Wow - the heat wave here in Lower Alabama has been unbearable!  Within seconds of stepping outside your clothes are already sticking to you and the gnats are driving you crazy.  It's been so bad that we were finally able to talk the little boys, Brandon and Zachary, into getting a buzz cut like daddy.  They were terribly sweet afterwards, asking everyone to feel their heads, then telling them not to mess their hair up

We gave the boys their buzz cuts while Jacob was gone because he HATES haircuts, so bad that we've resorted (more than once) to cutting his hair while he sleeps, and we didn't want him to be a buzz kill.  Well as soon as he got back home and saw the boys hair, he decided he needed his done too!  I still can't believe he let me finish - I think the only reason he let me start at all was because the boys told him it tickled.  Hey, whatever it takes!  And even though I kinda miss their hair, they do look adorable.

        

I get most of my work done during the kids afternoon nap - in fact that's the quietest time of day around here.  They think bedtime at night means "wrestle around on the floor for an hour", but they usually settle in for naptime without much trouble.  I always have a mile long lists of things to do during naptime so I'm usually sitting quietly at my desk, focused on my computer.  Well a few months ago I was startled out of my seat by a loud popping sound at the window about 15 feet behind me.

I went to inspect but couldn't figure out what had made the noise so I got back to work.  Darned if it didn't happen again!  Every time I'd get back to work, I'd hear a loud crack against the window, but there was never anything there when I went to look. 

Finally, feeling like a fool even though no one was around to see, I crouched behind a bookshelf at the doorway to the room and just watched for it to happen again.  I couldn't believe it when I finally figured out what was going on - a gorgeous red cardinal was slamming itself into the window over and over.  I could see a more brownish female cardinal in a tree not too far from the window, and my guess is that the male was probably seeing his own reflection in the window and thought he was scaring off the competition.

Unfortunately, I think the poor guy has sustained some brain damage because he comes back at least 2-3 times a week now to torture me during my "quiet baby time".  He hits the window with such force that he's actually fallen to the ground in a daze more than once, only to come back time and again to protect his woman.  Well you certainly can't question his devotion!

I've been on a mission for the last couple of months to get some pictures of him in action, but he never appears when the kids are awake (maybe the noise level? ) or when the cats are in the room, and if he sees me moving then he quickly disappears.  I was finally able to get a few shots  - these are taken through the window and the screen so they're not the greatest, but I'm proud I was able to get some pix of my kamikaze friend.

 
 

        

Our kids have always loved playing in the kitchen, but our kitchen is actually pretty small and there are way too many kids to play in there   Instead, we got them a cheapo plastic "kitchen", my Aunt Diana hooked them up with tons of dishes, measuring cups and the like from the dollar store, and we set them up a kitchen area in the playroom.  They've had a blast with it whenever they're in the mood to "cook" and we've enjoyed watching them learn to "share" :S



Well I recently saw a tutorial for this great kitchen play mat.  What a terrific idea!!  I sure wish I had thought of it - what a great way to entertain the kids wherever it's convenient, you can roll it up and take it with you to grandma's house, or better yet, if you've got a whole crew of kids you could make one for each child in their own favorite color.  AND you could save some bucks while you're at it!  Get the free tutorial for the roll-up kitchen playmat at BalancingEverything.com if you'd like to make your own.

        

We recently had the good fortune to meet our neighbors to the north!  We've been living "out in the woods" for around four years now, and our nearest "permanent" neighbor is about six miles away from us.  The coolest couple have a hunting cabin on some acreage adjacent to us on the south - they're local so they live nearby and they both work real hard so they come out to their cabin to relax whenever possible, but we don't see them that often. 

Well a week or so ago we were surprised by a knock at the front door - that's a huge surprise out here because NO ONE uses the front door (we're country folk remember) and NO ONE shows up unannounced because it's way too far to drive on the chance that we might be home  

Mick & Sally Fee, the couple that owns the vacant land to the north of us had come down from Michigan for a visit and were checking out their property.  They were probably shocked that our property had turned into a kids playground since they were here last so they dropped by to introduce themselves and we're SO happy that we were here to meet them!

Sometimes in life we're lucky enough to meet really remarkable people, its rare that we're fortunate enough to have them for neighbors!  The Fees hung out with us for awhile, they even endured photographs of the kids (since they weren't here at the time) and a tour of the greenhouse and the bee house

We all had a nice long conversation and learned that we share a common stewardship of the land (and a love of honey).  When we finally let them leave we sent them on their way with some of our prized galberry honey and some cinnamon and chocolate creamed honey.

How amazing to receive in the mail the other day a package from Sally with some of their favorite Michigan Star Thistle honey and cherry creamed honey, plus a whole bunch of wonderful books and stickers for the kids.  Books (and sand) are their absolute favorite things in the world and they were just thrilled!!  Thanks so much guys, we're so pleased to have had the chance to meet you and feel blessed to have made some new friends!

By the way, just two days after you left your field was cleared for the season and planted with peanuts.  A few days ago they came back and put out fertilizer, which has made the grass just take off (although I'm sure that wasn't the intention).  Anyway, it looks just beautiful right now and I thought you might like to see it. 

