Movin' and Shakin'

The carpets have been cleaned. Yay! and then Quinten decided to play with clay and press it into the carpet as he attempted to make a pancake. Insert sigh here. Well that was lovely while it lasted (4 days).

Here's something else that happened once the carpets were cleaned:
The big guy rolled over!
With all the other kids, they first rolled over and then forgot how the did it. Not Chase. He rolled 3 times in the course of 15 minutes. Now, even as I am about to lay him on the floor he twists his body before landing in place.

And since we're up to new tricks then we may as well add this one to the mix. He sits up!
This guy has abs of steel. When he starts to fall back and fights in the V position more than he faught to stay in the upright position. It's funny to watch. He can almost bring himself back from the 30 degree drop. But not quite yet. Sadie, Chase and I are often running in and out of the house for various obligations. This really didn't impact his sleep in the first 4 months of his life. But now he's more attentive to changes in temperature, light, sounds, movement ... and so, a day out running errands usually means a day without a solid sleep. Thursday was one of those days. So by the end of a Halloween Party he had passed out on my shoulder (which he never does). Poor fellow.

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight."

We sure do adore this babe of the family. As a matter of fact, I regularly queue into his dissatisfaction of not having someone to visit with. He's been conditioned enough to always have someone playing with him that when he finally has a moment of peace to himself, he protests in his fussy baby sort of way. I have even walked over and done as little as lay on the floor beside him and he's content. I guess I'd also want someone like Colby to hang with. It's much more fun having someone bring an element of surprise to our time in the day. These older siblings definitely do that.
I often run with the Mom theory that it's "all in the presentation." For example, I toasted a piece of bread that Quinten was excited to order sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. However, in my Super Mom Efficiency, I had already spread the peanut butter. When he heard the news he was utterly disappointed. I quickly responded that I could make it Peanut Butter Happy Face ... this quickly mellowed his frustrations and brought acceptance. Phew.

Sadie wins the prize for being particular though. I wonder how long this conversation will continue to work:

Me "Sadie, you are not taking that necklace into bed with you" OR "Sadie, you are not having a package of fruit snacks right before your nap"

Sadie "BUT I want to ..." Insert words of protest here, with tone of temper tantrum threatening.

Me "You can have it when we go to pick-up the boys from school"

Sadie "O-KAY!" she says enthusiastically.

That. Was. Easy. (for now) I may be up for Worst Mom of the Year award if I do NOT enroll this little lady in dance soon. She loves the art.

Harvest Season

Thanksgiving Day 2011 was beautiful. The weather was warm and bright and I'm so glad we spent the day outdoors. I had no idea people did anything other than attend family dinner. My eyes were opened to another option as we sought out something fun to do. We had a wee bit of fun. Logan,


Colby,
and Sadie on bouncing pillows.

Four Wheelin' Tricycles

Chase was content to watch the festivities...and nap.

Quinten looking plain happy in the maze. But little did we know a few moments later he would decide to navigate his own way (so did his other brothers, but they stayed in pairs). The rule was, to meet back at the bouncing pillows when you find your way out. Thankfully we ran into our good friends who had shared their Maze-o-poly game. Quinten happened to have it in his hands when he was separated. We sent Ryan and Mike (our friend) back in looking for Quinten. The took opposite sides of the maze. I then sent Logan in ... and after a long wait, I went in. I walked both sides of the maze before I found Logan and Quinten. I asked Quinten if he was sad enough from the experience that he had cried. He said yes but he said he was happy to have found all but 3 of the Maze-o-poly stop zones. This makes me giggle because he must have touched almost every corner of that maze in the time he was exploring. He was sad, maybe even a little scared, but he was distracted by the challenge of the game. Thank you to the K. family for sharing your game with us. Quinten kept from being traumatized by the experience.

Rubber Duck Racing.

Colby, unidentified boy, and Quinten; in that order.

Nothing like a little Calf Roping to get into the spirit.

And there you have it! "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." Dr. Seuss.
I tried my hand at cooking a turkey for the second time on Sunday. I also snagged 2 amazing recipes from the internet. One was a spicy green bean casserole and the other was a dessert-like sweet potato dish. After the Corn Maze we returned home to the easy meal of Planned-Overs.

Grandma and Grandpa (Mom and Dad) were jet set to Costa Rica this Harvest Season so we thought we'd try our hand at:
Farm Chores
and performing a Service Project for the Elderly. *insert snicker here*

"Grandpa! Will is navigating your tractor."
The Chore: A clean yard.
Seems easy right? Well you'll hear more about that later.
Looking east, we've gathered the leaves up. Please keep in mind this is not a job of perfection. I kept walking through the yard stating: You've missed one, you've missed another .....
This chore is not similar to gathering Lego. A few remnants can be left behind for fertilization.

The yard looking east.

And West.


And Southeast- ish.
Looking North. This is the good news.

5 Feet Away (on the other side of the tree line): The Not-so-good news.
The tractor ran out of gas. We didn't know where the key was to open the gas tank, and so... All the tractor could do was just "Sit, sit, sit, sit. And we did not like it. Not one little bit." Dr. Seuss.
Now, how many rakes do you think a man might have to maintain 20 acres...or 5 acres of leaves?
Give up?
Well 1 is the answer here. Only 1. (Having said that, I'm sure I will later be told of a secure corner that stores the others). I'm glad we arrived with 2. That totals 3. But there were 5 workers. This posed a problem. Soo, we moved to other means. And thus, the broom was introduced.
The East Side. Whoops, it appears we're losing the battle.
The North East Side. We've made a dent.


