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!