Preparing for a snowy Halloween

Picture 1 - Caleb carving his pumpkin.
Picture 2 - Andrew in his "bee" costume.
Picture 3 - Andrew enjoying his baby 'boggan.

Here is Caleb's jack-o-lantern on the left - he cut the eyes & nose himself (it took him half an hour, but he did it without complaining!!), I did the mouth for him. And on the right is my design. Joshua tried the carving thing, but it was difficult for such a small boy!! I don't blame him! My back sure is sore after all that! I called the strings hanging down from the inside "boogers" and the boys think that this is hilarious!! It's going to be a cold, snowy Halloween!!! I think Andrew will have to go as a SNOWSUIT, as his bee costume will not fit over top of his needed outdoor clothing!

Thank You, Grandma B.!

I had to post 2 pictures of little Andrew enjoying his waffles this morning. The first you can actually see him with his food, but he doesn't look very impressed. The flash on my camera kind of stuns him, so it's hard for him to smile nicely with his eyes open...hence, picture 2 gives you a little better idea of how he enjoyed his waffles & fruit!

Grandma Bergmann sent waffles & fruit home with us after supper last night. All 3 boys (& mom) enjoyed them for breakfast this morning. And we wanted to let you know, Grandma, that if you ever want to leave a comment regarding the blog or leave your special waffle recipe here for everyone to have, you can click on the "comments" right at the bottom here of this entry. And thanks again for the waffles!

Little Pumpkins

Here's a nice picture of my 3 little pumpkins enjoying the relatively nice weather outside today. Yes, it was very windy, but the sun was shining and the temperature was reasonable, so that we could at least take off mitts & toques for this picture without freezing our hands & ears!! Caleb & Joshua are looking forward to carving the two pumpkins on Monday. But they don't understand that we can't still make pumpkin pie & cookies from the same pumpkins we want to carve. They REALLY love pumpkin food!

Halloween Sneak Peak

This year, Caleb decided he wanted to be a pirate for Halloween. Actually, this is the first year I've given him the choice! Instead of spending $30 or more on a plastic costume from the store, I decided that we would make our own. Last week, I checked out the local thrift stores for the easy stuff - white shirt, black pants, red scarf for the belt, bandana for the head piece, and an eye patch. Yesterday, I spent about 65 cents on costume jewelry and 75 cents on material to sew a vest. Today, I finished the vest, and I don't know who's more excited for Halloween - Caleb or me!!! We need to make the sword yet, from cardboard & aluminum foil, but the hard part's done already!

The top picture of Joshua is not the costume he'll be making the rounds in next Tuesday. He will be "Larry Boy", thanks to a friend who found a great home-made costume at a garage sale. I just thought he was so cute in this outfit with his little round cheeks!! Andrew will probably be a bumblebee. I'll be sure to post pictures when they're in their full regalia on Halloween!!

NOTE: Andrew's little lip has recovered and is again normal size!!

Baby Meets Pavement

In a tragic turn of events, this sad little 17 month old made a painful encounter with a cement sidewalk this morning. This is not the first time this little guy has experienced the pain of pavement, but the first time he has cut his lip with the help of his sharp little teeth. After the bleeding stopped, he spent his time feeling this new, swollen body part with his tongue, trying to figure out how he suddenly got such plump, Hollywood-like lips. Fortunately, this tragic accident has not interfered with his ability to eat or drink. Not much would.

I LOVE LEGO!

Andrew enjoys building towers with Lego. No, he has not built this whole structure by himself, I started it and he'll work on it for a half hour after I stop. He stacks on the blocks, then takes it apart until he's tired of it and moves on to something else. The determination on his face is so obvious!

Andrew Walks, Caleb Bakes

Andrew has new winter boots and he's learning to walk in them - no easy job for a small little guy who's only been walking for two months! I usually carry the stroller into school now with Andrew in it so that he's not walking and falling all over the school and hurting his little self.

Yesterday, Caleb and I made a big double batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. This is the first time I've let him try to make the cookies. Unfortunately, the dough was really sticky, so this proved to be quite a challenge for him. Caleb's cookies tasted just as good as the one's I made, if not better!!

Andrew has been practicing his words today. This morning, he worked on "bye". He usually just says "bah" for "bye". And yesterday it was "Da-Y" for "Daddy". It's quite cute listening to him repeating the same word over and over again, trying to get a firm grasp of it.

