To The Zoo!

This morning we met up with Amity and her passel of offspring at the zoo. With Grammy here, we just had to go at least once, right? We had so much fun. Zeke was SUPER excited and practically ran amok until I sat him down and had a little chat with him. I mean, it's one thing to be 5-7 feet in front of me, but it's a completely different thing to be on the other side of the zoo from me (he wasn't really that far from me, but you know what I'm saying). But he quickly calmed down and did a much better job staying with the pack.

The zoo had a few new baby animals on "display" including a baby musk ox, as well as the CUTEST baby polar bear ever. They only let her out of the infirmary from 11-12 and from 4-5, so we were able to see her out and about. But since she's behind bars all the time, it was hard to get a good picture, so I'm not going to waste blog space with pictures of animals. Well, I guess these animals are worth posting pictures of.

After spending 2 hours walking around and seeing all there possibly is to see there, we had some popcorn and headed home for lunch and much needed naps (even I laid down for a bit). A very good morning indeed.

Too Gross Not To Share

I'll start by saying that I do not have any pictures to go with this story, so you can rest easy about that. I'll also say now that the story involves poop so if you want to avoid that topic then feel free to read the first half about Zeke, then skip the rest. Or skip the whole post, it's okay, you won't miss much.

So, yesterday afternoon Zeke decided he wanted to go outside to play again. When Deacon got up, he decided he didn't want to go out again. When Zeke found out that Deacon didn't want to go out he was shocked. You could see it in his face. His face was all, "What?! Why NOT?! There are rocks outside. And dirt! And sticks! And balls! And dirt! And rocks! And bubbles! And dirt! And trucks! And rocks!" But Zeke went out on his own and had fun getting dirty by himself.

Since Zeke was the only one who went out yesterday afternoon, he was the only one who really needed to be washed last night. And not really wanting to do the whole "bath thing" for one kid, I decided to let him try taking a shower for the first time. He LOVED it. He stood there, in the shower, for a solid 10 minutes, fogging up the mirror and driving Finn insane. (I set up the baby gate in the bathroom door so I could poke my head out and check on the other two while staying close to Zeke in case he slipped or something. But this meant that Finn spent the entire shower time at the gate crying to get in as the little man loves him some water.) So, Zeke had his first shower and it was a huge success and I'm so excited because it'll make things a lot easier this summer.

Here's where the poop comes into play, so feel free to leave now if you want. Apparently, while I was in the bathroom with Zeke, Deacon, who before yesterday was scared of the shower and HATED even the IDEA of it, decided he wanted to take a shower as well, and as such got himself ready to go. And by ready to go I mean he took off the shirt he had on (he was still pantsless from naptime) as well as his diaper. His diaper, which he had pooped into. So, I took Zeke out of the shower and started to wonder why I was smelling poop, I mean, Zeke was clean. So I let Zeke out of the bathroom, cleaned up the bathroom, walked out of the bathroom and saw Deacon, laying on the couch naked, his bottom covered in poop, with a little turd hanging out (I told you this was gross). On the other side of the couch was his diaper, nicely folded in half, but with a giant poop ball laying on top of it that Deacon had apparently put there manually, as his fingers were covered in poop. Ahhh yes, motherhood is SO glamorous.

So, I wiped up Deacon's butt, cleaned up the couch, threw out the diaper, and showered Deacon, who handled the shower quiet well. He was as excited and in love with showering as Zeke was, but he wasn't scared anymore either. Looks like I will be able to get away with more showers and less baths than I had originally anticipated this summer. Whoo! \o/ (<---that's a guy with his hands in the air)

Life Is a Series of Tangled

There are no typos in the title of this post. Life isn't really a series of tangles right now. No, life is good (even though we all miss Daddy terribly). Life is, however, a series of scenes from the movie Tangled right now. Part of me is starting to agree with the comment Amity made the other day, about us having seen the movie too many times. But really, how many is too many when the movie is so good? And if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend that you do so, and soon.

