Christmas

We had such a good Christmas this year!

The boys got so many good, thoughtful presents and all of our celebrations were spaced out so we got to really enjoy ourselves--that's always nice!

Their favorite present varies each time you ask them, but they have all been completely engrossed in Henry's new Fireman game for the Wii. Josh really loves the school bus that the elves carved for him and Lucas got a really neat air craft carrier with tons of planes.

There are lots of things that I love. Gigi gave them a nice big table for their art room. They also got lots of super cute clothes and socks--I probably the most excited about the socks! I also got a set of hangers which I love more than I can say!

This Christmas we also seemed to really settle into our little family traditions.

When the boys were little we would do things a bit different each year just trying to figure out exactly how we wanted to do things. Now, I think, we have finally decided how to handle Santa presents--wrapped or unwrapped, what type of presents and how many. Also our elf has had several names, but I think it is going to now stay Elmer Sam--I wanted Elmer, they wanted Sam, so we compromised! It's a nice feeling to have all those big details settled!

I'm also really excited about next year. I've got some big ideas!

*My boys love getting food for Christmas! Luke got a jar of peanut butter from Amy and Dave and I also heard him saying that he hoped Santa would bring him another one. Sadly, Santa didn't.

Family Pictures

Every fall Jennifer takes our family pictures.

She always does so good at capturing the personalities of the boys in her pictures. This year she also took some of the very best pictures I have ever seen of Ben!

She amazes me!

And Now He Takes Videos

Amy and Dave bought Lucas a new camera for Christmas.

It also takes videos.

Yesterday, the boys were suppose to be cleaning their rooms. Lucas documented what they did instead.



I could not stop laughing when I watched that little gem! (I can call it that since the room is now picked up!)

There is also another video of Henry on the top bunk getting ready to throw a fist full of paper. As soon as he heard Ben outside his door he quickly shoved it behind him, like nothing was going on. I think that happens a lot!

I think this new camera is going to bring a lot of insight into what the boys do when they are alone!

Bad News from Henry

The other day while I was driving, Henry had an announcement for me.

H--"Momma, I have some bad news to tell you."

I braced myself.

H--"Pretty soon 2009 is going to be over and it will never, EVER be here again!"

Then today while Henry was playing with his cars he held up one of his planes and asked if it was the one that looked like the president's plane. I told him it did.

H--"Well, the plane crashed. Where do you think the cemetery should be?"

M--"Did someone die?"

H--"The president did. Remember in the plane crash? See all of the cars and firetrucks lined up for the funeral? Where should the cemetery be?"

I'm guessing that the bad news about 2009 came from preschool, but I have no idea where the plane crash came from.

Sometimes I wonder!

Candy Village

Luke and Henry have been busy getting their bedroom ready for Christmas.

They decided on a candy village this year with houses and trees and of course Santa!

All of the houses have m&m's and candy canes and other sweet treats on them!

Lucas also made sure they all had chimneys--some were drawn on--because that is the most important part for Santa!

They are really proud of thier work!

Where Has The Month Gone?

I had high hopes for December.

I planned on having my list of things to do almost completely finished by the end of November so we could spend December just doing fun stuff.

I was close to getting everything done, but things came up, the month has flown by, and I have procrastinated.

Slowly I have gotten my list whittled down, but I still have a stack of gifts waiting to be wrapped--my least favorite thing to do, a couple of Christmas cards left to finish up, and a messy house to clean.

My new goal is to have EVERYTHING done by Friday, so that when the boys' winter break starts, we can do a months worth of fun in just two weeks.

I'm determined to not let the rest of this month go by so fast!

Hoarding Books

Josh Oliver is a hoarder--especially when he goes to bed.

Some nights I think that he just grabs anything and everything he can get his hands on to pile up in his bed.

It varies from night to night, but generally he has several animals, his drawing board, a blanket and many, many books.

I don't really care what he takes to bed because usually the more stuff he has in his bed the better he goes to bed. He can draw or study the pages in his books for a long time until he finally falls asleep.

The problem is really when he wakes up in the middle of the night.

No matter how sleepy he is, he insists on moving everything from his bed into our bed. That means at 3:00 in the morning I first get a pillow and a blanket thrown over me, then some books, then animals, then some more books before he's finally ready to climb into bed himself. Some nights it takes up to 6 or 7 trips before he's gotten it all in.

There's really no use trying to convince him that he doesn't actually need to bring everything in. It only prolongs the process!

