We got our family pictures taken several weeks ago. I can't post pictures yet, but whenever we look at the pictures online Piper will see himself and say, "Hey! There's Piper the Morken!"
Yesterday I was spraying degreaser on the stove and Piper walked past. Some of the mist got on him. He jumped back and said, "You almost cleaned me, Mommy!"
Saturday, November 10, 2012
favorite songs
Finley and Piper both have favorite songs that they like to listen to over and over. Finley's favorite is Behold Our God by Sovereign Grace Music. Watch it here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6juePKlRKtI
Piper's favorite is All I Have is Christ by Sovereign Grace Music. He will come find me and ask for "Harin Hill". Erin Hill sings it. =) Watch it here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0vfz5lr37g
Oliver doesn't seem to have a favorite yet as he just likes to sing and dance to anything.
Piper's favorite is All I Have is Christ by Sovereign Grace Music. He will come find me and ask for "Harin Hill". Erin Hill sings it. =) Watch it here...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0vfz5lr37g
Oliver doesn't seem to have a favorite yet as he just likes to sing and dance to anything.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
the box of carrots
Our last nice day was about a week ago. A nice day means above 60. I'm pretty sure the 60 degrees days are behind us and we won't see them again for 7 months. That's depressing...
Oliver loves getting muddy and he loves running water. He gets both at the same time when we're in the garden. The well is about 10 feet from the garden, which means endless supply of water and dirt within walking distance for him. He takes advantage of it.
Piper with his giant carrot. These were not uncommon to find in our garden. We had such a good year for everything. I love Piper's big brown eyes in this picture. He loved following me around the garden with his little bucket so that I could put vegetables in it.
Finley and his giant carrot. You can see that he loves mud too as you can't even tell that this is a carrot from all the mud on it.
On Monday, I finally finished freezing and canning tomatoes and sauce and froze 18 quarts of carrots. On Tuesday, Matthew asked me if I wanted the 2 dozen more carrots that were still in the garden. "Uhh...no"? There's a box of 25 carrots sitting by our back door. They can't be outside or else they will freeze, so they are sitting right inside the back door. That means whenever someone opens the door they run into the box of carrots and then have to take a step back to close the door a little so they can step over the box of carrots. I'm sick of looking at the box of carrots, but I just can't bring myself to touch THE BOX OF CARROTS!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
friends or brothers?
Finley is again in AWANA this year and does very well memorizing verses. However, there was a section to bring a friend and you don't get an award until you bring a friend...or so I thought. All he had to do was invite a friend and then he would get his award. From the way it sounded, he was the only one that didn't get an award tonight because he hadn't invited anyone. Breaks my heart typing it. He was so upset afterward that the Sparks director was in talking to him about it. While talking to him about how he needed to invite a friend, she asked, "Do you have any friends you could invite?" He replied, "All I have is two little boys in diapers." I'm pretty sure the book didn't mean to bring your little brothers ages 2-1/2 and 15 months. He's so sweet...
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
how fitting
How fitting, that the last blog post 7 MONTHS AGO was about pee and this one will also include a conversation about peeing. Do I ever talk about anything else? Finley has been dry for 1 week straight in the morning! A huge accomplishment for him! I wake him at 11:30 at night and take him to the bathroom and then sometimes lie awake half the night wondering if he'll be dry in the morning. We are no longer surprised though when he is.
When he turned 5 September 2, he decided quite abruptly that he was no longer going to wear a diaper at night. Well then! So, it all started. I set my alarm for every 2 hours in the beginning ALL NIGHT LONG to wake him up to pee. He sleeps so soundly that he would sometimes fall down if I let go of his arm leading him to the bathroom. One time I found him bent at the waist over the toilet with his head resting on the toilet seat and his arms hanging down both sides ASLEEP! This is what I've been up against for a month and a half! We worked our way out to 2-1/2 hour increments and then 3, etc. It was a long process, but I do believe we are there! One less diaper per night! Finley loves to draw, play in the dirt or gravel outside with his tractors or swing on the tire swing. He's very good at drawing now and will attempt to draw anything that I tell him to. His favorite though is to draw a house with a tractor and one or both of his brothers. The latest was a house with a big window...big enough to see a little figure (Oliver) jumping on the couch! Another recent one was clearly a little boy (Finley) standing next to someone with really long legs (Matthew). That one made me laugh.
