Misc

The garage sale this past weekend went well. Between our family and the other family we made just under $500. I put a lot of time in to it this past week so our stuff was very organized. We even got comments from shoppers about how nice it was to look because everything was so organized. When we boxed stuff up, we only had about 6 medium size boxes!

My brother comes in for a long weekend this weekend. Him and JR are taking off to the backcountry for a couple of nights. Hope they don't get any snow - we have had some cool evenings.

Fluffy (bunny) has figured out how to escape from the back yard. All 4 times though she has come back. JR keeps fixing the holes but somehow she finds other ones.

Tomorrow my oldest niece gains her wings. She gets dropped off at Western Michigan. Hats off to my sister and brother-in-law for raising an incredible daughter. She will do well.

Several weeks ago I discovered some frugal living blogs. I have been reading up on couponing and how to really make it work - getting grocery bills down to $40-50 a week! I don't know that I will ever be that proficient, but today I went and bought 3 boxes of name brand cereal, 6 bottles (64oz) of Apple Juice, 4 boxes of granola bars and 2 Del-Monte ready to make fruit smoothies for only $7. I was quite excited, now I just need to work on stockpiling the coupons. Our local paper very seldom has coupons so I am having to be very creative about how to find them.

JB has perfected his high pitch squeal. He is so proud of himself! He continues to climb on anything he can find. J is down to about 2 potty accidents a week and most nights he is staying dry. Soccer starts tomorrow for B.

School

School started today. The playground was chaos as all the kids were seeing friends they had not seen over the summer. There are two buildings with B's school and he has moved across the street so he can now play on the big playground. Most of their equipment is the old stuff...the big metal slides with very low sides that I watched kids zoom off of. I know J will be excited to try that one out. His teach seems really nice. She sent a letter to the house, one for parents and one for B a few days before school started - a very nice gesture. When we went to Back to School night he only had 3 kids from his Kindergarten class in his current class, so lots of friends he will get to know. I was excited to see the girl he sat next to was from AWANA! JR was asking B how it went today and the conversation came up about cute girls (a little early for me). JR asked if the girls were as cute as mom (ie me) and B said "no, way cuter! Slam, I was expecting the no one is as cute as mom, but I guess we are not there yet. We got a good laugh out of that.
The school has a really nice front lawn, so about 30 minutes before the bell rang, the other two boys and I went to the school, sat in the grass under a huge shade tree. JB crawled all over the place (I am sure he would have been in a tree if he could have been) and J ran around like a mad man. I think that will become the norm for us...gotta enjoy the weather while we can! It will change all too quickly.
Been busy with garage sale stuff. My friend and I have managed to fill 10 6 foot tables and that does not include some of the big items that will go outside. I can honestly say that there is not much more I can take out of my house that is not used on somewhat of a regular basis. Between the two of us, I don't think we have a lot of junk either....good quality stuff. Ready for Sat at 1 to be here, though so I can quit thinking about it and get on with other things!
Next week some of the extra curricular activities start, so looking forward to AWANA, Cub Scout meetings and possibly soccer. J will do AWANA this year and I am going to help out with the infants/toddlers (just watching the younger kids of the leaders - to my knowledge does not require any lesson plans, etc so that will be nice not to have any outside preparation.
Fluffy is still doing good (the rabbit). He (she -who knows) absolutely mowed down the lettuce. I can understand why people don't like them. Nothing but bare stalks. We toss carrots out every day. She is getting more use to us and does not run as quickly, although he does not come right up to us yet. I am told that she will live in the backyard during the winter too. I am told they live outside in the wild, so why not in our backyard. Will be interesting to see how that goes. Guess we should dig a hole somewhere???

