Wordless Wednesday

Musical Stylings of JM

The other day after buckling JM into his carseat he told me he wanted to sing for me. He doesn't usually interact with us like that, he's too busy playing Buzz Lightyear. This day however, he was the only one in the van with me which doesn't happen very often. I think he was enjoying my undivided ears if that makes any sense.
This is what I heard.
"A B C D L M N O P how I wonder what you are...next time sing with me. "

For the last several weeks our neighbors have been getting a new roof put on their house, new siding, and doing some painting. They've hired this one guy to do the job. He's out there almost every day and he's close to being done. The boys have been interested a little but not as much as I thought they would be unless it's convenient to their goals.
For example, today I told JM to go up stairs for naptime and he promptly sat down on the steps by the window and said, "I'm watching 'worker man'!" I thought it was funny. Anything to get out of a nap.

Happy Birthday AJ!

Last week was AJ's fifth birthday. I'm amazed by how time flies. He's gotten so big and so smart. It seems like only yesterday that Auntie was cutting his cord and I was just getting to know him.
AJ is an amazing kid. He's friendly with everyone and has such a sweet spirit. His teachers say that he's a joy to have and that they were glad they would get him back this year.
We had a wonderful party with our huge family, though some were sadly missed. We had cake from Auntie Linda too. Here is AJ on his special day with the awesome Lightening McQueen slippers mom and dad got him. Here's a lovely self portrait of the photographer and her daughter. Lincoln Logs from Grandma and Grandpa. I'm not excited at all mom.

Fall Y'all Giveaway Winners

And the winners of the Fall Ya'll giveaway are as follows.
The random numbers for the hairbows are 13 and 82. The winners are Carrie at Three Girl Circus and Meg at gmail. :) They each get the color they wanted as well. Congratulations ladies!!!!
And the random number for the cute burp cloths is 115. And the winner is Amanda at Mandigirl Musings She will get the green, pink, and blue ones she chose. Congratulations!!!

Thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to all the winners. Now I'm off the email the winners their good news. :) Happy Fall Y'all!

Aren't They Cute???

Halloween has always been a bit difficult for me due to all the differing opinions people have about 'to celebrate or to not celebrate.' As a kid my family never ever celebrated it in any way. My husband's family on the other hand did dress up for school and different things. The other night my husband and I were sharing memories and he told me about the year he dressed up as an x-ray. Yes, my husband is a nerd. I don't have any memories like that. We had really discussed how we would handle it with our kids because we hadn't needed to yet.
This week AJ's preschool class is decorating trick or treat bags and going to the assisted living facility to trick or treat. I decided that Nathan and I needed to decided what we were going to do. After reading this post by KC we decided that we would let our kids dress up and go trick or treating. They are just not allowed to dress up as anything scary.
That being said, last night in our small town was trick or treat. I had no costumes for the kids. I sat wracking my brain trying to think of who might have something we could borrow. Then I remembered Heather has a box of costumes. I called her up and she loaned me some things for the kids.
JM was so funny. He kept looking at me and saying, "I'm getting candy!" He really got the hang of it. Little Peanut rode in the stroller most of the time but she kept a close eye on her little bag. AJ wanted to tell everyone that he was a fireman and that Grasshopper was a little pea pod. It was nice to get out in our neighborhood as a family and introduce ourselves to neighbors that we don't ever see. Nathan says he's just glad we have some chocolate in the house now. Our wonderful neighbor next door knew this was the kids first time so he went earlier and got BIG candy bars for them. They were really excited about that. They had one piece last night and we'll be dolling it out for a long time.
Our brother in law came over last night. Someone who knows my husband and knew him called and said we'd been out trick or treating so he came over for some candy. Here's what the kids looked like last night.

