The Writing on the Hand

Brotherly Love?

Deacon noticed that Noah had written something on this hand. Deacon asked, "Dad, what is that writing on your hand?" Noah replied, "I just was writing myself a note so I wouldn't forget to give the gloves back." Deacon said, "Well Dad why didn't you just use paper?"...that is what I was wondering...





The boys got this floor puzzle of a farmer riding a John Deere Tractor. Deacon has been wondering where the farmers wife is, as he is convinced that the farmers wife helps the farmer with all his chores and certainly thinks she should be on the tractor too. (I am thinking the farmer would probably like it too...at least for a little bit:)

For Karla

Christmas update

The Christmas Play

The Snow kept falling

We spent Christmas Eve with my moms family- eating Chinese and Rummegrut- what a combination! We opened presents and the boys were crazy! Deacon did a great job being the angel for the christmas story reanactment and his cousins, Molly and Kelly played fabulously Mary and Joseph. Roman had the difficult task of managing all 4 sheep- but he managed to herd them in a satisfactory way.



On Christmas morning Noah, Erica, Ryan and I ran our first 5K! That was exciting. I decided that although I don't like to run, I do like to race. Something about a finish line... I may be training for a few more of those :) I hope a monster hasn't been created!



We spent some time eating and sledding and playing games. Thanks to Molly and Kelly who kept the boys entertained, we had a great day! Noah and I managed to rip the boys brand new snow tube trying to fly over a retaining wall. They don't know it yet, so lets try to keep it that way! It started snowing in the city quite heavily so we didn't leave for Iowa as planned. When we got home the boys still wouldn't stay asleep and Roman managed to pull a dresser over- thankfully not on himself.



We had a relaxing day to day and just tried to recuperate from all the parties and celebrations! Dekes comments on the writing on Noah's hand and the farmers wife will follow tomorrow!

Living with preschoolers

Deacon and Roman at 1st (in a series) Christmas.











This morning Julie was taking the sheets off our bed to wash out all the pink eye and cough germs, so Deacon says, "Mom, who pee'd or pooped on your bed?"

J: "No one, it's just time to wash the sheets. They're germy."
D: "Are you sure no one pee'd or pooped on your bed?"

By the Way

Yes, I did finally figure out how to post vertical pictures. I am using Picasa now and it works great. Now we have a google blog, google email, google pictures, use only google maps...hmmm....

The Amazing, Much Anticipated Spiderman Cake!

Admiring the Spiderman cake, made by Mom

He loved his cake, and it even had candles.

The next order of business was for everyone to sing "Happy Birthday" and of course, asking Dad for "The fire, please"

A 4 year old blowing out candles always adds a little extra spit to the cake!

More Party Pictures!

Riding the scooter from Mom and Dad in the bathrobe from Grandma Joyce!

Diligently working on his new preschool books from Mom and Dad

Roman with his present from Tia Erica- an orange monkey

The Amazing, Much-Anticipated SpiderMan Party Part 3

Deacon with the Bible from Karla

Ooo what a scary dinosaur (from Elise and Peter)

I've been too busy to blog...

Karla informed me today that communication has been sparse from my end. That is very true! I have been so busy administering medications, taking people to the doctor and planning "fantastic" dinosaur parties that I haven't had time to blog!

Thee cases of pink eye, 2 ear infections and 3 co-pays later, I think we are finally on the mend! The only funny thing about all that is Deacon. We didn't even know that he had an ear infection and he vehemently denied ear pain. The doctor said however that it was quite a substantial infection. She suspects he must have a high pain tolerence- which doesn't really surprise us and which is probably good for his lifestyle!

The much anticipated Dinosaur "kid" birthday party was today. Deacon woke me at 7 to ask me if today was the day. He went on to exclaim, "my party is going to be loads of fun!" Later I heard him say, "This is going to be an exciting day". On the phone I heard, "I told my mom that my party was going to be fantastic!" What has the child been reading?! Or listening to!? Actually, currently in our DVD player is "Wiggly Safari". Maybe that explains it?

Speaking of "Wiggly Safari"- how can you beat lyrics like Crocodile Hunter/Meet Steve Irwin/Crocodile Hunter/Action Man/Crikey it's a croc, I'll save it if I can!/ Short sleeve shirt/kahki pants/jungle boots.

Gotta love those Wiggles!

More on the party later, but here is some shots for your viewing pleasure!

Super Heroes of the World, Unite!

I heard somewhere that the "toy" that leads to the most ER visits is a super hero costume. I really don't doubt it. I couldn't even get them to sit still enough for a picture. We have been trying to teach them that all of us can do things for other people and be real life heroes to those around us. I think that Deacon actually is actually getting it.

more pictures

Deacon loves to entertain Lincoln

Deacon Promised to catch him

Almost a Christmas picture

The look Roman constantly gives us

Does anyone know how to make these face the right way?

Christmas picture taking session gone bad

What we are thankful for and another funny story

Roman is thankful for Elmo and Deacon is thankful for the planets.

The kids were at the YMCA today while I participated in mind numbing aerobic exercise. Deacon had very seriously told me that he would probably not go to the gym because it is so noisy in there (at busy times the divide the kids into the gym and the play room). When I came to pick them up Deacon and Lincoln were in the play room and Roman was in the gym. I said to Deacon, "oh you aren't in the gym because it is too loud, right?" and he nodded. The teacher said that Deacon had said it was too wild. I commented that it was funny that Roman had gone because they usually stick together. The teacher said, "Well, Roman wanted to go and Deacon told him 'don't you want to stay here with me, Roman?' so Roman stayed until Deacon went to the bathroom. As soon as he went into the bathroom Roman came over to the staff and pointed to the gym and said 'gym'." And sometimes I really believe that he doesn't know what is going on!

