Wordless Wednesday - Memorial Day Sweeties

(haha, the Spud's face in that last photo just cracks me up!)

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom...

Bathroom Reading - Volume Two

How about catching up on a week with the temporarily insane (that's me, the Nerd, and the kiddos) in a concise, easy-to-read list? Perfect for bathroom reading - that is, if you trust your electronic device near the many hazards of the bathroom. I personally consider my Iphone a necessary item to take when headed to the bathroom facilities. It's a convenient place to catch up on Facebook, read a few blog entries, answer an email, etc. Of course, I have to pretend that there aren't little fingers reaching under the bathroom door while loud childish voices clamor for my attention. "Watcha doin' in there, Momma?" "I need you now, Momma!" "Are you poopin' so you can get a lollipop?"

So...

1. The fourth (and hopefully final!) family member to get the stomach flu last week was the Drama Queen. Somehow all the germs have skipped me, and for that I am eternally grateful.

2. I apparently was in quite the baking mood last week. On Tuesday we had fresh bread (three loaves), and on Friday I made cake mix brownies and tried baking homemade granola bars for the first time.

3. Did you know that homemade bread makes the best French toast? It does - so so good!

4. A cherry Pepsi can committed suicide off the top of our fridge last week. It jumped right out of the carton, hit the floor with a crash, and began spraying soda everywhere. It didn't even leave a note.

5. The Nerd spent part of his weekend wiring up the old minivan for individual sets of headphones for the kids. This means that when they watch a movie on the DVD player or listen to their kid music, we don't have to! We can enjoy our own music! This will be especially beneficial for our long road trip coming up soon.

6. We thoroughly enjoyed a picnic/birthday party with friends yesterday in the (amazingly) nice weather. We welcomed summer with grilled hot dogs, salads, chips, and birthday cake of course; and the kids raced around getting as dirty as possible. We concluded our time with roasting marshmallows over the fire ( in which this Momma had a minor heart attack watching the littles get entirely too close to the fire!) Apparently we are raising a couple of pyros.

And that's it for this week! :) have a wonderful day and watch out for flying soda cans!

Five Question Friday - On Pointless Pillows and Patchy Purple Polish

I'm participating in Five Question Friday today. It makes for a good post and honestly the kids have not destroyed anything or done anything insanely ridiculous in the last few days (which we all know makes good reading. and a tired, frustrated mom.)

Here's this week's questions:

1. Do you apologize to your kids?

2. What color are your nails right now?

3. When you were growing up, how difficult was it for you to stay home from school sick? (As in, did you have to vomit or just say "I don't feel good".)

4. When is the last time you bought a new comforter for your bed?

5. Favorite website(s)?

--------------------------------------

1. Do you apologize to your kids?

I certainly have. I probably say, "Momma's really sorry she just yelled like that at you" at least every few days. Then there's the eat-crow-and-want-to crawl-into-a-hole apology when I make a promise to one of my kids and then am unable to follow through on it. :( So not fun. But hey, every time they hurt each other with words or punches I make them apologize to each other. It's not going to be real to them if they don't see it in Momma too!

2. What color are your nails right now?

Purple (like grape jelly). I painted them on Monday and already it has completely vanished off the index fingers of both hands. Sigh - between cheap polish and housework - they didn't stand a chance!

3. When you were growing up, how difficult was it for you to stay home from school sick? (As in, did you have to vomit or just say "I don't feel good".)

I was one of those weird nerdy kids that absolutely HATED missing school and would do everything in my power to make sure I got to school each day. If that meant hiding a fever or a persistent cough, I did! With my siblings, however, they had to definitely "prove" illness in order to get out of school. If we had a bad cold, tissues and cough drops were put in the backpacks, and we were sent off to school.

4. When is the last time you bought a new comforter for your bed?

At least three or four years - I really have no idea. If hubby had his way, there would be no comforter at all. The comforter gets too hot and heavy to sleep under; so its purpose is really just to make the bed look nice during the day. At night, we immediately take it down and put a lighter blanket in its place. I sometimes wonder - what's the point?, but it really is pretty. Besides, without the comforter and all those pointless pillows, I wouldn't have something to occupy ten minutes of each morning and evening.

5. Favorite website(s)?

Okay, here's a few that I regularly visit and use: (besides Facebook and Twitter!)

