You Have to Love Four Year Olds

Today we were unwrapping Hershey's Kisses to make peanut butter blossoms. As little four year old Everett helped he soon noticed there was a paper with writing attached to each one. He started asking us what his "fortune" said. It took me a minute to realize that he thinks they are similar to fortune cookies!

Ricky and I are just beaming with grins on our faces now and just laugh at the cuteness. The other kids thought it was so funny and cute too.  So I start the game... I read him some of the "fortunes" he handed me. I tell him different things like:
Your family is special
Siblings are friends
Soon you will bake cookies for holiday fun

Each one I "read" he smiles at and full of pleased excitement yells "yay!" at whatever I say. He is having a total blast.

He hands me yet another paper and this time I say: "Cookies bring sweetness to life"
Everett: Yay!!! WAIT. Wait. So my cookies will come ALIVE?
Ricky: No, cookies will bring SWEETNESS to our life.
Everett: Oh phew, I thought mom said they would come alive.

Then Everett gets in on the fun. He tells us he will read us some fortunes now. 
Everett made up the following great fortunes off the top of his head:
When someone wears a hat they are a dad.
When snowflakes fall Santa will come to your house.
When you wear a firefighter hat then you have to help the firefighter put out the fire. 

We had such a great laugh. He is so cute!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We had quite the surprise today when Santa and his mother were across the street visiting loved ones at the cemetery! I went outside with Everett as they were leaving and Everett yelled, "Santa! Merry Christmas Santa!" then Santa came over! Santa got a teddy bear out of his car and gave it to Everett! Everett gave it a big ol' hug and was so, so happy! It was just great. Charlotte is the one who thought to run out with the camera! (Thanks Charlotte!) Everett didn't ask, but Santa told him he didn't have his Santa hat on because it falls off when he is driving. We know it was the real Santa because 1. He obviously loved children 2. He had toys with him 3. He had real beard and number 4 is the weirdest of all... Layla pointed out that the dogs did not bark at him! Our dogs bark like crazy at everyone. Merry Christmas to all! 

Everett clutching the teddy bear

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Everett, like most kids, likes to play with tape. He got a hold of some tape and taped his plate to the table and taped his banana back together. This pleased him so much I had to congratulate him on his ingenuity. I have never had a kid tape a banana back together before. 

Adventures & Fun With Our Baby Bea

Yesterday just as we were next in line for a picture with Santa, Beatrice grabbed her diaper and loudly said, "Uh-Oh!" She gets the most funny expression on her face when she is concerned. Charlotte, Layla, and I were cracking up so hard as we looked around to see if anyone heard. She was able to get in the picture with Santa just fine. Lucky for us and Santa it was not that urgent and we made it for the picture first. Sometimes her uh-oh's are urgent, sometimes false alarms.

Beatrice stared at Santa long and hard before deciding she was then done with him. She just looked at me reaching out and whimpered when she was ready after a minute. Everett's face was priceless. He looked right at Beatrice watching, enjoying her, and smiling at her reaction. I thought it was really cute.

Beatrice has been such a joyous little baby. Time has been spinning out of control as it often does. I thought this month she turned sixteen months old. Ricky told me nope...18 months. My mind was blown.

The way she interacts with our family is amazing. She lights up all of our lives in ways I can barely put into words. When she was about nine months old she started getting up with Layla (10) in the mornings. She would wake up and crawl around our bed jabbering at her tired mom and dad until Layla would hear her and reach her arms out to her. Little Bea would reach out to Layla and off she would go. Layla would change her diaper and play with her. (And we got to sleep a little more!) Soon Bea started letting Penelope get her out of bed too. It didn't take long for Beatrice to expect her sisters to get her every morning. Between 6 and 7am Bea would wake up and shout jabbery words and sounds towards our door waiting for her sisters to hear her and get her up. It was beyond precious. As she started eating more solid foods Layla would pop Bea into her highchair and get her some breakfast and the three of them (or five of them if Everett and Sebastian got up) would eat breakfast all together without any help from us. When her sisters get her out of our bed each morning or after nap time Beatrice sometimes rests her head on their shoulder as she wakes up fully. If she pulls at her diaper and says uh-oh like in the Santa story above the girls rush her off to the bathroom.

