Mother/Daughter, Father/Son Night

 Can you see the new teeth?  You might have to click on the picture to make it bigger.  The first one is still only about half out when the second one came through.  He's drooling a lot but not bothered by it at all.

 I love the expression in this one...

 Look at his new trick! - Up on his hands and knees.  He bobs back and forth like this, then goes back to the floor.  He'll be crawling before we know it :)

 All that exercise made him tired :)

 The brothers all get along really well and enjoy playing together.  Yesterday the eight year old came an laid down in the baby's lap, which the baby thought was hysterical.

 Aww... Brotherly love :)

 Don't you just love how flexible babies are?  I mean really.  Can you put your toes in your armpits?

 I'm having to be careful about which jewelry I wear now.  The baby thinks it is a toy put there just for him.  So I have to wear just the sturdy ones.  We were having a great little visit :)

 And then the three year old came in from playing in the yard.  Talk about no need for sunscreen - he was covered in dirt! 

See those hands?  He must have grabbed dirt and rubbed it on his face.  What a mess!

 

 Last evening my daughter and I had a girls night - watching the second half of Pride and Prejudice, which is a very good movie, if you have about 5 hours to spare :)

 In the mean time, my husband took the boys fishing ... and came home with these three monsters.  Okay, two monsters and their little friend.

 Not a bad catch, eh?  And he was "lazy fishing" as he put it - just using worms.  He wanted to do some reading, and had the boys to keep up with too.  He caught all three of these within 30 minutes.

 The three year old wasn't sure what to think of them.

But it didn't take long for him to decide they were pretty cool.

 

 These were bigger than the others we've caught so far this year.

 The three year old thought he had to hold one of the fish too. 

 We were trying to get him to stand by Dad to show all the fish together, so someone (his sister, I think) told him to have his fish kiss the other fish.  Something was lost in translation though, and he kissed the fish - both his and the big one Dad was holding.  :)

 I just love this expression.

 The eight year old has been wanting to learn to filet fish, and he got his first lesson last night.  Of course much more practice will be required.  There was a lot of meat left behind, but he was listening and trying his best.  Dad was showing him how to feel where the bones were with the blade of the knife.

We ended up with a lot of fish.  This is a gallon sized bag.  Not bad for one relaxing evening.  I think we'll save this for when our company gets here.  My dad should arrive here tomorrow, and then my sister and her family are hoping to come over the weekend.  My husband's side of the family is having a big family reunion this weekend too, so we'll have plenty of visiting to do.  I'm working on a big family tree display for that, which I'll have to show you later.  Right now I better get back to work on that and on a little more housework.

O Happy Day!

 My kids love me.  If you doubt that, see the picture above :)  This was my Mother's Day gift from my oldest two kids (with a little added help from their Dad).  Actually, they sent me the basic nook, and I upgraded to the color.  I've wanted one of these for a long time, but couldn't justify the cost.  I am a tactile person & prefer to read a good old fashioned book, but I love that I can load a bunch of books on here and have the portability.  Plus, I can check my email and search the internet, so now I won't have to pack my computer when I'm going on a short trip.  THANKS GUYS :)

 We've had a typical snuggly, cuddly week.  Nothing too exciting going on... at least nothing out of the ordinary.

 Hats have been the chosen toy of the month.  You know, now that it's actually been above 60 degrees for more than a week, it's time to break out the stocking caps.  lol.

He's figured out that I'm storing them in the chest we're using as a window seat, so they're within easy reach.  So when I made it to the dollar store on Thursday, I grabbed a few hats - construction hard hats and fireman hats.  Maybe he'll leave our winter stuff alone now... probably not.

 

 The baby is really getting good at scooting backwards.  He's all over the place.  Only problem is that he keeps getting stuck.  Is it cruel that I responded to his yelling for help by grabbing the camera first?  :)  My husband thought it was.