1. MADE - great ideas and patterns to make stuff - love it!

2. Etsy - my favorite kind of window shopping

3. Kitchen Stewardship - great, healthy recipes

4. Cake Wrecks - for much-needed laughs

5. Pixel of Ink - the reason why I have over 100 books on my Kindle, none of which I paid a single cent for.

Whew. It was hard to narrow those down.

Want to participate in Five Question Friday too? Or compare your answers to other people and see how normal (or ahem, not) you are? Check out Five Crooked Halos here.

Eleven Weeks

The Baby: So the little one is now the whopping size of a fig! Because we all have figs lying around in our produce drawers that we can quickly retrieve and exclaim, oh, that size! Little Sprout's bones are hardening, and he/she is testing out legs and arms in tiny movements. The diaphragm is forming also; so bring on the hiccups! I haven't felt any movements yet and probably won't for at least a few more weeks.

Me: This week was tough for me! With practically everyone in the house getting the stomach flu but me, I spent a lot of time cleaning up barf and trying not to barf myself. It didn't really mesh well with the whole morning sickness thing. I am definitely not handling sugar very well and regret every time I have some ice cream or a candy bar. My new craving this week is avocados. I love them - hopefully the cost of such tasty treats will go down soon so I can have them more often.

The Belly: It's growing for sure. The Drama Queen wants to know why the baby is only the size of a fig but momma's belly is so much bigger than that. Ahem. I took a little trip on Saturday to Burlington Coat Factory and purchased a few maternity clothing items, most notably a beautiful sundress at a steal. :) A wonderful friend has passed along her collection of maternity clothing to me as well. I may as well give in. I know I will be a lot more comfortable and not as tempted to live in sweats.

The Siblings: The Beast thinks about little Sprout the most. We could be at the grocery store or at the library, and he will suddenly command me to lift up my shirt so he can "see" the baby. (No worries - no shirt-lifting in public here: I can usually say "The baby's cold and needs to stay covered" and he is satisfied with that.) The Drama Queen has come up with two names she likes for the baby (which she is sure is a girl!) - CeeCee and Angela. Daily, I am working with the Spud on not launching himself at my belly every day as if it were a landing pad.

The Plans: I have been thinking about names of course. The Nerd has not even stopped to consider names at all; so I've been keeping a girl's name list and boy's name list on my Iphone and adding to them when I hear a name I like. The girl's name list is a lot longer! I also started a project for little Sprout this week. It's fun to work on something for the baby.

We have a long road trip coming up soon; that combined with pregnancy ought to be interesting. Despite the morning sickness and exhaustion, I am still enjoying this journey of pregnancy though, especially as little Sprout will probably be our last. So, here's to twenty-nine weeks more of fun and wonderful memories!

Precious Moments

Now that school is out for the Drama Queen, we have settled into a different and much more relaxed morning routine. I still get up before the kids do and try to get in some quiet time before the ruckus starts. When the kids come bouncing out of their rooms at 7:30 am or so, I make them breakfast and listen to their childish prattle. I then usually have the kids pick a show to watch on Netflix so I can check email, Facebook, and bloggy endeavors in peace for a half hour.

This morning, after a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and cow juice, I told the Beast it was his turn to pick the morning television fare. He pressed up against my leg and said, "Momma, I just want to snuggle with you. Can we watch something on the computer with you?" Oh, sweet mercy, my heart melted and I hoisted all 45 pounds of beastliness onto my lap as we perused the Disney Junior site for something fun to watch. Not wanting to be left out, the Spud began climbing on the side of the chair, begging for a space to snuggle too. With the Beast occupying one knee and the Spud the other, we cuddled and watched an episode of Little Einsteins together. My right leg fell asleep (can you guess which kid was sitting there?!) and I had to keep adjusting so that little Sprout would not get smooshed, but I savored every uncomfortable second. The requests to snuggle and the spur-of-the-moment hugs and kisses are not as frequent as they were before. Often it is me asking for the cuddle time; so when my little guys initiate it, it is pure bliss. I am reminded to cherish these times as I am all too well aware that the scarcity of such precious moments will only increase over time.

Felling nostalgic, I brought up some photos of the kids exactly one year ago and studied their chubby faces and lopsided grins. How much change one year brings! Just look at their sweet sweet selves:

Oh, I miss those days already! But, I don't want to dwell on past memories and miss the cuteness, the charm, the mischief, and the fun that is my life right now. I will have plenty of time later to cherish the MEMORIES; right now I want to cherish the MOMENTS!

