The Phantom Phood Phanatic

This life of raising boys is REALLY different.  One area I've had a hard time adjusting to is the insatiable desire to constantly be eating.  We've done a fairly good job of exposing our kids to different foods, expecting them to try new things, (even if it's just one bite) and encouraging them to sit their wiggly little toddler behinds in the chair when it is eating time.  So when I put food in front of the oldest son, watch him eat a descent amount, but not finish off what I put in front of him, and then hear him ask for more food within 5 minutes, I get a little frustrated.

He is a grazer.  I've been known to set his unfinished plate on the counter for another hour or so and sneak forkfuls of food in his mouth as he's passing.  He barely even knows I'm doing it, really.  He's usually in mid-sentence or asking a question and I'll say, "Take this bite and I'll answer you." :)  Sly Mom trick #34.

So when I am out of commission for about 10 minutes (I must shower every now and then), and Nathan is left free roaming, it's a crap shoot as to what could possibly happen in or to the house.  One fine day, I cautiously stepped out of the shower, listened intently, and there was          S i l e n c e

A quick survey of his favorite and safe spots yielded no 3 year olds.  I finally tracked him down, playing nicely with his Monster trucks in his room.  Whoo!  That was a close one.

But not so fast there, el mommo.  Mommy-radar still wasn't clicking a good signal so I went to go investigate and found this...

After close inspection, this is the report of his well-thought-out actions.  The box of Nilla wafers was unopened.  He must have had trouble opening the bag inside so he found the scissors, which were in the pencil box, which was in the top drawer of the bar/cabinet shown in the top left of the picture.  He carefully cut open the bag, helped himself, and left the evidence for his mother to find.

How can I get mad at this?  Seriously!  He was eager to pick up the cookies and put it all away, with my gentle encouragement.  I remember him eating a good breakfast, though.  So that's why this boys-constantly-eating thing is tough for me.

Oh well.  I'll do my best to not stunt his growth by withholding junk food for him to snack on.  Will he ever notice the bananas on the counter that are easy to open?

Imprinting: the Nathan way

So one day this week, it got real quiet in the house, which ALWAYS means that something not-so-good is up.  Mommy intuition/radar kicked in and I started searching for the 3-year-old.

Like a homing device, my internal beeping radar got faster the closer I got to him.  Make a turn for the office, the beeper slowed down as to signify Colder, Colder.  Make a turn for the hallway, the beeper would speed up to signify Warmer, Warmer.  I started zeroing in on his room.  The internal beeper had almost turned into a continuous sound, rather than an intermittent beep.  I'm HOT, HOT, HOT!

Still quiet.  Could be good.  Maybe.

I cautiously, slowly and quietly open the door.  Heart beating out of my chest.  Eyes are wide and bulging.  They're trying desperately to jump out of my head to view around the corner of the door to see what's going on.

My parents used to say, "Nothing good happens after midnight."  About 95% of the time, my mother-of-a-3-year-old boy mantra "Nothing good is happening when The Boy's been quiet for too long," could be true.

But today was a little different.

In many ways.

It wasn't Bad.  Just a little ... uh ... different.

I'm afraid the best way I can describe what was going on is this:


Nathan is the leader of a miniature Monster Truck cult.  He is The One ALL of his Monster Trucks answer to, report to, salute and trust with their lives.

I apparently interrupted one of their "sessions" and found this

Nathan, thankfully, was sitting in his bed, reading some dinosaur books.  But he had carefully set up his portrait in front of his Monster Trucks so they may pay their respects.

No really, when I walked in and saw this, it was all I could do to not burst out in laughter.  I nonchalantly left the room, got the camera and started taking pictures.  He wasn't too happy with that, so these were the only 2 I got.

When I asked why he had set up the trucks to look at his picture, his reply was, "Cause dey wanted to see me better."

This was soon after he used his Birthday $ to buy 4 new Monster Trucks.  Maybe he was putting the newbies through the imprinting process.

Pure & simple comfort

Is there anything more comforting than falling asleep next to your baby?  Feeling the slight rise and fall of his breathing, the warmth of his body, the smell of his head and listening to his shorter breaths coupled with intermittent whimpers.  It's one thing I will miss, terribly, when my babies grow up.

Sleeping down under

I'm convinced that this kid's main goal, some days, is to surprise me every chance he gets.  He's never slept half under the bed before, and he hasn't done it since.

The Share Chair

Break time while Mommy is putting some supper together.  It was a good day for sharing the chair.

A visit with the pumpkin yard ornaments once again...

October 2008

October 2009

 (Notice the difference in the grass/temperatures between 2008 & 2009?)

October 2011

I just love reminiscing and seeing how our family is changing and growing. :)

Equipment Rodeo

My dad had the great idea to go to a community event called a Heavy Equipment Rodeo.  The word Rodeo caught his attention and he knew Nathan would enjoy the Equipment part.  So, off me and three kids went one Saturday, to meet up with CowPapa and Micah, to check out the shindig the local equipment place had goin' on.

 

Don't know if I've mentioned it before, but this little guy loves heavy equipment.  When I told him we were on our way to go look at heavy equipment and him possibly even drive one, his eyes bulged in disbelief.

The event was nothing fancy.  It was free admission, with a free lunch and in the middle of an empty field.  But heaven just happened to be sitting in the middle of that empty field for both kids.  An excavator for you know who and bounce houses for the living room gymnast.

 Nathan waited so very patiently for his turn to drive the excavator.  I'm sure the 20 minutes must have felt like an eternity.  Even more proof that when he wants to sit still, he can.  The dining room table during supper time is not one of those times, usually.