Piper had been dry almost every night until Finley started waking up dry and then he decided to start wetting the bed. I'm not ready to retrain right now and lose more sleep, so he wears a diaper again and quite proudly exclaims every morning, "Mommy, I peed in my bed!" like it's the thing to be most proud of. I try to tell him that it's not good, but he's so happy in the morning that I just can't get any remorse from him. He's usually the last to wake of the 3 boys and loves to sneak downstairs and surprise everyone as we're playing on the living room floor. Finley likes to act like he's surprised, but Oliver really is surprised and loves to see Piper jump out from behind the stairway door. Piper makes it his mission in life right now to not eat anything that I make. He's very good at this. But, I'm very good at being stubborn too. Sometimes, the only reason I win though is because I am Mommy...period. Piper loves our animals and is very good at feeding them and petting them and loving on them. Every day for his nap, he sleeps on the dining room floor. This is his choice and it's better than putting him in bed with no nap and waking up Oliver, so I just go with it. It's one of the Mommy rules that I bend, but only because if I didn't, I would be more of a bear by the end of the day than he would be. This allows for a very quiet house for about 1-1/2 hours as Finley and I have a quiet time and then draw, paint, play with play doh, or make a dessert. I imagine Piper will be finished with naps in the next few months and he will then join us in the quiet time and then activity. He already loves to draw.
Oliver loves any surprise. If you can jump out and scare him, he will want you to do it over and over. He loves to sneak up on people and try to get them when they aren't looking. He likes to eat and at any point in the day...even 30 minutes after a full meal, will try to climb up in his chair to eat again. Oliver also really likes playing outside. He doesn't care how cold it is, he just wants to be out there. He learned to jump last night with Piper, so he's been trying to walk and jump at the same time. It doesn't work. And since the other boys are into peeing, I'll tell you that Oliver seems to want to pee like a big boy. I AM NOT ready to potty train, but I'm thinking he may be pretty easy with all the demonstrations he gets in a day! If I let him run wild outside, I would find him in the garden covered in mud, eating mud and picking and eating peppers. He's taken full bites out of our jalapeno peppers (not even grown men could do that) and just barely whimpered. I watched it with my own eyes one day when I was tired of telling him "no" and decided to let him learn for himself. That backfired. Apparently, he doesn't think they are that spicy. Maybe the secret to eating jalapenos is to have mud in your mouth too??? Might have to share that one.
Along the lines of our garden. We accidentally bought 12 jalapeno plants that were marked wrong at Walmart and ended up with over easily over 1000 jalapeno peppers. We ended up giving a lot away, freezing some and using some for salsas. Right now our freezer is filled with them. Here's our professional picture we had done with the first couple hundred of our thousand!
We also planted 5 tomato plants and after picking many ripe tomatoes and making salsa and spaghetti sauce, we got a hard freeze and I had to pick the rest. Our home office was filled with 750 green tomatoes! There have been 125 that have turned red and the rest are on their way to turning red. I have another 10 batches of spaghetti sauce in the fridge ready to assemble and can tonight.
We had family pictures taken again by Monica (see above picture and last years' fall pictures) a few weeks ago. They will be up soon. Can't wait to share them with you! Have fun with this update. There may not be another for another 7 months!
When he turned 5 September 2, he decided quite abruptly that he was no longer going to wear a diaper at night. Well then! So, it all started. I set my alarm for every 2 hours in the beginning ALL NIGHT LONG to wake him up to pee. He sleeps so soundly that he would sometimes fall down if I let go of his arm leading him to the bathroom. One time I found him bent at the waist over the toilet with his head resting on the toilet seat and his arms hanging down both sides ASLEEP! This is what I've been up against for a month and a half! We worked our way out to 2-1/2 hour increments and then 3, etc. It was a long process, but I do believe we are there! One less diaper per night! Finley loves to draw, play in the dirt or gravel outside with his tractors or swing on the tire swing. He's very good at drawing now and will attempt to draw anything that I tell him to. His favorite though is to draw a house with a tractor and one or both of his brothers. The latest was a house with a big window...big enough to see a little figure (Oliver) jumping on the couch! Another recent one was clearly a little boy (Finley) standing next to someone with really long legs (Matthew). That one made me laugh.
Piper had been dry almost every night until Finley started waking up dry and then he decided to start wetting the bed. I'm not ready to retrain right now and lose more sleep, so he wears a diaper again and quite proudly exclaims every morning, "Mommy, I peed in my bed!" like it's the thing to be most proud of. I try to tell him that it's not good, but he's so happy in the morning that I just can't get any remorse from him. He's usually the last to wake of the 3 boys and loves to sneak downstairs and surprise everyone as we're playing on the living room floor. Finley likes to act like he's surprised, but Oliver really is surprised and loves to see Piper jump out from behind the stairway door. Piper makes it his mission in life right now to not eat anything that I make. He's very good at this. But, I'm very good at being stubborn too. Sometimes, the only reason I win though is because I am Mommy...period. Piper loves our animals and is very good at feeding them and petting them and loving on them. Every day for his nap, he sleeps on the dining room floor. This is his choice and it's better than putting him in bed with no nap and waking up Oliver, so I just go with it. It's one of the Mommy rules that I bend, but only because if I didn't, I would be more of a bear by the end of the day than he would be. This allows for a very quiet house for about 1-1/2 hours as Finley and I have a quiet time and then draw, paint, play with play doh, or make a dessert. I imagine Piper will be finished with naps in the next few months and he will then join us in the quiet time and then activity. He already loves to draw.
