Once Was Lost But Now Am Found

Things are a bit livelier and noiser today. Our visit to Virginia for Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, and the boys are in detox this week. Not only did they have a plethora of snacks, sweets, and soda, Stephen also told me, "I didn't have to make my bed at Nana's house."

Here's another one for the label "religion." The boys were playing in the basement while I worked on the computer. Andrew came over and said, "Momma, I hear a voice from upstairs." Without missing a beat, Stephen declared, "It's God speaking." Andrew quickly agreed to the idea of "The Man Upstairs." What's more, Stephen thought he was saying, "Children obey your Mom & Dad."

I made the mistake of telling Andrew that we would decorate the Christmas tree on Sunday, and he assumed it would be first thing. Well, he had to endure both church and rest time, but eventually we dragged out all the decorations and got to work.

I love the freedom the children have in decorating the tree; no concern for what's "right" or "proper" - just what's most easily reached. Doug did offer a little help for those hard-to-reach-places.

Thankfully Matthew was asleep during all of this, but once he arose, he quickly inspected their handiwork.It didn't take long for us to realize this was not going to work (when Andrew was this age, we had a small table top tree so it wasn't an issue). It was too much trouble to move the assembled tree behind the couch so we settled for a barricade of miscellaneous furniture from the living room. It's hardly fit for a spread in Southern Living, but it serves the purpose.

The title of this post refers to two strange happenings today. It seems that Thomas the Tank Engine's friend Skarloey who has been MIA for quite a while was found in the toe of Andrew's stocking. Last week before we headed to Virginia I spent a tremendous amount of time searching for a brand new pair of leather slippers for Matthew that he had worn just a few times. I searched high and low but they were MIA as well. Today I discovered them in an empty coffee can on the back porch (go figure).

"Leaved Behind"

The grandparents came and went this weekend, taking with them the two eldest children. Now the house is unusually quiet, there are no toys in the floor, and the toilet seat is free of urine. I suppose by tomorrow afternoon I will start to miss the messes and mayhem, but I have rather enjoyed this quiet afternoon and evening.


We played in the leaves on Saturday before most were crunched into mulch for the flower beds.


I think Matthew is looking forward to his only child status.


We keep trying for a group shot, but this is as good as it gets.

Free Fall Fun

CostumReformaWeen Night

Whatever you want to call it, it is fun to dress up.

So much so that the boys arose at 5:30 am in celebration of the day. I'm not really sure if they thought we were dressing up so early, but they were so excited you would have thought it was Christmas. Thankfully the younger two napped, but Andrew was too wound up to be still. As the day progressed, the intensity rose until they were completely frantic at 5:30 pm.

Doug came home early to help assemble the fire engine. We ate, collected our gear, got the two firemen (costumes courtesy of Nana's yardsale shopping) and a dalmation (footed sleeper converted with $.78 of black fleece) dressed without mishap, and headed out the door. We only went to 8 houses, all of which we could see from our house, but the loot was outstanding (the advantage to having neighbors of a certain age who think your children are absolutely adorable).

Andrew was ready to turn around after the third house because he was so anxious to dive into the goods. Thankfully he held out because at the next to last house the lady said, "Are you sure you got enough?" to which he replied, "Well, really I didn't" and she added a couple of extra handfuls.

Fatigue was taking over as we headed towards home, but the sight of all the candy spread on the table caused a quick revival. He lit into the M&Ms first and then he announced, "Nobody has eaten such-and-such a candy" and ate it; this was repeated over and over. I don't even want to think about how much sugar he consumed. I figure the faster it's gone, the better.

Stephen was in hog-heaven driving his fire engine, complete with flashing light and bell. Andrew rode in the back, and the puppy alternately rode and was carried. Now I know that I am his mother, but I must say he was just adorable (as you can judge from the numerous pictures) and Matthew thoroughly enjoyed himself.

(Mom, take a look at the picture of witch candy in the slides. Andrew announced, "It is the runaway pickle dressed up for Halloween as a witch."

