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I figured you did too.

Dealing With Potty Talk

Today we went to the beach with some friends. S4 was doing the pee dance and had to go bad, but they were cleaning both bathrooms and we had to wait. His friend noticed and when asked what was wrong, S4 just said he had to get in the bathroom. Bad.

"Do you have to go number one or number two?"

S4 looked puzzled up at me. We have never done the numbers. For our family you have to go pee or guck and/or really bad. This number thing was new information to him. My friend explained it to him and he proudly then declared he had to go 1...and maybe 2 too. And then the dancing began again.

After the beach day where we all got nicely sunburned, S4 went home with my friend and her boys so the two little boys could have a play date. They had all sorts of fun and tonight we are all dragging after an adventure filled weekend has caught up with us.

And because we are sunburned too. That just sucks the life out of you.

In the tub the two littlest boys sat and S4 - who very honestly is alllllllllways talking - informed us he has learned what number one and two are and now we can say that so we don't have to use "potty talk".

S3 and S4 then began to discuss how cool this new information was to have.

Until S4 scrunched up his forehead and said "But I don't know what number 3 is...Moma, do you know what number 3 is?" He didn't even wait for an answer. "Oh, I know, I bet it's puke. I think number 3 is puke."

"Yah, yah!" S3 agreed. "And number 4 is fart."

"Number 5 is wet fart."

"Then number 6 is diarrhea."

Then began the discussion of diarrhea and don't you die from diarrhea because it's "DIE-arhea." So then S3 had to explain in great detail what diarrhea is and how you feel and how gross it all is.

Silence came upon the tub until S4 said, "Yup, it's a good thing we don't have to potty talk anymore now that we know the numbers."

Why, yes, your moma so agrees with you.

I think it's time for them all to go to bed now.

3 Quick, Funny and Gruesome Updates

Just a few quick stories for you before I work on my super fun can't wait to share it all with you trip to Fox 17.

But I've had one of THOSE days today. Here is why......

Earlier today, as I was quickly cleaning up because while my husband had not said he was irritated at the state of our house, I could tell he was. You just know when you are moving things to get to the coffee pot and then can't get water out of the sink 'cuz the panS are still in there it's not a good morning. Anyhow...

S4 was standing on the porch, peeing off the porch to the driveway, waving.

I'll let you take in that mental image.......

Now, keep in mind, to get to the porch he had to walk past the bathroom. Because we only have one bathroom, I peeked in there and sure enough, it was EMPTY. It was as though he is so used to it being occupied he never even checked.

But why was he waving?

I asked him.

His "I can't believe you had to ask me this" reply was (brace yourself)......"It's just in case someone sees me peeing," he explained, "If they seen me that would be bad. They see me waving and that makes them happy."

Yes, that does make perfect sense.

Not very long after this, S2 and S3 were fighting, AGAIN. They were on the floor wrestling with anger. This never ends well. And it had been going on all morning and I just snapped. I hollered fear into them, getting them to settle down and quickly thought of the first thing that popped into my head. "YOU, sit at this end of the couch. YOU, sit on the other far end of the couch. You will sit there until you think of TEN things you like about your brother."

They were stunned.

Silenced.

Lunch was made and served and suddenly S2 came up with Ten things that I made him tell his younger brother. He thought he was in the clear, until I then made him WRITE THEM DOWN. The TORTURE!!!

He did, and then scarfed down his mac and cheese, letting me know just how this was the best ever in the whole world mac and cheese. Brown-noser.

It was after he had handed me the list that S3 began sobbing. SOBBING gut wrenching awful sobs. "What is it?" I asked, worried he was ill.

"I can't think of TEN things about Isaac that I like. I can't think of ONE. I'll be on the couch for the rest of my LIFE!!!" he wailed.

Thankfully, RC had set up a beach day for us and we were leaving in half an hour so he was spared the torture.

When we arrived to the beach, it was shockingly windy due to a thunderstorm and cool front moving in. I am not fond of this lake near our house, in stead I prefer the awesome lake we camp at. But this is literally mere moments from the house so it works well.

Usually.

RC and I sat in our beach chairs in the water. The water that is only chest high on S1 at the "booboo" as S4 calls it. (Buoy) We sat in water that was just up to our chair seats and I could not see my feet with the swirling seaweed and sticks and rocks and sand and FOAM. The whole lake was covered in foam today. RC knows I do not handle this well. But we were in desperate need of girl time so we were suffering through until, suddenly, behind us I spotted something so awful I screamed and made RC jump up and grab her chair.

