And "Thank" YOU, Brock (Plus a Recipe, Because I Don't Know the Next Time I'll Have a Second to Make a Separate Post)

As you may already know, Brock loves to draw.  I got each of the kids a notebook some time ago, with the intent of them taking it to church to keep themselves entertained.  None of them usually remember to take it, until last Sunday.  And then Brock and Jakob decided to make paper airplanes, and then proceeded to fly one through the chapel during Sacrament meeting.  Pete and I were none too happy about that.

After punishments were given (and carried out) at home, Brock wanted to draw some more.  (Which I learned my lesson as well: only scriptures will be brought to church from now on.)  But his notebook was all used up.  So I got him a new one.  On the first page, he wrote me the following note and handed it to me:

"Fac yoo to get me a not book so I am hape."

Yeah.  That's what I thought at first glance, too.  And if you don't see it, then you are a really good person with a really clean mind.

The translation: Thank you for getting me a notebook.  It makes me happy.  (Then the picture is of the notebook, pencil stuck in the spiral part, with a smiley face, as in "I am happy".)  Which really is sweet.

Brock's next note shown was written about a week ago.  In the last few weeks, Brock has been waking up just scared out of his wits.  One night it was a scary monster in his closet that had one red eye and pointy teeth.  Poor kid.  Then there was another night.  We went and got him and had him sit with us (me and Pete), and I kept asking him what was wrong.  He wouldn't answer me.  We gave him a couple of snacks and a drink, and then sent him back to bed.  He came back a few minutes later, with the following:

"Mom becuz I wuz krien I wuz hugry ok Brock?"

I think you get the gist, but just in case, the translation: Mom, I was crying because I was hungry.  Is that okay? -Brock

He's just a never-ending pit.  I call him my Hungry Bug all the time.  That kid could eat all day long, I think.

And speaking of food, I found another fantastic crock pot meal!  YUMMO!!!  I hope it's readable-I decided to scan it in.

I had my doubts about this one.  First of all, Pete bought a stir-fry mix from Walmart called Sugar Snap Stir Fry, or something like that.  It has peas, carrots, squash, red and green peppers, broccoli, green beans, and water chestnuts.  And I'm not a huge squash or water chestnut fan, so I didn't know how it would be.  Second, usually I can smell the dinner cooking, and I couldn't smell it at all, so I thought it was going to be bland or something. 

I was so, SO wrong.  This is one of my favorites that I've come across.  I didn't really measure out the sauce stuff-I used a whole can of the chicken broth, and 3 big heaping spoonfuls of the orange marmalade. The other ingredients I just poured in until I thought it was about right.  And then I made 3 cups of minute rice.  (Which was great, because I dumped the leftovers on top of the rice, which soaked in the sauce.  It ended up being really proportional.)  I had done big chunks of chicken, but shredded it before serving.  Oh, mamma.  So good.

So, yeah.  You should try the meal.  Also, I really need to scan more stuff into my computer.  Maybe I'll do that this weekend as I listen to General Conference, eh?

And by the way, "thank" you for reading my post!

Lazy, According to Jakob

Jakob has a really skewed sense of what lazy is.  Well, maybe it's a skewed sense of what we as adults-that is, his parents, do.

He told his gym teacher one day that he was being lazy at his class, "just like my dad".  Yeah, I think that getting up at 5 a.m. four days a week to go to work, and getting home at 6:30 at night is being TOTALLY lazy. 

Then last night Jake wanted more dinner, so he asked me for some.  I was like, "You can get some more by yourself."  And he gave me this look like, what?  I have to serve myself?  As he was dishing up, he muttered, "I wish I could stay home and do nothing like Mom does."

That made me laugh.  I replied, "Jake, do you want to hear what I did today?  It definitely wasn't "nothing"."

He looked at me with "impress me" in his eyes.  I began.

"First, I got up, so I could get you up, made you a lunch, and got some breakfast for you.  I got you out the door so you could catch the bus and get to school on time.

"Then I got breakfast for the other three kids, and got myself ready for the day.  I started some laundry, and folded three other loads from yesterday's laundry, and put it all away.  Later in the day, I folded two more loads and put that away as well.

"I cleaned out the fridge, and dumped the old food.  I rinsed dishes, loaded the dishwasher, and after it was done running I put all the dishes away.

"I took out the garbage, which includes getting garbage from 6 cans, and also changing out the cat litter box.  After the garbage man came, I brought the garbage can back in.

