Family of Plaid (minus one)

Saturday Morning

"Did our kids survive The Great Depression?" This was the question posed at breakfast this morning, and a valid one at that. You see, our boys want to save everything. There is no shred of paper, no band-aid wrapper, no sock full of holes which, in their minds, cannot be recycled into some sort of brilliant toy. In some respects, this is a good thing - they are easily entertained with an old shoe box or a paper sack. In other ways it makes for a lot of trash that needs storage.

Yesterday, Vince made an unplanned trip to the dentist because of intense tooth pain (which ended up being nothing other than pain due his incessant tooth-grinding at night). Much to the boy's delight he got to keep the x-rays of his teeth, and you would have thought he handed them "the golden ticket" when he handed them each their very own x-ray of daddy's tooth.

This morning, after Asher's third unsuccessful attempt to find matching socks in his sock basket, I decided to do a bit of Spring cleaning and clean out the basket which houses his socks and undies. In that basket were the following... one flash light, two Easter eggs, one Pez dispenser, two pipe cleaners, a tooth x-ray, a paper airplane, one American flag, one paint sample, a clothes pin, a creepy alien from date night, several shreds of paper intentionally saved because they are "tickets," and a blank coloring page... oh, and a few pairs of mismatched socks and undies. Ezra's basket was just as bad. Most of the items from the sock basket will go to a very special "holding place" when the boys are not looking. (As an aside, one must be very careful to conceal and cover well the "treasures" when they are put in the special holding receptacle lest a boy open the lid to said can and discovers his beloved treasures in the special place, at which time he will promptly remove the treasure and ask, "mommy, why did you put my baby monkey's superhero cape (translation: sock full of holes) in the garbage?").
On a different note, while I was cleaning out the baskets, Vince decided to try some undies on Solomon. They fit him quite well (although I think he looks a little embarrassed to be photoed in undies). We'll call this his 6-week photo in celebration of his 6-week birthday today.

The Best!

God has given me, quite possibly, the best husband in the world (I know, there are some women out there who might dispute this, but I'm pretty sure I'm spot on about this). You see, Solomon had a bad night last night... a really, REALLY bad night. He's had a string of not-so-good nights as of late, but last night was the topper thus far. The poor baby has caught Obed's cold and doesn't understand yet that when his nose is stuffy, he can breath through his mouth. He spent most of the night screaming, choking on boogies, snorfeling (yes, snorfeling), and just plain miserable. Add to that a bout if gas and the kid was just plain pathetic.

All this being said, sleep was nowhere in sight for me last night. Vince dozed in and out through the night, but he too is fighting this cold, so "well rested" would not define the man this morning. But, in spite of his long night, he got up early to hold Solomon. On top of that, he got the other three boys up so I could sleep a bit more.

When I came up this morning, the boys were happily munching away on the breakfast daddy had created for them...

Doggy pancakes for Obed,

Piggy pancakes for Ezra,
And a cow for Asher.
God bless my husband! He serves both me and the boys and is the best there is!

Wanna Come To Visit?

This is the current state of our guest room. You'll be greeted by a nice walking path right next to the bed. You'll experience the utmost privacy if you contort your body to just the right angle, you can reach the mini-blinds in order to close them. If you bring your own reading lamp, there is a lamp shade ready for you to use, at no extra charge. And you'll experience the greatest comfort on the plush mattress once you ever so carefully place all the boxes currently on the bed onto the walking path on the floor (which may create an ever so slight fire hazard) so you can lay on the bed. Anyone want to come and stay?

The Bird Who Could Lactate

When I had Asher, there were many days I would sit on the couch and nurse him, Ezra sitting right next to me, nursing his Elmo. When I had Obed, there were many days that both Ezra and Asher would nurse their stuffed animals as I was nursing Obed. When I had Solomon, I fully expected that I would have 3 little boys nursing their babies. I was wrong.


I guess Ezra and Asher have picked up on the fact that daddy never nurses Solomon (although I have told Vince time and again that if he could simply start lactating, it would make things tremendously easier for me, especially at night. He's been rather disagreeable to this idea, if I do say so myself). I came upstairs yesterday to find Big Bird sitting on the floor with Grover in his lap. When I asked what they were doing, I was told "Grover is a newborn, Mommy. Big bird is the mommy and he's feeding him." Well, I guess we have some more explaining to do.

One Last Family Night at The Zoo

We had a beautiful day today and decided to enjoy one of the last days of summer with one last family night at the zoo. The boys and I may make it another time or two to the zoo before we leave, but I don't think Vince will make it with us.

