A little discipline??

A small group of sweet gals and I are joining up with Beth Moore's blogging community and making the commitment to memorize 24 scriptures in 2011!! We are also doing our own "virtual" accountability with one another on the 1st and 15th of the months. Check out the blog post Beth wrote detailing the instructions. Just send me an email if you want to join our virtual accountability group---He's gonna do great things with us this year...I can feel it!!

And, guys...join us! I'll work hard to refrain from calling you sweet things, too!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Jereme is having MUCH fun putting together the boys' Santa gifts this evening so I decided to do what I do best...get online! Most of you already know but the past 2 days have been a challenge. Our sweet, little Luke-boy has been very sick. After being unsuccessful in trying to get a 104+ fever to break, I headed to Manhattan last night in cruddy weather. The pediatrician who saw him was nearly speechless. He told me that Luke must have an incredibly high pain tolerance as both his ears were the worst, if not ever than in a VERY long time, he's ever seen.

It took us until 4 am to get that fever below 104 and lots of vomiting was occurring. But, Luke was Luke. Although needing extra comfort, he was so sweet and not much of a complainer. Today, his fever still can't seem to get under 102. But, we're praying and holding faith that maybe overnight, he can conquer this a little more. Thankful he was already scheduled to see Dr. G (and yes, that G could very well stand for GOOD-LOOKING!!!) on the 3rd!

Anyways, here are some pics!

The boys "working" on a cold winter morning...honestly, there have been a few times I've poked my head into Jereme's office and have seen the EXACT same expression...



Luke's jobs...1) emptying momma's cabinets and 2) smiling sweetly!



Jorden NOT impressed with Santa's visit to playgroup.


Honestly? This scares me. Call me paranoid but I feel certain they were plotting against me. I'm nervous about the future with these three *all* working together.


Christmas Program night...



A little nervous before going in...yes, I was supposed to be helping corral the swarms of children...I got a little sidetracked but I am pretty sure everyone made it up to the front...


Excited to open presents from momma and daddy...Luke cuddling with daddy so twins opened his presents!





It was right at this moment that I thought, "What in the h*** were we thinking buying them this?????"


And, thus began the 20-minute family parade of musical intruments to very LOUD Christmas music playing. If the neighbors already didn't think we were nuts, well, they sure do now!!!






Merry Christmas!!

A new thing...

The boys have acquired a new skill. Here are a few clips from convos:

*Luke crying*
Me: Jorden, what just happened?
J: I hit him with my fishing pole.
Me: Go throw it in the trash.
J: I don't want to.
Me: Bummer, you hit him, it's gone.
J: When I get big and you get little, I am going to throw all your toys in the trash.

Isaac: You let me have a piece of candy or I'll scream and wake up the baby.

Jorden: I want some juice or I am going to be really mean to you.

Isaac or Jorden: You let me (insert anything a 3.5 year old boy might want to do that is inappropriate) or I am going to (insert anything from bite you to run away).

My response to any and all of the above: Do what you need to do...my policy is the same as the USA's...I don't negotiate with terrorists.

My Sweetheart...

This sweet little guy got taken to the doctor today...the result? Pink-eye in each eye, ear infection in BOTH ears AND a high fever. Obviously the above picture is not from today but I'll tell you he is still as good-natured, loving, smiling, cuddling as ever. I've already decided that Luke can never move out.

All I know for sure is that 4 rounds of antibiotics in 3 kids over 5 weeks isn't adding up...where art thou summer??

All boy!!

I was just emailing a friend who has an all-girl home how vastly different the toy selection in the photos of her girls are from our house. Most of you can guess what an all-boy home looks like...I mean besides the dings in sheetrock, gouges in the hardwood, cock-eyed bottom row kitchen cabinets, divits in my table, blah, blah, blah...

Dang it, though, I just want one of my boys to love baby-dolls. Why? I don't know. I just do. I've tried so hard with the boys. We go to a community playgroup on Wednesday mornings and they have a good selection of dolls and all their accessories. I used to try and convince the boys before going to try playing with the baby-dolls. They, of course, completely ignored me.

So, you know who that leaves. Luke. I decided to give him a try this past week. He hadn't slept well the night before so I thought it would be my best shot. He would want momma holding him or right beside him at all times. I played with him for awhile with random toys.

Then, we stepped over to the side of the gym and I grabbed a baby-doll. I held it up for him and said, "oh look, Luke, it's a sweet little baby-doll. Do you want to hold her?" He looked at me funny but took baby-doll by the leg. My heart skipped a beat for a brief moment. Luke then took baby-doll and smacked her against the bleachers three time, chucked her across the floor and made a bee-line to a dump truck about 5 ft away. Apparently, I'll have to wait for the granddaughters...

