Click for Cans Update

Just a friendly reminder to keep "Clicking for Cans". We are currently undefeated in the standings. Today when I voted I checked the vote totals. Campbell's can "reinvent" the game as much as they want but they can't stop Packer fans! Look at these vote totals! Some teams only have votes in the double digits...not naming any names (Arizona)...and us...well...we're winning, of course.

These were the vote totals as of 11:30 am today. Clicks, so far, for this weeks match ups only:

A Little Bit More Living Large!!

For awhile now I have felt we were outgrowing our old table (even with the space adding bench). However, a new table that fits our needs is a bit pricey to say the least! So I started checking Craiglist.com every few weeks. If you aren't familiar with Craigslist it is an online classified ad service. Much better than the classifieds in the paper.

I had seen a few tables here and there that might work for us. But they weren't really exactly what I had in mind. Wrong style. Wrong color. Too bulky. Too far away to pick up. Last Thursday I ran a quick search again and there it was...the table I had pictured! In Green Bay! Priced reasonably!

Jerry was a bit skeptical but decided to at least humor me and check it out. We took the seats out of the back of the van "just in case" and came home with a 9 foot solid oak table with 2 chairs and 4 benches that can seat 10 comfortably (more if you squeeze)! It is in excellent shape. I don't know why anyone would have a table that large unless they had several children but it definitely doesn't look like it was used by a large family.

An added benefit is that it was a donation to Freedom House which is a local shelter that helps homeless families. Roz volunteers there once a month with the youth group from church. The table was too big to be of use to them so they wanted to sell it. It was nice to know our money ($450 in case you are wondering) was going to a good cause.

Here (above) is how we have it currently. One chair at each end and one bench on each side. Then we pull the high chairs up to the table at meal times to fill in the empty spaces. The table is about 7 1/2 feet with one leaf in, so it can be shortened to about 6 with no leaves.

This (above and below) is what it looks like with both leaves and all the benches/chairs. As you can see it matches the window/door trim and cabinets quite nicely. It fills the dining area but still leaves room to walk around. The only thing that doesn't line up nicely is the light fixture (which was always off above the old table too).

Not only is it longer but it is a good deal wider than the old table as well. Jerry wants me to fill the middle up with platters of fried chicken and big bowls of mashed potatoes. I told him he had to wait until the boys could pass the dishes before that will happen. :) So when are you coming to dinner? We have plenty of room for you!

Fall

Fall is my favorite season. Here are some photos to show you why! These were taken at my Mom's house this past weekend. What you can't get from the photos is the feel of the cool, crisp air and the sound of geese honking or crunchy leaves under your feet.

Fall Colors

The Oconto River...I should blow this one up!

This shot is for Grandma Molly!
Sandhill Cranes snacking before the big trip south

Weekend at Grandma's

This past weekend we headed up to Grandma Linda's and Pa's for a little visit. Jerry went on an early deer hunt while the boys and I visited and ate sweets. Jerry didn't get anything but we all had a good time anyway. Here are a few photos:

On a "nature walk" looking for acorns, leaves, rocks, or anything else that strikes the boys as interesting.
A stop at the pond to throw rocks into the water. Always a fun thing to do. No one has fallen in...yet!
A posed shot for mom along the Oconto river. Justus said the sun was in his eyes even though it was behind him!

Decorating "fall" sugar cookies. We baked them one day and decorated them the next.

Thanks Grandma Linda and Pa! We'll see you in a few weeks for more adventures. Tell the deer to not be so elusive next time!

Who are these stowaways?

Before we headed out of town to Grandma Linda's on Friday afternoon, we stopped by the high school to go to a little fundraising carnival that the French Club was sponsoring. When we arrived Roz was working the cake walk. Wesley, Eli, and I tried our hand...errr, feet...at it. Wesley won and got a delicious cake from Uncle Mike's! It ended up that he didn't like the raspberry filling, but I thought it was great!

On a side note, why is it that boys around age 6 or 7 lose the ability to smile naturally? It drives me crazy. I remember Carter did the same thing at this age. I am going to start cropping these silly smiles out of my photos! End side note.

The other boys also won various odds and ends for prizes. Bracelets, suckers, etc. In addition to the cake, Wesley won these little fake mustache and eyebrow stickers. Wesley wanted to wear his to "surprise" Grandma so "she wouldn't know who he was when he got to her house".

Of course, Justus and Eli had to try them out too! Then they disappeared. The stickers, not the kids. Don't ask me where they went. I have no idea. Honest. I don't.

