Family getaway

Last weekend, we had a little family getaway to the Pocono mountains. A friend of ours offered us his cabin and our day-to-day lives have been so crazy between Patrick's work, taking care of the boys and keeping up with housework that we thought it might be nice to do a little retreat of sorts. Not so many rules, barely any chores. Just quiet, fun time together as a family.

Or so we thought.

We arrived at the cabin on Friday afternoon, after a late start and driving almost five hours in the rain. We were all a bit cold and cranky, but when we got there, we seemed to unwind instantly.

The cabin was beautiful.

I pictured Patrick and I sitting out on the porch in the morning with some hot coffee,

with a view of the lake through the trees and lots of wildlife around.

Can't you just hear the boys mocking me for thinking such a thing?

The inside of the cabin was just as beautiful, but as you may be able to tell, the loft-style sleeping arrangements made it difficult to realize my other dream of Patrick and I putting the boys to bed and sitting on the couch by that cozy fire watching a movie or talking.

Because all day Friday had torrential downpouring rain, we did a lot of this

Candyland and Go Fish!

The combination of the pounding rain, the metal roof, the beds at ceiling level, and the open floor plan meant that Patrick and I each got about an hour of sleep Friday night. And that not all together - it was more like 10 minutes here and there up and down with the boys who couldn't sleep because of the rain, or fell out of their beds, or had bad dreams. It was rough.

Saturday morning, we discovered that overnight, we'd also had some rodent visitors who'd helped themselves to the food on the counter (shame on me for leaving it out). Tired and grossed out by the discovery, we determined to make the best of our day.

The boys wanted to take some pictures of their own, so I let them use the camera. Here are Jack's photos, straight out of the camera - no editing from me. I love to see how he chooses his shots.

First, our family






Then, of course, Lammy



(I love that he kept trying to get the right angle. . . and that in the last picture, Lammy looks like he's had enough.)



Next, his backpack and toys



Then, some other random shots:

My "red sweatshirt," which made me cry laughing when I actually saw the picture



Daddy's bagel (one of the few that wasn't nibbled by the mice)



And I love this one of his and Patrick's feet



PJ's turn to try his hand at it with some of his favorite toys



and the deer head which both fascinated and appalled the two of them.



Finally, the rain stopped and the boys were excited to see some sun peek through the clouds

So I dressed the older boys and took them for a walk by the lake while Patrick and Thomas napped.

It was good to stretch our legs

but it was COLD - sweatshirts were not nearly enough - and we had to dodge a lot of puddles.

The lake was beautiful, though


Then, we hopped in the car and headed to the nearby town of Honesdale, which has a train and some shops and, we figured, dry places to walk and let the boys burn off some energy.

On the way, we passed a road with a familiar name.

The boys loved seeing the train, and sitting on a tractor parked on the sidewalk


That night, we made a fire in the fire pit and the boys got a kick out of cooking their own dinner for the first time as they roasted hot dogs on sticks over the fire. Then, of course, we had to have s'mores for dessert.




We were all in bed by 7 that night and even though I'd put all the food in the refrigerator, we could hear the mice all over the house that night. They ran back and forth along the rafters and I even saw a furry nose peek through a space between the wood planks of the ceiling while I was lying in bed. They chewed holes in everything that had ever touched food, including the baby's bottle nipples, the rubber tips of his spoons, and some of the bottles for Patrick's medicines. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night either, though the boys slept really well.

Maybe it was a bit city slickeresque of us to expect anything different, but more than a little grossed out by the mouse droppings that were everywhere - in the coffee pot, even - we decided to pack up early on Sunday and go out to breakfast on our way home.

Thankfully, the boys have become pretty good travelers, despite the fact that two relatively new potty trainers require lots of pit stops. And hey, they look cool too!

It was a beautiful drive home on Sunday with clear skies and gorgeous fall colors. The boys especially enjoyed seeing all these wind mills which dotted the landscape for a good part of the ride.

