Splat!

The other day after we got home from our walk, D-D was heading back to her bedroom to get ready for nap. I heard her saying, "Mwommy!! Woootch theess!!! Wootch me do a splat!"

I'm thinking she has somehow managed to climb the top bunk and is getting ready to jump off or she is hanging by the ceiling fan or something of that nature, so I run as best as I can while holding Z to where D-D is. She is in the middle of the hallway, standing, but inching slowly down to the ground. "Ahhr ewe wootching me? See me doing a splat?"

"Wow," I say with much relief, "you are doing a fine job of doing the SPLITS!"

"No, mwomma. Eet's a splat. See?" Continuing on down to the ground, she got as far as her legs would allow when she fell forward, sprawled in the hallway. "SPLAT!" she said when she hit the floor. "Nayow that's how ewe dew a splat!"

A Happ'nin' Saturday

A lot of fun and interesting things happened this past Saturday, September 20. E made his fun "sidewalk" comment (What We Are Hearing post), we went on a hike, saw much of God's wondrous creation, and a few more things that I will share in this post!

About 2 weeks ago (give or take) as D-D, Z and I went on our daily walk, we noticed some little furry crawlers all over a vine at a neighbor's house. I had never seen caterpillars that looked like this and quite often the ones I have seen and collected turned into moths. Since I saw another butterfly with some of the same coloring fluttering around the vine, I hoped (and felt pretty sure) these caterpillars would become like it. I pulled off a small part of the vine with a cute, fat bug-wuggy and brought it home. On the way back to our house I noticed TWO munching on the leaves rather than one.

After a few days of changing out leaves and providing water and protection from the plethora of ants that crawl through this state, one of the caterpillars began to form its chrysalis (the other one crawled away). It was so interesting to watch. For a little over a week we would go check on the chrysalis and this past Saturday when I went for the daily investigation (after having moved the leaf with the sleeping caterpillar to my pepper plants a few days previously) the butterfly had broken free and was building up strength on a pepper leaf. All day he slowly climbed the plant and rested on top through the afternoon rain and Saturday night. It flew away while we were at worship service the next day. I think I was more excited about this whole process than the children were!!! But, they also have experienced a lot of this at school.

I love the coloring on the underside of the butterfly
and how different it is on the top of its wings!

*******

Earlier that same morning, a neighbor came by walking his dog and his children. As all the children played throughout our yard, we parents visited. We began to talk about the things people set at the curb as trash and our neighbor said he was going to set out his elliptical machine they got several years ago and did not use very often. He asked if we would be interested.

YES!!!!

So we now have an elliptical machine in our bedroom. The tensions do not really work, they are pretty much all the same regardless of the number on the dial, but I have it set on 1 to "fool" myself. It feels like it is stuck on the highest tension. Yesterday I worked on it for eight minutes and, as I jestingly told some friends, my heart rate was at 407 and my legs were screaming so loud it woke up the baby! But, this will be good for us. I have gotten so out of shape and now get out of breath very quickly. D and I discovered this when we were teaching a Bible class and after singing one action song with the kids, I had a hard time catching my breath and singing the next song!

*******
And the funnest and best big thing that happened for us on Saturday happened a little before bedtime. Z was walking around behind his little walker, pushing it all over the rooms. Then, he let go of it and took two unaided steps in my direction. His FIRST STEPS!!!!! We were all so pleased: we cheered and clapped, hooped and hollered...and Z sat right down embarrassed and a little frightened and hasn't ventured on his own since!

Nature Walks

Over the past few weekends, the temperatures here have been very pleasant. We do not become dehydrated just by walking to and from the mailbox. Because of this, we have deemed these days as the perfect sort of days to go for hikes. And, fortunately, there is a great park just up the road from us that has several twisting and winding trails. Some of these lead to creeks and over little foot bridges, up hills and down dales. Z rides in the stroller, and after the first few hundred steps, so does D-D. Dana is usually the one to push this stroller over the trees and across the creeks and I am there to give an extra hand when needed.

We have seen mushrooms, lichen, moss and ferns, tadpoles, itty bitty minnows, colossal trees (one of which would take all five of us holding hands and circling it to wrap all the way around the base), butterflies, many different varieties of foliage, and observed how the leaves can separate the sunshine into many smaller rays of light. I am not sure the kids notice all the beauties around them, but they DO enjoy the wonders of the creekbeds.

Pictures of that Nature

Pictures of some of the beauties
we have seen as we have gone
on our walks, though these pictures
are very wanting!!

Riding the Waves

A few weeks ago Dana, MG and E all went to see a Crimson Tide game. They had a good time and though the kids played with the people around them more than they watched the game, they certainly enjoyed being there with their dad. The Tide won their game, and D, MG and E had a nice time riding the waves of Alabama football.

