I learn something new EVERY day...

Did you know that permanent marker isn't permanent on everything?  I just found this out last week.  As you can see from the picture above, our sweet little Pete took his creative inspiration to a whole new level.  I wish this was a better picture.  It was taken after I scrubbed the black permanent ink from my son's face. As I surveyed the damage, I thought that I better grab the camera and take a shot because if we both survived the morning, it may be funny.... someday.  

Here's how the story goes....

Peter was waking up very early last week.  So, on Monday night Aaron and I decided on a plan to teach our 2 year old to keep to himself in the morning and let everyone else get a little more sleep.  Luke was sick and was sleeping on our floor.  At 5:07 am a sweet little boy came to my bedside.  I worked our plan.  I took Peter back to his room and told him to play quietly and I'd be back for him after 6am.  We knew he'd fight this.  I crawled back in bed, ready for our next move...which was going to be closing his door.  But, I heard him pull out a bucket of cars and I drifted back to sleep.  

Around 5:45am Peter came back and asked for some water.  Hardly opening my eyes, I got out of bed, stumbled downstairs, got the drink and headed back upstairs.  I thought it was odd that the kitchen light was on and one of the drawers open, but just figured Aaron had been up in the night.  Then, as I approached the boys room, the unmistakable smell hit me.....PERMANENT MARKER!  I rounded the corner to find Peter covered in marker...he colored his face, chest, both arms, legs, feet, and even his back (how'd he do that?)  Then, I looked around and saw that he had colored on both beds, both sheet sets, both duvet covers, many book covers, and the worst of the worst....the carpet.   I'll spare you the details of the discipline and skip to the part where I started Googling....how to remove permanent marker?  I found that rubbing alcohol is actually pretty amazing.  After about a total of 4-5 hours of cleaning I had saved the beds, book covers, and the duvets.  I declared the sheets a lost cause and the ink on the carpet is faded, but still a work in progress. 

That evening, I asked Peter where he got the pen?  He told me from the back of the kitchen drawer.   Then I asked him why he had drawn on the beds, etc.  He said, "I can't find paper, momma."  Oh my...a little scrap paper may have saved me a whole lot of time that day.  What a brave boy to go downstairs in the dark and dig up a pen for a little art time in his room.  

At the end of the day, once I wasn't so mad, I made the comment to Aaron that it's just "stuff."   He knew it was naughty, but no one got hurt.  I am so thankful that Luke's quilt that Mema made was in the wash that day.  And I have the permanent markers under lock-and-key these days.  

I was also reminded that as a child, I colored on the wall with a purple crayon, and when my mom said, "what are we going to do about that?" I offered to color the rest of the wall to match.  So, here I am...raising a little boy who is a whole lot like me...a little boy who thinks everything looks a little better with his mark on it.  Let's just stick to crayons!

You just never know what you're gonna find...

Tonight, I went to check on the boys before heading to bed, and this is how I found Peter.....

We just never know what we'll find when we go in to check him after he's fallen asleep.  Usually we just find him cuddled up with his favorite car, monster truck, sporting equipment, etc.  But this is just one of those treasures that made me laugh out loud.  

Below is a picture of how we found him one night last summer after putting him to bed at the cabin.  Apparently safety while sleeping is a big concern for Peter.  

The last few weeks

Here are a few pictures...

Luke is such a sweet big brother and takes his roll very seriously.  I love how you can see Natalie smiling back at him.

Nothing says, "Happy St. Patrick's Day" like this hat...

It's a whole new world.  Natalie is crawling all over the place and getting up on her knees.  She loves to look outside at the birds, and at her reflection in the window.

Aren't they cute together????

Little miss Natty-pants is 8 months old....

Natalie is growing and changing right before our eyes. What a JOY she is all of the time. Aaron and I were just commenting that we can't remember having a "bad" day with her. There are moments when she is tired or hungry, but in general she is a very content and happy little girl.

She is 8 months old and we are soaking up every moment of her babyhood. All too soon she'll be toddling along and not content to just sit in my lap. The past month has been a month of "firsts." Natalie got her first tooth, was sick for the first time, and has started "crawling." It's an army crawl, but she can scoot around the playroom with speed...which is driving the boys a little crazy.

Here are few pictures of our baby girl.

8 months old and sweet as can be.

Natalie is a great eater.

When Natalie doesn't want to eat she clinches her eyes shut and scrunches her nose and pretends we don't exist.  It's so funny.

Farewell February....

The updates infrequent and the picture have been few...February was not our best month. We spent virtually the entire month of February trying to get well. It seemed like someone was sick all of the time.  The boys battled bad colds, and Natalie spent the entire month trying to beat a double ear-infection...we're actually still working on that one.   But, I must say that our kids are troopers.  Despite nasty ears, sore throats, and runny noses they were happy! Here's a few funny moments...

• One day Aaron made lunch for the boys.   Luke took one look at the plate and said, "THIS ISN'T WHAT I ORDERED!"  Ummm.... sorry buddy, this isn't a short-order kitchen.

• Peter has taken to calling skunks, STUNKS...which actually seems very fitting.

Here are a few pictures of the boys and what they've been up to.  

Peter continues to love anything and everything that moves...monster trucks, cars, motorcycles, fire engines, tractors, diggers, and especially his own bike.  He is such a great independent player and has a HUGE imagination.  I love to listen to him putting his cars in time-out, racing them around, putting them to bed, giving them snacks and I cracked up the other day as I overheard him "spankin" his basketball.  Peter plays with cars and sporting equipment in much of the same way I imagine little girls play with their dolls.   He's got a great sense of humor and is constantly trying to tell us jokes.  

Peter loves playing with his sister.  Aaron and I are constantly saying, "be gentle." And, most of the time he is.  As you can see, she adores him too.

Making funny faces.

I know I used this picture in the last post, but it shows what Luke has been spending a lot of time doing.  Luke can most often be found playing with his legos or drawing pictures and writing words.  What a smart and creative boy he is. He makes amazing contraptions with legos and his drawings are priceless right now. I'll have to scan a few for a future posting.   He's going to be playing T-ball this Spring too.  

As you can see, Natalie adores her brothers.  What a lucky girl she is to have 2 personal entertainers!

This Luke's tie.  For MONTHS he's been begging me for a tie.  I finally found one at the consignment shop for $3....worth EVERY penny.  He's thrilled with it and loves that he can look like Daddy when we go to church.  I have to say, it's pretty adorable.  Too bad I couldn't snap a picture when the shirt was still tucked in.