One week until school

Summer is quickly winding down. We found out today that B's teacher will be Ms. Miller. Don't know much about her personally but hear she is pretty good. We have back to school night on Monday so B is excited to see who is in his class.
Fluffy, the bunny, is still around. She or he, who knows, has the run of the yard. She does have a cage but she has found her own little hiding spots under some trees. We really have a great spot out in the backyard that is mostly dirt and lots of small trees/bushes. She has come in a couple of times but I have yet to handle her. B is allergic to a lot of fur (horses, cat, deer, elk, antelope or any other animal that has been in our garage) but the one time he held Fluffy it did not seem to be a problem. Not sure what the plan is when winter arrives. Assuming she will have to come inside. She loves getting all the lettuce she wants. In our small garden. Seems we are not big lettuce eaters. It is nice to have lettuce for tacos or hamburgers but we are not eating a lot of salads. The boys love going out and picking it and pulling up onions. We will definately do more onions, hopefully a larger variety next summer. I hope to get a better game plan next summer and get started earlier. Seems we let the cilantro grow too long so will try again with a fall 'crop' in our pots.
One night recently I was trying to put lotion on J after his shower. He was not too keen on the idea (he gets bad eczema with his food allergies) so I told him I would give him a massage. He loved it and B got in on the action. Now, it seems to be the perfect way to get them all settled in their beds, to rub them down with lotion as they are going to sleep. They have even enjoyed giving me massages, they especially love massaging my feet. Why didn't I think of that when I was pregnant with JB.
Have a boy scout hike this Saturday. Actually it is more of a walk with a bar-b-que afterwards but will be fun.
Not much else going on other than gearing up for my first garage sale ever. Having it at a friends house. She has a double garage and we should be able to do all the setting up next week with the garage sale the 28th. Curious to see how we do. I have always thought it was a lot of work for not very much money, but I guess anything is better than nothing!

Our new pet

Well, JR came home with a 'surprise' for the boys today. In the house he walked carrying a box with holes in it. He was told at work to trap this animal and kill it. He was able to trap it but obviously not kill it. So, we have a new pet, for now. Will be interesting to see how long we can keep him in our yard before he finds a way out.

Finally getting around to posting some pictures from JB's first birthday. Just had the two neighbor boys over for cupcakes. JB really enjoyed them.

Here is a picture that B took of us. He really enjoys taking pictures and seems to have a knack/interest in photography.

On JB's birthday, he performed his greatest stunt yet. He climbed up on top of the stove. Thankfully it was not on! If you look at the picture in the previous post of him on the white step-stool, he has figured out how he can stand on the top of the leg of the step-stool. I decided that I was going to take pictures of everything he climbed on in one day...did not get very far, with the camera that is but managed to snap another one.

Yesterday we were playing at some friends house. As we were getting ready to leave, I called up to the boys to start cleaning up. I heard a few words and then B said "come on let's clean up, I want to obey my mom!" I was so surprised. I have really been trying to work on not parenting from fear. I don't want the boys to do things because they fear the consequences but because it is what is right. A lot easier said than done.
Yesterday we went to the library and checked out a lot of books. B was looking at his monster truck book. He then exclaimed, "oh wow, this wreck would cause cancer". To which J asked to see and then B said "it is not an appropriate picture for a 3 year old"!
One last photo....

Happy First Birthday JB

Look who is forward facing now......

You love being able to see where we are going instead of where we have been, seeing me in the rearview mirror and being able to sit side by side with your brothers.

Can't believe it has already been 365 days. Happy birthday JB.

You are quite the little climber. I know you are my third, but boy you sure scare me with your determination to get to higher places. When anyone is standing on something, you throw quite the ruckus until you can get right up beside them, be it the couch, step stool, bean bag, chair, etc.


You have not yet said your first word, but I am not concerned, knowing you can't get a word in edgewise. You enjoy laying in your bed and babbling. I like sneaking in there in the mornings and just watching you as you stretch and wake up. You eventually see much, greet me with a huge smile and stand up.

You like to throw your food on the floor, we are working on that.

On command, when I say "what is in your mouth", you spit whatever out!
You like your dog Douglas and it brings comfort when the tears fall.

Just yesterday at Wal-mart you were sitting nicely in the cart, until it was time to check out. You were chewing on one of our purchases. Knowing you had one in each hand, I gave one of them to the lady to scan. You did not like that at all, you immediately threw the other one you were holding onto the floor. I gave it back to you (to see what you would do) and you threw it again. You made it very clear that you were not happy! Then when I told you no again, you got even madder because I would not give it back to you. We left the store as others turned to watch us walk out.

