earthy friends

There's just something about boys in hoodies, so stinkin cute!

"It's so cute, Riah, I kiss it. I just love her" (her?) Um yeah, so he likes the earthworms, they are his friends. He found three and he named them Little foot, Sarah, and Simba. Can you tell what his favorite movies are?

He is petting his wormy, he re-named this one Fish. A little background on this picture, I was recording them on my camera, cause they were all being so cute. Everything started out well. It was some adorable footage. Then I pan over to Bubu, who is holding a worm, I thought. Turned out to be a piece of a worm, a nasty stub, right up close and personal, and he is telling me, "it broke mom", oops... He accidentally pulled it apart. Something went horribly wrong. Guess it's not a good day to be a worm named fish.

Atty with his worm, he was so fascinated with it, and surprisingly gentle too! He had a super wiggly one, I think his worm could sense the unfortunate fate of fish, and he wanted to get out of there in one piece! I'm happy to say his final destination was the compost bin (in one piece).

Spike was a good sport, although he tried to nibble on his a few times, I had to keep telling him we don't eat worms...he will try to eat anything that is not nailed down! His worm was pretty juicy too, so who could blame him. I think this worm will do some damage in the compost bin, he might eat the scraps, and then finish off with the bin!

Once years ago when I was a child, I dared my younger brother to eat a worm, and he did! That is burnt into my memory, I never dared him to do anything nasty again! He was wild. Never under estimate the power you have as an older sibling. In case you are now wondering how evil I am, no I did not dare my boys to eat one, but I am thinking that Bubu might someday...

Spent most of the weekend working in the yard, transplanted a few things, had to get them moved before the ground freezes. Never know when that will be around here! Hubby helped me, and the boys, well they did their part. Bubu is at the age that he likes to "help" on projects, so I try to let him do what he can. The babies on the other hand just like to get into everything, and when it comes to gardening, they think it's a good excuse to eat dirt, yuck! I have never understood why most children have no problem turning up their noses at a perfectly delicious dinner, but they will almost always head straight for the nastiest clump of dirt, or sand, or some other nasty earthy element and chow on it. You would think after tasting something like this the first time, that they would not try it again, but at least in my boys case, this is simply not true. Anyways we had a good time regardless. Saturday was pretty nice out, and even though it rained on Sunday it didn't slow us down a bit. I couldn't help but notice though that a project that would have taken me a few hours tops, before the boys, took a whole weekend! I also have to admit that I am a bit sore today, my arms are aching! I really need to get back into prime gardening shape. I use to do some much gardening before the boys, but it's not so easy now. Some day I will be able to get back to doing the hobbies I use to do on a regular basis, and although I look forward to those days, I also know it will be a little sad, cause that will mean my boys will no longer be little. Sniff, sniff...I am already seeing baby fading into little boy, if I blink I might be looking at teenagers!

personality

I was struck by what different personalities all three of my boys have when we were out on a walk the other night.

The boys were all a little stir crazy because we hadn't had a chance yet to go outside, so I put dinner in the oven and suggested a quick walk outside. The boys love going on walks so we hurried to get all bundled up because it was already dark, and it's getting a lot colder out as the days go by.

We stepped outside and were greeted by wind and rain, guess I should have looked outside first before suggesting a walk! The boys didn't mind though, they were in awe, we don't normally go for walks after dark. I love walks at night, always have. Something about the dark night sky, like a blanket thrown over the earth, everything just seems more peaceful, soothing in some way. I've always loved the wind, it's so energizing, even like the rain, most of the time. When I was a kid I loved playing outside in the rain. It felt wonderful to be out breathing in the fresh air, I felt that child-like awe of the world around me.

I was thinking about all of this as we started to walk and then I tuned into my children and noticed that Bubu was chattering away, "where is the moon", "it's so windy", "I like the wind", "were is the lightening", and on and on and on...he is so inquisitive. So curious about the world around him, and yet cautious, staying close to my side, listening to me when I tell him to follow the safety rules. He doesn't just talk, he wants answers. He will question those answers, he will give answers of his own. He remembers things from long ago that I would think he would have forgotten, that I had already forgotten about telling him. His memory amazes me, it reminds me that he really is listening, always. He was so excited to be out on a walk, with so many new things to question.

Atty on the other hand is immediately running down the sidewalk into the dark without a care in the world. Not a second though, no hesitation, no looking back to see were I am. He just tucks his head down and runs as fast as he can. Only my hollering repetitively, threatening to carry him the rest of the way, while dashing after him, slows him down. He turns to me with the biggest grin on his face, fully enjoying himself in this wild, windy, rainy night. He is absolutely fearless...most of the time. In fact I swear the boy looks for danger. He has an adventurist spirit. His enthusiasm for exploration never ceases.

