Thanksgiving Number Two

We went to my mom's house Saturday for a mini-thanksgiving. The boys enjoyed playing with my brother, Travis and they all (except Brody) played a big football game after dinner. Here are some pictures. my brother and the boys playing Nate and Brody (and Nate's new friend, Susan's dog, Maxwell)

Brody watching the boys play football outside.

me and my boys

Brody

the boys doing push ups.

Ty kissing his muscles.

Here's a horrible picture of me and Brody, but you can see the bump in it.

ZooLights

The Stone Zoo puts on an exhibit every year called ZooLights. For those who don't live around here, they light up all the parts of the zoo that you can still visit (meaning the animals that can survive the cold weather,) and they also create an entire "Santa's Village" with thousands of lights and lots of displays, every nursery rhyme, Christmas story character, and so many more. They have a huge "Santa's Castle" (although we didn't enter because the line was so long, maybe next time.) There are a few little rides, the best of them being a big carousel also. We had fun walking around and seeing the animals that were out and about, and the lights were beautiful! It helps jump start the holiday season a bit.
Just a quick funny story, on the car ride home Nate informed us that he had to go to the bathroom really bad (it's about a 10-15 minute ride from our house) and as we drove his urgency became more and more apparent, and slightly alarming. We started looking for places that may be open that Nathan could take him in to go to the bathroom. We finally spotted a gas station not too far down the road and told Nate we'd stop there, which he responded with;
"good because I have to go pee really bad and my wiener is all full. I can't take it anymore!"
Nathan has tried explaining the whole bladder thing, but I just thought it was funny he chose that body part to explain how "full" he was. He made us laugh at least.
Here are a few pictures from the trip. I accidentally cut Santa out from this picture, but it makes me laugh because Brody, in trying to rip his hat off, turned it half way over his face. I don't know, it makes me smile.

Nathan and the boys in front of some of the light displays. The sad, bare looking tree is supposed to be "Charlie Brown's tree"

The boys and I in front of a giant bear. Ty really wanted a picture in front of it.

The boys on the carousel.

Brody, all bundled up and watching the boys on the carousel.

A Few Pictures from Thanksgiving Day

Pictures of the boys with their cousins, Liam and Connor

Brody was in heaven with all the food, but he was done at this point

Ty enjoying the Thanksgiving Feast

Nate and Gilly the cat The fam on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. We will be at Nathan's parents' house tomorrow, but will be around in the morning. Saturday we are having a mini Thanksgiving with my mom, and Sunday are travelling to Charlton to visit more family.
I hope everyone remembers what they are thankful for in their lives, and is able to show those around them that they are also!

Baby Numero 4 Update

I had another dr appointment today. I am 21 weeks, so a little over half way there! Everything is looking great. The ultrasound tech wasn't in the office today, so the NP and I snuck back and tried to get a quick look at the baby. Again, we couldn't get a clear shot, but still no sign of any boy parts! So it still looks like a girl! I know it is slightly paranoid to not trust in people when they say girl, but without that clear "crotch" shot, I just feel anxiety about it. I will have another ultrasound before Christmas, so HOPEFULLY (fingers crossed) that will be a bit more clear. January 14th is my next big ultrasound in Boston to check the placenta, and I'm sure we'll at least have a clear shot at that time. Until then, for my own piece of mind, please save receipts!

Museum of Science

Hello everyone! We went on a trip to the Museum of Science yesterday. (It is probably one of my favorite places to go, and could go there even without the kids.) Brody was not with us this time. Although he has already been to the museum twice now, I knew I wanted to spend the day there, and really wanted to be able to be hands on with the exhibits and help the older boys, so my mom watched Brody until Nathan could pick him up, and then he got a special daddy day.

We went with Nathan's sister and her kids, Liam and Connor, to the museum also. We left a bit later than usual, and decided to feed the boys lunch prior to going, and packing a big snack, so we could leave around dinner time. The boys were all full of energy as always, and ready to get into the museum and go!

