The Underwater World and Saucy!

I had the good fortune of getting about 4-5 bushel of tomatoes from neighbors and my brother this weekend. You had thought I had hit the jackpot I was so excited. We had been completely out of homemade spaghetti sauce for a few months and I just HATE buying it from the store when I know I can make my own. Anyway, Aaron and I started the spaghetti sauce marathon yesterday afternoon. After about 8 hours and multiple trips to the grocery store for supplies we ended up with 76 quart bottles of spaghetti sauce. I think we will be set for sauce for the next little while!! The picture only shows a few of the bottles. We still have a few more to process (pressure cook) before we can be completely done. We got everything cleaned up and got to bed about 2:15 am this morning. Tomatoes splatter everywhere!! I thought I got everything cleaned up last night only to wake up this morning to find more splatters this morning. Oh well, it was worth it today to have lasagna made with fresh sauce--YUM!!While we were in Texas at Aunt Jill's pool we bought an underwater disposable camera. We finally got around to developing the pictures yesterday so here goes:

I tried to get a shot of Aaron jumping into the pool, but as you can see you can't tell what it is:Josh being silly:Matthew hated having water go in his nose, but at least he finally was able to go underwater by the end of the week.All three boys swimming:Aaron insisted on getting a shot of me: I absolutely hate water in my nose--Matthew must have picked that up from me.All four kids sticking their faces in the water on the suntanning deck.Daniel showing off his sweet swimming skills:Sarah is quite the little fish who is absolutely NOT afraid of water in any way. She loved putting her head underwater all the time.Matthew diving for toys on the bottom of the pool:Sarah looking at me underwater:

We had lots of fun.

The Wolfman and Some Exceptionally Good Cocoa Puffs

Yesterday Matthew received his Wolf, some beltloops and some Golden Arrows at packmeeting. He also advanced into the Bears since he turned 9. Yay for Matthew! He got to fish for his prize:

He then pinned a wolf pin on my shirt and I get to sew the wolf patch on his.Afterward he got to choose a cheer from the Cheer box and have everyone participate.Sarah this morning helped herself to the boys' cereal bowls they left out on the counter after breakfast. They were full of Cocoa Puffs and from the looks of things she really enjoyed them. She even spilled the bowls of milk all over her shirt and the floor when she finished with them.
Off to the shower she goes!

Rollin', Piano Lessons and Barber Shop

In Matthew's mouth there has been a permanent tooth trying to grow in, but his baby tooth is still in the way. His baby tooth has been really loose for a while, but I cannot stand teeth in any way so I never helped Matthew wiggle it in order to get it out. Aaron finally took matters into his own hands. Matthew asked Aaron for some help and he willingly laid in Aaron's lap while Aaron worked the tooth over. He finally got it out and Matthew was so excited! He came running upstairs to show me. He was so excited he seemed to be oblivious to the dripping blood coming out of his mouth. Luckily, the Tooth Fairy just happened to have some spare money laying around to cover the cost after Matthew fell asleep. Monday Josh and Matthew also started up piano lessons again. Their old teacher moved away to college and stopped lessons around the beginning of the summer. I found someone else close by who was willing to take them both on. The new teacher is ultra organized so hopefully the boys will continue to learn. Monday afternoon before piano lessons started Josh and Daniel were playing over at our neighbors house. I found out after seeing Josh and Daniel come home they were playing barber shop. Josh and Daniel let their friend cut their hair to their scalps in different spots all over their head. Thank goodness their hair is already so short because it doesn't show up too much. You can see just a few of the bald spots in Daniel's by looking at the picture. Josh got the brunt of the barber's scissors, though.I asked them why they let her do that and they said it's because she asked them too. It appears we need to have a talk about choosing the right and not what our friends tell us to do.

Monday night I went out walking with a friend. When I got back home Aaron told me Noah had rolled over. Aaron missed seeing him do it as well, he just heard his cries get muffled all of a sudden. He then looked over to see him on his tummy extremely upset. Yay for Noah! He kept flipping over to his tummy yesterday, too. He would get pretty upset because he does not like being on his tummy, but he is getting good at mastering his new found skill. The developmental nurse came out to check up on him yesterday. He decided to sleep the whole visit so she just asked me questions about him. He is doing great for being born almost two months early. The nurse will be making a return visit in two months to see check up on him again.