When you are really tired, I will pick you up and you will lay your head on my shoulder.

You enjoy giving high fives and if we lean in to you, you will head butt us.

You have the wet slobbery kiss down pat.

You love to play with your brothers in the shower. I still can't figure out how you escaped from the tub one time....had to have been a head dive over the side.

I love you little guy and are so thankful that God gave you to us to round out our 3 sons. You have already enriched our lives so much more...can't wait to see what the next 365 days hold.

Filling our summer days...

I was recently telling a friend of mine about a family member that lost a job. I had made the comment that they did nothing wrong to lose their job. B overheard me and started inquiring as to what I meant. I explained that they worked for a man that sold real estate and reminded him about our conversations about the economy and how it was bad and it meant people were not spending money. Therefore, the real estate guy could not sell any houses or buildings because no one had any money. So, he was not able to pay his employee and had to let them go. So, the person that lost their job, it was not their fault, they did not do anything wrong. B did not even wait a split second and he said "Oh, so it was the government's fault?" Stopped us in our tracks.

Several weeks ago I stopped by Michaels and Target and found all kinds of projects for the boys that cost very little. Wooden train cars that had to be glued together and then painted. Wooden automobiles that you punch out and then piece together. All kinds of educational and historical workbooks and flashcards. (Figured it would not hurt me to learn about landmarks, presidents and states too.) Super hero coloring and activity books. New markers, crayons and pencils, not to mention some special markers designed for windows and mirrors. The boys have loved it and well worth every penny I spent. B especially will sit for long periods and just color. He really enjoys the nights that the other 2 fall asleep on time and he can sit in bed with JR and draw.

We went out this morning and dug up rocks that were in the dirt. JB was the dirtiest for a while and then I engaged the boys in a 'who can get the other dirtiest' game. The boys loved throwing their rocks in an irrigation canal. JB though wanted to crawl in - no fear.


Spent some time yesterday at the splash park. Have not been there too often because it is all concrete and with JB not walking, just difficult. I decided to let him crawl in it with jeans and socks to protect his legs and feet. He had a ball.
He also enjoyed crawling in the tunnel at the park.

Then we came home and had homemade jello popsicles.


The common theme around our house continues to be forgiveness. The boys are learning what it means to ask for forgiveness, not only from the offended individual, but from God and to seek forgiveness. We recently talked about being a blessing and the boys decided they wanted to be a blessing to our neighbors by rolling all of the trash cans along the street (put out for garbage collection) up to the houses. Maybe I can incorporate being a blessing everyday and see what things we can come up with.

J is doing great with the potty training. Maybe one accident every couple of days. We are going tomorrow to buy him some pull-ups. I told him that once he is good at going in the potty that I would get him some pull-ups for night time. He has already decided that he will pick out Toy Story ones.

Just hanging out

Been staying close to home. Had two sets of friends (Pahals and Pankratz') last week that were in town and hooked up with them at different parks. Fun to see how the kids have grown and to watch everyone play together. This past weekend our missionary friend Naomi, from Zimbabwe, stayed here and spoke at our church.

B attended VBS last week and enjoyed it. This past weekend he went to a shooting sport activity through the Cub Scouts. Him and JR took the BB gun to a local shooting range where B got instruction on the parts of the gun, safety things, shooting tips, etc. He was quite excited to bring home his target for me to see.
School starts in 3 1/2 weeks. Should find out this week who his teacher will be.

I have been struggling with some inner ear issues that are causing dizziness. I think it has to do with some fluid in the ear but also what are known at crystal rocks in your ear. They seem to have come loose or displaced. My friend Naomi, who is a nurse and dad is a chiropractor, was around last night when it got really bad. It dropped me to my knees. Fortunately her dad was able to walk us through an exercise that helps to reset the rocks. So far so good.
This weekend is JB's first birthday. Hard to believe!
Here are a few pictures from a recent 'hunting' expedition JR took J and B on. Not to worry, it is a BB gun and safety is always first!