Loud noises and an old soul

It seems I am constantly trying to think of witty little titles for my blog posts. Unfortunately, I come up with lots of post ideas but somehow never find the time to sit down and write what was on my mind!

The other night I was doing my regular routine of trying to cram as many tasks into the small amount of time that we have when we get home at the end of the day. Among other things, I decided to make some baby food for Jarrik as I thought he was probably getting sick of the squash that he had been eating for quite sometime. Making my own baby food is something that was passed down from my mother. She made all of our baby food and I found many reasons that this would be a better way to go than buying the baby food from the grocery store, i.e. no preservatives and I know what I am cooking which doesn't haven't anything added to it except for some water. Anyway, I got the blender out and started blending some green beans up. Everything was fine for a little bit as I watched Jarrik's eyes get huge and then all of a sudden he made the horribly cute baby face that tells you they are scared and not liking the loud noise! It is awful to say that it was cute as he was screaming, but you know that face....just take a look.

The green beans got made and put into their ice cube tray for freezing. Maybe I should wait for Daddy to get home next time so there is someone to comfort him while I make more loud noises.

When it comes to music, I am not too picky. I really do like to listen to most everything, but find that I am a pretty old soul with  my first preference. I know there are a few that know of my music listening style, but to most this may be a surprise. It might also make you think I am a geek and never want to listen to the radio in my vehicle with me!

As we were on the way to some unknown destination at this time, one of my favorite songs came on the radio. I love to listen to older country so the song happened to be "Ya'll Come Back Saloon" by the Oak Ridge Boys. I know what you are thinking...loser!! Anyway, I was just singing along to the song (with it turned up rather loud I might add) and all of a sudden I look over and Mason who is just quietly sitting there kind of moving his head to the beat of the music. A little smile comes to my face as he sometimes hates the music I listen to, choosing to listen to Hip-Hop or Rock over what I like most of the time. Then I look in the backseat and Koryn is sitting there dancing along too! This almost makes a tear come to my eye...love those 2! I might add that the other day on our way to town, I was surfing through the radio stations and passed up a Johnny Cash song when Mason says, "No, Mom go back. That was Johnny Cash!" Ha I have taught him well!

"Neighborhood hangout"

I have recently become a fairly avid reader. It's amazing that this came about after I had given birth to my third child! You would think that in the midst of all the craziness of our lives I wouldn't have time to read a book. But, I find that this brings me a little bit of quietness from the almost constant loud while I am feeding Jarrik or right before I go to bed. In the newest book that I am reading The Stuff That Never Happened by Maddie Dawson, I found a passage about the woman's children that struck me. She speaks of her home being the "neighborhood hangout" when her children were younger. Most of her children's friends would come to her house to hangout after school, before events, etc and she loved this since she was able to know just where her kids were and what they were doing, but also because the other kids felt safe there. As I read this, I found that this is something that I have always wanted. Mason is already at the age of inviting friends over. Sometimes I feel a little bad that he doesn't get to have friends over more often, but when we live out in the country and have 2 other small children in the house, it gets to be a little hairy sometimes! Our doors will always be open to anyone that wants to "hangout", whether it is my kids' friends or our friends.

Mason and a couple friends at his 8th birhtday.

Dressed up in hippy gear and a Jimmy Hendrix (thank you Holly!) for Homecoming.

First Moments

With an 8 year old, a 2 year old, and a 5 month old our house is full of first moments. Being the oldest means that Mason gets to take us through everything for the first time. Recently, those firsts have included tackle football, not telling Mom where he is after school, and of course being annoyed with almost everything that I say. Being a 3rd grader brings lots of firsts in learning, also. It never ceases to amaze me what these kids are expected to learn at such a young age! In practicing for spelling tests, I have almost had to second guess whether I knew the correct spelling of some of the words. Today he ventured to the library after school and checked out "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." While he is pretty inteligent, I think this book is even a little beyond his reading level. I did tell him that we could read it together, but maybe he will surprise me just as he did when he read almost the whole book of Jonah out of the Bible on his own (yes, this is one of the shortest books in the Bible.)

Koryn is full of funny little firsts. I posted a while ago about potty training. We just recently started this sersiously. We have been going for about 2 weeks now and we are definately seeing progress! She is pretty good about keeping her pull-up dry and going in the potty! She is also at the stage where almost everything that comes out of her mouth is hilarious! The other night she looked out the window of the car and discovered that the moon was out. This must have been amazing to her because she gasped and said "MOM, the moon!" and kept on with this for about 5 miles.