        

Lotta Jansdotter's new book , Simple Sewing For Baby: 24 Easy Projects for Newborns and Toddlers ($16.47 at Amazon), has some terrific patterns in it including bibs, hats, blankies, a diaper bag that attaches to a stroller, and lots more, plus this adorable Infant Snuggler/Swaddler pattern that you can download for free!

All infants are comforted by being swaddled since it reminds them of being in the womb, and we learned right away when our quads were born a couple months early that its not as easy as to looks properly swaddle a baby.  It's kinda like putting a tube sock on a snake   Those NICU nurses could do it in seconds, even with all the tubes sticking out everywhere, but it took us awhile to get the hang of it.

I sure wish we'd had some of these at the time!  This adorable swaddler pattern is made to stay put without all the hassle and I'm thinking some of these would be terrific baby shower gifts.  Download your copy now at the Craftzine.com blog.  While you're at it, you might want to also check out the new huggy style cloth diaper and baby sling patterns at Patterns2Go.com.

        

The quads are doing great on the potty training, we're down to only a couple of them needing diapers at night now and they take care of their own business the rest of the time.  Of course its been well over a year since Jacob was out of diapers so we never have to worry about him right?  WRONG!!

I do think the problem comes from living out in the woods though.  We take the kids for long walks quite often and we rarely come across ANY traffic on our loooooooooooooooooong driveway so the boys have gotten into the habit of tinkling, if necessary, along the side of the road.  Well being close to nature is great until you realize that the kids now take most any green spot as "nature".

Recently on a trip to the park the boys disappear one by one into a small "playhouse" made from pieces of fencing.  Well mamaw goes in after them to see what's going on and catches them tee-teeing in there on the ground.  When asked why they didn't just go the bathroom that wasn't very far away Jacob replied "cuz this our barn mamaw".  So she tells them that only animals tee tee in a barn but he says "well, we are cows, and this is our barn, so we're just doing what we're supposed to do".

How do you argue with a toddler?  At least it had walls I guess!  Now we've just got to make sure he understands that when he starts school this fall, he will always be a little boy on the playground, and little boys excuse themselves to go inside to the bathroom 

        

A good friend sent me this joke and I laughed so hard that I had to share

A recently divorced woman was walking along the beach contemplating how badly treated she had been over the settlement, when she saw a magic lamp washing up onshore. She rubbed the lamp, and out popped a genie!

The genie sensed her anger and allowed her to vent her troubles to him. As a consolation, the genie informed her that he would give her three wishes. But he cautioned her that because he does not believe in divorce, he would give her ex-husband ten times the amount of whatever she wishes.

The woman is steaming mad, thinking that this is hardly fair, but she makes her first wish. The first wish was for a billion dollars. The genie granted her wish and she found herself sitting on a pile of one billion one-dollar bills.

The genie then reminded her that her husband was now the surprised recipient of ten billion dollars. The woman could barely contain her anger when she made her second wish. The second wish was for a beautiful mansion on the shore of her own private beach. In an instant it was granted, exactly as she had imagined her dream home, in every tiny detail. But the genie reminded her again that her ex-husband now owned ten of what she had wished for, and pointed out across the bay to a small development of ten such mansions.

Upon seeing this, the woman took her time to consider her final wish. Just as the genie was about to give up on her, the woman said she had made up her mind. But, before she could say anything, the genie again warned her that her ex-husband would get ten times whatever she wished for. "No problem," said the woman, smiling at last. "For my final wish, I'd like to give birth to quadruplets."

        

Nana decided that the kids had to have something better than the rickety old swingset that came with the house years ago so they've been very busy "helping" build their new playset.  It feels like its taking forever though - it took a few days just to get the ground level enough to build on, then it turns out that each box we open (there are 4 in total and we've made it to box 2) is missing a piece so that keeps halting our progress.

The kids do seem happy with it so far though, at least since we filled up the bottom sandbox for them   Hopefully that will keep them entertained while daddy waits on the missing parts!  Thanks so much nana - I know you're as thrilled as we are that we no longer have to "hold the pole" while the kids swing into outerspace!

 

        

Today we took Jacob to the local elementary school to get registered for this fall.  I don't know why they do it so early, but he sure is excited about getting ready for school!  Guess we're gonna have to start looking for uniforms soon   Next year, the quads will hopefully get to go for pre-school (as long as the class isn't too full), boy won't that feel like a VACATION!!!

Seems like forever since I posted last, but we've been swamped for the last couple months working on the bee house and getting honey bottled and creamed honey made for the Sausage Festival and the Strawberry Festival.  We got rained in (had 18' of water over a 16' bridge) and couldn't make it to the Sausage Festival, but the Strawberry Festival was a big success.  It was a two day event over Easter weekend and Sunday sales weren't so great - course people didn't start showing up until about 1 or 2 - but overall we were really pleased.  The weather was beautiful and the people were terrific!  Thanks SO MUCH to nana, mamaw and papaw for helping out with the kids and honey hauling!! 

There was a cartoon artist at the festival and he did the neatest drawings for us!  I think daddy's drawing looks most like him   What do you think?