Bad Boy Bad Boy...whatcha gonna do?

whatcha gonna do when they come for you?  Or should I say, "whatcha gonna do when they don't stay in bed at nap", but that doesn't really rhyme. At all.


BUT, it does apply. 


Because this naughty boy pushes my nap time patience to the edge. He cycles from sleeping to not sleeping (where as his sister LOVES to sleep EVERY DAY). He kicks the walls, gets up and gets toys, gets up and bothers his sister, gets up and plays...

Gets up and builds a fort to sleep in...instead of actually SLEEPING during nap. (I have to say tho, I did find him asleep a few times in his "fort", but I can't say for how long since he woke up cranky.)

So tell me...why does he have a bed if he's happy sleeping on the floor?

Oh, of course, for Elmo, his pillow and his other blankets.


Good thing he is strikingly adorable :)

Why my insurance will be going up

For whatever reason, boys cost more for auto insurance. It is likely that we will not be the exception to the rule, nor will we be the reason that the insurance commission will look into lowering the rates any time soon. Plus since I have 3 boys, they will probably not drive until they are 30. Just sayin'. 


However, Monkey has started driving more around the property, ya know, gearing up for the day he'll drive the girls around.  In his green truck. Wearing his swim trunks. And bare feet.

I am grateful that his finally  mostly faces forward when driving.

And doesn't drive his sister into the tree...too often...

Or hit stuff...

But there is the issue of running into the pool fence.

Hopefully his dad can teach him how to drive :)

We've just gotta catch up!

I think that in order to catch up to present day events; I have GOT to put it all in one post. I am pretty sure that it will be quick.

Or not really.

You all know how I can take one simple event and make it into a very long post. I know, it's just a talent that I have, no need to be jealous of my ability to drone on and on about things and provide lots of useless information.

It's a talent that can't be bought.

Where shall we start?

Halloween?

Halloween it is.

I have a very sweet little boy who really struggles with things that don't go his way. He has a very clear cut idea of how things should be and often falls to itty bitty pieces when they stray from the plan. I pretty much have NO CLUE what the plan is. Just when I think I know, he changes the plan and our world is turned upside down.

Halloween is no different for him.

This is him last year:


Monkey absolutely refused to put on his bumble bee costume.



He is the one on the right - the one in a t-shirt. Yes, so is Agent P - but that is his custom costume :)

And then this year:

To my credit, I truly thought that if WE dressed up as pirates with the kids - Monkey would be all over that idea. (Let's not even look at the partially dressed "baseball player". I guess you get to a certain age and dressing up is not fun...until you get as old as your parents... :) )

Nope. That did not sway Monkey at all.

I did convince him to finally put it on when we went out Trick-or-Treating (however he refused to let me take a picture of him). Of course he couldn't wear it when we did Trunk-or-Treat at church or went to a Halloween party 2 days earlier. Now it is in the dress up bucket never to be touched by him again.

One of them really enjoyed Halloween...





And was the perfect pirate who wore her costume happily!

Next up?

Agent P's "Show me YOU" at school.

This is where the teacher sends a bag home and the kids put things in the bag that they love and is a reflection of them.  They get to show it to all the kids in class and talk about the stuff that they brought.

Agent P has been DYING to do this since the first week. 4 months later, it was finally his turn.

This is what he took:

I spy a Transformer, speed car of sorts, airplane and hot wheel. I also see a stuffed octopus and 2 shiny rocks/gems (orange and blue). Now take a look at the last item (top right). It is an empty box of Tazo Tea - Passion flavor (a personal favorite of mine).

I completely understand the cars and transformer. The stuffed octopus I'm on the fence about because I truly don't know why he took it. It's not like he sleeps with it or plays with it, but whatever. He packed it.

But let's talk about the empty tea box.

That he took from the recycle on his way out the door.

I asked his teacher how he explained the box. She said he told the class to look inside - that it was really, really cool. Yup. I've always thought kids just needed empty boxes. Forget the toys. An empty box will do it every time. Apparently he passed it around to the kids to take a look.

I think that about sums up Agent P though, someone who can look into an empty box and see something wonderful!

We have a visitor - 2 actually! :)

Grandma Joan (my sweet husband's mama) and "Grandma" Lynn (a dear family friend)

They are staying down at a State Park campground for 6 months and we couldn't be happier....especially the kids who are enjoying the endless reading that they have been doing. For some reason, there is no picture of Grandma Lynn with the kids - I think that I am so busy when they are here that I forget to take pictures. I will be better next time! 

I entertained the idea of putting the twins 3rd birthday here at the end - but there are a lot of really great pictures that my Aunt took and I don't want to deny you all the wonderful details of a party that revolved around 3 year olds - lol!

Cheers!

This handsome boy...

has 3 great loves. His trucks, his blankie and his Daddy. Anyone who knows us, knows that I am a sad sad substitute for when this boy wants his Daddy. I get it, Daddy is awesome :- ) Plus, I have 3 others if I needed to feel loved and that works out...sometimes :- )

Monkey has started talking just as much as his sister. I have been known to carry on multiple conversations at one time with several kids. So far, I have not promised anything I didn't remember promising :- ).  They will gang up on me in a few years tho!  Monkey has a unique way of talking and you really have to work hard to understand him.

