La-La- umm Labor Day

Lucas woke up at his normal 6:15 am time and came into my room. He said he needed water so I got up and took him downstairs for some liquid refreshment. I then put on Jack's Big Music Show so I could start making breakfast when Lucas runs to me in the kitchen and said "Wake Up Daddy he be a late for weerk" I told him that Daddy didn't have work today, because it was Labor Day. He looked at me and said "La-La umm Labor Day?" I told him that today Daddy is taking us somewhere special. He went upstairs and jumped on the bed and said "Beach today Daddy?" Nathan didn't hear him and I told him that today Daddy was going to sleep in late. so we went back downstairs to give Nathan more sleep time. Nathan suprised us all by coming downstairs and ready to start the day!

So today we had an adventure. I packed a bag of snacks and we headed out to conquer the world. Well, the pool anyway. Bridgey LOVED the pool! Man she is such a little water horse!

Lucas having a natural action filled moment.Bridget mad that Nathan won't let go.

My favorite part of swimming is the CRAZY hair afterwards! Oh and the joy of my children's faces when they see me waving a granola bar in their faces! HAHAHA

After the pool we ate a few snacks and headed to Lowes so I could finish one of my big projects. Then we had another snack and headed to a few more stores. We came home and crashed and spent the rest of the day playing with Thomas and the Little Peepoo. I made Nathan's favorite dinner and we had brownies for dessert! We are going to do FHE tomorrow, but I am glad we had such an awesome day! I think the best part was spending our day with a sack of snacks!

Ode to the First Trimester

For this ity bity life
I give my whole self
Take my personal plans
Put them up on a shelf

New things more important
Like eating and resting
Can't use the word crazy
So we just call it nesting

I need to write "pregnant"
Across my forehead
A simple way to show why
I look mostly dead

Not time for new clothes
or setting up a crib
Just try to stay grateful
As I lift up the lid

Feeling so weak
Compelled by the retching
I'm sure my poor husband
Finds all of this fetching

I finally have boobs
But does it really matter
They don't seem so cool
With the rest of me fatter

For now it's just me
With this growing babe
Our lives so intwined
The bond firmly made

Despite all my whining
Moping and moaning
We wait and we dream
Just praying and hoping

So I have to give in
And turn over this bod
Relinquish my pride
For our pea in pod

Although I haven't been sick, or tired, or dead feeling, I thought it was cute to post since now I only have 2/3 left till this child comes into this house! I am still wearing regular clothes (thank goodness) and I can't wait for the 8 more weeks till we know what the gender is of Witte #3. AAH!

Ryan and Veronica

That saying "Things happen for a reason" used to make me so mad sometimes, because usually people would say it when something you didn't want to happen, happened. For instance, a promotion you didn't get, or a deal that fell through.

Alanis Morrisette said it perfectly when she said in her song Ironic "it's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife, or meeting the man of my dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife."

These things always happen to us and we can decide how we react to them or how not to. Now don't freak out about all of this because it is just a little reflection of years past.

Ryan and Veronica just had their 4 year anniversary on the 27th of August. I was Veronica's roommate for 9 months and knew her for a few years before that. We were Friends but never really hung out until she was called to FHE Chair. Once we were roommates she started dating this dude Ryan who at the time everyone thought I was dating. I would usually respond 'No not Ryan he has red hair, I am not dating anyone." (This will be funny at the end of the post, trust me)

We did lots of things together sometimes with my friend Dan but mostly just the 3 of us, because of Ryan and Veronica I have come to understand that saying things happen for a reason

If they hadn't dated and fell in love and got married and forced me to meet Nathan, I wouldn't be where I am today. They wouldn't be as happy either because I would be single and at their house all of the time and they would really hate it! :) Hahahaha

Now when people ask me how I met Nathan or how my marriage to Jared is, or even how lucky Ben is to have me in his life, and sometimes they ask me how my husband Ryan is doing (yes people have all thought I married a particular Witte except the one I actually did) I can honestly tell them it was all because of my roommate Veronica.

So happy anniversary to my awesome Brother and Sister in law/roommate/Friends!

I am smart! SMR-T

Gotta love the Simpsons! This post is not about the Simpons, but wouldn't it be great if it were?

Anyway. This is what it really is about...

Lucas says to me while we were at Sam's Club "Mommy that has to S's."
I look over and Sam's does have two S's.
He says to me "Dowas (Lucas) has S too."
I said "Yes LUCAS has an S in it too."

I didn't really think about it again until I put this yellow box into my cart and he says...

"C-H-E-E-R-I-O-S, that has S too."
I said "Wow Lucas you spelled Cheerios, you are such a smart boy"
He said "I know I learned da ABC's, I danno (don't) some but I know lots"
I laughed and he said "No laugh its ruuuude Mommy"

So then we came home and reviewed the abc's just for fun and he knew 20 of the 26 letters! I was so impressed! I was dialing Grandpa Horn on the phone to tell him how smart Lucas was and then he started signing "Wow you're really smart" from Blue's Clues.