Amity made this comment at the park on Wednesday when I told her what happened when we got there. As soon as we had put all of our stuff on the table we were using, Zeke laid down on the grass and started singing "Just feel the grass! The dirt! Just like I dreamed they'd be!" Then he got up and ate his lunch like nothing had happened. There's also the fact that he's started saying, "Yes, Mother" to me, which I'm pretty sure he got from that movie.

Then, today, as I got out the vacuum, Zeke started running around the house singing, "I could go racing and dancing and running and splashing, when my life begins!" (Except the "when my life begins" part was incredibly mumbled since he doesn't actually know those words, but he knows the tune and how they're supposed to be sung.)

Deacon, is also caught up in it. The other evening he found a comb and started brushing my hair. As he brushed, he recited random lines from the movie. Zeke ran around in the background singing, "And then I brush, and brush, and brush and brush my hair!" Deacon also loves a good animal sidekick, and the chameleon from Tangled is no exception. Only, because Flynn calls the chameleon a frog on more then one occasion, and since he's not as familiar with chameleons as he is with frogs, Deacon likes to hop about pretending he is a frog. He's getting really good at it too.

Add to all of this the fact that Deacon requests I sing the songs from the movie a lot (at least, the segments of each song that I know - which really isn't very much). I have to work on learning more words to each song. Maybe if we watch it a few more times! Also, I set up the castle again at the boys' request. Only, it's not a castle anymore, it's now Rapunzel's tower.

They've also assigned "roles" to each of us. Zeke is Rapunzel, Deacon insists on being Mother Goethel, Josh and I are the king and queen, which leaves Finn to be Flynn. Zeke tried hard to convince Deacon to be Flynn, but Deacon just wouldn't hear of it. And finally, Zeke, who usually loves having his haircut because he likes to keep it short, has decided he doesn't want his haircut anymore because he wants it to be long like Flynn Rider's.

Oh! And the main "force" behind my cutting my hair the other week was that after watching Tangled the first time (or two), as well as Mulan, Zeke became insistant that I get my hair cut as well. Such funny kids with their funny whims. At least it's a movie that I love to watch over and over and over and over and over and over again and again and again and again too.

*here's a link to the song zeke sings the different parts to TANGLED
the grass the dirt is at about the 55 second mark
running and splashing etc is at about the 1minute 15 second mark*

We Laugh In the Face of Danger!

I am truly loving the weather we've been having. Spending hours outdoors each day has been wonderful. Take yesterday, for example.

Yesterday morning we went to the park for 2 whole hours. We stopped at McDs to pick up some lunch, then met some friends for fun. The big boys played and ran and jumped and rolled to their hearts content. Even Finn was great the entire time. You'd never know it was getting further and further past naptime (Finn usually gets a little cranky as his nap time approaches). And of course, 2 hours of running around a park meant 2 hours of solid nap time for all the boys. And, while we're on the topic of the park, I must say that I am impressed with all 3 of my boys who kept their baseball caps on the entire time we were there. Finn removed his a few times, but left it alone for awhile whenever I put it back on. They played so well with the other kids too. Zeke made up a game where a little girl would slide down the slide (with her mom's help - she was 19 months old) and slide into Zeke. Zeke would then "fly" off the slide and roll on the ground, causing the little girl to crack up. The girl's dad had a poodle with him, which he let Deacon and Finn pet (and Zeke when it was time for them to leave, ending his game with the little girl). It was such a good time.

As we were leaving for the park yesterday, we saw the baby moose on the side of the road, at the end of our street. As we turned the corner, Zeke got worried, and asked where the momma moose was. I assured him she was close by (and lest you're worried too, we spotted her right after we turned).

This pair have really been going about the neighborhood. This morning, as I came back in from putting out the garbage (at 6:30) I looked out the front window and there they were, right across the street. I'm wondering now where they were while I was out there, and how close I might have come to being seen as a threat and thusly attacked by Momma Moose herself. Not that she seems the attacking sort, of course.