There was a strange, and unexpected, sort of nostalgia that came over me as we walked through the zoo tonight. Vince and I began to talk about our time in Minot, remembering when we first arrived and talking through our final days here. When we came to Minot, Ezra was one year old. He is now 5 1/2, and we've added another 3 boys to the crew as well.

The zoo, on many days, was the savior of my sanity over the past 4 years. For being such a small town, Minot has a remarkably nice zoo, and it's a place of which the boys seem to never tire. It's a place we've gone many afternoons to burn some energy, enjoy being outside, or just to walk with friends. I think the only negative memory I have at the zoo here is when a hornet flew into Obed's mouth last summer and stung him 4 times... other than that, I've loved the zoo here.

Tonight, we packed a picnic for the boys and headed out. Please note Obed's ghetto lunch box. I don't have a lunch box for Obed, but wanting to do all things like the big boys, he needed his own lunch box. So I made Obed a lunch box... a Gladware container, two orange pipe cleaners, and voila, a homemade lunch box. He was pretty excited.

Solomon seemed kind of bored by the whole "family night" thing... he slept most of the time.
Picnic at the gazebo (the place which seemed to have the fewest number of bees).

Obed proudly toting his ghetto box.
Real men wear baby slings at the zoo.
The boys love the geese and ducks at the zoo. They enjoy calling to them, "here duck, here goosey" as they try to feed them corn, and then laugh hysterically when the ducks go head first into the water with their tails in the air, looking for the corn.
It was quite windy today (shocking) and Vince told the boys to try to catch leaves as they were falling from the tree. I think Asher's expression is priceless!
All the boys waiting for the wind to blow the leaves from the trees.
The giraffe.
Feeding the deer.
Obed the turtle with an extra growth out the side.

Invisible?

Asher asked if I could see him when he did this. I could.

Almost 5 Weeks

Solomon has a question.

Sunday School

Sunday was the first day of Sunday School for the Fall. Now that Obed is 2, he is able to attend Sunday school as well. The boys were SO excited!

Four Weeks

Solomon is 4 weeks old today... in some ways it seems like he's always been with us. In other ways, it's hard to believe it's already been a month. Either way, we adore this little man and thank God for him!

TWO!!!

Today, Obed turns 2... hard to believe! For a while, you could ask Obed how old he was going to turn, and he would say, "doo." Now, he says "pive." I guess he skipped over his second, third and fourth birthdays, straight to five.

Ezra and Asher have been anticipating this day for quite some time. Birthdays in the Black house are a BIG deal and Ezra and Asher have been preparing for several weeks. They have been making pictures and cards for Obed, all of which have been saved in a big basket. Yesterday, we taped all their birthday pictures together to make wrapping paper in order to wrap Obed's gifts.

Asher found the gift that Grammy and Papa sent to Obed, an Elmo DVD and book. He quickly told Obed what was in the box, none of which I knew until this morning. This morning, as soon as Obed got out of bed, he walked up to the wrapped presents and said, "open Elmo book and boobie" (on a side note, "boobie" is movie in Obed language... it's not a dirty Elmo movie).
We had our typical cinnamon rolls on Friday, complete with a candle and birthday hat.
Obed got some more trains to add to our existing train set, since he is all about trains these days. It's a rather cool, rainy morning here, so all the boys (minus Solomon of course) built a "sweet" train set.
Obed got a Playschool bus from Aunt Megan and family. The bus came with several riders, one of which Obed has declared is Papa. I think Obed might be a little confused about our lineage since apparently Papa is a black, female painter.

Garden "Harvest"

A Chubby 2 Weeks

I've always known that I have super-human "mommy juice" (as the boys call it). My boys have always thrived on nursing and gotten really, REALLY fat, really, REALLY fast. There was a season that Obed actually looked like a sumo wrestler, or just a big, square box with a round head on top.

Solomon had his 2 week check up yesterday. The "goal" at the 2 week check up is that the baby has regained his birth weight. Solomon was 7 pounds, 3 ounces when he was born. He was 6 pounds, 11 ounces when he left the hospital. He was 20 inches long when he was born. Yesterday, at his 2 week check up, he weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds and was 21 inches long. The doctor was astonished and said he has never, ever seen a baby who has gained 2 1/2 pounds in two weeks. I told the doctor I had super human mommy juice... and that I had been feeding Solomon steak and pizza.

We're thankful for healthy sons. God is kind to give us 4 healthy boys... one getting healthier by the day (and by healthier, I mean chubby).