Layla and Penelope pay attention to so many little things that her baby sister likes. Like how Beatrice is more likely to go pee on the potty if the bathroom door is closed. Beatrice is more vocal of her bathroom needs than most babies her age because we practice part-time elimination communication (EC) with our babies at most stages. We have had varying degrees of success. One thing has remained consistent, though. Our babies are aware and vocal about their bathroom or diaper needs at very young ages and tend to get out of diapers between 13- 20 months old. I do attribute it to EC.She has been telling us "uh-oh" about her diaper for a while now and the funny-cute factor is still not getting old. Everett was nine months old when he would wake at night wiggling and fussing half asleep. He would not settle down until I took him to the toilet to pee.  Babies are so smart! He was our one child out of diapers the earliest at around 13 months old.

Charlotte taught Layla how to use the potty when Layla was a baby. And now Layla, without any prompting from us, is teaching Beatrice. It's really sweet to see. Layla lines up stuffed animals on little pretend potties on the bathroom floor and Beatrice is so amused. See how adorable:

Beatrice is a feisty independent sweetie.  Her siblings are very close to her and drag her around everywhere with them. They were all playing outside and Beatrice was running along like she was the baby wolf cub after her pack. She held a stick in her fist and was having a ball.

She has felt like one of the little kids for a very long time, but now she is finding her voice and lets her preferences be known. She's getting that spark of independence and willpower. She is starting to pinch at people if they are bothering her, and she yells "HEY!" when someone takes her toy or food away. She also says "Hey!" when she sees something she wants. We might get a drink and she exclaims, "Hey!" to us. It's so funny. She loves a colorful crocheted blanket her Grandma Kathie made for her and she has to sleep and nap with it. When I am ready to nurse her asleep she looks for it and makes cute gasping noises and shakes her head from side to side looking for it and as if to be worried and fretting about finding it. It is her way of saying 'where is it?!' When she sees it she exclaims "dare-uh-is!" which sounds like jumbled baby talk words saying "there-it-is!" She says I love you now and it's so cute, too. It sounds like "agg-yeah-you." She counts with the kids but says two over and over again no matter what number they are on, it's so funny and sweet!

She has picked up on the words "mine" and "stop." Two words that you will hear non stop with a large amount of young kids. She waits at the kitchen table just like the rest of the kids for her food. She sits there so pleased with her place in the world, she almost rocks back and forth, kicking her feet ever so slightly with a pleased grin on her face waiting patiently. We have always sat her up at the table with us ever since she could sit up. She also sits at the table and plays Legos with the kids. After a while we have to rescue Penelope's Lego set-up when Beatrice becomes too destructive but it's adorable while it lasts and teaches her so much. Beatrice dances a lot too. We have dance parties and have great fun.

She colors, decorates candy houses, and in general does anything else we do.

    

A few weeks ago I taught her how to unlock the bathroom door. We live in an 88 year old house with cool solid wood doors that have crystal or porcelain doorknobs throughout. All the doors have ancient cool locks too, some with skeleton keys. Once locked, our bathroom door cannot be opened from the outside. There is no key, no hole, and no door hinges on the outside. Nothing. You could take the outside crystal doorknob off, but the porcelain one on the inside of the bathroom would remain screwed in. If a baby or toddler were to lock themselves in the bathroom I would be in a panic. We would potentially have to break the door frame away from the bolted door lock or break a window. Either process could hurt her and she would surely be frighted and crying. Bathrooms are horrendous places for babies to be trapped in for so many reasons. As soon as we see a baby fidget with the lock we start worrying and try teaching them how it works. It is a very loose and swift lock with a simple left and right motion. She had been unscrewing lids for quite a while so I knew she could learn this. One day in the bathroom with me she locked it and I told her to unlock it. She looked at me confused and I said the words again. "Unlock." I then showed her how. She looked at me and smiled and locked it again. I said "unlock!" and she unlocked it. I was SO happy. She did it back and forth with me and I told her the words lock and unlock.

On a Saturday morning I was still in bed and I could hear Ricky up with the five youngest kids. I didn't want to pry myself out of bed so I stayed a bit longer drifting in and out of sleep despite the rowdy noises coming from the other room. Suddenly I heard a loud slam and then all was very quiet. Deeper and deeper I drifted off again but suddenly I heard Bea's jabbering voice distinctly muffled behind a door. I jumped out of my bed in an instant. Moms total intuition and my brain put all the sounds together. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom door. Ricky was there and worried, he told me she was locked in alone, I said I could hear it happen. The kids gathered around and I shushed everyone. Ricky started to speak, he seemed like he was going to tell me what he was planning to do, but I interrupted him and told him to shush too. Ricky was somewhat surprised when I rushed to the door crack and said, "Beatrice, unlock! Unlock the door for mommy." In one little click she unlocked it!!!! I was already turning the doorknob to get in, just in case she swiftly locked it up again. Proud mom moment! My little one year old baby girl did it! So proud of her and proud of my forethought too! I scooped her up and celebrated how good she did and hugged her to bits feeling so relieved. I excitedly told Ricky how I had just worked with her mere days earlier trying to teach her the lock.

