Sea Turtles

Still in Jekyll…we got up on Tuesday morning and after eating, we headed out to the Sea Turtle Center.  Every one seemed to be perky and fever free this day and it was time to celebrate and educate.

Zoe’s not quite as tall as the tallest known living turtle. (And these are turtles not tortoises…ask the kids.  They know the difference).

The center is basically a rescue/recovery/education facility.  They have a turtle hospital and have vets/marine biologists etc., that do research and care for the sick turtles that are brought to them all over the east coast.  This turtle’s getting a spa treatment by having his shell scraped to fight off infection from the keratin (I think that’s right) that builds up on his back.  He seemed to be enjoying it.

You can’t tell…but this was a big sea turtle.  Most of the turtles at the center are not there because of human related accidents/ issues.  The ones we saw most of were cold-stunned…where a sudden drop in the temperature in the ocean forced them to be stagnate (since they’re cold blooded animals) and wreaked havoc on their body systems.  Just another issue to deal with in global warming.  I’m kidding.
Peeking up to say hello!
And as we were leaving…what did the kids want to look at in the gift shop???  Yep, books!  I love our little book nerds!

Facebooktwittermail

To the Beach

After watching the shuttle blast off into space at 6:21 a.m. (no more than 10 minutes of our life and almost an hour to get back on the interstate), we headed to the hotel to change the kids out of their pjs and eat a free breakfast (which felt really weird since we had been up for several hours at this point).  We checked out and drove about halfway towards home and then made a pit stop.  As we were driving the kids asked where we were going.  Mark just casually mentioned that he thought they would enjoy a day at the beach.  Four resounding “YES!” were yelled from the back of the van.  So to the beach we went.

I’ve been to Jekyll Island, GA several times now.  I love it there.  It’s small, peaceful, and full of some rich history.  And it’s beautiful.  Now, I’m not talking white sand, Gulf of Mexico beautiful but Spanish moss hanging from every oak tree, waves crashing up against the rocks beautiful.  The whole island is virtually flat which makes it a great place to go on casual bike rides (and you can bike the whole island in one day easy).  We didn’t bike but I so wish we had had the time to do it.

However, we did hit the beach…

This was the last day of Josiah’s bug and just didn’t want much to do with the ocean.
Ceili Rain was about three months old the first time she went to the beach.  Having no recollection and not being the daredevil of the bunch…
She didn’t much care for it.  And as for the crashing waves…
she preferred mommy’s secure arms.
I can already imagine how much this therapy session is going to cost her!
She did manage a smile when she saw daddy had the camera.
And when she watched her brothers and sister in the water.
You can only imagine how much fun these three had in those waves.  Liam tried to talk Mark into going in so they could get deeper.  He, respectfully, declined (honestly, playing in the ocean in April in Georgia…it’s a little frigid).

Facebooktwittermail

Craftiness at work…stand back please!

With a new little boy coming in July…comes a new set of logistical challenges…sleeping arrangements…clothing arrangements…van seating arrangements, etc.

Last month, we focused on the clothes arrangements.  I found a used, run down chest of drawers for Josiah and Bryant to share and we purchased it and brought it home.

This is part of the “Before.”  As usual, I forgot to get a good before.  The knobs were coming off and the off-white paint was peeling.

I put the boys to work sanding it down one afternoon.  That lasted through almost all the drawers before they lost interest and waited on me to finish what I was doing so they could paint.

I used four shades of blue.  Lest you think I spent a ton of money on that.  Lowes (and I’m sure Home Depot does too) has these extra small sample cans of paint that you can purchase for $3).  So, I bought four of those and used the brown “Cloak & Dagger” that Mark had used on the steps to the bonus room.

Here’s the result:

This should hold the boys clothes for at least three to four years along with the other dresser in their room.  I’ll get a picture of the room/dressers after we work on the sleeping arrangements.

Facebooktwittermail

To Ge and Granddaddy’s House We Go

A weekend trip to Granddaddy and Ge’s kicked off our travels for several weeks.  This was the first time we had traveled since Thanksgiving.  If you know us well, then you know that’s unusual for us…Mark says our family motto is “Go!  Go!  Go!”  But, God had other plans for a few months.  We were home in December trying to make sure Bryant stuck around to full term.  Then January and February brought illnesses and snow.  Finally, March has rolled around and with the pollen came a chance for us to visit family. 

Aside from the drama of a not so daring Ceili Rain having to endure a puppy yelping at her (which caused her to cry which caused the dog to yelp more), we had a great visit (and the dog and Ceili Rain got used to each other and she only fussed at the dog one time later on when the dog took a toy away from her).