Tribute to Our Roots

Somewhere in the upper limbs of the family tree is found Jefferson Davis, and in tribute (okay, really just because we wanted to do something outdoors and free and had never been there) we visited the Chickamauga Battlefield yesterday. It was the last major victory for the Confederacy, but both sides incurred heavy losses in the two day battle: over 34,000 wounded, killed or mission. (Actually I don't think Davis had any personal connection to this particular battle).

We traversed the 5200 acre park by van and on foot, saw plenty of cannons, and numerous signs and monuments to the various troops who fought and died (over 600 were erected between 1870 and 1910).

My personal opinion on this whole "War of Northern Aggression" mania is that it was over long ago (nearly 150 years) and it is time to realize the South did indeed lose; but seeing as I make my home south of the Mason-Dixon line, I try to keep these sacrilegious thoughts to myself.

Wilder's Monument is an 85 foot tower which we climbed (our legs felt like jello afterwards and we are both hobbling today.

The view from the top

Stephen shooting the enemies

Matthew enjoying freedom from the backpack

While Doug and Andrew played football yesterday afternoon, Stephen moved about on his "baseball motorcycle." Matthew ate grass and practised mastering his newly found skill of crawling.

I went back through Andrew and Stephen's records to see when all this happened before. Andrew crawled right at nine months and walked at 10; Stephen crawled just after 9 months and walked at 11. Seeing as we are just past the 8 month mark, Matthew may be our earliest walker - oh, dear!

Gifts, Genes, and Games

GIFTS

The long awaited gift arrived Monday afternoon. Stephen immediately opened the box to find a wonderful front end loader (really, a skid steer). Now as Andrew had been the one really anxious for the gift to arrive, he could not understand why Stephen was not willing to share. Thus he employed every manipulative trick he could think of:

"Here is a book, Stephen. Would you like to trade."

"It is nice to share, Stephen."

"Momma, Stephen said 'no' when I asked if he wanted to share. He should have said, 'No, thank you.'"

In the end the toy ended up on the top of refrigerator for the rest of the day since I had instituted a friend's rule of "NO TOYS IN THE KITCHEN FLOOR." The boys were not phased. Instead they were busy pretending to be forklifts loading and unloading the Fed-Ex truck.

GENES

Apparently Stephen got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I think I aged a few years in the first 30 minutes he was up this morning. Multiple returns to his room did nothing to change his humor, and on top of it all, I knew we had to go to the pediatrician for a check-up.

Once at the doctor's office, asking him to remove his shoes was a big deal. He was very offended that the nurse pricked his finger to get a drop of blood. When she whispered something into his ear for him to tell me, he declared, "I can't talk." The doctor asked him how old he was and he said, "Four." Andrew answered the remainder of the questions. Thankfully the nurse said we could put off the one shot he was due; that would have just been too much.

The poor kid is destined for shortness. He is over an inch shy of 3 feet and at 23 lbs., he still hasn't tripled his birth weight (a measure often reached at 12 months). But he is growing according to his own curve and is healthy and happy (most of the time).

GAMES

I don't understand it but our boys (especially Andrew) prefer to play in the front yard versus the back fenced yard. Maybe they don't like the feeling of confinement, maybe they are trying to push the limits at an early age, or maybe they just don't like the scenery.

In any case they have been requesting and I have been allowing them to play in the front (I can hear the chant now, "Bad Mother! Bad Mother! Bad Mother!"); please don't call Social Services. After Stephen walked away a year ago, we've had no more escapes.

Today they brought out a load of scrap wood, four pieces of old water hose, all their construction vehicles, a large shovel and a hoe. It was some sort of construction site though I could never make out what they were actually doing. They were happily being boys.

Singin' in the Rain

Okay, we didn't actually sing in the rain, but we thoroughly enjoyed the sound from our screened porch. After only receiving 1/10th of an inch this month, the showers today were music to my ears.

