Wednesday, December 15, 2010

lemme sing to ya baby

I have been practicing the mandolin a lot lately and I know I have gotten better than when I started, so I gathered the boys just before bedtime tonight and asked them to sit and listen to a song. They were really sweet for about 20 seconds, then they started wiggling then kicking and giggling and wrestling with each other. I asked them to be quiet and listen. They did. When I was all done Tucker said I need to work on my strumming but mostly my chords, Rollin said I need to work on my singing, Tucker disagreed (which I thought was sweet and probably to gain browny points) and Fynn made a face of some sort and simply stated "well I just hate that song".

Saturday, December 11, 2010

handcuffs

Tucker pulled the toy handcuffs out from under his pillow and sadly explained: "I had these under my pillow so that when Fynn fell asleep I could handcuff him, but by the time he fell asleep I was already asleep."

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

toothpaste trick

I was trying to get the boys in bed this evening and beginning to show signs of impatience. I fixed the covers just right for the smallest one. I reminded the largest one to keep his head on his pillow and whisper, I fixed the covers again and offered more reminders. Then headed to the bathroom to check on the middle sized boy. He was sitting, slumping, frowning on the bench looking down at his tooth brush. I asked him what was wrong. "This tooth paste tastes bad" He answered. I assured him that we could fix the problem and asked him to show me which toothpaste he had used. He explained to me that tucker had put the toothpaste on his toothbrush for him while he was getting his pajamas on. I smelled the toothbrush. Soap. I then interrogated tucker as to what exactly he had put on his brothers toothbrush. He initially tried to convince me it was toothpaste but as soon as I mentioned the smell of soap he admitted he had in fact put liquid hand soap on the toothbrush. Now I can see how this could be a harmless practical joke, however I was already showing signs of impatience and then seeing The middle sized boy with such a sorrowful look on his sweet face and the redness and tears building in his tired eyes I sent the largest boy to his room. Cared for the middle sized boy and cleaned his toothbrush of all soap. I then summoned the Largest boy to my bedroom where I had a few quick words with him about his middle sized brothers feelings and then sent him on his way to make it right. He offered his apology. But I could tell by his response that the middle one was still hurt. So I helped him explain to the largest one how it actually made him feel. Then the largest one began to explain that he had intended it as a joke, and sincerely thought that the middle one would taste it and spit and spit and laugh and spit some more and laugh some more. With the explanation of the intention of this prank both boys began to giggle and laugh. I smiled and left them to enjoy the moment with each other and realized how these small moments of communication really make our home a happier place. Then I straightened the covers once More for the littlest one, and kissed them all good night.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Dear T-Dog


A note to Tucker from a good friend. I found this recently and am still baffled by it.

actual coversation 11-12-2010

As I walk across the kitchen with a bowl of peeled apples it begins..................

R: What are we gonna make? we could either make apple pie or
F: chicken pie
R: No, we could either make apple pie or
F: chicken pie
R: no we could either make
T: Chicken pie
R: No! We could
T: make chicken pie and apple pie
L: Rollin come in here so you tell me what you'd like to make
R: well there are a few things I'd like to make, apple pie, apple sauce, apple juice or apple bread. So can we?

fairies

I was mesmerized by by the dust dancing in the sunlight, "look boys, dust fairies". "Those aren't fairies" Tucker said. "yes they are, they are just so tiny we cant see their wings" I explained. "There is no such thing as fairies" He protested. Rollin spoke up "yes there is Tucker. There's the Tooth Fairy". Tucker thought for a moment and said, "Well yeah there's the tooth fairy, but theTooth Fairy has proof." "proof?" I asked "have you seen the layer of fairy dust on everything in the house?" "yeah, but that's not good, it's not a good thing" he said. I Explained "well we might not really care for the dust but if we happened to be a dust fairies it would be our favorite thing." Satisfied. They smiled and skipped away.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