"I finished writing down the music for one of our roadshow songs. (Meaning, I had to come up with accompaniment for one of the songs, so it's like I was composing a bit.  I did about 2/3s of it yesterday.  And this was not an easy task for me.) 

"I swept the kitchen floor so my students wouldn't get grossed out looking at it.  I also cleaned some pee off the bathroom floor.  (Totally gross, I know, but that's how it is with three little boys who don't have the greatest aim.)

"I got lunch for myself and three kids, and listened to a tantrum from Ivy (for about 30 seconds, then I sent her to her room) because she didn't want what I got for her for lunch.  I got Brock ready and out the door for his school. 

"I taught four piano lessons today.

"I did have a slight break, because usually on Tuesdays I go and help in Brock's kindergarten class, but today they were doing something special so his teacher told me not to come.  Instead, I finished the craft pages you kids had started earlier in the week.  (It's mosaics with little sticky foam squares.  Like paint-by-number but with squares.  It was fun, and because it's for 6-year-olds, about at my crafting level.  This owl one is one that Jakob did on Saturday; it's one of the small ones.  I did three big ones.)

"During piano lessons, Troy, Brock, and Ivy came in from playing outside, COVERED in mud.  I had to strip Ivy down, and then sent her downstairs to wait to get cleaned up until after I was done teaching.  That means another load of laundry, with three coats in it that I had cleaned only a week before, bringing my washed loads total for the day to three, and my folded loads for the day to six.  (And then she fell asleep, with mud on her face and in her hair.  I'm the best mom ever!)

"I also checked your homework, listened to you read, made four beds, including yours, and made dinner.  I also answered your questions you had while practicing piano.

"In a half hour, I get to go over to the church, and play a musical number for a lady that's singing at New Beginnings.  (I don't know if I mentioned on here that I got released from Young Women's.  Being at New Beginnings last night made me really miss my calling and those girls.)  I also get to come home and get everyone ready for bed, and do more dishes from dinner.

"So, if you want to switch me for the day, my "nothing" for your day of schoolwork, I'd be happy to, any day of the week."

Silence, with eyes very wide, from Jakob's side of the table.  Maybe he'll rethink his definition of lazy.

Knock-Knock!

Who's there?

Nat's blog!

Nat's blog who?

Exactly!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Yeah, I know that it's not a joke.  My kids like to tell knock-knock, um, "jokes".  And they sound a lot like the "joke" I just told.  For instance: Troy: Knock knock!  Me: Who's there?  Troy: Um, apple.  Me: Apple who?  Troy: Apple that is yummy.  Me: {fake laughter that's really not convincing}

I have GOT to go online and find some good knock-knock jokes.  The only ones I know are the boo/boo who/why are you crying, and the one where you say banana over and over, and then finally orange/orange who/orange you glad I didn't say banana again?

ANYWAY, I've been wanting to blog, really I have.  But I've been busy being busy, and busy with relaxing, and busy potty training.  And one of these days I'll write the adventures that we've been having around here.  But first thing, I want to write my New Year's resolutions.

Before I get to that, here is the post for my 2010 resolutions.  Let me reflect a little on how I did last year:

Learn to make freezer meals.  Um, not so much.  However, I've been doing a lot of crock pot meals, about once a week, and it ROCKS.  Throw everything in a big pot and let it cook itself?  Why can't every meal be that easy?  I'll write more on this later, in a future blog post.

Scan scrapbooks.  Nope, still haven't done that.  I keep thinking about it, and yes, it's one of my new resolutions.  I did get an external hard drive to store things that I will scan, though, so that's a step forward.

Potty train Ivy.  Yes!  I started not in March, like I had originally wanted, but she wasn't ready one bit at that time.  However, she was ready for it end of December.  Again, I'll write more on this in a future post.

Digitally scrapbook 2008-2009.  I worked on this a little bit.  On the 2011 resolution list.  I just need to set aside some time every week to work on it.

Read Book of Mormon with my family every night.  Yep!  We don't do very many verses each night, but we're in Alma, and are reading about Ammon.  I know my kids aren't absorbing a ton right now, but eventually they will, and eventually we can read more, and they will be able to read along as well.  Someday.

Getting up before my kids.  On and off for this one.  Mostly off.  It's back on the new resolution list.  Getting up early is definitely one of my weaknesses.

