Last night (or the night before, I’m not sure which), this is what I saw in Paul’s room.

He sure is the master of strange sleeping arrangements!  Notice that his teddy bear (the brown furry piece) is on top his head, and his pillow is on top his body.

And, here is our sweet Hannah tonight.

She’s using her big bear for a pillow.

Thanks for these special teddy bears, Aunt Wendy!

Now that school has started, our Tuesdays are a little bit different.  The four neighbor children still come over at 6:00, but two of them then go to school for the day.  Then, after breakfast,  just Arlene and Andrew are here for the rest of the time.

This Tuesday we went to Oakdale Park.  It was cloudy enough that the slides weren’t too hot to play on, but it was still warm enough to be a little hot outside.  Here are some pictures of the fun we had.

Paul in the swing is a new thing.  He has been averse to swings and swinging this summer, and only recently has learned how to ride the horsey swing here at home.  Tuesday was the first he got on a “regular” swing in a long time.  He didn’t want to go very fast or  high, he held on tightly with both hands, and his little body was rigid.  He swung a pretty long time, and I think he enjoyed it, but he was a little scared.

They have little-people-sized picnic tables there.  Here’s Hannah at one of them.

Everybody enjoyed this “curly” slide.  Here’s Hannah…

Arlene…

Andrew…

and Paul.

So, that’s the park.  We came home and had lunch.  After that, we did some school things (letters and stories), and read some books.  Somehow, it seems I spent most of the time we were at home in the bathroom pottying little people.  Now that Hannah is in the mix, that’s majorly assisting 3 little people with using the bathroom.  It keeps me busy!

You likely recognize that as part of the song, “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho”.  Well, we didn’t learn that song today, we weren’t in Jericho, and fortunately, our walls are still standing.  However, we had a tumbling down over here, that’s for sure.

This morning, I was in THE mode and cleaning up in the basement.  Paul and Hannah were down there with me having the time of their lives stomping the bubbles on bubble wrap, looking at stuff, pushing the baby swing, and so on.  I assumed Andrew was over at his office working.  Part of the reason I was in THE mode was because the plumber was coming, and I didn’t want him to have to work amongst a bunch of junk.  Presently, I heard this loud and terrible noise.  It honestly sounded like someone had fallen down the stairs with a bunch of metal pipes.  I hollered out, “Are you all right?” to Andrew.  I thought maybe he had fallen down the stairs.  When he answered and was downstairs, I thought maybe the plumber had let himself in the house and had fallen down the stairs.  Andrew said the noise came from upstairs and asked if the kids were with me.  I assured him they were.  We both hurried up the stairs, and lo and behold!  Our main pantry cupboard had fallen off the wall!

As you can see in this picture, the back of the cupboard remained on the wall.  The rest of it just ripped away from that and fell down.  It also had a light under it, so it ripped out those cords.  The first thing we did was cut off all the power to the house and wrap up those bare wires with electrical tape.

I didn’t think to take some picture right away, but I did get some before we got the whole mess cleaned up and the cupboard hauled outside.

When it fell, it put a hole in our counter top, and another larger one in the floor.  It punctured the linoleum and gouged down into the plywood under it.  I don’t like either of those things, but there is no way to fix it.  Living with it isn’t necessarily a big issue, it’s just that it will detract from the value of our home if and when we ever want to sell it.  We are so very thankful that the Lord was merciful and had us all in the basement when it happened.  I don’t even want to think of what would have happened to Paul or Hannah if they had been in the way of that falling cupboard!

Paul and Hannah were interested in the popcorn all over the floor.

We picked up everything and put it in boxes.  Now they are sitting on our dining room table.

Paul and Hannah were even more interested in all the lifesavers that got scattered around!

The cabinet got busted up some, and a door broke off.  So I guess we are planning to get another one at Lowe’s, where we got the other odd cabinet in our kitchen.  I hope we can find one to match that one.  Otherwise, we will have three different styles of cabinets in our kitchen.  Andrew says if we ever build a house, we are going to have some serious cabinets put in it.  These that we have are flimsy ol’ things, made of particle board and paneling, and the shelves bend and bow.  I can’t recommend them.  I’m also wondering which other cupboards are about ready to fall down in here.

