SETTLED - AT LAST

Six months and one baby later - the last box was unpacked last night. It feels so great to actually have everything unpacked and a PLACE for EVERYTHING. The only time before now that we have ever had everything unpacked was the year we lived in OUR house in Texas. When we rent houses, we don't bother unpacking everything (knowing you will have to pack it up again) and we NEVER had space for everything. It is a GREAT feeling.

Paul had definently earned his kayak now. After we worked ALL weekend on the garage, he came home a little early Monday and mowed our lawn, then the neighbors lawn (the house has been empty and for sale since before we moved in - and they only come and mow about every 6 weeks or so!). Paul has always mowed to their driveway so their weeds won't take over our lawn, but he decided to do a good deed and mowed it all, edged and cleaned up all of the cut grass.

When he finished all of that - he started working on the garage. After I got done working inside and getting all of hte boys to bed, I went out and helped. We were out there until about 11pm.

Yesterday, he came home late from work and as soon as he finished eating he went straight to the garage. He came in about 10 and announced that the garage was done. Once we get our second big trashcan from the garbage company and we get the big trash (some boxes, shovel etc) out, we will both be able to park in the garage and not have to trip on a bunch of stuff on the floor. SO EXCITING!!

Until then, the kids and I are enjoying the car being back in the garage!

A Special Treat

I have been going to the same coffee shop for over a year. It is just a local coffee shop - small and friendly. The owner is always there and has gotten to know us. Bryce has always been going with me because I would normally ownly frequently treat myself once a week or so during the school year, but not much during the summer. This summer is an exception! Although Andrew has been sleeping 10-12 hours a night lately, my body is having a hard time going to bed at what used to be normal (pre-Andrew).

So, this summer, I have been taking Bryce and Isaac in (and Andrew). Caleb usually asks if he can stay in the car and read or play his Gameboy. The last three or four times we have gone in she has asked if she could make the boys a special treat. Then she asks the boys if they want their own cup of coffee. They say yes and in small cups (sample size) she gives them whipped cream with chocolate on top. They feel so grown-up. They go sit in the big oversized leather chairs and "drink" their coffee.

Another neat thing they do is a book exchange. They have bookshelves full of books and you can take one and exchange it for another. She let the boys take one home one day (even though we didn't bring one) so now every time we go, they exchange their book for a different one.

Another New Taste

Oh yeah! Since we worked on the garage all weekend we never went grocery shopping. I had only gotten enough carrots for Andrew for two days. Last night, since I was out of carrots, I was going to try to not feed him food. He did not like that idea much, so we decided to try some squash that I had.

The original plan was to stick to one new food a week (in case of allergies and all), but we didn't get to do that! He loves squash as much as he loved carrots though. He, once again, ate the entire container. And, if I stopped feeding him long enough to take a bite of my own food, he screamed! He takes his food seriously already!!

I went grocery shopping this morning and got lots of carrots and squash!!

Under Construction

It has taken 6 months, but we finally started tackling the garage!! Paul finished the workbench Friday morning. We spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning getting the shelving, hooks, etc. So, Saturday and Sunday we started pulling EVERYTHING out so it could all the shelving, etc could be put up. As you can see in the pictures, we are not done.

We need to get a couple of more shelves to add to two of the tracking systems. I think once we get all of that up everything will have a place. The hardest part is that when we moved, we had taken all the boxes we were packing inside and putting them in the garage until we moved. We didn't have the garage packed before we did that and we were in such a hurry since we only had the uhaul for one day that everything just got thrown into boxes and containers and moved. Add to that six months of digging through those boxes and containers to find different tools and, well, you spell disaster! I spent several hours yesterday going through tools, nails, screws, etc and trying to seperate everything!

Paul says he is tired of building!! That is hard to do, so I am impressed!

HOPEFULLY it will be done this week. I had to spend today working on the INSIDE of the house since it was neglected all weekend!! I don't think the boys have anything to wear anymore - I have at least 10 loads of laundry to do!

Back to work now!

Thumb - Sucker

I have never had a thumb-sucker - but I do now! I would rather AJ suck on a pacifier than his thumb because I can get rid of a pacifier - his thumb...not so easy to get rid of!

There has been one or two times when he has sucked his thumb, but usually it is his whole fist. Well, this morning he found his thumb! He has been sucking it all morning. I keep taking it out and trying to put in the pacifier instead. HE WANTS HIS THUMB!

