Pumpkins Painting

We don't do things the "normal" way very often. We don't carve our pumpkins. We paint them. It's just what we do. It prevents a bloody mess from carving-knife-mistakes, it saves on the mess of gooey pumpkin innards getting everywhere & it provides the children with a lovely, round, orange canvas to let lose their creativity upon. It only stains the carpet, their hair, their skin & any clothes they might be wearing ("washable paints" is a bold-faced LIE), but that is a positive, since it all just blends right in to all the pre-existing stains. For clean-up, I just take them out back & hose them off. I get to laugh while they shiver. Everyone wins. OK. I don't really do that (in cold weather), but painting does seem an easier clean-up (& safer) than having seven children carving pumpkins & trying to make sure no little ones get ahold of any knives. Yup. I do take the easy way out way out when I can. However, it's kind of become a tradition on our house & the kids love it. 

Pumpkins painting pumpkins.........                        

                           Artists at work...............

 

 

            A couple pretty lil' pumpkins.

       

My Mr. Potty-Training-Do-it-Myself-Backwards-Underpants-Pumpkin had a jolly time painting his pumpkin.....so long as I didn't try to help him, heaven forbid.

                             Mr. Creative & Unique-Artist-Pumpkin's interpretation.

                                             

      

Mr.Perfect Pumpkin was very proud that he was covering every square inch of his pumpkin in green.........in his favorite shirt even. I was very proud of him for not getting upset about the mess on his shirt, which did actually come clean with an Oxy & bleach combo in the wash.




Artists left to right:

Abigail, Isaac, Jarod, Mommy (the only pumpkin with decent eyebrows..I'm just saying...) , Micah, Gideon, Titus & Olivia (squint at your screen, look really close & you'll see it....it's the one in a rock disguise). Seth was far too cool to paint his own pumpkin.

......and the Pumpkin Family lived happily ever after, until they all rotted & had to be thrown out.

The End

Pumpkin Patch

Struggling with a little writer's block lately, but here goes anyhow:

We went to the Pumpkin Patch.  

It was fun. (How am I doing?)

We made corn angels.

We played with corn.

We played IN corn.

Some of us more than others.

We went on a hay ride.

                                         We picked out pumpkins. The virtual academy we are a part of paid for our admission to the pumpkin patch as well as our pumpkins. The kids were each allowed to pick a pumpkin that they could "carry out".

Some of them 

                                                                        took this very seriously.

Titus had to find the perfect pumpkin, of course. He inspected each one he came across quite carefully for the perfect roundness, size & color. This was not his pick, but it was a close second.

We ran into some fellow homeschoolers/church friends at the pumpin farm.

Was hoping to maybe get a nice picture for the Christmas cards I probably will not end up making this year.

                                                         It was not meant to be.


                           Maybe I'll use this American Gothic replica instead.

Rockin' the fanny-pack. Don't be jealous. 

The pumpkin that finally made the cut.

Happy trails to you!

Nasal Object Extraction 101

Today consisted of school lessons, girl-cousins visiting, a bead pulled from a terrific two year old's nose, more picture fun with my cam wow app & lots of giggles resulting from said fun with cam wow app. Those were just the highlights, of course. Yes. A bead. I am an expert bead-from-nose-extractor, didn't you know? Isaac came to me and started yelling at me hysterically, to "take it OUT, Mama! Take it OUT!!!" He was so anxious to have it removed, I thought that just maybe he might hold still while I worked on him. HAHAHA! Oh, sorry. When the holding still thing didn't work, I swaddled him in his old baby blankie, with his arms pinned down. I had Seth hold down his legs, to prevent thrashing & avoid nasal injuries. His scream changed to, "Leddeee down, Mama! Leddeee DOWN!!!" I used a pimple popper to extract the bead. Hey, don't knock it! It has that nice small, curved, NON-SHARP, tip.....unlike big, bulky, sharp tweezers, which tend to push an object further into the nostril. I was able to get gently behind the bead & push it forward and out in under 10 seconds!!! I am just that good. Isaac giggled happily about his vacant nostril....... then promptly yelled at me to, "Give it back, Mama!!! Give it BACK." I did not. Other stuff happened today too. Feeding kids. Comforting kids. Settling kids' fights. Practicing for a gig on Friday. I'm singing lead in the 2nd set. Aaaack! Excited! Scared. Mostly excited. And scared. Feeding kids. Comforting kids. Settling fights. Yup. That's it. Oh. And poorly constructed blog sentence fragments. The usual.