Oliver loves any surprise. If you can jump out and scare him, he will want you to do it over and over. He loves to sneak up on people and try to get them when they aren't looking. He likes to eat and at any point in the day...even 30 minutes after a full meal, will try to climb up in his chair to eat again. Oliver also really likes playing outside. He doesn't care how cold it is, he just wants to be out there. He learned to jump last night with Piper, so he's been trying to walk and jump at the same time. It doesn't work. And since the other boys are into peeing, I'll tell you that Oliver seems to want to pee like a big boy. I AM NOT ready to potty train, but I'm thinking he may be pretty easy with all the demonstrations he gets in a day! If I let him run wild outside, I would find him in the garden covered in mud, eating mud and picking and eating peppers. He's taken full bites out of our jalapeno peppers (not even grown men could do that) and just barely whimpered. I watched it with my own eyes one day when I was tired of telling him "no" and decided to let him learn for himself. That backfired. Apparently, he doesn't think they are that spicy. Maybe the secret to eating jalapenos is to have mud in your mouth too??? Might have to share that one.
Along the lines of our garden. We accidentally bought 12 jalapeno plants that were marked wrong at Walmart and ended up with over easily over 1000 jalapeno peppers. We ended up giving a lot away, freezing some and using some for salsas. Right now our freezer is filled with them. Here's our professional picture we had done with the first couple hundred of our thousand!
We also planted 5 tomato plants and after picking many ripe tomatoes and making salsa and spaghetti sauce, we got a hard freeze and I had to pick the rest. Our home office was filled with 750 green tomatoes! There have been 125 that have turned red and the rest are on their way to turning red. I have another 10 batches of spaghetti sauce in the fridge ready to assemble and can tonight.
We had family pictures taken again by Monica (see above picture and last years' fall pictures) a few weeks ago. They will be up soon. Can't wait to share them with you! Have fun with this update. There may not be another for another 7 months!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
a morning conversation
I came downstairs in the morning to find Finley coming out of the bathroom.
Finley: "I peed in the potty."
Me: "Oh, good. Was your night diaper dry?"
Finley: "Yeah."
Me: "Great! Can I see it?"
Finley: "No, but I just want to lie to you a little bit."
Finley: "I peed in the potty."
Me: "Oh, good. Was your night diaper dry?"
Finley: "Yeah."
Me: "Great! Can I see it?"
Finley: "No, but I just want to lie to you a little bit."
Saturday, March 3, 2012
there. are. no. words.
I got a call from Matthew last Wednesday night at about 11 pm. The girl leader that he had lined up to go on the Sr. High ski trip the next day had something come up and I was the only person left to fill in. I love skiing. Actually, I love blading...the really short skis that can go through any snow-covered trail through the woods on the Giant's Ridge Resort. Under any other circumstances, I would have signed myself up to be the girl's leader. However, a 4 year old, a 2 year old and a nursing 8 month old are not conducive to skiing. I got off the phone and started laying out the boy's winter stuff, got overwhelmed just thinking of everything that had to be packed and started making out a list.
Matthew had to leave the house early the next morning as he was leaving with the group earlier in the day so that left me to take care of the boys, pack, load the van and close up the house for our 4-day trip. I waited until bedtime to leave so they would sleep the 5-hour travel to the resort.
DISCLAIMER**Our boys are really good kids. On a normal day, we have tons of smiles and a pretty easy-flowing routine. However, when that routine and sleep go out the window, so do the smiles and good kids**
I got out my list and started piling the stuff on the couch on the porch. The pile got higher and higher...very tempting to 2 little boys. I walked in one time to see the boys jumping in the blankets, pillows, winter clothes and every day clothes and throwing them in the air. You can imagine how happy I was at this point and it wasn't even nap time yet. Piper had a cold, Ollie had a cold and I had a cold and sinus pressure. We were a very crabby group. There were two times in the day when I called Matthew just to tell him that it was going to be nearly impossible for this to be pulled off. You may think that sounds incredibly negative, but sometimes you have to just look at the logistics and reality needs to set in. Both times I was reminded that if I didn't go, then the 4 girls who had signed up to go skiing couldn't go either.
Got everything packed and stuffed into a large suitcase and set it out in the porch to put in the van. Got all the pillows and blankets and added that pile to the suitcase. Got our food together in a cold/hot bag and put it in the pile. While Piper and Oliver cried and Finn got upset because they were crying, I got everything loaded into the van before it got dark. We left at 6:30.
