Mower Nap & Extra Rider

Nate's been known to fight naps and then crash in some strange ways! It was a weekend afternoon and I had just started to get the kids down for nap/rest. And then Brian started the mower:)

Nate perked up! And then ran outside and waited until Brian invited him on. Minutes later...

Really was sound asleep:)

As soon as Brian woke Nate he had another rider... waiting her turn;)

The neighborhood dog had to see the Miracle Mower for herself:) LOL!!

She LOVES riding on things... mowers, golf carts:) We've already had a couple of neighbors say that she rides with them... LOL!!

I love Nate's expressions as he tries to tell "Sissy" to get off the mower!

BTW... Brian's mower was off with the Nate & dog pictures:)

More Wordless Wednesday at  NapTime MomTog, 5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go

and Live and Love...Out Loud !!!

Tiny Talk Tuesday : Snake and Turtle for Dinner?

I've been trying to use up our freezer foods (in an effort to be ready to pack up.... any time now... LOL!!) This weekend I made fajitas n two different pans... one chicken and one steak. The kids were a little confused at the dinner table why there were TWO pans of food!?

So as Brian served the kids he offered them "turtle " (chicken) and "snake" (steak).... a Daddy's ways:) LOL... I really thought the kids would have opted out!

But they loved it.... it was soo funny (and a little gross) hearing them ask for "turtle" or "snake" !!

The funniest thing though was the next day when we were having leftovers! I told the kids that we had some fajitas to finish...

Lydia: Is there any snake left? I really liked that!
Chris: And I want turtle. It was my favorite!

LOL!! Meals are never dull around here;)

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On evening I was in the kitchen with Anna as we made breakfast for dinner. I had just cracked the eggs into a dish and Anna had begun scrambling them. She combed through the raw egg looking for something.... shells! Just in case Momma let one through:)

I told her a quick story of Brian's childhood and visiting with a family that served eggs with occasional shells. She was grossed out and asked if Daddy ate the eggs. And I quickly said that I thought he did because it might have been rude to ask for eggs and not eat them.

Anna said that a friend told her that they sometimes had egg shells in their eggs. Anna confessed that she wanted to say it was gross, but she didn't want to be rude. So instead she said that she wouldn't eat egg shells because it would "mess up her diet"!! LOL!!

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Nate shared his second sentence... "Move, Momma!" I was getting the Gator out of the garage and he was ready to go;)

WW: Big Boy Tools with Daddy

Chris was helping me sweep up our car port. Brian came home in the midst of Chris explaining his good idea of taking out our shop vac to blow to clean it up faster.

So Brian suggested the "Big Boy Tool"!!
Chris was in awe and kiddo heaven.... Daddy time AND a real Man TOOL!

Later that night, Chris took out the markers and made Daddy a picture that reminded them of their time together!! Precious! I love that from the picture you can see how much Chris enjoyed that event:)

Reminds me of a quote from Things We Wished We'd Known about Abundant Homeschooling:

Children need quality time- quantities and quantities of it.
The kind of time children need is the kind only parents can provide.

More Wordless Wednesday at  NapTime MomTog, 5 Minutes for Mom,  Mama to 4 Blessings, Go Graham Go

and Live and Love...Out Loud !!!

Male Bonding with the Babe

I was pretty against bringing toy weapons into our home when we had little Christopher. I just felt like the world was violent early enough and we could hold off on bringing toy weapons into playtime and into the home.

But it seemed when Chris got a certain age everything he touched became a weapon... sticks turned into guns, markers linked together were swords... there was nothing I could do. I was raising a little boy:)

Then we started working on history together.... wars, the middle ages, vikings, etc!! There was no turning back.

My little Nate has been exposed to all this "boy"-ness much earlier than his Momma would have preferred. But little boys copy big boys;) And I'm raising 2 boys now:)

The other night as the older kids were preparing for bed, Daddy worked with Nate on some dart gun basics;)

{pretty}
male bonding time

{funny}
shooting Momma

{happy}
an "I did it" moment
with a proud Papa

"

{real}
my baby already likes his brother's stash
dart guns, foam swords...
the babe loves this stuff 

Tiny Talk Tuesday

After starting and hosting Tiny Talk Tuesday for many blogging years, Mary @ Not Before 7 has given Tiny Talk Tuesday to us;) We are honored and excited to continue to provide a place to share all the silly (and/or important) conversations we have with our kids each week.

So often as parents we get distracted by all that needs to be done in "our" world to listen to the sweet  and sometimes loud) voices that  long for our attention.

Tiny Talk is an encouragement to listen and laugh! And a place to record those sweet voices and silly conversations so we can remember!

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Some how at dinner, we got on the conversation of a pastor (and his family) one day moving into "our house" (aka -the parsonage we're living in now).