While we were working in the basement this morning, Paul saw this in a box downstairs.  He was very interested in it.  As soon as he woke up from his nap, the first words out of his mouth were asking if he could play with this.  He has had a lot of fun this evening (when we weren’t at Bible study) playing with this train set.  I know it will be the first thing he goes to in the morning too.  Andrew’s parents gave it to us when they moved, and we had it in the basement thinking Paul wasn’t quite ready for it at that time.

Even though it will soon be a week since Andrew came home from his trip to CA, I wanted to share a few pictures related to his homecoming.

Andrew got home around 11:00 Friday night.  Hannah was not quite asleep yet, she wasn’t very active, but her eyes were still open.  Andrew wanted to go in to her room and say hi to her.  I took a picture of it.  You can see that Paul is there with Hannah, and you’ll likely remember from the previous post that it’s because his mattress was drying.  They did great sleeping on the same mattress, both going to sleep and waking up in the morning.  Paul got up quietly in the morning, and Hannah kept on sleeping.

Since Andrew wasn’t able to be with us to enjoy the scrumptious supper we had Friday night up at Grandma’s, and because I left most of the leftovers up there, Paul and Hannah and I made more food to repeat that special meal for Andrew on Saturday evening (I only had to make rolls and chicken, the rest we had leftover).  Here are Paul and Hannah helping to shape the roll dough.  Hannah, for the first time, was able to shape roll dough (tearing off little pieces) without eating every single piece she touched.  Hooray for Hannah!  Paul used to just tear off minute little pieces like Hannah, but this time he was pulling off bigger pieces of dough and trying to shape them, and then he would ask me to put some oil on top (just like I was doing to mine).  I think he might be a good cook one of these days!  I even baked a couple of the rolls that Paul shaped, and he and Hannah got to eat his special rolls.

You might notice that Hannah has two barrettes in her hair.  That’s at her request.  She usually only wears one barrette.

We enjoyed the positively delicious meal of chicken, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and fresh rolls.  The rolls were baking as we were eating, therefore throughout the meal when we wanted another roll, we could get one that had most recently come out of the oven.  Oh, oh, oooohhhh, they were so good!  There is nothing better.  We didn’t have any pie or tapioca for dessert, but we didn’t need any, not with those rolls!

This isn’t related to the title, but one of the things Paul learned to do recently (maybe even just last week) was ride the horsey swing.  That’s what I call this type of two-seater swing.  He has figured out how to push the pedals and pull the bar just right to make it go.  He really enjoys riding on it.

Now, about going to Grandma’s.  I had arranged to go up to my grandmother Gardner’s on Friday evening, taking supper up, and to trim her toenails on the same trip.  Since Andrew wasn’t going to be along, I had asked Gail to come too to help me with monitoring Paul and Hannah while I was doing the trimming.  Also, on Thursday, when my mom went to the doctor’s office with me, I told her I would just make extra food and bring them supper on Friday evening also.  So, I did ahead all that I could on Thursday.  I also chopped up all that rhubarb on Thursday night to make into jam on Friday morning.  I had gotten the recipe from my neighbor that makes and sells jam at the market (the one whose children I keep on Tuesdays), and Thursday evening I had called her for some information on the process.

Anyway, I got up and got a good start on Friday, getting my exercise and shower, getting the washer going, a pie baking, and putting on the rhubarb to cook before breakfast.  We were just getting ready to eat our waffles when my neighbor showed up at the door, along with her children to help me make the rhubarb jam.  The kids were just like we were when we were that age and wanted to eat breakfast with us.  So, we divided up all the waffles I had (which wasn’t much) and supplemented it with yogurt.  After a little while, they all wanted to go outside and play.  Their mom stirred the jam as it was cooking, and then she ladled it into my jars and I put the lids on.

