Taz x 4

Remember the Looney Tunes character, Taz, with the ravenous appetite and the crazy behavior? He was always hungry and devoured everything, leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

I live with 4 of them.

I'm not one to set the table for dinner every night, but my mom joined us for dinner and I felt like it would be nice. I wish that I had taken a picture of the table, neatly set with bowls of steaming food and cold drinks perfectly in their places. A napkin folded neatly under each fork. I even had a bread plate with perfectly buttered golden cornbread at each place setting. I really outdid myself. Enter the 4 tazmanian devils (and the she devil)....

Here is my sweet mom picking up the few crumbs of cornbread that were present on her placemat after she ate. Ha! Maybe Caleb is making a mental note:)

Progression of a Meltdown

Christian was trying to loosen the strap to Sarah's highchair so that it would fit around her gut, and it broke. So now my meals are filled with "Sarah, sit down", "Sarah, do you want a spanking?", "Did you hear what I said?", and "I MEAN IT YOUNG LADY!"


Of course, Christian is more consistent with the discipline than I am. Today at lunch I turned around and she was sitting in the middle of the table.

Tonight at dinner she started her usual routine and Christian cracked her...not hard mind you. Just a little "love pat" to get her attention. The following ensued....

Here we see a hint of a pouty lip and shock in her eyes.

(Notice the anticipation in Jackson's face...he knows what's coming)

Now she scrambles to sit down and proceeds to really poke the lip out.

(Is it just me, or is Jackson enjoying this?)

This is the "You never let me have any fun and you are ruining my life" expression. At least it will be when she is 13.

And last, but not least, the all out howl that made Christian take his bowl of red beans and rice outside to eat in peace. Once it gets to this point, its the only option.

Backyard Stunts

Ready....concentrate....

Now, a matrix move....

Mama Re

It's so nice to have someone that loves your kids and wants to watch them ANYTIME you have a need!

The Junk Yard

Look at that poor little orphan in his shanty...oh, wait! That is my son and that is my yard! I always refer to the Sanford & Son feel of our yard. I will let the pictures speak for themselves....

The boys love to play in their "fort". I don't think it complies with the Columbia County building codes.

I think that Jackson is trying to get Sarah to get in the cat trap.

It was a beautiful spring day today.

Ponytail

I will go ahead and warn you that you will probably want the next 5 minutes of your life back. I'm sorry, but I waited a LONG time for ponytails and hairbows!

All of the boys had their haircut at their first birthday. As I have already mentioned, Sarah has an unfortunate mullet due to the fact that she is a girl and will not have her hair cut for a while.

Today I picked up some plastic hair bands and problem solved. I know that she can't wear one everyday, but it sure is cute!

Toothless Wonder

After a tussle over blankets to sleep with, Jackson knocked Aaron's tooth out. Actually, as you can see in the picture, it was just hanging there and Aaron pulled it out the rest of the way. This was Aaron's first top tooth to fall out.

Crazy Tooth

It may be hard to see in this picture, but Aaron has a tooth that is DANGLING on the top. It is a tooth that was damaged years ago and it has gone from a lovely shade of gray to a buttery yellow. It is disgusting. He looks like he has a kernal of yellow corn hanging there. I hereby put the tooth fairy on notice...I will not let this thing dangle past the weekend. I'll snatch it out quicker than you can say shoe peg!

Bike Wreck Update

Still a little sore, but OK. He told me that he thinks that we should put all of the balls and toys in the garage when we aren't playing with them so it doesn't happen again. Our yard definitely has a "Sanford and Son" feel...I think my neighbors would heartily agree with him!

Road Rash

Poor Levi! I was inside cleaning up the kitchen when I heard him screaming at the front door. Because this is an hourly occurence around here, I waited to see if it was the real deal or not. After a few more minutes, I went to the front door and stuck my frowny face in the window (as if to say...now WHAT?)

Apparantley, riding a bike and hitting a soccer ball is "what"!

Visitors

We had the pleasure of hosting 2 students from Japan for 5 days, Hitomi and Naomi. They are 16 years old and come from Nagano.

They always pose with a peace sign. The boys picked up on it!

They played for HOURS outside with all of the kids. We had some serious kick ball games going on in the cul de sac.

My neighbor, Emma Kate, was especially sad to see them go.

This picture pretty much sums up Sarah's mood the whole time. She is still not herself after a nasty cold. Couple that with her general distate for strangers and that equals a whole lot of whining and crying!

The girls are Bhuddists and also worship their anscestors. While they were here they attended a Japanese bible study every morning and were given their own bible. The boys and I prayed that they would see Jesus in our family while they were here with us. A seed was planted!

So Proud!

Congratulations to my baby sister! All of her hard work paid off and she will be a student at the Medical College of Georgia in the fall. I'm secretly hoping that once she knows how to do dental cleanings she will come over to our house and "practice". I took Levi to the dentist today and $118 later we left with a good report. Multiply that times 5...we NEED you Anna Grace, RDH!

School Days

I am often asked how I homeschool with 5 children. If I had a dollar for everytime someone told me that I had my hands full, I would be a very rich woman. I don't know what to say. It just "works".

When the older boys are doing this....

the little ones are doing this.....

and I'm doing this (with my little laundry helper).

I sit down with them and teach while Sarah is napping. We are usually done by lunch. Then, weather permitting, we do a WHOLE lot of this....

I love it that we can get school done in the mornings and the boys have the rest of the afternoon to be boys.

Party in the Back

We have an issue that I'm not quite sure how to handle. My beautiful sweet precious daughter.....

has a mullet.

You know, achey-breaky-bad-mistakey.

That's Sarah these days. While I can make it cute first thing in the morning with a little water from a spray bottle and brush, by the afternoon it looks like this....

What you can't see in this picture is the pure static electricity that is bolting off of each strand. She could light up a city with that 'fro.

If I cut it, she will look like one of the Wahl boys. What do I do? (Besides get a life and some real problems:)

15 Months

Sarah is 15 months old today. How is that possible? I still haven't had her 12 month pictures made!

She loves to through things in the garbage can. A few things that I have fished out: keys, cell phone, dish towel, remote control, spoon, cup, and a shoe. I am sure that I am now missing something important that is now in the Columbia County dump!

On pretty days, the boys help me out by pulling her around in her car in the cul de sac. I can cook and clean up without her hanging on to my leg. She loves her car and the faster they pull her, the better. The handle on the back of the car was broken off long ago. The boys rigged up a rope around the steering wheel.

She is still very clingy to me and cries if I leave her anywhere. We are having 2 Japanese students come and stay with us for a few days. Hopefully she won't cry the whole time they are here!

Sweet Prayers

I sometimes feel like the blessings at our house are hurried because it is just one step in between my boys and their food. I don't really say anything to them about it because praying comes from the heart. I don't want them to pray prayers to make ME happy. Tonight, Aaron prayed the sweetest blessing and I know that it was really what he was feeling. He said...

Dear God,

Thank you for this GOOD day.

Thank for our food and shelter and water that you gave us.

We love you.

Amen.

Tuckered Out!

I told Caleb to go upstairs and get in his bed and I would come and kiss him goodnight. This is what I found....