The trip might sound like a total loss, but it really wasn't. We got to spend a lot of time together, and Patrick and I talked a lot in the car during the drives, something that we don't get to do much of for extended periods of time these days. Plus, it really helped me to appreciate our home (and our beds) and our family, and want to make being together here special too.

Sooo big!

Nowadays

A friend of mine does a post every now and again that talks about each of her children and what their current activities are. Since I don't have time to write in any baby books these days (and, let's be honest, I'm not totally sure where two of them are), I thought it might be nice to update on each of these guys for posterity's sake. It seems they are changing so quickly and doing so many amazing things, it's hard to keep up. I make little notes on our family calendar when they reach milestones, but I don't always get to share them. So, this is how it is nowadays.

Let's start with Thomas.

Thomas is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. If he's fussy, I know he's ill. Or teething. At just eight months, he has five teeth and is working on the sixth. He is cruising around on the furniture and I fear think he may actually start walking earlier than the ten month age at which his brothers started. (Holy awkward phrasing, Batman!) His laugh is contagious. He loves to clap. He is constantly on the move - so much so that it's hard for me to get a picture of him that isn't blurry. He loves eating and has recently started eating table food along with his baby food. He likes french fries. He just started sleeping through the night, which is so helpful since Patrick and I were both getting to the so-tired-we-can't-see-straight stage. He crinkles his nose and makes a funny sniffing in and out sound when he's excited about something. He loves to watch his brothers play and they are so kind a loving with him - always kissing and hugging him. It's hard to remember what life was like without him in our family.

Then there's Peej.

This kid is such a sweetheart. He loves dancing and singing. He's artistic and has the patience it takes to sit and color a picture, but can't always sit through reading a book. He makes his toys talk with silly voices. He loves to play with Jack and they get better at playing and pretending together every day. He thinks it's hilarious to say the word "poopy," often followed by the word "Mommy," which, I've come to realize, is something I'm just going to have to roll with since I say that word more times in a day than I'd like to myself. PJ is kind and sensitive. He hugs Jack and kisses Thomas 20 times a day, always saying, "Hi, sweet baby!" He is an encourager extraordinaire. He is constantly saying things like, "You're a really great helper/track builder/puzzle maker/painter, Jackie!" If he asks one of us for help doing something he can't, he cheers us on while we're doing it - reaching a cup, getting something that has rolled under the couch - "Go, Mommy! Go, Mommy!" he says, with a "You're a really good reacher, Mommy!" afterward for good measure. He talks like no other two-year-old I've ever heard. Not even Jack spoke as well as PJ does, and he was a great talker too. I recently received an email update about what my two-year-old ought to be doing right now and it said this:

By 30 months, your child can name a few body parts, some colors, and even a friend or two. Her memory and speaking ability work in tandem. Help out by expanding on what she says. If she says, "Dog sleep," you might say, "Yes, Spot is curled up and fast asleep in his doggie bed." She can't imitate your complex language patterns yet, but her brain is absorbing them. Every time you repeat her words or expand on them, you're giving her memory practice.

I had to laugh. PJ just told me while I was folding the laundry, "Mommy, the pants go in this pile, not over there on the couch! And the socks are on your lap, but actually, I want to put them here and sit on your lap." I know every parent probably thinks his kid is ahead of the curve, but getting those sorts of updates kind of confirms it for me in the verbal department. However, the one thing he consistently says wrong and I hope will not change anytime soon is, "I want to hold you" when he wants us to hold him. He loves saying prayers before meals. We have one simple one that we say in the morning before breakfast, and after we giggle a little watching him bless himself by tapping random upper body parts in no particular order, it warms our hearts to hear PJ say, with his hands folded and eyes closed, "Dear Jesus, we love you and we offer you this day, our body, our souls, our work, and our play. Amen." PJ is Mommy's boy, sometimes almost frustratingly so, as I can hardly take 15 minutes to get in the shower and get dressed in the morning without him crying at the bottom of the steps that he wants Mommy or go to the bathroom without him wanting to come in and sit on my lap. It's endearing and frustrating, but I know that this time will be over quickly and I'm trying to cherish it rather than wish we were beyond it.

