September | 2012 | life with three boys and a splash of purple!

Week 34 – August 20 – 26, 2012

(Completed 9/24/12)

Henry is the best helper. And such a cute one too!

Henry and I picked more broccoli this week. I have been picking broccoli by sneaking in the garden so Henry wouldn’t see what I was doing. I didn’t want him to do it without me and do it wrong. I wasn’t able to be sneaky today.

I was impressed how well he cut the broccoli with the scissors. Yes, I let my 3-year-old use adult scissors! He did it so well I bet I could send him to the garden to pick some for a meal. I was reminded again that he can do so many things, and he can do it “my way”, I mean the right way, if and when I show him how to do things correctly and safely.

This has been the best year for our broccoli. I have eight plants and they have produced tons of broccoli for us. I am thinking I want more plants next year.

Then I turn my back and my awesome helper (Henry) cuts 25 stalks of my milo and corn! When I asked him why, “Me don’t like them being tall!” Here is a milo stalk he cut that is actually growing back. The corn stalks didn’t grow back.

Henry must have been encouraged to do more jobs for me today after doing so well at cutting broccoli and feeling badly about cutting my milo and corn. Because he collected eggs without me. He carried them in his shirt and unloaded them on to my junk table. No broken eggs this time!

I had an evening meeting and this is what I came home to…

These boys are getting too big for me to carry them out of my bed.

I took a few photos in the garden this week:

This one is of the biggest mullein plants (Verbascum Thapsus) I have ever seen. I have been saving these weeds all over our property for drying and making tea with the leaves. I learned of this from a friend and was reminded about mullein from my midwives when I had a horrible cold during my pregnancy with Nola Mae. Henry can spot it anywhere. We went for a walk to our neighbors and walked through her yard rather than up her driveway. Henry ran past a tiny mullein plant and said, “there is yours mullein!”

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum_thapsus

The many uses of mullein:

http://www.naturalnews.com/033990_mullein_medicinal_herbs.html

My first handful of raspberries!

I did not grow basil this year. I was given some from a friend and my sister-in-law. Henry and I are the only ones that eat pesto.

Nola Mae has started to do the Superman/airplane pose.

And now that she is rolling over. I find her sleeping on her belly, which is cute but also makes me nervous. This girl always has her hand in her face, something I will never forget! Giving birth to a baby with her hand on her face is quite painful and unforgettable!

Charlie turned seven years old this week! He wanted to decorate his own cake with Star Wars ships on it.

Charlie wanted to go camping for his birthday. Jack took all three boys to Brunette Island State Park. They met other family members there.

On Sunday morning Charlie got stung many times by hornets when he stepped onto a nest on an island they had been playing on all weekend. We will never know how many times. He wouldn’t let me count the marks.

I can count 32 sting marks in the photo of his back.

The best cousin, Sarah, read to him to help him feel better.

Charlie did not have an allergic reaction to the stings. Jack did take him to an ER where he got an IV of fluids and we got the bill:

IV Therapy = $294

Sterile Supply = $74.50

Emergency Room = $332

Pharmacy = $212.75

Professional Fee/ER = $498

Total = $1411.25

(A month later and I don’t know what our insurance will pay)

Uncle Eddie took these photos in the ER. When Charlie saw them he remembered more things to tell me about this experience.

“I was soooo tired I couldn’t fall asleep.”

“I remember those blankets. They were REALLY warm! And it felt good when they put it on top of me.”

“I’m never going camping for my birthday EVER again!”

Jack said it was helpful that his brother went along with him and that he had the GPS in the car, so all he had to do was to touch the arrow on the screen to see where the closest hospital was and hit “Go.”

Week 33 – August 12 – 19, 2012

(completed 9/23/12)

Sunday, August 12th: For some reason I forgot to include these photos in Week 32’s post. We picked Robbie up from his sleepover in the morning on our way to Stevens Point. He was the only boy out of many to get an injury – a banged up knee.

This looks like she is pouting, but really she is trying to copy me doing “raspberries” with my lips.

We met Grandpa Rob in Stevens Point with the bikes. Henry, Nola Mae and I did the shuttling for their bike trip on the Green Circle trail. Grandpa Rob, Jack and the two older boys biked 5 miles from one park to another. Henry was sad that they were leaving without him, so I took him to the south side of the park they were departing. I loved his excitement when he first spotted them.

Then he ran with them for a little while.

Then they left us.

This is the snake we found at the park in Whiting while waiting for the bikers to meet us for our picnic lunch. An Eastern Hognose. This gives me the willies looking at it again. I really do not like snakes. I asked Jack to try to find out what kind of snake it was. He found this website . I was horrified to see the many different kinds of snakes in WI. Mom, you shouldn’t go to that link!

Monday, August 13th: Veggies picked today.

Tuesday, August 15th: My worm factory that I got for a Mother’s Day gift is three months old. I added a second box this month.

Wednesday, August 15th: Nola Mae has always been a good baby. I changed her diaper, then let her hang out on the floor while I did something and noticed she was quiet and this is what I found.

We have been letting the boys sleep in our room this summer. They have a nest on the floor at the foot of our bed. When it is hard for them to settle down to fall asleep they (usually Robbie) they are separated and one boy is sent to their room. Tonight it was Robbie who was sent to a different room. Robbie wanted a second chance so he must have written this note to Charlie. I found this paper airplane in my room in the morning.