The Budding Artist

A sample of Caleb's artwork. Last week Caleb came home from school, upset that he hadn't had a chance to finish drawing his house. After I told him he could draw one at home, he told me he didn't know how to draw a house. So, I showed him how I would draw a house - a box, a triangle roof, a door and 2 windows. This is what he came up with that afternoon. Top row L-R is Andrew, Daddy & Joshua; below L-R is Mommy & Caleb. On the right of the house is a fruit tree. Also note the rainbow above the house on the left hand side.

Christmas Picture Practice

I love these pictures of us in the midst of posing for our bi-annual Christmas pictures!! By "bi-annual", I mean we get around to taking a Christmas picture once every two years! Hopefully we'll get one taken next year too though, with the addition of Bergmann Baby #4. I have not posted "the best one", you'll have to look for it in your mailbox come Christmastime! You can email me your address if you'd like a picture...it's definitely a keeper!

First Snow

Oh what fun it is to be a child on the first snowy day in fall!! The other day we got our first taste of Old Man Winter. Joshua was home that afternoon from school, so he & Caleb went out to shovel. See the green grass? They really did a good job! However, now that all the snow has melted, I saw piles of gravel on the grass too! Oh well, at least they had a really good time, and the pile of snow still remains there on the deck, 3 days later, even though all the other snow in the yard has long disappeared! They even knew enough to cover it up with 2 small pieces of carpet that were on our deck to try to protect it from the bright sun!

The Pumpkin Day Balloon

Andrew pointed this out to us as we ate our breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. Keep the picture of this cold, October morning in mind if you're reading on to my next entry!!

All Turkeyed & Pumpkined Out!

Here are the three boys enjoying their food! Andrew has a vegetable stew, Joshua & Caleb are ripping into their pumpkin pie!

After a weekend of turkey, pumpkin pie, and more turkey, and more pumpkin pie, we might almost be ready to take a short break from all the rich, wonderful food we enjoyed! On Sunday, we traveled out to see Grandpa & Grandma Voth and enjoyed a short evening eating and took a walk along the railway tracks in the back. Unfortunately, Andrew had a large "shyness" attack and played the mamma's-boy card all evening. On Monday, we visited Grandpa & Grandma Bergmann in their sauna - I guess they were cooking all day long, shut up in the house with their shorts on, thinking it was as nice outside as it looked!

Today, the weather's cooling off quickly and right now it's raining. Snow flurries could be expected, although not quite welcome here! This Mom is not looking forward to the rituals of winter dress, boots, mitts, scarves, toques, etc. etc. Caleb will be so excited to see the first snow flakes fall - he's so ready for winter. Poor boy doesn't realize yet that his mother won't be able to take him toboganning and skating this year!

Blue-Eyed Boys

You probably can't tell that each one of these guys has blue, blue eyes! At least Joshua - he's always making silly faces, and no exceptions here!

Yesterday was pumpkin day at our house. Joshua & Andrew & I went grocery shopping in the morning and bought a big, big pumpkin. In the afternoon, Caleb & I cut it open, pulled out the seeds & baked it. After I scooped out all the pumpkin flesh & pureed it, I had filled a 4L ice cream pail!! Later on, I made one pumpkin pie and two loaves of tasty, chocolate chip pumpkin bread. The boys love pumpkin pie, even little Andrew. Is this normal for young children to enjoy pumpkin so much? I guess when you're as good a cook as me ;) of course they'll like anything!!

Caleb spills the beans!

Can you count all the human-like figures on Caleb's drawing? He's quite the budding little artist. Over the past couple of weeks (since school has started) he has enjoyed printing and drawing much more! It's exciting to see how quickly his pictures have gone from scribbles to recognizable images!

The images are, L-R: Andrew, Joshua, unnamed (& unfinished), Mommy (yellow), Caleb & Daddy. What Caleb doesn't seem to understand is that I'm using his artwork to let you know that the unnamed & unfinished image in the above picture is looking more human-like each day. I'm just past 3 months pregnant with what we trust will be our 4th child. Despite early problems with bleeding along with the usual unpleasant early pregnancy symptoms, the second trimester is turning out to be better than I've ever had. Baby's heartbeat is healthy and normal and he/she is making his/her presence known by my expanding eager-to-stretch waistline!!