Fall Ya'll Giveaway...Burp Cloths

*Updated~ Will leave open until Saturday Nov. 3rd. at 10 p.m. est.
Hi, welcome to Mom of three...and more. Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer is hosting the Fall Ya'll giveaway carnival. I'm hosting two giveaways. This one is super cute homemade burp cloths. Made by yours truly. The lucky winner will receive their choice of three burp cloths. They can choose from two green, two yellow, two blue, and two pink. They are gingham with coordinating ribbon. Here's how you can win.

• Leave a message in the comments saying which three you would like, I must be able to contact the winner so make sure your profile has your email link or leave your email in the comment. You can spell the (at).
  
• Head over to Rocks in My Dryer to enter more drawings.
• On Friday Nov. 2 at noon I will use a random number generator to pick one number and that comment will win.
  
• The winner will be posted on Friday Nov. 2.
  
• This contest is NOT open to international participants due to shipping costs. I'm sorry.
  
• HAVE FUN!!!

Feel free to visit other posts on my blog and check out my other contest. Oh yeah, I learned how to make these beauties from Barb at A Chelsea Morning. Just giving credit where credit is due.

Fall Ya'll Bloggy Giveaways....Bows

*Updated~ Will leave open until Saturday Nov. 3 at 10 pm est.

Hi, welcome to Mom of three...and more. Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a fall giveaway carnival. This is one of two giveaways I'm doing. For this one, two winners will get their choice of a set of hair bows. My mom and I made these bows this summer. You can choose either the green with white polka dots or the red with black polka dots. Here's how you can win.

• Leave a message in the comments saying which ones you would like, the red or the green. I must be able to contact the winner so make sure your profile has your email link or leave your email in the comment. You can spell the (at).
  
• Head over to Rocks in My Dryer to enter more drawings.
• On Friday Nov. 2 at noon eastern time I will use a random number generator to pick two numbers and those two comments will win.
  
• The winners will be posted on Friday Nov. 2.
  
• This contest is open to international participants since I got so many comments from those outside the States last time.
• HAVE FUN!!!

Feel free to visit other posts on my blog and check out my other contest.

Welcome....

Hey everyone....go over to my nephew Thaddeus's new blog and welcome him to bloggy land.Be sure and leave him a comment.

Wordless Wednesday

It took me all day for Blogger to let me post this . AJ was 2 when this was taken.

It Doesn't Stop

In our house Buzz is the coolest toy and the most played with toy. (thanks to a yard sale he was only 50 cents.) They also love to watch Toy Story 1 & 2. Our Buzz is the full-sized version with the laser, the talking buttons, and the wooshy helmet thing. :) His buttons say things like, "Buzz Lightyear to the rescue." "There's a secret mission in uncharted space." and my personal favorite. "To infinity. AND BEYOND!"
It's this particular phrase that causes me to write today. JM has been saying this for months. He holds out one arm just like Buzz and runs around the house shouting at the top of his lungs. "TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!" He does it first thing in the morning. He does it at bed time. Any toy he plays with flys and says this. He even has been heard talking about Buzz in his sleep. This has been going on so long that I pretty much tune it out. Although recently I've notice Little Peanut says something awfully close to that when she sees Buzz laying on the floor. And she says it just as loud. It's rather cute. I guess JM is rubbing off on her. I must say though she is definitely more gentle with her baby dolls that JM is. It's interesting the things they pick.

Who Doesn't Like Free Stuff?

Once again,Shannon at Bloggy Giveaways is hosting a fall giveaway carnival. Last time over 500 people gave things away. Head over there to see the details but I will certainly be giving something away again. I had over 200 comments. I wanted to give everyone something. I will post my giveaways on the 29th so get ready to comment. And it will be open to bloggers and non bloggers alike. You just have to have an email address. See you then!!!

