Know what these are???

Crazy Kids!!! Anybody know what these are on their heads? My kids can find anything and make it into something fun. I love the pictures of Blake and Jakeb because I don't have many pictures of them two goofing around. They seem to really be enjoying each other right now. They have a lot of the same interests, and Jakeb looks up to Blake so much.
Anyway, if you know what these are...then I applaud you........I'll give you all a clue, post a comment. It's something that belongs to Eric.

playdoh

The kids have been begging to play with some Playdoh, so I finally caved. The older boys were playing with it a lot yesterday, probably a couple of hours. Today, they lessened their time to about 30 minutes, but Kaleb was able to get into the fun too. Here's some pics....(Yes, I know we have way too much Playdoh stuff.)

High Blood pressure

Okay, so ask me why I have high blood pressure........go ahead, just ask me. I had a doctor's appointment today and a sonogram. They wanted to check the baby and see how big she was. Well, guess what......according to the measurements (that they took twice and used the smaller measurement) the baby is already nine pounds and four ounces give or take a pound. AHHHHHH!!! Talk about one whopping baby! Now you must realize that I still have four weeks left.. that's 1/2 a pound a week, so if she goes full term...that could be up to eleven and a half pounds. Does anyone remember the fact that I didn't want to be induced??? In fact, I was willing to go late because of all the activity going on around our house the last couple weeks of June and the first weeks of July. But noooooooo, Makenna's not listening to me already because the doctor is strongly urging me to be induced at thirty-eight and a half weeks. This is not fitting into my plans at all, huh? Did you notice that the little ticker says that the baby should be about six pounds and about nineteen inches??? Shoot she was measuring over 20 inches too. Maybe I should change her name to to Helga or Bertha. Those names just sound like big burly women names. Makenna doesn't quite sound too burly. I'm just praying that she decides to come on her own before them.
Here's a picture of her. She wasn't really cooperating too well for the technician. This is a picture of her face, but she has her arm over her face, so you can barely make it out at all.
Oh, anyway...I forgot about the whole blood pressure thing. When the technician told me how big she was, I seriously almost cried. I just always pictured having a little girl. Regardless, after the sonogram, I was telling the nurse about it all. She took my blood pressure, and it was higher than normal. She told me that I had gotten myself all worked up. Ya think?

the letters

It's past 2:30 in the morning when I'm typing this, but I wanted to post the pics of the letters that we're going to hang above Makenna's crib! Oh my word, I just actually called her Makenna for the first time on my blog, didn't I? Usually I just call her the baby girl. Here's the letters up close. And here's the canvas along with the wooden flowers that I'm gonna put on the wall next to it.

My altered Canvas

Here's a clue in to what we're naming the baby....okay well, actually, it totally gives it away. Even though the Reagan won the poll (with a 120 votes, 52% to 48%...most likely thanks to Mindy who insisted on voting 85 million times), we decided to go with Makenna. I made this to go up in her room. I haven't decided if it's going above the changing table or the book shelf...but either way... it's going up. So what do you think? I tried to make the flowers look like the ones in her comforter. I got all the colors from it. It's my first canvas that I've made, so don't look too closely or you'll see mistakes. Now I have to do wooden letters for her wall. Wish me luck!

I'll have to save Reagan for the next kid's name!