As if it is not bad enough that he is insisting on sucking his thumb right now - I went to try to clip his nails earlier (which we have to do at least a couple of times a week since he likes to scratch himself - and everyone else). I did hid left hand with no problems. When I went to do his right, he didn't really want me to disrupt his thumb sucking! I tried to put his left thumb in his mouth, but I guess it tastes different - because he only wanted to suck on his right! I hate clipping his nails enough (I don't want to cut off a finger, but I guess that would do away with the thumb-sucking!) without having to try and do it with one of his fingers in his mouth!

Hopefully this will be short-lived.

Close, But Not Close Enough!

Today while I was grocery shopping - this elderly man came up to us while I was putting the kids and groceries in the car. He kept his distance (I assume so he didn't alarm me too bad) but asked me to please be careful in the parking lots. He began telling me about someone who got mugged at the Walmart on city over and then that there was a man shot this weekend 2 cities over (he was killed) when a man tryed mugging a woman and she fought back. The person shot was not with the woman, just someone in the parking lot that got in the way of a bullet! There was also a person that was kidnapped in a parking lot where my parents live and was found killed the next county over. These were all Walmart stores that these happened at. His wife works there and has for more than 15 years and he is very worried about her because the managers will not allow anyone to walk her to her car when she gets off work.

The boys heard him saying this and when I got in the car Caleb asked if someone was murdered in the parking lot. I explained that someone was, but that it could happen anywhere. I then began going over AGAIN what they should do if a stranger approaches them. They got in trouble this weekend for running up to the door of the house next door - but out of our sight (the house is empty). I explained again why they could not do that and how someone could have easily jerked open that door and pulled them in.

Then I told them that if anyone ever trys to grab them, to scream as loud as they could "this is a stranger" or "this is not my mom or dad" or "help". After discussing all of this, I also talked about 911. At the end, Bryce announces "if anyone trys to touch me that I don't know, I am calling 991 to talk to the police." I told him if he called 991 - he would NOT reach the police!

Can You Guess What This Is?

A Pro From the Beginning

That is what is left after your first sitting feeding Andrew food!
HE ATE IT ALL!

Paul gave Andrew a little piece of brownie this evening. Instead of spitting it out, Andrew shoved his fist in his mouth and smiled while he sucked away!! We are guessing he did not want the brownie escaping his slobbery pit! So I decided to get him a jar of baby food and see what he would do. I know he is not 4 months yet - but he is pretty close.

So we decided to try some carrots first. I got the video camera out and had Paul recording him eating for the first time he ate foods. It has got to be the most boring video - I told Paul to turn it off. The child did not make any funny faces, did not spit the spoon out, nothing that most babies do the first time they try food.

I poured a little bit into a bowl, not thinking he would eat much. I had to keep adding to the bowl. When he hit half-way through the jar, I went to ask Paul if I should stop because he was still going to town on it. AJ STARTED SCREAMING when I walked off. I came back and he had his mouth open. He ate the entire thing. We will see how that ends tomorrow (hopefully).

So, after he eats the whole thing of carrots and I finish cleaning him up, he starts trying to nurse!! Seriously, he could not be hungry. I nursed him a little, but made him stop because I think it is quite possible that he may explode!

He is EXTREMELY happy now. Especially after he gave Caleb a kiss (before I washed his face off!) Caleb - didn't think it was too funny!!

Enjoy some pics:

Andrew in Dreamland

This was last night. Either he was having a rough night or the pacifier just wouldn't stay in his mouth!

FUNNY!!

Last night, I got the boys up to go potty before I went to bed. I got Caleb up, he went potty and while he was doing that I was fixing his bed (he woke up with a neck-ache because he was sleeping on a pillow that was to big). When I went back to the bathroom to tell him to get in bed, he was gone.


I walked through the house and to my room and didn't see him anywhere. I was walking back towards his room after telling Paul that I had lost him. The lights were turned off except their hall and his bedroom. As I was walking through the kitchen I just happened to look over and catch a glimpse of somehting. I stop and look and it is Caleb, asleep at the table.

I kept telling him to go to bed and he kept saying he wanted to sleep right there. I was going to let him because I wanted him to wake up and wonder why he was at the table. But, Paul went and got him and took him to his bed!

The Story of a Three Month Old That Self-Mutilates...

Okay, so I know that is a serious thing and should not be joked about, but SERIOUSLY!! On our way back from Texas Saturday afternoon he stayed awake the entire trip and was happy and laughing the whole time. When we got home, this is what I found. His legs were completely scratched up. Apparantly, he enjoyed scratching himself up because he never shrieked or cried in pain.

Just a Few Pics to Make You Smile

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss

Three Months!