Best case scenario--the boys would sleep all the way to the resort, we'd carry them in asleep and would lay them down asleep. Reality--The boys slept all the way there and then didn't want to sleep when we got to the resort at about midnight. Not only that, but Piper spiked a fever after we got there. One thing you have to know about Piper is, when you give him Children's Advil or Tylenol he gets very agitated as his fever is coming down. He also can't sleep for the next few hours after getting the medicine. It happened exactly like that. At 3:00 he finally was able to settle down and fall asleep. Ollie gave us an early wake up call at 7 (I usually have to wake him at 8). The resort mixed up our reservations and they didn't have rooms for us for the remainder of the time so we had to check out of those rooms at 11 and couldn't check into our hotel (30 minutes away) until 3. Afternoon nap time was spent in a busy room where all of our group put their suitcases and coolers. There were so many times that Piper and Oliver got woken up during their nap that it became a routine thing for the kids to exit the room and then report to me whether they were asleep or not. Needless to say, I had 3 very crabby/sick kids late afternoon. I left the resort with the boys and traveled to the hotel, checked in and then unloaded the van...running the whole time so as not to leave the boys unattended very long. Your mouths have probably dropped open now at the thought of me leaving the boys unattended in a hotel room, but there was no other way to do it. I needed diapers, wipes, clothes, medicine, pack & play, special blankets, the stroller and my clothes as I had been vomited on. The boys were antsy at being stuck inside all day and to put them in a closed up room was too much for them. Piper fell apart first. Then Oliver. Then Finley. Then me. The next 3 hours were some of the worst of my life. I tried taking them "on an adventure" through the hotel pushing Ollie in the stroller and Piper and Finley walking down the halls, but Piper ran from me up a flight of stairs and onto the next floor. Again, I had to leave Finley and Oliver to rescue Piper. Apparently, taking a walk through a hotel was too dangerous, so back to the dreaded room we headed. We were at the Holiday Inn Express and it was a very nice hotel, but somehow a 4 year old, 2 year old and 8 month old don't care how nice a place is. If there's only 1 room with a closed door, they won't like it. Ollie had a bad diaper when we got back so as I was changing him, Piper thought it would be a good time to open the baby Vicks container and smear it all over his shirt (first time) and then touch every button in the room while I was busy with Oliver.
At 7 o'clock Matthew got a friendly call from me. I told him that the kids were crying so loud (like he couldn't hear them) that we were going to get kicked out of the hotel. He was with the youth group and left them when he could to come help. More friendly conversation took place and he left to bring the group to the hotel and get Finley to go swimming. I calmed Piper and Oliver down for bed after Finley went to the pool with Matthew (which he absolutely loved). Matthew and Finley came back, gave Finley a bath and got him in bed. He was asleep in just a couple of minutes. I was climbing into bed when Matthew came back and asked me if I wanted to go to the Bible study that was starting in a few minutes. YES! GET ME OUT OF THIS ROOM! We went just a few rooms down to the great room in the hotel. From there we could hear the boys if they woke up. Sat through the Bible study and was talking with the girls afterwards when I heard crying. Walked to our room and Piper was standing at the door crying. Got him to bed and went to bed myself. Got up many times in the night to calm Piper down. He cried a lot of the night.
Next morning, 3 boys woke up hungry and thirsty. I made 3 quick trips to the breakfast room to get the boys their food. While they were eating, Matthew came in to tell me that there was a huge storm headed our way and that we could either beat it home by leaving that afternoon (leaving a day early) or stay 2 more nights and wait the storm out. Matthew had gotten sick the night before and so he wanted to leave early. PRAISE THE LORD!!! You've never seen someone throw so many clothes, toys, blankets, pillows and food into 1 suitcase so fast...praising Jesus the whole time. During this time of power-packing and feeding Oliver, Piper got back into the baby vicks (second time) and smeared it over his shirt and then called 9-1-1. While I was nursing Oliver, the manager of the hotel knocks loudly on the door then opens the door and asks if everything is okay as someone had called 9-1-1 from our room. I was so embarrassed. She was very understanding though and kind. Oliver got his morning nap at the hotel and I took the boys to the pool. The pool with 2 boys who don't know how to swim turned out to be the easiest part of the whole trip! They loved it and it was relaxing to see them having fun and smiling. We got back to the room, woke Oliver up and waited for Matthew to get back to the hotel with our van (the other leaders didn't want to drive the church's 15-passenger van so Matthew drove the big van and one of the leaders followed behind him with our van so that Matthew could get back to us at the hotel). It was a mess. Matthew got back, we packed up the van and I took Matthew to Urgent Care where they gave him meds for strep (second strep infection in a month for him). I dropped him off at a gas station to wait for the group to pick him up and I hit the road in time for afternoon naps. Got through Grand Rapids and about half way to Bemidji when Piper and Oliver woke up. Of course, this was not a peaceful waking up like at home. It was crying and wanting out of the car NOW! I drove for 30 minutes through the crying, trying to find a place to pull off. There was a lone road snow covered that led to a resort a few miles down. I didn't want to try the road, but pulled off just enough so that we could get back on the road easily, but still take the much-needed break that we needed. Pulled a little too close to the side of the road and had to wade through shin-deep snow to get to the back of the van. Got Oliver out of his seat and gave him his wipes box to play with while I was working on getting the other boys out of their seats. Finn had to pee so I told him we were going to stay in the van, but that I would open the side door and he could pee from inside out into the snow. He thought that was a fun idea so I opened the door, but forgot that Ollie had dropped his wipes box down between the seat and the door so when the automatic door opened, it cracked the box into 10 pieces. Finn peed out into the snow and then while his pants were down, he slipped and fell into the pee-snow. I picked him up while hanging out of the van-holding Oliver in the other arm and told him to stop crying and put him back in his seat. Piper was hungry and thirsty but there was no restaurant around. All I had was chocolate, so I gave it to him. (Please understand that I was certifiably insane at this time--seeing mirages of psychiatric hospitals that I could admit myself into). Piper doesn't like his hands dirty, so when his hands got melted chocolate all over them he wiped them off in his hair. I fed Ollie a bottle and put a very chocolaty Piper back in his seat. Stepped out of the back of the van into the pee-snow and wade through it to the front of the van. We drove the rest of the way home through the whining and crying and I put the boys to bed early.