mid night ramblings

Fynn often comes to get in bed with me in the middle of the night or early morn, but last night he was particularly verbal. He literally curled up next to me as said "I'm Told" so I pulled the covers up over his little naked body. He refuses to wear pajamas. He immediately kicked them all off and grumbled "I don't want tovers". I fell right back to sleep, then woke again to his whiny request "I'm told I need tovers". I covered him and fell back to sleep once more. I flipped over and Turned toward Thadeus who was on my other side. Then Fynn woke me again, once more irritated, he explained "youw haiw is in my face, I need you to have youw eyes facing wight towawd me". So we shifted around a bit and I turned to face him. He scooched closer until our noses were almost touching. I fell asleep, and awoke once more when he demanded "stop bwowing youw aiuh on me". I tried to back away from him a bit and aim my nose so that the air would not flow in his direction. taking special care to keep my eyes facing right toward him. I fell asleep once more. The next thing to wake me was Thadeus' alarm rythmically beeping at 4 something. Then I heard the random noises of his morning routine. Rocking back and forth between sleep and wake. Then I heard the distinct "doodby daddy" from the little naked boy next to me. we slept again for a bit. Then as soon as the sunpeeked it's first ray of light our way, request for breakfast, and cereal and pizza began, and talk of the day ahead. Also a bit of whining for still being "told" but not wanting "tovers".

Thursday, November 4, 2010

No time for reading

I have been waiting all day to read to the boys. It would seem Everyday I start out thinking I will read to them in the evening when things slow down a bit. But everyday when I mention it is time for a story they instantly break into an imaginary game of this or that and I find that I don't have the heart to stop it. Currently there is a battle between a Short Face bear (Tuck) and a Sloth (Fynn) and another Short Faced bear (Rollin). Every move is so carefully orchestrated, every sound is planned, intermissions occur only for rest or to plan the next act. It seems their imaginations are nocturnal. I suppose that means morning would be a better time to read and be still, but I somehow feel that it will still be a challenge.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Twin Lake


One of the boys favorite bedtime stories is a memory of mine, as a little girl going ice skating with my dad. They request it and then recite the words along with me. It goes something like this;

Once upon a time when I was a little girl, about 6 or seven years old, I had a brand new pair of ice skates. One day my dad asked me "Elizabeth would you like to go ice skating?". I was so excited! I put on my warm blue snowsuit with pink and yellow stripes, my hat, and mittens and scarf and we got in my dads big red truck. Then we drove aaaaaallll the way to TWIN LAKE. When we got there everything was white and beautiful and covered in ice and snow and Twin Lake was completely frozen. My dad helped me get my ice skates on and then had me wait while he went out on the ice to check and make sure it was safe for me. Then I went out on the ice, but skating was much harder than I thought. But I kept trying. Then all of a sudden I fell flat on my FACE! My nose hurt really bad, then it started to bleed and I started to cry. My dad came and scooped me up and said "don't worry Elizabeth, I'll take care of you". Then he fixed my nose. After that he said "I think we should try it again" but the next time he held my hand so I wouldn't fall. When we got too cold, we got back in his big red truck and drove aaaaaallll the way home. Then we had hot chocolate in front of the nice warm fire place. The End.


That's pretty much the way I tell it every time, so I thought it was pretty special tonight while I was preparing dinner and the boys were all playing with clay and play dough, when Tucker came over to me with an interesting sculpture. He explained that the blue part was Twin Lake and the smaller green person was me and the taller one was Poppa. Poppa doesn't have feet sticking out because he is on his knees taking care of me.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Fynn: Is it getting dark?

Tucker: It's always getting dark.

Fynn: yeah two times a day.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

strongest mom


He wanted to ride his bike in the rain, so I lifted the tiny two wheeled thing out from the back of the shed up and over my head,over the other bikes and then over his head and out into the yard all the while he softly and excitedly chanted "you awh da stwongest mom, you awh da stwongest mom evew".

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Monday, October 4, 2010

informed today

I was informed today by the littlest one that the Santa Clause that comes down the chimney is a fake! The real Santa Clause is a big man and he always just comes through the door like the rest of us and if by chance the door is locked he just uses reindeer antlers to unlock it.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Gag


Oh, my sweet Rollin............................... He is not hearing very well these days. I find myself having to kindly shout just to tell him something. I think it is a combination of a stubborn cold he is trying to overcome and the 5 year old boy ear syndrome. It is actually true that boys around age five can experience hearing difficulty due to the changing shape and length of the inner ears. Anyway, I walked into the Kitchen and Rollin had just finished putting the very last of the home made chocolate chip cookies into a snack bag. I was thinking he was being awfully clever to put the last cookie away so he could eat it later. But then he ran to me and said "when you pack daddies lunch make sure you put this in there K?" I thought this was really sweet and suggested that he put his daddies name on it. He then asked me how to spell "Dad" and I told him. He didn't hear me the first time so I spelled it again and he ran off with a marker to finish his job. I had to bite my lip when he came back to me with pride to show me his finished job.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

what was he thinking?