Right now I'm in the bathroom typing the rest of this on my laptop while Beatrice is in the tub. The  girls just came over to me to ask me something. Before they could speak Bea started patting the water and jabbering to Layla and Penelope to get in with her. I can tell a few stories and examples about how they all interact with each other, but it's hard to capture the real beauty of it. I get to live it everyday though and watch how close these kids all are with each other. The teens included. She smiles, waves, reaches up for them to pick her up. They talk to her and include her in everyday things. I have seen her put her head on each siblings shoulder for comfort or rest. It's very special that she feels so safe and loved by all of us. It's got to be amazing to be our Baby Bea. It's amazing being her mom, and the mom of all her sweet siblings.

Tired baby eyes, Layla just got her up from her nap

Nicknames are so fun! And our Baby Bee has lots of them. Nicknames she has that we use regularly:
Bea, Bee, Bumble Bee, Bumble, Stinky face (It's a cute children's book), Bea-tree, Bebe, Stink Bee, Killer Bee (When she is throwing a fit or is mad at us), Sweet Bee, Honey comb, Honey Bee, Baby Girl.

Kids & Their Fun

I hear happy screaming outside...and more of it, and more of it again. It's loud and it's all four of the littlest kids. I wonder what's going on but I don't really want to know, because it at least sounds happy. They laugh, they squeal, they scream, and Sebastian is yelling, "YEAH WE NOT SCARED!" Then Penelope yells something similar, then the screaming starts again. I wonder if they have the hose out and they are drenching each other. Then a little while later I hear, "Let's tell mom Everett found an egg!" I greet them at the porch steps as they run to me.

Everett had found a guinea hen egg, no biggie. I didn't feel like wrestling it from him, he can have it as long as he keeps it outside. I ask and find out that the screaming is because they are running in and out of the goose and guinea pen and the geese are mad and angrily hissing at them. The geese are SUPER protective right now because they are sitting on a clutch of eggs (that are way past due for hatching, they are now presumed infertile and need to be taken away). The geese look down right frightening I'm telling you! Once in a while the geese will flail about and come towards us in a threatening way but they don't give chase, these aren't typically a breed that chase people.

The kids continue their game..."YEAH WE NOT SCARED!"

The whole thing is making me laugh. This is the stuff childhood is made of. 
 
Soon Everett intentionally broke his egg on a mini play slide and they squawked about it so I told them all to wash the slide with the hose. Of course they all got wet and made a water slide out of the situation. I'm so cranky from a series of prior events that I can hardly see then fun in this. It's cold water and not a hot enough day and I'll have to dry them off and clothe them all over again. I think it will be only a matter of minutes before Everett is crying from the cold water. I need to make dinner and mop the kitchen floor. Everett hurt me with the weed eater today.* Everett has been teething molars and crying for four days. I don't feel sleepy-tired but I'm so worn out. My debit card is missing. I wanted to clean the bathroom 2 days ago...

I feel rather Scrooge McDuck about the whole water-play thing. 

Bahh kids and their "fun"

  I'm shaking my head as if I don't understand kids at all ...but then I crack a half smile anyway. This is the stuff childhood is made of…and cranky grownups like me should let kids have their fun anyway. 