Jarrik is the sweetest little guy in the world and is just getting big too fast! He has had lots of firsts that have gone unspoken of for a while. He waited until he was about 4 months old to roll over, and since then has maybe done it once. Laying and kicking while he turns himself in a circle is just much more interesting apparently. He is now eating cereal and vegetables. Daddy made a comment while watching me feed him rice cereal, "Don't feed him rice. Summo wrestlers eat that stuff and Jarrik is big enough!"

Lazy Nights

This post is coming just a couple of days short from when I had intended to write it...There are not many times when this title pertains to this families life. However, the beginning of the week found us spending a Monday night doing everything except our usual rushing around the house. I couldn't help but think how it could have been very different had our sports buff been allowed to participate it 2 sports this fall. Mean old Mom made him choose between soccer and football because both would have been too much for us to handle.
So, we started this last week of September out on a pretty good foot. Among the things that were accomplished on our lazy night were: getting dishes done that had been there for far too long, supper and baths at an unusual early hour, giggles, potty in the "big girl potty", and of course, some pictures while we were just hanging out. Enjoy!

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday Koryn!



My pretty little girl!

Saturday, September 17th marked Koryn's 2nd birthday! What a fun filled 2 years she has brought us already! She is a little girl of many different personalities...even on her birthday she proved that. As we were getting dressed on Saturday morning, I said "Happy Birthday Koryn!" and started singing 'Happy Birthday to you..." Well, let me tell you she DID NOT like this at all! She yelled at me and said "NO!" Hopefully she will learn to love her birthday in years to come, otherwise she is going to have a long road ahead of her.

Holding up the fingers and saying "Two!"

Finally, by the end of the day she was accepting that it was her birthday. She did let me sing to her and she even let me show her how to hold up to fingers and say that she is 2. What a cute little peanut!


Tired out after the party.

We ended up having her birthday party on Sunday so that Daddy would be able to be there. She was definately more into the birthday by the second day! I think she started to understand that birthdays mean eating cake and ice cream and making as big a mess out of it as she wants, presents, and lots of people that love us!! She had a great time opening her presents, although after each one she thought it was time to be done and play with that toy. As we were taking a bath before bedtime, we did our ritual of singing as we rinse off the soap. We sang 'Happy Birthday', among others, and Koryn's version was 'Happy, Happy, Happy!' As you can see from the picture above, it must have been a long day for Dad too!

A very happy birthday to my sweet little girl!!!

Love you to the moon

When Mason was little, "Guess How Much I Love You" was our favorite book. Everytime we would leave each other or go to bed, we would say "Love you to the moon and back again!" Made my heart smile everytime he would say it. Well, we still own that very same book. It isn't in as great of shape as it used to be, but that only means it is used and used well, right?

Koryn is not quite so good at listening to a book being read to her. She lasts MAYBE 2 pages before she gets bored and either tries to turn the pages really fast by herself or she just starts rambling off about something different. As we were on our way home the other night, I simply said "Love you to the moon, Koryn" and that was all it took. She repeated it back to me and I said "And back again". Now she gets quite a kick out of saying this phrase to me. Not only does it make me smile because it is something that we are continuing from when her brother was little, but the way she says it is just so darn cute!! I had to video it last night just so I could share it!

And then there were 4....

Daddy playing with Jarrik while Koryn posses as soon as she sees the camera

It's that time of year again....fall. As much as I love this season, I dread it all the same because with it brings the harvest season. And, what does harvest season mean to us....that our family suddenly went from having 5 members to now having 4 (at least the majority of the time.) Craig informed me about a week ago that they would be starting chopping soon and all of sudden I started to panic. It was one thing when they started last year and I had a 7 year old and a 1 year old. That was doable. Now, though I have an 8 year old, an almost 2 year old, and a 4 month old. Drastic difference. Immediately my mind started thinking of everything that was going on. I think most mothers understand when I say that most of the time we take care of about everything ourselves anyway. But, just knowing that Craig is absolutely not there to rely on is a different story. As with everything else, this too shall pass.

On top of a full work day everyday this week, our agenda includes: football practice, meeting with boss for work, football practice, football game, and then it's the weekend! Enjoy your week everyone!