Elijah's Birthday Present

Ever since Elijah rode his cousin James' battery powered Mustang this summer, that is all the boy talks about. Well, the little man's 4th Birthday is coming up this Thursday and I had asked him what he wanted for his Birthday. Each time he would reply, "a car that when you push the pedal it goes", just like James. Now that's a pretty tall order for a four year old! However, Daddy seemed to take a liking to James' car and thought it was pretty awesome...it's a man thing I guess. I set out to try and find one second hand (they are sooo expensive) and this is what we came up with....

The smile on his face says it all.

The truck is missing the windshield sticker and it's faded, but he LOVES his "monsta truck"! I was so thankful that the we could get him something that he really wanted on the cheap.

We've been watching a lot of this...

...and this...

...and this, until Sophia fell off the back and bruised her back.

I was pleasantly surprised that the kids haven't fought over it...*yet*. Sophia is happy to ride and doesn't care about being the driver, and Noah is unhappy when it is not his turn and can't drive it yet because he's too small.

I never realized how much exercise it took to keep up with one of these vehicles. The kiddos took it out for a spin yesterday, and I had to jog to keep up. Much of our neighborhood is mountainous, thankfully our home is on flat ground, but the walking paths around the neighborhood are quite steep. Hence, the jogging to keep up with them as they began to careen down a very steep grade on the path. I called over to Elijah to brake, he did, and after he braked, he did a complete 360 degree turn, and went crashing into the mulched base of the tree below which was right next to the busiest road in the neighborhood. Didn't I give him good advice? Sophia and Elijah said it was great and was like riding a roller coaster. I thought it was a roller coaster too, one that involved prayer for my children's safety and lives! :)

After that excursion, they wanted to ride bikes and we did, and after a long and exciting ride (which also involved me jogging with Noah in the stroller) Sophia fell and banged herself up pretty badly. She hit her forehead, shoulder, arm, and hand. Now she has bruises from the monster truck and scrapes and bruises from the bike. Why is it when my girl gets hurt I care, but when it's the boys I don't care as much? Is it because she's a girl and is supposed to be delicate? Why is that?

We went on our annual M&M activity to the Pumpkin Patch today. It was sooo much fun! We got to meet The Barefoot Mama today at the patch too! It's always fun to meet other bloggers in real life!

After today and yesterday I am feeling unusually refreshed and energized, but I am also tired!!!! Hope you all have a nice night!

The Bike Riders!

Here are the bike riders in all their glory. We did the take the pedals and training wheels off the bike thing a couple of weeks ago, and it worked wonderfully! We went out a few times this week and it was amazing to see them take off! I remember when I first rode a bike, and my babies are doing it now. It was such an exciting moment!

Bedtime for Noah

Noah's bedtime involves lengthy conversations started and spoken mostly by the lil' man himself. He woke up a few times in the last month or two, I think because he had a bad dream or something, and he laid against me at 2 or 3 in the morning rehearsing the events of his dream and anything else that captured his fancy. It was so funny to listen to, bleary eyed and in the middle of the night!

Tonight's conversation was especially interesting. First he told me about how he wants to ride in the tractor and go on a hayride...right then and there. Then it was that he wanted to ride PopPop's tractor and move the steering wheel in PopPop's work truck. When I kept shutting him down with, "no, not now, it's bedtime" he resorted to the "I needs". "I need a cookie, Mommy". "I need ice cream, Mommy". I need Lejo (jello), Mommy". Why ask for plain old water or bread when you can go for the gold and ask for all the treats your little two year old mind can remember? Next was a few rousing rounds of "How Did Moses Cross the Red Sea" sung by me and then "by myself" boy. I *thought* things were winding down when he broke the silence with, "Who tooted?" I said, "it must have been you." He followed with, "Daddy tooted. Sophia tooted. Daddy stinks." A minute later he proceeded to blow raspberries. What is it with boys???

I love these conversations.

