Lil' American Cowboys

I took Seth and Jason down to the village hall for the dress-up fund raiser. They kind of stood out in the crowd. Not only were they the only ones not dressed in a Halloween themed costume, but they were also in very American costumes.

Most original and the cutest...who can beat that!?!

Autumn Walk

Another Day Older

.
Seth - Mommy, do you know today is your birthday.

Mommy - Yes, I do.

Seth - Do you know how old you are?

Mommy - How old?

Seth - Un deg wyth! (28)

Mommy - Really?

Seth - Yes. You're old now.

Mommy - Hmm. Thanks.

Trampoline Kung-Fu

Running Tally

People tell me to keep write these things down. They will be funny later. I don't believe it for a minute. These will never be funny, but I am keeping track. For when he is a grown man I can show him these lists and he will know how much he is indebted to me that he is still alive and breathing. Then he can pay me back with a nice tropical cruise or something. :)

Besides, it is strangely therapeutic to write them down.

• He burned a box of matches. Striking one, after another, after another.
• He stuck a rice cake in the gas flame on the stove. After it lit, he threw it on the floor.
• He put his clean set of clothes on the living room floor and peed on them.
• He cut a hole in his shirt.
• He broke my music box given by Caleb when we were engaged.
• He broke my necklace.
• He threw water on the living room rug...again.
  
• He cut the cover on one of the kitchen stools.
• He turned on the gas in the fireplace. One little push of the pilot lighter and none of these things would matter anymore.

I know
this behavior increases when he is around mold.
He does get punished.
It does not help.
He doesn't stop.

Some of these are my own fault.
There is a lesson here I should have learned long ago.

He cannot be left alone.
He cannot be out of sight.
He cannot be trusted.

Not for a second, because that's all it takes.

We will be very blessed if we make it through his childhood
without any major catastrophes.

And, no. I don't hope he has a child just like himself.
I wouldn't wish that on anybody.

A Duh! Moment

We've had a bit of a rough week. Now that the weather is cold and the house is closed up we are once again having problems with mold. I've mentioned that it affects 2 of our 4 littles (so far), but it also affects Caleb and I. Makes it hard to function and one of the first things to go is the ability to think clearly and remember things. :( ...makes my learning Welsh a nightmare. *sigh*

We went to look at a house. We had an appointment with the estate agent later in the week but we wanted to drive-by and peek in the windows first. Well, we found it and met the neighbors. She mentioned that if we wanted to look in the house there was a key under the mat. lol! Guess the agents don't know about that one. So we did. My goodness, that house was so much worse then ours. Nearly every wall had black mold. :( We were in there all of 10 minutes, but I left with a headache, Caleb was congested, and Jason and Paul spent most of the afternoon screaming.

We kept our appointment with the estate agent just so Caleb could talk to him...see if he knew of any houses without mold. We only had Morgan with us, but I stayed in the car with him. Anyhow the point is that we were out of the house for a while in the fresh air which cleared our minds a bit.

The thought that hit us was...We should turn on the air purifier! Duh. So we did and by afternoon yesterday we were all doing so much better. It doesn't answer our problem, but it is helping enough so we can function and brings the endless screaming down to a minimal. The point of this whole tale is...

If I ever mention we are having problems with mold again, please, please ask me if we have the air purifier on.
Because, as common sense as that should be...
we just might not have thought of it. :)

Rainy. Chilly. Fall. Night.

.

Wonderful. Handsome. Adorable. Boy.

Pumpkins

With the Thanksgiving Service at school next week along with the Harvest Dinner at church I thought the timing perfect to do a bit of fall fun with the boys. Pumpkin carving. And given their fondness of knives, any activity involving knives is sure to be a big hit amongst the masses, right?

This was a first for me so I schooled myself in the art of pumpkin carving via google. After cleaning the insides and drawing the faces we set at it.


At first I let them try a bit on their own, but after I saw that taking forever and a day I took to guiding their hands.


Paul got a big kick out of "poking" the pumpkins, which he kept repeatedly saying throughout his turn with the knife.

"I pokin' it!"

Morgan watched all these proceedings perched on the back of the couch...

Now that we are finished I can say it was a fun activity and a success, but there were moments in the midst where I thought surely I was out of my mind when I undertook this suicide mission. I don't know how many times I said the following...

Get off the table.
Stop shaking the table.
Don't touch the blade.
Put that down.
You'll drop it on the floor.
It's not your turn yet.
Don't touch the blade.
DON'T TOUCH THE BLADE!!!

And so, internet people, the end result in spite of the craziness,
is as Jason put so well...

"Now we have pumpkins in our family!"

There was no blood. Nobody lost any fingers. I have regained my sanity, but am just crazy enough to attempt this again next year.

Because...

My boys had fun and are happily tucked up in their beds dreaming sweet dreams of stabbing pumpkins...

Photo Shoot

Caleb has been practicing again.
So I'm gonna torture you with more pictures.
If anything...
The Grandparents will appreciate them.


JASON

Girl Troubles

Seth was upset the other day.

Alaw Fflur doesn't want to marry him.
She wants Hari.