Yesterday Josh wanted to ride his bike to school. I was a little nervous about this since he is not too steady on his bike and he doesn't ever watch for cars. However, his friends were riding their bikes and he really wanted to ride his. I finally agreed to it hoping everything would be ok. He returned after school and did just great. I guess I can be a little too overprotective at times.

My kids switch back and forth between poptarts and cereal for breakfast. We were running low on poptarts so I went to the store to pick some up. Always looking for a bargain I saw that the high fiber poptarts were cheaper than the regular ones. You know you always hear about how everyone needs to eat more fiber so I made the choice to be more healthy (if you can call poptarts healthy) and to save money. Holy cow I found out the hard way that whatever money I saved on buying to high fiber poptarts I have made up for in buying extra diapers, wipes and toilet paper. Sarah seems to be the hardest hit by this high fiber decision--poor thing! Unfortunately, we still have quite a few high fiber poptart boxes left so I am up for any extra coupons for diapers, wipes and toilet paper if you can spare a few. I don't think I will make that choice again. PEEE-EWWE!!

Sarah has been keeping herself entertained by playing with Noah's toys since Daniel is usually playing outside. She likes to pull off all his toys and then leave it to play with something else. Poor Noah!Josh was reading a child magazine the other night for some light bedtime reading--he's pretty funny. While reading he came across this recipe and insisted we have it for dinner the next day. Trying to encourage his continued reading I obliged him. I followed Josh's instructions and we had bagel and english muffin pizza. I had lots of help from Sarah in addition to Josh. Unfortunately, the only bagels I could find that were Daniel friendly were once again--high fiber. Bring on the toilet paper!!

First Day of School and Shopping Disaster

Monday was the first day of school for Matthew (4th grade) and Josh (2nd grade). This year for Josh's school instead of a back to school night they had a back to school morning during the first hour before school started. Aaron was kind enough to stay home that morning to help me get everyone up and ready and to go with me to the back to school morning. We met Josh's teachers (there are two of them that team teach) and they both seem great and excited to be teaching. The kids were excited to go back to school. Josh was so excited that after we met his teachers, Aaron and I were walking out to the car and Josh ran over and pulled out his dry toothbrush out of his pocket and told us he ran out of time to brush his teeth that morning. I guess in his excitement he put his toothbrush in his pocket to use it later? Hey, makes sense to me--not really. Matthew was very excited to get on the bus and ran straight out to it when it came. He even had an Excellent day which we are very happy about. At the end of the school year last April to the end of school he kept having rough days (we think it was because all the stuff that was going on at home i.e. Josh in the hospital, me in the hospital, Noah premature, Jill in the hospital, Sydney premature, and lots of family in and out of our house). Anyway, I was excited to see he is happy and doing well once again. After the back to school morning Aaron went to work and I decided since I had cut my children down to three I could easily handle doing some grocery shopping. The last few months we mostly been living off my food storage which has dwindled quite a bit. That meant for this shopping trip I really needed to get a lot of things. I figured I could throw Noah in the front pack, Sarah in the cart and Daniel could walk along side me. That worked out until we walked inside the store and Sarah and Daniel spotted those kiddie carts with the two steering wheels. One similar to this:I absolutely detest these carts because they are usually sticky (I don't even want to know why), they are impossible to push and awkward to steer, and because they have smaller cart space. However, I was feeling pretty excited to have two kids back in school and I thought, "Well why not...I will try it." That was mistake number one!! As soon as Daniel and Sarah got settled and I had picked up a few things, Daniel jumped out and did the potty dance like I had never seen before and insisted he needed to go potty right then or else. I rolled my eyes and tried to pry Sarah out of the cart to take him. Sarah had other plans. She refused to get out of that stupid cart. I finally had to forcibly remove her and drag her kicking and screaming all the way to the bathroom to take Daniel. When we got out of the bathroom Sarah took off running one way, while Daniel took off running the other way. I had to make a quick decision about who to chase. It sounds like an algebra problem...two kids take of running in opposite directions going at two different speeds. Which one will get into trouble first?...Anyway, I caught up to Sarah and grabbed her and turned around to find Daniel had already crawled inside the cart--thank goodness. I started shopping again. It was once of those sales where you have to buy a certain quantity of something in order to get some extra money off so occasionally I had to stop and figure out how much stuff I had. During those times I was stopped doing my math, Sarah and Daniel decided to play Chinese fire drill with a twist. They hopped out of the cart and scooped up as many things off the shelves as they could. I tried to put back what they had grabbed while telling them to get back in the cart. They refused to get into the cart until I started walking away with it and tried to do a Dukes of Hazard jumping in the car door while it was moving. A few times Sarah's foot got ran over because she wasn't fast enough. After about 20 minutes of shopping I had had enough. I got the essentials and decided to cut my losses and restock my pantry later. I went over to check out and there was only one lane open with a line. Unfortunately, for some asinine reason the grocery stores stick all the candy at child level right by the check stands. I spent my whole time in line pulling candy bars out of Sarah's hands and in the process crushed a few of them. I blame them for putting them right there at child height!!! By this time Noah decides he is starving and starts screaming. Sarah is also screaming because I am pulling candy bars out of her hands. Daniel is also screaming because he is trying to tattle on Sarah and I am not listening because I am trying to calm Noah down while trying to put the candy bars back. It got bad enough the people behind me in line tried to help me out in which I thankfully accepted their help. With help I finally made it out to the car with all the groceries. I had never been so happy to strap everyone in their car seats so they could stay put!! Whew, so much for being easier with just three kids to take care of.

