Quick, what do the first 2 pictures have in common? YES! They are yet 2 more examples of G taking pictures that include his feet. I think this has been discussed here before. I am far too lazy to go and find those posts. Search for "feet" or something if you must know.

I put in an order to Discount School Supply. I really love their stuff. My kids had fun playing with the new art supplies.
First up is M's Wikki Stix creation. If you have never played with Wikki Stix, then you have indeed had a sorry, empty existence. Not to pass judgement or anything, I'm just sayin'....

I ordered some cool paint bottles. They have brushes instead of rollers or sponges like I've seen on other paint bottles. This allowed E to paint to his heart's content without having to try and figure out why there wasn't anymore paint on his brush. He really just wants the big paint bottles so he can squirt paint when we paint, so this seemed like a good compromise. He is happy with it. See?

Brother couldn't just stand by and watch!And a cute Baby M picture for your viewing pleasure. Can you believe she's 3.5 months already?

Phrases I never thought would be part of my daily repetoir

starting with my personal favorite....

• Please don't lick your sister
• the vacuum needs to stay on the floor
• I'm sure your butt stinks too
• It's only pee
• I have enough pictures of your feet
• You've had enough bananas
• You need to eat something besides bananas and noodles
• Butter is not a food group
• Go back and wash with the soap AND water
• It's not ice cream, it's mommy medicine

Seriously. Daily.

Blogger reversed the order of all my pictures and it's too hard to fix 1 handed with a touchpad! Yes, I do all my typing 1 handed. It even has it's own short-hand. NAK--nursing at keyboard. Well, this is me nab--nursing at blueberries. Man, I love wraps!!

E is no dummy. Here he is berry picking. :) Actually he picked from the bushes too. It was so cute. At first, he would wait for me to hand him berries. I guess he didn't get that they were coming off the bushes. So I showed him how to pick from the bush. He smiled. Then I pointed out the huge row we were standing in told him he could pick from any of the bushes here. He grinned and giggled and took off like a mad berry picker. I totally made his day!

My parents took big M for nearly 2 weeks. Go to PapaCoyote's blog for details. When they came back, M went to scout camp and we went berry picking. Here's Papa with his harvest. :)

It's so true that the more kids you have, the fewer pictures you have. Usually my hands are so full taking care of the baby and toddler and keeping the toddler off the baby, I can't possibly manage a camera. Baby M is growing up so fast. She has a beautiful smile. Hger little chatty voice melts my heart completely, and she is so good-natured. She even sleeps really well. Phew, I needed this!
She's growing the yummiest chubs, but still wears 0-3 month clothes. Which is new for me. The boys all grew much, much faster! I have admit that I'm having a lot of fun with her.

The first day we went out with my parents, Dad let G drive the van from his lap around part of the empty Costco parking lot. That was a hoot! So G decided take a dry run on our street. No worries--van was parked safely the whole time. E had to help, of course!

wednesdays

Just a quick note to the universe and then I'll post a bunch of pictures. Promise!


Okay! Quit it with the Wednesdays already!!!!! Can we schedule things on another day? Pretty please? Scouts, park days, church playgroup, husbands home teaching usually falls on Wed. It USED to be our library day. Oh, and Boersma's knitting basket has a fuun knitting get together on Tuesday nights. When you're a mom, that's basically the same as Wednesday.


Grrrrrrrrrr

My comedian

I do remember that I have a blog--honest!

We went for a walk yesterday to pick up M from scouts. On the way, G found a stick that was the perfect shape for a magic wand. He waked down the sidewalk turning things into flowers.

Thank goodness it was flowers and not transformers. How does he even know what these things are without having seen the movies??

Anyway, he looked up at a house and pointed his wand. Swish. "I turned that house into a flower!"
Me- "What about the people who live there? Can they live in the flower?"
G- "Yes! (duh) It's a big flower."
Me- "what about their beds? Where will they sleep?" Sleep is often a special concern of mine.
G- "They're flower beds!"

