You know there's trouble when it gets quiet...

I recently rearranged the little's room. My intention was just cleaning it up and sweeping behind/under beds. Well Jack loved his bed so much where I moved it to sweep that he was very adamant that it stay there. Which required me to move EVERYTHING. Well, everything except the big blue dresser because that's just not happening. It was all nice and neat and rearranged...

There are 2 more buckets of toys you can see in the pics as well as a box system full of toys.  They always completely destroy it minutes later, which is no big deal, but I really REALLY do need to clean some of it out. It looks like a day care center with all the toys. Anyway, as usual, today they were playing very noisily and dumping every bucket out. Then it got quiet....

I went to check on them and the door was still shut and toys were everywhere but they were gone. Thru the forbidden door. A pocket door between their room and the big boys room. I didn't get a picture of what they did in there but it involved a bottle of b.b.'s and a huge bucket of legos....

Chicks

In case you missed it (I can't remember if I blogged about it already and my computer is too slow for me to go back and look!) we have chickens.  They started in a box in our garage and recently made it to a coop built by my amazing husbands with 3 of his little helpers :)

This man... I kinda sorta love him a lot! 

It fills my heart with joy to see the boys working along side daddy!

Another fact you may not know is that we have a great dane.  The boys do a good job taking care of him and the chicks. But, the dog, Captain, wants to taste the chicks.  He stands gaurd just waiting for the right moment to get in. He tried digging and may try again but we're hoping the has given up on that.  When it's time to tend to the chicks, Captain MUST be put inside the house.  He really is waiting for just the right moment to slip into the coop...and a couple of days ago, he got his chance.  I was inside tending to Kash when I heard Nelson hollering outside.  I sent Henry out to check and then he started yelling.  I rushed outside leaving Jack & Kash in the house to find Nelson in a panic, Henry yelling and crying, and Captain running across the yard with a chick in his mouth.  I start yelling for him to drop it and he does.  But he goes right back for it and grabs it up again!  I finally got him to drop it again and while Nelson and I try to catch/distract him, Henry catches the chick and puts it back. During all of this, I have escalated to screaming at Captain, then at Nelson (when I stopped I heard our elderly neighbor outside talking to his dog...oops), and Kash & Jack are trying to get out the back door... why not? They probably think we're having fun out there! After the chick is returned to the coop, we get Captain inside so I can check on the chick.  It's fine.. phew..  BUT we count and there is a chick missing! What?! Henry goes inside to stay with the little ones while Nelson and I search high and low. Is it possible that Captain had a snack without us realizing it?!!!?? Finally, Nelson finds the chick in the wood pile behind the coop.  When he uncovers it, it runs.  We chase it around and it finally runs through a gap in the fence.  Nelson calls Henry back out and they go to the other side of the fence. (Henry is our official chicken catcher).  The chick comes back through the fence and I miss it.  Then I run it back through the fence where it darts across the street.  Henry corners it and catches it near the neighbors fence.  Sigh..... The chicks survived their little adventure, Henry hates Captain now (aka chicken killer even though he didn't actually kill any) and Nelson is certain to put the dog up before opening the coop.  :) A day in the life.....

Vinyl Booths and Athletic Pants....

....Don't Mix. This is Jack 24 hours after he gracefully slid out of a booth at a burger joint and whacked his eye on the edge of the table. It looks MUCH better than it did first thing this morning when it was still swollen almost completely shut. Injury #2... well, significant injury... in less than a month. His teeth and gums have recovered nicely from the last accident when our sweet dog ran past him knocking him over causing him to hit his teeth on the steps. That one was rough.

Puppy Love

The boys had a great time making their own valentine's this year. We chose to opt out of the superhero cards you can get at the dollar store this year. Nelson went with semi-homemade cereal box valentine's and Henry with homemade cards. The cereal boxes were a spin on something I found on pinterest. Everything turned out really cute!