So, that was a little unplanned addition to the day, but it worked out just fine, and I was sure I could keep on track.  In the afternoon, I was baking the rolls and mixing up the crumbs to roll the chicken in.  I found out then that I was 2.5 tsp. short of enough paprika.  I called my neighbor to see if she had any.  She didn’t know but said she would look and send her son over with it if she did.  I told her I’d come and get it because my children were sleeping.  Well, before I knew it the doorbell was ringing and there was Adrian with the paprika.  I didn’t tell him right away to whisper, so before long,  Hannah was awake, having slept only an hour.  And she was grouchy, crying and clinging to my skirts as I was working on the supper.  Adrian was enjoying a visit at our house, and I was trying to keep a good attitude while I was watching my evening crumble into shambles (well, I thought it would) with a crying, clingy child.  Adrian was really taken with the pies, the fresh rolls, the chicken that was soon going into the oven, and I know he was wishing he was going to Grandma’s for supper too.  After a while he sat and listened to the BBN children’s program on the radio.

And the evening progressed.  I could see I had not started the baking process soon enough, and I would not be ready to leave at 5:00.  As soon as the rolls were done baking, I cranked that oven up to 400, put in the scalloped potatoes and chicken, and turned on the speed-bake fan.  I called Gail and told her of the time change, that I would be there around 6:00, not 5:30.

I had been checking on Paul so I could catch him soon after he woke up and get him to the bathroom.  (He wears big boy regular cloth underwear, except at nights, I still put a diaper on him.  And he has done very well napping without a diaper or Pull-Ups.)  Well, I guess time slipped away and I didn’t check on him often enough.  When I found him awake, I think he had been awake for a while and couldn’t wait, and had soaked the bed.  Oh, oh, oh.  I was so mad.  I was roaring mad.  I’m sure steam was rolling off the top of my head.  But, it was all my fault.  I’m the one who trained Paul to stay on his big bed and not get off.  I’m the one who trained him not to talk when he’s on his big bed.  (In the mornings or after a nap, he pretty much never talks or gets off his mattress until I come and get him.)  Wetting the bed wasn’t just wetting the bed.  I had been too cheap to buy three waterproof mattress pads, and when I was washing one of the waterproof ones, I just put on a regular one and hoped there were no accidents.  And, of all the things, I had washed the waterproof one from Paul’s bed because Hannah spilled her cup of milk on it (one morning when she got away from me, no one is supposed to go in the bedroom with a cup of milk!), and I hadn’t put it back on yet.  So, not only did I have wet bedding, but I had a big, soaking wet spot on the mattress.  I was so mad I didn’t know what to do.  I just had to make up my mind not to talk at all for a little while.  I got Paul cleaned up.  Fortunately the food was just baking and I wasn’t in the middle of making something.  Also, Hannah was happier now that Paul was awake and she had someone to play with.  I scrubbed that spot with rag socks until it didn’t make them wet any more, and then I sprayed it with Febreze.  By then I was cooling down.  The kids and I all went outside to get in my dry wash.  I reasoned with myself that that’s exactly why we didn’t buy second-hand mattresses for our kids–because we didn’t want them sleeping where someone else had peed.  And that’s why we bought cheapy low-end mattresses, because we were sure they’d get peed on.

Little by little I restrung my snapped nerves and got all our food and accouterments loaded into the van.  Then, I actually enjoyed the trip up to Grandma’s, and I had a really good time visiting her and Gail and Bobby.  Grandma seemed to have a really good time to.  And, to my surprise, Hannah was happy most of the time.  I could tell she was tired, but she didn’t hang on my skirt and cry the whole time.  Toward the end, she kept saying, “Home, home”.  She wanted to go home.

Here’s Gail reading to Bobby & Paul while I trimmed

Grandma’s toenails.

Grandma & Hannah

Bobby, Grandma, Hannah & Paul

Well, I was going to do a post about Andrew’s home-coming, but I’ll save that for another time.  It’s late enough right now.  We sure are happy to have him home, that’s for sure.

Note:  Today, I spent the money and bought a third waterproof mattress pad.  As my Dominican friends told me when I started using mosquito repellent after I had about 75 mosquito bites, “After the house is robbed, the owner buys a lock.” (It was about like that, even if a few words were different.)  I guess I just have to learn some things the hard way.