Build up food storage.  I've been working on this.  It helps that I've been more aware of sales, and things like Case Lot.  The last couple of months I've been a little hit and miss with couponing, too.  Just...super busy.  I haven't had the time to research, and run around to five different stores.  Maybe this summer it will be a different story.  And I went Tuesday night, and got free Halls cough drops and free yogurt!  I went to Case Lot at Smiths in September and got a bunch of canned goods, and they're having Case Lot again this week-I'm planning to go tomorrow, actually.  So that's been good to help build up our food storage.

In summary, I did...fair on my resolutions last year.  Which is better than nothing, right?

This year, I decided that my motto is going to be "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!"  From this.  And because of this. 

So without further ado, my 2011 resolutions:

Attend the temple every month.  This was one of my goals last year, too, and I think I went twice, which is pathetic.  I love going; the babysitting arranging is what's hard for me.  I just need to be more proactive, and get 'er done.

Earn my honor bee.  This is the next step in the Young Women's Personal Progress program.  You read the Book of Mormon again, and serve for 40 hours.  This will help pull me out of my comfort zone a little bit.  And yeah, I serve my children almost nonstop, but I need to reach outside of my own life and family, because I know I can help others.  Also, even though I'm great at reading scriptures with my family, my own scripture study is irregular.  So reading through again (and again and again) is a good thing for me to be doing.

Be more financially fit.  I'm embarrassed to say, we have more debt than I would like.  Ideally, I would love to be completely debt-free, but at this point in life it's not necessarily possible.  The debt I'm okay with having (for now) is our mortgage, our car payment, and our student loans.  And all three of those are at really low rates, so even though it sucks to have them at all, someday they'll get paid off, and they aren't the worst thing in the universe right now.  However, we had an expensive summer/fall, which we weren't financially ready for.  Which is so dumb, because hi-I graduated in finance, for crying out loud!  So a few days ago, I hid our credit cards, and today....drum roll please....I paid off Pete's hospital bills!  YAY!  We also should be getting a decent tax return, so that should help get rid of some debt.

In college, we did mock investing in one of my classes.  And I LOVED it.  It was so interesting to me.  And in my class of 40 students, I was the 2nd or 3rd highest earner (it changed back and forth, depending on the day/market).  Of course, when I was taking that class the stock market was bubbling, so it may not be as fun in today's market, or with real money.  Still, though, I think it would be fun to try for real.

Also, I want to get a bunch of money in the bank.  Paying off the debt will help with this goal, obviously.

Get my eyes lasered.  No, not getting burning eye beam things like Superman.  I'm talking about getting laser eye surgery.  Where I would be able to see first thing in the morning, instead of having my alarm clock 8 inches from my face in order for it to be clear enough for me to see the time.  It's an expensive procedure, but oh!-life without glasses or contacts!  I got glasses in 2nd grade, my friends.  I've been blind for way too long.  So I'll need to save for a long time to get this, but I'm hoping that I can get this done this year.

Exercise.  Pete and I have been sporadic with exercising this year.  We'll do really great for a while, then miss, and then fall out of habit.  Then get really good again...and the cycle continues.  We're back out of the habit.  So Tuesday night while at the store I got a jump rope, and a yoga tape that has 20-minute workouts.  Pete and I were doing P90X, which I love, but every session is an hour or so, except for ab ripper, which is still, like 30 minutes or something.  20 minutes in the morning, though?  I can handle that.  Or jump rope for 20 minutes.  Just...something.  I don't want to lose weight, but I care about having a healthy heart.

Lastly, I want to learn to play a new instrument.  I've always been drawn to the violin, the guitar, the harp, and the cello.  I might wait until the summer or fall to do this one.  And I'm not sure if it is even conceivable while I teach piano because of time constraints, but I don't want to quit teaching...hmmm.  So maybe the summer would be best, since I don't teach piano during the summer.  But that's if I can find a class or a teacher willing to do summer, and have me drag my kids along with me.  All good questions and/or challenges.

Oh, and the digital scrapbook thing and the getting up early thing that I continually try to accomplish.

So there you have it.

And I really will try to be better at regular blogging.  Just as soon as I learn some knock-knock jokes...

When It Freezes Over

Yesterday...

Brock: Mom, what happens when Hell hits your head?

Me: ..Whaaaa...???

Brock: What happens when Hell hits your head?

Me: Um, I'm not really sure what you're asking, Brock.  When... what? hits your head?

Brock: You know. (making hand gestures, repeatedly touching the crown of his head with his fingers pinched together)  When Hell hits you with those little white dots.

Me: (finally realizing I really shouldn't take every sound of words my kids say at face value) OH!  You mean when HAIL hits you?

Brock: Yeah. (Like, duh, that's what I've said three times now.)  What is it made of?

