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Kate to her brothers (in a taunting voice): "I'm the king of the hassle!"

So true, Kate, so true...

Sweet and Hot

First, this statement would apply to my husband. :) But coming in second these days there is another love in my life - sweet hot mustard.

I get this crazy pregnancy craving for summer sausage (I know, right?) and it just doesn't hit the spot without some sweet hot mustard and some good cheese. Humor me, ok? I've been looking for something new to eat this with. Yum! Also acceptable would be some good BBQ from Bono's or a nice big steak. (Notice a trend here?) I don't know if these other options would work with the mustard though... No, probably not.

Also something I love is this table from this site.

 

Our dining situation continues to bug me. Its like musical chairs except when you're "out" your chair collapses underneath you like matchsticks. One day... hopefully Caleb will make this table for me. :) I would probably do a more traditional stain color. Maybe not though. This picture has a nice, clean, "worn-in" look. A step nicer than "distressed" in my opinion, which is my general look these days. Can't have everything looking like that or people start to wonder. Anyone built from that site before?

The Hang-up

We've been hanging out, eating too much Halloween candy and... yeah that sounds about right. (Frozen Snickers bars rule!!) I made up a realistic-sized candy sampling in a ziplock baggie, and proceeded to polish off the chocolate end of "the candy haul" with some help from Caleb. The night was "spooky" for the kids, who were hesitant of any and all Halloween decorations. Kate entertained us with her commentary all night: "That punkin was LOOKIN at me!" "That's a BIG, scary man." (He was a nice old man in reality.) "AAH! Its a GHOST!"

Bruce's birthday is coming up this month, so we've had many different themes and ideas discussed with the ever-creative Bruce-meister. Also, Bruce insists that we should rename he and Clark the Kratt Brothers (a PBS show), and call them "Martin" and "Bro" (he would be Bro). And, if he had been born a ninja, he could beat up all the robbers that try to sneak around. I took this photo last week of his creative hang-up efforts with his Sunday clothes. I guess it was simpler than the way I told him. :)

Kate has been very entertaining lately, insisting that she is "NOT a GIRL! I am just KATE!" I haven't heard the comments that prompt this response, but I'm sure it can be very trying to be the younger sister to two older brothers. She also has decided that her favorite candy from our Halloween exploits is a pink lollipop. (Don't try to give her a root beer flavor. It will be promptly rejected.) There was a "lollipop incident" during a game of Candyland where the Lollipop Princess card was drawn and relenquished with much angst at the end of the game by a certain self-appointed Lollipop Princess. (No picture of that one. It wasn't pretty.)

Clark has been enjoying the fall time and spent a considerable time making this decoration for his door with the fall leaves taped to the tree. He did an excellent job and put in many hours of work on it. I feel bad around this time of year that we don't live where the change of seasons is very apparent. Fall leaves and snow are mostly seen in pictures and I get lots of questions about why we don't have snow, where does it snow and why don't we ever go there to see it.

 

 

We also found out that our new baby will be a girl! So, we are very excited about that. Name suggestions are welcome. I'm a little over halfway along now (the easy half) and gearing up for our pre-baby move to... (we don't know where yet) at the end of January.

Thanks for reading!

Super... Ladybug?

Happy Halloween everyone.

With love,
Batman, Superman, and Super-ladybug-princess

It's Fall Time

Fall time in Florida that is... we have days that are dropping into the 70's. Yes! My favorite time of the year.

Here I am, writing in this blog. I'm sure there were some of you who wondered if I was done for good. Actually, I did consider just shuttin' it down and deleting the whole thing, but here I am (glutton for guilt that I am) giving it yet another go. My inspiration is a blog that I enjoy reading that had several non-picture posts in a row. There is hope!

We have started school again. Clark in 1st grade and Bruce in Pre-school and Kate sadly left behind. She insists on wearing her own backpack many mornings in hopes that it will be her turn to go to school, and crying when it doesn't happen. Life is tough sometimes when you're 2.

Some happy news - we are expecting #4! A new baby due March 23rd with no hint yet of a name or a gender. Hopefully we'll have some news on that front soon. The gender, not the name. Don't hold your breath for a name. We are determinedly undetermined on the name until the absolute last minute.

Also, I've finally updated our family pictures, so everyone can know what we look like now and not 3 years ago... Here's to new beginnings. Again. :)

The Hoarse Whisperer

About a week ago Caleb & I were sitting on the couch after putting the kids to bed. (phew!) The boys share a room and are allowed to whisper after the lights are out for a little while (usually until they fall asleep unless they get too loud or get out of bed). This rule is mostly for parental sanity, since bedtime can get a little rowdy otherwise. Well, on this particular night I could hear them whispering... Through a closed door... And a fan blowing on high... Down a hallway... Whispering. The loudest whispering I've ever heard in my life. And I have to ask, does it still count as whispering if it's that loud?

Some Videos... Just for Fun

In case you haven't figured it out, I'm not the best blogger in the world. Probably not even second best. Probably. There are some things that mystify me about blogging to this day. I do enjoy reading OTHER people's blogs more than writing my own. I know, after reading my blog I'm sure this surprises you. I don't often comment, or have anything witty to say, but commenting on someone else's blog (no matter how much you love to read it) is a little nerve-racking. The whole comment submittal is like a test, and sometimes (I confess) I fail the little letter part at the end that makes sure you're not a spammer. Oh well, I digress.

As a confirmation of my blogging-impairment I could not get the cute video of my boys to upload. Drat! Here are some fun stories about the boys and videos of Kate are at the end.

Clark is my little perfectionist. He is doing a wonderful job learning to read. We tried the more direct approach where I read with him and sound out every word as we go along, but he got a bit frustrated with me (oops!). Now we're to the point where he has enough interest in reading to sound words out himself. Its been a lot less stressful for him, and he asks if he needs help with a hard word. I try to sit nearby, look out of the corner of my eye, and pretend to not be too interested or he'll stop. As an avid reader it is really fun to watch his love of reading develop. He wrote "I LAV YW" for me a couple weeks ago. I love when little kids spell feh-neht-ik-lee!

Bruce is still my loose cannon. He has a lot of personality in a little person. Actually all of my kids do, but for some reason it just comes in a more quotable form from Bruce. When Clark started Pre-K, Bruce developed an imaginary friend named Jack. He usually makes an appearance in Bruce's stories when other people are talking about something and he wants to contribute to the conversation, but can't think of anything to say. "Jack said/did..." is the most common. Sometimes I don't know how to respond when he asks me if he can pleeeeeease go to Jack's house to play. (Trust me. We've discussed it many times. Jack is completely imaginary.) Bruce is notorious for not seeing things in time when we're driving in the car. "Look! There's a ..." He can never find it in time. Even if we drive really slow. Well apparently he "saw" Jack while we were driving in the car the other day. It went a little like this... Bruce: "There's Jack!" Me: "Where?" (Only seeing a random bike rider on the sidewalk.) Bruce: "Oh... you missed him." Paybacks? I'm not sure.

This gem is lovingly entitled "Redneck Baby" in my computer. You'll see why. Caleb filmed this one while I was cooking dinner and you can tell since no self-respecting mother would video their own baby in only a diaper digging through and eating the contents of discarded cereal boxes on the kitchen floor, but she may post it on her blog because she thinks its funny. Don't judge.

This last video is the story of my life the last little while. Kate emptying the drawer, Kate emptying my purse, Kate emptying the toy box, Kate emptying the garbage, Kate emptying the laundry basket... You see the pattern, I'm sure. Good thing she's so cute because my house is a mess!