That didn't stop Josh from freaking out when I texted him this picture last night though:

See, the boys were out back (at this point they were on the deck blowing bubbles) making all kinds of noise, as boys outside are wont to do. Oh, who am I kidding, boys will make all kinds of noise regardless of where they are. So, as the boys blew bubbles, Momma Moose came to the fence to check out what was going on. I'm pretty sure she was just assessing the situation. Zeke saw the moose and asked first if it could talk (thank you Disney), then asked if it could wave to him. I thought it was very cute, so I sent a text to Josh, with the above picture. Apparently Josh's immediate reaction upon opening the text and seeing the picture was "My kids are going to die." Puh-lease! I know moose can be fast and all, but I'm pretty sure I would have been able to grab both boys and get them safely inside (and probably out of sight downstairs or something) before Momma Moose could break through the fence, run across the yard, make her way up the stairs (I'm not even certain she'd fit up them with that big butt of her), and get at the kids.

Danger? Hah! I laugh in the face of danger. Hahahahahahahahahaaaa!

And of course, what would a great day be without a great bathtime?

I guess we've entered the season of almost daily baths. It's a tiring thought, but when I think about what it means (that the day was gorgeous and the boys spent a good part of it outside) I think it's totally worth it. We can do baths every night if means every day is like this.

A Good Afternoon

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful. The bigger boys asked to go out front to play, so I got them up a bit early from naps and took them out front while Finn continue to "rest". There was picking of berries (or bird grapes as Zeke started calling them yesterday):

There was picking of flowers (dandelions). There was "dirting the grass". Zeke remembered that all plants need dirt to grow, so he found some dirt and then sprinkled it all over the grass.

We were having such a good time, and the sun felt so glorious, that when Finn decided he was finished hanging out in bed, I brought him out too. He wasted NO time finding the dirt, and then eating the dirt. Unfortunately our front yard is a bit too steep for Finn's enjoyment. Still, he was happy sitting by the dirt for a good 45 minutes or so.

While the boys played, I worked. I got out the garden rake and started thatching the front yard. Here's what I got up after Round One (feel free to be impressed):

After I finished the yard work, I ushered the bigger boys into the backyard, and brought the baby inside. After 2 full hours of playing outside, I called the bigger boys in for dinner. (If you look closely in the next picture, you can *almost* see how dirty they got.) And since they were both fil-thy, we had a special treat of icepops after dinner.

Then it was time for baths, and She-Ra, and bed. All in all, it was a very good afternoon. A very good afternoon.

Nature! Goulet.

It's been like Animal Planet up in here you guys.

It started with the moose in the back yard (not actually in our yard, but just on the other side of the fence). At one point there were 3 of them back there. A medium sized one, then a big momma and her calf. The momma kept chasing the other one further and further away so the calf could run about as it pleased. (Once the calf goes behind the tree you can stop the video, I tried to follow it to the other side, but got distracted by Zeke.)

It's been fun. Also fun, is when Peavey caught (and killed) a bird Saturday morning and brought it home for us. Who's a good hunter with his big, sharp claws? Peavey is! When Peavey dropped off the bird, Zeke asked if Peavey shot it. I had to explain then how cats catch birds using their claws and fangs. Zeke was impressed, then pointed out how the bird is now dead. Which is good he realized the bird was dead, because shortly after our conversation about the bird, Peavey ate the bird's head. Yeah. No other part of the bird was eaten, just the head. My cat is so weird sometimes.

(I guess I should clean the back door again.) Shortly after Peavey had killed the bird, I took the boys food shopping. As we were walking across the parking lot, Zeke said, somewhat matter-of-factly, "So. Peavey caught the bird." To which Decon replied in possibly the most excited voice ever, "AND THEN HE ATE THE HEAD!" My middle child is so weird sometimes. And I'm guessing that my kids are not going to be bothered by death much. At least, not when it comes to the animals living in our neighborhood. Or, the animals no longer living in our neighborhood, I guess I should say. I am so weird sometimes.