Me: (explanation of what hail is)

Brock: So, is it bad?  What happens?

Me: No, it just hurts a lot if you're outside and it lands on you.

So glad he was asking about weather!

Mr. Passive Aggressive

Jakob is definitely gaining skills in the passive aggressive department. 

Here are just a few examples:

1) "I wish..."  If Jake wants something, he'll start a sentence with this phrase.  Like if he wants a snack: "I wish we could have snacks right now."  "I wish we could finish watching that movie."  And on and on.

2) He posted this note on our wall.  And it's not the first one that he's put up about cleaning the toys.  (If only it would occur to him that his brothers can't re-read it after he's read it to them.)

Here's the translation-it's a bit hard to read: Putting Back Toys If you're done with a toy, put it back.  If it's clean-up time pick up all the toys.  If your name is Brock or Troy get three toys.  Thank you.  Sincerely, Jakob

I love how he's silently blaming his brothers for making the mess.  And the picture is awesome.  He's also kind of ordering his brothers around, but then is trying to be all nice about it (thank you, sincerely).

3) Jakob likes to play a couple of games on Pete's iPod.  The other day Jakob came up to Pete and said, "So Dad.  How's your iPod doing?"  Like trying to suggest in a round about way that he wants to play on the iPod without actually asking.

4) At lunch time Jakob wanted a Sunkist to drink, but we were out.  Sunkist isn't a regular buy for us.  But then Jakob says, "Looks like someone needs to go grocery shopping."  Well, then.  He did say "just kidding" afterwards (though, that's also passive aggressive-to say something you actually mean and then try to back out of it by saying just kidding right after to soften the blow).

I just wish someone would grow out of this phase...

Because Ivy Needed a Post

So, I totally had a way awesome, clever title for this post, and it was all clever in my brain, and then when I went to type it out, it just kind of...plopped out, instead of flowing out.  But, as we say, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!  Onward...

This little girl of mine is getting so big!

She's my barefoot baby. Ivy is always going outside without shoes on.  She loves to suck on blankets, just like Brock did. She loves to be where the boys are, doing what they're doing.  But she's very girly, all at the same time.  She loves it when I do her hair and demands that I hairspray it when we're done.

(the perfect "girly" shot!)

When she says yes, it sounds like "nyeo".  Which is awesome, because it sounds like no.  So for a while, after she would answer a question for me, I would ask, "Yes? or No?"  And she would reply with "Yes or no."  Super helpful, eh?

She is so very determined to do things her own way.  My mom took me and my kids to the zoo, and we were all absolutely melting into the sidewalks.  And Ivy just had to push the stroller the whole time.  She even tried to push it with Troy riding in it.

She and Troy love to go with me and Brock to the bus stop, that's only two doors away.  While waiting, Ivy found a rock, that she dubbed "Baby Rock".  But because she can't say her k sound, she would say "bee-bee raw!"  It's still around here, somewhere...

Love my Ivy-Lou-Who!

In This World

I love the things that little kids say, when they get phrases mixed up. I also love the phrases that kids make up as well. Here are a few examples from The Nat Pack:

Jakob, to his brothers: "Trees like to drink root beer." I explained that no, trees like water, but I can see where he's coming from with the root beer. After all, trees have roots, don't they?

Brock: "Are there ___________ in this world?" Fill in the blank with anything. Seriously, anything. Vampires, elephants, plants, houses, aliens... you name it, he's asked if it's in this world. I think he's asking if it exists, if it's real. But it's such a funny and cute way to ask.

Brock: if he's asking for "chee", he wants just one slice of cheese, thank you very much. Which makes sense. He's just taking off the "s" to make it singular.

Troy and Brock: if either asks you to "slip me up", they are asking if you could zip up their coat or jacket. They can both say the "z" sound, but for some reason, it's slip, not zip.

All: you will be considered naked, or called a "naked guy", if your shirt is off. Pants on, but shirt off? Naked guy.

All: Special adventures. Not bonus features, not special features. Special adventures, like deleted scenes or previews, are included on DVDs.

Troy: Flow-up. No, not what may first come to your mind. It's actually a Fruit Roll-up. Go figure.

Brock and Troy: getting fired? It doesn't mean losing your job. It means something is on fire. Like the part where Muntz sets Mr. Fredrickson's house on fire on the movie "Up". The boys say Muntz "fired his house".

All: "We're playing a drinking game!" Nope, no booze involved. They were copy-catting each other while drinking at lunchtime. If one would pick up his cup, all the others would, and they'd all drink at the same time.