Ruined Lives

Daniel and Josh kept fighting so we separated them and sent Daniel downstairs to sleep in the basement bedroom. On the way downstairs he told us we ruined his life. I asked him how and he said it's because we don't let him do what he wants. Where in the world did he hear that from? That sounds like something a teenager would say not a 4 year old!!

The County Fair and I Can't Believe My Kid Just Did That!!

This morning G&G T visited Sarah to celebrate her birthday. She got these really cute red sparkly shoes and she likes them. They go great with her red purse and princess dress. Have I mentioned how much I love having a girl? Anyway, later today we went to the county fair. I was sad because we didn't make it back in time from our vacation for me to enter any of my canned pears, jam, peaches and tomatoes from last year. Oh well maybe next year. We went this afternoon to take a look around. In one area the kids got to hold a tarantula, scorpion, pet a snake a huge turtle and a huge lizard. Matthew and Josh thought it was fantastic--Sarah and Daniel not so much. They also had a petting zoo. Sarah was a little hesitant at first, but once she saw her brothers dive in she tried it out. She was still hesitant, but at least she attempted petting some of the animals. All the kids got a chance to ride some ponies they had there. The three boys loved it, Sarah had an absolute meltdown once the horse started walking. I finally had to skip our turn because Sarah would have nothing to do with the horse in any way.

It was sweltering hot (not as bad as Texas, however) and by the time we left, we were all worn out, hungry and thirsty. Not wanting to come home and cook dinner we took the easy way out and headed over to McDonald's. A bonus of going there Daniel can eat their nuggets because there is no dairy or eggs in them. We purposely chose one with a play land. I hate the kids going to play lands because I don't think they are that clean; however, by going to a play land Aaron and I can actually carry on an adult conversation without getting interrupted every 5 seconds by the kids because they are out playing. We walked in and Aaron went over to order while I went back to the play land to sit down and keep an eye on the kids while they were playing. Aaron had just brought over our food and I was setting it out for everyone to eat. Once the kids saw their food was ready they all headed down to come eat--except for Sarah. I sent Josh up to get her when I hear him practically scream so everyone in the whole restaurant could hear, "EWWWEEEE! SHE'S A STINKY GIRL!!" Being the little stinker she is when she saw Josh coming to get her she ran up to the highest part of the play land. In order to get down faster Josh sent her down the slide. Unfortunately, her diaper was so full the contents leaked out and got smeared all down the slide. OH HOW DISGUSTING!! When she got down I grabbed her and brought her over to the table so I could grab Noah and we could leave. That's when she saw her nuggets laid out ready to eat and once she saw that she didn't want to go. She threw a huge tantrum all the way out to the car. It was sure fun trying to carry Noah and his car seat while fighting/dragging Sarah out of the restaurant. I got to the car and changed her diaper while Aaron gathered up all the uneaten food to bring it home. So much for some uninterrupted adult conversation. Oh yes all the kids in the play land went and told the McDonald's employee what had happened in the slide. They then sent this little old lady employee to crawl up into the play land and clean everything up. I am so humiliated!! I don't know if I can ever show my face there again. REALLY?!?! I can't believe my kid just did that!!