Getting Knitty With It

Here is another post about my latest knitting creations. Now that "prayer shawl making season" has ended, I want to show you the last shawl I made for our group. It's a somewhat more ambitious pattern than I've done before, so it was a bit on the frustrating side. In fact, one night I got so frustrated I decided to just finish it where I was at. I then decided I really shouldn't do that, but the more I looked at it, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized I should. After all, children need prayer too. And the shawl was perfect (in my mind anyway) for a little girl - after all, it is shades of pink and purple, and has diamonds, sort of. So, here it is, being modeled by one who is close in size to whom I imagine it might some day go to:

He was a little sad he couldn't keep it for himself. Sweet Zeke.

Another project I've started up involves more things Zeke is sad he can't keep for himself, even though I insist on using him as my model for photos, are super cute headbands. It started with this one that I made to try out the pattern, and LOVE, so it's all mine:

After I saw easy and relatively quick the pattern is I decided to make these as teacher gifts for Zeke's teacher, classroom aide, and speech therapist. (I'll also be making some for his extra curricular speech therapist, but shhh, it's a secret.) Here are the ones I've made (and given) so far:

There was a day I had Zeke and Deacon wearing these for me so I could take pictures. They had a good time (which you'll see, if you want, whenever I get the pictures up on flickr) and thought the headbands were super cool, and wore them around for a bit. As the silliness went on, I turned to Finn and saw him making this face:

Yeeeeahh. He's just not sure about those big brothers of his sometimes. And honesly, I don't blame him one bit for his concern.

Three Cheers For Aunt Linda!

Last week (from last Thursday until this past Monday) Josh's sister, Linda, came to visit us. We had such a great time, even though Finn was a bit of a pill and would freak out if I moved more than 3 feet away from him while she was here. He did eventually warm up to her, you know, the day she was leaving. And while we mostly just hung around the house and went about our everyday lives with her here, we really did have a lovely time. Besides, it was nice being able to go out, without any kids, during nap times to get some things done. It was also nice having someone else around to put the kids in bed so I didn't have to on days I was just too worn out to walk down those stairs one more time.

Let's see...here's what we did while Aunt Linda was here:

We went to the library (did you know Aunt Linda used to be a librarian? true story):

I got my haircut during one of those glorious nap times (sorry it's blurry - silly phone photos - but trust me, it's super cute):

The boys had even more technology to play with (don't be too surprised if I announce the addition of an iPad2 to our family soon):

And we showed Aunt Linda some of our new favorite shows/movies - She-Ra and Care Bears:

Thank you SO much for coming to see us Aunt Linda! We can't wait to see you again in your part of the world.

This Happened Too Quickly

Today is the last day of school out here. I know I already posted it on facebook and tweeted about it, but I have a kindergartener now you guys. It's so crazy. I know that a lot is going to happen between now and when he actually starts kindergarten, but still. I'm so excited to watch Zeke as he continues to grow and continues to learn. He is a sweet and sensitive boy, as well as energetic and enthusiastic (and he gets enthusiastic about pretty much everything). Zeke is cute and charming and a little bit crazy. Look out New Jersey (and the rest of the world), Zeke is on his way!

I Thought This Was Interesting

So, I'm going to share it with you.

Last week I was driving to Bible study. The sun was shining (so wonderful) so I had my sunglasses on. I looked up at the sky and saw the coolest thing. The sun was there, surrounded by a circle of clouds, and the clouds were all sort of outlined in pink. It looked so cool. But when I took off my sunglasses and put my head closer to the steering wheel to look at it again (I was stopped at a red light, don't worry) the pink was gone and it looked like this:

(These pictures were taken after I finished driving to Bible study, I was not taking pictures as I was actively driving down the road. I was parked in a parking lot.)

Still pretty, but where did the pink go? I moved my head up and looked through that blue tinted part of the glass to see if that was the cause of the pink, and it turns out it wasn't.

Almost looks like a night shot, huh? Or not. Maybe just a VERY blue shot.