The Terrible Twos

During the course of my 15 years being a mother, I have jokingly and lovingly referenced, to different people,  my toddlers as being in their "terrible twos". I have gotten a bit of flack in response to that. I've been told, "Gasp! It's not the terrible twos! It the terrific twos! It's the wonderful twos! It's the sweet & adorable twos!" Yes, yes, yes....those things are true. But there's a REASON it's called "the terrible twos".

Take, for example, my little Isaac. In the morning, when he wakes up, he might smile at me sweetly, climb out of his toddler bed & up into my bed to snuggle me. (His bed is next to mine because that's the way I do things. Don't judge me.) He might wrap his little arm around my neck & kiss my nose & say,
"I love you, Mom."
Me: "I love you two, Isaac."
Isaac: "Oh YEAH?? I love you three!"
Me: "Oh YEAH?? I love you four!"
Isaac: "Oh YEAH?? I love you five!"
Me: "Oh YEAH?? I love you six!"
Isaac: "Oh YEAHHHH??? I love you seven!"
ME: "Oh YEAH? I love you eight!"
Isaac: "Oh YEAH? I love you three!"
Me: "Oh YEAH?? I love you four." (Trying to put the numbers back in order.)
Isaac: "Oh YEAH?? I love you nine!" (Hey. Don't laugh. Can YOUR toddler skip count to seven? Didn't think so.)

OR.....in the morning, he might wake up, peek his head up over the side of my bed to scowl at me and say, "I hate you, Mom." and flop back down on his pillow with indignance that I had dared to smile at him. To which I respond in my mature-mommy way, pretending to be very hurt. Practicing for all the future mommy-guilt trips, I start to do my fake crying bit. He jumps back up to my bed & says, "I sorry, Mom!" THEN come the snuggles and kisses, followed by:

Isaac: "I want Diego."
Me: (I get up out of bed to put Diego on for him.)
Isaac: "Wait. I don't like Diego."
Me: "What do you want to watch?"
Isaac: "Ummmmmmmmm............I waaaaaaant........UmiZoomie!"
Me: "OK. Here's UmiZoomie."
Isaac: "Wait. I don't like UmiZoomie."
Me: "Sigh. OK. What do you want?"
Isaac: "Hmmmmmmmmmmm..................I like Wonder Pets."
Me: "OK."
Isaac: "Wait. I don't like Wonder Pets."
Me: "What. Do. You. WANT."
Isaac: "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..............I waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant DIEGO!"
Me: "OK. Here's Diego."
Isaac: "I hate Diego."
Me: "OK. No TV."
Isaac: "I want Diego!!!!!"
Me: "Say please."
Isaac: "Buuuhhlllleeeeeeeeeeezzzze?"
Me: "OK. Here's Diego."
Isaac: "YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

Nap time goes something like this:

Me: "Isaac! It's time for nap!"
Isaac: "I HATE nap!" and runs into the bedroom. His escape plan is somehow flawed.
Me: "Do you want a baba?"
(I still give him a sippy cup with milk at nap time, but not at bed time. I know, BAD mommy! BAD! I just quit nursing him a few months ago! He's still my baby, OK? Don't judge me. Don't worry, I brush his teeth a lot.)
Isaac: " I hate my baba!"
Me: "OK. Get in bed. No baba."
Isaac: "I want baba!!!!"
Me: "OK. Here's your baba. Get in bed."
Isaac: "I don't like get in my bed."
Me: "Do you want to snuggle mama?"
Isaac: "I don't like-a-snuggle mama."
Me: "OK. Get in your bed."
Isaac: "I wanna snuggle you!!!"
Me: "OK. Come snuggle mama."
Isaac (snuggling mama): "I don't like go-to-sleeeeeeeeep!!!"
Me: "I know, baby. Close your eyes."
Isaac: "I don't like-a close my eyes. I hate my baba!"
Me: "OK. I'll put your baba over here for now."
Isaac: "I want my babaaaaaa!!!"
Me: "What do you say?"
Isaac: "Buuuuuuhhhhlllleeeeeeeeeeezzze?"
Me: "OK. Here. Close your eyes."
Isaac: "Heeeheeeheee (literally....he says "heehee"). I love you, Mommy." Snugglesnugglesnuggle.....