 The poor little guy has really struggled with eczema.  See these spots on his back?  They were bigger than a nickel and very itchy.  This was after he had been on an antibiotic that was supposed to help with the eczema.  We've been working with our pediatrician to try to figure out how to get rid of it, but it's been a constant problem since he was three months old.  We finally went to a dermatologist on Thursday to try to get more help.

The front doesn't look as bad, but he scratches it and tears the skin, which then gets infected.  The dermatologist said we're doing the right things and wants us to continue with a few minor adjustments.  He does much better when he has a bath (never using soap), so we're supposed to give him one at least every day - more if we have time, and instead of using lotion to slather him afterwards, he wants us to try regular old vasoline.  He also prescribed the next more potent steroid ointment for the spots - which is strong enough we're only to use it on his belly and back.  He gave us some samples of a very expensive non-steroid cream for his face and extremities.  But right now his face looks good, so I can't tell you if it works better yet or not.

 He's sure enjoying all the baths though.  See how nice he looks all cleaned up with his hair combed down?
 

This was right before we headed to the dermatologist.  By the time we got there an hour and a half later he had a mohawk - perfectly shaped, rounded up both sides, with a peak directly in the middle all the way back.  I didn't have a camera with me, but it was c.u.t.e.!  He pulls his hair when he's mad - or when he's tired - or when he's drinking a bottle, so he must have been messing with it on the drive.  It was funny though because everyone thought I had done that on purpose. 

Anyway, that was Thursday - an hour and a half north to the doctor.  Then on Friday we went an hour and a half south to our nephew's college graduation.  I didn't think the two youngest boys could sit through it without making everyone around us angry, so I went shopping with them instead.  Then we went to dinner and drove home - not arriving home until 1 am.  I was so exhausted.  We would have stayed over but my daughter had to work Saturday morning at 7 am, so we just had to come home.  Saturday morning (late morning) we went to breakfast and then to one garage sale at noon, and I was lucky enough to find a double stroller with a lot of cool features.  I'll show it to you when we use it.  It was cold and rainy yesterday so we didn't get a chance to test it out.  Instead, we worked on cleaning out the garage... a never ending task.  And I tried to figure out how to use my nook. :)  Then we grilled some steaks, had a nice family dinner and played Mexican Train Dominoes and watched a couple episodes of Psych (from a DVD from the library.  It was a good day.

By the way, we noticed the baby is getting another tooth - the bottom left this time.  The bottom right one isn't even fully in yet, and now this new one has broken through.  So far he teethes easily with no sign that he's getting one in until we see it.  Hopefully that will continue to be the case.  I tried to get a picture of it, but he wasn't cooperating :)

Awesome Mail

 Yesterday we got a great box of goodies from my sister and brother-in-law.

 There was this awesome steamer pot (not sure what they're really called, but they have a strainer container within the outer pot, and also a shallow strainer on top).  They sent some cajun seasoning too, and it made me want to run to the store for shrimp!  But that will have to wait until Friday when we go out of town for my nephew's college graduation.  No way I'm paying for shrimp at our local highly overpriced store.  I've never had one of these pots and I know I'm going to use it all the time.  I bet our fresh veggies we get from our co-op baskets will be wonderful steamed :)

They also sent us a bunch of coffee goodies - espresso beans, and several different Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts coffee beans, and a nice canister from Starbucks.  They switched over to a Keurig machine and we got the coffee they had left.  A big THANKS S & J!!!

Mother's Day & the Week in Review

 What could be better than a day spent with my favorite little people in the world?  I had a great Mother's Day. 

 We went to the lake for a picnic with my in-laws.  It's a tradition :)  Every Mother's Day we try to picnic at the lake (if it's not snowing).  This was the warmest I remember having.  It was a sunny and gorgeous day.  I even got quite a sunburn.  It's not unusual for there to still be ice on the lake on Mother's Day, but it's been off for about a month now, which is very unusual.