A big old rotten cat fish floating by behind us.

The boys, of course, found this fascinating. I warned them to not touch it. RC realized that I could not handle water time anymore and graciously kept her chair firmly on the sand for me. We continued chatting away S3 calls out to me with glee to look at him.

On his shovel his is holding up the rotting dripping catfish carcass. I holler at him to drop it, which would be at my feet I realize so I holler at him to toss it in the far weeds near us. He does...but I never fully recovered from it.

That's my day folks. I am ready for bed. And the sun hasn't even set yet.

We Went Camping...Beach Photos

Sometimes people ask us how on earth we could ever camp so long. One year we went for ten days straight. And we never leave the campground. This trip we just were gone Thursday to Monday but we just can't bring ourselves to because the most wonderful lake that I know of is there.

This photo was taken just as a huge storm was coming in while we were there. But it is one end of the beach to the other and gives you a good idea of the beauty.
Here is Jr, who figured out how to steal everyone's drinks. He was fascinated with the straws. He loved that we all left our drinks and snacks at his level....these were some of the greatest days of his life, I do believe.

Here is Baby Backup. She isn't really the baby anymore, but I can't resist calling her that. She gained this name because S4 couldn't say her name when she was born. I thought the idea of the girl being my "back up" was cute too. The name stuck. Hubby only calls her Backup.

S1 and Jr. Notice the tonka truck in the background. KE stopped out with her kids while we were there, which made me and the boys exceptionally happy, and she videoed the beach to prove to her husband that there is no mistaking where WE are on the beach, and that NO ONE spends the day near us.

When we are all worn out from swimming and sun, HOURS are spent just trying to catch the tiny minnows...as well as the big fish...that come swimming up to shore.

Every day is spent with a view like this. How could you not want to stay here all day?


To my dear Montana friends...you have no trees, you have no lake, you do not fish. Visit us here in MI and we will spend a big part of time here, because you can enjoy all three. Thought of you the whole time we were here!

The Snakes Are Following Us

Today is the first official day of summer vacation.

It is also the first official day of basketball camp for S2. He has never really played basketball before...well, until he was asked if he might want to go to basketball camp. So we were all up at 6:30, him super excited for camp that started at nine and me making the french press a bit stronger than normal.

His smile when I dropped him off was so worth it.

Basketball camp ended at noon today, the rest of the week it is in the afternoon. Today is also the warmest day of the week, cooler than it's been for the past bunch of days but the warmest for the next seven so we headed to the beach.

When beginning to load the suburban, I walked out of the kitchen door to see a SNAKE...the little snake that had escaped the day before. Not one eyed scar face snake, he hasn't shown up yet, but little fast moving snake. Either way, I screamed. And it got away. And I packed with great caution after that.

We went to the local beach right around the corner from our house. It's great because it's not deep at all, it's not so great when I compare it to my most favorite beach. But it's the beach. And it's the first day of summer. And it was also the first day we brought Jr to the beach and we wanted to see how that would all go.

It went great.

Well, except the snake incident.

The boys were all out in the water and suddenly they begin screaming "SNAKE! SNAKE! SNAKE!" And sure enough, you could see it's head sticking up and the water moving as it swam thru the swim area. The populated beach stared at my boys as though it was rude of them to pull such a mean stunt. But the boys kept screaming, and now they were following the snake "SNAKE! SNAKE! SNAKE!"

And suddenly, as if I were watching a scene from Jaws, the water population began to realize that there really was a snake. Headed amongst them all. The first group to run shrieking out were some high school girls in bikinis that were too little for them. They didn't know if they should grab their tops to run or just run and forget how they looked.

I admit, I giggled.

A man caught the snake and carried it farther down the lake, and the boys, winded, headed back to our "post" on the sandy beach.

"Geesh!" S1 muttered. "You'd think they'd listen to some boys who know something about snakes!"

I'm sure they will next time, son. I just hope there isn't a "snake time" again at the beach, or yard, or field......

Spring Break....We Went to the Beach, PART TWO

When we first arrived at the beach that Friday, the first spot we headed to was the spot we ALWAYS head to. If one were to go to the beach to meet up with us, they would ALWAYS find us in this spot. Why? Beautiful location? Best sand? Nope. Most direct route to the bathrooms. And when you have four little boys who are gonna have to go, you wanna be close to the bathrooms.

So, when we got there, (keep in mind that this is before the beach is officially open at all), there was something dead in the water. As in a bird.

So we moved.