Well, today is THREE MONTHS!! So sad!! Growing up so fast!

So, I already gave a run-down of where he is in growth, milestones, etc. so I am just going to add a few things and leave it at that.

AJ LOVES baths, but in a BIG tub, not an infant tub. He tolerates them in the baby tub, but he LOVES the big one. That is the one thing that ALWAYS makes him smile no matter how mad or uncomfortable (gassy) he is - as long as he is IN the tub. The problem is that if you are not holding him well, he goes under (which after the initial shock - he thought was funny! Mommy about had a heart attack!). He likes to throw himself backwards and float on his back in the water, but he gives no warning before he does it. He loves playing with bubbles, but I think his favorite part tonight was when I turned off the jets, the water fizzed for a few minutes (the bubbles popping I guess). He got a kick out of the sound and just stared at the water laughing.

FYI: He is not too fond of soapy fist!! Or maybe it is the soap in the mouth? Hmmmm - I wonder which it could be?

He is a morning person, and a late night person. His favorite times of the day are when he first wakes up in the morning and then right before bed. This might be because these are the quietest and calmest times of the day. No brothers picking, petting, prodding, yelling, kissing (I think you get the picture) him continuously!

He is SUPER strong. He has a great grip and I am always scared I am going to hurt him when I am trying to rip my finger out of his grip!

He is just such a mellow, happy, playful baby. I hope this is his true personality! I could use a calm one!

Trip, Jake and Bella

Bathtime

We were playing "Super Baby to the rescue" (Isaac named the game) which is just where we make Andrew fly in the air. Andrew laughs everytime, no matter what his mood is.

While I was making AJ fly, Bryce got underneath him. I told him to watch it or AJ would slobber on him. At that exact moment the longest, slimiest string of drool hit Bryce in the head.

Bryce jumps up "I need a bath" he says with the most disgusted, upset face!

This from the kid that likes to put dirty diapers under his brothers pillow for him to find at bedtime!

Caleb STILL in Trouble

Caleb got up this morning and went into my room to watch cartoons. I told him he needed to go work on his sentences. He got up and went to the kitchen. Isaac came in a few minutes later and asked when we were going to the movies. Today we were supposed to have a playdate to a movie theater that does free movies on Wednesdays.

I told him we were not going. About 5 minutes later, Caleb comes in and asked what time the movie was. I told him we weren't going!! I told him if anyone knew why - he did!

Now, I didn't get out of bed until 8:30! We would have to leave the house around 9:15 to get to the theater. About 9, Caleb came to me again, and asked what time the movie was. I told him it didn't matter because we were not going. He said he was going to get his sentences done before we needed to leave - 10 pages. I told him that we were not going - PERIOD! He could not get his sentences done in time and that he knew that he was not doing anything until the sentences were done.

He sat there ALL day yesterday and did not even do three pages and I am suppose to ignore that and reward him! It is not fair for the rest of us - but it is fair for him a this point!!

He quit making an effort at writing the sentences when he found out he wasn't going!

Law School

Last week on our way to Petit Jean I had Caleb, Isaac and Andrew with me (thinking it would be quieter if Bryce was with Daddy!). Caleb saw a cow crossing sign and asked if he would learn signs in law school. I told him in law school you learn laws. So, I will start making laws?

No, you will learn the laws that exist. I asked him if he was planning on going to law school. He said he thought he had too. I told him he didn't have to unless he was going to be an attorney. He said he didn't want to be an attorney, but he thought he HAD to go to law school. I asked why he thought he had to go and he said because Aunt Lindsay went. I explained that Aunt Lindsay went because she is an attorney. He again said that he did not want to be an attorney. So, I told him he just needed to go to college.

This conversation about whether or not he HAD to go to law school lasted over 30 minutes!

Caleb in Trouble

I started a new punishment for Caleb. I have made him start writing sentences when he is disrespectful to his parents or brothers. I told him that every time he has to write sentences I am adding one page more than he did the last time.

At this point, I am not sure what I am going to do. Yesterday he got mad at me and he lost it. He was watching tv in my room. I found out he was watching SpongeBob, which I don't allow him to watch. I told him I was turning on the tv in the living room and he could go watch something out there, but he was not watching Spongebob. He told me he was staying in there and watching what he wanted too. I calmly told him that he was NOT watching Spongebob, but I would turn on something else in the LIVING ROOM! He said he did not want to watch tv with his brothers and started throwing a tantrum (I really thought he was old enough to not have those anymore!!)