Personalities

These pictures just make me think about how...while a lot of people say my kids so much like each other..they are definitely each their own unique personality. Here we have Blake who is very imaginative and quirky..hence the reason for the water gun in the Uncle Sam photo. Sometimes I accuse of him of thinking that he's a know-it-all.....seriously, just look at that face. Doesn't he look like he knows it all? He's pretty independent and well, he just makes me smile. Sometimes when you least expect it he'll plop down on the couch...almost on top of you just because he wants to be close.
Here's Luke with his "smart look." He loves to learn...anything and everything. He loves puzzles and games and definitely the computer. He's sweet and wins your heart quickly, but don't let this innocent face fool you....he's sneaky too. Luke is the friendly, out-going type kid. We'll go to the park or a play land, and within minutes he'll know every boys' name there.
And Jakeb...look at that face. He's got a glint of mischief in his face. It's almost like he's thinking..."What kind of trouble can I get into when she's done taking my picture?" He reminds me the most of my dad. I think it's because he's so loving at times, but then he's mischievous at other times. Sometimes he tends to think he's the only one in a family of 4 boys, and gets a little upset when he doesn't get his way. But then he's as sweet as can be. He loves his family very much and is very affectionate. Of course, a lot of times he is affectionate when he's getting in trouble, but he's still very loving. He's thrilled about getting a new baby sister and enjoys touching her...by touching my belly. Sometimes he even says, "I want to kiss the new baby girl."
Here's Kaleb....always doing something that isn't necessarily wrong, but it's not exactly what you want either. He's funny and cute, and he knows it. He has his own sense of style, and doesn't like that word..."no." But then he's awfully sweet and loves his mommy so much. Sometimes he'll come up to me for absolutely no reason and wrap his arms around my neck, kiss me, and say, "I wuv you!" He's so precious!

Man! I LOVE MY KIDS!!!

Water GUNS

My mom gave the boys some water guns last night. They had been dying to get outside and play with them. They had been playing with them all morning without water, but after lunch we filled them up, went outside, and the wars began. They had the time of their lives. Blake and Luke probably enjoyed them the most considering they were constantly battling with each other. Every time they chased Jakeb, he would complain about not wanting to get wet...which completely defeated the purpose of water guns, but they decided to ignore him. Jakeb went off on his own and just shot the grass or the trees or some other inanimate object. Kaleb thought they were fun too, but he enjoyed just shooting them in his mouth the most! Figures, huh?

Decided on a NAME!!!

Well, we've decided on a name, but to put you all in suspense a little longer.....I don't think I'm gonna tell just yet. I went shopping yesterday and bought the letters of her name for her wall. I plan on decorating them along with some other stuff that I bought to decorate the walls like a huge flower, some unfinished wood door hooks, and well.....everything I got was cute. Now I just have to hope that it all turns out okay. I was so happy that everything I bought was 50% off at the wonderful Hobby Lobby. Gotta love that store. When I get it all up on the walls...then maybe I'll share the name. (Cruel, huh?)

Somebody got in TROUBLE...

The poor little guy. He must not have liked what what we had for dinner which was hard to believe considering it was simply sausage, cheese, and noodles. But well, he ate all the sausage just fine, but when it came to the noodles....he refused. He didn't want any part of it. He actually took one bite and kept it in his mouth four close to thirty minutes. He lost his chance to play MONSTER JAIL game because he wouldn't eat his food, and he STILL wouldn't swallow his food which in turn resulted in receive a few spanking from daddy. Then it was back in the chair to eat. Eventually, after sitting there for soooooooooo long, he started to fall asleep. Would you believe that he never did eat his food???? Stubborn little kid!

Baby's room Phase 2

I like to call this Phase 2 meaning....the basics are done. We're ready to have the baby. The walls are painted. The chair rail and trim is up. The new window is put in. And the furniture is put in the room. (By the way...what do you think of my $40 crib??? Pretty cool, huh? It matches the changing table nicely...which I also got at a garage sale for Kaleb for only $20)

This is the view you see when you first walk into the room. (Let's disregard the sanitizing wipes that I left on the bookshelf which most of you would probably not have even noticed until I said something. Oh, and obviously we'll not leave te fan in there forever either.)

Then if you look to the left a little you see the closet and the changing table. We still need to put doors on the closet too.

Here's a close-up of my little book shelf with bins that we'll use for a dresser for the time being. (Remember I told you about the shadow box that my friends Richi and Stephanie gave me at my shower??? There it is on top of the shelf. I haven't decided if I'm gonna hang it on the wall or not.)

A close-up of the changing table. NOTE: my $5 baskets on the bottom shelf!! Cute, huh?