Book Fair

Henry held a Book Fair in his bedroom today.

He cleared off the shelves above his dresser and put every book from his bedroom and Josh's bedroom on them.

He came and asked me if I would like to come and buy a book from him. All books were a penny. He even gave me a penny so I could make a purchase.

He also told me that if he was sitting on the basket his store was open for business. If he was on the floor, it was closed.

It was an interesting set up!

Sleep

This is one of my favorite parts of being a momma.

Nothing is better than a sweet little sleeping boy squished onto my side of the bed.

Sometimes I try to push them over to Ben, but really I love that they always suction to me.

Lesson Learned--well probably not

My boys love to rough house!

Even when it turns out badly, they still think it's great!

Thanksgiving

We went to Aunt Amy's house for Thanksgiving this year.

It was her first hosting and it was fabulous!

She was so organized, the food was delicious, the table looked awesome, and we all had a good time.

Lucas said the blessing before the meal. Henry interrupted him with his own prayer. I was proud of them both--not for Henry's manners, but for their prayers!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays--4th of July is my other one!

We don't really have any big traditions for those days, but I think that's why I love them so much. They are low stress and there aren't any expectations. We just do fun stuff and enjoy the day!

Art Projects

We had an Art Day yesterday.

I thought the boys might want to make some Christmas decorations for their bedroom, and Ben and I needed to get the house cleaned, so I set out everything they could possibly need and turned them loose in the art room.

Lucas made a bunch of books. He cut out shapes (reindeer, Santa, Christmas tree, and a couple of others) of construction paper and then stapled them together. He hasn't written any stories in them yet, but he says he's going to.

Henry made Christmas trees. He was hanging them up as he made them. Unfortunately he was using rubber cement to stick it to the wall. He was sad when I took them down!

Josh Oliver passed on Art Day and instead just played with his trains.

The art room is a total mess of construction paper and glue, but the boys had fun and the house is semi clean, so I'd say it was a pretty good day!

Chef Henry

Lately Henry J has been very into making little snack sandwiches.

They are made up of two fritos, peanut butter, a marshmallow, and an apple jack or two. They are his own creation. He has tried to teach Josh Oliver how to make them, but all he really does is eat the peanut butter!

Today when he was making them he decided to try them out on bread.

Just before he was going to give me my own baggie full of deliciousness, I asked him why there was peanut butter and bread smeared on the stool beside him. He said, "Oh, I just had to get the green stuff off because you can't eat that part."

When I looked a little closer at the bread on the counter, it was almost totally green with mold! Yum!

He assured me that all the bread in my baggie had been picked clean of the mold, but I just didn't have the stomach to even take the bag from him.

He cried for so long because his heart was broken. I felt bad, but there was no way I could choke that down. Not even for a cute, freckle faced boy.

(Ben saved the day and brought home some fresh bread! Henry was happy after that and I even ate some of his creation--it wasn't too bad!)

Tomatoes

Henry was outside playing when he noticed that there were still some tomatoes on the vine.

He brought them all inside to me. He was so proud.

I'm especially anxious to eat the big, red, rotten one in the middle!

(He even washed, dried, and put them all in the fridge for me!)

Try It--You'll Like It!

Our boys are picky eaters--especially Lucas.

Let me rephrase that.

Lucas is a picky eater. The other two are picky when Lucas is around!

Luke has a very long list of things that he won't eat--not because he's tried it and he doesn't like it, but because it just "looks disgusting".

It worries me because he has such a limited list of things that he will willingly eat. Most of them are childhood basics--macaroni, grilled cheese, hot dogs (but not corn dogs), pasta with no sauce (he doesn't like to get messy), peanut butter, cereal. There are a few more standard foods, but that is pretty much it on the "guaranteed to eat" list. It's not a horrible list, but it's not very well rounded.

I have tried so many things to try to get him to venture out. I've tried putting his food on sticks--apparently all kids like food on sticks, just not mine! I've slathered things in cheese, but he says he doesn't like "that type" of cheese. He doesn't like cool whip, marshmallows, or anything equally sweet and delicious so that option was out from the beginning. I have mixed pureed veggies in with his food. That has gone alright, but he always seem to notice that something isn't quite right which makes me leery of it. I've also tried to give him no other options, and frankly he would just rather not eat!

There is hope, though!

