12

12 is the number of cans of pop the 3 boys emptied all over the twins bedroom.  Yes, all over: walls, beds, floors, ceilings.

I was having such a great day.  I had just made bread.  The kids were all playing nicely (HA) downstairs.  Although, they had all just come up, changed, and ran back downstairs.  This should have tipped me off.  Instead, I carried on.  Cleaned up the kitchen and was heading downstairs to change the laundry over and get some items from the storage room to replenish those that I had just emptied while baking.  On the way to the storage room, I noticed the 4 cans of pop laying on the floor of the twins bedroom.  On inspection, the pop was everywhere.  I attempted to remain calm and not scream at the kids whilst expressing my current level of disapproval.  Ug.

I began to clean things up.  I figured I should get it done before it dried in and had things begin to stick to it. The floor would have to be cleaned, so I called my mom to see if she had a carpet cleaner.  She was kind enough to rent one for me as the baby was sleeping.  I started in on the walls and moved my way around the room, working my way from top to bottom.  Once I reached the kids beds and started cleaning them, I noticed the 8 cans of pop hidden in one of the shelves in their captains beds.  Ug.  12.  12 cans of pop emptied all over their room.

When my mom came to deliver the floor cleaner and suggested she take the boys until dinner time, she could barely contain her smirk.  In fact it frequently escaped her lips.  There was probably a giggle as she walked out of the house towing my delinquent children with her.

On the brighter side, I had just been thinking it was time for a thorough cleaning of the twins room.  I can't get anymore thorough than removing every piece of furniture, washing the walls, and cleaning the carpet.  Oh yes, I could paint.  I had planned to paint their room this winter, I guess the time line just moved up to - now.

Do I dare repeat it - 12.  Feel my pain.

Post Script:
I am not sure that I described how the boys opened the 12 cans of pop.  Usually this would be a difficult task; however, when you are as creative as my kids are then a solution is quickly found.  Alas, they opened all 12 cans with a hammer.  Yes, a hammer.
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At a family dinner a week later, I was retelling this story to a room full of 15+ people.  My mom was invovled in the retelling and it turns out the events did not end with the kids being shoed out the door with my mother giggling under her breath. 

Upon arrival at my parents house, my dad sat the boys in a row on the couch and tried to discover the instigator.  He asked each one who started the the "pop smash": twin1 and twin2 unanimously replied 'the toddler', the toddler quickly replied 'the baby'.  On questioning him about the ability of the baby to even open the storage room door, the toddler started to rethink his accusation.  My mother said, "You could see the wheels turning."  After a few moments the toddler responded, "Nan!" That was the end of that.  No instigator was discovered.  They were all in cahoots.

A few days later, while my mother was telling my sister the story with the addition of the accusations, my sister pointed out that it was Nan who started it all.  ???  The night before the "pop smash" we had our weekly family dinner at my parent's house.  After dinner, my mom pulled out a bag of hazelnuts that she had unearthed from her freezer during a recent defrost session.  She proceeded to get out a sturdy cutting board and a hammer and showed the three boys how to open the hazelnuts with the hammer.  It turns out, my mother caused the entire incident.  Hmmm.

The Girl Loves Music

This little girl is cutting 6 teeth at the moment.  She is wonderfully pleasant, but desires to nurse every 2 hours.  Understandable considering the state of her mouth.

Assisted Wallking

She has finally decided to take some measure towards walking and will walk assisted if forced.  She can, however, go up and down the stairs all on her own.  Oh, and I did immediately remove the marble from her mouth.  And the toddler was okay.

Relaxed Lunch

This is not normal for our house.  All meals, snacks are eaten at the table.  But, he just finished a stressful situation with his brothers and needed some down time.  So, while his brothers remained downstairs building Lego, he vegged and sandwiched on the couch. 

Never, ever, ever, wash and DRY a diaper!

Last week was a busy week.  Busier than normal.  The floor was installed Wednesday and we had to be out of the house the entire day.  So, with my mom's house as our hub, we went Hazelnut picking in the morning and to our swim lessons in the afternoon.  We arrived at our house after dinner.  The floor is gorgeous.  Thursday morning was more relaxed, for the kids. I had an entire house to clean for my first home school co-op on Friday and then a large Turkey dinner on Sunday.  The morning cleaning extravaganza was followed by our first choir practice - which reminds me of some songs that we are supposed to be learning and aren't.  oops.  Thursday night, I was informed by our contractor that his subordinate would be at the house the following day to trim.  WHAT!  My husband kindly let them know there would be 30 people running around the house.  They chose to hold off a day.  Phew.  Friday saw 17 kids and 5 moms gather in the house for "show-and-tell" and drama.  We had a blast.  The kids were great.  Surprisingly little mess was made.  These kids prefer to be outside when possible.  Ya.  Saturday was spent cooking and preparing for the 16 person Turkey dinner.  And Sunday was the event, which was our least stressful large gathering dinner to date.