We started out by going to the weather and electricity wing, and played around a bit before we watched the lightning show. It was so cool! (Pics below) We then moved on to virtually every exhibit and I do mean that literally. The Museum had a few really interesting exhibits on display right now. The one that Ty said was his favorite part was the Mythical Creatures exhibit. We learned all about the legends of things like mermaids, unicorns, dragons, sea monsters, and griffins, and about some animals that were so amazing we thought they were legends, but found out they were actual animals that had gone extinct. Nate's favorite of these is something called the elephant bird. It used to live in Madagascar. It was a very interesting animal. Due to copyright reasons, pictures were not allowed in this exhibit. If you are in the area, or it travels to your area, you should see it! We learned a lot there!

The other exhibit is called Goosebumps, the Science of Fear. In this exhibit, you could learn all about phobias and there were even four rooms to face some fears. It was very interesting. I think a bit over the boys' heads, because a lot had to do with effects fear has on the brain and body, but cool none the less, again, I recommend it. There were so many interesting things to learn about and see, and I really can't say enough how much I love that place!!! I'm thinking that a membership there just may be the gift that keeps on giving this year, and I know the boys will love that... don't mention it to them though!

OK, here are the pictures...The space capsule

Nate at the weather station

Liam and Ty at the weather stationConnor at the weather station

the lightning showthe boys looking up at T-Rex

bones, bones, dinosaur bones... and footprints

boys in the old school house, part of the natural mysteries exhibit

Lions and Tigers and Bears... oh my!

newly hatched baby chicksthe running challenge

more experimentsin front of the giant bug

building in the Discovery CenterConnor, magnifiedmore discovery centerin front of the Wooly Mammoth tusks

Embellishing on Yesterday's Topic

I need to add a quick story, that has to do with yesterday's topic, sort of; I had lots of errands to run the past few days, and yesterday was a very busy morning because we had to get back early. Ty's school has a half day EVERY Wednesday (which is a whole other annoying topic.)
Nate, although having stopped to pee virtually every place we went, somehow on the car ride home, had to go again. " Really, reeeeeeeaaaalllly bad."
We have a big driveway, and there are all woods behind our house, so I told him he could go outside as soon as I stopped the car. He swore he wasn't going to make it to the house in time, so despite the cold here, I figured this was our option, and maybe he'd learn how fast pee can freeze as a mini lesson of the day. I grabbed Brody and a few other things and started for the house, to wait on the porch. I saw Nate coming through the yard holding his shirt up, exposing his stomach, which made me cringe, and making a funny face, crinkling his nose and shaking his head.
"What happened, why are you doing that? Put your shirt down! It's freezing out!"

And here is what my son said, "I peed on my belly and my nose and face."

Really? I'm not an expert on the male race urinating, but I'd like to think after three boys, I'm pretty informed. Laws of gravity just aren't clicking here.... how does pee shoot straight up in the air?
Nate was furiously wiping his face with his shirt, and I was standing, starting to laugh, dumbfounded. Nate wiped his feet and spit a few times before coming in, and I washed his face and sent him upstairs to change his shirt.
I then quickly ran to tell Nathan because I couldn't stop giggling and wondering how in the world that happened. I needed man advice.
Nathan asked Nate "Were you holding on to it?"
"yup"
"Did you take it out of your pants all the way?"
"yup"
"Did you clean yourself up?"
"yup."

I guess we'll never know.

The Joys of Motherhood

I would like to say I wake up at a decent time every morning. With the exception of Ty, my kids sleep in pretty late, as far as children go. Nate could sleep until after 10 if we let him and Brody gets up anywhere between 730 and 930 (depending on if his super senses alert him that I am already up... that is when he wakes up around 730.) Ty rises anywhere between 7 and MAYBE 8 on the weekends. He is also old enough to make his own cereal if he's hungry and play quietly until I wake up.
This morning however was really fun. I am being sarcastic. Ty ran into the room around, oh 615ish yelling "mommy, mommy get up... " Me not knowing what was going on, and momentarily thinking I missed my alarm or something, asked what was wrong... I shouldn't have even asked.
"Nate pooped all over the place."
"In his room? Are you kidding me? Is he sick? Where is he?"
"No, in the bathroom, but it's everywhere, all over the floor, all over the toilet, and ALLLLLLLLL over him."