I told him he had sentences to write and to go to the table (he was up to 5 pages). He told me no. I said he had another page added he said he wasn't writing "stupid sentences". I added another. By the end, he had nine pages to write but he opted to go to bed (at 4:30 - and he stayed in bed until 7 this morning).

He did THREE pages all day today. He had to sit at the table all day, and only wrote 3 pages. One of those pages he cut WAY down. His sentence was: I will not disrespect my mother.
He wrote a full page of: I will respect Mom.

I made him write that page over. I feel bad for him. I know the sentences MEAN the same, but he is only doing it to get out to work. at this point, I cannot cut back the pages. He is testing me and I can't let him think that if he stalls and disobeys long enough, he will get out of doing what he is supposed to do!

He will either have respect for his family by the end of the summer - or - he will have the BEST penmanship of his third grade class.

Oh MY!!

If you remember a while back, Caleb was saying that "boys go to college to get more knowledge, girls go to jupiter to get more stupider!"

Well, Bryce since then has been doing take offs of that. Tonight he is running through the house singing "girls go to weiners to get babies - boys go to college to get smart."

I have not given him any knowledge on this subject. That is one of his favorite words right now (unfortunately)!

Four of My Five Gorgeous Guys (I AM SOOO LUCKY)!

Ok - I actually got it done! There is a reason this does not happen more often!! I got some cute ones. Andrew was not in the best of moods so there aren't many (if any) smiles. The boys all wanted individual pictures with Andrew and he was really wanting to eat and take a nap! I will keep practicing with the camera and maybe I can get to where I can get better pics!

Again, for some reason Slide could not get all the pictures for some reason. So I added most of the ones that did not make it. I know some are blurred, but pay attention to WHO is blurred the majority of the time and that will tell who could NOT sit still (I bet you could guess without looking)!!

Anyone who wants any of these or yesterdays photos, leave a comment or email me which ones you want and I will email them to you.

My Little Cabbage Patch

OK - no lectures, I am going to TRY to do a photo shoot with ALL of the boys today, but I need some of just Andrew for a couple of empty frames I have hanging up (yes empty frames hanging up!). So, as you look at the show, watch the numbers of the ones you like the most and let me know.
The pictures of him with the green blanket reminded me of a cabbage patch doll!!

For some reason these would not load onto the slide show, so here are a few more:

Name Game

Heather gave me an IM rose for winning the name game. Since I stumped everyone I guess that means I get the prize!! Right?

Bryce and Thunderstorms

Bryce was standing here looking at his pictures on the blog. It thundered and he hid under my arm "I think I am going to freak out."

Oh, they give me SOOOO much content for this thing!! They are on a roll this morning and I can't get off of this!

He also asked me if I was scared of thunder. Who knew that someone so deathly afraid of storms as a kid would grow up to LOVE thunderstorms? Okay - maybe the window breaking over my bed 1 second after I get out of it didn't help, but it taught me NOT to put beds under windows!

I guess I passed the being-scared-of-storms-gene to Bryce!

Silly Pics for Marmar

"Get off my lawn!" Caleb is quoting from the movie The Monster House - which is their favorite quote from ANY movie.

Are these pics exciting enough for you Mom? I know - I am a smart-ass!! Can't imagine where I got it from!!

EAS

The boys were watching tv this morning and an EAS (emergency alert signal) came on. This is the boys wondering if we are about to have a tornado:

No, it was not a tornado warning - it was a flash flood warning - for us - until 12:30.

They keep coming in and giving me updates everytime an alert comes on. They don't listen for the county though - so they are updating me on ALL of Arkansas and saying it is for us!

Bedrooms!!

This is pretty clean for Caleb's room, but I wanted to make a point. When I tell Caleb to clean his room, 9 times out of 10, this is what he does. Usually, though, they are not in tubs - he just fills his bed with toys. He did this the other day. I told him to clean his room, but I did not check it when he said he was done. So when I went in to tell him good night, there were toys all over his floor. I told him I thought I had said to clean the room. "I did, those are the toys that were on my bed." ISN'T THE BED PART OF THE ROOM? He also throws stuff under the bed, in the closet and under the dresser! Oh, and he thinks this is clean too:

Do you think the kid likes to read? This might be why he is always asking me where a certain book is!!!

I am impressed though because it is 10 am and the boys have all been in Isaac and Bryce's room adn this is as bad as it looks - usually it is completely destroyed by now!!