I didn't take one picture during this trip...probably a good thing to not have any physical reminders of it.
When trying to talk about the trip, I explained, "there are no words to describe it."
Matthew had to leave the house early the next morning as he was leaving with the group earlier in the day so that left me to take care of the boys, pack, load the van and close up the house for our 4-day trip. I waited until bedtime to leave so they would sleep the 5-hour travel to the resort.
DISCLAIMER**Our boys are really good kids. On a normal day, we have tons of smiles and a pretty easy-flowing routine. However, when that routine and sleep go out the window, so do the smiles and good kids**
I got out my list and started piling the stuff on the couch on the porch. The pile got higher and higher...very tempting to 2 little boys. I walked in one time to see the boys jumping in the blankets, pillows, winter clothes and every day clothes and throwing them in the air. You can imagine how happy I was at this point and it wasn't even nap time yet. Piper had a cold, Ollie had a cold and I had a cold and sinus pressure. We were a very crabby group. There were two times in the day when I called Matthew just to tell him that it was going to be nearly impossible for this to be pulled off. You may think that sounds incredibly negative, but sometimes you have to just look at the logistics and reality needs to set in. Both times I was reminded that if I didn't go, then the 4 girls who had signed up to go skiing couldn't go either.
Got everything packed and stuffed into a large suitcase and set it out in the porch to put in the van. Got all the pillows and blankets and added that pile to the suitcase. Got our food together in a cold/hot bag and put it in the pile. While Piper and Oliver cried and Finn got upset because they were crying, I got everything loaded into the van before it got dark. We left at 6:30.
Best case scenario--the boys would sleep all the way to the resort, we'd carry them in asleep and would lay them down asleep. Reality--The boys slept all the way there and then didn't want to sleep when we got to the resort at about midnight. Not only that, but Piper spiked a fever after we got there. One thing you have to know about Piper is, when you give him Children's Advil or Tylenol he gets very agitated as his fever is coming down. He also can't sleep for the next few hours after getting the medicine. It happened exactly like that. At 3:00 he finally was able to settle down and fall asleep. Ollie gave us an early wake up call at 7 (I usually have to wake him at 8). The resort mixed up our reservations and they didn't have rooms for us for the remainder of the time so we had to check out of those rooms at 11 and couldn't check into our hotel (30 minutes away) until 3. Afternoon nap time was spent in a busy room where all of our group put their suitcases and coolers. There were so many times that Piper and Oliver got woken up during their nap that it became a routine thing for the kids to exit the room and then report to me whether they were asleep or not. Needless to say, I had 3 very crabby/sick kids late afternoon. I left the resort with the boys and traveled to the hotel, checked in and then unloaded the van...running the whole time so as not to leave the boys unattended very long. Your mouths have probably dropped open now at the thought of me leaving the boys unattended in a hotel room, but there was no other way to do it. I needed diapers, wipes, clothes, medicine, pack & play, special blankets, the stroller and my clothes as I had been vomited on. The boys were antsy at being stuck inside all day and to put them in a closed up room was too much for them. Piper fell apart first. Then Oliver. Then Finley. Then me. The next 3 hours were some of the worst of my life. I tried taking them "on an adventure" through the hotel pushing Ollie in the stroller and Piper and Finley walking down the halls, but Piper ran from me up a flight of stairs and onto the next floor. Again, I had to leave Finley and Oliver to rescue Piper. Apparently, taking a walk through a hotel was too dangerous, so back to the dreaded room we headed. We were at the Holiday Inn Express and it was a very nice hotel, but somehow a 4 year old, 2 year old and 8 month old don't care how nice a place is. If there's only 1 room with a closed door, they won't like it. Ollie had a bad diaper when we got back so as I was changing him, Piper thought it would be a good time to open the baby Vicks container and smear it all over his shirt (first time) and then touch every button in the room while I was busy with Oliver.
