The Marvelous Marbles

We have a "system" in our house. It's the marble jar. The boys do chores, eat well for dinner, do nice things without being asked, etc. For these acts of goodness they get a marble moved from the big box of marbles into the "marble jar." When the marble jar is full (usually takes about 3 months believe it or not!), we get to do a really fun activity as a family. We let them have input into what we do. Camping, Safari Sams (broken arm the night before Emilee was born!), Chuck E. Cheese. . . these are all things that have been chosen in the past. Tonight it was Out of this World. What a wonderful place for kids! There is a new "fun zone" for kids in town and it was marvelous. Clean, new, lots of fun things to do including a rock wall for kids, fun little go-cars to drive, a toddler area, the biggest (literally) play structure I've ever seen. . . A nursing room for mommies, lots of tables, leather sofa's for the parents to sit on and watch the kids. I highly recommend it as a stop for your little guys if you're in the Portland area. We had so much fun I have a feeling I know where we'll be going next time the marble jar is full again!

it's been quiet!

After our crazy two weeks with the stomach flu, it's been a welcome rest! But there hasn't been much to write about! This past weekend we ordered five yards of bark chips and spruced up the yard. It looks so nice and clean now before the weeds come back! Hopefully we'll be able to keep it up with a little more ease now! Here is a photo. . . it's been raining this morning so it looks a bit two toned, but you get the idea. . .

The other cute thing I wanted to share was this little "essay" from Ethan about why he loves Saturday. I thought it was so cute and really enjoyed his sentence "lead ins." Hence, it made me giggle. As well as, I love that boy! Enjoy!

Time Out

The other day Chandler was put in time-out. This usually happens at dinner, so we just push his chair that he's buckled into (on top of a regular chair) into the corner. He sits there for 3 minutes or so, and then we push him back to the table. Well the other night, he got sent to time out right at the end of dinner. Gordon and I were cleaning dishes and such, and then look what came waddling around the corner. Apparently the seat wasn't buckled to the chair. Time out's not so bad when you can get around! He waddled around like this for about 10 minutes. It didn't even slow him down. We laughed and laughed!

I'm 3 months old today!

I'm trying to decide if I want to start scrapbooking my stuff before I post, as a way to save time scrapbooking in the future. Humm . . . I'm going to try it for a few days and see how it goes. If it's too time consuming I'll go back to my old ways. So, here is the first scrapbooked installment. As an FYI, all my pages will have that blank inch on the bottom because I do 8x12's, and then cut off the last inch to put in my 8x11 binders. Maybe someday I'll convert to the 12x12's like most people do, but for now this has worked well for us! Happy 3 month birthday baby girl!

Scuba Diving

After getting a little too chilly out in the back yard the other day (more water fights) the boys came in and it was time for a warm bath. They asked if they could have bubbles. Sure! But when I got upstairs they had emptied Emilee's ENTIRE BOTTLE of baby magic into the tub, in hopes to make an underwater cave! "It makes it look like real scuba diving under the bubbles!" Oh my! They were so cute in their goggles! And they sure smelled sweet for the rest of the night after all that bubble bath! The other funny thing that happened is when I grabbed the camera to take these pictures Aidan said, "Is is funny enough for the blog mom?" I guess it was!

Gun Control

So what's your stance on gun control? I'm not talking about politics here, I'm talking about toy guns. Gordon and I have always taken a hard stance on "no playing guns" in our house. We want them to understand that guns are NOT toys and are a very serious thing. We want them to understand and respect the power and danger of a real gun. So, whenever we have caught them playing "shooting" games, we usually stop them, talk about it, and come up with an alternative. But, boys will be boys, and it happens occasionally. Especially because ALL their friends have toy guns. We have none. Aidan even got some water guns for his birthday that promptly went into the "round file." (they looked like real guns and were being played with as such) We have had water "shooters" in the past that look more like space rockets and I'm totally okay with that. That's for a water fight, right?

So I was totally excited the other day when I found these water cannons at Fred Meyer and brought two home. They shoot the water almost 30 feet and look NOTHING like a gun! Hurray! They were a huge hit!

The boys were playing in the backyard with these and having a marvelous water fight when the two neighbor boys suddenly appeared over their fence with their water guns (that happened to look like machine guns) and opened fire on our boys. It was so fun. An all out assault! Being the enthusiastic mother that I am, I heard myself yell, "Quick boys! Grab your guns! Shoot them! Shoot them back!" Did I just say that? I quickly corrected myself with a slightly less enthusiastic "Squirt them! Squirt them!" URG. Why is it so hard?

So what's your stance on "gun control?"

Cute pics of the girl

Emilee has really grown out of her "grump" these past few weeks. For the most part she is a sweet happy little baby now, who is a joy to have around. We are so glad that she finally takes that binky and seems so much happier for it! Maybe it's because we're not attached by the finger constantly! What a blessing to have such a sweet little daughter in our home!