Escaping…from the barking dog!
Granddaddy had the best spot to view the game.  He was also a great lap to cuddle into after playing outside all day!
This was the first time the kids really enjoyed the Wii.  Ge and Granddaddy have all the cool toys!
On the way home, Mark indulged my cravings and we ate at the number one place to eat for processed foods!  The Varsity!  Yep, I thoroughly enjoyed my fried onion rings and chili cheese dog and frosted orange.  Yummy!  Of course, we all payed for it dearly on Monday…but this was the first time we ate here since before we had kids.  Moderation people…that’s what it’s all about 🙂
We’re making her a spokesperson for yummy chili dogs!

Facebooktwittermail

Caught!

One of the first things Josiah asks me in the morning is if Ceili Rain is up.  Most of the time it is because he can hear her chatting and playing in her crib.  The other morning he told me he wanted to go see Ceili Rain…which buys me time to get breakfast finished while he entertains her through the bars in the crib.  This particular morning I peeked into the girls’ room to get Ceili Rain and found this:

Actually, when I first saw them, they were both sitting up and Josiah was entertaining Ceili Rain with the duck he’s holding (it flaps, sings and makes noise…which she loves)…this is what I found when I got back to the crib with the camera.  Yep, that’s pretty sweet.

And this is their busted look!
When Josiah gets up from a nap, if he can see Ceili Rain right off the bat, he is not grumpy at all.  He loves his little sis and she is equally enamored with him!  It’s safe to say that if they slept in the same room, he’d be cuddled up with her every night.

Facebooktwittermail

Welcoming Spring!

With the new warm weather and not much pollen (yet), we are heading out more and more.  We’ve discovered that Josiah is a boy’s boy!  He loves playing in the dirt and more than that getting muddy and covered in it.  This is funny because if we are eating a “finger” food, he requests a wet washcloth beside him to clean his hands every five seconds.  Not so outside though!  All bets are off when it comes to the mud and dirt.

Being that Ceili Rain is a “Spring baby” she hasn’t been outside much.  She’s just not been able to get used to being out on the grass…so we are now beginning her introduction to the outside world!  To help, she gets a walker toy so she move about on the grass and get used to the feel of it!  She enjoyed it but not when I had to divert her around the holes!

Yummm…grass!
I throw these pictures in here just for sport…you enjoy getting that neck exercise don’t you?
So, the rest of the kids enjoy playing in the dirt and mud but they use tools and are “very” careful with their hands.  Ace didn’t tell me what he was making.  Liam made a cake for me.  It was chocolate.  He has my heart.  Zoe made a house with a door.

Facebooktwittermail

Potty “Train”ing

Since I was so serious on Friday and gave you much to think about (or to ignore…you choose).  I’d thought I’d be a little bit goofy this morning and talk about what all mothers of toddlers/preschoolers talk about…the toilet.

Josiah’s been pretty well potty trained since October.  That’s a given…but with the crazyness of the pregnancy during the first trimester adding in a stomach bug and another stomach bug…we’ve had a bit of a regression in the potty training area.  Not a big deal…we’re just taking it in stride.  A couple of weeks ago, once I realize the ummm, “bug” was starting to dissipate from his system, we took him out of pull ups during the day and back into undies.  He was pumped but still having a little trouble remembering to go (and he still does some times).  So for motivation, we got M&Ms.  One for #1 in the potty and two for #2 in the potty.  Simple.  That works but it doesn’t work great when he doesn’t go potty in the potty and doesn’t get them often.  However, he came up with an even better way to potty train himself.

Last Sunday, I took him to potty after a little “incident” in his pants.  I was telling him, once again (but calmly), how he needed to use the potty and not his pants.  He said:

“Thomas not happy.  Thomas got poopy on his face.”

Aha!  We hit on what works for Josiah.  So, I started talking to him about keeping Thomas (or superman or monster trucks or whatever undies he has on) happy.

Now, every time he goes to the bathroom he tells me whether Thomas is happy or sad.  Then we talk about why Thomas is happy or sad.  It’s too cute and too funny.

I told his teacher about it Wednesday night.  She asked him if Thomas was happy.  He stopped for a minute and thought about it…then smiled and said yes and then started to show her how happy Thomas was!

And one last Josiah and undies funny.

Josiah is in training pants at night.  Usually, first thing in the morning as he’s starting to wake up, he goes in his pants.  He also doesn’t like being wet on the bottom.  After he gets out of the pool he waddles around.