Last week Andrew as in CA most of the week attending business meetings.  We missed him, but we kept ourselves busy so we weren’t sitting around soaking hankies waiting for him to get home.  Actually, it didn’t take very much effort to stay busy!  That just happens on its own around here lately.  Andrew left early Tuesday morning.  The neighbor children were here longer than usual that day because their mom had some other things going on.  So, I the older ones were here after school too.  I put my kids and the younger ones down for naps after lunch, and I had to wake them up when their mom came for them a little after 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday evening we went to church.  After church we stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home for milk and eggs, as is our custom.  When we’ve gone to put Hannah’s shoes on her this fall (after going barefoot all summer), they were too small.  The pair that Paul wore in the size Hannah needs he wore them all the way out.  So, we knew we needed to get Hannah a pair of shoes.  It just so happened that I had a pair of her socks in the diaper bag, so while we were at Wal-Mart, we got her a pair of shoes.  It doesn’t mean much to her, but the shoes in her size (that were velcro, of course, the only kind for her age when the parents are getting kids dressed in a hurry) were Strawberry Shortcake shoes.  So, they have pretty strawberries on.  She wanted to wear them right away, so I put them on her right there in the shoe department.  She wanted to get down and walk through the store, but I made her ride in the cart and walk after we got home.  Here’s Hannah with her new shoes.

Thursday morning, Paul and Hannah had doctor appointments.  The office had called earlier in the week and requested that I bring someone along to watch whichever one wasn’t on the table.  I don’t know if they customarily ask that of all the moms with more than one child or if they just remembered that I usually come alone.  Sigh.  Oh well.  I asked my mom to go along, and things worked out just fine.  They are both growing fine and doing great.  Hannah was terrified of the nurse’s tape measure after Hannah pushed the red button on it and the tape flew back in.  I guess she thought it was alive and going to get her.

In the evening, I cut up rhubarb from my sister to make into rhubarb jam.  Paul and Hannah helped me and by the time I was done, my patience was worn.  It was past their bedtime, and I was getting ready to get them to bed when Andrew called to talk to them.  They thoroughly enjoyed talking to him on the phone.

Andrew thought it would be neat to give them both a phone so they could both talk to him at once (obviously, he wasn’t in the time zone where it was almost 10:00 and Mom was frazzled).  Paul was really getting wound up and was jumping around on the couch and sliding off the couch, and just carrying on like a hyper monkey.  I barely got him to hold still enough for this picture.

It’s not over yet.  Andrew told Paul they should take the phones in on Hannah’s bed and jump on the bed while they were talking to him on the phone.  Now, that was an absolute circus!  They had a blast.  Finally, I told Andrew I really thought they should go to bed.  So, that was the end of the escapades with the phone for that time.

The next day, once when I was talking on the phone, Hannah thought it was Andrew and was asking to talk on the phone.  I had to tell her it wasn’t Daddy.  This was Hannah’s first time of talking on the phone and I thought she did really well.  She babbled some, telling things that made sense to her.  I’m sure it will get better, and she’ll probably be an expert at phone conversations when she becomes a teenager!

This week, Andrew is gone to business meetings in CA.  I feel a little freer to do other things, and even plan other things to do so we aren’t sitting around lonely for Andrew.  Yesterday afternoon, I asked Gail if they were going to be picking potatoes that evening, and sure enough they were.  So, after the neighbor children went home and Paul and Hannah woke up from their naps, we loaded up and went up to help pick up potatoes.  They were digging the last of them, and it was the patch right next to my parents’ house.  By the way, Gail and James had sold all but two bushel of the rest of the potatoes, which was most of them, that they had already dug.  She even sold a couple bushel of the little marble-sized ones!  We couldn’t believe anybody would want to buy them.

Here are Paul and Bobby.  Paul spent most of his

time playing in the dirt, rather than picking up

potatoes.  Bobby, with his mom’s supervision,

picked up potatoes until they were done.

Glen, Bobby, & Gail

Gail wisely wore leather gloves because you can

cut your fingers on debris in the soil.  You can also

get ant bites because the plowing stirs up ant hills.

Paul, with some potatoes he picked up.

Hannah spent the first little while clinging to me and

crying while I picked up potatoes.  My mom came

and took her to see the puppies and help get in dry

wash.  It was then my mom discovered the source

her sadness–dirty pants!  After a diaper change,

she happily toddled along with me as I picked up

potatoes.  I just wished I had figured it out sooner.

This is Bobby, Grandma (my mom), & Hannah

Paul could not be interested in petting the puppy

because there were old, shriveled up pumpkins

in the garden just beyond the puppy.  He was

instantly smitten and had to carry some of them

around.  I told Gail if the potatoes were orange

or green, or some pretty color, he would have been

picking them up excitedly as fast as he could.