It's interesting to hear other people's reactions to our news. For the most part, couples our age are excited for us; older people, not so keen; and the young singles think we're crazy! Most people "have" to ask us if we're wanting a girl...like something's wrong with boys!! So many things could be said about their comments, but I don't want to be trying to convince someone that children are a blessing from God. If He has chosen to bless us with another life, then He will provide for us what we need, whether it be money, or more patience, or often times, something we don't even know that we're lacking! It is sad to me that society now views children as a "responsibility" and a drain on our income.

Well, as this new adventure unfolds, you may find my opinions on this matter voiced on this blog. After all, this blog is for me to comment on the joys and struggles of parenthood and to let you know what I've learned...I'm sure the next 6 months will only add more to the insights and frustrations I will encounter as I will undoubtedly be subject to other people's views on child bearing and family planning!! The good news is that this baby is very much loved and wanted by his/her three little brothers & Mommy & Daddy. Caleb & Joshua have been praying for months already for another little baby (more specifically, a sister) and we know that God tells us He hears the prayers of those who have child-like faith.

Playing with Leaves

Today was a beautiful day! The boys were helping Mike as he cleaned up the yard and raked the leaves. Andrew had a great time putting the leaves in the garbage can with his hands, and Caleb & Joshua had the "great idea" to use badminton & tennis rackets to load the leaves. As you can see in the first picture, Andrew is very excited that I have my camera again. It's like when I put on my glasses "Ahhh! THAT'S my Mom!!" He must have been missing the camera in front of my face!!

Back to School, Back to Blog!

This picture was taken with a 35mm camera, and I retook it with the digi camera to post on my blog. It's the boys on their first day of school. Joshua wasn't too impressed because he actually wasn't going to school. He had to wait till later on in the day for Nursery School. Poor boy!!

Some days we walk a lot, like yesterday - there and back 4 times at 10 minutes each time makes for 80 minutes of walking for me. Today it was only once, as Mike was available to take each boy to school, and after school we will be off to the chiropractor's, so we take the van.

Andrew has adjusted to the new schedule. We eat breakfast earlier now, and his nap opportunity is from shortly after 1 till just after 3 pm. I say "opportunity" because he doesn't always use his time in the most constructive manner. By the time 7:30 pm roles around, he's VERY ready for bed!!

Well, to those of you regulars who have missed this blog for the last several weeks, it's back to blogging over here (hehe - I know there's about 0 of you!!). I got my camera back about a week ago yet I haven't taken many pictures. I'm actually used to living without it!! Plus, time is now a factor, what with most of my day getting children dressed, fed, and out the door to school, so there is less time to update you on the monotonous things in our lives! Anyway, check back soon, if you'd like, and I'll let you know the other things going on in our lives.

OK, I just did spell check on this, and I'm finding it humorous that it doesn't recognize the word "blog". Is it me, or is that just strange?

Friends

Thanks to my good friend Brandy who took this picture, as well as taking the kids to the beach last week. Left to right are Joshua, Caleb, & Kiernan. Kiernan is not quite 2 months younger than Joshua - I believe she's making sunglasses for herself, or is it binoculars? The boys had a fun day eating, "fishing", chasing each other & splashing around.

Andrew seems to have fully recovered from Roseola by now and is pretty much walking all the time (at least at home). He still gets down on hands & knees outside or in unfamiliar places.

Joshua and Caleb are enjoying VBS which runs at a nearby church 4 evenings this week. They come home with crafts they've made & lessons learned, and also unfortunately, candy. It seems that everyone in this world needs to reward children (for good behaviour or otherwise) with sugar! I'm so glad our new pediatrician has a tub of small, cheap toys the boys can choose from, instead of candy. And the Dentist gives away stickers & toothbrushes.

It's to the point where the children are expecting SOMETHING everywhere they go. We've started saying "No!" to most of their requests for licorice (after they go potty) and they don't even dwell on it. They're able to forget about it surprisingly fast, and I hope that they're learning that not every good deed will always get an immediate reward! Hopefully they will learn that sometimes doing good is just feeling good inside & feeling better about themselves for it. And maybe they'll some day begin to look for opportunities to do good deeds because they enjoy helping others, which also helps themselves. The lost art in children today is their total preoccupation with themselves & "what's in it for me!". Maybe that's in all of us already, not just the children. I will try to do what I can to develop a greater sense of selflessness in my children and leave the rest up to God!