Eli's First Bubble

With the help of modern technology (i.e. a digital camera and a blog), this is the first time I have ever been able to capture and share this "first" on camera. It's Eli's first bubble gum bubble! He's been working on this feat for awhile now. He finally got it...and boy is he proud!

*Note to self for baby book documentation: This picture was taken Friday October 17, 2008.

JD

Here are a few shots of JD. If there is something to get into...he'll find it. Here he is helping me dust with the Swiffer duster. I told him to reach up a bit higher but he didn't listen and dusted the rug by the back door instead.
Here is another shot of him getting higher but not to dust! Just because he can. He loves to stand on his little cart.
He is in the middle of the room here but he does know how to push it over by the table or desk and use this as a way to reach things. Sometimes I'll be sitting at the computer and see little fingers or all of a sudden the mail will disappear. He has pretty good balance and hasn't fallen off more then once or twice. It helps that he refuses to wear socks...so he has good traction at least!

At times it seems to me he gets into so much more stuff than any of his brothers ever did. But I think it is just the way this house is set up. At the old house the boys were pretty well confined to the living room. At this house all the boys, including JD, have a lot more freedom. Too bad he doesn't appreciate just how lucky he is! He's too busy pulling all the kitchen towels and washcloths out of the drawer to stop and think about it!

JD is taking several steps at a time now. He can get to standing all by himself too. I'll try and get a video and post it in the next few days. I'm sure within a few weeks he'll be walking all over the place!

Living Large!

Here is Wesley with his project from last week. An extra large, life size Joseph...wearing his coat of many colors of course! We actually traced Wesley and added the coat. He enjoyed seeing himself "on paper". We put him up on the wall (a bit too high!) but had to take him down because JD was messing with his feet and we didn't want him to get ripped.
Roz got us this huge container of cheese balls. They were leftovers from an activity at school and when they offered them (being the good frugal daughter she is) she took them and brought them home. As you can see, Justus and the rest of the boys enjoyed them!
I saved the container to use for some kind of storage. Wesley suggested we make it a cookie jar...that would be a LOT of cookies! When I mentioned that he didn't seem to think it would be a problem.

Published!

Well, I finally did it! I have been wanting to do this since May when I had blogging for one year. I had the first year's worth of blog posts published in book format. So I guess that means I am now offically a published author.

I used an online company called Blurb. They have a program you can download onto your computer. You give them some info and they pull all of your blog posts into the program. You are then able to edit out and reformat to your heart's content. I found that was the most time consuming (and fun!) part. Backgrounds and fonts are available to dress up the pages, almost like a digital scrapbook. I didn't do too much of that since I wanted it to look like it did on the blog. I did add backgrounds to a few pages just for fun.

When you are done editting you upload the finished product to their site and they print it for you. Only when you print do you have to pay. Everything up to that point is free. Books are pretty reasonably priced depending on number of pages and cover style. I chose a hard cover with dust jacket and my book was about 120 pages. I had a free shipping code so I saved a bit with that and ended up paying just over $50. This frugal momma choked a bit at the cost but the finished product turned out great and is...well...priceless.

Cover

Pages (above and below)

Inside back dust jacket

Blurb isn't just for blogs either. If you have a book you want to publish, they will do it for you. One book or 200. Stories, poems, cookbooks, photos, etc. You can order a copy of any book on their site, including mine (although mine is set to "private" right now--if you want the link let me know).

A Visit to the Fire Station

I'm a bit behind...here are a few photos from last weekend's trip to the fire station. The weather was beautiful! Some years we have had to wear winter gear but not this time.

We visited for a few minutes with my Uncle Mark who is a volunteer fire fighter. Wesley even got to try on his helmet! The boys wore their fire engine shirts and we got several comments on those. Although Uncle Mark noticed the trucks said Oshkosh FD because their shirts were from Oshkosh B'Gosh.

Justus and Eli were a bit nervous at first and didn't want to try out some of the activities. But they warmed up eventually. ALL the boys enjoyed the popcorn and other treats available for munching.

Trapped!

Well, we had an interesting start to our morning. The boys were playing nicely and I was checking the weather on the computer. Eli and Justus were in the boy's room and had shut the door. Wesley tried to get in but said they were blocking the door so he couldn't open it. Both parties, inside and out, were moving the door knob but the door wouldn't open.

