Monday, March 29, 2010

Fun week and weekend

We had a busy few days! My Aunt Deb and two cousins came to town on Thursday afternoon and stayed until Saturday night. We had so much fun together!

Thursday night we went to the high school and watched Nelson's first grade musical, "ARF". It was so cute!! Nelson was absolutely adorable as Corporal Schnauzer.
We made pretzels with almond bark and M&Ms, all the kids had fun with that activity! Tammy was also amazing and so willing to help with my kids. She watched them for me on Friday afternoon so Tracy, Aunt Deb, and I could get away for some shopping.

Saturday afternoon we went up to the top of the Arch before I had to bring them back to the train station. The Mississippi was flooded so it made parking very interesting! :) But, we found a spot and enjoyed the incredible view from over 600 ft above the city.

Monday, March 22, 2010

For Mom and Dad Nelson

In honor of the many Saturdays I spent "helping" clean out the garage, I thought you guys would appreciate this post.

Maddox became OBSESSED with the broom, Travis couldn't finish making a cut on the wood and he was there with the broom sweeping up the mess. It got so bad we had "ground" him from the garage until Travis was finished using the circular saw.



Peg board, the new love of my life. It organizes things so easily!!!! I already have instructed Travis to go buy 2 more sheets of it. I can find lots more things to susspend and hang.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Busy, productive weekend

Travis took advantage of the craptastic weather this weekend to get a lot of projects finished around the house. We had a few lingering things that we kept saying we wanted to do, but then other things would come up (fun things) and we would push the project off for another weekend. Travis declared this weekend, THE WEEKEND! If we we wanted to do it, had the materials in the house for completion, it was being completed! Right after Christmas bought 30 knobs/pulls to put on the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen.
I'm happy to report, 60 holes, 30 knobs/pulls/ and 4 hrs later, we have cabinets that look amazing!

The only thing I can safely say I miss from our old house is the shed that was in the backyard, it was like a one-car garage that held our lawn mower, wheel barrow, rakes, shovels, fertilizer spreader, leaf blower, and other odds and ends that we needed to store so we could use them once every 3-5 years. When we moved we had lofty plans to put a storage shed on our nice large patio behind the garage. It wouldn't interfere in our fabulous 1.5 acre yard or large fully gated party decks! The homeowners' association said, "negative". No shed for us. We had to try to find a way to make everything fit in the garage and still have room for 5 bikes, a bike trailer, a lawn tractor (apparently to call it a riding lawn mower is just offensive), garbage cans, recycling bins, and 2 cars... Yeah, the garage needed major help!!!
Travis took Friday off to try to tackle it. He not only tackled it, he organized it, and made it one of my new favorite places to hang out.

Building an 8x4 shelf to suspend from the ceiling
Proudly displaying his shelf, I offered to throw a sleeping bag up there and allow him to make it into his "man cave". He didn't want to.


Cooper sitting on the new shelf, Travis and I decided maybe we should make it a hangout for the 3 boys so when they were driving me crazy we could send them climbing up onto the shelf (and then move the ladder forcing them to stay up there) Again, we thought about it for a while and realized it might not be the best idea.


Using the shelf for what it was intended for! I love that slowly everything is getting a place!!!!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Gotta love the green!

Travis found out about 6 years ago that his Ferris relatives came from Ireland. Since then, we have tried to do something special on St. Patrick's Day. Before we had 4 kids we used to go to a fun restaurant that had live bagpipers and enjoy food and entertainment. (by the time we were seated we would be more than over the bagpipers, but it always kept the boys entertained) After we had Maddox I started cooking corned beef and cabbage (made popular by Irish Americans, not anything from Ireland). Every year we find another way to make the day fun. I will take a moment to brag, this year the meal was my best, by far!!!!!


The kids all ready to begin a day of green!!! We managed to have green at every meal today, thank goodness for food coloring! :)

Green chocolate chip pancakes to start our day of green and celebration.

Travis found shamrocks and Irish flags and cut them out to make a banner for the wall and windows.

The table is set and ready for everyone to dig in.

Sitting down to our yummy green themed dinner! Everyone loved the corned beef and cabbage! Maddox and Olivia had 3 helpings of each.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Literal Math

Last night I was reviewing Nelson's math homework when I came across a bonus question he forgot to answer.

The instructions were very clear, stating, "Be sure to show how you got your answer." I handed the homework back to Nelson, and he came back a while later with this....




Furiously, I asked him, "Why were you drawing instead of doing your homework?"

To which he replied, "Dad, it said that I had to show how I got my answer, and the picture shows me counting on my fingers, 4 take away 2."

Gotta love a literal child!

Monday, March 08, 2010

Free At Last, Free At Last!!

Sunday mornings are quite busy for us without the added stress of getting 4 kids fed, dressed, and in the car so we can attend to our Sunday Service prep responsibilities. Like a pack of wolves tracking a herd, the kids subconsciously lie in wait for the perfect opportunity for Mom and Dad to be pre-occupied before they pounce on their freedom to misbehave.

Despite the repetition of each Sunday's events, (the instruction, the disobedience, the correction, the even stronger correction, followed by short-lived compliance which eventually gives way to disobedience, followed by my frustration, furious correction, and a pre-emptive one for good measure) what occurs in my house every Sunday is proof that children can only remember up to 6 days. Like Bill Murray, this is my perpetual Groundhog's day.

But this past Sunday, I was determined to change fate. Olivia hadn't woken up yet, and I figured the best way to keep quiet 1 boy who decides it's his job to control the remote, 1 boy who can't whisper, and 1 boy who instigates anything he can, is to shove food in their mouths.

In a pre-coffee stupor, I fumbled around the kitchen searching for something... anything, that would keep me from having to say, SHHHHHHH! every 30 seconds. I spied some left over cake from Cooper's birthday and invented the excuse that since this fine Sunday morning was Sheri's birthday, I would give them some "used" cake. Somehow, I managed to rationalize this as a perfect mix of spoiling the kids a bit, while at the same time, helping my wife by clearing out the refrigerator. Besides, it would keep them occupied long enough for me to take advantage of first-ever Sleeping Beauty and take a quick shower.

For the most part, it was a success. I was now clean, Olivia woke up in a good mood, the boys were all fed, and had somehow managed to stay out of trouble despite being hyped-up on sugar. It wasn't until 15 minutes later when I heard the strange noise of dog-tags tracing the floor, tongues slurping up the stairs and the cutest call of, "Da" as my little girl was searching for me.

When I poked my head out the bedroom door, I was greeted by a giddy little girl, squealing with delight as 2 dogs licked at her frosting covered hands. With a reaction time faster than my college-day reflexes, I managed to keep my pants from the laundry as I picked my daughter up, holding her at arms length, unable to cradle her in the cake smeared pajamas. Trying to stifle a laugh, I called in backup.

Following the trail of cake crumbs that the dogs were gobbling up now that the frosting covered fingers were out of reach, it didn't take us long to realize that although we fed our 3 boys, neither of us fed our daughter!

Undeterred, she wrestled a chair out from the table, pushed it over to the counter, climbed up and enjoyed a breakfast buffet of cake in a still-open Tupperware container. A quick calculation of the pieces left, minus the pieces served, indicates that she ate 2 large pieces of cake.-- more than any of the boys.

As Sheri's thoughts turned toward worry that Olivia might have an upset stomach, I became excited, realizing that with 4 self-sufficient kids, I can almost taste freedom again. At last!

Of course, there's still the issue of potty training, but, one can dream, right?