Now on to Jack.

Jack is growing more and more independent every day. He is such a helpful big brother. He loves mazes and puzzles that have hidden pictures or that ask him to find the thing that's different. He loves to pretend to read simple story books that we've read together over and over, and he loves listening to new stories. He's been working on phonics and putting letter sounds together to make words. His favorite thing is to sound out a simple word like "hat" or "ball" and then figure out what happens when we change the first letter. It's amazing to watch him put concepts together. Last night, I asked him to take five more bites of his dinner and he replied by saying, "Mommy, two plus two makes four, and if I add one more, that's five!" Patrick and I just looked at each other in surprise and said "That's right!"

Jack is a rule-follower and enforcer. I think maybe it's an oldest child thing, because he's very black and white and likes telling other people the "right" way to do things. That sounds only slightly similar to the undesirable characteristics that another firstborn person I know is trying to change about herself (ahem) so I'm trying drive home the lesson that just because people do things differently from you, it doesn't mean they're doing things wrong. Jack has such a sweet nature. He is, and always has been, very polite. "Please" and "thank you" are second nature and he is the most appreciative child I've ever known if someone gives him something or does something for him. He is very outgoing and is having a great time at preschool. One day this week, the class dismissed a little earlier than usual because it was raining and when I got there, most of the other parents and children were already gone. I asked Jack if it made him upset when I wasn't there or if he was afraid I wasn't going to come. His reply? "Nope. I was havin' too much fun!" Love it!

Jack is in such limbo between being a big boy and being small that it's hard to watch the inner turmoil that this sometimes causes him. He wants to do big boy things, like skip naps or not wear pull-ups to bed, but he's just not ready for those things yet and he ends up overtired (or wet) and very frustrated at this in-between time. It's hard to watch but I know it's just a part of growing up. He likes to talk about things that are upsetting him and I love hearing how his mind works as he's trying to figure out how things work and why they are the way they are. I love that, as he's getting older, we can spend fun and meaningful times together and talk about the things that he's thinking about. He loves to ask questions about God and his sweet childhood acceptance of our faith is convicting and inspiring. Because we told him that God made the world, he often asks things like "Why did God make our house [a duplex] stuck to Mr. Landis's house?" Differentiating between man-made and natural things is not always easy.

**Edited to add a few recent quotes from Jack that I was trying to remember for this post but couldn't:

After dinner, Jack and PJ are supposed to take their plates into the kitchen and put them in the sink. One night, we used paper plates and Jack said, "Here, Mommy. I don't really want to take it tonight. You do it." I replied, "Jack, it's your job to take your plate and fork and cup into the kitchen after you eat. Just because this one is paper doesn't mean you don't have to do it." "Ohhh," he answered with an Eeyore-esque lilt to his voice, "I suppose you're right."

(You suppose??)

Another time, Jack had ketchup on his plate to dip his hot dog in and ranch dressing for his carrots. He decided to mix the two together and Patrick told him it was going to be yucky. He tried it and said, "Daddy, it's not yucky. It's 'dip-licious!'" I thought that was pretty clever for a three-year-old.

We could not be more thankful for or proud of our three precious boys.

Halloween preview

There was an early sale on costumes at Kmart and I had a Sears/Kmart gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so I let the boys pick their costumes out themselves for the first time this year. We looked online at all our options and they decided these were the ones they wanted.

I'm so very glad






because our home feels much safer with two superheroes living in it!

Home grown

This year, we tried our hand at growing a few new fruits and vegetables in a sunny bed beside the house. There was a strawberry patch and a raspberry bush here when we moved in, which yielded us oodles of berries at the beginning of summer, but we also tried a few cherry tomatoes (we got three total and they are still green), a watermelon, and an eggplant.

The eggplant is still growing nicely, but yesterday, we were able to harvest our watermelon after weeks and weeks of waiting patiently for it to be ready.