 Don't you just love this little chair?  The baby fits in it perfectly.  Makes me think of the three bears, with a chair in just the right size for everyone.  He was getting ready for his lunch.  He had squash, but the rest of us had some deli chicken, suddenly salad, chips, potato wedges and carrot cake.  No cooking today!

 The boys enjoyed themselves.  They waded in the water, played in the sand, and did a little fishing.

 The Moms enjoyed the shade, visiting, and watching the boys play.

 They can be pretty entertaining.

 Can you see the eight year old behind the trees?  I would have had much better pictures but my camera battery died just as I was getting started taking pictures.  I forgot to grab my big camera and only had the one that stays in the diaper bag, and I haven't charged it in forever.

 Anyway, for Mother's Day, my family treated me to some great flowers.  I already had the hanging basket, and the ones on the top right are what we bought my Mother-in-law. I was able to pick out my own flowers, and I chose the purple and white daisy like flowers (not sure what they really are), and two peony plants.

 Peonies are my favorite flower in the world - they smell amazing.  My grandmothers both had peony plants and I always loved them.  I picked out a light pink plant with three blooms getting ready to open, and a dark pink one with no blooms showing yet.  I think I'll plant them in a large container that I can take with me if we move (since we're in a rental).

 When I was going through my pictures for the Mother's Day post I realized I haven't posted for awhile.  So here's what else has gone on this week.  I received the last of the sewing books I was expecting.  This one is more of a basics book - explaining not only how to do different techniques, but why.  Since I'm self-taught, I figured a good review of the basics would help me with the pattern-making I've been trying to do.

 Speaking of pattern-making, I want to make a shirt like this one - which is what a one year old was wearing when she came to my daycare last week.  It has ruffles on the sleeves - I think these are called raglan sleeves.  Anyway, the front looks just like the back.  There are three ruffles on each sleeve.

 Wednesday and Thursday night I attended a training class for my daycare licensing.  I always enjoy the trainings.  We have to have a certain number of hours every two years, but I'm always way over that.  This class was about using literacy to help kids be able to express their feelings and behavior, for instance, when they hit another kid, teaching them instead to say, "I don't like it when you take my ball."  In other words, giving them the words to express themselves properly.

 I came across the three year old on stilts... um, I mean, wearing his sister's flip flops.

 These are not your typical flip flops.

 He thought he was pretty big stuff.

 I also finally got the big stroller out and took the kids to the park. I hadn't gone yet because I have a lot of littler kids this year and the nap schedule is off.  I used to have everyone nap just once after lunch, so we could go in the mornings.  But now, I have three little people who nap in the morning, then again later, and so I usually have at least two kids napping at some point all day.  I finally decided just to skip one of the naps so we could go anyway.  They had a blast.  Look like a full load?

 How about from this angle?  It was a bit of a trick to figure out where to seat everyone so that they would best get along, but this arrangement worked out pretty well.

 I took a big fleece blanket (which I found at the thrift store for this exact purpose) for the babies to sit on.  The grass at the park tends to be damp a lot of the time.  This blanket is thick enough it gives good padding and will at least slow down the water if there is any.  And the kids love that it has superman on it.

 We spent about an hour playing at the park.  It was a lot of fun, and we're going to have to repeat it.  The homeschoolers meet for lunch twice a week at the park and I think we'll try to join them.  I don't plan to do lunch there, but if we eat a little early, we can go play with them.  It's too much trouble to try to take everyone's food and washcloths to clean them all up afterwards.

 This was just funny to me, so I had to take a picture of the kids.  The eight year old and my daughter were earning Swagbucks for me, playing the games, and the baby was squeezed in with them.

 Friday night my husband came home with this little fishy.  It's a lake trout - aka Mackinaw - and much bigger than the others we've been catching, but from the same location.

 Pardon the dirty dishes.  The fish was 22 inches long.

 It was really fat, and stuffed full of mosquito or mayfly larvae (we weren't sure which).