Brock: "I'm so exciting!" Yes, while he is a very exciting child, he was trying to say he was excited.

Troy: In an attempt to also say that he was excited: "I'm so sexing!" I'm glad he's just three.

So there you have it. Just a few translations, in case you get confused in this world.

The Little Things

I'm sick. Oh, how I'm sick. Chills, aches, and sore throat, mostly. But I've been wanting to blog about this.

One of the Personal Progress experiences talks about writing down the service that family members do for each other for two weeks. (Seriously, how awesome is the Personal Progress program?) I figured since it was close to Valentine's day, that I would work on this one with my whole family. So for Family Home Evening, I made this poster that's now hanging on our back door. This is where we can write down what we love about each other, and the good things that we do for one another.


It's made me realize that our lives are not necessarily made up of the big events that happen. It's actually made up of all the little things that happen and that we do for one another. Mother Teresa said, "In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

My small "things" have done many small things; writing them down has really opened my eyes to how much love they give, and to how much I love them.

For instance, Ivy shared her fruit snacks with Troy. And she said "please" when she wanted a bite of my sandwich.


Troy made the broom stand up by itself. And he brought a blanket over to me last night when I was feeling so achy and yucky. He also cuddled with me and played with my hair, which is one of my favorite things.



Before I got sick, I took Jake out to get his haircut (for free, which rocks). We got some Wendy's, and he bought a new Bakugan with his allowance money. It was really fun to spend some one-on-one time with my little man. He has also opened up the door for me when I had my hands full, and did his homework really fast one day without complaint.


(As a completely random side note: I hit the Payless Buy One Get One 1/2 Off sale when Jake and I were out and about; these shoes ended up being $3.50!)


Brock was watching "Muppets from Space" the other day. Gonzo says, "I don't know where I came from". And Brock said back, "I know what you mean, Gonzo." It was so funny! Brock cleaned up the toys all by himself (no small feat), and made his bed without being asked.

And not to leave Pete out: last night he made dinner and got the kids ready for bed while I slept.

It's been so wonderful to see my little kids give so much to each other and to me.

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.

-Napoleon Hill

I Spy

On Sunday I let Jake have free reign of the camera. I usually don't do that, but he wanted a picture of something he made, and I didn't want to stand up to take the picture. Needless to say, he went hog wild! He took a lot of pictures of himself making crazy faces. He also took a lot of pictures of butts. He's definitely a six-year-old boy.



Anyway, a while ago Jake said, "Let's play 'I Spot'". And I said, "You mean 'I Spy'?" So then we were playing, and the other boys wanted to join in. Here's a version of Brock's turn: "I see something with my eye, um, something that is, um, a Buzz Lightyear!" My response: "...Uh, is it Buzz Lightyear?" Brock: "YEAH! You guessed! Good job!" Yep, pretty tricky.



But playing "I Spy" with my kids reminded me of when my sisters and I would play at a movie theatre before the movie started. Back in the day, you had to just sit there; there were no previews before the previews. So we'd pretty much people watch. We'd say, "I spy with my little eye something that is awkward." And then the other person would find the guy that kept trying to put his arm around his date, and she kept edging away. Or "I spy with my little eye something that is mysterious", and it would be the weird-colored "spill" on the ground by our feet. We really kept each other entertained.



So if you ever want to come over, challenge my kids to a rousing game of "I Spy", especially if you're in the mood for winning a game. Or come over if you want a picture of your butt. The Nat Pack aims to please!

Like a Three-Legged Puppy With One Eye

This is one of the saddest things I've seen. Ever.

Here's a translation:

To Santa, From Jakob. No toys for me! :( I tried to find my Bakugan.

Do you know why there are no toys for me? Because I lost one of my Bakugans.



I seriously wanted to cry when I read that note that he wrote.

He lost his little Bagukan toy randomly, and I know it's somewhere in the house but we can't find it. He even bought it with his own money and everything. Poor guy. We told him that that's not how Santa works, though - not giving toys at Christmas because of losing a toy. He ended up writing a new note to Santa, telling him that he tried and tried to find his other Bakugan, but proceeded to ask for a ton of Bakugan things, including watch and calendar.

In other Jakobisms...

He has to read 20 minutes every school night. So one night he read about 15, and I told him that that was good enough, and I would write 20 minutes on his sheet. With big round eyes he said, "You're going to LIE about my reading time???" I told him, no, I wasn't, because the night before he had read at least 5 extra minutes that I hadn't counted into his reading time, so 15 plus 5 makes 20 minutes. I'm glad he is now aware of lying, and I'm glad that he was going to make sure that I didn't lie, either.