My Graduation Present ...Finally

When I graduated from high school 8 1/2 years ago very dear family friends gave me a beautiful present, a quilt top in a wedding ring pattern made out of Nigerian materials. It was really lovely but unfinished. My sister wanted to quilt it for me but with her large family it just never happened.I got married 3 1/2 years ago and the subject was brought up that we should do it together. That never did happen either. I've asked about it occasionally and even looked into having it professionally done but that was going to be really expensive.
About 3 weeks ago my mother called and asked me to go with her somewhere on Oct. 11. She wouldn't tell me where, not even this morning when she came to help us get ready. Even as we were driving to another town near us she wouldn't tell me. We got to a church I was very confused. She made me bring the camera but said we wouldn't be very long. I was really confused. We walked into a large room and there were six older ladies there working on a quilt. I still was confused. They said they had something for me and it finally clicked. They finished my quilt! I. WAS. SO. EXCITED. They are a small group of women who finish quilts for a fee. They take the money they make and donate it to a mission organization that buys blankets for people in other countries. Mom had it done for me and its beautiful. I love it. Thank you mom and Aunt Delores. :) This is me 8 1/2 years ago with Uncle Frank and Aunt Delores.And this is me this morning with the ladies who finished it for me. p.s. for those of you with small children you need to check out this link It's about infant cough and cold medicines being withdrawn from the market.

Holiday Cooking ~Sweet Potato Souffle~

Overwhelmed with Joy is hosting a holiday recipe exchange. Since I love the holidays I just had to join in. I love this recipe. I'm always looking for an opportunity to have it but I usually only get it at Christmas and Thanksgiving. It's almost good enough to be dessert. Here it is.
Sweet Potato Souffle
3 cups of mashed sweet potato (3-4 large baked sweet potatoes, or canned)
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2/3 cup of milk
Mix all of that together and put in a casserole dish.

Topping
1 cup of chopped walnts
1/3 cup of butter soft
1 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of flour
Mix together and sprinkle on top of casserole.
Bake @ 325 for 35-40 minutes.
YUMMY!!!! In fact I think I need to go get some sweet potatoes cause I just can't wait till next month. For more tasty ideas head on over to Overwhelmed with Joy and look around. I'm sure you'll find something to taste. :)

Spabeggi

Spaghetti has alway been a family tradition, only when I was little I called it "spabeggi." When I was growing up we had it every Sunday for lunch when we came home from church. My mom would make the sauce from scratch on Sunday morning and leave it cooking while we were at church. I can remember walking in the door and the whole house smelling of spaghetti sauce. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. All we would have to do is set the table and make a salad. Mom would boil the spaghetti. If we were having company there would be garlic bread to go with lunch. Occasionally, whoever came over would bring dessert. No matter how simple or elaborate. Every Sunday was spaghetti.
My mom would use different spices in the sauce and she always used a bay leaf. She would leave it in the sauce and whoever got the bay leaf on his or her plate was responsible for doing the dishes. Guest or not this rule stood. Now there have been those who tried to get out of it. Some have eaten it whole. And others have sneaked it into their napkin and flushed it down the toilet. Others, like me, have tried unsuccessfully, and sometimes successfully, to sneak it onto someone else's plate when they aren't looking.
Now, Sundays are difficult in our house. Between lots of people to get ready for church and sometimes long services lunch doesn't always come out well planned. I do feed my family spaghetti regularly though. Unfortunately I haven't taken the time to make it from scratch, I just use a bottle. Here is the next generation enjoying a family tradition.

Girls Soccer

My niece Belle, Mama Lily's girl, had a night soccer game yesterday. Its always fun for the girls to play under the lights. And this game was particularly fun because they beat the rival team 9 to nothing. Belle made a beautiful goal. I have very awesome pictures but they are stuck on my brother-in-law's camera. I borrowed his very expensive camera and the very cool telephoto lens. So alas, the great action shots will have to wait til later in the week.
After the game Belle and the other girls had a cake fight. Instead of eating their reward they used it as a weapon. Here are her mug shots. All she needs is a number now. She wanted to go show Doodle Bug who's in the hospital but she didn't think they would let her in looking like this. So she settled for pictures. Here you go Doodle. You were missed.

