I'm In Love. And Its Sirius

I was asked on the post 'Almost Standing' if we had more than one radio station here. And the answer is no, we have one radio station. And its Canadian.

Or that was the answer. Two weeks ago M bought a Sirius radio and when it came in last week he bought me one while he was activating his! I now can listen to any genre of music I want to. At any time! I can listen to the news. And not have it all about Canada. I can hear the weather. And not have to try and figure out exactly what 19 Celsius is in Fahrenheit. I don't have to sit one certian way on the couch or loveseat to not interfere with reception. I can forget to turn the TV off after the boys watch a DVD and not have it make the radio static. I even get talk shows. Like Martha Stewart! Did you know she had a satellite radio station?!

I'm in love. And its very Sirius.

Mammoth.

These sons of ours have huge feet. They just grow, and grow and grow. Shortly before we moved to North Dakota I bought them the cutest blue corduroy "Converse" style sneakers. In Size 2.

In April, Uncle Nathan and Aunt Summer gave them new shoes for when they reach Size 3. Well, they are there. Cute blue shoes - bye, bye.

Of course, it is about impossible to get the boys in the same picture anymore. And even more impossible to get Z to hold still long enough to get a picture of him. Let alone his shoes.

So, there are no pictures of Z in his new shoes. But he is wearing them!



(the many faces of Z on Mission Impossible: Grab Camera)

(G love to squat at the gate and watch Bubba. Or if Bubba isn't locked in the entry, just squat)

(I must give G a shoe to chew on so I can actually put his shoes on. He'd really rather eat them, so if I distract him with another shoe he leaves the ones I'm attempting to put on his feet alone)

Dear Z

Dear, darling, sweet Z,

I am sorry to say that after your antics this morning, you will no longer be monitored while you are in your crib. Mommy was very distressed to find that not only had you ripped the cable holder off of the wall, along with a nice chunk of paint, that at some point before I came and got you up for the morning, you had also tangled your precious self all up in the yards of cable.

With that being said, Mommy has taken your video camera down. And she can no longer watch you while you're supposed to be sleeping, but aren't.

Maybe you knew that this would be the results? Maybe, just maybe, you don't want Mommy to know that you really don't sleep as much as she'd like to believe you do. Maybe this was just all part of your plan.

In any case, you are now free to jump in your crib, peek out the window, and throw your pacifiers and toys across the room, to your little hearts content without Mommy or Daddy having any knowledge.

hugs and kisses, mommy

Winter In August?

The other morning I pulled out my storage totes with the boys' bigger sized clothing in them to see exactly what I would need for anything past 6-9 month size.

The boys discovered some winter hats and mittens that were given to us last year. They are new, with the tags still on them. And they thought the tags would make THE yummiest morning snack! After chasing them around, pulling the now soggy tags out of their mouths I decided the only way to solve the problem was to make them wear the problem!

Mommy Splurged

The boys go through many, many diapers a week (I once figured up an average of a 110), and its just too hard to (1) stock up while we're grocery shopping because I never know how long it will be before we're back in Williston and (2) make trips to Williston just for diapers. Spending $20+ on gas for a box of diapers, as neccesary as they may be, just doesn't make sense. So I buy my diapers online, at diapers.com, where their slogan is "We deliver everything but the baby". And I find it makes MUCH more sense to spend exactly $13.01 more than the diapers cost to get free shipping. Even though shipping is only $4.99. It just makes sense in my mind, somehow. Though I am starting to question the thought process behind such sense. Most of the time I order practical things. Things that we need, and are unable to find here. Onesies for one order. A bathspout cover and snack containers for the next order.

The last order I placed I decided to splurge a little. And bought the boys a really fun, walk behind/ride on toy. And I realized that this may indeed be the first toy I have bought for the boys brand new! Ever frugal (see above where I frugally spend $8.02 more every time I place order..) I have always looked for toys at garage sales, online, or they've been given to us. I'm glad the boys like it so much! Definitely worth every penny spent.