Later the kids file into the house sopping and muddy, with grass stuck to them asking for a hot bath. Even they were surprised at the mud and grass left behind in their bathwater.
~~~

So, it’s been a rough four days in toddler-land. Everett is teething molars and is a bear to handle. I think he also had a touch of a cold but I’m not sure. A couple kids had mild diarrhea and couple kids a mild cold over about a 3 days span, it was strange but thankfully all is good now. However, four days of screaming toddler fits left me totally wrung out. Kids that are angry when they don't feel good are SO hard! I wish he just wanted to lie around while I held him; instead he wants to burn the house down and throw oatmeal. Today we made cinnamon (biscuit) donuts and play dough. I tried to get motivated to get housework done but I really just wanted to be outside.

*The Weed Eater

 I love yard work/gardening/the outdoors. Every summer I say that if I had to get a job I’d want to do yards. I really truly enjoy it and I enjoy mowing! Last weekend was rainy and we didn’t get any of the weed eating done that Ricky had planned on so I decided I’d tackle the front myself.  I hate loading the weed eater string. It’s a total pain. The weed eater is a nice new electric one though, which is SO MUCH EASIER to run than the old gas one we had. I still haven’t mastered the string though. It’s always been extremely frustrating to me that I can’t load a weed eater.

 While I was trying to reload the string Everett came up to me and grabbed the weed eater. I told him to let go and to stop but of course he didn’t. I never thought in one hundred years he’d place his fingers over the safe-start button lock and the trigger at the same time and start the dang thing up. It’s not terribly hard to do, but it’s still a fluke he did it. Leave it up to a toddler to figure out something dangerous in literally 7 seconds time. I should have removed the battery before doing the string, lesson learned now. He started up the weed eater as it rested on my pregnant belly; all the parts I was trying to insert into the head flew out of my hand and the string whipped my shirt/belly. I threw the thing away from me in one swift motion. I hollered at Everett and told him how dangerous that was. I sat him down inside and he cried a little bit. Being "in trouble" is short lived when you are a toddler however, since you have severely selective emotional recall and very little concept of cause and effect. I lifted my shirt to see a red whipped belly and one small cut that was red and trying to bleed. I felt so sad and frustrated. I watched Everett toddle back outdoors by himself as my eyes welled up with tears. I wasn’t really hurt, but it still hurt. I didn’t like that it was my pregnant belly, I didn’t like that it could have hit my face, I didn't like that I should have been in a safer place away from a toddler in the first place (for him and I both). I think my feelings were hurt too! Also since I couldn’t get the string in right I was giving up and presumably because of being pregnant and extra sensitive I just wanted to sob. I've never seen the 1992 film 'A League of Their Own' but I thought about the famous line from it and replaced it with, "There is no crying in lawn maintenance!" I gathered myself up and showed Everett the mark on my belly and he kissed my belly and said “sorry mama.”  He’s a sweet little guy like that --usually! Ricky called me later and I told him what happened, he felt bad for me and was concerned. THAT made me feel better; a little genuine concern and sympathy for the emotional pregnant lady from the hubby = gold. :) Ricky came home and helped me finish up the yard and now it's pretty. The grass is green and things are looking good. Spring feel SO good.

Other Weekly Tidbits I want to save for memory sake:
Serious Sebastian
While talking about skydiving Sebastian (4.5) dead seriously told me and Charlotte that, "Parachuting is more dangerous if you don't have a parachute." We chuckled and told him he was right. He sensed we weren't taking him seriously enough and even more DEAD seriously and wide-eyed he followed up with, "It is. It really is. In real life, it is dangerous!"

We were dying. It was SO cute and funny.

Hammocks
Layla(8) told me this wonderful gem of a story. She was in the hammock out back relaxing when she said out loud to herself, "Ahhh this is the life!" Everett (2) within earshot toddled up and rudely kicked her out of the hammock. He climbed on in and said, "Ahhh life!"

You know you have a big family when...
Layla(8): How many people are in the bath right now?
Me: Three
Layla: Oh man. I wanted to get in.

Toddler Fun
I asked Everett (2) to 'show me my sweet boy.' He looks at me, hugs me with big arms, and smiles...then he wipes his nose on his shirt. I say playfully, "You have boogers do you!?" He says, "Mama booger boy!!" and points to me cheerfully. LOL. He's mama's booger boy now. Too funny. :)

Locked Out 
Sebastian, Penelope, Layla and I were waiting for Layla's bus outside and Everett (2) locked us out. He was laughing at the door! I had to walk into the muddy, wet goose and guinea pen with bare feet and throw rocks at Charlotte's window to wake her and tell her we were locked out. She laughed at us (I would have too!) I was also armed with a shovel because Mr. T the male guinea started trying to chase me around the pen lol. To much excitement for one morning. Coffee and breakfast now I guess. And I need to wash my feet.

