Spring is here! Spring is here!

After dinner last night, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go outside to wear the boys out. Cooper finally got up enough courage to try to ride his bike, Nelson went into his own superhero world and started making skid marks all over the driveway, and Maddox just enjoyed wresting with the dogs (no pictures of that, I was too busy being the referee.) and playing in his car.

Travis couldn't find a basketball, so he decided Toby would do! Toby wasn't too keen on the idea. Go figure.
Notice the lack of training wheels!!! We are so proud.

Nelson was showing off all the skid marks he was making with his brakes! He loves to "go really really really fast" and then stop to make marks.

Maddox was just enjoying a cruise in the front lawn.

TGIF!!!!!

Hello my beautiful, talented, sexy, peeps at Midwest Orthepedics!

Tallie 2 - Small Rodents 0

The weather has been in the 50's for 2 days and already Tallie has taken advantage of the early furry stirrings in our yard. Yesterday, Sheri realized that both of the dogs were quiet.... too quiet, to be exact. As any parent knows, that can only mean one thing; that the dogs were up to something.

After a quick check throughout the house both dogs were found in their bed where they often are, but this time they were curiously intent on kneading and fluffing the pillow. However, upon further investigation, it was discovered that it wasn't their pillow they were giving a once-over, it was a squirrel-- or what was left of it!

Sheri was not at all amused that I found it humorous having to give moral support over the phone as she tried to steel her nerves enough to remove the now headless and 3-pawed critter. Maybe it was mean to laugh out loud as she SCREAMED when she thought for SURE that it was still moving, but I'm sorry, the mental image of a headless squirrel, running around our house on 3 legs, looking for an exit while the dogs chase it over and under all the furniture was pretty comical to me.

Anyways, when I got home, I saw that she had managed to at least remove the squirrel from the house. Of course that means that the squirrel was still in the bed where Toby and Tallie left it, and the entire bed was outside, but I'm just proud that she didn't call an exterminator and have the house fumigated even though the whole ordeal gave her the heebie-jeebies.

But of course, if that wasn't enough excitement, today we almost had a repeat as the dogs found a family of moles trying to inhabit our compost pile. Apparently Tallie did the catching again today, but this time Toby, 1/4th her size, bullied her away and had a meal of the young mole.

Note to self, dogs that are used to a diet consisting of store-bought dog food get REALLY BAD gas after eating wild game.

Rain, rain go away...

And take my bad attitude with you!
Everytime I turn around, there is a new mess, a new cirsis, or a new fight between the boys to referee. I understand a lot of this is the size (or lack there of) of the house, the age of the boys, and the weather.

I am truly amazed at the ability the older two have of starting a fight or crisis within minutes of waking up! I'm talking coffee isn't made and breakfast isn't even on the table and these two are yelling, screaming, and hitting eachother. I'm starting to dread the first 20 minutes of the day. I also notice that the way they act and feel really affects me. I may wake up feeling really rested and ready to start my day and as soon as I break up that first fight I'm ready to call it a day and climb back into bed.

I also think I have 3 of the most talented boys. No other children can empty dresser drawers onto the floor as quickly as these 3. I can spend days doing laundry, folding it, and putting it away. They can take minutes to pull it all out, have it in a pile on the floor, and be screaming that they have no clean clothes in their drawers! ( not all 3 complain about no clothes in the drawers. Maddox doesn't have enough words to complain about that) Of course you don't , they are all on a pile on the floor!!!!

Cracks in foundation are no fun. They cause water to slowly leak into the basement and under the flooring. No one will look at it until it's dry so as not to seal moisture (causing mold) into it. Well, the rain hasn't stopped in forever! Right now, the new solution is for so much rain that the walls just get too wet and cave in, causing us to take the insrance pay off and buy a new house. (Not really, but I'm thinking it would be the easiest solution right now)

I'm really excited to have my mom and dad come in this weekend, maybe I'll even duct tape the kids to the couch long enough to clean (and keep the place clean until my parents get here).