At 7 o'clock Matthew got a friendly call from me. I told him that the kids were crying so loud (like he couldn't hear them) that we were going to get kicked out of the hotel. He was with the youth group and left them when he could to come help. More friendly conversation took place and he left to bring the group to the hotel and get Finley to go swimming. I calmed Piper and Oliver down for bed after Finley went to the pool with Matthew (which he absolutely loved). Matthew and Finley came back, gave Finley a bath and got him in bed. He was asleep in just a couple of minutes. I was climbing into bed when Matthew came back and asked me if I wanted to go to the Bible study that was starting in a few minutes. YES! GET ME OUT OF THIS ROOM! We went just a few rooms down to the great room in the hotel. From there we could hear the boys if they woke up. Sat through the Bible study and was talking with the girls afterwards when I heard crying. Walked to our room and Piper was standing at the door crying. Got him to bed and went to bed myself. Got up many times in the night to calm Piper down. He cried a lot of the night.
Next morning, 3 boys woke up hungry and thirsty. I made 3 quick trips to the breakfast room to get the boys their food. While they were eating, Matthew came in to tell me that there was a huge storm headed our way and that we could either beat it home by leaving that afternoon (leaving a day early) or stay 2 more nights and wait the storm out. Matthew had gotten sick the night before and so he wanted to leave early. PRAISE THE LORD!!! You've never seen someone throw so many clothes, toys, blankets, pillows and food into 1 suitcase so fast...praising Jesus the whole time. During this time of power-packing and feeding Oliver, Piper got back into the baby vicks (second time) and smeared it over his shirt and then called 9-1-1. While I was nursing Oliver, the manager of the hotel knocks loudly on the door then opens the door and asks if everything is okay as someone had called 9-1-1 from our room. I was so embarrassed. She was very understanding though and kind. Oliver got his morning nap at the hotel and I took the boys to the pool. The pool with 2 boys who don't know how to swim turned out to be the easiest part of the whole trip! They loved it and it was relaxing to see them having fun and smiling. We got back to the room, woke Oliver up and waited for Matthew to get back to the hotel with our van (the other leaders didn't want to drive the church's 15-passenger van so Matthew drove the big van and one of the leaders followed behind him with our van so that Matthew could get back to us at the hotel). It was a mess. Matthew got back, we packed up the van and I took Matthew to Urgent Care where they gave him meds for strep (second strep infection in a month for him). I dropped him off at a gas station to wait for the group to pick him up and I hit the road in time for afternoon naps. Got through Grand Rapids and about half way to Bemidji when Piper and Oliver woke up. Of course, this was not a peaceful waking up like at home. It was crying and wanting out of the car NOW! I drove for 30 minutes through the crying, trying to find a place to pull off. There was a lone road snow covered that led to a resort a few miles down. I didn't want to try the road, but pulled off just enough so that we could get back on the road easily, but still take the much-needed break that we needed. Pulled a little too close to the side of the road and had to wade through shin-deep snow to get to the back of the van. Got Oliver out of his seat and gave him his wipes box to play with while I was working on getting the other boys out of their seats. Finn had to pee so I told him we were going to stay in the van, but that I would open the side door and he could pee from inside out into the snow. He thought that was a fun idea so I opened the door, but forgot that Ollie had dropped his wipes box down between the seat and the door so when the automatic door opened, it cracked the box into 10 pieces. Finn peed out into the snow and then while his pants were down, he slipped and fell into the pee-snow. I picked him up while hanging out of the van-holding Oliver in the other arm and told him to stop crying and put him back in his seat. Piper was hungry and thirsty but there was no restaurant around. All I had was chocolate, so I gave it to him. (Please understand that I was certifiably insane at this time--seeing mirages of psychiatric hospitals that I could admit myself into). Piper doesn't like his hands dirty, so when his hands got melted chocolate all over them he wiped them off in his hair. I fed Ollie a bottle and put a very chocolaty Piper back in his seat. Stepped out of the back of the van into the pee-snow and wade through it to the front of the van. We drove the rest of the way home through the whining and crying and I put the boys to bed early.
I didn't take one picture during this trip...probably a good thing to not have any physical reminders of it.
When trying to talk about the trip, I explained, "there are no words to describe it."
Friday, March 2, 2012
a visit from nana
My mom (Nana) came to visit at the end of January for about a week and a half and during the 3 days when Matthew went to the Desiring God conference in Minneapolis. We had a nice, relaxing time (as relaxing as 3 little boys can be!) despite all 3 adults getting sick at some point during her stay.
Finley, Piper and I went to Fargo to pick Mom up from the airport. They were so excited to see her. We drove up to the terminal to pick her up. I thought I saw mom at the end of the sidewalk. I said "Boys! There's Nana in the pink shirt!" I waved to her, smiling at her as I slowed down to park in front of her...except that it wasn't her. No wonder the lady didn't wave or show ANY RECOGNITION at all as I waved her toward the vehicle! I felt so dumb and had to tell the boys that it wasn't her. We were not disappointed at all though when Nana did walk up and get in the van. We had left the airport with the right Nana!