He eagerly climbed up on the excavator with Mr. Tommy sitting in the driver's seat.  Nathan listened to everything Mr. Tommy said, he sat still and did whatever Mr. Tommy suggested he do.  There was no funny business, playing with levers or squirming around, he was there to do a job and that's it.

This is what driving heavy equipment at work will do to a young man.

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Ocali Days

Katherine's Kindergarten class went on their first field trip of the year and I got to go.  The boys spent time with Bamah and Papa and I got to spend the day with our little girl who is growing so fast and beautifully.

Marion County has an event each year called Ocali Country Days.  It's a chance to experience old time music, storytellers and historical re-enactors portraying life on a late 1800's Marion County farmstead.  Mrs. H's Kindergarten class has been learning about Florida history so this was perfect.

I believe Katherine's favorite part would be buying her rock necklace or even her rock candy, but my favorite part wasn't tangible.  Anna, a classmate, rode with us.  She and Katherine chatted, giggled and showed Valley-girl tendencies for the 20 minute ride there.  I loved listening to them.  There were many times I could have interjected something Mom-like, but it was more interesting to hear how the conversation morphed.  I don't know how it happens, but 2 little girls will almost always find a way to be dramatic.  Shocker, I know.  It didn't matter if they were commenting on a benign cloud in the sky or the boring grey color of a nearby car, they found a way to dramatize it with their speech, eyes, head-tilting, neck rolling and voice inflection.

I loved watching Katherine interact with the other kids.  She's still reserved and doesn't go out of her way to expose her heart or feelings, but there are traces of independence and confidence creeping into her actions.

Here they are grinding sugar cane into a liquid.  Jim grew that sugar cane.

She's made some friends.  She is, by far, the shyest kid in class, but even the gregarious children are including her and asking for her to participate, which she does willingly.

I love that she still wants me to hold her hand in unfamiliar places.  And I don't initiate letting go, I'll let her do that.  I still enjoy holding her sweet, soft little hand in mine.

She was so careful to stay next to me the entire time.  I am still more of a safety net than the soon-to-be ball and chain that insists on coming along.

She's progressing quite well in school academically and socially.  She's eager to practice her reading and still enjoys going.  Although, during this Thanksgiving break she has commented on how much she enjoys staying at home.

All in all, it was a nice, low-key trip that gave me invaluable, precious one-on-one time to spend with my little growing girl.

Jacksonville Zoo trip

When Jim works long hours, we always try our best to plan something fun to follow the marathon we all go through.  This particular weekend was jam-packed because on Friday morning we sold the Murano (just not big enough for 3 growing kids), left for Jacksonville after school pick-up, and came back home the next day for Uncle J's 80th BDay party.

We took the kids Friday night to The Landing and enjoyed watching them take in all the sights/sounds.  A $0.25 bubble gum machine that had lights, slides and pulleys for the oversized gum balls was all it took to entertain our two enough for them to say it was one of their favorite parts of the whole trip.

 

We're finding out that traveling for a family of three requires a bigger hotel room.  Two of our children are bouncing off the walls with excitement and the youngest is still requiring lots of paraphernalia for traveling.  It's also interesting trying to get 3 kids to sleep about the same time.  Interesting.

 The next morning we headed to the Jacksonville Zoo.  We decided to take our own photo booth shots rather than pay for them.

Jumping like the Kangaroos we just saw.

 Mr. "I'm not scared of dat spider."

Katherine was trying her best to pose pretty the entire day, to show Nathan how it should be done.

Have I mentioned what an easy baby he is?  He was soooooo good the entire day.

The Jacksonville Zoo has a fabulous kids play area.  It's planned out well, and integrates play equipment with pseudo animal habitats.

He was doing his best to not let me take a picture of him.

She was going out of her way to make sure I got a good one of her.

This carousel, along with the bubble gum machine, were the two things they both talked about wanting to do/visit again.

This has to be one of my favorite pictures.  Brandon is cozied up nice and warm, Katherine is smiling pretty, Daddy is smiling contently and I'm pretty sure I had to say the word bulldozer or Monster Truck to get Nathan to look up at the camera that little bit.  The word 'busy' doesn't do his little body any justice in fully describing him right now.

When we finally got home, Brandon had had enough.

I'm so thankful to have these opportunities for our kids.  I want so bad to create lasting, loving and fun memories for them.

Halloween 2011

Halloween this year was a tad different than previous years 2009 & 2010.

Halloween Eve night I came down with a 24hr. fever.  Nothing else, just a fever, so that meant going to hang out with lots of cutie patooties to hand out candy was out of the question.  Just didn't need to spread my love that way, know what I mean?

SuperDad, aka Jim, took SpiderMan and the Butterfly of our household to go Trunk or Treating.  He's no where as annoying as I am when trying to capture a picture, so here are the best shots he got of our two collecting their stash.

The usual suspects.

Still hoping for a good face shot of her.

SpiderMan chilling with Princess Leia/his Sunday School teacher/Miss B.  He conveniently waited until Darth Vader was out of sight.

This kid is making the rounds.

Talking to not-well-known people comes naturally to him.  Welcome, The Ambassador.

"Dad, can I take off my costume yet?"

Something tells me she was trying to NOT look at the camera.  Sometimes it's on her radar, sometimes it's not.

Darth came back with a sword.  He must've heard SpiderMan was hanging out with his woman.

SHE HAS EYES!

The tractor was a hit again this year with the crowd.

Even the girls were interested.