FI-RE...FI-RE...FI-RE, FI-RE, FI-RE....

So goes the chant for the Chicago Fire. Since my dear brother-in-law took my April 1, 2008 (aka April Fool's) post literally and purchased tickets without my knowledge, I'm keeping my end of the bargain and sending him the ultrasound pics so he can ascertain for himself what the ultrasound technician saw... or didn't see in the case of a girl.

Meanwhile, I'll be annoying Sheri and practicing the above chant, and a couple of their other cheers, for the next two weeks so I'll be ready when we go to the game on Saturday, April 26th and see the Chicago Fire play host to the Colorado Rapids. We're sitting 10 rows from the side lines, at what would be the 35 or 40 yard line if this were a football game. You can imagine that I'm pretty stoked about it!!

On the other hand, Sheri, being pregnant and all, is mainly excited about the stadium hot dog, nachos and hot pretzel she will be consuming during the game. Don't get me wrong, she enjoys soccer with the best of them, (and actually understands the "off-sides" rule)-- but let's be honest, we could be watching a jump rope competition and she's not going to care, just as long as I get her a stadium dog topped with relish and mustard, nachos with cheese in the standard 1 jalapeno:1 dipped chip ratio, a hot pretzel light on the salt with extra mustard, and a large Diet Coke. Anyways, at least Toyota Park will have something for both of us!

I've been tagged...

Both Katie and Kasey tagged me to list 7 random things about myself. I would link to their blogs, but I'm not that smart.

1. I'm a HUGE Barry Manilow fan. I would give my right arm to go to his St. Louis concert the end of April.

2. I love the color purple! I don't get to use enough of it in a house full of boys. Travis was nice enough to give me a purple living room.

3. I view Toby (my almost 9yr old Boston Terrier) as my first child. There are days he's the most obedient.

4. No matter what Travis says, Starbucks is a real restaurant. They offer food, it's just a choice not to always purchase it.

5. Tiramisu!!!!

6. While househunting, I discovered my 3 boys share a room smaller than what could have been my walk in closet.

7. I love my minivan. I was reluctant to get it, but now adore it! I'm proudly embrasing the "soccer mom" label.

On Ultrasound Day, It's a _________.

You guessed it, today we find out the sex of the baby. We will be picking Cooper up from school and heading to the doctor's office, 3 kids in tow. Sheri's so excited that if they would let her bring the dogs, she probably would!

I'm excited for the older boys, because this will be their first chance to see what the baby looks like "inside mommy's tummy." They went to the ultrasound appointments for Maddox, but they were too young to understand that what was in there was going to come out and live with them. :-)

Anyways, Sheri and I have decided not to find out the sex of the baby. But we will have the technician write down the answer and seal it in an envelope. If you want to know the sex of our baby, this envelope will be offered to the first person who gets me 2 tickets to a Chicago Fire game! Coupons for Nacho's and a Pretzel would complement the tickets nicely, too. Saturday games work best for me.

I think God was kidding...

Seriously, I think when he created some of his creation was a joke...

1. I don't think we will ever see spring flowers or sunshine, or blue sky again. It's in the upper 60's right now, but it's dreary, wet, and we are under a flood watch this afternoon and evening. Oh, and so as to not get too used to warmer temperatures, it should be back in the 40's before the end of the week.

2. I think he intends to wipe out the midwest with a flood, therefore keeping his promise of never destroying the entire earth with one. We have a crack in out foundation, so we have water slowly leaking into the house and ruining the family room floor and the office carpet. We can't get someone out here to fix it until it's dry. (They don't want to seal moisture into our foundation causing further damamge)

3. I used to think there wasn't a bigger blessing than brothers, after today, not so much. Cooper has figured out exactly what to say or do to make Maddox scream a blood curdling scream. He has been "practicing" this new skill since 6:30AM. I'm so thankful the bus should be here in 10 minutes to cart him away for a few hours.