Our Wild Boys
Everett takes two butter knives out of the dish washer and starts karate chopping high into the air and making a ruckus like a total insane maniac, then he chucks them down the basement stairs. I look at Sage and say, "Do you really hope this new baby is a girl too?" Sage totally laughs and says, "Yeah, we have enough boys right now." LOL! :) 

 

For the Love of Chickens...and Babies

We love chickens at our house (and babies, and baby-bellies)! As you can tell by the montage of photos below we just really like chickens a lot. They are: simple, peaceful, fun to watch as they peck around the ground for bugs and seeds, easy to care for, and in exchange for your hospitality they gift you with nutritious rich yummy eggs.

I decided since the kids wanted to paint today that I wanted to paint too. Being pregnant and feeling creative I felt inspired to paint my belly from my pregnancy with Everett, I had never painted my belly cast  of him. I had to think of something to commemorate him and perhaps something that would mean something to the both of us. Since he was a little tiny baby he's been going with me to feed the chickens. As he got older we'd go out and sit and watch the chickens for fun and to relax. We'd nurse on a bench by the chickens and when he started toddling around he enjoyed (and still does) chasing the chickens. Nowadays he even catches them without help. He also just loves eggs and the wonderful mystery and routine of gathering up something from our chickens that we cook up in the kitchen. As a younger baby he learned that dropping eggs was fun...because they made a wonderful messy SPLAT. That was frustrating for me but still really funny, and it was loads of fun for him. For a time we had to watch him very carefully because he LOVED splatting eggs on purpose! (He even chucked eggs into the living room once!)

So as I thought about what to paint I decided chickens...and baby chicks, and eggs would be the perfect and fun thing to paint. Both chickens and eggs are also a symbol of spring, fertility, and birth. And so the belly cast painting began. And it was lots of fun. When I showed Everett he squealed with delight and gave this hearty "Heheh!" laugh that he does. I think he likes it.  

Our chickens lay brown eggs and I wanted a childlike-drawing feel of the painting. It makes me chuckle looking at it.

 I aptly named my belly art work 'Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch' because we keep having more babies. Haha :)

 I'm thinking I may be the only person with a chicken painted belly cast! Although I did find some ducks!

Kids and Magic 8 Balls

The Magic 8 Ball is a real pain around my house. The little kids think it's totally real. Layla (8) I'm not 100% sure about. She's at the age that you can't really tell if she's believing or playing. I totally forget that Penelope (6) and Sebastian (4) think it's real and they ask me all the time what it says. I'm always distracted when they do it too, so I'm reading answers from it mindlessly and not actually realizing they are asking the ball questions. Typical situation yesterday:

Penelope: Mom what does this say?!
Me: (I glance from computer screen to 8 ball) It says it's Likely
Penelope: So what's that mean, yes?
Me: Yes.
Penelope: OHhh nooo... my baby doll IS haunted!
Sebastian: (Screaming in fear) Ahhhhugh!

They all run around, then dramatically hide.
Penelope 5 minutes later: Mom, did it really say yes?
Me: Um, nooo. Heh, heh, I was, ah, kidding.

Me: I was just kidding, ok?
Penelope: I hope my baby doll is not haunted!!

HAHA. Oh brother! You'd think I'd learn to at least ask them what they asked it before I read it! Everett (2) calls the 8 ball an egg and says "crack!" and then throws it. How has this magic 8 ball made it through four toddlers without breaking? That is the true mystery. The toddlers have ALL thrown the thing across the room for the last 8.5 years.

This morning Penelope says our two dogs' eyes looked green and creepy. She concludes they must be aliens. The next thing I know I have a Magic 8 Ball shoved in my face.
Penelope: Mom, what does this say?
Me: It says....wait, what did you ask it?
Penelope: If Chippy and Ranger are aliens.
Me: It says to ask again later.
Penelope: They are using mind control I bet.

Kids are the BEST thing ever.
Last night Sebastian (age 4) says to his dad at the dinner table, "Hey dad, did you know time is space?"
The look on Ricky's face was priceless. I have to always remember that. 

See, this is why we want to have little kids practically forever! They are so great.

Another Good Conversation (non 8-ball related this time):
Layla: Can we get some pop rocks and soda soon?
Me: I guess so.
Layla: Cause I want to try them together...because some people say if you eat pop rocks and soda together you'll explode.
Me: Yup, okay. We can try it.
Penelope pipes in: But do it outside, okay Layla?