Paul and Bobby “drove” the tractor.

Gail, James, & my dad.  Dad was holding the plow

down deeper in the dirt.  This was the second plowing,

when they go through to hopefully turn out any

potatoes missed on the first time through.

Hannah has a turn driving the tractor.

Dad, James, & Luke in the foreground.

Now Dad is standing on the back of the tractor

to keep it from spinning out as easily.

Katie and Gail

The wagon where we dumped our potatoes.

We had a good, dirty time picking up potatoes.  Glen was a bucket runner.  We picked fast enough that he spent nearly all his time trading our full buckets for an empty one and emptying them onto the wagon.  My mom fixed fajitas for us all to eat for supper, which was very late (meaning after dark).  Up there on the ranch, supper time hasn’t changed from when I was at home–it’s after dark, no matter when that is.  I had given Paul and Hannah snacks of fish crackers on the way so they wouldn’t get too fussy until supper time.

I brought some tired children home, but they had had a really good time.  I put them to bed dirty, and then I gave them baths this morning.

I think I will close for tonight.  Paul and Hannah have doctor appointments in the morning, so we’ll have a busy morning.

And we went!  On Sunday five of my sisters, Hannah, and I took a road trip to PA to our cousin’s bridal shower that afternoon.  There were exactly 7 people going, and our van has 7 seats in.  When we were setting up this trip, I solicited that if anyone wanted to reserve two seats for themselves, they needed to speak up.  Since no one did, we all were cozy in our Honda Odyssey, but mature enough not to complain about someone else “touching us” as diminutive siblings are prone to do.

Hannah was our youngest passenger and she managed the trip really well.  I was very impressed with her.  She didn’t cry or fuss at all the whole time we were riding, and she didn’t sleep at all the whole time we were riding, up or back!  She did ask for the potty numerous times, and we had it stowed in the back, so we were ready.  We also had allowed extra time so we could accomadate many potty breaks.  It worked out really well.  One of the potty breaks was in a grocery story parking lot.  There was a red balloon in the parking lot, and Katie got it for Hannah.  Here’s Hannah waiting for her aunts to come out of the grocery store.

The trip was spent in lively conversation.  I think the travel time was more fun than the shower, not that the shower wasn’t enjoyable, but because my sisters and I always have such a great time when we get together.  Since Miriam is expecting, we all gave her as much advice and information as we could think of to prepare her for motherhood.  She was good-natured about it all. On that vein, we also had a lengthy discussion on cloth versus disposable diapers, covering how they make baby clothes so they don’t fit with cloth diapers all the way to the efficacy and method of swishing them in the toilet.  Julia regaled us with tons of exciting stories, mostly telling of time after time when she has pulled off a  huge work project single-handedly to the jaw-dropping amazement of her husband.  (Doesn’t he know who he married, especially after all these years?).  We also discussed important business matters, like the next New Year’s Day bash, and the next Sibling Party, which will likely be next summer.  I can’t remember nearly all the details, but I know we had a lot of fun.

Here’s Hannah at the shower.

Hannah and her Aunt Rachel

During the games at the shower, Hannah

fell asleep on my lap with her big bear.

Unfortunately, she only slept about 30 min.

While we were traveling and at the shower, Bobby was with Paul and Andrew.  They all went to church together for the morning and evening services.  Andrew took them to a park in the afternoon, and the little boys took naps in the afternoon also.  Paul had a great time, and I think Bobby did too.

Well, that ’s the tale of our travels.

You may have noticed that the blog appearance is pretty yucky right now.  There is an explanation.  The picture up-loader has been having serious issues.  That is one reason for my delay (and aggravation) in getting the vacation posts up.  In order to try to eliminate some of the problems, we installed a Word Press upgrade, and it erased our blog header.  So, in time, Lord willing, Andrew will get the blog header re-done for me.   It is rather involved for him to put the pictures up there for me.  I don’t know how the rest of you bloggers get your header changed so often, and seemingly with little headache.  Probably you have snazzier blog equipment.  Anyway, my blog serves my main purposes, so I am happy with it.  I hope the rest of you can patiently endure this pale green header.