The boys have joined a super fun cooking club which sends them recipes for fun to make foods. We haven't made anything yet, but the boys are really excited about it. I'm cautious, though, because I can't tell you how many times Lucas has helped me cook an entire dinner--eating the ingredients along the way--only to turn his nose up to the finished project. I'm hoping the idea of eating spooky eyes or meatloaf footballs will help. It's worth a shot!

Also, when I can get Lucas to try something with a relatively open mind, he does generally realize that he likes it. Whenever that happens I always try say something like, "It is really fun to try new foods!" and not make too big of a deal out of it.

I'm really hoping that at some point he will broaden his list of foods he will eat. Really, I think that if Picky Ben would start eating a bigger variety, maybe Lucas and the other two will follow his lead.

Slowly my boys will hopefully come around!

Dirt and Worms

This is what Luke and Henry, along with Grandpa J, did when the boys and I were at my parents house on Sunday.

They dug a big hole in the middle of the yard, looked for some worms, and then filled it back in. Just because!

Their daddy would NEVER sacrifice his yard to look for critters, but it's as good a reason as any for Grandpa J. He's a fun grandpa like that!

He also let them sort through the compost pit and find all sorts of worms and rollie pollies. They thought that was awesome!

Josh Oliver opted to stay inside with Gigi. He knows that if you stay inside you get all sorts of treats, and he is definitely a kid who lives for treats!

Cautious

I came across this picture the other day.

It makes me laugh every time I see it because it reminds me of the first time I ever saw that Henry had a cautious side!

He's always been the sort of kid who throws caution to the wind. He will jump and climb without any regard to how badly he may get hurt. Really, he just has no fear!

On that day, while we were waiting on the 4th of July parade to start, the boys started talking to a very knowledgeable boy named Nathan. They were walking around the pond while Nathan was pointing out fish nests, and snail eggs, and a bunch of other things that required getting super close to the water.

It was all pretty neat, so I leaned way in over the water to get a better look, too. When I crouched way down Henry touched my shoulder and quietly said, "Momma, do you think you could stay back a little. You're making me nervous."

It was a very "Freaky Friday" moment! I have said that many, many times to Henry, but I have never heard it come from his mouth! Never!

After that I stayed back from the water. I also watched Henry. He kept a safe distance away from the water the whole time. When the other boys climbed down the rocks, I heard him ask them to stay back. They ignored him, but he stayed up on top. It was all very odd--especially for Henry!

Since then, I've seen that cautious side of him quite a bit. He's still pretty fearless, but he at least thinks things through a lot more. I guess that's just part of getting older!

He has really grown up a lot in the last six months. It amazes me when I think about how much he has changed. He just keeps getting better!

Halloween 2009

Josh Oliver as Elvis

Henry the Fireman

Lucas our soldier

Eli the chicken (often referred to as "The Cute One" by Henry)

My Goals for October

There is a lot of things that I need to do with/teach my boys for them to be more self sufficient in life.

Generally, I find myself saying, "We really need to work on that." and then it quickly gets forgotten thanks to all the daily craziness. Plus, I just get overwhelmed by the long list.

There really is a lot that kids need to know.

I've decided that I am going to give myself a monthly to do list. A short list of things to work on. I do good when I have lists.

Our goals for October were to:

• teach Lucas to finally ride his bike (he's close, but still a bit timid)
• get Josh Oliver potty trained
• teach Luke and Henry the Our Father
• teach Luke how to tie his shoes (he added that one himself)

Now that the month is over, Josh is well on his way to getting potty trained, Luke is tying his shoes, and both boys know the Our Father. Luke still isn't riding his bike by himself, but as soon as he stops checking to see if we are still holding on, there will be no stopping him!

Now I have to figure out my list for November. So far I have:

• finish potty training Joshers
• get Luke riding his bike and start on Henry
• teach the boys how to tell time
• learn the Hail Mary
• work on Luke and Henry's handwriting

It's a good system for me!

A Kansas City Halloween

This past weekend we went to Kansas City for our big Halloween weekend.

On the agenda was:

• a ride on the Haunted Train in Baldwin
• a trip to the Night of the Living Farm at the Deanna Rose Farm
• a KU football game for Lucas and Uncle Dave
• lots and lots of time spent playing outside.