The boys were so proud and excited to cut it open and eat it. It was delicious, but more importantly, the experience gave us the chance to teach them what we hope will be a lifelong skill:

seed spitting!

Making Whoopie

Maybe it's the rolling hills. Maybe it's the acres of farm land. Maybe it's the romantic clip-clop of horse and buggies passing outside, but if there's one thing people in Lancaster County, Pa. know about, it's making whoopie pies.

And with three little boys

under four years of age,

Patrick and I know a little about making whoopie pies ourselves.

But this is something that even we don't know how to make!

Mystery trip

It's hard to believe that it was a whole year ago that we first took the boys to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Remember this photo? PJ was only about 17 months old. Too young to remember.

One of the benefits of having kids who wake at the butt crack of dawn is that we can frequently do early morning outings in the cool of the day and be back home in time for lunch and naps. We're out at parks or the mall well before the crowds arrive. With three boys, another favorite spot is the nearby Strasburg Railroad, where we'll walk around and watch the engineers get ready for a day on the rails. The most thrilling part is watching the steam engines fill with coal and water and pull into the station to couple up to the passenger cars. The engineers are so kind and friendly. It's free entertainment and the boys love pointing out the knuckle, dome, whistle, and coal tenders.

(We know all the terms already going in.)

Can you name that movie?

Anyway, I knew Thomas was coming to Strasburg soon, and when I looked it up online last night, I realized he was there NOW. So this morning, I told the boys we were taking a Mystery Trip right after breakfast and we went to see him.

As we got close (but not too close) Jack recognized the route as being the one we take to go to the railroad. So by the time we got there, they knew where we were headed, and were excited enough about watching the engines, but they still did not know that Thomas was going to be there.

I love surprising them like that. They were both so excited.

Totally made it worth the fact that I didn't have time to take a shower.

We were able to snap a few pictures with Thomas as they were cleaning him up before he pulled into the station. Only the two Thomases were looking at me, despite my twenty seven "Look at Mommy!" requests.

Finally, a kind father saw my plight and said, "Hey, boys - look over here!"

(Kids, are you noticing all this plight? **gun shots** Roll 'em up!)

Can you name that movie?






Would have been nice if he were standing near me, but ah, well. At least I can see their faces.
I can't tell you how much I love these ones of them posing by the train. PJ's "cheese" always has me in hysterics.

I love how all three of my boys have, as babies, just sort of put their feet up on the stroller and lounge. It cracks me up.

After getting a few small Thomas-related items in the shop (because we do not have enough of those already), it was time to see Sir Topham Hatt in all his splendor. PJ was so excited while we were waiting in line. "I'm going to give him a hug!" he kept saying.

Then he saw him.

He wasn't quite as normal-looking as PJ had imagined and he was more than a little uneasy, but he did give him a hug. We had the option of buying pictures from the station photographer or giving the aid our camera and having her snap a few pictures. I figured I'd take my chances with package B. Here's what we got, completely unedited.

I love how that realistic-looking tarp in the background makes it look like we're really on the island of Sodor. I think she realized that maybe the grommets across the top are not really supposed to be in the picture, and then came these two:

Jack is all business. He's not about to mess up his chances at being an actual conductor with the Sodor Railway. If he can just nail this encounter with the big guy, then he's a shoo-in.

I kept telling them that PJ's name was "PJ" (which, I believe I was actually in the process of saying when this picture was being taken). Still, they continued to call, "DJ? TJ? Look, TJ!"


So close.

Oh well, I edited it a little bit at home and here's our memento from our morning Mystery Trip to see Thomas.

And a good time was had by all!

The Dinosaur Sleepover

The boys like to type on our computer, and I'll often open a Word document for them to make letters and see what they're writing. Jack sees Patrick and I typing rather quickly (ahem) and so he is frequently pretending that he is typing quickly too and will start talking while he's typing.

One day, he said he was writing a story, so I asked him if he would like me to type it for him. He said he would, so this is his story - The Dinosaur Sleepover.