LOL! Ricky and I totally laugh. Good thinking Penelope. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We had a big spring snow last weekend. We really want spring but take the good with the bad. Good= snow is so pretty and we can still have some fun in it. Bad= We want WARM outside time, we want to get the strawberry patches ready and some grass planted. Only 12 weeks until our NEW BABY will be here! I don't have much planting and yard work time!

Brain freezes, Painting, and Dr. Seuss

The Best of Brain Freezes

We were eating frozen grapes, and the kids were eating them too fast, I can tell Layla's was staged...but the next two were not LOL....

Love it! See the freeze behind the eyes!

I told Sebastian this is the best brain freeze face I'd ever seen

                                    Home Projects

This desk was finally all sanded down!

This lil guy was running around getting into everything

He crawled under the desk and grabbed paint, but somehow I managed to paint the desk that will go in our hallway soon

I like how it turned out

I only posted this picture because it had Ricky and I laughing at my shadow, what's with the sexy side pose?
 LOL, awesome.

Ta-Da! Gray and yellow.

I still need to buy and add really neat knobs. I am also eyeing vintage looking scrapbook stickers or stamps for a extra something to add. I need to add some green someplace to make this yellow and gray flow with the creamy vintage green hallway-room it's going in.  I can do this easily with floral designs. Once I have it decorated to my liking then I can apply two coats of clear finish and it will be done!

He was cold, had paint on him, and was sad by the time I was done.

                               
  ~Happy Birthday 108 bithday Dr. Seuss Feb 2, 2012~

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! We had a Seuss breakfast party with green eggs and ham. Then spent the morning at a really fun science show.

Penelope drew green eggs around the Cat in the Hat



Layla shows her very nice green eggs and ham drawing

                                                         ...Say!
                                                            I like green eggs and ham!

I do!! I like them, Sam-I-am!

And I would eat them in a boat!

And I would eat them with a goat...

And I will eat them in the rain.

And in the dark. And on a train.

And in a car. And in a tree.

They are so good so good you see!

Honey Badger Don't Care!

This morning Sebastian was whining, mad and sniffling because he has a little cold. He didn't want to do anything even with me. I took his little cranky self and we laid on my bed together. He resisted me and kicked his feet. I told him he can stay in here all alone and be cranky or be cranky with a friend. He resisted.

He whined and yelled a little about not wanting anything. I knew all he really wanted to do is watch TV or play video games. Problem is the more screen time he has the worse his ability to entertain himself becomes, so I like to wait until the afternoon for tv time. I told him I knew he didn't feel good so maybe we should make a little den/cave and be honey badgers because honey badgers don't care. He smiled. I told him honey badgers are mean and cranky, too. He listened on. I told him honey badgers eat honey and mean snakes and they don't even care if the snakes bite them! He totally smiled and laughed when I told him about it. I told him the honey badgers steal honey and they don't even care that bees sting them! He was in, "I wanna be mean honey badger!" Penelope chimed in, "I wanna be a nice one, are there nice ones too Mommy? I told them there were all kinds of honey badgers. Just then Everett came in with three oranges and he started throwing them at us, as we laughed at his orneriness Penelope and Sebastian said, "Everett is the baby honey badger!" Then we peeled juicy drippy delicious oranges in bed and ate them and said we didn't care. After a bit we cleaned up our mess (because mommy honey badgers really DO care) and watched the real honey badger educational video that this honey badger parody was made from. (parody not kid safe, lots of foul language)

The kids were hungry so we made some eggs, which Penelope called our honey eggs. Penelope dropped her fork while she was eating and said, "I dropped my fork but honey badgers don't care!" Charlotte heard this and cracked up. (She's the only kid that has seen the parody.)

After that we headed outside for some playground time. The kids ran around having fun still pretending to be honey badgers. Penelope went down the slide yelling, "Honey badgers don't care!" I was in total stitches laughing. I hope people at the grocery store don't think I let my 3 and 5 year old watch the honey badger video! Because you know it's going to come up one of these days, LOL.

Sebastian my little sweet cranky happy honey badger

Wiener cancer is usually no laughing matter...but this day it was