Here Stephen is enjoying a wheat-free/dairy-free/egg-free/peanut-free/tasty chocolate chip cookie while simultaneously entertaining Matthew.Matthew was full of smiles and looking quite the big boy in his overalls. Is he really almost 7 months old?
Beware: two-year-old with knife! Workman Stephen used his chainsaw to cut up the logs which I shredded into mulch to make some "Kazuni" bread. He's quite the enthusiastic helper.
The boys really enjoyed making license plates which I had to tape to their backs because they were race cars. The red and yellow stickers are actually head lights and brake lights.

Pigpen

This does not refer to the state of our house (though sometimes that would be appropriate); rather it is in reference to Charlie Brown's beloved friend. I think he was cloned and sent to Chattanooga. I should have known I was destined to have a brood of boys when we bought this house. Not only is the yard large with two ditches and numerous trees, but there is an ample supply of dry, dusty dirt and pea gravel. The latter has occupied the boys for hours the past few days as they alternate between building fires (sprinkling dirt on scrap lumber, with a slotted spoon no less)and making steam (dumping dirt into a 5 gallon bucket to watch the mushroom cloud).

Following in the steps of his namesake, Stephen has repeatedly gotten his knee stuck in the kitchen chairs. Bad mother that I am, I say, "Oh, let me get the camera first!" before removing the lodged body part.

Our garden is growing well, but we are in desperate need of rain.In watering my thirsty plants I found these creatures: a butterfly aptly enjoyed my Butterfly Bush and

a spider in the spirea with a most unusual web.

I guess I'd better check on the construction workers before the lumber turns into weapons!

Flopsy, Mopsy & Cottontail

During our morning walk, we happened upon ripe blackberries. We ate ourselves silly and returning home with stained hands and mouths, we located the owner of the property who gave us permission to pick as many as we liked.

After gathering buckets and snacks and water and using the bathroom and changing clothes and loading into the van and driving 1/2 mile to the spot and unloading and putting the baby in the stroller and getting out the snacks and water and buckets, we were ready to start. Let me rephrase that, I was ready to start. Stephen did assist for a little while by holding a bucket and telling me to put the berries in there. The excitement quickly waned and he went off to do something.

I should have paid more attention, but my focus was berries and lots of them. Then I heard Stephen cry, "He dumped out the berries." I knew Andrew was right beside me so it had to be Matthew to which he was referring. I turned around to find that for some reason known only to a toddler, Stephen had placed his bowl of berries on top of Matthew in the stroller. Matthew proceeded to turn out the cup-or-so of fresh blackberries onto himself and then kick his legs violently. His legs were purple and splotchy, and Stephen was upset by the loss of his produce.

I did manage to pick a gallon or so before the rain came. The boys occupied themselves, not by being the good little rabbits, but by pretending to be Peter. I was obliged to threaten to beat them with my hoe if they didn't stay out of the garden.

I never did catch the naughty rabbits, but I did make a delicious wheat-free version of "Mom's Cobbler" that Doug and I enjoyed a la mode.

Evening Battles

Fortified with a full meal and "even kazert" on occasion, the boys of the home sans Matthew retreat to the bedroom to do battle. The untold stories of the Israelite soldiers & Goliath are brought to life every night in our home. It seems that though unrecorded in the Biblical account, Goliath was a good snuggler. Who would have thought? Apparently Goliath has more lives than a cat as he repeatedly and miraculously recovers from decapitation. And even though the Israelite army is few in numbers (two to be exact), they are always victorious (maybe it has something to do with modern technology such as trains and chain saws). Through the shrieks and squeals and shouting, I overhead Andrew's sweet sing-song voice as he looked for the enemy, "Where are you? I want to kill you."

Quote of the Day

"I just wiped snot on Maff-a-yooou."