Hahahahahahaha

4 kids is quite the thrill ride

3 weeks ago, I let G go play outside, but told him he had to stay on this side of the street. If he wanted to cross to his friend's house, he had to ask me. Well, I look up and he's gone. I called his friend's mom, and yup, he was inside playing. He told her I said it was okay. I had him come home for lunch.
Later that day, another neighbor was over (we seriously have an Ozzie and Harriet neighborhood!), but I told him he HAD to stay in the backyard or come inside. I sit down to nurse the baby and look out the window. He was across the street at the girl's house! I stuck my head out the door and told him to go back to the yard. He screamed at me so I told him to get inside. He took off running. I started following him, baby still latched on. He ran faster and crossed the main street in our neighborhood. This is at 3:30 pm! The busiest time with kids coming home from school and whatnot. The neighbor asked if I needed help and I shoved Baby M into her arms and took off running. I chased him for 3 blocks but couldn't catch him. Fortunately, MIL was loading things into her car. I ran back and yelled at her to start the car, we had to catch G. It took her a second, but we chased him down. He ran 6 blocks and was running along the highway. When I jumped out of the car to catch him, I caught him by the hood of his jacket (thank goodness for that hoodie!) just as he darted into the highway!!
I have never run so hard in my life or been so stinking scared. Terrified would be a better word.

So, today (what is it with Wednesday??) had come home from the library, and I had my thinking cap on. Knowing that E is a runner, I closed the garage door before I got him out of his carseat. I knew that the back gates were closed, so I smugly went inside to nurse the baby and get lunch ready. I heard E call "stuck". Figuring he had gotten stuck either in the weeds out the back door or in the toys in the garage, I sent G to help him. Biscuits in the oven and meat in the pan. I'm good! G comes in to tell me he can't find E. Look again, I tell him. He does. Still can't find him. I tell him to look in the toy bin. He's not there. Dang. I go put on my shoes and head out to look for him. I start calling him and can hear his voice coming from outside. Must be stuck between the garbage cans. I keep calling to keep him talking. I start getting worried when I can't find him anywhere, despite being able to faintly hear him. Then I look up.
The words that came out of my mouth can't be printed in a family-friendly blog.
He had climbed up our 2 ladders leaning against the side of the house. 2 10 foot ladders. Yes, 10 frikkin feet! He was at the top!!! I hand baby to G and scream for M. He comes running out and I tell him to go get someone. Who, he asks. I don't care! Anyone!
I knew I could get up there, but wasn't sure how stable the ladder was or how I would bring him back down. The kid weighs at least 35 pounds after all.
M came back with the next door neighbors and the neighbor across the street came to help too. Neighbor J climbed up and handed him to neighbor C while I steadied the ladder. We got him down safely, and put the ladders down.

So what does he do this evening? Yeah, he finds a ladder in neighbor J's garage. Climbs all 10 feet of it to the storage shelf. Thank goodness he knows not to climb down eh?

My kids are freaking me out.

Graduation

Of course, we start with cute baby picture. :) This is what I wake up to in the morning. Life is pretty good.

The day before J's graduation, we had fun at our house. We started with presents! We got her a vacuum. Hopefully it works better than what she has. She's been asking for one for awhile now. Her parents bought her a Kitchen Aid mixer. It seemed at the last shopping trip that it was do or die on that one. J handed her mom a rebate at Macy's for a free attatchment when you bought a mixer. "Here mom, you can use this when you buy my mixer." Silly girl.

Of course, there was much picture taking. And picture taking of the picture taking. I only got into this family cuz I passed the weird-ness test. LOL

Then the kids played in the wrapping paper. Must remember this next holiday. Don't worry about gifts--wrapped boxes are sufficient!


Father and Daughter. Awwwww.



For dinner, we fired up the fire pit. We roasted hot dogs, roasted marshmallows, and made banana boats. And smelled like campfire. Yay!
To round out pictures, E tried on Uncle S boots and hat. Lookin' good!

Now J is all graduated. Next up is the big exam. But she'll pass that no prob. Go J!!