One day while I was pumping gas the 11 year old boys were in the car talking about "wiener cancer" and if there is even such a thing. Sage says that you can have cancer anywhere because you have cells everywhere. So while they are discussing it Ricky overheard and goes around the car to where I am and tells me. I crack the car door and start listening to them, they are aware I'm listening as I hear them settle on the fact that they are in agreement: weiners can get cancer. After a few seconds I abruptly leave to run inside the gas station store for something. When I jump back into the car I matter-of-factly say, "Hey boys, there is such a thing and it's called penile cancer." Caught off guard they say. "What?" I repeat myself, "Wiener cancer... it's such a thing, it's called penile cancer." Sage's eyes opened wide and with a goofy grin he exclaimed in disbelief, "You ASKED THE GAS STATION people?"

Ricky and I almost couldn't stop laughing.

Absolutely the biggest surprise ever

Sat Oct 25 was our big Halloween party here. For those that don't know a small portion of my family runs a riverfront camp/cabin/floating resort. Every year we invite our favorite/best customers, have a DJ, costume contest, and dance all night (we love throwing a party). We know everyone we invite but I always do the stranger danger talk to my kids before a party (except in reverse; these people know us --but we don't know some of them very well, Etc.)

The rest of our family; my dad, mom, siblings, Etc. live in Las Vegas. We miss them an awful lot.

So the party starts at 7:30 and we are hanging out and eating. People in costumes are trickling in, there is a REALLY creepy costume that was familiar and super creepy to me but I couldn't place it. I asked Ricky where I knew that creepy thing from. He said that it is "Jigsaw" from the horror movie Saw. I have Penelope on my hip at the time and I notice after a few minutes the Saw guy is waving at Penelope from afar and she is memorized. As he turns away she waves back.


At about 8:30pm Sage is talking to my aunt in the kitchen and he looks upset. I ask him what is wrong and he won't really tell us. I did hear him say something about creepy and he looked like he might cry. Mother's intuition said, "Is it the creepy costume guy?" I just knew it was Saw guy, and I was right. So my aunt gets Sage settled in watching a movie with Layla and Penelope. The kids have a closed off room from the party + the office that is locked and they can play, sleep, or whatever if they don't feel like being at the party.


Apparently when my Aunt got Sage settled in with the girls he yold her this Saw guy was following him and the kids around, so she starts watching this guy --I had no idea she didn't tell me.


At around 9pm Obama and McCain costumes walk in. Funny as heck costumes, this couple pulls it off so well. They can barely make it to the dance hall and I snag the couple and get a picture with them. Ricky and I are going back and forth checking on kids and mingling with people. I suddenly get roped into helping to judge the costume contest. So I'm standing next to the DJ with the other judges and we are trying to make our selections and I say, "Well the Saw guy scared the crap out of Sage so he gets scariest costume as far as I'm concerned." It was agreed. Just as the DJ is getting ready to make the announcements I change spots and suddenly find myself next to Saw guy. I turn to him and say, "I just have to tell you, your costume scared the crap out of my son tonight." The person pulls the mask up very slowly; imagine my utter surprise when it was my dad inside!!!! I did a trple take and screamed so loud I can't believe no one heard me over the DJ's announcements. Then the clown standing next to me lifted up her big glasses and said hi. It was my mom!!! I looked around and finding that no one heard me freak out  I calmed down and started grabbing family members in to watch. Knowing my dad was going to get the award for scariest I was trying to get as many people as I could in my family so they could see him be awarded. I told them, "Come here, stand right here and just wait!!!" Ricky was at the private door the kids were behind keeping an eye on them and I had to practically run crowds of people over trying to get to him.


Scariest costume is announced and my dad goes to the center of the room and unveils himself; to whom the family freaks out and my aunt Sharon cries in shock. (my mom stayed hiding a while longer from everyone!)


As my dad was winning his costume award I notice I'm standing behind Obama and McCain. Something clicked in my head and as I starred at the back of McCain my eyes scanned the back of his head/hairline. I lifted up a small flap in the back of the mask gently. This was my little brother. I just knew it. I grabbed him and turned him around to me and said OMG you're my brother!! He shook his head no and I jumped up pointed and said yes! (Could you imagine how funny it would have been if I was wrong!!) Obama looked at me and I knew that had to be his wife. I don't think I've ever been so shocked in my life than this night!


I let the other family members figure it out on their own and in their own ways so they could have as much fun as I had just had. They waited a while to show others!

We took my dad back to see the kids and Sage was SO CUTE. He said, "I'm so glad that was you Grandpa." :)


