The ladybug, part 2

All right, you guys are making me feel guilty. Obviously, I told Henry the truth about ladybugs. When they have an itch on their backs, they just ask their friends to scratch it for them. I'm surprised you guys didn't already figure that one out! :)




Back to today's post: My Handy-men

I have been blessed with a husband who can fix anything, and that is not an exaggeration! He has a real gift for finding solutions to problems and putting things back together--I've always been very impressed by this.

However, now that we have kids (who watch everything Daddy does!) they want to help in the "fixing" too. The problem with that is most of the things that need fixed were broken by them.



Every other day or so, Henry will see something that he thinks need repair and run off to get his tools. And Jonah wouldn't want to be left out, so he comes along with his own tools. It's pretty fun to see them crawling into the bathtub to fix the stopper that came loose, or taking their hammers and tapping the areas where the carpet meets the tile (we had a lot of high, pokey carpet tacks). Of course their tools are all oversized and made of plastic, but that doesn't seem to deter them. I suppose when you're a handy-man, you just use what you've got!

Another installment....

Deep Thoughts

by Henry



"Mommy, how do ladybugs scratch their backs?"

Sam's car

Here's an interesting picture to share:



It's a car battery with a wrench attached. When Sam went to leave for work a few days ago, his car wouldn't start. The battery connections were bad, so he had me stand at the battery and tap the connectors with a hammer while he started the car. A few sparks later (yes, scary!), the car was running perfectly.

When Sam came home that night, he called me out to the garage to show me the "fix" he had come up with so he could make it home from work. He drove home from work with a wrench holding his battery connectors on! I was impressed enough to take a picture, but I am happy to report that he did replace the connections that night and hasn't had any trouble since. :)

I knew I couldn't fool all you moms!

Okay, so you all win the game! Yes, I am announcing a pregnancy! We are due August 6, so I am about three months along. I'm not exactly showing yet, so the ultrasound pictures are the only ones you get. I'll wait until I get a big old belly before I post pictures of me! :)

Henry is very excited, and he keeps asking when "she" can come out so they can play with "her." That, and he also keeps asking where the baby comes out. I've so far dodged answering that one! We asked if he could think of any good names for the new baby, and after some serious thought, his eyes lit up and he said, "How about McDonald's!!!" It didn't make the list.



Jonah doesn't really get it, but I think it will be easier for him once there is more tangible evidence (ie, a belly!). He's not quite ready to give up being "the baby" but I'm sure he'll adjust in time!



So there you go! It's no longer a secret! :)

A Game!

So here's a game for my fellow bloggers.....

Can you identify the following pictures? I took pictures of pictures and tried to make them blurry (to make the game harder!) but I think they're pretty obvious. So, what do you think they are? :) Good luck!

Hint: This is not a turtle!



Hmmmm....



Almost forgot, no fair playing if you've already seen these pictures! :)

Last one:



Disclaimer: There are no prizes in this game, just the joy of knowing you got it right! Yep, I'm that cheap! :)

Stitches...

I was going to post this picture today:



and tell you all how excited Henry is about his new position in the top bunk bed. And no, Jonah doesn't sleep up there too. We tried it and it didn't work out!

But then trauma struck our house. The boys and I were getting ready to go to the gym. They were dressed and waiting on me to finish cleaning up the kitchen so we could leave. They got tired of waiting and started chasing each other around the house. It was quite a fun game for them until Jonah somehow collided with the corner by the hallway. The sound was so loud that I knew he was hurt, and seconds later he was wailing. I got to him just as the blood started, and man--there was a lot! Head cuts are always like that, aren't they? (In fact, hours later, there is still some blood in the bathroom that needs cleaned up. And I think the bathroom rug may not recover!)

Long story short, once the bleeding stopped I really wasn't sure if it was bad enough for stitches, so I took him in to the urgent care clinic so they could decide. And they were glad I brought him in! Five stitches later, this is what Jonah looks like:



It was a pretty traumatic hour spent at the clinic. The doctor and nurse were wonderful, but the doctor was REALLY TALL and for some reason, Jonah started crying as soon as he walked into the room. Then during the stitches they had to "mummy wrap" Jonah, which meant putting a sheet around him to bind his arms at his sides. It was kind of like swaddling a newborn, only not as comforting! He wasn't impressed with that part. Jonah cried during the entire surgery (I don't suppose it's actually called surgery, but whatever.) only pausing every few minutes to let out a big yawn. Poor guy! He was a little stressed!

So he survived and is now doing fine at home watching an exciting episode of Little Bear.

Ashley takes the kids for a ride...

A while back we went to the zoo with cousins Cole and Ashley. In the kids area they have this old truck set up for kids to play in and climb on for fun. So Ashley decided to take the younger kids out for a spin...

Cleaning my closet....or not!

A while back I was inspired to clean out my clothes closet once again. I do this at least twice a year and am usually able to weed out things I haven't worn in a while and those things that I hang on to for silly reasons (like I might just possibly wear it one day!). We just moved eight months ago, and I got rid of a LOT of things before we moved. So I thought I was doing pretty well! But I realized recently that I had hung on to a lot of work-type shirts (just in case?) that I no longer wear. So I set about fixing that.

Jonah was napping, but Henry thought it would be fun to help. Henry decided he would personally approve each item that I pulled from the hanger to get rid of. Most things he had no problem with. I'd say, "Do you like this one?" and Henry would say, "Nope, get rid of it." Until we came to this red shirt.