WAAAAAYYYYYY down the beach, as far as we could get from it. And way down the beach, as far as we could get, was the spot where I had once been found every single time I went to the beach. But I haven't been to this spot in three years.

It is as far away from the bathrooms as possible, it has the smallest tiniest sliver of beach, but it has lots of trees. And when you have a little one in tow, you pick the most shaded spot to keep them well protected.

I watched my boys jump from the half sunken log into the water. I watched them race their tonka trucks down the beach. I watched them wade way past their waist. I watched them scream and laugh and tattle and play and splash together, all four of them together playing.

Once I watched them so that the sun would not touch their delicate little skin. I watched to make sure that no dirt came near their little fingers. I watched them sleep and wondered what sort of personalities would be one day. I warned the older brothers their little brother was sleeping.

When was that?
Wasn't it yesterday? Just a day or so ago?

The boys think that I shut my eyes to soak up sunshine that wonderful, favorite spring day on the beach Friday as they frolicked in the near ice temperature water. I was, unbeknownst to them, keeping the tears at bay.

I wouldn't trade the moment of hearing my boys play. Just like I wouldn't trade a moment of those baby cuddles years ago. But it is passing so quickly. I want to soak it all in, soak it all up and remember.

Spring Vacation...So We Went to the Beach (part One)

The boys had Friday off of school and the whole week prior had been gradually getting warmer and warmer until on Friday it went and hit 82 degrees.

Every single day the sun has been shining in the sky....I'll just let your mind wrap around that a bit, EVERY SINGLE DAY THE SUN SHINES...I have had this conversation....

“Nice sunny day to day, Moma.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Soooooo, is today a beach day?”
“It is thirty degrees out.”
“So it's summer and we CAN go to the beach?”
“No. Not for 100 more days.”

Imagine the look of sheer dejection.

I would like to say this happens to just one of my boys but NO, I have this conversation with various boys every single day.

So when it reached 80 degrees I decided that I would, indeed take them to the beach. My parents used to do this to my siblings and I. They would get tired of us begging to go swimming so they would take us to the swimming pond, let us jump in, we would freeze and then we wouldn't beg to swim (as much). I told the boys we didn't need swimsuits, their shorts were fine, we would go and check out the lake. I was certain that once they waded in they would feel the numbing cold of 40 degree water and freeze. My plan was to let the sunshine soak into my missing sunshine body and let the boys play on the beach.

And it sorta worked that way.
Except this is what my boys did........
And they loved it. They did not 'technically' swim, they just 'waded' up to their mid chests. They just splashed each other. I stuck my toes in the water, I am pretty sure they turned blue (but then again, I did have blue polish on my toes). They did play in the sand too.
Because we brought Sadie, we went on a long walk thru to the old beach on the park, and thru the woods where, oh thrill to my heart we seen a garter snake that they of course chased and it just happened to slither away, drats, we couldn't take it home. Just when I was thinking of having a pet snake...excuse me while I shudder and check to make sure one did not, in fact, follow me into the house.

On our way home, joy oh joy! The ice cream shop was open! For the first day!

We had to stop and get ice cream that was taller than we had thought ice cream should be.

When we arrived home we had sun kissed cheeks, sticky lips and it was, by far, one of my happiest spring days ever.

A Morning with S4, Part One

He was just too funny to not blog about today.

We heat with wood here on our little farm. That means the house is usually toasty warm and our skin is super dry. I found a bottle of baby lotion the other day and after my shower this morning decided to lather up on it. S4 knocks politely on the bedroom door (this shocked me, he usually bursts in like thunder wherever he wants to be) and came in with his nose in the air sniffing like a dog. “What is that smell?” he asked quizzically.


“What smell?” I'd taken a long shower, who knows what smells the boys could have cooked up in that time?


“The smell like sunblock.”


“Oh!” I handed him the baby lotion. “It's baby lotion, not sunblock.” You see though, I DO lather my boys in sunblock. Even S4 knows this! So if they burn, it wasn't because I neglected their lotion!


He handed me the bottle back with a “moma is crazy” look on his face and in his voice when he said “Moma, we are not going to the beach.”


“I know, hon, we won't for a long time.”


He looks out the window and then explains to me slowly, as if I didn't hear him the first time. “Yup, there is snow in the sky and it is snowy on the ground. It is almost Christmas.” He turned to me for dramatic effect. “It is NOT beach time.”


“Yes, I agree.” I nodded seriously. If I had laughed, I am sure he would have thought me a lost cause.