Another time that Jakob lost a different toy (sensing a trend, here), I told him to patiently look for it, and we'd be able to find it. A long time ago I had told him that he can always pray when he needs help finding toys, or if he's scared, etc. So I was in the other room, kind of looking for his toy, and I heard the end of a prayer that he was saying: "...please bless us, that Jakob can find his toy..." It was so sweet, and it made me so excited that his little seed of faith has started to grow, and that he thought to pray all by himself. I also said a little prayer in my heart, not necessarily to find the toy, but to help answer his prayer, so that he knows that Heavenly Father listens to him, even when it's over something that I would deem unimportant, but is very important in Jakob's little world. We found the toy half a minute later. I then told him that Heavenly Father helped him find his toy, and he said, "No, you helped me find my toy." I then explained that a lot of times Heavenly Father works through other people and other things in order to answer our prayers. We then said a thank-you prayer. I loved having that teaching moment.


And, unfortunately, we might have to have another teaching moment sooner than I would like. One night, Jakob asked, "Dad, does Lady Gaga have a lot of sex?" Pete answered, "Well, Jake, I'm not sure. Why do you ask?" Jakob replied with, "Lady Gaga is a hot woman. So she must have a lot of sex." Pete said, "Lady Gaga is not a hot woman. And, I don't think she's married, so she probably does not have sex, because only married people have sex." Aye, carumba. Not looking forward to that talk at all.

Ah, the joys and adventures of raising children.

Bossy

This morning-

Jakob: "Mom, why is Troy so bossy?"

Me: "Well, I don't know."

Jakob: "Mom, when you had Troy, did you maybe really have a girl, and she kind of got...mixed up when he was a baby and you had him instead?" (I'm thinking he was asking if Troy was switched at birth. I have no idea where he'd hear about something like that ever happening, but whatever.)

Me: "Trust me, Jakob, I know that Troy is part of our family."

Jakob: "Well, he's really bossy. Did he maybe get hit in the head when he was little with something to make him bossy?"

Me: (trying not to laugh) "No, I think he was just born that way."

New

The Nat Pack been facing a lot of changes lately, some of which have been awesome, and some maybe not so much. But as Sheryl Crow says, "A Change Would Do You Good".

Last night I got a new booster seat for Troy-boy. (By the way, there are some booster seats on sale at Walmart for $13.50.) He saw it this morning and is so excited. He just thinks he's all sorts of grown up. I wish it would translate into the potty training realm, though. We've been trying to potty train him, but that's very hit and miss. He'll try to change his own diaper, and I keep wondering why he can't just figure out the whole potty-undies correlation, but whatever. I wish my kids were the types that just take charge of that. I know kids like that exist; well, I think kids like that exist-but maybe only in a galaxy far far away. This morning he pulled out his red Bumblebee shirt (he also owns a yellow one and a blue one), and told me, "Mom, my tummy feels yucky, but this Bumblebee shirt will make it feel better."





I got a new computer, because our other one died. It's very little, and very cute. Now maybe I'll find the energy to start working on my online scrapbooking again.

Ivy's had the most changes. Her new trick is climbing up things. It's been kind of a blessing in disguise, because she's been able to climb up on my lap as I haven't been able to pick her up since my surgery. But we have to be extra careful about leaving things on the table.



And although she's a good climber, she's not good enough to get out of her crib. So we got her a new big girl bed. It's very pink, and has princesses on it. I'm thinking I might need to repaint the walls, or rethink the wall decorations, seeing as how they all went with our nursery theme of Winnie the Pooh. Maybe someday, I guess-I'll just add it to the mile long to-do list, that starts with hanging the new window blinds I got for our front room.

Oh, and also this Sunday Ivy gets to try her new nursery class, because she's 18 months old today! YAHOO!! (Well, unless she's like my boys, and hates it, and I have to sit in there with her for at least a few months. But you never know.)

Also, she's getting 4 new teeth. The child already has 12 in her little noggin-this will make 16!

Jakob has a new interest-Bakugan toys. Maybe anta-Say will bring some for istmas-Chray. But I'm thinking I'm going to have the kids help me clear out the unused toys before Christmas. I've done this before, and it's worked really well: I tell the boys how there are some kids that can't afford new toys, so we need to give our toys that we don't use to a store (D.I.) so that they can have toys for Christmas. So then I have them help me organize all the toys (blocks in the block bag, dinosaurs in the dinosaur bag, etc.), and then I have them take turns picking their 10 favorite toys to keep, and we get rid of the rest. (I'm not a super toy Nazi, though- If they pick a dinosaur, they get all the dinosaurs, and sometimes I still hang on to some toys that they don't pick-I call them Ivy's 10 toys.)