So after the daycare kids left my husband and I headed out for our usual Friday night date, but instead of heading to an expensive restaurant, we grabbed a couple of burgers and headed to the lake.  I know, it's not real romantic to take a book with you on a date, but I know how my husband fishes ... until you can't see outside anymore.  After spending the whole day with the daycare kids, I'm ready to sit back and relax.  I love to fish, and do that for an hour or so, but then I'm ready to sit back and read a book, and listen to nothing but the wind in the trees and the waves on the beach. Aah.....

 Saturday we hit all the yard sales and came away with a bunch of great deals - mostly kids clothes and daycare supplies - and then we had a nice lunch together.  In the evening it occurred to me that I still needed to change the church bulletin board for graduation, so after giving everyone baths, I finally managed to get over to the church at 9:45 pm.  It took me about an hour to put this one up.  It was one of those "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" moments.  I didn't have enough of any one color paper to completely cover the board, and I didn't have many supplies.  So I used brown paper at the top and green in the middle, leaving the silver strip from the previous board (which I just covered up) at the bottom.  The school colors are green and orange, so I used orange napkins under the word "congratulations" and the ones you can't see well are napkins with smiley faces wearing graduation hats.  The pastor's wife had supplied me with her invitation and picture, so I cut out a construction paper frame and put her picture up too.  I like how it turned out, especially that the background is very simple.  I think I may just leave that background up and decorate on that.  Now I'm wishing I had taken the other one down first.  I left it because this one will only be up a couple of weeks.  Oh well.

Bed Bugs... er... Boys

 I have an infestation of bed bugs.  Or maybe I should call them bed boys.  They all think that's the fun place to play.  Not that I mind, so long as they move out by the time I want to get some sleep :) 

I just got back from taking the eight year old with me to vote.  I figured it was a good homeschool field trip.  We had to go to two places to vote - the town hall to vote for town council members, and the county location to decide whether we want three or five county commissioners.

 I know you're probably getting sick of pictures of the kids reading, but I wanted to show you how our eight year old reads in the midst of daycare chaos - or in the evenings when my husband and I are having a conversation.  It works for him!

 The other night I kept hearing a thumping noise and found the baby stomping on the wall.  This is the only wall we share with the other half of the duplex, and of course that was the one he was pounding on.

The eight year old has finished his pottery class.  Here he is with all of his creations.  

He made the coffee cups (the teacher helped attach the handles) for his aunt and uncle.  I hope they're thirsty :)  They are much bigger than they appear.  The blue one is the one he made for eating "cereal and macaroni and cheese" - hopefully not all at the same time lol.  It too is on the large side.  The one in the same row with the blue one - to the right of it - is for me.  I'm going to plant a flower in it.  Now I really want to take a class.  I've always wanted to learn to do pottery.  The trick is finding the time for it.

 I've been getting lots of great mail lately.  I'm hoping this little scanner will simplify my life.

 I'm not kidding when I say little either.  It's kind of tiny, which I think is a great thing.  It's ironic that something so small could do so much.  The goal is to scan every piece of stray paper and get rid of my piles.  Paper clutter is the biggest problem I struggle with.  It also should help me always have the necessary receipts for tax time.

 Wish me luck.  I don't have time to read up on all of it while the daycare kids are here, so hopefully I will get a chance to set it up this evening and get started scanning.

 I also (of course) got a few books - Time Management from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, and Mind in the Making by Ellen Galinsky.  I will get a reimbursement for purchasing Mind in the Making once I've read it and turned in a review to a daycare program.  So far it's an interesting read.
 

And of course there's another sewing related book.  Patternmaking For a Perfect Fit:Using the Rub-off Technique to Re-create and Redesign Your Favorite Fashions by Steffani Lincecum.  I'm in the middle of the other patternmaking book I already received, and so far I'm impressed.  Now if I could just find the time to put some of the things I'm learning into action...