He walked out of the bedroom. “Well, goodbye.” He shut the door and I heard him authoritatively tell his three brothers, “Guys, it is NOT beach time. Not for long time. Not until we have Christmas.”


“We know.....” they had a 'roll my eyes' type of response. That taken care of, he jumped on the couch to continue watching his Saturday morning movie.

Sand Castles

After the rescue of the blue inner tube (lost at this point? Read yesterday’s post and you will be all caught up!), things settled into a slow routine. Because our state is having the coldest summer on the books, the water was a bit chillish. S2 actually floated around on a raft with his towel wrapped around him. But the sun was hot so they kept diving in and coming out freezing cold, teeth chattering, blue lipped. Great fun.

K.E. was asked by her daughter, E., to make a sand castle. I have never ever seen K.E. dirty and thought that was a huge sacrifice on her part. But then the other kids jumped in and quickly everyone was involved. Except me. I didn’t want to intrude on a special mother daughter moment. I don’t know about these moments, but I imagine they are much like mother son moments. But then again, all my boys and K.E.’s son was involved now too so was I really intruding?

I sat there indecisively until I seen that they needed some dry sand and I was right on it. “Couldn’t resist, could you?” K.E. grinned.

We built the coolest sand castle with moats EVER! It was so much fun! With all of us working on different parts, the kids would say “ah cool, how did you do that?” or “who built this?” and run around to check out the ‘new development’.

E, having the time of her life, declared “isn’t this the best fun? It’s like we are a great big family all working together!”

I know for a fact building sand castles is not K.E’s favorite thing to do. I know I would normally be engrossed in a novel at the beach. But that was the coolest thing to the kids that we were down getting dirty with them.
A good reminder. They are only young so long….take advantage of the time you have. A novel will always be there! And showers, usually, get you clean. But the memory those kids have of their moma’s help on the coolest sand castle (yet!) will last a long time – well, I hope it does!

Rescue my Inner Tubie!

This week I took the boys to the beach with K.E. and her two kids. We were sure we remembered the way, until we got lost. It is then difficult to figure out which one of us would ask for directions, we were dressed in beach attire….so we went in together. Strength in numbers!

We arrived at the beach, a hidden gem that we usually have the GPS tell us how to find but the GPS broke and I am taking back teasing my hubby that I needed one now that I realize I really need one – like on this day -, with glee. In the middle of this past very bitterly cold winter, we would say “soon it will be beach days” and it was this beach we had in mind.

Arriving to the beach is a sight. One day, I will take a picture of it. It is just difficult to do because I am suddenly a pack mule when we arrive. And it’s hard to take a picture of yourself. Besides, people would think I’m odd if I ran ahead, gave someone trustworthy looking my beloved camera, and asked them to snap pictures of us as we headed down to the beach.

K.E. and I laid our towels out on the beach, loaded our kids up on spf 50 and ourselves in dark tanning oil and settled in for a fun day of catching up. It is hard work to spend the day getting our hair blonder and our skin darker, but we do the best we can.

We had just relaxed when the unexpected windiness of the day caught S3’s inner tube and floated it with lightening speed out to the deep part of the lake.

This happened to us last year with S2’s raft. It was tragic to watch it scoot across the lake but S2 shook it off quickly with the promise of a new one.

But there was no consoling S3. He has a pitiful sounding cry; it breaks strangers’s hearts to hear him cry. And on this instance, we was sobbing and screaming “Inner tubie! Inner tubie!” K.E. is gifted with young kids his age, she couldn’t get thru to him. I tried the firm Moma routine when sweetness wouldn’t work. He calmed a bit, but then he would catch sight and wail some more.

As this was happening, a couple in a canoe paddled out into the lake. I watched as they headed in the direction of S3’s blue inner tube. “Maybe they’ll pick it up for us” I whispered to K.E. We watched excitedly as they did, in fact, pick up the inner tube. “They got it!” I cheered happily. S3 was ecstatic. “Inner tubie! Inner tubie!” he jumped and shouted with glee.

I couldn’t make out if it was an older couple or young kids and wondered aloud if I should tip them for giving us a great day. They quickly paddled to the swim area where I sent S1 to retrieve the inner tube for us. “Be sure to say thank you!” I stressed.

S1 talked a moment to the older couple and then headed back with the inner tube. “What did they say?” I asked him.

“That maybe now they wouldn’t have to hear him scream and whine anymore.”

I decided to just be thankful for the inner tube and leave it at that.

I’ll tell you MORE about our beach day later………….