On many, many words - he leaves off the first letter or 2. Like "ampa". That's "Grandpa". Not too tricky, right? Then there is "ailer" (trailer), "yap" (lap) etc. Here, now you try:

"ocks". Ok, I know. That's a hard one. It could be rocks, socks, clocks, and the list goes on. You can see how the day can be frustrating for the poor boy!!! His mama just shouting out rhyming words until he agrees.  And it's not like you can repeat "ocks" and call it good. Oh no. He is waiting for 'word repeat recognition'. Oh joy. But success is sweet!

I really love it when he says 'thanks' to anyone.  Very slowly he will say "thanks" makes a pause "mooommmm" or "sis" or "daaadddd" or whomever he is thanking. It is sweet as pie and I melt every time!

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  He is fierce and loves to roar like a 'scary monster' and chase his brother and sister around the house while they scream "let's get out of here!"
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  He is never far from a truck, trailer, train, monster truck, car, airplane..you get the idea. he even has several in bed with him to play with if he can't sleep or wakes up early.
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  Loves on his blanket every chance he gets by sticking it in his mouth. (ya, I know, EW).  I wash it as frequently as I can get it away from him, but within hours it is back to the eye watering, nasty smell.
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  Has the most insanely funny laugh that none of his siblings can mimic (tho they try). It's almost as tho he sucks air in while he laughs instead of breathing out. How he doesn't hyperventilate, I don't know!
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  Decided he wanted to get potty trained one day (3 weeks ago) and refused a diaper, but couldn't figure it out himself. So he spent 3 days (3 very dark days for me) - and then VIOLA! On a Friday afternoon, emptied his bladder, the light went ON and has been golden since then. They both do diaper at nap and night - but that's IT! YAAAY!
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  Thinks that he should have anything someone else has. As he says "I had it first". Gee, wonder where he learned that line?
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  Calls out every semi truck, trailer, tractor, truck with a hitch, RV, etc - while we are driving. Our driving conversations are very exciting like that. The kid could spend the day at a truck stop and not be happier!
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  He loves to feed the dog, ride his tricycle and play outside.
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  He doesn't like to have 'stuff' on his hands or fingers and requires getting washed up if this occurs.
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  Ironically, he is far pickier of an eater than his sister. His size is deceptive :- ) While he never passes up any sort of dessert, he often doesn't eat much dinner. He loves 'ocolate' ice cream (chocolate) from the DQ :- )
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  He loves his sister and talks to her all the time!

Even on the trampoline at Aunt H's house! (don't you love the static hair???)

He is so sweet and so tender and shy in so many situations. Once he is out of his shell, he is funny and personable and chatty. We would not change one second of having twins in our family. Not one second.

We love you Monkey!

Blankie Washing Day

Blankie Washing Day has become a day that I regularly procrastinate and always dread. It is not an easy feat, but I accomplish it on a regular semi-regular basis. OK. That is probably an exaggeration...I frequently get them washed when my sweet husband complains that they smell :- )!

Monkey and Mini P are very much blankie kids - much like their brothers. In fact (shhh, don't tell anyone) A-Dog still has his two of his blankies (because he had THREE) from when he was a baby (minus 1 that he gave to Agent P) and they are still in his bed to sleep with. I don't know if he cuddles them each night, but thankfully he doesn't have to carry them around everywhere like his youngest siblings!

Monkey and Mini P take the blankies EVERYWHERE. Outside to play, to drive 1 mile to the bus stop and back, plus to bed. And every chance we get, we leave them in the truck when unloading. Like on Sunday, we did NOT have them in church, which if you were in church with us, you would know that they would have been washed sooner to remove the chocolate bar from kids sermon. But I digress. Like usual. 

Getting the blankies washed is a delicate process. This is how it went today:

1. Drive A-Dog to school (somehow blankies remained at home and no one cared).

2. Come home, unload all kids and RUN FAST to the house.

3. Open house door and shut it before ANY kids can get in.

4. Run around frantically looking for all the blankies to wash.

5. Sprint to laundry room and get the washer started - SPEED WASH ONLY 30 min - don't mess around with the regular load setting, that takes 50 minutes, we don't have that kind of time!!!

6. Let kids in the house and act like nothing happened.

7. After they are washed, sneak into laundry room again and put them in the dryer.

8. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT GET CAUGHT!!!!

Well, I got all the steps done except #8. 15 minutes into the drying cycle, somehow they were spotted in the dryer. Somehow meaning I was in the laundry room getting their clothes out of the dresser in there and they were on my heals. This explains why they are naked.

They were NOT happy.

Standing at the dryer, hoping the blankies will magically fall out.

Can you see those HUGE tears???

Mini P banging on the dryer, Monkey watching and hoping...

It was so very sad.  Mini P kept screaming SCREAMING - "bankie, bankie, bankie". Over and over and over. Did I mention over and over and over??? I literally had to drag them out kicking and screaming (I now know how that phrase came to be) - one at a time, racing to get the other and get the door shut and locked before the other snuck back in.

Finally I pulled the blankies out of the dryer, partially wet and handed them out and all was good!