Soccer, Back to School, 4 Months Old, Kids Say Funny Things!

We came back home from our vacation and hit the ground running. Josh and Daniel started up soccer. Daniel has soccer every Tues/Thurs and Josh has soccer every Wed/Fri. Then Matthew and Josh have piano lessons every Monday. That way I definitely know we have something to go to every day of the week. Anyway, we missed Daniel's first practice since that was the day we were driving home. Josh went to his first practice Wednesday night. Of course every team needs some comedic relief and Josh stepped up to that challenge. Hey at least he's having fun. Unfortunately he was the trend setter and whatever silly thing he did the other kids started mimicking him. It frustrated the coach a little, but you have to remember they are a bunch of 7 year old kids. He is just trying to make sure everyone has fun I guess. At least he is having fun and thankfully it is somewhat of a relaxed atmosphere so no one is too stressed out about it. Here's an action shot--he did actually play soccer amongst the goofing off. He is the one wearing the white T-shirt and red shorts.Daniel started soccer the following night. One of Daniel's old playgroupers, Charli, is on his team. Her dad is their coach. Daniel is the shrimp on the team, but he makes up for it in spunk. He and Charli goofed off together. Charli would rub his head and pick him up and hold him--ah young love. Daniel insists she isn't his girlfriend, but I don't know if Charli would agree.Noah is 4 months old if you can believe it. He had his well child check-up and he's looking great. He weighs in at 12 pounds 12 ounces (in the 10th percentile) is 24.5 inches long (25th percentile) and his head circumference is 41.2 cm (75th percentile). The percentiles are not adjusted for he prematurity either so he is doing pretty great. We definitely know he belongs to us because all of our kids have big heads. He is still behind in what a four month old should be doing, but the doctor told me they can take his prematurity into account up until he turns two years old so not to worry about it. I am delaying his immunizations until he gets a little older just to be on the safe side of things. He still is somewhat of a pukester, barfer, or whatever you want to call it--it is definitely more than just spit up when he spits up, but we just make sure we have a burp blanket around to clean up his mess. He's a pretty happy go lucky baby and I am thankful for that!!Matthew had his back to school night last night. He will have the same teacher and school as he had last year so not too much has changed for him. I still can't believe he is starting the 4th grade!! I must admit I am getting excited for school to start again. We have had a crazy summer and it will be nice to get into a definite routine around here!

Kids can say the funniest things. Josh went to pick up the mail for me yesterday. He sometimes will pick up the mail without me knowing about it, but not bring it inside. I can sometimes find it laying scattered around the backyard--grrrr. Anyway he saw the mailman come by, but we didn't get any mail. He came running inside and yelled, "Mom! Mom! Did you forget to order the mail?" I asked him what he meant and he told me we didn't get any mail so I must have forgotten to order some. I wish that's how mail worked--I would not ever order any of the bills so I wouldn't have to pay them.

Another funny thing is while we were down visiting Jill and Jeff in Texas, Jill's mother-in-law, Cami, came to stay with them as well. Cami had her ears talked off by Matthew, but she was pretty patient and answered his many repetitive questions over and over again. However, she did start talking to Josh. She asked Josh if he had any girlfriends. He told her he had 25. She then asked him what made them his girlfriends. He said, "Because they kiss me." She then said, "Oh, well, who is the best kisser then?" He thought about it and then said, "Uh, I am!"