Once upon a time there was a baby dinosaur, a pteranodon named Rex.

His mommy thought she would keep him forever and ever, but she was wrong. (!?)

One day a big brachiosaurus came to visit and was nice. His name was Rex too.

They played a game of hide and seek together.

Then they had a snack. The pteranodon had fish and the brachiosaurus was an herbivore so he ate a leaf pizza.

The brachiosaurus came to visit for a sleepover. The sun went down quick like on Dinosaur Train and the two dinosaurs went to bed. The pteranodon slept in a nest and his mother made a special leaf bed for the brachiosaurus. It was big.

They had a good sleep and they just had good dreams, not bad dreams.

The next morning, they ate breakfast. Then they finished playing their game of hide and seek.

The brachiosaurus’s mother said it was okay for him to sleep overnight again!

The sun went down quick again and the dinosaurs went to sleep.

I loved hearing his thoughts and listening to him come up with the story with very few promptings of, "and then what happened?"

He and PJ have just started to become so imaginative in their play together. It's a joy to listen to!

Big baby, amusement park antics, and one precious preschooler

Thomas is growing so quickly, I can hardly keep up. He is 7 months old now, was 22.3 pounds at his physical two weeks ago, and is wearing 18-24 month clothes. Makes that whole clothes bin-rotation process almost ridiculous.

He quickly went from sitting up to crawling and is now pulling himself up on things regularly. I'm so not ready for him to walk, but I fear it's coming sooner than I would like.

He loves to eat. Loves loves loves it. No struggling, no grabbing the spoon, just mouth constantly open awaiting the next bite. He is great at picking up little puffs and putting them in his mouth...which means he's also great at picking up crumbs, dirt, sand, and paper off the floor and putting it in his mouth too.

Vacuum, Mommy. Vacuum!

He also loves taking a bath and has recently made the transition from the baby bath above to the big boy bathtub with his brothers.



He is rarely not grinning from ear to ear, even while cutting teeth.

He loves swinging at the playground - something both of his older brothers were a little scared of at this age. We are just having so much fun with our Big Baby.

This year, in lieu of a family vacation, we decided to buy season passes to a local children's amusement park, Dutch Wonderland.

The park is about 15 minutes away and the passes have paid for themselves several times over.
The boys absolutely love it, and PJ asks at least once a week if we can go to "Da Wundawand."

We recently took a trip to New Hampshire to visit family and friends. Because Patrick's mom was in the hospital, it wasn't an ideal situation, but the visit was still so nice.

One day, while Patrick was busy, I took the three boys into Boston for a Duck Tour. While on the Charles River, the boys got to drive the Duck boat, which they absolutely loved.

Aaargh! Jack's a pirate!

And PJ was having a blast - really turning the wheel every which way. I think the tour guide was not prepared for him to actually steer that much!

This year, Jack also started preschool at our church. While I think I might like to homeschool them one day, at this point, it's just too difficult to have one-on-one time with Jack while also caring for PJ and Thomas in our small house.

He absolutely loves school.

(Actually, I think it might be just the excuse to wear the backpack that he loves.)

He had his first week this past week, attending Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and when he gets there, he doesn't even look back.

Some kids are painfully shy.

Our kids are painfully outgoing.

They're all up in your grill asking questions and introducing themselves.

It's adorable.

So here are a few pictures of the boys on the first day of school.

PJ, of course, had to have a backpack too, so I got him a mini one (both are Toy Story themed) that's just big enough to hold his juice and a snack...and his favorite toy: Buzz Lightyear.

And here's my Jackie, looking like such a big boy.

I can hardly believe how quickly the time has gone.

That's how it is nowadays. We are so very busy, but so very blessed.

Has it really been that long?

May 4th was the last post?

Disgraceful.

I'll be updating soon with stories of summer fun and loads of new pictures, including one of our new little preschooler - Jack!

Thanks for checking in!

Three little boys + lots of fun + no sleep = not much time for blog posts

...but there are lots of tales to tell!