The little attention getter

I had to find something to laugh at when Maddox had me up from 3-5 AM and then was up for the day at 5:30... Yesterday he was "helping" me do laundry. He picked up a pair of Nelson's underwear and put them on his head and started giggling. How does this kid know that underwear on the head is funny?!?!?!

Obligitory Family Pictures

The boys had really cute short sleaved shirts and shorts to wear, but when we woke up to snow we opted for the polos I had bought the week before.
We made it a family polo day! Excuse the funny faces, it was very windy and cold.

Maddox's first time coloring eggs

Picking out his egg.
Maddox's first victim, I mean egg.

Dunking the egg.

Cleaning up his mess.

Weekend picture overload.

Round one of the eggs in the shoes. Travis did round 2 and being the middle of the night chose not to document it. I didn't think to since I was too busy trying ot breathe thru the Toby gas and trying to lock him up so he wouldn't get into these eggs.
The baskets waiting for the boys to tear into them.

The boys checking out their Easter loot.

Maddox is only happy here because he's holdling an egg, and didn't realize he was next to the scary bunny.

Helpful Easter information.

1. When dying eggs with your boys, drape your table in waterproof covering and no matter how many times you remind your 18 month old that the eggs are NOT balls,he will still slam dunk them into the cups.

2. Don't buy short sleeved shirts and expect your chidren to be warm. Easter in March, in the midwest means you will wake up to snow.

3. When placing eggs in your children's shoes for them to find Easter moring (don't know where the tradition originated, Sweeden, Germany, or Grandma Nelson's (my grandma) head) make sure the Boston Terrier is locked up! 3 hard boiled eggs, shell and all, make for NASTY gas the next day and even the day after.

The Ferris Family St. Patrick's Day celebration

We broke a long standing tradition this St. Patrick's Day. Travis and I have always gone to Mulligans Pub for a yummy dinner and enjoyed listening to the bagpiper. However, last year we realized doing that with 3 kids was very difficult. We had to get there really early (they don't take reservations), the bagpiper was annoying rather than enjoyable, the kids were cranky, and the meal was just rushed. At 8AM in the morning Travis and I decided we would make our own Irish feast. The boys and I ran to the grocery store, picked up the necessary food and It was all in the slow cooker before 9:30AM. We had a relaxing, enjoyable dinner.

The table all set, complete with as much green as Travis and I could create. Green juice, green smashed potatoes, and for desert we had mint chocolate chip ice cream.
The banner Travis made at work. It's shamrocks and the Ferris crest. We found out about 4.5 yrs ago that the Ferris family can be traced back to Ireland.Corned beef, green smashed potatoes, cabbage, and carrots, I really enjoyed my meal! Maddox loved the mashed potatoes!!!! The boys each ate a Ruben sandwich with minimal complaining, they both declared the cabbage,"a little bit gross".

The promised pictures

Maddox just ejoying the nice weather. He's lying on the step with his stuffed dog.
Nelson playing and Maddox thinking he's big stuff sitting on the steps. Sheila, here's he promised picture of me in my roly-poly glory.

Good and Bad of the week.

The boys have been outside the past 3 days playing. It's wonderful!!!! Maddox loves being outside. It's a good thing he loves baths as much as outside, becasue he's been getting rather dirty trying to keep up with his big brothers and dogs.
Spring Break officially starts today, I was all excited about a walk to the park, errands, and then an afternoon at the Mills with Travis and the boys. I guess two our of three isn't bad. We woke up to rain. Now that the rain has stopped everything is soggy and gross... No park today.
Pictures are coming, I promise, it's been a crazy 2 days. If I could make Wed and Thurs disappear I would. We got discouraging news about Coop's progress in school (looks like a couple sessions of Summer School for him), and then Tallie decided to jump our fence and chase a little dog out our our yard (who was using our yard as her personal toilet), the old couple called the police. I got a ticket, a rude conversation with the police officer, and a bunch of pointing and talking about me and my dogs from a crew of old people. I have to go to court on April 2 to defend Tallie and pay some fine, that no one will tell me the amount of before court.
At least it's Friday and the boys aren't fighting.

