The promised pictures.

The token Mother's Day picture a week late. I always think I look like my mom, then I realize it's all an illusion... I'm 2-3 Xs the size of my mom, at least when pregnant!
All of the cousins that were able to make it to St. Louis for Layna's party. (Eric, I want to hear all about the interview in OH.) Nelson, Sophie, Maddox, Cooper, Layna, and Ryne

To those of you who are wondering... Yes, Maddox and Layna are roughly the same size.

Clint's way of dealing with family parties, 32 oz of beer. I like the way he thinks...

Big Weekend, give way to big day...

My parents came in on Thursday night, to surprise me! They weren't supposed to be in until Friday afternoon. You don't know how happy I am that I cleaned on Thursday!!! Friday was spent running around and entertaining Layna while her parents prepared for her 1st birthday on Saturday.
Saturday we took my parents to look at a house... More on that later, we are still talking, processing, and praying.
The party was Saturday afternoon and evening! Talk about fun!!! Karl and Jenna sure know how to throw a party. The food was amazing, Sheila and her family drove down, and the neighbors showed up! The neighbors aren't a big deal until they pulled out the nacho machine!!!! YUMMO.
Sunday we had church, gyros (from the new Chicago Taste restaurant), naps, and then Travis and I had an AMAZING date. We went for Thia food and then to see the final showing of Jersey Boys. It was great!!!! I loved the music, the time out, and the fact that my parents were so willing to watch all 3 boys for us!!!
Today, ah, big day... Nelson graduates from pre-K. My parents are going to graduation with us and then heading back north. (The good news is, I get to see them again in 3 weeks for Nelson's birhtday party) Thursday afternoon I will be the mom of a Kindergartener and a 1st grader!
There are tons of pictures from this weekend, they will be posted this afternoon and tomorrow, I have to sort thru them.

No more denial...

There is a baby coming in less than 4 months whether we are ready or not. I've been putting off getting the room ready, getting the clothes organized, and just general baby stuff for quite a while. I realized this past weekend, this is about the time that I went on bedrest with Maddox for 2 months. After a few strong contractions last night we decided it was time to come back to reality and start planning for this baby. Tonight Travis and I are meeting at Babies R Us to just wander (without kids because Caroline is the best last-minute babysitter around!) and see what we "need" before this one comes. I did go to the cosignment shop today and pick up a new baby monitor since our boys managed to break the last one. I also took the changing pad and diaper pail out of the room and cleaned them. (No, Maddox isn't potty trained or anywhere near it! We don't use the pad anymore, we just change him on his bed). Their room looks like a real "big boy" room. No more baby stuff... It was kind of bitter sweet. I also started looking at "coming home" outfits. If it's a boy, we have plenty, if it turns out to be a girl... YIKES, I've got nothing!!!!
*Sheila, you may have to come down with Mom in August. You know what I'm growing and I know you've been shopping.

Mommy's little helper.

Maddox managed to do all of this "help" before 8AM this morning... I can't wait until he really is a help, I won't know what to do with all my free time.

We are trying to teach Maddox to clean up after himself. He really enjoys wiping things. He purposely spilled the dogs' water bowl this morning, grabbed the kitchen towel and started wiping up the mess. He then tried to rehang the towel and gave himself a handclap.

Maddox thinks it's necessary to sit on the table. Maybe he thinks otherwise it will float away. He found my pen and pad of paper and was helping me with my grocery list for the week.

Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday was our new pastor's first Sunday at our church. We had a welcome/Mother's Day lunch immediately after the service. I was so grateful for Travis! He assembled the entire luch so that I wouldn't have to be in the kitchen at all. (Usually chuch lunches are my "job") After lunch and clean up (which all the men did) we came home for naps. I slept almost 2 hrs, it was great! I woke up to Travis and the boys cleaning the family room and putting laundry away. All the boys (including Travis) then took me out to dinner at O'Charleys. I had ribs and steak, they were amazing!!!! We came home, put the boys to bed. and our friends came over for X-box/visiting time. We had french silk pie, made fun of the boys lack of shooting skill while playing Ghost Recon and called it a night.
The Gifts... I know you want to hear about those. The boys each made me a coffee mug in Sunday School. They took white mugs and put stickers all over them, I drank coffee out of them all day yesterday. The boys also gave me my final baby charm for my necklace. I had to laugh when I oppened it... It was an August baby (We are due Sept 2) and it was a girl. Cooper told Travis they had to get the girl one because they don't have a baby sister yet. He thinks if we buy girl things it will make the baby a girl... I guess he's going to have to wait another 16 weeks to find out if his theory is right. Travis got me tickets to see the final showing of Jersey Boys next Sunday night. He even arranged babysitting for the boys! All I have to do is get dressed up and decide where we are going to dinner before the show. I'm very excited that he planned the enitre date, leaving no detail hanging.

Cooper and Nelson giving me a Mother's Day hug. I had countless hugs from them and loved all of them!!!!

Maddox and Daddy enjoying their Mother's Day dinner. We discovered shortly after I took this picture that Maddox doesn't like drinking out of his sippy cup when the other boys have straws. He kept trying to trade cups with them. Now we'll have to get him a "big boy" drink when we go out and leave the sippy cups for home and in the car.

Family Day at the Park

In an effort to spend more time together and try to compensate/balance the extra time we have been giving to the church the last 7 months, we have declared Sundays Ferris Family Day! After church (and the all important nap) we will do a family activity until bedtime. This past Sunday, the weather was beautiful, we decided to pack a picnic and go to the neighborhood park. Cooper enjoyed using is Heely shoes and skating after Travis, who was on his rollerblades for the first time in almost 8 yrs. Nelson just enjoyed jumping around and chasing after Travis and Cooper. Maddox managed to inturrupt every basketball game that neighborhood kids had going on by going up to them and pointing and saying "ball, ball, ball". (Some of the poeple were even nice enough to stop their games and give him the ball for a while.) I didn't get pictures of the rollerblading and bouncing around, because I was too busy anticipating and worrying about injuries and Sunday evening trips to the ER. I did get pictures of all the fun after dinner.

Maddox is fearless! He climbed all the steps up and went down this slide without a second thought!

The older boys discovered the excitement of trees! We had a really hard time getting them out to go home.

Maddox enjoying the grapes (the only part of dinner that he ate).

My crazy boys.

Fun weekend with cousins.

Sophia and I hamming it up for the camera.
Maddox happy he has a full belly.

Maddox getting all cuddley on Aunt Sheila.
Ryne taking his turn as catcher.

Sophia and I trying to stay warm at Ryne's baseball game.

If wonders never cease...

The tree guy called, after 10 days, 2 "broken" stump grinders, and countless excuses he says he's going to be here 20 minutes ago (yep you read that corectly, he called at 11:15 to say he would be here at 11). Needless to say, I'm not going to hold my breath.

Edit: I want this dude's job! He finally made it to the house at 11:45. He was gone when I got home with Nelson at 12:30. The stump is still not fully ground. Let me guess... grinder #3 must have somehow broken, by no fault of his I'm sure (insert rolling eyes)
BBB is getting a call when this is all said and done!

Another Edit: to quote the guys "Are you a witch or something?!?! I've never had so many problems on a job as I've had at your house." Dude, am I a witch or capable of acting witchy? If that stump is not gone before noon tomorrow he won't know what hit him!!!!!

Edit #3: He said he would be here "early this morning". It's 10AM and raining, if I were a betting woman, I would put LOTS of money on him not calling or showing up today...

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.