Lectured

I am still not too old to get lectured by my Mother!!! I got lectured yesterday that I don't put enough photos of all of my boys on here, there were too many of just AJ. Well, I don't want AJ to feel when he gets older that we did not take as many pics of him as a baby as we did the others. He has a long way to go to catch up with the number of photos we have of his brothers. It is not that I don't love the others or anything, AJ is just hitting a lot of milestones!

I will work harder at getting pics of EVERYONE on here more often! I have plenty of love to go around - and plenty of film. So I will start taking pics of the boys, even if they are just pottying (ok, just kidding about that)!!

I did notice you did not request in pictures of YOUR DAUGHTER!!!

I love you Mom!

It Takes An Army...

OF STUFF!!! This is what it looks like when we put Andrew to bed at night:

This may be part of why we had to take TWO vehicles on vacation (ok lets face it - there are SIX of us - that is a lot of STUFF!)

A. This used to be inside of a teddy bear. It makes womb sounds. It was not loud enough IN the teddy bear (not to mention the teddy bear was kind of bulky!) so we took it out! Now it can be placed next to him WHEREVER he is napping (including the car at times!).
B. This is one of my pillows. This will only work until he starts rolling over, then the pillow's gotta go! I put it behind his back because he LOVES to fall asleep while laying on his back on our chest while we are watching tv. It makes him feel like he is still with someone.
C. A soft blanket - has to be partially over his face. Don't know - but it works!
D. Teddy Bear/blankie thing has to be between his arms for him to hold or he flails around. He also likes to talk to him and play with him when he wakes up.
E. The pacifier the teddy bear thingy is helping hold in his mouth.
F. This is F - didn't get it in the above shot:

This is a vibrator. It has a low and high setting. We have to have it on high.
G. He has to be on his side!

Sometimes if this doesn't work, we have to use that brown "thing" in the bottom left hand side of the picture. It has sounds and music, but we have to use the light that is on it. Luckily, all of these electronic things are on timers, so they go off after a little while and he has always been asleep by the time they go off. Batteries are expensive (especially with five boys)!

I know that it seems insane, but it took us over two months WITHOUT sleep to figure out what works with him! If it means he sleeps all night - which he has been when we use all of these - it is worth it!! Hopefully we can start gradually weaning him off some of these. But doesn't he look cute:
(Good thing this thing saves itself every minute or two - our electricity just went out!!)


This is his spot for his grumpy late afternoon nap. I wish I could still do audio easily on this thing. His swing has a box with sounds and music too. We have to put the nature sounds (there are like 5 different sounds and there is a certain one that he has to have - so you have to stand there and push the button until the right sound appears!) FULL BLAST - and it is LOUD!!!!

If My Car Doesn't Get Hailed On...

It will be a miracle!!

Not sure what happened to the map - but this is what is over us and coming! My car is parked OUTSIDE!! Paul started building a workbench in our garage Saturday. As soon as he stopped working Saturday evening (with the plan to finish it Sunday) the phone rang. It was his boss asking him to go to Coffeyville KS, where they are dealing with flooding. So my garage, well it looks like this:

Believe it or not, we usually BOTH park in their - we just decorate our walls with CRAP (not literally)!!! This is why Paul is building a workbench. But come on, this is JULY - we don't usually have rain this time of year (of course we are usually over 100 degrees every day by now and we have not even hit 100 yet!!).

I went out determined to reaarange and fit my car in there, yea - not going to happen. I can put all of the "stuff" in the driveway and pull the car in, but then when a saw or drill or bike goes through someones window - I AM RESPONSIBLE! I guess I would rather the damage be to my own instead of causing damage to someone elses property - right?

And the thunder rolls (enter Garth!)!!

An Autograph

I went and got some coffee this morning. I left Caleb and Isaac in the car while I ran in, but took the younger two with me. As I was leaving our Sherriff walked in. If you don't remember, they did mock voting at the elementary school last year and Caleb voted for this man, even though Paul and I didn't (shows how much we talk politics in front of the kids!).

When I got to the car, I asked Caleb if he saw who walked in. He said no. I told him who it was and he got all excited. He asked if he could go get his autograph. Normally, he would be too shy to do this, so I said he could, but he had to go by himself. He asked if I would do it for him, and I said no he had to do it himself (again).

HE DID!!! He went in the coffee house by himself. He went up to the poor man while he was reading his newspaper and asked for his autograph. He also told him that he voted for him at school!

HE CRACKS ME UP!!! He is so star-struck by the SHERIFF!!! Can you imagine if he saw someone REALLY famous. He told me the only reason he voted for him was because he had been on tv. Unfortunately - that is how MANY people that REALLY vote base their opinion!