And the we have a close-up of the crib. I hung the comforter out just so you could see how cute it is again (minus the pale yellow that I'm hiding just like Target did).

Everything else can come later like the curtains, rugs, accessories. I plan on getting the letters of her name (which I think I'm keeping a secret now.) and decorating on the wall above her crib. I plan on putting some pictures up above the changing table. And maybe adding a lamp or something. I would love to find a white rocking chair, but I'm not gonna hold out too long for that. So what do you guys think?? Does it match as good as I hoped? Too bad it's about to be ruined by putting our queen bed right smack-dab in the middle of the room for us to sleep on until the new addition is done.

How can 1 kid.....

...get so messy???? I mean seriously, look at his shirt and his shorts. He must use them for napkins. I actually asked him that, and his answer was...., "Yup!" with a huge grin on his face!ARGHHH!!!!

Fireworks just for KIDS

So this is what we did tonight. After eating, we went outside where the boys could play with some fireworks....those little pyro's. I swear one of these days my house is going to be burnt down by fireworks. They are all so obsessed, but they sure do have fun. First we pulled out the little poppers that you just throw to the ground and they make the popping sound. (I used to love those as a kid.) Afterwards, Eric pulled out some sparklers. The kids really did enjoy those. They haven't done those since last summer. As you can see in some of the pictures we had a little fire episode where we actually had to get the hose. (We haven't had to do that for a couple of years.) A sparkler decided to malfunction, and Eric decided to re-light it anyway and throw it in the trash can where it didn't go out like we all thought it would. Oh, and once Kaleb started to chase Eric with a sparkler. You should have seen Eric run. It was great.

Double Takes

We went grocery shopping today to Meijer and to Costco, and you would not believe the number of double takes that we got when we were out. There we were walking up the aisle with our monster cart. You could see the calculations going on in their heads....one in the cart, two sitting on the bench....oh my, she's pregnant again...1+2+1 =...crazy lady..... They look away.....oh my goodness.....there's another one coming around the corner of the aisle....That lady is about to have FIVE Children, and four of them are BOYS!....well, I really hope that last on is a girl.

I am so not even kidding. You can see it on their faces. Some even venture out to tell me that, "Wow, you must have your hands full!" or they might ask, "Is the next one a girl?" followed with a, "Oh, Congratulations!" But I can tell...they all think I'm psycho!

Deal of the Day

After going to the doctor, I stopped Target to get some laundry detergent, and of course to peruse the baby aisles and possibly the clearance aisles. I found some pretty good deals. I got a Superman toy for Blake that came with Clark Kent and Superman (He loves to have the before and after guys so he can switch them out.) for only $4. I'll be saving that for his birthday. And I also found my deal of the day. I found these white baskets: They were at the very top of the clearance endcap and they're HUGE. (They actually come with three choices of ribbon...blue, green, and pink.) I've been looking for some baskets for the baby girl's room. I actually almost bought not even half the size of just one of these yesterday for $6. I was gonna put diapers in it. Now I'm so glad that I put it back. I got these for only $5!!!!!! Not each, but both of them for five dollars!! What a deal, huh? They had a tag on them that said sold as is; and for the life of me, I couldn't find anything wrong with them. They will look perfect on the changing table!!!! Aren't they cute?

Went to the Dr. today...

...and had a quick check-up. He did a sonogram just to see the baby's heartbeat. I made him check again to make sure there were no "boy parts" growing anywhere. According to the doctor, she's still a girl. I start my weekly visits next week. I'll have a sonogram done by the technician to make sure everything is growing healthy and strong. I'm assuming we'll find out how big she supposedly is next week, and then he'll try to convince me to get induced. I can't believe we're getting this close!! I have to pick out a name.