Sophie wants to marry Seth.
But she is too tall for Seth's liking.
Besides, Seth's best pal, Geriant, wants to marry Sophie.

Seth was planning on marrying Alaw Elen.
She is shorter than him.
He had proposed and she had accepted.

I'm not sure what happened to that budding romance.
Maybe he is two-timing her.
Or maybe she dumped him for Guto.

*shock*

All this drama in my 5 year old's life
...it's like a mini soap opera.
lol!

Picture Post

Blue-eyed Boys

Another Tag

A flashback tag, which looked like fun, but was a lot harder to complete then you would think. I have a hard time remembering what I did this morning, never mind years ago. lol! I'm pretty sure it's accurate. :)

20 years ago...

I was 7 years old looking forward to my birthday at the end of the month. In 3rd grade and being homeschooled. I hated math. I was taking piano lessons and loved showing off my piano skills, but didn't care for the practice. I had 1 older brother, 1 baby brother and 1 very loud younger sister.

10 years ago...

I was 2 months into my freshman year of college. I had 3 roommates....2 of which would be future sister-in-laws. I was working at a daycare, but looking for another job with more hours.

3 years ago...

I had a 2 year old, a 1 year old and was 4 months pregnant with my 3rd baby. We were on deputation and had just returned to Missouri from Pennsylvania. We hung out in Missouri until after Christmas and then made our way to California.

1 year ago...

My fourth baby was 1 month old. He and I were attending a 9 to 3pm, 5 days a week Welsh course at the University of Bangor. I was tired.

Yesterday...

There was no school, so we took the boys up to the school lot to practice bike riding. We stopped at the park after. It was a pretty lazy day. The boys played and I read my library book. I went to my Welsh class last night. I parallel parked the car when I got home...it doesn't always happen.

Today...

Got the boys ready for school. Made a pack lunch for Seth. Caleb, Morgan and I went for a walk...3 miles. Read some more of my book. Taking Jason, Paul and Morgan to Ti a Fi (playgroup). I will be going out after to pick up some rain boots Paul needs for school.

Future...

Don't know much about the far off future, but this week we are having friends over for dinner. Next week we have the Harvest dinner at the church. Next month my parents are visiting. Next year I plan to have a healthy baby girl.

Keeping it Real

I've been tagged by Abbi. For this tag you have to post photos of the following 10 "real life" things...no primping, prepping, or picking up.


1. my fridge - Shopping is done Sunday afternoon so this is a bit on the bare side. The only unusual thing may be the 3 different kinds of milk...goat, rice and regular. Most of those cartons are pineapple juice. The size, of course, is a lot smaller then a fridge you'd find in the States. The bottom half is the freezer.


2. a closet - This is the only closet in the house...not very impressive. But I'm glad to have a place to hide all the boys' jackets.


3. the kitchen sink - Needs a good scrubbing. The red on the cloth and in the sink is not blood. Twas Jason. Before Caleb or I were awake this morning he got a stool and climbed onto the counter and somehow reached the top shelf, which is where we hide the food coloring since last time he got into it. Well, he took all 7 bottles down and I'm sure you know what happened next. First thing Caleb did after rolling out of bed this morning was carpet cleaning. When is Jason going to outgrow this stuff!?!


4. a toilet - This is the downstairs toilet that is not used much in the winter months because the room is not heated and gets a bit frigid. No, we did not run out of toilet paper. There is never any on the holder because it is kept high out of reach of little hands.


5. my favorite shoes - Disgraceful, I know, but these are so comfortable for pregnant feet. I never have to worry about swelling, because they always fit. :) I wear them all the time.


6. my favorite room - This is our drying room. We keep a dehumidifier going in here constantly so it is always nice and warm and dry. It's the only room in the house that locks. :) Jason broke the door knob. So after shutting the door you can pull the door knob out or the door and nobody can get in. So if I need a few minutes alone here you'll find me...sitting on the floor in this warm, dry room with the door knob sitting next to me. :)


7. what my kids are doing right now - Sleeping. Jason on the top. Paul and Seth on the bottom. We have found that the only way to keep Paul in a bed is if he is sharing with someone. Otherwise, he prefers the floor. (Notice Paul's artwork on the wall...that is just a small sample.)


And Morgan sleeping in his crib in our room.


8. the laundry pile - Which was much bigger this morning, but I washed 3 loads today. :)


9. a self-portrait - I wasn't going to do this one. If there is one thing this pregnancy has done for me it is to turn me into an adolescent recluse. I hide...don't go out unless I have to and never leave the house without wearing my bump disguising coat. And my normally clear skin is less than satisfactory. "I don't want to go. I don't want to see anyone." is the mantra of this pregnancy. Sad, I know. Anyway, I thought I'd try for a picture and this is one I could tolerate.


10. my dream vacation - Would be something along the lines of this...for two. I would have to leave the kiddos behind. As much as I enjoy being woken up 4-5 times a night, I think for my dream vacation I'd have to make do without that pleasure.


I'm not going to tag anyone, but feel free to tag yourself. Just let me know if you do cuz I wanna see. :)

Today...

we went and had our ultrasound...

and then we did a little shopping.