Smokin'

This weekend Home Depot had their smokers on sale so Jed bought himself his anniversary present a week early.  I was more than happy to let him do this as it seems like I've been buying the man presents non stop since December!  The gift idea well is dry folks.  

He couldn't have been happier though evidenced by the smoker being put together and running in record time! 

For the maiden voyage we did another pork shoulder, since we had one on hand.  

It was hard waiting, it took over 12 hours to cook! 

Well worth it though!  Smokey deliciousness!    
This weekend we'll be trying our hand at chicken thighs!

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Cuteness!

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While I was making dinner Kane told me, "Mom you're so busy, I'll sweep the floor for you!".



Now I just need to teach him how to use the dust pan and to put the broom away!

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Holy Driftwood Batman!

Pictures from our walk around the lake from our first time camping at the Rodman campground.  

Group picture of the boys.

Along our walk we turned a corner and the beach was covered with driftwood.  

It got to the point where you couldn't see the sand underneath.  

While I saw decorative opportunities the guys saw an opportunity to show off their athletic prowess.

They nicknamed their little game (and the lake), "Deuces" due to the sound the wood makes when it hits the mud.  Ewww! 

Good job daddy!

Anemic = Lack of Posting?

I had a midwife appointment yesterday, it was the big Gestational Diabetes test, while I passed that with flying colors, I confirmed what I had suspected, I am anemic.  The constant fatigue, ice cravings and my body feeling like it weighed an extra 500 lbs were the big giveaways. 

Since my symptoms aren't convenient for running a 6 person home nor pleasant nor healthy for that matter, I'll be going on a few vitamin supplements.  I'm really hoping this kicks the over all crappy feeling I've had since I got pregnant.  

So I try to nap when the boys nap which is when I used to blog hence my blogging has been few and far between.  Plus life has been busy but pretty mundane.

We did go camping last weekend at the same campground as last time.  When we left home it was so hot I was wearing shorts!  It was a nice change of pace from the usual freezing weather we have but it brought out the bugs in the swampy forest.  The bug repellent did it's job on the mosquitoes but the No-see-ums were undeterred no matter the copious amount of spray.  By Saturday we were all covered in bug bites that would sporadically and intensely itch.  Sunday night was the worst as Ford was kept awake most of the night scratching and crying.  Jed and I took turns cuddling him trying to get him back to sleep, he finally passed out around 5:30, just an hour before his big brothers woke up for the day.

Oh and speaking of bugs, poor Evan got two ticks!  Other than the one Jed had a few years ago Evan is the only one to get them, which doesn't make sense considering his little brothers spend just as much time in the shrubs and rolling on the ground as he does!  I've decided we're just going to shave his head before we go camping from now on that way I might have a chance of catching them before they latch on. Ick!

Despite the bugs we managed to have a great time.  The boys spent the majority of their time on their scooters, in fact they broke two of the three of them!  The big boys (Jed, Jay, Joseph and Jon) mastered the art of melting glass in a campfire and I had both Sonic and Little Caesars in one day (we don't have either in our city).  

Of course no trip is complete without a major Kane melt down.  Here he is screaming at the top of his lungs because he decided to climb on the rocks and suddenly developed a great fear of "rock ants and spiders".  They are apparently invisible to the rest of us.  

A melt down of a different sort, using the holes in bricks as the molds for the glass beads we bought. Quite elaborate, I know but entertaining none of the less. 

They turned out kinda pretty. 

Winding down after a long day of playing hard.  

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The Time Kane Tried To Kill himself in the Checkout Line

Kane is not old enough or obedient enough to walk next to the cart when we go grocery shopping.  The ideal spot for him would be the front basket but currently that's occupied by his little brother so sitting in the cart with the groceries is the next best option.  However, that leaves him with a myriad of temptations such as, taking a big bite into a package of lunch meat, sampling any of the produce available, using coffee creamers to play army (slamming them into one another until one of the bottles explodes) or trying to squish anything malleable through the holes in the cart.   

Keeping him and our groceries safe sometimes seems like an insurmountable task.  He drove this point home just the other day in fact.

We were at Walmart picking up a few things, when Ford began to get fussy, it was nap time.  I was bent over giving him plenty of attention and snuggles trying to change his attitude.  Kane was sitting directly below Ford in the cart where I couldn't see him.  I wasn't paying close attention to him b/c I didn't have anything in the cart that was dangerous to him and he wasn't leaning out of the basket, I figured we were pretty good.  He began to cough dramatically but I tuned it out, he has seasonal allergies and the pollen has begun to fly here a bit.  I looked up from Ford to see what was going on with the customer and cashier in front of us when I noticed the look of horror on the cashiers face, she was staring directly where Kane was sitting.  

Oy that kid.  I peaked around Ford and found that he had taken the buckle to Ford seat, snapped it around his neck and was leaning forward on it to choke himself.  He was bright red, coughing/laughing with the biggest grin on his face.

Why Kane, why?

Other than rope burn on his neck and maybe a few dead brain cells, he was fine. 

Grumpy

For some unknown reason none of the boys slept well last night. Seth was such a wreck I decided to keep him home from school.

Fortunately sleepy boys equals snuggly boys and I'm soaking it in, despite the whining and crying.  


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Valentine's Day (after 9 years, with 4 kids and a pregnant wife)

For Valentine's Day this year Jed spoiled me with a new shower head, a bath mat and pillow for our bath tub and a new light for our living room.  It was perfect!  

For him I chose a BBQ theme since he's recently been watching a reality series on Netflix about BBQ competition which has lead to some (out loud) day dreaming about quitting his job to become a BBQ judge. Inspired by not wanting to crush his dream but knowing that a family of 7 would struggle immensely trying to live off a judge's salary (I think their only compensation is the food they taste btw) I ran with my idea.