Well, I'm in my 30's.

Travis and the boys took me out to the Pasta House for dinner on Friday night. Right as we got seated Cooper looked at our server and says,"It's my mom's birthday today. You need to sing to her." Once our dinner was over, they came over, sang and gave me an amazing piece of cheesecake. Dinner was great, all 3 boys ate really well. I had the most amazing eggplant parmeasan I've ever had!

Only a Ferris Boy

1. Can kick a soccer ball before he walks. (all 3)
2. Can eat 2 scrambled eggs, a piece of toaast, and 2 glasses of milk for breakfast. (Maddox)
3. Can eat 2 penut butter and jelly sandwiches, a handful of prezles, and an apple for lunch. (Nelson)
4. Can sleep until 6AM and make me feel like I've slept forever. (all 3)
5. Can talk about his girlfriend of 2 weeks and tell me to quit "freaking out" when I ask questions about her. (Cooper)
6. Can give me hugs and kisses and make me forget it's a crappy Monday. (all 3)

snow, pizza, and suckers, a great combination.

Travis discovered that Cecil Whitakers (the only St. Louis pizza I will eat) has customer apprectiation day on Tuesday and Thursday. This means a large cheese pizza for $3.19. We could not pass that up! We had a friend from church meet us there tonight. The boys ate almost an entire pizza themselves, if this is a glimpse into our future I need to concider stock options in food companies... There are no pictures of the pizza portion from the night because we were all too busy stuffing our faces to take pictures.

As soon as Travis said he was going outside to shovel so we could go for pizza, Cooper was right there. Notice the missing jacket.... Daddy didn't wear a jacket so midget man decided he didn't need one either.
Cooper working to clear the rest of the snow and Nelson working really hard to pick up chunks of snow and try to hit the tree. Yep, just a normal night in the Ferris house.

This little man was really digging the sucker! He would screach on the top of his lungs if Travis tried taking it from him.

Maddox's new shirt.

Maddox would not put the shirt on! After wearing it on Friday for his grandparents and Sunday for his aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma, he was sick of it. He did want you all to see it. He's very excited about the fact that he's not going to be the "baby" anymore. (OK, not really, but it doesn't sound good to say he doesn't care) The older 2 are beside themselves with excitement, name ideas (for a boy Zack or Cody, and for a girl Hannah Montana), and the idea of a new baby (they hope sister, I just hope healthy). The new addition comes the end of August/beginning of September.

Another birthday party!

Cooper was very excited about seeing his aunts and uncles, cousins, and grandparents this weekend. We celebrated his birthday again. This time it was with Happy Meals. I don't have any pictures of that because trying to keep 6 kids around a table and keep all the food on the table was quite a challenge. We adults enjoyed our birthdays as well. We went out without the kids to Jack Gibon's for dinner and then back to my parents' house for more visting. I can't wait for lunch today! I have leftover prime rib screaming my name (yes, I can hear it. It's in the fridge begging me to eat it)

Yes, we are alive!

We went home this weekend for some time with family and friends. After planning for close to 2 yrs, Travis finally got together with his college roommie Erik, his wife, and their 2 girls. Nelson was rather taken by their oldest, Gabriella. I was very disappointed that I had other obligations and couldn't spend much time with them. We are hoping to get together again this summer for some swimming.

Birthday dinner at Red Robin.

Cooper recieved a balloon bouquet when we got to the restaurant, and he already had a birthday crown from his teacher at school. I would say he had a pretty good celebration!

The boys' friend Spencer was able to join us for dinner. The older boys really Liked Red Robin. See below for Maddox's feelings about him...

Maddox didn't like the Red Roblin mascot, everytime he got near out table this is the reaction we got!

Happy Birthday Cooper Michael

Coop, you were the little boy that made me "Mom". You fulfilled everyone of my dreams! Thanks for being my big boy!!!! Happy 6th Birthday.