What we learned over the weekend:

• even when Henry is terrified, he puts on a brave face and forges on (we all feel bad about having a hand in scaring him)
• Lucas still gets horribly quiet and shy when he is super excited (the football game)
• It's really hard to drag Josh off of a dance floor
• Eli is not a fan of haunted houses
• Josh Oliver has learned that if he takes toys to the basement to play with them, he won't have to share with Eli
• Lucas is one of the best marshmallow roasters, but will not eat them
• Potty training and Aunt Amy's house is not a good combination
• Flashlights and scavenger hunts is one of the funnest things EVER for my boys

It was a fabulous weekend--probably one of our best ever! I love October and everything that comes with it!

"Well...this is it." --Henry, convinced he was about to be stolen by the spooks

(He really was smiling through his terror!)

Enjoying Fall

I deemed last Friday as our Fall Holiday.

Our weekends in October are always busy, and with Lucas at school all day long, we just haven’t gotten a chance to enjoy fall the way it is suppose to be enjoyed.

I kept Henry home from Preschool and Lucas came home after lunch. (I was going to keep him out all day, but I decided that would be a little too irresponsible!) We spent the afternoon playing outside in the leaves and riding bikes. It was perfect!

I’m thinking it may have to become a yearly holiday for us—only next year I think I really will keep the boys home all day long!

I Really Am Lucky

I am one heck of a lucky girl.

I've got four fabulous boys who I adore.

There are days, though, that I have to remind myself that they really are good boys.

Today ended up being a bit rough thanks to these two--especially the cute one on the right!

Momma's Boy

Josh Oliver is a Momma's Boy.

I can't really decide if I like it or not.

I love the extra cuddles that I get and it's always nice to hear him insist that I hold his hand, or push his stroller, or read him a book. There are times, though, when it gets a little ridiculous.

Sometimes he will have trash, or a cup, or something equally trivial, to give to me. If anyone else offers their hand to take it he will say to them, "No. I give it to my Momma!" There have also been many times when he will say something to me and Ben or Gigi will say something back to him and he will say, "I'm talkin' to my momma"--as in "not to you"!

It's almost like he has a bit of tunnel vision. He wants to interact with me and no one else. Luckily, it only gets that bad a few times a day, and occasionally it's me that he completely shuns for someone else.

I've also started noticing a lot more jealousy with other kids. If I hold a baby or play with someone else he tries to push his way in between us. One time I was holding one of my friend's babies and he just kept telling me to "leave her alone." Actually he was hollering it at me from 10 yards away at the YMCA. It was sort of embarrassing!

When it comes down to it, I really do love that he's my boy! I will happily take any extra attention he wants to give me, even if it isn't always convenient!

We are working on being a polite Momma's boy, though!

Fall Decorations

Over the last week, Henry has been busy collecting leaves to decorate our house with.

Each time he finds an exciting one he puts it on the refrigerator.

Our collage also includes an owl made by Henry, a picture of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria by Lucas, and something made out of a Rice Krispies box (Lucas made it, but even he can't remember what it originally was).

I'm thinking I should probably get my act together and get out the real decorations, but at least for now, it feels like fall in the kitchen!

Our New Rotary Phone

I got an old rotary phone from my grandma today. I've been wanting it for awhile!

Ben thinks it's horrible. I guessed that he wouldn't like it, but his argument against it was surprising and a little strange to me!

When the boys saw it they were excited and a little confused about how to use it. I let them each try to call someone. I had to keep reminding them that they didn't have to push down as they turned the wheel. It's a hard thing to get use to!

It took a couple of tries, but Lucas finally made a call. Henry wasn't so lucky.

Eventually they will be pros at it, and one day Ben will also learn to appreciate it. As for me, I just plain love it!

Pumpkin Patch

Finally, after a long year of waiting, we got to go back to our favorite pumpkin patch!

We pass by it every time we go to Kansas City.

We always eagerly look to see if something new has been added and talk about all the fun stuff we get to do there. The Wizard of Oz Train and the Pumpkin Guns are usually what they are most excited about, but really we love it all.

This year I was excited because it was even going to be chilly weather. Perfect! Saturday morning, however, I realized that it wasn't chilly, it was just down right cold. It did manage to warm up just a little by the time we got there.

It was a lot of fun. They even had a new jumping thing that was like a huge pillow of air stuck in the ground. It was really neat!


We made it through just about everything, when the temperature suddenly took a nose dive. We were freezing and if I could have skipped the trip out to the actual pumpkin patch I would have. The boys wouldn't go for that so we took a quick tractor ride out to the pumpkin field, grabbed the best pumpkins that were within 30 feet of the tractor and got the heck out of there!