What kind of paper?

We made turkeys this morning out of paper. While i was getting supplies out Deacon kept telling me, "I want a piece of white worker paper, mom"
It only took me a couple minutes to figure out that he wanted CONSTRUCTION paper! Worker, construction? What's the difference!

We are working on potty training today with Roman. He has had 4 successes and 1 episode of wet underwear so far today. He gets 5 mini marshamallows, a cup of juice and a sticker on the chart everytime he goes. when he went in his underwear I told him that he couldn't have any treats. he went up and took the sticker off of his chart and tried to eat that. I really have nothing more to say about that. I can't think of anything.

You never thought you'd say

Deacon: Dad! Roman is sitting on my head and I don't like it!

Dad: Then don't crawl over there and put your head under his butt!

(Picture uploader doesn't seem to be working right now...)

Things you never imagined yourselft saying

"Is that snot coming out of your nose...or oatmeal." -n

(No, the picture doesn't go with the comment. This particular incident left me grasping for somehting to say.)

The Infirmary

The boys have been sick for the last 8 days. I don't remember the last time I have been home so much! We went out yesterday (Saturday) and I realized that for Roman and Lincoln it was the first time they had gone anywhere by car since the last Saturday! We saved a lot on gas this week :)

We have been watching a lot of movies, building a lot of Lego zoos and reading a lot of books. Oh, and of course, listening to a lot of whining! Deacon actually lost his voice. It was kind of sad to see the little boy who talks nonstop to not be able to verbalize much for a couple of days! All in all it was a nice break- we had been really busy - but I am looking forward to getting out of the house this week! Roman and Lincoln and I are home from church again today, but I am hoping that tomorrow we will be back to our old routine!

First Food

This weekend, Lincoln got his first taste of "big people food." Sure, it's just rice cereal, but it's a big step for a little guy.

Initially, Link was very excited to be eating with the rest of us, but then after a bite, he wasn't so sure anymore. Julie thinned it out some more, and he did better with a few more bites.

In the end, I think he liked dining at the table with the rest of the family. Afterward however, if he could talk, I think he would have borrowed a line from Flo in the movie Cars "I have gas, lots of gas."

what we're up to

Lincoln and Deacon, Mater and McQueen


This is what Roman does: hoards his cars. He has trouble doing other things because of the need to keep his cars with him. We haven't yet explained to him about getting your hand stuck in the cookie jar, when all that is necessary is to let go of the cookie- but we will!

Proud Cubbie, Tired Puggle (this is the picture that was taken before mommy, yes mommy, sewed his patches on.)

Aw, Roman. What more needs to be said!

Superman

Deacon was pretending to be superman today and took a leap off the couch. Unfortunantly his face landed on the binoculars he had around his neck and now he has a loose front (baby!) tooth. We are praying that he doesn't lose it- he still has quite a few years until his permanent one will come in!

The boys helped me deliever meals-on-wheels the last couple of days. They took great pride in helping hand the people the meals. Deacon would tell them, "when it is my birthday I am going to be 4!) One time after Deacon said that, Roman ran up to the door (bike helmet and all) and stood there with one hand up in the air shifting his weight like he wanted to make an announcement. Finally he said, "2" I explained to the lady that Roman wanted to make sure she knew that he was 2- he verified that is in fact what he was trying to get across.

Deacon was building with legos the other day and I came to help him finish. I said, "you did a nice job, maybe you want to finish this part yourself". He started singing this song which sounded rather mournful, "sometimes it is hard to do things all by yourself". Maybe when he is a little older we can write "Deacon's life: THe Musical". I am sure that it would be a best seller!

Lincoln really likes to roll over. Some days it feels like all he does is fuss and roll :) He is pretty happy if he has attention. He likes Kids Stuff at the YMCA because they have comfy swings and people to just admire him. Unfortunantly at home he is pretty discontented about his lot in life. I think that he will be much happier when he can get around on his own a little more.

Roman , well Roman is happy as long as he has his "Cars" cars. He carries them around in his Elmo lunchbox, then takes them out and drives them around or puts them somewhere else, then puts them back in the lunchbox. Oh, I forgot- je screams if anyone comes within 2 feet of them, at least if it is someone he considers a threat to their safety.

Pumpkins!

Noah was gone for the weekend, so Erica, my mom and I took the boys to a "Harvest festival" complete with a pumpkin eating dragon, a pirate ship with apple shooting cannons and kids play area, trolley and trains. Oh, and a petting zoo. the boys were really excited and basically just ran around like chickens with their heads cut off :)

I told Deacon that we could buy a pumpkin at the end. He was walking amongst all of the pumpkins and would stop and look and then move on. I was getting a little antsy and said, "Deacon what criteria are you using, what are y ou looking for in a pumpkin?" He said, "mom, I want one that I can hold" so i handed him one, "too heavy", he said. I gave him another, "too big". I said, "Deke, that is the smallest one that I see!" A lady overheard us and told us where to find some smaller ones. I gave him a small one and he says, "it is still too big!" he finally found ones that were just perfect- those really tiny pumpkin gourd things and they were 3 for a dollar! nice deal for everyone...until we saw the 20min long line we were going to have to stand in to buy them!