I found a flavor injector, a fancy electric thermometer and a good sized "pork butt".  I threw together my first ever concoction to inject (its not quite as gross as it sounds) and my first ever dry rub, both loosely based on the show Jed's been watching and some of the Pioneer Woman's recipes.  Once I was done experimenting, my masterpiece spent all day in the oven.  

I spent the rest of the day running around doing the normal stuff I have to do on any given weekday plus all the Valentine's activities with the boys.   

Kane and I made homemade cards for daddy and his big brothers.  He proudly gave his brother's their cards when they got home from school.  Evan and Seth didn't have anything to give to Kane so they  dug through the stash of candy they got from school and each picked out something for him.  They went up to his room, put it up on his bed and then lead him upstairs to find his "Valentine's surprise".  So sweet and Kane couldn't have been happier! 

We had the pork for dinner, it was good but I'm already planning a few tweaks to my recipes.  Jed got to play with his new thermometer when we pulled it out of the oven, its quite elaborate.  

Later Joy came over and watched the boys so we could go out for dessert. Thank you Joy!  We're not big on fighting the crowds so we went to Dairy Queen.  Then we went to Lowe's to look at smokers before my body or more accurately my ligaments started screaming at me to call it a day.  

Jed took the older two boys to their first rodeo and I stayed home with the younger two.  Kane had a great idea for what we should do while they were gone but Legoland was a little impractical so we went with idea number 2, the popcorn store (Target) for hot mollies.

As we pulled into the parking lot of the popcorn store Kane shouts from the backseat,  "Mommy, does my hair look fancy?"  Uh, after I recovered from the shock of the proper use of word "fancy" from my 3 year old son, I said, "Of course it does!"  "Mom, does it look fancy enough to go to Joy's house?  I'll make it fancier if I can go to Joy's house."  Then proceeds to vigorously rub his hands through his hair, fancying it up I suppose.

The hair.

Touring the popcorn store in style!

How do I get this thing open?  

He ended up putting it on the ground and stomping it open.  Nice.

And we found Cadburry eggs too but mommy might be keeping those for herself. 

Ducky Update

We've had some weird weather here, its been in the 80s which is even warm for us and, despite this being the dry season we've had quite a bit of rain.  

Ok, so now that I've updated you on our weather, let me get to the point, a little over a week ago a storm rolled in (its cool to watch storms come across our pond!) and for whatever reason this prompted momma duck and babies to leave the pond for the first time since their arrival. I watched from our dining room as four ducks disappeared down into the canal.  

The next day Jed sent Evan out to feed the ducks.  A few minutes later Evan came inside and sat down next to me.  He said, "Mom, I have something to tell you.  There are only 2 ducklings today."  He was looking at me like he was waiting for me to burst into tears and wasn't sure how to comfort me.  When did my little Evan turn into a big seven year old man?!  

After assuring him I wasn't going to break down we went out to check to see if somehow the third duckling had gotten lost or stuck somewhere. Sad day but such is life.

 Since then our little ducklings have doubled in size and they're much more trusting of us, especially Seth who they allow to hand feed them!  They're still quite skiddish when the food runs out though.

 That's our disheveled porch in the background.

I think it's hilarious when a duckling steals a piece of bread intended for its mom and then can't swallow it.  Greedy little one! :)

So we've been quite content with our little family of three however you can imagine our delight when three more ducklings, and their mommy, appeared on our pond yesterday.  The boys were so beyond excited that before I knew it they had slipped almost an entire loaf of bread out to the newcomers (thank goodness it was the $1 loaf from Aldi, a few days ago I found them feeding the ducks the $3 artisan bread we had splurged on, yikes)!

  The new ducks actually look older than our ducks (less down and a tad bit bigger) so they must have been living on one of the other ponds in our neighborhood or made their way from the big lake on the other side of the forest.

So in an unexpected turn of events we're back up to 5 ducklings!  Woohoo!

And Her Name Will Be...

Isla 

(pronounced, eye-la)

It took us a while to settle on her name and after we did we considered keeping it a secret but we realized that her big brothers would make that hard.  

So you can thank Evan, Seth and Kane.

Super Bowl

I'm not a huge fan of football and I'm especially uninterested in pro football so the Super Bowl is a non-event for me.  However I live in a house filled with males who are into all things football so while they watch I worked on Jed's birthday cake (later I'll be settling into bed to read the final book of the Hunger Games!).  

My very old, old, husband turned 33 earlier this week.  I surprised him by having a babysitter lined up for the night and taking him to Outback, also for record sake, since someone has accused me of not getting him anything last year (neither of us can remember his birthday last year which I can blame on being pregnant but  whats your excuse Jed? :)), he received a UofM tshirt and a camping chair.  Anyway, back to Outback, dinner was fantastic, Jed loves their steaks and I love their cheese fries, yum!  After dinner I assumed we'd order cheesecake b/c that happens to be his second favorite item on their menu but we were both so full we couldn't imagine eating dessert. 

My poor husband didn't get a cake for his birthday and I felt bad so I decided to remedy that tonight with his most favorite cake in the whole world, German Chocolate.  

Better late than never right babe?! 

Love you, Jed!  I had so much fun celebrating another birthday with you!  Thanks for being the best husband and father!  

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The Things They Say

Evan: "Dad, if your master runs out of money can you stop going to work?"  

Kane: "Mom will you use the chomper on your hair today?"  Referring to my straightener. 

Seth: "Mom, I don't know if I want a sister because she's going to grow up and nag at me to stop playing xbox."   We don't even own an xbox but it somehow trumps a sister. 

Evan: "Mom, E from school told me that bacon is made from pig butt!  I don't care though bacon is delicious!"