An Explanation

Hello to all you who are reading this. Some of you may be wondering why I have not been updating my blog more often. Well, the bad news is my camera is out of commission; the good news is that there is a 2 year warranty on it & it's in for repairs. Hopefully everything will work out quickly & cheaply!!

Since I'm guessing that most people are checking this blog for pictures of the boys and not because of my eloquent writing, I have refrained from sharing with you all the mundane & relatively unimportant aspects of our lives this past week. The only thing worth mentioning is that Joshua successfully turned 4 years old (WOW!) and received many great presents and had lots of good food; and Andrew had roseola. Other than that, I think our lives have been what we consider to be "normal". Oh, and we've also discovered that Joshua is very sensitive to "scarey" movies and experiences unpleasant dreams as a result. Also, the wasps are worse than ever. I'm thinking of stocking up on Raid and setting out on a night time crusade to rid the neighbourhood of wasps nest, because they must be out there! I'm starting to look forward to winter, only because there will be no wasps!!

One other thing that I'd like to share with you is that our neighbours across the street are becoming more vigilant in the way they take up as much space as possible parking their three (yes, 3) vehicles along the street. They have purposely begun parking their vehicles so that other people have to park farther away from our homes. If I had my camera, I would take a picture for you to see the silliness that they are engaging in. It is downright childish, I think, and I've made the decision to refrain as much as I consciously can to exhibit such childish behaviour as I continue to age! And hopefully, they will never read this when they're having a bad day!

So Long, Suckers!!

If you're an occasional reader of my ramblings, you'll know that we've been having problems with wasps! The major problem is that there are so many wasps outside, my children don't want to play outside anymore!! I truly think it's a crime when children are not playing outside on a beautiful summer day. First we went with "Wasp-be-gone" in a squirt bottle - it's a little concoction I came up with and put in a squirt bottle for Caleb to spray on any wasps he sees. It works o.k. (only to the extent that he's no longer terrified to go out the door). However, it doesn't really do anything to the wasps, except maybe get them a little wet.

I tried the 2L pop bottles filled with sugar water. Tried pop in the bottles; didn't work. Tried sugar water; didn't work. Tried pop & sugar; didn't work. Tried jam; didn't work. Tried sugar water in a shallow dish; didn't work. I was ready to go out and buy some nasty chemical-laden wasp spray, but I did a little more research on the internet. Turns out that at this time of summer, wasps prefer meat to sweets. I saw a diagram for a fish hanging over top of a pail of water. We don't have any fish in the house, and the only meat we had was some sandwich meat. So I strung it up over top of an ice cream pail full of water with a few drops of dishwashing detergent using the boys' tent poles to hold it up. Not expecting anything, I went inside and forgot about it.

An hour later, I went outside and low-and-behold!! Dead wasps in the ice cream pail (about 15) !! I am now Caleb's hero!! He thinks I'm a genius for killing wasps and he claims he's no longer afraid of wasps (because Mommy kills them all!). Joshua & Caleb often discuss amongst themselves how they will kill all the wasps in the world & the whole world will be a happier place! I set up another lure in the front, and got about 6 more wasps. So I decided to share my success with you all and hope you enjoy the picture of dead wasps floating in 2 ice cream pails of water!!

First Steps & KittyKat Boys

The face says is all on the picture of Andrew! These are NOT his first steps...just the first steps I've managed to capture with the camera! Andrew's been taking steps here and there for several weeks, but still has yet to transfer over to full-time walking. Today he was getting so mad (at nothing in particular; not sure why) that he decided he was going to walk. It was actually pretty funny! The experts says that crawling is a good brain stimulation activity, since the right leg/left arm, left leg/right arm movement challenges the brain. We already knew from all of Andrew's earlier crying that he would be smart little cookie, but all this crawling just goes to reinforce his superior brain development!! LOL!

The second picture is of the boys playing kitty-cats. Their home is under a table with a big tablecloth over top. It's interesting to see how much Caleb & Joshua's play has changed in the last year. They both have good imaginations, and I'm told it's because they don't watch TV. Right now, they're playing play dough and making up stories about what they're making! They really are clever little guys! Well, Andrew's trying to get in on the play dough fun, so my time here is over. Enjoy your day!