All Worth It

Tonight after watching Air Force One with my husband this is what I found in my bed. Absolutely priceless.

Because Sometimes You Just Can't Tell...

Today my dad came to watch the children for me while I went to workout at the rec center. (a whole other story) Before he left I asked him to look at Dirk. There has been some speculation on my and Nathan's part, we just weren't sure. Nathan was leaning one direction and I was leaning the opposite. Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed. Dirk is not a boy. Dirk is a girl. Dirk is now not allowed to go outside. :) My dad would know too, because he grew up on a farm and has had lots of cats running around. She'll have to live with a boy's name though cause it would be to hard to change it with the kids. Little Peanut has just started calling her 'kitty' after following her around for two weeks calling her 'doggie'. That's all for now...just thought I should let you know.

Cough Drops and Assisted Living Facilities

Preschoolers are amusing...and I'm sure no one knows what exactly goes on in their heads.
Today I went to pick up AJ after school. I picked up his backpack before I went in the room to get him. It was kind of heavy. I was very curious because the only thing he ever brings home is papers. I opened it and there was a large bag of Halls Cherry Cough Drops. I couldn't imagine what they were doing in there.
AJ's teacher was apparently expecting a confused expression from me because when I walked in the room she came right over and asked to explain why my four year old had a big bag of cough drops in his backpack.
Once a month the morning class goes to a local assisted living facility and sings songs for the residents. On a different day, the afternoon class goes to play Bingo with the residents. AJ is in the afternoon class and yesterday was Bingo. Apparently the winners get to pick something out of a basket. The prizes are geared toward things that would be useful to the residents. AJ won twice in a row so that was what he selected out of the basket. On the way back to class he said to he teacher, "I think I might need one of those when we get back."
His teachers were very amused. She said, "At least he didn't pick the toilet paper. One kid picked that today."
I said, "Hey, you'll definitely use it."
I never know what to expect when I go to pick him up.

anyone need a cough drop?? We have plenty!!!

Pink is Purty!

My sister has had a Dyson for several years. I have always liked how it performed and have even borrowed it on several occasions. I have a nice Kirby with all the attachments but it seems to be suffering from all the overworking it receives in this house, mainly from JM. Here's the perfect opportunity for me to win one for free. 5 Minutes for Mom is giving away one of these beautiful pink Dysons. Proceeds from the sale of the pink Dysons are going to breast cancer research. All you have to do is go over to 5 Minutes for Mom and leave a comment. By the way, they are also available at Target but they are going quickly. Here's hoping I win! :)

Wordless Wednesday

A New Edition

As some of you know, I've been pestering my husband for sometime to get a dog/puppy. I want to get a golden retriever for our family. They are great dogs and I've always loved my aunt's dog Murphy who recently passed away. Murphy was a golden retriever. I've decided the dog's name will be Jack, in honor of my all time favorite literary character, Jack Ryan. (Tom Clancy novels) However, we don't have the ability to get a dog right now. We want to be able to take good care of it and they are rather expensive.
So, meet Dirk! (another literary hero from Clive Cussler's books.) Okay...let me try that again. Meet Dirk! Oh, for crying out loud. Meet Dirk...with a nice close up! Kittens do not do well posing for a picture. Ha ha! I will try for another shot later. But here he is. He for awhile anyway, then he will be it, courtesy of our neighbor who works for a vet. He's a sweet little kitty. Little Peanut follows him around saying, "Doggie! Doggie! Doggie!" I'm seriously about to change his name to Dog just for her. He doesn't scratch the children and the boys really don't even like to get near him, especially AJ. We are enjoying him though, even Nathan. He's quickly becoming Nathan's little shadow.