Up and Running

Well, someone just finished his lunch and looks like he's feeling a LOT better. . .

And this little guy has been talking and running nonstop since he got up this morning. So I think it's pretty safe to say that we are definitely in recovery stage now.

Unfortunately, the Nerd was the next victim of the stomach flu. Let's pray it stops with him!

Bathroom Reading - Volume One

How about catching up on a week with the temporarily insane (that's me, the Nerd, and the kiddos) in a concise, easy-to-read list? Perfect for bathroom reading - that is, if you trust your electronic device near the many hazards of the bathroom. I personally consider my Iphone a necessary item to take when headed to the bathroom facilities. It's a convenient place to catch up on Facebook, read a few blog entries, answer an email, etc. Of course, I have to pretend that there aren't little fingers reaching under the bathroom door while loud childish voices clamor for my attention. "Watcha doin' in there, Momma?" "I need you now, Momma!" "Are you poopin' so you can get a lollipop?"

Anyway. . .

1. Our brand-new vacuum cleaner was smoking when the Nerd tried to use it the other day. He took it completely apart, and as it turns out, the boys had managed to shove a baby wipe into the engine while he was cleaning out the filter.

2. It only takes one minute and forty-eight seconds for two little boys to run into the kitchen, open the refrigerator, take out the full carton of eggs and proceed to smash several of them on the living room carpet. I know this because I took that exact amount of time to take a quick load of laundry downstairs, and when I returned, the boys were shouting "Easter eggs! Easter eggs!" rather giddily and the Drama Queen was emphatically declaring that she had nothing to do with it.

3. We had three whole days of no accidents with the Beast in regards to potty training. We were making such amazing progress until the stomach flu hit on Thursday. Since then, it's been Pull-ups all the way, baby.

4. The stomach flu hit the Beast on Thursday and then claimed the Spud on Saturday. As I write this, both boys are doing better on the barf-side of things; but they refuse to eat anything and prefer lying around watching endless Thomas the Tank Engine and Dora episodes on Netflix.

5. Because of the nasty flu, I have been homebound the last few days. Many nights of staying up with the kiddos and boring boring days have led me to complete four books on my Kindle. Here's the scoop:

a. Riven by Jerry B. Jenkins. - good story line but the author takes FOREVER to get to the good stuff. I "speed-read" a lot of pages on that one and had to take a break from it for a little while.

b. It Happens Every Spring by Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer. - great read! I felt it was a very honest look at Christian marriages today, and the author handled the big cast of characters well.

c. Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson. - what I like to call "chick fluff." There is no real substance at all to this one, which is okay for an "every-once-in-a-while" book. however, the author wrote it in first person, which was very annoying to me.

d. The Pastor's Wife by Jennifer Allee. - I liked this one, especially the story line. I did feel like things happened a little too fast in the book - six years of hurt is healed in less than six months? But overall I enjoyed it.

And that's your bathroom reading for this week! Tune in next week to see what household appliance suffers next! :)

Children for Rent

It is 60 degrees out and gloriously sunny, a perfect day to spend picnicking at the park.

Unfortunately, yesterday the Beast came down with a stomach flu. He is still sick, curled up on an air mattress covered in towels in the living room. Poor thing hasn't moved from that spot since last night. His siblings, on the other hand, are bouncing off the walls and driving their momma crazy.

Anyone want to come over and borrow two slightly rambunctious children for the day?

Edited 2:05 pm: A most wondrous angel just came and picked up the Drama Queen and the Spud for the rest of the afternoon, to take them water splashing and lots of other energy-expending things. I am so thankful! :)

Ten Weeks

(someday soon I will figure out how to take a picture in the bathroom that is not blurry)

The Baby: Little Sprout is now about the size of a kumquat. Amazingly tiny little fingernails are starting to form. Already, the little one has "arms" and "legs" and has started to kick, although I won't be able to feel it for a while yet. Little Sprout's vital organs are all there, although not fully developed yet. And that peach fuzz is starting to grow all over the skin. :)

Me: "Morning sickness" is letting up a little. Some days it hardly shows its face at all, and other days it comes back with a vengeance. Oh well. The cravings have started. Currently my must-haves are spinach, little gerkin sweet pickles, and potato chips. Unlike my other pregnancies, which I basically used as an excuse to eat whatever I felt like and not exercise, I am determined that this is going to be a much healthier pregnancy over all. (despite the potato chips!) I have been going to the gym every week day, which has actually been somewhat helpful in giving me some of my energy back. That, and the Drama Queen is done with school, so I am not running around so much!