One morning he came waddling into the kitchen from bedtime.  I asked him if he had pooped and he said he had.  So we waddled off to the bathroom.  I told him to let me check and see what it looked like before he took his clothes off. I pulled back his pants to discover he was commando.  No training pants in sight.  He’d slept all night with no undies on!  Oh, and he hadn’t pooped either (thank goodness)…he was just wet.

I called Mark to ask him about it and tell him that Josiah was commando.  He said, “Well, I didn’t get him dressed last night.”  I told him I didn’t get him dressed either.  So, that left Josiah to blame!  He had dressed himself and forgotten the training pants!

Facebooktwittermail

Reading Buddies

When Grandmere comes to visit…

I think the kids plot out and pick out just which books to read when and where and for how long.  Having one grandmother who is a librarian and the other an English teacher, our kids were destined to enjoy books and enjoy them with their grandparents.  I really think they would be happy with sitting in Grandmere’s lap reading a book the entire time she comes to visit.  She has read to them from the time they could sit still long enough to listen and they love it!

Thanks Grandmere for having a warm lap to climb in and for warm arms to love on and read to us!  And thanks for trekking up between storms (and trekking home in them) just to see grandkid #11 turn one!

Facebooktwittermail

It’s War!

Actually, it’s not.  In February, when there was a warm snap (thankfully), we ventured out to a battle reenactment.  It was a Civil War battle that was fought near where we live.  We met some friends there and had a wonderful time.  I was expecting some rinky dink reenactment with not much going.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised…in fact, we didn’t get to see everything they had set up.  Tents selling Civil War memorabilia and of course, wooden swords and guns (the boys were in heaven).  Zoe and I wanted to go to all the tents selling dresses…and we did hit quite a few (to which I kept telling Zoe I could make those same dresses for her if she wanted).  The battle was pretty neat and managed to see (and feel quite a bit).  We, being our first time and arriving late, chose to sit near the cannons.  They were extremely….extremely loud.  We knew they’d be loud but we didn’t realize that we couldn’t see, for the most part, when the cannons would go off.  So when a round was fired the first shot just made you jump.  Each time.

So here’s the pics from our day:

Zoe and Laura learned out to make rag dolls out of strips of fabric.  The seamstress had an extremely old machine that she used.  It was really neat to see and made me grateful for my new digital sewing machine!

Guess what all the boys liked!?!  They were filthy by the time we left but they had a blast.
The Confederate General (I think).  He was basically standing around telling people to not plug their ears and close their mouths at the same time when the cannons went off.  If you did…it’d hurt…really bad.
In history, a few weeks ago, we were reading about the American Revolution and General Washington trying to train his troups.  We read about a volley but I don’t think the kids quite understood what I was talking about.  I tried to explain it but nothing beats seeing in front of your eyes.  When the infantry marched out, they got to see several volleys!  That was pretty cool.
As we were leaving, we were all thirsty (and tired) so we found a place selling…
lemonade and other cool drinks (none with alcohol) in some really fun neat bottles…did you think we were turning our kids into whinos?!
Yep, Ace in front of the Confederate flag downing some nice ice cold lemonade.  It was fun.  You can pick out your bottle and then get refills.
Start ’em early!
Taking a quick break before guzzling some more.
And this is just a fun picture of Zoe!
I know there was a lot wrong and right about the Civil War.  I don’t think History should be ignored or disregarded because it makes us feel bad.  There’s a lot about the Civil War that is not discussed much in classes and I am so grateful for a father who taught me a lot about why the Civil War started (slavery was one of the issues…and just one) and the men who fought it.  He also taught me to be appreciative and somber because this was a war where families were separated and destroyed.  Not a pleasant exciting time.  We tried to drive that point home to the kids as we left.  We didn’t want this to be just a fun event but a chance for them to understand history in a more real way.  If you get a chance to attend a battle reenactment, I hope you do and remember the sacrifices that families from both the North and South made for their beliefs and loyalties.

Facebooktwittermail

Mommy’s Helpers

Getting back to normal last week brought on some much needed cooking!  Monday I had two meals (well, three really) that needed to be prepared.  One was for that night and the other two were to stick in the freezer.  They all required shredded chicken.  My volunteers eagerly pulled and tried to sample the chicken.  I have to say that Josiah was the most concentrated chicken puller I’ve seen in a while.

Focusing!
By the way, I made these Chicken Crescent Squares but time was running short and so instead of making the crescent dough into actual squares, I just put the filling in the dough and made it into a braid.  I also made my yummiest comfort food…homemade chicken potpie (no processed canned stuff here…homemade pie crusts, homemade sauce, fresh veggies…yum, yum, yum).

Facebooktwittermail