Awesome. I quietly tried to sneak past Brody, and made my way downstairs to the bathroom. There was Nate, naked as can be, toilet paper rolled out all over the place, and as my eyes tried adjusting, I realized the brown spots all over the place were not figments of my imagination, it was poop. Poop, poop, poop. I instantly had a mix of emotions... wanting to throw up, wanting to cry, wanting to laugh at what I would inevitably do without question.
I asked him what happened.
"I don't know, I pooped."
"How did it get everywhere? How is this even possible?"
"ughhhhhh, I don't know."

Now to explain, when I say it didn't seem possible, that is because is was not only covering parts of my bathroom that were not near the toilet, but also parts of his body that should not have been possible . It was gross. It quite literally looked like Nate had half pooped, and decided the rest would be better used in a display of fine art he thought only a mother would appreciate. This I should add is something I would not put past Nate to think of. Visions of the Marquis De Sade is an insanity filled cell with his latest story written in his own feces came to mind. I briefly sucked in my breath and flung the shower curtain open and started the bath.
"Mommy just clean me with toilet paper" Nate offered.
"No, no, you are way past the point of toilet paper. You are taking a bath, you can clean yourself today. I have to clean your lovely mess."
"I love you mommy."
"I love you to Nate."
I then proceeded to whip out my trusty Lysol wipes, that I keep in every room, because I have children who make that a necessity, and scrub. I scrubbed, cleaned, became amazed at places I didn't see at first glance.
Tyler, as he was getting ready for school would periodically pop his head in to laugh at the situation. Poop is funny to kids, I get it. I just don't really find it funny first thing in the morning, or when it's me that has to clean it up.

Sadly this is not the only poop story I have had in the past seven years, and even more so, the majority have to do with Nate. As I have written this though, Brody has gone to the bathroom... I'll let you guess what... and now I must go to deal with more poop. Who wants kids?

Brody's First Party

Despite the fact that the day prior to, the day of, and today as I am writing this I have been struck with another bout of severe nausea, I somehow managed to get things ready, and have fun at Brody's party. Before I start, I need to say a special thank you to Meryl, Nathan's sister, who helped out so much... came early to help set up, picked up the cake for me (Nathan ran late at work) amongst other things... she was a life saver!

I got Brody to take a 2 hour nap, so he was thankfully wide awake and happy when everyone arrived, and surprisingly didn't get overwhelmed by all the people like he usually does. Once most of the guests arrived we "opened presents" and by that I mean, I opened them after Brody was distracted by the first one and ran off to play. Thank you everyone for all the gifts! He really has been going from one to the other since the party and has been enjoying everything so much! His brothers, namely Nate has been enjoying everything too... maybe a little too much, so we've had to remind him quite a few times that it was Brody's birthday, not his.

After presents, we did cake, and before I had even put Brody's cake on his highchair, he was reaching up and trying to get it. I had barely put it down when he grabbed a chunk, and it was all over after that. Brody DESTROYED the cake. See the pictures below.

Thanks to everyone who helped me clean up, to Jeff for video taping the party, Meryl again for taking pictures, and everyone for coming and making his first birthday party special.

Oh and a special thank you for all his "birthday wishes" for Brody's wish box. I'm sure when he's older he will be so grateful for all the nice things wished for him in his life.

Once everyone left, I got the house back in order and Nathan took the trash out for me, so despite feeling pretty yucky, I can relax a bit, and hopefully take a nice long nap with Brody today.

Oh and here is a surprise gift from Victoria...

... the first outfit!