Busy Again

We've certainly been busy this last week. The Lord really worked it out so that I was able to pick up AJ as school all week with minimal help. My parents are out of town this week and my dad usually helps with picking AJ up. Sarah was home several days allowing me to go get him. Yesterday I discovered that if you call ahead they will walk him out to the van. The school has a policy that you aren't allowed to leave children in your vehicle when you pick up your child. That makes it pretty hard when you would have to haul in a 2.5 year old, 16 month old, and 5 week old in a car seat. I was very thankful they walked him out. :) Last Saturday we bought AJ a new bike. The little tricycle was to small for him and JM rode it mostly. Here he is on his new bike.And then of course there's been the regular boo boos. JM recently cut his thumb with a brand new razor. Apparently, the top of the medicine cabinet isn't the safe spot we thought it was. Here he is with a Curious George band-aid on his leg. He wanted me to take more pictures of it.And since there are pictures of the other boys on this post we should include one of little Grasshopper. Here he is in his favorite position with cousin Belle. I love it when they drop over to see him. And now that Belle has wheels we've seen them several times. :)

It's Only September But...

Yesterday I had to run to Wal-Mart for diapers for JM and Peanut, we only had one left. I had just walked in and there in front of me was a wall of apple cider. I love apple cider. I buy apple cider every fall. I drink whole gallons of apple cider by myself. It's one of the first signs of fall, apple cider on the store shelves.
As I walked through Wal-Mart I noticed all sorts of things, pretty fall welcome mats, fall flowers, candy corn in large stacks, wreaths, stupid Halloween decorations, lots of cute scarecrows, and pumpkins. Now my sister loves fall. It's one of her favorite times to decorate. She has some really cute things too. But my little trip through Wally World reminded me that the cooler weather is coming, even though it's hot now. Only a few leaves have turned but more are coming. Before long Nathan will be asking for chili and frito pies. I'll be getting out sweaters for the kids and buying us a rake because we always borrow our neighbor's. I really like fall and my favorite decorating time is just around the corner...bring on the blue and white. By the way, sister, we need to draw names soon.
Christmas is coming!!!

Wordless Wednesday (Cell phone edition)

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

For my birthday Nathan got me this little beauty. It's an ipod shuffle. And yes, I did get it in that color. Let me just say for the record that my husband is not an Apple fan. In fact, he highly dislikes their software, itunes ect, but their hardware he thinks is well designed. Others we know are all out Apple haters! :) (Scott!) But Nathan was sweet and knew that I wanted an MP3 player for my birthday. Sunday we downloaded itunes onto our computer and I spent a lot of time uploading all our cds to it and organizing them. I found a lot of great songs on itunes that I'm sure I will be spending my allowance on. Everything you can imagine, except for the original Beatles, is on there. Classical, instrumental, Christian, rock, pop. I'm becoming a fan of the itunes store. But before any of you panic, I have yet to buy a song. I can't decide where to start. :)Thank you baby. I love my birthday present. And it's so pretty too.

Picnic at the Farm

Today we drove out to Nathan's parents' house for a picnic to celebrate their anniversary. It was really beautiful out today, perfect picnic weather. The boys played with their aunts and uncles and Peanut charmed everyone. Grasshopper slept through it all, almost. Nathan launched his 6 foot rocket that he's been working on since I was pregnant with JM. We had two very successful launches. Come to our church harvest party and he'll launch it again. I think he was a little disappointed in the height, however that's a lot of rocket for a really little engine. I was impressed. Here's the slide show of our day. If you put the mouse over the picture you can see the captions.

Cause One Bath is NEVER Enough

This morning was out WIC appointment and usually they are great about having the kids on different cycles so that I don't have to bring all of them at once. However, for a list of various reasons this morning's visit required all 5 of us to be there. I asked my mom to come and help because with weighing, measuring, finger pricking, and the endless amount of questions I figured it would just be best.
All the kids got their baths last night. I really didn't want to show up with dirty smelly children. I try to give a good impression. I saved Grasshopper's bath for this morning. All went well. He was washed, dried, lotioned, and diapered. I was getting ready to dress him when he filled his diaper. Here's how my thought process went.
"I'll just leave it till I'm done nursing him and change him right before we go, well it might leak on his clean clothes, or me. Maybe I should just change it now. No, I'll wait. Nah, I'd better do it now."
So I proceeded to change his diaper, at which point he sprayed himself on the head and his clean onesie. And before it was all over he had pooped ON his dirty diaper and the towel under him. I wiped him off and put him back in the sink for bath number two. This time I dressed him and feed him and didn't stop for anything. :) Apparently it was a very exhausting experience for him because he slept through the appointment and is still sleeping. I appreciate that too.
Thanks for the help mom. It would have been awful without you. :)p.s. A post is coming soon about Grasshopper's nickname. Stay tuned.