Not exactly my favorite. There's nothing wrong with it, except it isn't my favorite shade of red, it's OLD (and starting to look like it!), not really in style, and I haven't worn it since I quit working. I'm not going to wear it again. But ever since Henry was a tiny little baby, he has LOVED this shirt! That is the only reason it has remained in my closet. As a little four-month old baby, Henry would respond to that shirt like nothing else. I couldn't wear it when I was nursing him because he would get too excited reaching for the shirt. And as he grew, and was able to talk, every time I wore that shirt he would tell me how pretty it was.

Back to the present. I came to the shirt and thought, "I'll just sneak it into the pile while Henry isn't looking." Ha ha. Not a chance. About two seconds later, Henry says, "WHAT???? MOMMY!!!! We don't get rid of this shirt!"



Of course we don't, Henry. And that is why this red shirt is still hanging in my closet!

Jonah and the Peas

My son Jonah is a sugar-head. I don't know how it happened. Henry has always preferred fruit over cookies, liked to eat vegetables, and gets really excited over dessert but then only really wants a bite or two. Then along came Jonah, who prefers not to eat ANY vegetables, LOVES bananas (not eating them, but just the joy of peeling them) and can devour two cookies (his and his brother's) in less than 30 seconds.



So we were very surprised last week when I served lasagna, garlic bread and peas for dinner. Jonah wasn't at all interested in the lasagna or garlic bread, but attacked the peas like a starving man! He kept asking for more, so we kept giving him more. At some point, everyone was done; they left the table and started clearing dishes, and I was still sitting there with Jonah eating peas. There were quite a few left in the bowl, and finally he demanded the bowl. Not more on his plate, but the entire bowl. I sat there with him for another ten minutes while he finished eating every single pea in sight. It was pretty funny to watch!

Back to Blogging

My mom was just here to visit for a week and my brother came in for the weekend. We had a wonderful visit and got to continue our "never-ending Christmas" celebration as well as my mom's 50th birthday!



The kids were thrilled; they love to have company and presents are always welcome. But I think they were honestly relieved when we took down the tree and put away the decorations. We did that on Saturday--had to leave everything up just long enough for my both my mom and my brother to see--and having help taking everything down was tremendously helpful. (Besides, it was rainy-we didn't really feel like going anywhere!) The only thing is Henry watched my mom pack up his Christmas countdown clock, and he keeps asking why she took it away. We can't seem to convince him that it's up in the attic with all the other decorations!



On Sunday we went out for a terrible breakfast (sorry guys!) and dropped my mom and brother at the airport. Then we came home and all had naps (yay!) and watched football during the afternoon. A nice relaxing day to unwind from a fun week with company!

Noah Steven

My mom is in town. I haven't really taken time to be on the computer since she's been here, but tonight I looked at little Noah's blog. Many of you already know the situation that this family is dealing with. I caught up on a few days worth that I had missed, and I just want to send everyone their way. Please visit their site--The post from Monday will explain. This is a family that needs our prayers.

www.noahsteven.blogspot.com

Wind Storm

We had some really strong winds last week during a storm. The power went out briefly, scaring Henry pretty badly (even though it wasn't quite dark yet!). Sam and I were watching construction debris blow over our fence in the back yard. There were big sheets of siding breaking on the fence and actually coming over--it was pretty cool to watch. So there's all this noise (and lots of thunder too) and we hear a big crash. We weren't sure what it was, but just assumed it was more junk from the construction on the lot next door.





A few minutes later, Sam's parents stopped by for a visit. We were shocked when we met them at the door and saw this tree across our driveway! It had been blowing in the wind and just snapped right in half! We are SO thankful that it didn't hit our house or truck. And even more thankful that Sam's parents didn't show up a few minutes earlier! It landed right where they usually park!



When Sam went out to move the tree he found that it was REALLY heavy. So he pulled out the chainsaw, cut it up and started dragging it away, piece by piece. Henry isn't one to miss out on a good clean-up, so he ran to the garage, got his boots and then raced back into the house. We had no idea what he was after. He came back out with his mask on. When asked why, he said it was his water-goggles...to keep the rain out!

Deep thoughts....

....by Henry:



"Mommy, what if someone took away our eyebrows? That would be really sad."

I'm a copy-cat!

Ginger, I loved your post with the celebrity pictures, so I'm copying your idea! Hope you don't mind.

Here's Sam (and I didn't intentionally choose this picture-I accidentally clicked on it and then thought his matches were fun!):



And here's me:



Mine came up with a surprising number of male matches. I guess I didn't realize I had such manly features! Maybe it's the hat. Yeah, that's it! :)

The fun part was that Debra Winger kept coming up on my matches, and people have been telling me for years that I resemble her. I didn't really know who she was, so it was fun to see her picture keep popping up!

Help...if you can!

Anyone having trouble posting pictures to your blogs? I can't seem to get a picture to upload...I get the following message every time:

We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.

The same thing happened to me all day yesterday. Any ideas?

PS: Update
I searched the help menus until I found this little tidbit. I have to publish my blogs first, and then go back and edit to add pictures later. Kind of silly, huh?

My Super-Heroes

Need a dragon slayed? Or some woofsus (some people pronounce it 'wolves')shot? Someone to find some buried treasure? Maybe you have a fire that needs put out?

We can help!



The boys got a box of costumes for Christmas and have been having fun trying out different personalities. My favorite is the Incredibles costume (that Henry insists on wearing everywhere--including to the grocery store and the park!).