Run in with a bug again

We had a run in with bugs again. Lately if Kaleb sees a bug, he'll still go berserk especially if he sees a fly in his room. (I know you're probably wondering why we have flies in our house since we don't really live in a barn, but hey, you tell the boys in my family that.....Doors are constantly left open!!) Anyway, yesterday when he went down for a nap, once again....I heard him screaming like a banshee because he saw a bug. You can totally tell when he sees a bug because it's a scream and cry unlike any other scream or cry that he has. I seriously had to go in there and make him lie down. Eventually, the cries turned to snores, and he was fine. But then when we went outside to play in the front yard, he must have seen more flying bugs. (By the way, it's usually just the flying ones that do this to him.) This was Kaleb for at least five minutes. Seriously,no lie, he was walking around like this because he saw a bug. He couldn't see where he was going or anything. I was so sure he was gonna fall and get himself hurt. Finally I peeled his hands away from his face and just held him for a bout 10 more minutes. The realized that his brothers were having a lot of fun with the sprinkler and decided to join them......very carefully looking around for bugs.

Cool pics

of the kids....


and of the flowers...

A fun day

It was a hot day outside, so after naps we went outside to enjoy some ice cream.
After they finished their ice cream, Blake and Luke wanted to get their golf clubs out and start teeing up. (Is that even what you would call it? Who knows?) They do pretty good out there. Even Kaleb joined in for some fun. He was hilarious to watch. I'm serious. He would swing at the ball about 10 times, and then he would finally hit it. He would never get up...such perseverance!Notice Jakeb wasn't in golf pictures. He wanted to play in the sand table, so he pouted until we went over there. They ended up not being able to play that for very long because they kept fighting over who could have the most sand. Can you believe it? Sand!
Eventually Daddy got home and started watering the plants with the sprinkler thingy and the boys thought that would be great fun too. They decided to get wet. The rule was: they could get as wet as they wanted, but if they went inside to change, they couldn't play any more in the sprinkler uneless they just simply took off their shirts. You would have thought that I told the older boys that they had to run around naked. The older boys played for awhile, said they were done, went in to change, and then wanted to play in the water some more. So the choice was theirs....to play shirtless or not to play at all. Blake absolutely refused to return to the water even though he wanted to sooooooooo bad. Luke eventually caved, but it helped to have his two younger brothers shirtless. Blake never did give in, the crazy little overly-modest boy.

Creek

Before the boys' t-ball game yesterday, we went to the park to play. I took pictures when the boys started to play in the creek that they have there. Jakeb and Kaleb loved throwing the rocks into the water. I kept hearing Kaleb say, "Mom, watch me!" Blake and Luke didn't get to play too much because they had to go warm up for the t-ball game.

My little red head's funny faces

I can't believe how red his hair looks. Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted a red-headed, curly headed baby. Well, I got one! The more he's out in the sun, the redder it looks. But htat's not the reason of this post really. The reason of this post is so you can see a little bit more into Jake's personality. He sure does make me smile. I'm not even positively sure why he was sitting here letting me take pictures. He could have been in trouble, and then knew that if he let me take a few pictures of him, then he would be free to get up sooner. That's just how smart he is.

Old Fashioned Fun

We had some good ole' fashioned fun today after garage saling. Well, it might not be that old, but I used to do it when I was a kid. We chalked on the patio. The boys loved it.

Blake decided that he was going to start with a square and color it blue, and then eventually color the entire patio blue. Too bad the chalk ran out.

Luke was just enjoying scribbling at the moment.
Jake has proof on his face that he was enjoying the chalk.And Kaleb....poor, poor Kaleb....he started out so well with his piece of blue chalk until his brothers broke it in half. He then proceeded to start crying, thew a fit, and then threw his chalk out into the bush. Eventually, Mr. Grumpy pants calmed down and started enjoying it again.

Then I showed them how to make a hopscotch grid. Only Luke and Jakeb were into it, but it sure was fun to watch them hop.

I love this picture of Luke. It looks a little bright and stuff because I took it facing the sun, so originally it was completely dark. But he sure does like to jump and play games.

Look at Jakeb go on the Hopscotch!!!