First Day of School

Yesterday was AJ's first day of school this year. Earlier this year, in January, I called the preschool and asked if they had any openings now that he was four. They did and he started school in Feb and right off the bat had several snow days. But yesterday was his first "first day of school." He was very excited. We went to Wal-Mart to get some things that he needed for the classroom and he had a frosty for a treat.
When it was time to take him to school JM really wanted to go too so I loaded him up as well. JM insisted on carrying the box of tissues, which was actually 4 small boxes wrapped together. At school, JM didn't want to leave. One little girl was crying, and JM was as well. Only his plea was , " I want to be four too, Mommy!" It was very sad. He said goodbye to AJ and we left.
When AJ came home from school JM just kept patting his arm and saying his name over and over. I think the time apart will be WONDERFUL for them. Here they are with Daddy, ready to leave.

Wordless Wednesday

...a very wet and messy one.

Overheard In the Bathroom...

...during toothbrushing time last night before bed.

AJ- Daddy why do Superheros put their pants on and then their underwear?

Daddy- Umm. I don't know.

Overheard this morning at church during playtime outside.

JM to DA- I'm gonna play with Little Buddy. I'm gonna punch him.
and then he did.

Soccer, Glorious Soccer!

Last week we had a big storm come through and our internet has been out all week. The handy dandy cable guy came this morning and yea, we are back online. Just in time for a big milestone for our family.
Today was AJ's first soccer game. For those of you who know our extended family, mainly Mama Lily and her crew you will know that soccer is the main sport. Cross country is great but soccer is the big one. All the cousins have played soccer at least one season, some are making quite the career out of it. Puk Puk is AJ's closest cousin, but is older by two years. Puk Puk has been playing soccer for the last two years and AJ has been constantly asking when he's going to get to play too. Well, that day finally came. We've bought the shin guards, soccer socks, a water jug, and. chairs for the rest of us to sit on. We met his coach last Monday and got his jersey. We loaded up the WHOLE family and arrived on time, thankfully. Here he is with some of his teammates and coach getting ready to start the game.
I wish that I would have had a video camera for the first 30 seconds of the game, it was priceless. At the kickoff, AJ was the first one to the ball. He dribbled it all the way down the field fairly well. He kicked it at the goal and it didn't quite go in so he just picked it up and threw it in the goal. It was so unexpected that I just sat there and laughed till I almost cried. It was hysterical. He did really well and made two goals. They don't keep score at this age but mom kept an open eye. We were very proud and he had a blast. After the game, Auntie gave him some cleats that were hand-me-downs from the soccer cousins. He can't wait to wear them at his next game.

Happy Birthday!!

to my wonderful Big Brother!! Sorry I couldn't wait to have the baby on your birthday...but you are the world's best big brother.

Grasshopper

Please join me in welcoming
Grasshopper!!!!
8 lb. 10 oz. and 20 inches

He was born at 12:34 pm and is doing great. So am I! We're very happy that he's finally arrived. He is currently being admired at the hospital by lots of family and friends. I'll be sure to post more after we come home. Thanks to all our friends' and family's support. We love you all.











This post uploaded by dad since mom is still in the hospital. Any brilliance in today's episode is solely attributable to my lovely wife, and any technical errors are my responsibility. Love you honey!

Wordless Wednesday

JM and Grandpa at the church picnic last week.