On the way home, Nana and Piper started a game of "Boo". Piper would say Boo and Mom would turn around and say Boo back to Piper. Sounds like a fun game, but when you factor in at least a 30-minute drive wherever you go, that's a lot of turning in your seat to say Boo! =)
Mom and I used to play a game when I lived at home where we would lie on the floor and try to flip the other person over using only 1 leg. It's hard to explain, but I blame that game for a very sore knee for the next few days. The boys LOVED seeing us wrestle on the floor though and jumped right in.
Mom walked out of the bathroom after washing her hair one day and when Finley saw her, he said, "Whoa, look at his hair!" and laughed. He cracks me up.
Nana reading to the boys. All 3 have VERY different preferences in books, so reading to all 3 of them at a time can be difficult, but Nana pulled it off great!
Just starting to eat baby food. Carrots have been one of his favorites from the beginning...very much unlike Finley and Piper.
Yes, he loves his baby food!
Piper has a hard time standing still long enough--with a smile on his face--to take a decent picture, so the following are what you get of Piper.
Finley excited to get the picture over so they can go outside. Piper not wanting to take a picture, even if it means he can go outside.
Finley in his glory. He will play outside alone, but prefers to have Piper with him.
Unfortunately, most of the time, Piper prefers to stay on the sidewalk where the snow isn't too deep.
A good picture of our little Piper.
All 3 boys have been able to wear this little pair of overalls of Matthew's. Darlene (Matthew's mom) gave them to me when Finley was born and I love them.
My cousins, Katie and Carolyn came for a visit to see Mom while she was here. Here is Carolyn's son, Gary. He's a sweet little guy and we had fun trying to figure out the words he was saying. He copied almost everyone at one point or another during their visit.
Here is Sawyer, Katie's son. He is very smiley and a really good-natured little boy. He and Gary play really well together since they see each other a lot. We saw this smile a lot during the time he was here.
Reading before bed. The boys love their Nana.
There are no pictures from the last 4 days of Nana's stay as Matthew came home Wednesday night sick with strep throat and Mom got sick that evening until Saturday. I got sick with strep throat Saturday night and she left on Sunday. It was a pretty yucky way to end her visit, but what do you do? Thanks, Mom, for visiting and spending time with the boys. You are so patient with the boys, encouraging and caring. They really enjoyed the books and play time on the floor with you. We love you and can't wait to see you (and Papa) in a couple more months. Finley's already talking about THE BEACH!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
a countdown, "don't cut his feet!" and where's the hamburger
The countdown began about a month ago. The dreaded countdown. I vow never to tell the kids...especially a 4 year old that his Nana is coming in 35 days. That's 35 days of "Is Nana coming today?" It's just too much. I tired of the constant questions of when Nana was coming very early on in this countdown. Finn, on the other hand, just doesn't understand how long a day is or how many days there are in a week and so on. My mom had a great idea of making a chain out of paper where each link represents a day. When I threw away the first few days of the chain, Finn got upset that I was throwing "Nana's chain" away. So, we made a second one so that when all the links from the first chain were gone and on the second chain Nana would be here. It's confusing to me even as I type it, but that's what I told my 4 year old hoping against all odds that he would get it. He didn't, and still doesn't get it, so it has turned into a gift for Nana that we will give to her when she gets here in 1 day, 13 hours and 16 minutes. It's to remind her of the constant, incessant questions that I endured for the 35 straight days before she arrived!
Clubfoot in our family...if you're a child in our family and don't have it, you are the minority. You wouldn't think it's a big deal for clothes, but it really is when it comes to casting while they are really young and then older when they wear their braces at night. It's cold here! It's Minnesota! It's January! I only put the boys in footie sleepers in the middle of winter here in case there is a draft. Finn loves the feet on his sleepers, but it doesn't work AT ALL with the Ponseti braces that Piper and Oliver wear every night. So, I've begun looking on our local FaceBook garage sales for anyone selling second-hand footie sleepers for cheap. I've found some great deals and have ended up buying 6 pairs for $10 off of FaceBook. I settled in one nap time with the 'new' sleepers and a pair of scissors to cut the feet off for Piper and Oliver. Finn woke up early and walked in just as I was about to cut. He got a horrified look on his face and told me "don't cut his feet!". I thought it was apparent that Piper wasn't actually wearing the sleeper at the time, but I did tell him, "Piper isn't wearing them now". I then explained exactly why I was cutting the feet off the footie pajamas. He still doesn't understand why he is the only one that doesn't get to wear braces at night...maybe that's a good thing for Piper and Oliver to share together.