Then there is Spike, on this walk he was unsure of himself, not wanting to walk alone. When the wind would blow he would cling to my leg, in the dark he reached out for my finger. The little baby in him came out, and he wanted his mommy near for reassurance. Often he acts as if he needs to assert his independence and let us all know that he may be the littlest, but he is no longer little. He hates being the baby, will dissolve into tears if I dare to cut his food up into little pieces, normal refuses to walk if I try to hold his hand and likes to run in the opposite direction constantly. He is consistently contradicting himself, at times clinging to me like a little koala baby, and then sprinting from me the next. He will ask to be picked up and then struggle in my arms. He wants my reassurance, and yet wants to assert his independence. He is such a mixture of so many things.

All three of them are so amazing, and watching them as they develop their own individual personality is so fascinating to me. Nothing ever works the same for all three of them, I constantly have to change my game plan from one to the next. I guess that's what keeps it exciting, or is it the fishing of various items out of the toilet on a daily basis?

Yes we can!

My oldest son and I watched Obama's speech last night together. He is three. I did not ask him to, he wanted to.

He has been cheering on Obama for a while now, and so he jumped up on to the chair with me and snuggled in.

I became overwhelmed during Obama's speech and had tears streaming down my face, and my son looked at me and said "you happy?" I said "yes, very happy" and he said "me too" and proceeded to scrunch up his face in what I am assuming was a replica of what he thought I was doing. If that was the face I was making then I am a bit embarrassed!

We clapped, we cheered, we celebrated.

Then my son said to me "I'm proud of him". My heart overflowed, his praise, his understanding, his interest, those words out of his mouth will be part of my memory of that amazing moment in history. My sweet son telling Obama that he is proud of him. Wow.

I always felt like my son was an old soul, the moment he was born, his eyes, his quiet observation of the world around him, but he amazes me with the depth of his perceptions every day.

I feel so much hope for our country now, and I am so glad that my son shared in the moment with me.

YES WE CAN, and we did!

30 RaNdOm things

Thirty random little things about me. *I just picked thirty because I turned thirty this year, seemed fitting.

1) I love the color green, anything green. I love wearing green because I swear it makes my boring hazel eyes look green.
2) I say I hate shopping, but it's really that I have no money to spend.
3) When I buy stuff for myself I usual feel guilty, and end up taking it back. To avoid this, when I feel like shopping, I buy stuff for my boys and then I don't feel as guilty.
4) I use to smoke cigarettes, and now I am a snob about people who smoke, yuck...seriously can you move away from the doors!
5) I obsessively recycle, and feel guilty every time I send a bag of garbage to the dump. This being said, I still send why to much garbage to the dump!
6) I hate clutter, and yet I have so much of it, drives me crazy. I try hard to hid my clutter, so people won't know how much clutter I truly have.
7) I absolutely love silver jewelry and amber gems. Amber is my favorite, it's so fascinating, being as it is actually ancient sap.
8) I love Fall colors. My closet is full of browns, tans, burgundies, greens and such. I can't stand the colors pink, or purple.
9) I hate doing laundry, mostly the folding. I love vacuuming. Drowns out all the noise.
10) I do not like it when people stop by unannounced, seriously...call first!
11) I clean my house like a mad women before people come to visit, I am mortified when people see my house messy. It seriously gets messy in the blink of an eye with three little boys and a daycare.
12) I often act like I am not upset when someone disappoints me, then I cry when they are not there.
13) I have to fight my anxiety on a daily basis.
14) I have unrealistically high standers for myself, and others. And I am an obsessive perfectionist. I am a virgo after all!
15) I am a control freak, and I'm not saying that lightly. I am a CONTROL FREAK!
16) I don't want to disappoint others, so I go out of my way to please, even when I shouldn't.
17) I rarely wear make up.
18) I look mean when I am not smiling.
19) I dye my hair, because I am getting a lot of grey. And because sometimes I get bored with the way I look.
20) I get frustrated and over whelmed way to easily, although I am pretty good at pretending that I have all the patience in the world. I am so good at it I sometimes trick myself, but I can feel the frustration deep down inside.
21) Sometimes I get a crazy urge to run away. Far, far away.
22) I am still scared of the dark, no joke. That's why I don't watch scary movies, because I can think up scary stuff on my own, thank you very much!
23) I love mango, it's by far my favorite fruit.
24) I weighed over 200 lbs when my first son was born, and I was, at first, more upset about that then I was about being told I had to have a C-section because he was breach, and big (10 lbs 10 1/2 ounces).
25) I don't like ice cream, unless it super hot out and it's in a waffle cone.
26) I like to eat left overs for breakfast, or sandwiches. I only like breakfast cereal when I am pregnant.
27) I tell people I don't want any more kids, but I think I am conflicted inside, because I sort of want a girl. But then again, maybe not. See what I mean!
28) Sometimes I get burnt out on childcare, but it does allow me to stay home with my kids, so I keep doing it.
29) I have hidden dirty dishes in a box before, when I needed to clean my house really fast.
30) I really want to live on some property so I can have a little farm, a big garden and most of all a horse.