As an update, the boy took a fantastic nap today and slept wonderfully last night...I was sooooo thankful! He was also a lot more sedate today, I think because he is finally catching up on sleep. We got all of our schoolwork done; it was great...we'll see what happens tomorrow. ;)

This week

This week has been unusually difficult. Difficult meaning that the little climber has been using his skillz extensively! The beginning of the week was especially challenging. He seems to be evening out a little bit - he still climbs out, but not as much and he has taken a nap the last 2 or 3 days. A few of the days this week he took no nap....that means he was on the run from sunrise (and I do mean sunrise!) to sunset! It has been really hard to do school with Sophia with him running amuck, much less do anything else. He was also really hyper because he was not getting enough sleep. Today he seemed a little more sedate.

I had a ultrasound and Dr. appt. today and then I had to do birthday shopping for family. We have 8 birthdays and 2 anniversaries in our families from mid Sept. to Nov. 18, Noah's birthday. It's just a regular birthday alley! Elijah's bday is the 16th, Graeme's is the 27th, our anniversary is the 21st. My wonderful marvelous Mommy watched the kiddos for my appts. and then I did some secretive birthday shopping for the boys. I *think* I am done bday shopping except for Graeme, but I know what I am getting him.

The ultrasound was so neat. The baby didn't really look like a baby, just a peanut, but there were four little white dots on the corners of the peanut and they were the hands and feet and you could even see them wiggling around...very cool. Our practice got a new U/S machine and I could see and hear the heartbeat. That was really nice. My EDD is 5/12, and I am 9W3D. That's around what I had thought and everything looked good, praise the Lord.

I have some fun things to post, but as I mentioned afore, I haven't had a lot of time to sit still as my little man is a Mover with a capital M! Oh well, (insert Scarlett O'hara voice), "tomorrow is another day!".

TTFN y'all!

Kid Quotes

As I recall when I was a little girl, the brushing of the hair was usually an unhappy time, punctuated with, "ouch" and "that hurts"! Sophia is equally fond of getting her hair combed. As I combed her lovely locks this past Sunday, she said, "Ouch, that hurts! You just touched my sensible spot!"

Elijah, a foodie at heart, who takes after his mother when it comes to some serious eats, was soooo excited to be going out to eat when we were on vacation. He said, "Mommy, I want some of that...that....strolleyboney pizza". He meant stromboli. I love it too son. :)

And then there's Noah, 80 mph, 0.5 mpg child. He never.stops.eating! He says he's done and you clean him up (which is no small chore) and he wants more and more and more...boys. He says a lot of things. More than both of the older kids put together I think. The noise and the activity make for a whirlwind-like presence. :) He's an extremely happy boy and is very excitable. I lurve him. He reminds me of myself.

Anyhowser, Graeme took the kids to the pumpkin patch on Saturday to play on all the cool farm equipment. They were all playing on the sliding board when suddenly Noah had "gotten lost" again. He has a habit of doing this. Graeme started looking for him, and spotted him in line, trying to get on a hayride. He was disappointed when Sophia removed him from the line. My other kids would have been afraid of going to other people, but not my sunny little boy. He sees fun, he wants to be in on the action no matter who the company is. No wonder Graeme has gray hair. :) For the rest of the day he kept saying, "tractor", "take a ride", and when I would ask him if he wanted to go on a hayride he would reply with a enourmously enthusiastic, "ME!"

Political funny

My Father in law sent me this video and I think, given the upcoming elections and ALL the political coverage of policiticans, it is very funny and applicable. Enjoy!

Escape Artist

Look what Noah did today....

He continued his new tricks some seventy-eleven times. He even turned off his sound machine after he got out of his crib, apparently, he's aware of the rising cost of electricity and wants to do his share to conserve.

This video is my favorite of him doing his new antics because it is just so him. Adding a little extra drama for the camera (hanging on and flipping around instead of just getting down) and constant chatter. He talks more than Sophia and Elijah combined. Who says boys don't talk as much as girls do?