The boys and I had finished school and were enjoying the beautiful Autumn weather. Rollin was doing tricks on his bike and Tucker was carving a stick. I was sitting quietly with the scarf I was crocheting and Fynn and Thadeus were just returning from a bike ride. Thadeus began talking to me when I realized i was surrounded by every member of the family including the dog, I was still crocheting and concentrating on my work as I tried to listen. Then I felt something on my foot and at that exact moment Thadeus said "Don't pee on Mommies foot". It took a short moment for the words i was hearing and the sensation i was feeling on my foot to connect. When we all realized he had in fact peed all over my foot laughter erupted and we are still trying to figure out what Fynn was thinking!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Bike Boys









Incident Report: September 25 2010

I woke this morning to find three small boys laying on the floor beside my bed. I managed to get through with out stepping on them. The littlest one was making demands of food. I headed down the hall way and as I passed the classroom I glanced over my shoulder to see that an entire piggy bank had been emptied and its contents spread thoroughly over the floor. Accompanying the coins were, what appeared to be, every miniature car in the house. I proceeded down the hall without stopping. I was passed by a superhero with a neon orange handkerchief cape. The superhero then morphed into a dragon and proceeded to perform lightning fast front flips on the couch as I shuffled by into the kitchen. I then gathered all my energy to pour three bowls of cereal when I heard an imaginary game of baseball erupt in the living room which almost immediately transitioned to a bull riding event. Suddenly 3 boys were rushing to the table and I glanced at a clock which was approaching 8 am. I fear this may prove to be a very long day for this "under the weather" mom.

Monday, September 20, 2010

things you probably want to know


Fynneus can officially get started on his bike, on two wheels, all by himself. He has been able to ride on two wheels for some time now but getting started has been difficult. Tonight we rode bikes all around the neighborhood and every time he stopped, he started again all by himself.

School is going very well, actually better than I had anticipated. We will start week 5 on Wednesday. We have been keeping to our daily schedule and it has proven to be a good thing for all of us so far.

Tucker got a pocket knife for his birthday and has actually had it in his pocket everyday since.

Rollin is wanting to take swimming and piano lessons and I intend to make this happen as soon as I can work out the details.

Koda still has heart worm and we are still undecided what to do about it. She is not showing any symptoms and seems to be doing very well so far.

Our chickens are not laying eggs yet.

Thadeus has still been tying flies and is really getting good at it.

Tucker can now swim under water and retrieve dive toys.

Tucker has his 2nd loose tooth (bottom front left) which he let/made us all feel today to see just how loose it was.

Rollin asked me yesterday how we all keep from falling off the earth when it is up side down. We are going to the planetarium tomorrow for a follow up to my explanation.

Rollin is also fearless on his bike and he makes it look effortless.

Tucker was eager today to play an arcade style hunting game, knowing, however that I am not fond of hunting or shooting games he explained to me, "first I am going to play the hunting game, but I'm going to pretend that I am just shooting them to sleep and moving them to a better home" . Oh the sweetness, ah my heart.

In yoga today my instructor light heartedly explained to us that "it is not multitasking to attempt several things at once and fail at all of them. If you can only do one thing well at a time, then choose to just do that one thing and do it well." I have thought of that several times throughout my day and also asked myself what is the most important one thing I choose right now, and every time my answer was to be a good mother.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

All Mine


Everywhere I go with my children people are surprised and sometimes even shocked to learn that the three beautiful and rambunctious boys with me are indeed my sons. I often hear comments like "wow you've got your hands full" or "are you going to try for a girl" or "they are so cute". Today in fact I heard all three of these. While reflecting on the comments I asked the boys why they thought people always seemed to be surprised that they were my sons. Tucker thoughtfully and sweetly replied "well maybe because you're short and you sorta look like a teenager, only a lot prettier". I kissed him on the head and smiled and reminded myself that it is none of my business what other people think of me or why. But I do so love these boys of mine and I am short and I do love myself much more now that when I was a teenager.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

I caught them in a smile..............

a shared moment beneath a tree

Uncle Freddies Freedom




After being a loyal pet turtle for over a year, we finally agreed that it was fair and right to let him go. Uncle Freddy is a red eared slider that we brought home from a camping trip last summer. Turtles don't tend to show much emotion but I know he was glad to be set free.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010