Ah, brotherly love! Spring, and all the pollen that comes with it, has hit the 'Nooga full force leaving a trail of used tissues in its wake. Thankfully, I had the foresight to tell Stephen to kiss Matthew's belly and not his face. I checked with the doctor about allergy meds, and I must admit that there was just the briefest moment of elation when she cautioned that it might make him drowsy.

Here are the other two drowsy boys taking an afternoon siesta on my bed.

It's been a pretty exciting week in the neighborhood. Here are the boys watching a man from the electric company trim our trees. Stephen, our little guard dog, was upset at first. "I'm gonna be mad at that worker if he cuts down our tree." It was pretty neat, though, because the cherry picker was on a flatbed behind his pickup and was operated by a remote control. We had never seen one of those before.

We also got to watch an excavator and skid steer tear down the remains of a house that burned a couple of weeks ago. This is Matthew's typical vantage point.

Awhile back I found a recipe for slime that was made with Metamucil and have been wanting to try it. We happened upon the main ingredient on clearance for $1 at Walgreens and tried it out. The boys were unsure of it at first and just sat in their chairs looking at the orange blob, but finally they dug in with spoons and pretended to be excavators.

Week in Review

You would think by now I would get the hang of this. Every afternoon around 4 pm I am striken with the realization that I must serve my family something for dinner. (A quick calculation shows that this has happened nearly 1500 times since the arrival of children). It's not that I don't like to cook or even mind going to the grocery store. It's planning what to eat for a week (or even a few days) that is difficult. Nothing appeals to me anymore, groceries are expensive, the children are picky, and we have a number of wacky dietary restrictions.

I once read an essay about a woman's mother who routinely served a dish on Sunday night called "Week in Review." Basically she took the various leftovers from the week, mixed all in a casserole dish, topped it with cheese and baked until bubbly.

So at 5 o'clock I opened the fridge and this is what I saw: a jar of pickles, a jar of applesauce, carrots and celery, various condiments. Even with a thick layer of cheese, I don't think you could make a meal.

It was time for Plan B, which I am ashamed to admit, is the standard chicken nugget. Actually there is nothing standard about a bunch of spare chicken parts, breaded and shaped into the form of a dinosaur. Nevertheless, it was quick and the children will eat them. Who can resist a funny face?



Actually, Andrew can. He refused to eat the pineapple eyes (even though he had eaten them earlier in the week) so he had to sit at the table until he was finally saved by the bath.

For us, Doug hit the local bar (Merv's) for the biggest, cheapest burgers out there. While I waited for him to return, I perused the grocery store ads and made a list. I even went to the store while he bathed the boys. We'll see if next week is any better.

And for our Week in Review activity wise:

We enjoyed the warm weather and the return of picnic lunches (which are great 'cause the ants handle cleanup). Once again, Andrew refused to eat his food (a sunflower butter and strawberry jam sandwich).

My mom gave me a book that lists various activities to improve listening skills and Andrew loves to read through it. We decided to try tapping on glasses (empty, 1/2 full, and completely full) to test the sound. Stephen thoroughly enjoyed the chance to bang on something.

I love this look on Matthew's face. Maybe there is a correlation between the number of chins and the amount of happiness!

And here he is modeling a big boy outfit.

Best of all, this marks the first week in 2008 when we had no medical appointments. Quite an achievement with 3 small kids.

Dam Boys

There are days when there may be slight alterations to the title of this post, but thankfully not today.

The much needed rain earlier in the week filled the ditches of our yard with water, providing a perfect spot for two stir crazy boys to play. While the boys fished for tractors and threw countless sticks into the water, I acted as the Head Engineer (with my trusty assistant Matthew warmly wrapped and safely strapped in the Bjorn).

At first we studied an existing dam formed by a tree root and leaves. Then we broke pieces of fallen tree limbs to create our own dam. Finally we cleared the first dam until the water flowed freely, and sailed dandelion and flowering quince boats over the "waterfall."

Although the boys both soaked their shoes, no one fell in - a minor miracle.

And here is the assistant at 5 weeks old. In honor of the milestone, he slept 5 straight hours!!!