Here is the rest of our vacation, mostly in pictures.  I’ll add a few descriptions and expansions as I go along.  I hope you all like pictures–I just loved seeing pictures of our happy children!

Here’s an afternoon story time just before naps.

Paul and his cousin do some coloring.

There is more to these next two pictures than meets

the eye.  Paul and my niece would sit on these chairs

right at the edge of where the waves came up to.  We

would say, “Come, water, come!” as a wave was coming.

Then, when the water reached the feet of the chairs,

we would clap and cheer!

This is a sandcastle that Andrew’s brother built,

This is the sand castle that Andrew built.  Notice how

there are cannons pointed to his brother’s castle!

Hannah eating an ice cream cone on the deck.

More great fun at the beach.

I spent a lot of time making towers of sand for

little people to knock down.

Someone burning up brain cells on a computer

game during afternoon nap time!

Andrew & Hannah

Hannah gets a boogie board ride!

Here is my persistent son!  Andrew’s brother dug

this big hole in the sand as a pool.  Paul thought it

was his duty to fill it with water from the ocean,

using his little blue bucket.  For at least 45 min. to

an hour, all he did was walk with me back and forth

from that hole to the ocean, carrying one bucketful

at a time and dumping it into the hole.  He was

happy as a lark doing it.  Finally, I could see that

he wasn’t going to stop until it was full, which was

never going to happen since it drained out the bottom.

At that point, I told him he didn’t have to fill the

hole with water.  Then, he was delighted to go

play other things!  My wonderful son!

Hannah and her cousin.

More ice cream cones!

Brain cells evaporating as Andrew and his brother

play a video game.

Hannah and Andrew

Hannah & Andrew (I like how you

can see their footprints in the sand!).

Paul, Andrew, & Hannah

Paul & Andrew

Paul, Sally, & Hannah

Andrew made a sand sculpture of the whale.

Paul having fun on the beach.

Our last night at the beach, we took a family walk.

We walked a long ways down to a fishing pier where

the man let us walk out on it for free, even though

there is a fee to walk on the pier (we went back and

paid him the next morning anyway–we didn’t

have any money with us that night).  Then, we headed

back.  We walked and walked.  After a while, I was seeing

things I hadn’t seen before.  I told Andrew I thought

we had gone too far and we had already passed our

cross-over.  Andrew thought we hadn’t gone far

enough.  We walked on.  And on.  And on.  Finally,

we could see hotels in the distance.  I was sure I had

never seen hotels from our spot on the beach.  By then I

was carrying Hannah, and Paul had long since stopped

his ceaseless chatter that he had been carrying on for

the first hour of our walk.  Finally, we decided to walk

to the hotel and I would wait there with the kids while

Andrew jogged back down the beach and looked

for our crossover that we had obviously passed.

It turns out we had gone about a mile too far!

He did find it, by the way.  It was not exactly

how we had planned to spend our last evening

at the beach, but it sure was memorable.

Paul and Hannah asleep on a mattress beside our

bed at the beach house on our last night there.  Since

we were out so late, we didn’t put Paul up in the

upstairs bedroom with his cousins, where he slept

all the rest of the time.

Thus ends the saga of our vacation.  We had a fantastic time.  The one big thing I have made a note of is that next time we go to the beach, I will take along my Oreck vacuum.  Man, oh man, the vacuum sweeper at that house was most inferior!  When vacuuming, the dirt was slinging out the back and getting in my flip-flops and hitting my legs!  We ended up using the broom on the hard floors.  On the carpets we had to use that horrendous (and boy was it heavy!) machine, but I declare it put down more dirt than it picked up!  When I was doing the final cleaning right before we left and vacuuming our bedroom, which was carpet, the dirt was flying out the back and hitting my legs so badly that I just whooshed it over the areas with big dirt, and didn’t bother running it where I didn’t see any obvious dirt.  I am sure that whoever comes to clean between the weekly renters brings a real vacuum, and that the one in the closet is just a decoy, or something like that.  I’m sure no one uses it to clean, unless they wear closed shoes and long, thick pants, and vacuum with the lights off, or something like that.

So, I hope any other beach-goers have seen how to have fun at the beach from these pictures, and also learned to take along your favorite vacuum cleaner!