We had a potluck dinner at our church last night. It was an official meeting to affirm the new nominees to become elders (of which Matthew was one) and also to welcome new members. Hamburger hot dish (I have to MAKE myself not call it a casserole) is among one of the favorites up here and so I decided to make it. I set the frozen hamburger, frozen vegetables and frozen tater tots out to thaw. About an hour later I went to check on each ingredient to see how they were thawing. the hamburger was missing. I tried to think of all of the places Piper had been in the last hour as I was sure, without a doubt, that he had taken it. I asked him, "where is the hamburger?". He didn't even know what I was talking about, so I showed him the place on the table that it had been sitting. He stared at me blankly. I thought, how crazy is this? I've lost frozen hamburger! I started looking. I looked under the couches, I looked in the kitchen cabinets, I looked in the toilet! (what 2 year old doesn't love the toilet!) Thankfully, it was not in the toilet, but it wasn't in any of the other places either. I spent a good 20 minutes looking all over the house for some half-thawed hamburger before I thought to open the freezer door. There, sitting exactly where I had pulled it out over an hour ago, was my re-frozen hamburger. I defrosted it, baked it and got some compliments on this very Northern 'hotdish'. They'll never know that, at one point, I thought their hamburger was in the toilet!
Clubfoot in our family...if you're a child in our family and don't have it, you are the minority. You wouldn't think it's a big deal for clothes, but it really is when it comes to casting while they are really young and then older when they wear their braces at night. It's cold here! It's Minnesota! It's January! I only put the boys in footie sleepers in the middle of winter here in case there is a draft. Finn loves the feet on his sleepers, but it doesn't work AT ALL with the Ponseti braces that Piper and Oliver wear every night. So, I've begun looking on our local FaceBook garage sales for anyone selling second-hand footie sleepers for cheap. I've found some great deals and have ended up buying 6 pairs for $10 off of FaceBook. I settled in one nap time with the 'new' sleepers and a pair of scissors to cut the feet off for Piper and Oliver. Finn woke up early and walked in just as I was about to cut. He got a horrified look on his face and told me "don't cut his feet!". I thought it was apparent that Piper wasn't actually wearing the sleeper at the time, but I did tell him, "Piper isn't wearing them now". I then explained exactly why I was cutting the feet off the footie pajamas. He still doesn't understand why he is the only one that doesn't get to wear braces at night...maybe that's a good thing for Piper and Oliver to share together.
We had a potluck dinner at our church last night. It was an official meeting to affirm the new nominees to become elders (of which Matthew was one) and also to welcome new members. Hamburger hot dish (I have to MAKE myself not call it a casserole) is among one of the favorites up here and so I decided to make it. I set the frozen hamburger, frozen vegetables and frozen tater tots out to thaw. About an hour later I went to check on each ingredient to see how they were thawing. the hamburger was missing. I tried to think of all of the places Piper had been in the last hour as I was sure, without a doubt, that he had taken it. I asked him, "where is the hamburger?". He didn't even know what I was talking about, so I showed him the place on the table that it had been sitting. He stared at me blankly. I thought, how crazy is this? I've lost frozen hamburger! I started looking. I looked under the couches, I looked in the kitchen cabinets, I looked in the toilet! (what 2 year old doesn't love the toilet!) Thankfully, it was not in the toilet, but it wasn't in any of the other places either. I spent a good 20 minutes looking all over the house for some half-thawed hamburger before I thought to open the freezer door. There, sitting exactly where I had pulled it out over an hour ago, was my re-frozen hamburger. I defrosted it, baked it and got some compliments on this very Northern 'hotdish'. They'll never know that, at one point, I thought their hamburger was in the toilet!
Monday, January 2, 2012
the 'l' word
I've posted about the 'L' word (AKA laundry) before. I've abhorred doing laundry for years and my hate of laundry hasn't diminished. I just have an organized hate of it now as I try to do at least one load per day. Finn and Piper, on the other hand, absolutely love doing the laundry. So, I have a good plan...and it's working. The boys will help collect the dirty clothes/sheets and put them down the laundry chute. Then, whenever I go downstairs to wash clothes, one of the boys will go down with me and help do the laundry. Finn now knows how to measure and pour the detergent into the washing machine and he's learning how to separate the clothes (I don't totally trust him in this area as last week he did a load of whites and I found a little red sock in there. Thankfully, I hadn't added bleach!). Piper mostly likes to put the clothes into the washer and then push the clothes into the dryer. He thinks it's a treat when he gets to push the button for the dryer to start. As I take the basket of laundry upstairs, they get a piggyback ride up. They both like to help fold. Finn has gotten really good at folding laundry and is meticulous in stacking them. Piper likes to 'fold' but it's the same as wadding up toilet paper to throw away. He doesn't quite have the patience, but I can tell that he'll be interested in actually folding them in the near future. Both were helping me fold laundry earlier and Finn said, "I wuv hewping you do the cwoze!". I asked Piper if he liked helping do the clothes and in his most Northern accent (there's no hope for a Southerner in that boy), he said, "Ya!!!"
The countdown has begun for when I don't have to do anymore of the 'L' word!
The countdown has begun for when I don't have to do anymore of the 'L' word!
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