Transformers Birthday Party

Travis did an awesome job!! He made a Transformers matching game and put an awesome scavanger hunt together. We then had pizza and cupcakes. It was a wondeerful party, Cooper is still talking about it this morning.
Playing the matching game. The Autobots and Decepticon badges, clues, and All-Spark. (Yes the All-Spark is wrapped in duct tape, I didn't have silver paper and never thought to use tin foil.)

Travis had the Autobots.

I had the decepticons! WE WON!!!!!

Maddox loving his cupcake. (This is his new "cheese" face.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We are looking forward to an evening home with jammies, Chinese take-out, and Die Hard IV. Of course before that, we are taking the boys out to Burger King for a gourmet meal. (It's what they wanted.)

Maddox feeding himself yogurt.

Maddox loved the yogurt. He loved it so much he tried drinking it out of the bowl when he couldn't get enough on the spoon. I didn't love the clean up that came with the new found "skill" of self feeding.

My little stars!!

We have been reworking the beginning of our church services and making them more family friendly. This means the first couple songs are just for the kids. Usually they are sung with a CD instead of the band. This past Sunday the boys wanted to sing with one of their Bible School songs, "Every Move I Make". So with the help of Dave and Jody (the CD) the boys openned up worship. Then they sang a song wtih the help of the Veggie Tales. We have 2 preformers on our hands! They loved the attention.

Daddy helped out with the first song.

Cooper got into the motions, Nelson... not so much.

Maddox's first official haircut.

Maddox did so good getting his hair cut, he sat really still and never cried or complained! We were very proud of him.

Still sick

There are 5 of us in the family, but we require 7 kinds of medicine... Thankfully I'm feeling tons better!! Cooper is going back to school today. Maddox has been fever free since about 2AM. He required another bath (temp of 104) and more Motrin. Nelson hasn't had a fever since yesterday morning. Now, I just have to get Travis better and back to work, then all will be happy in the Ferris house again.

What did I do wrong?!

Last Wednesday, Nelson had to be picked up 40 minutes early from school. He didn't feel well. I got him home, determined he had a fever of 102.3, gave him some Motrin, and put him to bed. 2 hours later he was a brand new kid! Thursday was normal, and Friday was a snow day... Talk about a long end of the week. Saturday we had some errands to run, lunch with a friend and then Cooper and I had a Hanna Montana movie date with some other friends. HE LOVED IT, I enjoyed it too. I enjoyed more the excitement of him wearing the 3-D glasses and trying to catch drumsticks and confetti. Friday and Saturday night Maddox decided that the morning should begin at 2AM and was up every 20 minutes after that until we all got up at 6. Sunday he woke up with a fever of 102.5. We did the bath and Motrin thing, it came down a bit. At one point the fever spiked at just over 103. I called the doctor's exchange. He called back, I gave him all they symptoms and he told me to call this morning and get him in. The child lived on Motrin every 2 hrs. Nelson ended up with another fever around 4:30PM. By 6PM I couldn't take the whining or the confines of the house so I ran to the grocery store for Gatorade (the kids hate pedialyte) and Superbowl food for me and Travis. I got home, we mae nuggets, jalepeno poppers, and pizza, gave the feverish boys Gatorade and sat down to watch the second half of the game. Maddox finally allowed sleep to take over at 7:30 and the rest of us were all in bed before 8:30PM. Travis got up at 1AM to go to work and my bed buddies started finding me before 4AM. Cooper found me first. With a fever of 102.7. I gave him Motrin and had to beg him not to touch me because he was so hot. After 35 minutes of no change I threw him into a bath with a glass of Gatorade. I got him out, and we went back to bed. About that time Maddox found my bed. Thankfully, he was fever free, just snotty... Nelson woke up right after 7, yep, with a fever! Now I'm just waiting until the doctor's office opens so I can make an appointment for all 3 boys!
Seroiously, what did I do wrong to deserve this on a Monday?!?!?!!?

Dinosaur fun

Snow Day!

The boys are huddled under blankets in their fuzzy jammies.
I'm getting ready to make a triple batch of chili and some chocolate chip cookies.