The Belly:Is definitely pushing the limits on some of my clothes. I will probably have to give in to maternity clothes soon, which means I will have to get maternity clothes first. :)

The Siblings: My belly daily receives a lot of hugs and kisses from the other littles. The Beast is usually the one that remembers to pray for the baby at family devotion time. I asked the Beast if he had a baby in his tummy too, and he said, "No there's french fries in my tummy!" Not to be outdone, the Spud announced that there were chicken nuggets in his tummy. So cute! The Drama Queen refers to the baby as a "she" constantly, while of course the boys "just know" it's another boy.

Just a couple more weeks before I enter the second trimester!

You Ought to Know

(love this man)
Today I'd like to take a moment to just brag a bit on my man. He is, after all, an amazing man and goes above and beyond his duties as husband and daddy all the time.

Take Sunday, for example. It was about an hour before we had to leave for church. I was running around as usual, making sure the three littles had on the appropriate, clean attire, feeding them a somewhat decent breakfast, and keeping them entertained until it was time to leave. I made a quick stop in the kitchen to preheat the oven for baking cinnamon rolls (my turn to bring something for Sunday School) before heading to the bathroom to do the Drama Queen's hair. It wasn't long before I realized that I could smell smoke - and it wasn't from the curling iron! I ran to the kitchen and found everything hidden in black smoke. I quickly turned off the oven, threw open a window, and opened the oven door, slamming it shut when I saw the flames shooting out. Like any good wife, I panicked and ran downstairs to get my husband out of the shower so he could put out the fire. He hurried upstairs with the fire extinguisher and rapidly took care of the offending flames. Apparently, one of our young offspring (I'm placing all my bets on the Beast) had at some point earlier in the morning put a plastic shovel deep inside the oven. At least, that's what we think it was.

Chris surveyed the damage. The oven needed a desperate and deep cleaning. Everything in the kitchen was covered in black soot or extinguisher foam. The air reeked of burning plastic - so bad that I could not handle it for more than a few seconds before gagging and getting out of there. Also, there was no way that the cinnamon rolls were even going to be a remote possibility that morning.

My man volunteered to stay home from church and clean up the mess - it was definitely something that couldn't wait. So while I carted the three littles off to church, stopping at the store on the way to pick up a few coffeecakes, he donned his face mask and protective gloves and began the tedious task of cleaning the kitchen. A few hours later, when the kids and I returned from the morning service, he still was not done. He ushered us back out of the house with instructions to "hit up a MickeyD's with a playland" for a couple more hours until he had the house completely fume-free. I enjoyed french fries and a hot fudge sundae (happiness for this preggo lady!) while watching the kids run around and play.

We came back about 3:00 pm that afternoon, bringing a hot meal for my hard-working man of course. My kitchen was spotless! He had had to wash every pan in the cabinets underneath and around the stove. He had cleaned all the appliances out on the counters and every dish that was stored in the space above the cabinets. Somehow he got the inside and outside of my oven sparkling clean as well as the windows and kitchen floor. Poor tired man! At that point, all he wanted to do was take a bath and go to sleep - but he had promised the Drama Queen that he would teach her to play War that day. So he did! By the time she figured out the game and had eagerly played several rounds with him, it was time to get back to the church for the school's graduation ceremony. It would have been so good for him to skip it and just get to bed, but he was the sound man for the ceremony and had to be there. So he did. I am so amazed and blessed by his fortitude and work ethic!

Not to mention - on Saturday while I was away doing girlie stuff with the Drama Queen, he made himself a "Honey-Do" list and accomplished quite a bit of it - fixing the dresser in the boys' room, vacuuming the entire house, reorganizing all the kids' toys, etc. Sigh. I could get used to this.