So then, I put my sunglasses back on, and looked through the non-blue part and nothing looked pink. SO I looked through the blue part with the sunglasses on and voila! There was the pink:

Okay, this really isn't a very good picture of what I saw, but from the time I first saw the pink on the road by my house, until I got to base (where I could safely take pictures) the clouds had moved, and so had I. Plus, the phone's camera, blah blah blah. But all those clouds around the sun were essentially outlined in this sharp shade of pink, and it was really cool. But even though you can't see what I saw, I still think it's interesting the difference the different "lenses" make when looking at the exact same thing.

Meet Faith

Faith is a spider. Faith came inside the other day, much to the boys' delight. Zeke and Deacon stinking LOVE this spider. I'm a little less thrilled about it. I haven't killed it yet because 1) they're really kind of attached to it (hence the spider having a name now) and enjoy looking around the house for it, and 2) Faith likes to stay up on the highest parts of the ceiling, very much out of reach. So, Faith, enjoy it while it lasts. Some day Josh will be back and he'll be tall enough to take. you. down.

Mr. Mysterioso

I found these sunglasses the other day while cleaning up my bedroom some, and Deacon has been quite taken with them. He wore them pretty much all day the Saturday I found them, including while watching some TV and to speech.

When he wasn't wearing the glasses, and you could get a good look at his eyes, you'd see that, due to the 2 grey shirts he was wearing that day, his eyes had turned grey. They were so cool looking, I almost wished they would stay that color.

Nice, right?

I also tried another day of potty training with Deacon and decided (again) that he's just not mentally ready. Physically he is SO ready, but he just doesn't want to and so he won't. I even let him wear my fun socks as super cool leg warmers, but he just wouldn't do it.

The kid can hold it too. He didn't pee the first 4+ hours he was up. He finally got to the point where he was leaking little drops of pee here and there because he really couldn't hold it anymore. But he STILL refused to go. I sat him on the toilet and some trickled out, but once he got enough out, he stopped. And then sat there for 10 minutes. I know I need to be consistent with him and do it for a few days in a row, but I just don't have the energy for it. Maybe next week.

But probably not. **giggle**

Oh, Finn

My baby turned 1 last week. It's so crazy to think about that. But there it is. And here he is:

Cute, right?

Finn has quite the personality. He is usually a pretty happy, smiley boy. He likes laughing along with people, even if he has NO idea what they're laughing at (which, is usually the case). Finn likes to be tickled, and will lay his head on the floor (or the pillow that's on the floor currently), and smile up at me until I get down and tickle him. Then he squeals and laughs and crawls away, only to crawl right back and do it again. And again. And again.

Finn knows what the word "movie" means. The other day I said to Zeke, "I'm going to do laundry real quick then I'll come up and put the movie on for you." At the word "movie", Finn crawled to the TV and looked up at it, expectantly. When nothing happened he crawled away until I said, "What Finn? You want to watch a movie?" At which point, he crawled back to the TV and looked at it waiting for something to happen. That's not to say that he actually sits and watches TV. If there's singing going on he'll usually stop and watch for a second or two, but that's about it.

Finn has most of our noisy toys figured out. Most of them play a song when you hit a button. After the song, if you hit the button again it'll cycle through 2 or 3 "sayings" then it'll come around the song again. Well, Finn has figured out how to push the buttons to get the songs to play, then once the songs are over, he'll push the buttons as fast as he can until he hears the song start again. That, or he'll just sit and wait 30 seconds until the toy has "reset" or whatever and will play the song with the first push of the button again.

Finn enjoys helping me cook dinner by rearranging my tea drawer and/or the tupperware lid drawer. It's super fun when he leaves tea bags all over the floor and the other 2 boys ask a good 7 or 8 times each, "What's this?" But Finn loves his brothers and loves to play with/by them. He loves playing with (and putting his drool all over) whatever he can get his hands on. The computer fascinates him so I have to turn off the screen AND the mouse whenever he's awake.