A Super Hero and his pets.

So I didn't have a chance to talk about our fun on Halloween in the previous post (check it out, cute pictures!), but we had a blast at a carnival.

Bubu stayed dressed up as Spider Man, although he didn't want to wear the cool Spider Man face mask that my friend found for him, oh well. Spike (the Juicy littlest baby) stayed in his dog costume, he absolutely loved it. Atty (Tank) on the other hand would have nothing to do with his cute tiger outfit. He backed away from it and would throw the most horrible fit if you tried to actually put it on him. It was really dramatic! So I ended up dragging out this Tigger stripped jumper we had in the dress up clothes and tricked him into wearing it. *A while back my oldest and I decided to give the babies funny nicknames, since he gave himself the nickname Bubu when he first started talking, and it stuck. The littlest already has a nickname, Juicy, but Bubu wanted to give him a new one so we settled on Spike (cause he always has crazy hair) and Tank (self explanatory, solid as a brick). Bubu has been insisting that I use the nicknames when talking to the brothers, not sure why this is so important to him right now, but he is constantly correcting me. I swear I get some strange looks when we are out and I am calling my boys Bubu, Spike and Tank....it's funny because we are really such a passive family, and those sound like such burly names. Any ways....

There was a petting zoo, pony rides (Bubu was So excited!), games and more, it was a lot of fun. The plan was to go to the carnival, come home for a bite to eat and then hit our neighborhood for the first time. But, by the time we got home and made food and ate it was around 8 pm! Time flies when you are having fun. So being burnt out (meaning My Hubby and I) and pretty sure the neighbors didn't want to see any more trick-or-treaters, no matter how cute, we elected to stay in. The boys had so much excitement earlier that night, so they didn't even notice or care. Good thing they are still so little, I can still get away with last minute changes like that. Only problem is, now I don't have a candy stash to tax! I am starting to regret that now...I do like my sweets.

Happy Jack-o-lantern day!

A not-so-bouncy Tigger...

Show me your Muscles!

Me and my baby puppy!

Trying to get three little boys and their hairy sister to sit still for a picture is no easy task!

They are all staring at Juicy, cause he actually listened to mommy and left his hoodie on for a picture, WoW!

Meow, this is what I am every year, for lack of imagination.

My Love and Juicy puppy waiting on us.

Say "pumpkin"! Notice my sister trying her best to keep Atty in the picture...

Bubu was so proud, riding all by him self. He could have rode that horse all nigh if they had let him!

Um, yah... they had turkey's in the petting zoo. That's a new one for me.

My sister is holding a chick for the boys to "pet".

Juicy and his long lost twin!

Atty wanted to squish all the animals, so he didn't last long...he just loved them a little to much!

Bubu loved the "fat piggy goats"

I think we might end up being farm folks, my boys and I love animals so much (notice I didn't mention my Hubby).

time alone!

All of the boys took a nap at the same time today, and my husband and I actually got some time alone! It was wonderful. I miss those quiet moments. I guess I never really appreciated them enough before we had kids. That's just the way it was, and honestly at times I found it kind of boring. Funny. Thinking back I am glad we waited as long as we did to have kids. We rarely get time together, just me and him, now days. But we had 10 years to stock piled those moments of togetherness before we had kids. So now when we barely have a moment to spare for each other, we can pull from the memories of a time when it was just the two of us, and it helps keep that spark alive. Sometimes when the house is really loud, and the boys are everywhere, getting into everything, my husband and I just look at each other and those memories, and the stolen moments we find, flood back into our minds and pull us together,. Keep us going strong. I am more in-love with him now then the day we met, but the day to day noise has a tendency to drowned that out. When it's quiet and he turns his beautiful eyes to me, I can think of nothing else.