Anna then made a "silly" comment that she hopes the next pastor will be one of the men who doesn't become the next US President.

We must have given her confused looks because she quickly said, "Like Rick Perry... or Rick Santorum"

LOL!! Then we asked her who else was running for president. She answered, "Newt Gingrich. Mitch Romney (I know the name wasn't 100% correct... that's what made it cute!)."

So then we started asking her more current events questions.

Like "Which country has nuclear weapons?" She quickly piped up "Iran."

For years we were very cautious about everything the kids were exposed to on TV. For the last 2 or 3 years while Brian has watched the morning and/or evening news the kids have snuggled next to him listening in.

It's both amazing and a little "iffy" all that they are learning from watching the news with him. Brian points out to them when a certain topic has been covered by only one point-of-view. And he's always there to answer questions for them. I think it's a great beginning for us teaching our kids to be good citizens, mindful of the world we live in, aware of what is going on around them and critical thinkers;)

Right now, though, they are little sponges!

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Last week for history we studied about the wars between the early colonies and the Indians as the colonies expanded. One of the main battles was with Metacom near Plymouth. We read through where the colonist shot Metacom, beheaded him and posted his head on a stake in the middle of town for years. (yuck!)

As we finished the story, Lydia (5 yr) spoke with her inquisitive & scholarly voice,"I just have one question. What did they do with him's body?"

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 Happy Valentines Day :)

Now it's your turn to link up :)

Tiny Talk Tuesday @ The Movies and Ears

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Brian took the kids to see Lion King at the movie theater on Saturday! We left the house later than we wanted along the way we worried a bit hat the movie would be too full when they got there:(

But we totally made it there on-time... they even saw all the previews:)

During the previews, Anna (7 yrs) says," Why don't they just start the movie?"

Then 40 or so minutes into the movie, while in Daddy's lap, Lydia (4 yrs) says, "Phew, I'm glad we got here in time!"

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We've been hearing more and more "words" from Nate:)

• "Peas".... and he rubs his tummy (almost the ASL sign for "please"!)
• "Danh Chu"... said when someone helps him or gives him something... it's obviously "thank you"
• "dop" ... said when someone is messing with him... we think it's "stop"
• "yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh".... this is the Lyrics from the Yes to VBS  song... he loves to listen to it and dance;)

Here is this funny (and blurry) photo again...

The questions was What is he asking for??
and it's super hard NOT being with Nate or in that "conversation"... so I'll just tell you:)


He's becoming aware of body parts... especially the face/head! And so lately he thinking it's funny to stick his fingers in our ears!! SO he tries constantly to get that little finger close enough to our ear;)

And if you ask him about "ears" he'll find his own or try to stick his finger in ours;)

LOL!! It sounds gross:) But it's really funny to us, I don't remember the others making a game of it like he has:)

Snuggle Time with Daddy... Minus One

By this time of night, we're all tired and there is nothing sweeter than to see all the kids snuggled up with Brian watching Little House on the Prairie;)



Well, almost all the kids! Where did Nate go???




He's got the front row seat!! Not wanting to miss anything and finding something else to chew on;)

SOOC Saturday - Daddy's Gift

What a difference from LAST weekend.... it's freezing out there!!!!

Last weekend spoiled us with the highs in the 60's so we busted our Daddy's Christmas gift.... a fire pit (something he'd been looking to purchase for over a year)...


Oh, I had done soooo well hiding it from him. My mom purchased it and kept the receipt and I gave her cash for it, in fact, I asked him for the cash to pay her for it... LOL!!!! SO he knew how much it was...

And then we kept it at their house for 2 or 3 weeks.... then moved to under Chris' bed... yes, the kids knew WHERE it was and FOR WHOM it was...

But I was the one who gave him too many clues and he guessed it... days before Christmas;) He challenged me with whether or not he'd like it.... LOL!!! I fell for it;)



I'm counting on lots of fun memories;)

I"m joining in a New Meme from Marvelous Mommy...

WW: They Both Fought Hard...

... not sure who won...

Actually, the winner was me:) I was able to get in a few more minutes of "night before school" preparation before the babe's "final" feeding;)

You can find some other picture posts at 5 Minutes for Mom and Go Graham Go!!!

Two of My Favorite Guys

What my Husband Does to Give me Rest....

Brian wanted to take the kids out for a brisk walk (aka... some exercise). Lately he has been trying to take the three older kids to give me 30 minutes of rest (especially if Nate is sleeping).

I definitely appreciate all of his efforts....

Especially when he goes through soo much to make the ride more comfortable for the kids.

He likes to call it "country engineering"!!

Stink... I forgot to take a picture of how he attached it!! I'd explain it with words like "do-dads" and "pieces" ... LOL!!