So things are really kicking now. We are dancing and having fun. The kids (all of them expect Sebastian -I nursed him and he went back to sleep) are having fun at the party with us. The kids even find some friends to dance and run around with too. Suddenly I notice my aunt looking at a costumed person. I go up to her and she says, "Is it, is it him!?" I go closer to this Joker costume and look... then I say a bad word and jump up in down and hug him. It was my other little brother. The guy sitting next to him in a old man mask gets up and reveals himself too, it's my brothers friend and a very, very good friend of the family who we haven't seen in years.


Best surprise ever. Words can't even express the brilliance or surprise they had just pulled off. This will be a tough one to top. We had NO CLUE, none at all.


My dad said it was indescribable seeing us all like that, you know, without us knowing we were being watched. He said, "I feel like I saw a small window to your world. Like if I wasn't here this is what you'd be doing"


In the picture I took with Obama/McCain my parents are in the background. Awesome since I had no clue and there I was posing with my family.

Lots of curious kids, and why we cry

QUESTIONS? QUESTIONS? QUESTIONS?
Lately the kids have asked about all kinds of interesting topics.
What is supply and demand? What is capitalism? How does reselling work? Why do we buy so much from China, why is it so cheap there? What is child labor? Fair labor? Minimum wage?

This has kept Ricky and I busy answering all sorts of interesting questions! I love how worldly homeschoolers are! Not that other children in formal education can’t also be worldly, but gosh it’s amazing how much more so homeschoolers are, and from such a young age. There is so much world out there to be aware of and so much to discover. I’m so glad they explore, ask, and ponder so much and so freely!

SOCIAL STUDIES/ OR EARTH DAY IS EVERY DAY
We did a unit study on consumerism. We watched clips from http://www.youtube.com/ of the new National Geographic special The Human Footprint. We talked about what we all can do to make our impact on Earth smaller. We also had a good conversation about how we could all take better care of our stuff so that it lasts longer, and as a result we would need to buy less new stuff. Also when we take care of things our old stuff can be used by others more effectively when we are done with it.

SLANG WORDS ~ FUNNY ETHAN
The kids asked what slang was and I gave them several examples and had them come up with some of their own. Ethan then asked, "Hey mom, isn’t slang from Uncle Doyle’s time calling a girl a plate?"

I could barely keep a straight face. It was so funny!

"Ohhh you mean a dish Ethan, yes a pretty girl was called a dish."

So cute. I remember years ago telling them about a dish being a older saying (from around Uncle Doyle’s generation) for a pretty girl. And he remembered that, sort-of. Haha.

WHY DO WE CRY?
This was one of the most interesting questions and answers I’ve researched on behalf of the kids. At first I was like 'well we just cry cause our body triggers tears to fall.' Then I said, you know what kids, we’ll go look that up. (I didn’t really want to) BUT I soon found that I never knew how interesting tears were until reading this http://www.gibbsmagazine.com/CryinLaughing.htm

First of all there are three types of tears.
Second, and totally interesting is this:

"Scientists have discovered that the emotional tears contain higher levels of manganese and the hormone prolactin"

I know about Prolactin of course, it is the hormone that is primarily associated with lactation. While it is actually secreted by the pituitary gland in both men and women, it is considered a female hormone because of it's connection with breastfeeding. Prolactin is what stimulates the production of milk (along with oxytocin which lets down the milk). It’s these feel good hormones that relaxes the mother, promotes bonding, and promotes maternal behavior. Prolaction has also been associated with not only feelings of well being but also as having a tranquilizing effect on nursing mothers and babies. So, this could also explain why we feel better after crying!

So finding out prolactin is secreted as a part of our emotional tears is very cool to learn for me!
This also explains why women tend to cry more than men. Women produce more prolaction.

From a different article online:

"...women have serum prolactin levels much higher than men. Prolactin is a hormone connected with the production of tears as well as breast milk. "Hormones may help regulate tear production and have something to do with crying frequency."
Interestingly, studies show that there is no difference in crying patterns between boys and girls up to the age of puberty. "Then, between the ages of 12 and 18," says Dr. Frey, "women develop 60 percent higher levels of prolactin than men, and they start crying nearly four times more often." "

Just fascinating!

BRAINS!

In addition, Sage knew where the pituitary gland was located when I mentioned it. Brainpop.com how do you do so much magic on my kids and teach them so much?!! :)

Also, This site is cool with a diagram of the brain, where we are learning about the parts of the brain.

JOURNAL

Charlotte wanted journal prompts and I found lots she loves here Hopefully I will get her in the habit of writing in her blog now. Today she wrote a draft on paper, but didn't finalize it or put it in her blog yet.