Anthony's Antics

This picture was from a month or so ago.  Anthony is a very messy eater and usually gets food in his hair, hence the wild and crazy look after the wipe-down.

You know how babies/toddlers get fixated on one cabinet/drawer/hidey-hole for a while?  And just when you can't take it anymore they move on to the next latest and greatest spot?  I thought I would document a few of them. 

Ready to go fishin'!

For a while Anthony was fixated on the cabinet with my bakeware, and every day I would have to pick up all the cake pans, cupcake tins, cooling racks, etc.   Again and again.  Or risk breaking my neck every time I tried to cook dinner.

Got my specs on!

Then he moved on to the lazy Susan cabinet, which was bad, because he was getting out heavy stuff, like waffle irons.  And one day, he got out a giant container of lemonade mix and somehow managed to get the lid off and then he dumped it on the floor.  Luckily there was not much left in the container.   But there was also the problem of pinched fingers.  Ouch!  So to solve that problem I stuck a 25 pound bag of rice in front of the cabinet.  It doesn't do much for the home decor, but at least it keeps him out of there! 

First time in the sandbox.

Another thing he liked to do for a while was get into the Master closet and pull off any T-shirt type shirts that were hanging on the bottom row.  Every time I went in there I would find 20-30 shirts in a heap on the floor.  Finally I got better at keeping the door shut and he forgot about that one.  For now, anyway.

Hey, what is this stuff and why haven't I gotten to play in it before?

Of course, he loves to get into the bathrooms when somebody leaves the doors open and pull stuff out of the cabinets, spin the toilet paper off the roll, mess with the plunger or the trash.  You name it.  One day, I let him be with me in my bathroom as I was putting on some make-up.  I saw him pull some stuff out of the cabinet, including a huge brand-new refill bottle of liquid soap.  Next thing I know, I hear a glug-glug-glug noise and I looked to see the bottle of liquid soap lying on its side, lid off, with soap spilling out onto the floor.  Ack!  Good thing I was there! 

I think he likes it.

Then there are the multiple drawers in the kitchen.  Most of them are rubber-banded together, after the bread got stomped on, and he cut himself on the saran wrap sharp edge.  However, there are still the drawers of the desk, where I keep scrap paper, scrap envelopes, stencils and miscellaneous pencils and such for the kids.  That often ends up spread all over the floor.  As does the basket of shoes, the basket of hats and sunglasses, and the refrigerator magnets.

Anthony loves being outside with Daddy.

Now he is fixated on the trash can and he loves to throw things in there.  Or get things out.  Ick!  This also includes his diaper pail, which I had to move into the closet.  I did not want to dig things out of there!  So now I am paranoid that something important is going to get thrown into the trash.  Like yesterday when Dan could not find the keys to the truck! (He found them, no digging in trash can required.)

He loves to play with this yellow ball.  Or the soccer ball, the basketball, the football, the tennis ball... You get the idea.

Last of all, he currently likes to throw things.  Like hard toys and books at your head!  Another thing he likes to do, which is funny, is climb onto someone lying on the floor and sit on them.  Then he bounces up and down, whether it be on your stomach or your head, all the while saying, "Aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa."

Time to get cleaned up after a hard day's play!

Now you know why Dan did not start any plants from seeds inside this year!

A Hairy, Scary Tale

When four kids are armed with scissors, and Mom finds a chunk of hair on the floor, her heart skips a beat, and she gasps, "Who cut their hair?!"

No one answers, so Mom looks at the kid closest to the hair, which happens to be Dominic. A guilty look spreads across his face, so Mom inspects his hair, and sure enough, there on the top, right in the front, is a mostly bald spot.

Hmm, I think a haircut is in someone's future. A very short haircut.

Wild Kingdom, The Country Version

Last Saturday afternoon, when we were in Victoria, we were in the backyard playing with the kids, and Dan decided he wanted to take the kids over to see this old windmill we could hear eerily creaking in the wind. Luckily, I decided to go along because boy, did we have a little adventure.

We set off from the backyard, went across the neighbor's backyard and all the way to the back to a barbwire fence. Dan told us that he and his brothers used to go that way all the time when he was a kid to get back to the family farm land. Dan held up the barbwire and the kids stooped under it, then he and I carefully held it down and stepped over. Then we were confronted by a maze of the wildest, wickedest thorn trees I've ever seen. The trees were short so there were thorns everywhere. These thorns were 2-3 inches long, and in fact Dan's brother had used some of the thorny branches to make a crown of thorns, which I had previously seen and marvelled at. Between all the thorns and the poop all over the ground, we picked our way through the obstacle course.

As we started walking through a wooded area, we saw a deer run by a ways off, followed shortly after by another deer. The kids were able to see them and got all excited. We made our way down a steep hill to the creek and found a way across. Then we walked on a level path for a while and were just starting up a very steep hill when we heard a thud, thud, thud, thud. We looked up and there about 20 feet above our heads were 2 enormous horses that had just come to a stop at the top of the hill. Needless to say we were a bit surprised and Dan said hurry, go back.

We quickly walked back towards the creek and went to a different section to get across. Before we could find our way across, Dan spotted a squirrel on the other side. It was on its back with its 2 front paws still clutching onto the small branch that had evidently recently broken off the large tree above. At first I thought it was dead, but then we could see it was breathing. (That's one way to get the wind knocked out of you!)

I glanced back down the path and there were the horses walking down after us. They didn't look mean, but when you have 4 little kids with you, it is not prudent to wait around and find out. I said, "Dan, the horses are coming." You should have seen him spring into action. He was holding Joseph already, so he grabbed Catherine and leaped across that creek quicker than you could say squirrel. Speaking of squirrels, you should have seen that squirrel come to life when Dan came leaping across the creek. The poor thing was floundering around, trying to get to its paws and run away.

So there I was with the twins, on the same side of the creek with the horses, who were moseying along in our direction. They were starting to freak out (the twins, not the horses) and I grabbed them by the arms and we jumped across the creek and scrambled up the hill.

So here they are, the wild and dangerous horses that we ran away from. Don't they look scary? :) Of course, if you only weigh 25-40 pounds, a 1000 pound horse looks pretty scary up close. And when you are the mommy and daddy of those little 25-40 pounders, those big horses look like they could do some damage if they wanted. That crevice in the middle of the picture is where the creek is located.
Here we are, safe and sound after our wildlife adventure, looking at the horses from the other side of the fence.

And now I think we'll go relax in the Club House.

And no, we never did make it to that windmill, which continued eerily creaking in the wind!