But Brian says I should just say it was a stick and a couple of ring clamps... yes, this is Country Engineering at it's finest!!

I wasn't quite "wordless" today.... but I'd love to share these fun pics;) So Happy WW to you all:)

Homemade Transformers and Guy-time

The kids love their Daddy.... like most kids!!! But I've started to notice that even the way they spend their time with Brian is different. They all love making visits and running errands with him (they always get stuck going with Mommy... LOL!!).

The girls love the time to curl into Brian's lap when they wake in the morning or in the evening before they go to bed. They love to sit and read books with Brian or "model" a new dress/outfit or hairstyle for him (and just beam with his compliments!!!).

But Chris is different..... oh, he loves the snuggles, books and compliments, too!! He loves it when his daddy gives him "dinosaur" hair!! But he also really needs "physical" time with his Dad... wrestling, chase, throwing a ball (or better yet throwing "soft" balls at each other)!


Last week while Brian and I enjoyed an afternoon "date", one of sweet church members stayed at the house with the kids. And they did tons of "projects"! One of the projects Christopher made were Transformers.... little men from foam that he cut out:) It wasn't until later that we learned what Chris' intentions were with the "Transformers".....

Transformer FIGHT with Daddy:)

The pictures don't exactly capture all the grunts, giggles and other special effects that really explained how much fun these two had with this "toy"!!

There is definitely something to be said for Daddys!! And how much their little boys need "guy" time with them:)

Wanted to share this about Chris.... the other night at Walmart he saw something he HAD to have!!! In fact the next morning he was digging through his "penny jar" collecting the amount of money he was going to need for his "special" purchase...



Yes, lined paper and sticky notes!!!! My son is obsessed with writing and drawing pictures on paper and will use gobs of paper each day.... so now he has his own stack to draw and write whatever his little heart pleases:)

Oh, and one of the sweetest things was that he shared the sticky notes with his sisters.... they were delighted as well:) And I've got a house covered in pictures on sticky notes.... stuck to EVERYTHING!!

Wordless Wednesday : Daddy Bathing the Kids

Maybe this should have been another Works for Me Wednesday (Daddy edition)!!! LOL!! I couldn't resist taking the pic:)

You can find some other picture posts at Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom and Go Graham Go!!!

What Daddy makes for LUNCH!! and Andrea's in Labor

Can you tell that Daddy is ALL about the presentation of food????

And he takes a picture of it for Momma:)

And precious Daddy might have lunch duty again today, as Andrea is in labor! She's got high hopes that I capture some of the miracle of her little one's birth today! Pray for all of us;)

More of My Boys (and sneaking some girls in, too)

Here's another "take" of my boys in their cute "Lucky & Charming" St. Patty's Day shirts:) too funny!!


I'm sure MOST little boys (and girls) like to help their Daddy's with "projects". Chris is the first one at a project and the last to leave.... he LOVES working on projects with Brian and LOVES his Daddy's tools;)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I wanted to get an "angle" to how HIGH Chris really was:) I liked this pic (it's not perfect but fun)! And shows that we're never too far away from the kids not matter where they are;)


Of course, once the girls saw that Chris was sitting on the TOP shelf in Daddy's (the forbidden) closet.... they wanted a "try" too!!



I've submitted this to YOU Capture this week as the theme is "reaching"... in each pic we are reaching or keeping very close to the kids... while still letting them "explore" a bit;)

Not soo pretty....

The snow was beautiful!!

Watching kids (and hubby) playing in the snow was great!


But Momma trying to get into her "snow clothes" was not sooo pretty! LOL

First was my snow pants/coveralls. Brian pulled them out of the attic last night when we realized that the snow was truely coming;) This morning as we were dressing to go play in the snow I attempted to get them on:)

LOL.... I seriously did laugh and then grabbed the camera!

Anna was able to use the pants. She was GLAD to use them and almost giddy when they didn't fit me!! LOL!! Brian rolled the pants and them taped them... LOL!! But she stayed out in the snow at least an 1.5 hour both times!! So they kept her fairly warm!

The other "struggle" was getting my boots on!! The photo doesn't do it justice... LOL, you can't hear the grunting... hahhaa!! Now, I know my belly has just begun the growth, but all the layers of clothing plus the belly made getting my boots on that much harder! Too funny!

Of course, my always encouraging hubby thought the best part was me getting up with all the layers, boots and belly! I had to go to the side to get up... oh, I soo thought I wasn't at that stage yet:) LOL!!

Where is Nathaniel??? With all the layers, my 26 week baby belly blended in! Sure there is thickness in the middle, but I don't think I look 26 weeks preggo!

We are planning to spend more time outside tomorrow... and I have more snow pictures to share later:)

Until then I'm getting some rest so I can keep up with my "snow loving" crew tomorrow!!