What Finn does not like is when I leave him. I got called back to the nursery Sunday because he wouldn't stop crying. That's really not like him. Apparently he doesn't like it when Lora, his favorite nursery worker, or I am holding someone else. He's such a jealous little boy. Once Lora was free to hold him again (she wasn't holding another little boy anymore) Finn was fine in the nursery on his own, and was in quite the good mood when I went back to pick him up after church. Last night I left him with a babysitter and she reported that he cried from the moment I left until he fell asleep. He wouldn't even drink his bottle! Today he had a little meltdown with big tears and everything because I was holding Deacon for a minute. This phase came on so quickly that I'm hoping it goes away quickly. It's not fun for anyone.

Basically, he's just a super sweet boy (who really loves his mommy [and food...he REALLY loves to eat]) that we love very, very much. With some killer cheeks.

Looking For Suggestions

Library season (for us) is here! I'm super excited, but somewhat overwhelmed and confused. So, I'm turning to you, dear readers, for book suggestions. What do/did you like reading with your kids/grandkids/nephews/nieces/neighbors/etc? Or what did you enjoy reading yourself as a kid? And if anyone has a book suggestion or two for me, I'll take those too!

I am working on a post about Finn, his likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams, and all, but my computer got sick today so I had to shut it down until Josh can call and (hopefully) help me fix it. But I still have my phone with Internet capabilities so send along those book suggestions!

Until my computer is up and running again, I'll leave you with all 3 boys totally enthralled by Snow White:

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy (Actual) Birthday Finn!

At one year, Zeke weighed 22 pounds, was 30 inches long, and looked like this:

At one year, Deacon weighed 22 pounds 8 ounces, was 30 1/4 inches long, and looked like this:

At one year, Finn weighs 22 pounds 9 ounces, is 29 and 3/4 inches long, and looks like this:

Since we did our "big" celebration for Finn's birthday last month while Daddy was home, yesterday was a sort of low key day. Finn and I spent 2 hours at the clinic for his check-up, immunizations, and finger prick. After naps we had cupcakes. We had stuffed peppers and watermelon for dinner (it was Cinco de Mayo as well after all). Zeke and Deacon spent a good hour outside running around while Finn and I hung out inside reading the book he got at the clinic and playing with whatever we wanted.

Happy Birthday Finn! We love you very, very much sweet boy. (By the way, I'm having a hard time believing he's 1 already...where did this year [and my baby] go?!)

This Must Be What Living With Binky Would Be Like

For those of you who don't know who Binky the Clown is, presumably because you never watched Garfield and Friends growing up, here is a quick clip of Binky the Clown:

See, he's super loud and always exaggerates his greetings in a SUPER LOUD voice. I realized tonight, while praying with Deacon, that living with Deacon must be a little bit what living Binky the Clown would be like. He started his prayer tonight with a growly, yet high pitched, super loud "HEEEYYYYYY GOOOODDDDD!!" I quickly calmed him down, but I couldn't help but think of Binky right then. And the more I think about life with Deacon, the more I realize that he can be quite the loud mouth. At least, whenever Zeke is home he's loud. Deacon is constantly shrieking and screaming and yelling instead of talking, even if I'm 4 inches away from him. I'm always telling him to tone it down. I imagine if I lived with Binky instead, it wouldn't be that much different.

Okay, it would probably be very different. Deacon does have his quiet times (namely when Zeke is at school or otherwise occupied). Deacon is also a very sweet kid. I'm not sure Binky has ever been sweet. Deacon melts my heart every time he says, "I love you too, Mama." And while Deacon may get over protective of his toys and a little annoyed when Finn crawls up, he's still very gentle with Finn. Deacon loves princesses and Care Bears, rocks and dirt, trains and superheroes, books and Peavey.

So maybe living with Deacon isn't that much like living with Binky the Clown. Just every once in awhile, and I think that's okay. It's all part of who he is, and who he is is a boy that I love very much. Even if he does give me the occasional headache solely with the volume he chooses to communicate in.