celebrating the birth of our Savior and Lord in 3 days!! I wonder if we let the boys stay up late if they will sleep in on Christmas morning?

Videos

B had his Christmas program yesterday at school. Before the program we went into his classroom to help out. They were playing Christmas music and the first song was "Rudolph". I started singing with the music and little Makayla looks over at me and says "How do you know that song?" I told her I use to sing it when I was her age. Her eyes got big and she said "you use to be my age??" Those kids are a hoot. I sure do have a great appreciation for teachers, especially kindergarten teachers.
Had an energy audit done of the house today. They said we are sitting pretty good. He did confirm that running the dishwasher should only cost about 2-3 dollars a month, so I can start using it again. (The last month I tried using the dishwasher, versus hand washing, my electric bill was high but must have been something else). A little known trivia fact I learned, that a person produces about 1 gallon of humidity a week. So, other than insulating our attic hatch and putting in outlet covers, we are good.
Been laying low, not getting out much. I have intended to download some videos and finally got around to it. Could not figure out how to put/splice them all together yet, so here are 2 short videos.

Comparison

I lost it today. Totally lost it. For someone who is pretty organized and hates being rushed or late anywhere, I cannot 'master' the school mornings. Every morning rolls around and I think we are gonna get out of the house a few minutes early and it never fails...last minute we are trying to find one shoe or one glove or a coat. It happened again this morning and I went on a mommy rage. (Never mind if it had been either of the boys I would have spanked them and sent them to their room for a long time out - too bad they could not do that to me.) I don't know why but yelling never solves anything but it sure makes me feel better for the moment. We finally all got in the car and I apologized to them and asked for their forgiveness. I thought all was forgotten. No, later that day I heard J downstairs yelling at no one in particular. 'I am so FRUSTRATED with you. You get over here RIGHT NOW..RIGHT NOW'. He continued yelling and I thought it was cute until I realized he was repeating everything I had said that morning. Nothing like a child to be a perfect reflection of what they see at home. One of the verses B and I have memorized is "a soft answer turns away wrath". I have told them they have permission to encourage me with that verse when I get loud, but I guess they don't quite get it yet.
I dug up pictures of all three of the boys around 4 months old. Fun to see the differences and similarities



At 4 months B was 15.4 pounds, 25 1/4 inches long and head circumference was 43.7cm.
At 4 months J was 14.6 pounds, 24 1/2 inches long and head circumference was 42 cm.
At 4 months JB was 12.7 pounds, 25 1/2 inches long and head circumference was 40 cm.
So, although JB appears pretty chubby, he is much longer, much lighter and a much smaller head.
J's favorite holiday movie right now is "Frosty the Reindeer" Just cracks me up.
Yesterday we were -15 but a warming trend is coming! Fortunately we have not had any of the wind! Been staying indoors and doing lots of baking!

Cold

Just had to snap a picture of our alarm clock that shows the outside temperature. I hear it is headed some of y'alls way....bundle up!

Happy 4 months

Today is the 4 month mark of my arrival.
Things here are awesome. I sleep when I want to sleep and eat when I want to eat. I am often startled with the volume of my 2 big brothers but I sure do love to watch their antics. I appreciate B's gentle voice as he talks to me and have come to appreciate J's wet kisses and sudden outbursts of energy. I have found my feet and can spend a lot of time playing with them. My goal is to one day get them in my mouth! I am getting really good at grabbing things, particularly my mom's hair. I love laughing out loud when I am tickled. I still am getting my mom up a few times at night, but sure do enjoy the one on one time. I am quickly soothed by "Jesus Loves Me" and find it easiest to fall asleep to some of the great lullabies/classical/hymns that are playing beside my bed. It is getting really cold out and learning to like my hats and have my car seat covered up. (I hear the wind chills the next couple of days could reach -20.) I love to play dog pile with my brothers and dad and sometimes my dad and I will chase the other two around the house. I can stare at the Christmas tree lights for long periods of time.
Looking forward to the next four months, when I will start sleeping all night (my mom is hopeful), holding my own bottle, sitting up by myself, getting my first tooth, getting to eat real food and mastering the army crawl. Or maybe I will skip the crawling and go straight to running to keep up with my brothers.

Shooting moose

One of J's favorite games right now is to go around and shoot bears, moose, elk.
Little did I realize his creativity with the vacuum cleaner and one of our moose ornaments. Here you can see him shooting the ornaments.

If you look closely at the picture, you will see a board propped up against the tree. Yes, it fell earlier when one of the boys decided to play behind it. Fortunately, Joseph was just out of reach. Hopefully the temporary fix will work until JR and I can try to straighten it. (I already had my neighbor come over and we 'fixed' it once.)