At first, I just thought the door was locked and I could use the little "key" to pop it. Nope! The knob was functioning and the door was NOT locked but would not open. No problem. Eli did this at the old house. You just have to take the knob apart. Oh, wait...the screws to take the knob off are inside the room...you know...where the boys are...

Eli: "We're trapped!"
Justus: "Call the fire department. They'll get us out with their ax!"
Wesley: "They'll be locked in there forever!"
Me: "Everyone calm down!"

I made a quick call to Jerry to see if he had any suggestions. Unfortunately, he did not. So I got dressed and took the little ladder out to the boy's window. Various orders were given: Open the blinds. Move Hayden's bed over. Farther. Push up that lever. Now push up that lever. Try harder. Push really hard. Move. Let Justus try. Okay, now crank the handle. Now Eli put your fingers in this hole and Justus in this hole and lift. Now pull the screen towards you.

Shouts of joy! "We're free!"

Mom to the rescue!

I lifted each boy out the window and carried them through the yard into the kitchen. Then I went back and climbed in with the screwdriver to try and get the knob off. I got the knob off and discovered the problem. The pin that moves the latch was broken. So the whole assembly remains off until dad gets home to fix it.

Roz (she hadn't left for school yet) and I thought the whole thing was pretty funny. In fact, I told her to snap the above shot cause I knew this would be a great blog post! Then I got to thinking...what if it had been a different door. Like the door to our closet where there are no windows. What if it had been different kids...like Hayden and JD. I don't know how I would have gotten them out! Then it wouldn't have been so funny...oh, I would have gotten them out one way or another, but either a door or window would not be intact.

So in the end, I am thankful. Thankful for a good laugh to start off my day. Thankful that it was the twins who got stuck. Thankful they remained fairly calm and obeyed my directions. Especially thankful that no door or window had to be smashed with an ax to remove them!

And tonight we are going to try and figure out a way to turn all the door knobs so that the screws are on the outside!

Weekly Projects

At the end of each week, Wesley (with my help) makes some kind of project related to what we studied in history. Some of the things we have made include a family tree, cave paintings, and an Egyptian crown. After learning about the first writings we made a cuneiform tablet. Actually, we made two tablets since the first one we made was picked up (by me!) a bit too soon, before it had a chance to dry completely, and cracked. Here is what our finished cuneiform looked like:
It says Wesley Shown (vertically) in some made up cuneiform alphabet from our history book. We put holes in it so we can hang it up somewhere.

Wesley's favorite project so far was the sugar cube pyramid we made last week. He had never seen a sugar cube before and was quite happy to taste one that had cracked.
The homeschool group has a project fair. I told him I think he should make a little display of all the things we have made for the fair. He said he would like to do that so we might have to give it a try.

My (Already Invented) Invention

A few weeks ago I got fed up with our bathroom situation. The boys bathroom started to stink about 5 minutes after I cleaned it. I am telling you those boys cannot hit the toilet bowl! They end up going towards the back where the pee gets behind the bowl area but under the tank. I tried put a towel around the toilet and then changing it each day but the problem wasn't really on the floor.

[Quick side note, Grandma Grey Squirrel has a sign in her bathroom that says something like...
My aim is to keep this bathroom clean, Your aim will help.
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Guess it's the plague that affects all mothers of boys!]

We have TWICE taken the toilet apart to clean it. I am not kidding...we removed the tank, unbolted it from the floor, and then put it back after cleaning both toilet and floor with bleach. A day or two later it started to stink again. It was driving me crazy! Even the room freshening plug in things I've gotten for free weren't helping.

I decided I wanted to convert our toilet to a urinal. Somehow. Some way. I really was going to do it. A home urinal. I'm telling you I thought I had a million dollar idea on my hands until I googled "toilet to urinal conversion". Some one else obviously had boys with an aiming problem. So for about $20 I ordered the Potty Shield. The day it arrived we took the toilet apart one last time, gave it a good cleaning, put it back and hoped for the best.

It has been AWESOME!! Help delivered in a box from UPS! Daily frustration gone! The problem area remained clean for DAYS! All the boys got instructions on removing it and replacing it. (Included with the thing is a little mat that sits on the floor to rest it on just for that purpose). Once Wesley didn't put it back on and then went pee without it. After I saw the mess it made he got in BIG trouble and let's just say I'm pretty sure he won't forget again.

No, I am not a paid spokesperson. Although I would be if they'd hire me! The amazing thing about this (besides a clean toilet!) is that I was even able to find this product. Google to the rescue again!