I was about to give him a lollipop for a treat but then I realized the only kind I had were DumDums.

Hahaha.

I am going to go pick up some Smarties this afternoon because my son is no DumDum!

We found this video and thought it was appropriate for this specific post...enjoy!

I am so proud of my little bash brother who suprisingly know most of his ABC's at 2! I haven't really gone over them with him because he is so into the numbers! He can count to 20 backwards and forwards, how's that for impressive! Well the letter thing is too but...

Hehehehe

Thank You

I would like to take a moment and thank my children for the lovely week they have given me. People always say to me how do you do it? Your kids are 15 months apart, isn't it hard? I can't believe your next two are going to be 15.5 months apart, that will be 3 kids under 3 years old. I shrug my shoulders and say its no big deal. I say this because most of the time it really isn't a big deal. I just have to remember that every day is different, and that I can't get mad or upset the first time they do something that is naughty.

For example...
How can I get mad at my daughter who has started walking and getting into things when clearly she is doing something I would have done myself? (Like rearranging the plastics drawer!!!)

The answer is simple. I can't because earlier she let me pull and tug on her hair to get some pigtails on her head. I will mention that, the entire time I was doing this she was staring at herself in the mirror, cooing and laughing at herself because she knew she was so pretty. Hahahah Oh girls!

How can I get frustrated at my son for picking up the slack in the kitchen? I had just rinsed all of the dishes to put them into the dishwasher and he decided to paint them with yogurt... "Cool" he says to me and then begs to wash the dishes for the second time, so he could put them in the dishwasher.

See what he neglected to tell me I forgot to ask was, how much soap he had put in already. I just put in the cascade tab when Lucas screams "No Digy, too much too much, put it away" I run upstairs and see my kitchen floor covered in SUDS. Lucas thought Bridget had done it when in actuality he had not rinsed the dishes all the way and squeezed the soap all over the dishes on the bottom rack. Did I get mad? How could I? The floor needed to be mopped, he was saving me a step.

How can I yell at my kids for dumping toys all over the floor? Especially when I had just organized and relabeled them all into new bins? How could I? They were sharing.

Sharing means dumping and pushing all of the toys to cover Bridget. See she was happy. How could I get mad? I needed to vacuum that other area anyway.

You all are probably thinking, where are you Valerie when all of this is happening? Why aren't you preventing any of this? The answer is simple. THE OLYMPICS!!! I have been watching the Olympics!!! Not all of the time, but it is the only thing that has been on for the past 14 days. I will run a load of laundry or heaven forbid go to the bathroom, check the mail, answer the phone and when I am done with these little tasks, this is what I have found my children doing. I have realized that getting mad isn't worth it. They are awfully cute and haven't been fighting...

well, until they saw Grecco roman wrestling. They weren't fighting they were demonstrating their unique Witte wrestling skills. The Witte's have this thing where whenever they are together they always end up wrestling each other. No joke. They even wrestled when they all were together this April for Nathan's birthday. What do you expect with 7 boys?

I just would like to thank my children for keeping this week un-boring! Yes, un-boring!

There are so many other things like filling the washer with crayons and toys and blankets while I was in between loads. Putting real rocks in the fish tank so Hiccup the froggie would dance. I just think to myself after synchronized swimming is over and the Olympics are over, and Nathan stops traveling, maybe just maybe my kids will get back to normal. But what is normal? I guess that will be another post...definitely for another week!

Music Monday #4

Today we made horns. Some call these kazoos but I have another way to make kazoos, ah another week.

This is what you need...
Wax paper, Construction paper, glue, tape, something sharp (wooden skewer) rubber bands, scissors, and of couple toilet paper tubes.

Let's construct...
First you cute the construction paper the width of the tubes. Then you glue the paper to the tube. For extra hold tape the seam of the construction paper to the tube.

This is Lucas making sure we did a good job. :) Crazy boy!

Then you poke holes into the tubes, so you can change the sound later. Like a horn.

After that cut the wax paper into a square, and put on the top of the tube. wrap a rubber band around the top and you have a horn! Blow into it for a tooting good time.Here is the finished product. This project was very easy and practically no mess. Lucas enjoyed the cutting the most. I recommend this to anyone with a toddler running around their house. Happy Monday!

Rumors

The rumors are true.
I am pregnant again!
We couldn't be happier.
Witte #3 is due March 16th, 09.
What does this mean?
10 more weeks till we find out the gender! Aaah!

There it is--------->
The baby in my tummy.
Lucas's baby doesn't photograph well.
(he thinks there is one in him too)

Luckily for me, my baby hasn't started to kick yet. Lucas's baby is already giving his ribs problems, he keeps complaining about the "bebe kickin."