Is he giving up? We're attempting to train these City Boys a Country Boy work ethic. *no joke*

Exhaustion

Moving on ...

Quinten returned home from school with a felt marker spot on his nose. I asked him if he knew it was there?
He said that, "Yes he knew." In fact, he "did it."

What, Why?
"So that Mrs. F (the Grade 1 Teacher) can tell the difference between Colby and Me."
I see the difference without the mark. Don't you?Back to the Harvest. Sadie and I harvested Grandma's tomatoes (one beautiful afternoon after Preschool). At this wonderful, beautiful, changing of colors, time of year... I decided it was time to sleep train Chase. He has always fallen asleep eating or in his carseat. But by this age he should be laying in his bed and falling asleep on his own. I decided to give it a try. He was fed, burped, changed, and tired. All conditions a go. 5 minutes later I find this:
So the operation was a success but my hope was that he hadn't smothered himself.
All is well.
One last change:
I want to clean our carpet.
So, instead of moving furniture, I removed our furniture (with the approval of Ryan of course). We have no immediate plan for the future of this room. Sadie loves running in circles.

Bumps, Changes, Smiles & Celebration

Our first Jolly Jump is always a special day. It's the first of many. We've never had a child not LOVE the Jolly Jumper.
But this is the face of a dissatisfied customer. I strapped him up. Assessed the situation and then ran downstairs to grab the camera. I heard Chase start to cry and asked Ryan what happened....almost in an accusing way. He responded saying, the straps broke!!
Chase fell forward bumping his head on the ground and having his Dad quickly grab him.

See the red mark on his forehead? It also looks like he has a scratch on his cheek. Here's a view of how he was saved by his Dad.

People! Jolly Jumpers do NOT last longer than 10 years.

FYI, Walmart will not exchange (after 90 days, let alone 10 years) and a replacement costs $32. Just in the event you were wondering.

Poor little fellow.

Auntie Jillene is growing. Will says, "I know what Sadie feels like, and I know what Chase feels like. I think this is a Chase."

We shall see if he has a gift.

There are often times Chase sleeps better in our arms in the middle of family movie night....rather than in his own bed.

Here's a happier activity for Chaser Buddy.

8 years and 3 months old. This fellow loses his FIRST tooth! The dentist said when one tooth goes they will all go. 3 days later, the next tooth fell out.

He sort of fits the role of Hockey Player perfectly now.

Our Big Guy Hits Double Digits. I gave him his 24 hours notice of enjoying his last moments in the single digits. He said he doesn't feel any different.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Sadie Leigh Is Three

She started her day in school. We delivered cupcakes and made a wonderful mess of cupcake crumbs on the school floor. We then had dinner, gift opening and a movie night.

AND, of course, she had cake.

Mabel Family Honeymoon

We were invited back to Mabel Lake for a Honeymoon with Dave and Madz. It was the greatest time ever as memories of our childhood pulled at our heart strings. Memories of long summer days camping, swimming and playing on the beach with water fights, water sports and picnic lunches. We skipped school to make this happen. Now we wish we could do it every year. The weather was incredible - which isn't always a guarantee at this time of year. But until we see another side we are SOLD on vacationing in September.
Mabel Lake September 2011

Of course, there were a few toys involved in this trip. As Cory arrived in his *hot* sports car. This was the man behind the super fun, energetic and tiring beach days. If he had it his way, he would have made a purchase before this weekend. Satisfaction came through a rental this year. Satisfaction for all that is.And in order to have fun, we sometimes rely on extra hands. Grampa doesn't change diapers but he took many walks to have Chase fall asleep in his arms.Now, I, the Mother of these little people was not permitted to water ski this year. Being 3 months post partum; my Mommy and Daddy said there was no way they were taking me. Soooo.... well..... if you know me......I went anyway. The first time I've ever skiied behind a boat other than my Dad's.
There were some sore muscles and minor cases of whiplash. I have no idea why.
Oh ya, I said I could ski because I never fall. But when I was asked to try wakeboarding I had forgotten the risk of falling. That felt strange. AND I think if I didn't break a rib, then I definitely dislocated one. It was a 3 week recovery.


This is Cory. Flat out. Ha ha.
Ryan. Great Splash. He held the record for *best* wipe out. Here is the bride. Yes, this was not the fault of the boat driver. Instead, they stacked the tube unbalanced. And so, this was the promised result.


I found out after this that she doesn't swim!! Does.Not.Know.How!

Yet she was smiling and laughing over the whole experience.

A view of the better side of things. Derrick.


Cory

We had a few photographers. I didn't take as many pictures this time around.

Seriously, the water was the most consistently beautiful I've ever seen. Not a ripple. Not a boat wake other than our own. We used to say, now's a good time to go for a ski. This weekend: There was never a time to turn our back on the water. Ryan said there was 1 day he did notb step foot on the beach. Now, we want to do a family reunion every year. If the water can be like glass, comfortable to get into, the weather can be as hot and the toys as readily available .... then .... until next year.