A Great Idea!!!

Aidan had a "Great Idea!" tonight. It came to him as Daddy was turning on the sprinklers for the first time this season, and because it was almost 100 degrees out this afternoon. Even though it was bed time, I'm glad I didn't enforce it and let him run. Can you guess what it was??? (and if he enjoyed it?)

Lip Bandage

So yesterday in an effort to get out and get some exercise, I took the kids for a walk, the big guys on their scooters. We were maybe two blocks down the road when Aidan somehow managed to split his lip open on his scooter. (I'm still trying to figure out how he did this) This little minor injury was followed by screaming, and crying, and a little bleeding, and a stop at a friends house for a paper towel, and then, we turned around and came home because he just "couldn't scoot another scoot." He gets so upset when he's injured. After we came home I started making dinner, and the next time I looked at Aidan this is what I saw. . .

Nice! He would NOT remove it to eat, and chose to skip dinner rather than soil his bandage. No amount of convincing was enough to get that band aid off! It always feels better with a band aid, right? :)

It's been a REALLY long week. . .

3 sickies (Gordon was victim #3 but has since recovered). Our hard drive CRASHED AND BURNED on Saturday making things interesting. I've made white bread for the sicko's twice, just for fun and something to do besides watch Max and Ruby with the sickies. I've done about 6 loads of laundry a DAY thanks mostly to Chandler and the "big D." Also given on average about 4 baths a day to the same little bum. I got to go to Costco yesterday for 30 minutes and it felt like vacation. Today I let Aidan make cinnamon rolls (from the freezer) and that was in his words, our "big fun activity. " I can't wait for health to return to our family! Okay, enough complaining. . .

Mother's day was fun! The kids and Gordon had a few surprises for me with my breakfast on Sunday morning, plus Coconut Cream Pie for dessert! Yummo!

And. . . I have been having lots of fun playing dress up with my dolly. Isn't she cute?

The Second Victim

We thought we were through the woods. . . and then in the middle of Sunday School today, poor Aidan was hit with it. 3 more days of going nowhere. . . (if I'm lucky!!!)

Dread

I don't think anything strikes fear into my heart faster than that dirty little four letter word. BARF. Poor Chandler's really had it the last couple of days. We're hoping that we can stop the germs with him and not pass it all around like usually happens. Here's to hoping!

Our Wilde Weekend

We had such a fun weekend! We were a bit nervous (especially Gordon) about going on an overnighter with all four kids, but we had lots of people make it easy on us. Including our four kids! We left yesterday for a trip up to Seattle and Chandler, Emilee, and Aidan all slept on the way up. We stopped for dinner at Chuck E. Cheeses and then headed to my dear friend (from my HS days) Laura's house for the night. She and her husband Robert were kind enough to accommodate all of us very comfortably! Here are the kids with her Grayden.

And Laura and I. . . Thanks Laura! We had such fun! It was much easier on us than expected! Then this morning, we headed off to see Great Grandpa Wilde who is in town visiting his daughter. We spent a couple of hours at her house, and the kids got to know Great Grandpa Wilde again. As you can see, it was crawling with children, once again. We love to visit GG Wilde, as he seems to enjoy the children so much. We had lunch with them at Red Robin and then headed for home. Chandler woke up a bit earlier than expected from his nap on the way home, and we ended up stopping for a run at one of the fabulous Washington State Rest Stops, after he tearfully pleaded for "Daddy Stop!!!" for at least 15 minutes. They are pretty nice. The kids had a great time playing Frisbee, having foot races, and letting Mama and Daddy play with the camera.

Fun trip guys! You helped us feel like we will be brave enough for a longer adventure soon!

Finkie No More!

I am so happy today! Why you ask? Well, my sweet little daughter came into this world with a huge need to suck. And not just when she's nursing. She wants to suck ALL DAY LONG. But, little Emilee has had an aversion to every Binky we have tried to give her. So, how does she get her sucking fix? I've been operating as the 9 fingered woman for the past two months plus. An upside down finger is the only thing she would take! I've been attached to Emilee by the finger since she came home. I even had to employ Aidan to give her the "finkie" as we came to call it while I did tasks that couldn't be put off until her sucking fix was had.

But yesterday, we had a breakthrough!!! In a desperate attempt to get myself up to all 10 fingers again and increase my productivity, I bought the last Binky I could find that we hadn't tried. And guess what. . . She took it! And took it, and took it! And she's taking it again today! It's a funny looking little one that looks like a butterfly. I'm trying NOT to think about the "silence of the lambs" poster every time I see it in her mouth.

Hurray!!! I hope she keeps it up, perhaps I'll FINALLY get the house put back together! Here is the pile of rejected Binky's we've collected over the years. It got really big with all of Emilee's rejects!