We actually ended up with pretty good pumpkins and we had a ton of fun--well not so much Eli, but maybe next year!

Military

Lucas has a new love for all things military. Henry does too, but it's really mostly Lucas.

This weekend I took the boys to a Police Expo. They had all sorts of Police vehicles and Firetrucks for the kids to look at.

Lucas wasn't really very excited about going--that was unusual--but then he spotted a military truck. He couldn't get over there fast enough.

He was being so shy--actually they all were which was also unusual. He kept whispering to me that he wanted to climb in the truck, but he was too shy to ask. He also wouldn't walk up close enough to the table to really look at all of their gear.

Finally one of them came over and pulled him out of his shell. Luke got to try on a vest and a helmet. He even got to hold one of the pretend guns. Josh tried on a helmet. I'm pretty sure it was about as heavy as his whole body, so he didn't get to keep it on. Henry may have tried on a thing or two, but Luke was the only one who put on the whole get up. He even just happened to be wearing his army rainboots that day!

After that they let them climb in the truck. Someone had set a bag of chips in the back and one of the boys thought it was cool that you could carry chips in it. Strange kids!

To make things even better, Lucas made the news! It was only a quick shot of him, but he was still on there!

Another Trip to the Doctor's Office

Thursday morning we were lucky enough to get to make another trip back to the doctor's office.

This time Ben went with me and we only had to take Josh Oliver--thank goodness!

We've all had bad colds this week. Josh had been running high fevers on and off. By Thursday he was clearly a very sick boy. He was breathing pretty hard and would fall asleep anywhere he happened to lay down at. (He took quite a long nap on the bathroom floor.)

The doctor thought he may have pneumonia and possibly the swine flu so he had to suffer through x-rays and swabs being stuck up his nose. It wasn't a fun visit, but it still went much better than last week with all three boys.

It turns out that he did have a case of walking pneumonia, but not swine flu. That poor boy.

It's been a rough week around here, especially with all of the germs. Luckily we are all feeling better now, even Joshers.

Henry's New Do

Henry cut his hair on Monday.

I never really thought I would have to worry about that happening with boys.

His curiosity seems to have gotten the better him while he was working on a fancy airplane in the art room. He cut a long strip in his hair just off of the center of his head. It's sort of like a reverse mohawk.

Henry didn't really have very long hair to start with, but he managed to cut it as close to his scalp as possible. He's going to end up with a completely buzzed head.

He was pretty proud of his new do at first. I decided that if he is so proud of it he could keep it. By Thursday he wasn't quite as proud. He started wearing the hoods of his jackets and hoodies over his head. I'm thinking tomorrow Ben will fix it for him.

Frankly, I'm a little concerned that if he keeps it much longer people may think that we purposely did that to him!

New Boots

Josh Oliver got some new boots last week.

His yellow ones were pretty small so we traded them in for some red ones.

He was pretty exicted when he got them! He's been wearing them a lot and he refuses to let me pull his pants over them. I think he just likes to look at them!

All of my boys love to wear rainboots. They wear them nearly everyday. I'm always caught a little off guard when someone asks them if they are expecting rain as they chuckle.

It's just normal footwear around here, no matter what the weather is like!

Tattle-Tale

Let me start off by saying that Lucas is generally a very nice brother. He does have his pitfalls occasionally.

Last night, he and Josh Oliver had a rough night and Ben sent both of them to bed early. Henry, however, got to stay up and watch some T.V.

After being in his room for awhile Lucas came out with a notepad in his hand. He gave it to me and said, "Henry has been bad. I wrote down some of the things that he did."

His note translates into:

Henry is a bad boy.

Henry bit me.

and Henry wrestled me on Henry's

bed. Henry called 991 (911).

Henry wants the light up Sketchers and Lucas

does too.

I made him read it to me. I also made him clarify when Henry called 911 and he said that is was a long time ago "but I still remember it." As he was reading it to me Henry appeared and asked why we were talking about him. I think hearing that he was bad made him nervous!

That last part about the Sketchers is really just because the two are banding together against me for those terrible light up police shoes. It was a hard battle at the shoe store earlier this week, but I won out!

After Lucas read me his note, I told him I didn't appreciate him tattling on Henry and that he was in trouble because of what he did, not because of Henry. He got sent back to his room, and then Ben and I had a good laugh!

He needs to work on his spelling, but I do appreciate his good use of capitalization and punctuation!