Pumpkin Patch!

It's been a month since my last post....time flies!!  A few new things for us:  We're transitioning to colder days, so I've been trying to plan places for us to go since at about 9 a.m. everyone (including mama) is going crazy!  Last week I tried taking the boys to the Washington Pavilion (which was a HUGE hit), and the gym.  I dropped all four of them off in the nursery and thought I'd end up staying in there the whole time, but they actually did really good!  I even got a short work out in!  It was amazing, and gave me so much hope/sanity thinking that maybe I'm actually at the point where I can do that!   I have to keep the boys busy right now because otherwise they bite each other, pull hair, hit, tackle, lay on top of each other, take each others' toys, etc, etc.  I feel like all I do all day is pull them off of each other and say, "no no!"

They are getting so hilarious!  They repeat everything, and talk to each other, which is the cutest thing ever to hear.  Derek always tries to be funny.  Every morning he asks me "Where's Daddy?", and I say, "Where is he?"  Derek says "Under the table!!!" and laughs really hard at himself.  

There's nothing sweeter than when they all want to read books with me...Seriously, I feel SO blessed sometimes when I have a moment to think about it all.  Derek, Micah, Andrew

Andrew's owl needed to be washed, and as you can see....it was very traumatic, and a very LONG wait for him to get clean!

My little crew...how precious are they?!  Andrew, Micah, Tyler, Derek.  The other day we got asked if we had quads (we were pulling the choo choo wagon).  The little guys are starting to catch up to Tyler in size!

Yes, that is scotch tape that is coming off of a roll somewhere in the basement.  It came across the family room downstairs, up the entire flight of stairs, and into our kitchen.  You should have heard all the giggling Derek and Micah were doing during this little episode!  So funny!

Tyler is all of a sudden growing up.  He's been incredibly sweet to the babies lately, and I think he likes it that he can actually play with them now!  They're talking/jabbering constantly and saying really funny stuff, so he's having more fun with them, too.  He hates playing downstairs by himself, so he always tries to get one of them to go with him.  He's had less and less time outs (or maybe we just had a good week??)!  That's truly an answer to prayer and a huge stressor that is slowly improving.

Derek, on the other hand, has been a handful.  He goes in multiple time outs each day.  He hits and pushes brothers for no reason, and is so strong, he just knocks them right to the ground.  Now I need to watch him every second, just like I did with Tyler about a year ago.  We taught Tyler not to ever hit or push his brothers, and he's finally got that down, but now Derek is starting to beat up on Tyler, and Tyler just takes it. We're trying to teach how to defend yourself without being mean back, and walking away. Ahhh....another new stage!

Tyler and Andrew.

We tried to take advantage of the last warmish days.  The boys could swing on their tummy's all day long, I think...

As you can see here, the fence probably won't be much help next summer.  The boys let themselves out all the time now.  They do okay, actually.  They usually only want to get to the neighbors' swing set and don't run too far!

Micah by our neighbors' owl (to scare away rabbits, etc).  Micah and Andrew walk up to the owl every time we are outside, take the head off, and walk away with it.  How many times have I said, "Guys!  Put the owl's head back on!"   :)

Andrew loves reading.  He will go straight for the books in a room full of toys every time.  He takes books to bed with him, carries one around the house lots of times, and even takes them on the swings.  He is always walking up to me holding up a book and saying, "Mommy, read it."  Cutie!

Micah pushing Derek on the neighbors' swing set.  :)

This happens sometimes -- the boys play together nicely.  I needed to document it with a picture, and I ran to get my camera because it never lasts long.  I bet this one lasted about 4 - 5 minutes before someone was screaming though!

Evan went hunting with his dad and all his brothers a few weekends ago, and his mom and sister Christy came and stayed with us.  It was so much fun!  Christy is having a baby girl in November (she's due on the babies' birthday!), and she's the cutest little pregnant girl ever!  She's having our first NIECE (on Evan's and my side), so we're SO excited!  I've been buying lots and lots of pink things.  Let's just say, it's probably a good thing I didn't have girls.  

 When the guys were hunting, all the sisters/sisters-in-laws went to the pumpkin patch by our house.  I just wanted one picture on the hay bales, boys.  Just one.  This is our best shot.  ha!  Andrew, Micah, Derek, Tyler.

 Micah and Derek - checking out the animals at the petting zoo...

 My little Andrew man...

Me and all my little men...

 Andrew.

 Tyler

 Andrew and Tyler feeding the chickens.

 Tyler, Derek, Andrew, Micah

 Aunt Mavis took Tyler on a pony ride!  He loved it!   That's his cousin Luke behind him.

This is the whole group of us on the hayride to go out and pick our pumpkin!  It was nice that I had one person for each of my boys.  It made it feel manageable!

 Tyler and Derek, trying to find the hugest one.

 Big cousin Ethan reading to Micah.  Ethan is SO good with the babies!

The boys all know the rule is that we don't sit on the coffee table.  Here's what I found when I walked into the living room the other day. Stinkers!  Clearly we need to do some more obedience training!

 Micah...

A, D, M

 And yes, we're still into drinking coffee ("poppee") every morning.  This is Sat. when daddy was home!

 And really, is there anything more fun than being tied together with mommy's scarves and running in circles around the house?

 We could do this all day, people!!!

I had a little leftover pasta last night at dinner, and the boys were so interested in it, so I just let them have at it!  They had so much fun, and giggled the entire time they were playing with it!  Tyler may have eaten more of the plain pasta than he did at dinner.  :)

 With four boys doing this, you can imagine that it got a little crazy...the floor was covered with pasta, and so was their hair and faces.  They had so much fun, though!