And I got new pain meds on Monday, because dang. I will hopefully be able to lift my kids, and vacuum and the like next week, though. It may hurt to do it, but I'll be able to.

Finally, Pete and I have a new obsession: a game called Plants vs. Zombies. It's hilarious, and fun, and the kids love watching us play it. Which I'm going to go do right now, because I have a very patient Brock sitting on my lap, ready to watch.

YAY for new things!

Who's the Boss?

Lately Troy has been very obsessed with "the boss" -and no, I don't mean Bruce Springsteen. He wants to know who is in charge, and of what, and when. Always. And most of the time, he thinks that it should be him.

He'll tell one of his brothers something to do, but there's no way they should be able to do the same to him. Troy: "Brock, sit down." Brock: "No, you sit down!" Troy: (pointing a threatening finger at his brother) "Don't tell me what to do!"

Troy is always asking me if I'm the one in charge, to which I reply that yes, yes I am. But then, when I'm not in the room, I overhear him telling his brothers or sister that he's the one in charge. A new phrase at our house, repeated several times during the day, is: "Troy, you are the boss of you." We have to let him know that he's in charge of himself, and his actions. We also have to tell him he is in charge of his toys (so he knows to clean them up since, you know, he's in charge).

However, he gets a little confused that both Pete and I are in charge. I mean, one of us has to be the boss, right? And maybe that's why he thinks that really, it should be him, at all times. Such a cute, delusional, three-year-old.

Flea!

My Troy boy turned "flea" (or, three, for those of you who don't speak Troyese) last Monday. (Yes, I suck right now getting posts up in a timely manner. I hope to remedy that soon. Ish.)

For Troy's birthday, we went to McDonald's, and then to the park where it was stinking hot out. Then that night we had my family over for presents and cake.

This time around, I decided that instead of spending $20 on a cake that is generally pretty gross - cute, but not all that tasty - I would try my hand at putting something onto a cake by myself. It took me about 2 or 3 hours, but I decorated Mickey Mouse. I'm sure it's not the best piece of cakework out there, but at least it's not a cake wreck. Hopefully. I did, however, have to talk Troy down from Bumblebee to something slightly easier, but he was happy with it.

Troy got some clothes (which he was like, uh, what's up with this?), and a Mickey Mouse toy, that his sister and Brock and he have all been fighting over since, and a transformer that Jakob has kind of adopted, and a "walmart" (which is a lawnmower). He LOVES that lawnmower. He seriously pushed it around the yard for an hour straight. It blows bubbles and everything.

And for your enjoyment, some Troyisms:

flea = three

sprinkler = sparkler

sparkler = sprinkler

walmart = lawnmower

Rice Christmas trees = Rice Krispie Treats

I'm not naked = he really IS naked

I'm not poopy = he just pooped in his diaper

And for even more enjoyment, a slide show. And the angels started singing when they beheld its glory.

"I Think I'm Beginning to Die"

Well, we have the sickies over here today. Especially Jakob, and he's really feeling it as he's the one that said he thinks he's beginning to die. And tonight is Kindergarten graduation. Perfect timing, eh? Maybe he won't feel well enough to go and, you know, stand there looking all grumpy while the other kids sing (which is what he does on the normal-feeling days). I may end up dragging his sick little body over there, anyway, because after all the ups and downs from this year, he deserves a diploma-ish kind of thing, and I deserve to watch him get it! Here's praying he makes a miraculous recovery...


(By the way, do you like this sweet outfit Jake put together to wear to school the other day? The clip-on mismatched tie with the collared shirt that totally can't handle a tie on it. Classic.)

Ultimate Self-Confidence

Tonight, while putting a crying Troy into bed:
Nat: Troy, you're tired.
Troy (through tears): No, I'm not. *sob* I'm just awesome.

Pete's Sweet 16! (you'll see why in a minute)

Happy Birthday, Pete! I think you're officially over the hill now at a whopping 31. But don't worry, you have a young spring chicken for a wife (for another 4 months and 1 day, anyway). Thanks for being a great husband, for letting me sleep on your side of the bed with you so that I stay warm, for picking Texas Roadhouse to eat at tonight for your birthday (LOVE their Ranch dressing!), for watching really lame shows like "Bravestar" with the boys, and for always making me laugh.