Road Trip!

Yesterday M, G, Z, and I went for a road trip to Montana! We hopped in the car. Hopped is a relative term. First you have to get bottles filled, extra toys packed, make sure you have enough diapers and wipes, bring cereal just in case you happen to be gone over suppertime, change diapers, get them buckled in their carseats, run back in the house to grab the camera, and review over and over in your head that you have everything you might need in every situation possible. It only takes about 30 minutes. Hopped, yeah, sure. We then filled the tank up here in Crosby and headed west. We drove through the booming towns of Ambrose and Fortuna. I think they have population of around 100 each. And I may be exagerating the truth a little there.

After 30 miles or so we came to Westby. An incredibly scary, small town to welcome you to Montana. First there is a big sign telling you that white crosses on the side of the road mark the scenes of fatalities. I personally find it very morbid to know every spot a soul has passed on while driving. Especially on a roadtrip. Next on the side of some building there is a creepy painting that says "METH: NOT EVEN ONCE". Really, quite a way to say welcome. There was also a visitors center. Not really sure what that was there for. Westby is about the size of a quarter.

As we drove along MT Route 5, I couldn't help but find myself looking for the white crosses and counting them. I got distracted and lost track after 8.

We stopped in Plentywood, and filled our bellies up on chips, energy drinks, and chocolate. Yes, the lunch of champions! We had decided that we would drive until the tank was about half empty and then turn around.

Which lead us to Scobey, MT. Someone M graduated from the Academy happens to be working there. We drove the 14 additional miles to the border on the chance that he was working, and since they are almost always working, he was there! We stopped in and said hi.

And that put us at just about half a tank gone. We turned around and headed home.

On the way out there we had seen a massive length of railcars sitting on the tracks that ran along next to MT RT 5. When we headed home and came up on the beginning of them M set the trip odometer. We were right, it was massively long. 16.8 miles of rail cars. There was about 15 miles of "All Purpose Spine Cars", whatever they are. And the remaining (almost) 2 miles were dump cars and tankers.

The boys couldn't have been better. They napped on and off during the trip, and the rest of the time they spent looking out the windows and playing with Mount Toys that I had brought.

(video clip)

G&Z at the end of our long, fun day.

G Can Crawl!

He just chooses not to 99.9% of the time.

Almost Standing

Z is trying to stand by himself. And he can hold himself up for up to a minute before falling down. We tried to capture him on video the very first night he did it. But, of course he didn't quite cooperate!

Snack Time!

WHO loves their Cheerios? WE love our cheerios!

Lazy Saturday

M had to work today, so after my usual neurotic morning rituals the boys and I had a lazy day. I read a book while they played on the floor. They watched a 'Little Peoples' DVD while I showered and dressed. And that was about the most of our day! After they woke up from their afternoon nap I decided we'd go for a walk, pick up the mail, and stop by the park. It had warmed up significantly by the time we got to the park, so after a short swing ride, and a few pictures we headed home.

Only to be stopped as we passed a friend's house. Her children saw us walking down the road and all ran outside shouting "Hello!". Zach, her son, came running down the driveway shouting "LET ME SAY HELLO TO THE BOYS!". And so, the boys and I stopped and chatted until her husband got home from work.

Tiffaney and I have really hit it off. Our husbands work together, and they have 4 young children. Her youngest, Leah, is a month older than our midgetmen. The boys are slightly aggressive with her. I suppose they're used to being able to tackle each other, steal each other's toys, and run over each other with only a little "be careful" from mommy every now and then. Poor Leah has indeed been tackled, and had her toys stolen from her. G loves her though because she feeds him puffs. G loves anybody who shares food with him! And Z loves her really cool, fun toys, that are so much more interesting than his! And they both love the attention bestowed upon them by the older children Madison, Hailey, and Zach. Every time we see them is a happy day for both I, and midgetmen.