What we are Hearing

It is time for me to be updating the happenings of our little family. I began a list of our doings this morning...unfortunately, I did not write this list down! And tonight, when I have actually seized the opportunity open for me, my brain turns into a puddle of mush! So, I am typing my squishy thoughts in hopes of remembering anything noteworthy.

ummm...


... my thoughts are not even squishy. They are empty!!...

...

Oh, yes!!!


E has been making us laugh again with his misquotes and mispronunciations. We are thankful that this first one was not said correctly, and though we laugh about it, we know that there are many more words and phrases the kids will hear at school and try out at some point. :) We figure this is a good starting point to learn that not all words and phrases are OK for us to say, and then we pray REALLY HARD that they will have (and use) some Godly wisdom and discernment:

E was in his room the other night getting his clothes ready for the next day. He noticed something, I am not sure what since I had my back to him while helping baby Z with pjs, and with bewilderment and incredulous-ness E said, "What the HANK?!!"

I stifled a guffaw and turned to him to ask him to repeat the phrase (I mean...did I really hear him correctly?). He said it again. Then, hiding a smile with great difficulty, I talked to him as serious as I could about what he should say instead and that what he said was not the best way to ask a question. I am still having a hard time explaining to him the why's and wherefore's of rules, but we are all learning!

Then, this past Saturday, E was eating breakfast and he said to Dana, "Daddy, I am a sidewalk man! Do you know what a sidewalk man is?!!?"

"No, " Dana replied as he flipped some more pancakes.

"A sidewalk man is a man with only one eye!!" (E must have closed an eye or something)

"I think," said Dana between chuckles, "the correct way to say that is a CYCLOPS."

Feeling Weird

When we were visiting friends at the end of July, we had E's top two teeth pulled. Earlier in his little life, he got cavities there. He is one of those kids whose baby teeth didn't have much space between them and his top two center teeth had touching sides. With the kids being so little, we didn't think to floss, so food would get trapped in between those two teeth and the result was cavities. Boy!!! Did I feel like a horrible mom when we found that out! We had the cavities taken care of only to have the fillings fall out a few weeks later. This happened a few more times when we just decided to leave it as is and keep the teeth clean and cared for. The cavities were gone, the teeth never got worse, and they were now healthy.

E has always been pretty active, but once we moved, he got even more active. Often, in his rambunctiousness, he would fall and hit his mouth. He did that one too many times, and it "killed" those top center teeth. So, nearly three years after we first began the cavity battle, we had his teeth pulled. Our sweet dentist numbed E's mouth and then let him walk around for a bit while the numbing took full effect. E came up to me after the first numbing stuff was put on, poking his upper lip. "Mom..." he said, "my lip feels really weird! (a few more pokes with his finger) Oahhhh, cool!!! Give me your finger...you've got to feel this!"

Return Policy?!!?

Return Policy?!!? When it comes to the tooth fairy, is there such a thing? Apparently, E thinks so!! E lost his fourth tooth Sunday night. He went to his tooth pillow, put the tooth inside the pocket and then went to brush his teeth. When he came back, the tooth was gone! We searched the floor, the drawers in the dresser, the bed under the dresser, under the bed...behind things. We could not find it. E began to cry, "The tooth fairy already ca-a-ame and took my tooth!!!! I wanted to keeeeep it!!! And she didn't leave ANYTHING!!!!!!!" Really, there was some weeping and wailing from the little guy. We never found the tooth that night and promised to keep looking for it. Dana also helped E write a note to the tooth fairy. It said:



And the tooth fairy left her reply tucked inside a dollar:



Last night, after I had searched some during the day for the missing tooth, E was getting in his bed when he said, "MY TOOOOOOOOTH!!!!!!" It was on the floor, where I had just been looking earlier that day, quite in plain sight! I think that the tooth fairy MUST have found it and returned it. We had one very happy boy falling asleep last night, and a frantically happy boy this morning when he woke up to find his other teeth (minus the VERY first baby tooth), too! I honestly had no idea where the tooth fairy had them!

The Switch

We have two big buckets full of toys we keep in the attic. Every so often, the kids ask us, "Can you please get down the switch bucket?" When we find the moment where this is possible, the buckets come down. The purpose for this is to "switch" the toys every so often. The kids are supposed to empty the buckets and then refill it with other toys. This is what our house looked like for at LEAST a day:


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Making the Cut

Dana and E decided to get haircuts the first day of September. E looks like a different boy to me. After his haircut he got to eat M&Ms. Now, that's the kind of cut to have!!!