All of this valentine business has sparked a couple of conversations. Henry's ended with me saying, "I don't care how pretty she is, it is NOT okay for you to be one of her FOUR boyfriends!" Forget the fact that you aren't old enough anyway... I'm okay with a little puppy love at this age but really? Nelson's on the other hand was much better. It went something like this: "Mom, Jane (fake name to protect identity, lol) sent her friend to tell me she has a crush on me. I told her to tell Jane that I'd see her in 6th grade. Jane#2 also likes me." So glad he is going along with the whole you're not old enough thing. It's been a while since we've talked about that so I'm surprised. Funny thing is, we never put an age on it, just a generic you're too young. Apparently he thinks 6th grade is old enough! :)

Rooftop Adventure

Adventurous is one word I've always been able to use to describe Henry also known as Duck Feather (his own creation). He is never afraid to explore the unknown...even if the unknown is a 20ft high rooftop. He and Hotshot were watching tv while I cooked supper and James and another fireman were hanging gutters on our newly purchased antique house. The next thing I know, James is carrying DuckFeather in to the kitchen. James is white as a ghost and DuckFeather is full of excitement. Apparently he had let himelf out of a livingroom window, found the ladder unattended and climbed right up! Like 20+ feet up! James was on the ground on the other side of the houseand the other man was on the roof. He spotted DuckFeather halfway up and called out for James. Knowing that he would just move faster if he thought someone was in pursuit, James just ran around to the ladder and caled out to him casually. Well that didn't work. DuckFeather sped up and was making thr transition from ladder to rooftop. James was quickly at his heels and the other man scooped him up as he RAN ACROSS THE ROOF! At his daddy's expense, he was having the time of his life. He told me all about it in the kitchen. "Momma! Up! Roof! Again?" Boys and their adventures...

Growing Up

Normally for halloween we have friends over and cookout and make a quick stop at our church festival before going back home to scare all the trick or treaters. Our huge porch gets closed in and transformed into the haunted porch. It's a huge hit and our two oldest love it. Well this year we didn't get around to getting things done in time so we spent some time at the church festival then went home to pass out candy and eat with some friends. We were bombarded with trick or treaters before we even got out of the van. I have to say, I'm dissapointed in the way some people let their kids behave (seriously, we were getting attacked!), and even more dissapointed that even some of the parents were pushy and rude. It's candy people. Relax. Anyway, the boys were really dissapointed that we didn't have the haunted porch but they all (even the littles) had fun at the church. Our oldest, Nelson aka HotShot, is starting to change though..... grow up I suppose. He was suddenly embarrassed by his costume when we unloaded from the van at church. He and Henry were both ninja's with slightly different costumes. I'm not sure if he felt the costume wasn't good enough, babyish, or if he suddenly didn't like matching Henry. Either way it's a sign that he's growing up and I don't like it! There are positives to him growing up but man.... I wish I could keep them all little forever.

What are some signs your kids have showed that they are growing up? Did it make you a little bit sad, too?

Accessorizing

There's really not much to accessorizing for boys. It's not like with girls. No bows or frilly socks to match the applique on the shirt and nail polish. With boys its more like a couple pairs of shoes that match about everything, two belts that match everything. And no nail polish.... unless your a toddler and your bff is a 3 year old girl who got nail polish for her birthday. And daddy's at work so he can't say no. Anyway, accessorizing has been pretty boring until baby #4. He's in cloth diapers (there's a first time for everything!) and they are CUTE. I never want to hide them under pants so I do what I can to find shirts that are NOT onesies to wear with his diaper as an outfit. And now... now I have found BabyLegs. So even though it's cooling off outside, he can wear leg warmers with his diaper and cute matching socks instead of pants. Fun stuff! And seriously. They're cute. Have you seen "modern" cloth diapers? They come in all kinds of patterns and styles... not the diapers your grandma used. So now I get to have fun accessorizing someone! I just have to be careful since we chose cloth diapering this time around to save money. ;)

Is That What I Think It Is?!

Boys... boys are what I know and love and... what I wanted. I knew from day one that I wanted a son. I was suppose to want a girl the second time around, and maybe I did a little but I was giddy when they said he would be another he. The third time... my husband and I both laughed and then said "phew, we know what to do." The fourth time, the sonographer was scared to say it. She didn't say it. We were all in the room (sons included) and I asked, "Is that what I think it is?!" We were shocked. We expected a girl. But we were happy to have another boy. People always expected us to want a girl and I thought I did at times but I was always relieved when the baby was a boy! I'm surrounded by dirt, unidentifiable scents and noises, adventure... and I'm showered with hugs and kisses. I really think I'm spoiled.