Random pics

This is how Isaac and Jereme slept every nap and both nights when we were in KC watching the Cats play ball. I need to hang this picture up someplace visible so when he is working late for umpteenth night in a row, I will be reminded that there isn't another soul on this planet who loves those boys like I do...except him!!


I've got my daddy and my trucks...please leave us alone!


Unfortunately, a new nightly routine...Isaac = breathing treatment, Jorden = thrilled with watching TV.



CUTE!

I want to remember this!

I'll post pics soon, I promise! But, this was part of Isaac's bedtime prayer last night:
Dear Jesus, I love you. When it is your birthday, please tell Santa to bring me everything I want...

Apparently we need to keep working on these concepts a bit!

Luke's 15 mos stats:
Weight: 26.5 lbs, 80th percentile
Height: 33.5 inches, 95th percentile

Things I am not ready to talk about...

*Lunchtime discussion today:
Jorden: Daddy, when I get grown-up then *I* get to make the decisions and *I* can be the boss.
Isaac: Yeah, I then I will spank the boys bottoms and spank you and momma's bottom.

*Jorden: How big am I when I can drink pop, coffee and beer?

*Luke learned how to crawl up and sit in the dining room chairs last night, which means I turned around to find him sitting on the table while I fixing lunch today.

Picky, picky!

I don't know where in the world Luke gets it. The boys have always been good eaters. Jereme and I will (and do!) eat most anything, too. If it's cheese,yogurt or fruit then no problem. But, if you're talking meat besides fried chicken or a vegetable, well, fruggedaboudit!

Yet, he does have one food he is *LOVES*. It comes directly from his Poppa Gary. It's called anything pasta with marinara. Most nights, Luke makes no mess at supper b/c well, he eats not much at all. But, not tonight!!!

By the way, I am thinking Isaac must've been thinking of Poppa Gary earlier in the day when I posted about him...

Isaac...

One of the things we've had the boys do this past year is provide a drink to the great men who work for the city and pick up our trash. We've missed a few weeks here and there but almost every Thursday, the boys can be found running a pop, water or Gatorade out to them. Recently, we've been giving them Pepsi since we don't drink regular pop and somehow have a ton of it in our fridge.

The trash truck was late today and the boys were napping, or so I thought, when they came. Isaac just came running out of his room and yelled at me, "Momma, we didn't get the guys their beer!!"
Me: "What??"
Isaac: "We didn't give the trash truck guys their beer this week!!"
Me: "Honey, we give them a Pepsi, not a beer!"
Isaac, running out the door screaming his head off for everyone in the world to hear, "WAIT, come back, I'll get you your beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I can only thank God that the windows are closed this time of year.

And, rest assured, the guys will be back in a few hours to pick up the recycling stuff so we'll be sure and get them their "beer" then!

Luke's words...

True to form for little boys, Luke isn't much of a talker yet. Well, he converses a LOT, it's just not in English. But, he has three official words.

Momma--he learned that pretty early...smart boy.
Daddy--which must be said with a high-pitched squeal for the last syllable.
Bubba--in reference to either of his brothers and with much delight, well, most of the time.
And, of course, NO--which he says which much conviction and then giggles hysterically...I think I might be a little afraid...

A rainy Friday

I am quite certain this is what my mom and dad had in mind when they bought me this hope chest for my high school graduation...


The little boys have been spending more and more time on these chairs. As the weather turns colder, we are spending more time inside. More time inside means WAY more fighting. More fighting equals more time on the chairs facing each other. There is no theory behind this method. I don't know what else to do with them...I figure for now this works b/c it always results in them laughing, giggling, making faces, telling silly stories. How many more days till Spring???



And, this is usually how "chair time" ends up...


Luke rather enjoys the boys spending quality time on the dining room chairs...freedom to play with anything he desires for a few short-lived moments!!

Tough kid...

That Isaac, he is one tough cookie. Seems like he has been fighting a cold for a month. Wait, it has been a month. Ok, so he got a cold a month ago and then it snowballed into this asthma flare-up that resulted in a scary moment last night. Took him to our pedi today. He also has nasty ear infections in both ears. Super-duper. I had no idea. The kid never complains about feeling sick.

LITERALLY Jereme has to pry his mouth open at night for me to give him meds b/c he normally sleeps like the dead. You could pick him up, throw him in the air and I guarantee the child would never wake up. And, bless his cotton-picking heart, I WANTED him to sleep with us last night after getting his breathing controlled and he cried b/c "he wanted to sleep in his own bed and not our bed". Love.that.kid.

Soooooooooo, now he is on steroids, antibiotics and breathing treatments 4-5 times per day. And, with Jereme out of town and me still being at Walgreens 45 minutes away at 745 pm with 3 tired kids, I may or may not have backed into some guy's car. No worries, though, the minivan is STILL rocking it out. Long live the FREESTAR, baby!!!!!!!

Nothing sweeter than 3 (well, uh 4, apparently) boys at bedtime!

Pumpkin Patch