During the co-op I received a call from my husband.  I assumed he was calling to see how the house and I were holding up with all the people.  I said that things were great and the builders had decided not to show, so some of the stress was relieved.  He was happy to hear that.  He then suggested that I may want to rewash the last of the 5 loads of laundry that I had washed the previous day and had left in the dryer because I had accidentally washed and dried a diaper with it.  Um, okay.  And, yick.  That was the end of that conversation.  After all the kids left, I headed down stairs to rewash the clothes.  As soon as I opened the laundry room door I knew I had a problem.  The urine stench was over powering.  I rewashed the clothes, opened the window and left the dryer door open,  This did not help.  When the washer beeped done, the smell was still there.  I took a closer look and the dryer was coated with urine diaper glue.  Ick.  Not wanting to deal with it yet, I closed the door and left.  This is how I problem solve.  I have to walk away from the problem and ponder the situation.  When my husband arrived home from his 3 day leadership course that night, he said that he had to quickly get his clothes off.  Ahhhh.  Ick, again.  He irons his clothes in the dryer and ended up smelling like urine the entire day, confined in a room with 11 people, learning about leadership.  Oops. 

A few days ago, I was telling ,my sister, who just had a new baby, to never, ever dry a diaper.  She burst out laughing when I told her about my husband's predicament and said, "Follow me, I smell like pee!"  Sorry, babe.

PS.  A smearing of Pink Solution, a wipe down, and then a drying with a very wet blanket washed in pink solution solved the dryer smell problem.

Bath Time

 

This doesn't happen any more.  The bath is too small.  The kids are too big.  Usually I divide and conquer: littles first, twins second.  But I figured I had to get at least one picture of all four of them in there together.

The Reno

 

This is my new favorite place in the house.  I enter the kitchen and my face lights up.  It is truly Luxurious to have all this space.  The kids are no longer under foot when we eat or I am cooking.  The frustrations are limited because I am not tripping over them.  My parents had a few spare lounge chairs that they let us have and there is nothing better than getting a few minutes in the afternoon sun, drinking tea, and reading a book with one of the kids.  The baby can now see me when I am cooking and happily eats her meal/snack.  The shoes are no longer all over the entry and the dirt is contained a bit better.  There is some major progress happening today as the builders are here all day.  Should be fun.

Hazelnut Picking

 

This was our first ever hazelnut picking.  We had no idea what to expect.  It turns out there are no ladders involved.  You just pick them off the ground.  In half an hour we picked 8.5 lbs and had a great time.  We had a taste test in the store and bought some Hazelnut Honey - oh, my - Yum.  We got them home, cleaned them, and partially dried them in the oven.  Now they are hanging in nylons on my bedroom door.  We will do this again next year.  The kids love having a bowl of nuts on the counter.  They sit at the bar while I cook, crack nuts, and we talk.  I really do love having my kids home with me.

Mom

The wonderful person who offered us a camera.  Now there will be some colour to this blog again.  Thank you.

Numbers

3 meals prepared
2 snacks
5 loads of laundry washed and put away
8 cups/bottles of pseudo-milk prepared
4 more cups/bottles of milk still to prepare
1 wall primed
1 table put back together, glued, and clamped
8.5 lbs of hazlenuts partially dried in the oven
8.5 lbs of hazlenuts in nylons hanging on doors drying
2 boys taken to choir practice
2 littles dancing to the singing at choir practice
4 cups of tea consumed
2 times I have sat since waking this morning (and did something for me)
1 shower I took
3 showers still to give
1 bath to prepare
5 times I nursed the baby (so I guess I sat a few more times)
2 times I have cleaned the toilet, so far
2 pizzas in the oven for dinner (fake crust, sauce, and cheese - mmm!)
1 loaf of Almond Bread I should have made today and now have to make tonight
1 wall still to finish painting before bed
1 episode of Survivor to watch and then head to bed
Sleep, still a long way away