Let's just say - Father's Day is going to be a BIG deal around here this year! :)

Nine Weeks

So. It's been officially announced now and only the johnny-come-latelys are asking, "Oh are you pregnant? I had no idea?" For me, it's a huge relief to not have to cover up the growing belly with baggy clothes or pretend that I am fine when in reality I feel like puking all over you. :) And, of course, it was even harder to hide the excitement and joy we were feeling!

We were able to use Mothers Day to tell my mom and mother-in-law. We gave them each a big collage picture frame with five photo openings. One contained a picture of Chris and I, three more contained a picture of each darling child, and the last opening simply said "Coming in December 2011."

The Baby: Is currently the size of a grape and is about an inch long. This information is proudly shared by the Drama Queen with whomever she encounters. As far as we know, there's just one in there!

Me: "Morning sickness" hits about lunch time and doesn't let up until the evening. Super strong ginger beer, ginger chews, and sour candy have all been helpful for this. I miss my morning coffee a lot, but have found that some caffeinated teas are okay. I am also super tired and have been trying to sneak little naps in here or there.

The Belly: Is sticking out already. I guess that happens when it's kid #4. The kids kiss it every day and say "good morning, baby." The Beast also likes to lift up my shirt to check if the baby is ready to come out yet. haha

The Siblings: I told the Spud first - it was a little secret that he and I shared for a while. He would point to my belly and whisper, "Baby!" It was and is still so adorable. The Beast is REALLY excited. He loves babies and is fascinated by the fact that there is actually a baby inside me. The facts are what interest the Drama Queen the most - the baby's size, does it have arms and legs yet, etc. She is also fervently praying for a girl. We'll see!

and them there's the facts, folks. The (sort-of) due date is December 11, 2011 - but a dating ultrasound in June will be able to pinpoint it a little better.

happy times!

Wordless Wednesday - Little Beach Explorer

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom...

Just a Little Mothers Day Announcement

Who Art Thou Cancer?

Cancer. It's such an ugly word. There is no way to mask it in a pleasant conversation or casually mention it as if it were a passing thought. The word cancer carries such a heavy weight and serious meaning.

My mom has cancer. The doctors found it the first time just weeks before my first child was born.

The news was scary. I didn't like the unknown, the uncertainty of it all. All four of my grandparents suffered from different cancers and passed away while I was in college. I wanted to be there for my mom - only I had no idea what that meant, or how I could really accomplish that.

Now, once again, my mom has been diagnosed with cancer. This time it is not only breast cancer, but they have found cancer in her thyroid as well. Once again, our family is confronted with that ugly word: cancer.

When I heard the news, I cried. I prayed, and then I cried again. "What next? What next?" my heart kept begging. What sort of treatments would she have to endure? Would they work? Could the doctors help her? I spent a lot of time thinking about how WE could help her.

Then, in the Wednesday night service at our church, our pastor highlighted two verses from the book of Zechariah. He was teaching us about Ezra in his "Walk Through the Bible" series and used the verses to show how the prophet Zechariah foretold that Zerubbabel would be successful in rebuilding the temple, but that it would be through the power of God, not his own power.

Zechariah 4:6-7

"Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it."

I reread those verses again, amazed and humbled by the reminder that God will accomplish things in our lives in His spirit, not by our strength or might. I read the verses again; only with my mind on my Mom's cancer, I read it this way:

"Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, cancer? before us thou shalt become small and weak and nothing, and we will bring forth our mom before Him, crying, Grace, grace unto her."

So that's what we are going to do. Look to the Lord, and beg Him for His grace.

Crying "Grace, grace" today. . .

Chocolate and Scissors

Last week, with the help of several Hersheys Bliss chocolate eggs and a pair of sharp scissors, I decided to give myself a set of bangs. (The chocolate eggs were necessary to give me the guts to do it, because as we all know once you cut bangs, there is no return).

Voila! a true moment of temporary insanity. But I like 'em - as soon as I get used to having hair in my face again, that is. :)

Word of the Day

Little Miss Curiosity is all abuzz about words these days! Lately it's been "What does that say, Momma?" or "What does this word mean?"

Last night I took the little genius to the grocery store with me to pick up a few essentials. "Mom, what does standard mean?" she asked after carefully sounding it out.

I glanced at the package she was reading and tried to think of a simple way to define the word standard. "It means 'normal', honey," I finally responded.

"Oh, got it," she said. "Like our family. Our family is standard."

Yeah. Totally. Standard, that's us!