And here's a little something to make you laugh. I asked the boys some questions about you, and here are their answers. Enjoy!

1. How old is your dad?
Jake: 16
Brock: 60
Troy: 2

2. What is something Dad always says to you?
Jake: He says good words.
Brock: He doesn't say "po-ee sank" (not a clue, dude)
Troy: He says shut up.

3. What makes Dad happy?
Jake: When I don't be bad.
Brock: He's into the temple.
Troy: Just sleeping.

4. What makes Dad sad?
Jake: When he gets mad.
Brock: He fights for the shark.
Troy: Just crying and don't sing

5. How does your Dad make you laugh?
Jake: He says funny stuff.
Brock: Dragons onto Ivy's head.
Troy: Just silly.

6. What was your dad like as a child?
Jake: Voltron.
Brock: He was a kid at 4.
Troy: I dunno.

7. How tall is your dad?
Jake: 100
Brock: really, really tall
Troy: I dunno.

8. What is his favorite thing to do?
Jake: eat his dinner and eat chocolate
Brock: He can fit his shirt on his head.
Troy: say be quiet

9. What does your dad do when you're not around?
Jake: plays WoW
Brock: brush his teeth.
Troy: Take a bath.

10. If your dad becomes famous, what will it be for?
Jake: something like, a genius
Brock: make dinner (yeah, right!)
Troy: work

11. What is your dad really good at?
Jake: spelling stuff on the computer
Brock: sing songs
Troy: ride bikes

12. What is your dad not very good at?
Jake: playing games
Brock: He's bad at flowers
Troy: going to sleep

13. What does your dad do for a job?
Jake: to do good
Brock: he does numbers
Troy: I don't know its name.

14. What is your dad's favorite food?
Jake: apples, I guess.
Brock: dinner
Troy: chicken nuggets and fries

15. What makes you proud of your dad?
Jake: when he is very good, not bad
Brock: he goes to swimming for me
Troy: just wake up

16. If your dad were a cartoon character (or character from literature), who would he be?
Jake: paladin
Brock: he got a sword, he'd be an elephant
Troy: a doggy

17. What do you and your dad do together?
Jake: draw stuff together
Brock: make swords
Troy: go to church

18. Where is your dad's favorite place to go?
Jake: the swimming place
Brock: swimming
Troy: go to work

19. How are you and your dad the same?
Jake: if we're wearing the same clothes
Brock: we got punched and we didn't have Wall-E.
Troy: play bikes

20. How are you and your dad different?
Jake: we don't have the same name or same number where we are.
Brock: he's old
Troy: I dunno.

21. How do you know your dad loves you?
Jake: 'Cause he's so so so glad.
Brock: he hasn't punched me in the face
Troy: he gets (me) chicken nuggets and fries

We love you, Pete/Dad! Happy birthday!

The Good With The Bad

Lately in Jakob's prayers:
"Please bless us that we can be good...or bad."

Things You May Not Care About. (But SHOULD.)

You know that Christmas story, "The Little Match Girl"? She totally dies at the end! What's up with that? She's all peeking in at other people with their happiness and warmth and presents, and all she has are matches that she lights, and then she dies. "Hey, Merry Christmas, a little girl died!" (My kids keep picking the Christmas stories for me to read at night.)

Ivy totally has a rooster-tail hairdo naturally.


One of Troy's nicknames is "Stumpy", because he's, well, stumpy. Just short and little. When he's angry we call him "Grumpy Stumpy". The other day he called Brock a Grumpy Stumpy when Brock was upset.

Brock was very aware his picture was being taken. He's such a non-poser.


Jakob totally rocked his reading assessment this last time. We just got his report card. Apparently his after-school reading program and Title One have helped him out. Although, if he ever hears any foreign language, he calls it Spanish, I think because he's in the after-school program with a lot of Hispanic kids where Spanish is their first language.

Jakob drew this sweet picture, of a skeleton playing a lead guitar. He's becoming quite the artiste. (Pete drew the one on the right.)


You know the movie "The Village"? It's Brock's favorite movie, but he calls it "Billage". (I already know I'm a bad mom for letting my kids watch PG-13 movies.) We were asking Troy about colors, and we pointed at red and said, "What color is that?" And he replied, "The bad color." Yes, that would be my two-year-old.

Troy can fit in a garbage can.


My abs will be made of steel by the time this cough is out of my system.

I love cookies. A lot.