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A boy and his dog

It is moments like this that you think:"ok, maybe we will keep the dog."

Caleb likes to be alone and he is the boy in this house who has really bonded with the dog.
She adores him. She loves his stinky socks/shoes best. He doesn't mind her puppy ways. They are good together. She is lucky to have Caleb and he is lucky to have her.

Nathan turns 4!!!!!!!

Some days he acts like he is 8, some days he acts like he is 2. But he turned 4 on September 8.

He is all about Star Wars right now. So this new blanket is a Clone Wars blanket throw for his bed. He was all smiles. He was easy to please.

Nathan's primary play things are dress up super hero clothes. He is rarely just Nathan. When he comes downstairs he is usually dressed as General Grievous or Batman or Captain America.

He is always running around with swords or light sabers or shields and Thor's hammer.

There is forever a pretend battle waged at our house.

It is hard to believe our youngest is 4. He is learning how to read now. He puts his seat belt on all by himself. I never thought this day would come when I could just say: "boys put your shoes on and get in the van"

Now when I do that, I don't have to do anything but coral the dog and start the engine. Weird.

Take me out to the ball game

The first day of school - we didn't go. Of course we didn't go any other day either, we home school. So in honor of everyone else being in class (we started 2 weeks before public schools) we took the day off to see the Brewers.

John and I took our 3 boys and 2 other buddies. David picked his cousin Zach and Caleb picked his best buddy John Patrick. It was the first major league baseball game for all 5 boys. What a fun time. We got to see 2 back to back home runs. We saw Bernie the Brewer slide down the slide and of course the sausage race. They really liked the sausage race.

What a great memory. (for us old folks and for those boys)

Caleb's digestive system

Not the best lighting in this picture but focus on Caleb's shirt.

For a few weeks now we have been studying the digestive system. Caleb has really taken an interest in the placement of the organs and their functions. At the time of this photo we have studied the esophagus, stomach, gall bladder, pancreas, spleen, and small intestine. (now we have added the liver, and the large intestine)

Next to Caleb you can see the white tracing of Caleb in paper taped to the closet wall. This paper Caleb has served as our puzzle to place the organs in the correct locations. He is standing next to it in his newly drawn shirt.

For a project he asked to use a white undershirt to draw his digestive system. I did not help him 1 bit on this project. He got the shirt, the markers and began to drawn his digestive system on this white shirt. I was helping Nathan with his Hooked on Phonics and when I came back in the room this shirt is what he had done. I about fell over.

It is difficult to see, but the pancreas is drawn in yellow in the correct spot and he drew it just as the book has it done (looks like a corn on the cob) . The spleen and gallbladder are correctly placed as well as all the other organs. He will proudly tell you what each one does and what types of food it will help you digest. He will also tell you:"Mom, doesn't have a gallbladder anymore so she shouldn't eat too much fat or McDonald's."

Caleb's shirt also has the heart drawn to illustrate both red and blue blood flow. We studied the heart first because of Nathan's heart valve dysfunction.

The only regret I have is that he drew it in washable markers. It is a work of art!

Amazing to get a picture of just what he retained from our science classes so far this year.

Good job Caleb.

It is so hard to be the 3rd child

So Nathan has really turned up the naughty lately.
But everyone else in the world is charmed by his sweet personality.
The librarian always comments how she adores him (but she calls him Caleb).
"What nice manners he has."She says.

Several of my friends, and the ladies at church are fooled too. But not his family -Nope.
Just a minute ago Nathan was throwing a fit about having to go to the bathroom.
David says: "Mom, I think we had 1 too many kids." (He was trying to take an English test)


I smile inside and think - hmmm

It makes me think about just how people react when they see me with 3 kids.
(Wow you sure have your hands full - oh my you must be busy - oh look at all your helpers etc)

Funny to me too, that they can't seem to remember which one of my kids is which. They do look alike, I give you that but really they are 2 -4 years apart. I didn't name them close either. I could have called them Brett,Brad, and Brice for goodness sake.

Today I got a birthday card in the mail for Caleb (Nathan's birthday is in September, Caleb's is in April)I think the card is for Nathan, but was sent addressed to Caleb.

Seriously people I only have 3 kids - nothing com paired to how many I could have had.

Sometimes I do feel like we had 1 too many kids. There are also days I think we had 3 too many kids. Then there are days I think we should have 3 more kids. Today, I just wish we had the same number of kids but 2 clones of me to match.