Going potty:

I try to help Isaac put the potty seat on the toilet.
Isaac: "I do it myself."
Me: "OK. You do it."
Isaac tries for a minute. Then: "Will you do it, Mommy?"
Me: "Sure, honey."

Picking out clean big-boy underpants:

Isaac: "I want Diego pants."
Me: "Those are all dirty. How about the buggie pants?"
Isaac: "I HATE the buggie pants!!!"
Me: "How about the SpiderMan pants?"
Isaac: "I don't like the SpiderMan pants."
Me: "OOOOO!!!! I know! How about Buzz LightYear pants?"
Isaac: "I hate the Buzz LightYear pants. I want Diego pants."
Me: "The Diego Pants are dirty. How about the....."
Isaac: "WAIT! I want the buggie pants!"
Me: "OK. Do you want mommy to help you?"
Isaac: "I DO IT!"
Me: "OK.".....................................................
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
Isaac: "Mommy, will you help me?"
Me: "What do you say?"
Isaac: "Bleese."
Me: "OK."
Isaac: "Thank you, Mommy. One little pooty (counting his feet while he puts his legs in the holes), two little pooties......"

Snack time:

Isaac: "I want a nana."
Me: "OK." Open banana & hand it to him.
Isaac: "I hate a'nana!!!" .................

I agree......"terrible" is a little too strong of an adjective. Maybe we can compromise. Instead, maybe we should call it the "completely-opposite-of-everything-mommy-says-twos" or the "I-do-it-myself-twos" or the "I-love-you-I-hate-you-I-want-it-I-don't-like-it-twos", as well as the "terrific, sweet & adorable twos", although that would be quite the mouthful. To put it more simply, yet accurately, maybe it should be the "Trying & Terrific Twos"..........and I wouldn't change a minute of it. 

                                     Me: "Are you my baby?"
                                     Isaac: "No. I  Isaac."
                                     Me: "Oooohhh. OK, my Isaac."
                                     Isaac: "Mommy?"
                                     Me: "What, Isaac?"
                                     Isaac: "I you baby."
                                     Me: "You're my BABY? Oh good."
                          

Boy Crazy Academy Entertains Special Guests

Yesterday, cousins Abigail & Olivia came over to visit. The girls begged to "do school" with us, so I let them. They are all wearing hats in the picture because the language lesson had a poem in it about a boy with a frog in his hat. We made dogs, cats and frogs. Then we put them in our hats. Yup.

The five little children were SO well behaved & studious, I must say.

The older kids? Mmmm....not so much.

                                                      This was their recess time.

          I love our tree. It is beautiful and ever-growing. All of the older boys have grown up climbing in it. It was much smaller when we first moved into this house ten years ago. This tree has taken a lot of abuse: kids climbing in it, swinging from it, kids hitting it with bats, kids breaking it's branches, but it keeps on growing. It keeps on providing a lovely & enormous shade for my back yard. I love to sit in my reclining camp chair, under its shade, to read my book & listen to my children playing. There are so many good memories attached to that tree, it almost feels like part of the family. If we ever can afford to move into a bigger house, I will miss our tree immensely.

Abigail is taking monkey lessons from her cousins.

        God made dirt & dirt don't hurt. (Especially Titus. He doesn't even let it touch him.)
                                             OK. That's obviously not entirely true.

Note the cleanliness of Titus, even though he is allowing himself to play in the MUD.

Olivia is good for Titus.

However, I'm pretty sure he is without a shirt because he'd gotten a couple drops of water splashed on it & one simply cannot have that! No shirt is better than a microscopically wet shirt!

                                Ya-ya does LOVE her mud pies!!!

                                                    Auntie Heather LOVES Ya-ya.

This is Isaac: the orneriest boy on the face of the Earth.

He is also one of the six cutest.

He is almost a "big boy" now, but I am in constant denial about that.

I'll let you know when he is not my baby any more.

Ya-ya & Titus LOVE Sethy!!!