The Final Countdown

 We are enjoying the holiday weekend, in spite of some rain (much needed) and gloominess today.  When we got back from church this morning, Derrick decided to help Carter clean up his room.  This was a huge undertaking as the K'nex, Lego, army man takeover was massive.  While cleaning off his dresser, Carter noticed his much-neglected plant sitting there and thought it looked like it could use a little extra TLC.  He brought it into the bathroom I was cleaning to give it a drink and told me, "I don't know how this plant is still alive.  I forgot I even had it.  It must not have been watered in at least a month."  (Well, I didn't tell him I've been watering it every week.)  I guess he felt sorry for it because then he and Reese both proceeded to think up all the ways they could help it grow better.  She also wanted to water it, then she came downstairs asking for flashlights so they could stand there with flashlights shining on it because it was a cloudy day today and  according to him, "It is a desert plant and needs extra warmth."  The final act of kindness they showed to the plant was to turn the radio on so it could have music to listen to.  I am guessing it will be forgotten now for another month or two...or it will be dead tomorrow from all the watering.

I was out running some errands with Reese on Thursday and she was having a really good day because she was able to recite all of Psalm 23, which we've been practicing all summer.  So of course, she got a new Beanie Baby as a reward. At one store, however, she scratched her leg on the shopping cart.  It was NOT bleeding, but it was a huge deal to her.  She then told me, very dejectedly, "Well, this was going to be the best day ever."

Carter practiced some baseball yesterday

This morning when we were getting dressed for church, Reese commented to me "Mama, you take the baby with you wherever you go."  I replied, "Yes.  How does he look for church this morning?"  She answered right back without skipping a beat, "Not good!  He's NAKED!!"

It's now 27 days and counting till the due date of baby #4.  The anticipation (and anxiety) is growing daily....and so is my to-do list!

Odds & Ends

Reese ate about 5 bites of her breakfast this morning and then stopped eating.  When I asked her why she wasn't eating, she told me, "My arms are too tired."  Makes total sense, right??

I was in the middle of talking to the pediatrician and two different pharmacies the other night, while also trying to get Carter ready for soccer practice.  He had a tick bite and we needed to get antibiotics for it that apparently not all pharmacies carry.  In the few minutes I was not paying close attention to her, Sienna dug through the diaper bag and found the super thick and gunky SPF 60 sunscreen I had tucked in a pocket and squeezed about half of the tube out all over her arms and all over her toy car that she rides around the house.  You can imagine my reaction when I hung up the phone to see her, arms completely white and the whole front of her car nicely sun-screened as well.

Sienna is really cute at bedtime now...every night she wants a hug and kiss from each member of the family.  She always gives Carter an extra big smooch on the lips...it's the sweetest thing ever.

Both of the kids have been eager to pray at dinner for the last few nights.  They do the typical thank you for our day and for our food, then both of them have been saying, "And thank you that we are getting a new puppy."  I feel bad...I mean this isn't the ideal time to be getting a puppy.  Isn't it enough they are getting a new baby brother in a few weeks??

Faithful friend...

Yesterday we said a tearful farewell to a faithful friend...our poor doggy Radar fought a difficult battle with cancer this summer and we had to make the most difficult decision to let her go yesterday.  I've never really considered myself to be a "dog person"...I've always much preferred the more maintenance free independent nature of cats, especially once kids came into the picture.  But as I was driving her to the vet yesterday, with tears streaming down my face, and as I had to give her one last loving pat on the head and walk out the door, I think I realized, I have also become a dog person.  Ten years of living with her, and now not having her around anymore has left a huge empty spot in our lives.

She was the most energetic and full-of-life dog a person could find...extremely friendly (sometimes to a fault), loyal, patient putting up with the three crazy kids who gradually invaded our once quiet home....

 Radar was a big part of our lives for the past 10 years and will be missed greatly in the days to come...

Kids gone crazy

My level of exhaustion has be ratcheted up to a whole new level in the past week, thanks (or no thanks) to my three little "angels".  I am not sure if the impending arrival of a new brother has them all on high-alert...it seems that they are pulling out all the stops trying to make me regret the decision to have a fourth child, before the baby even arrives.

I had one of those "you know your kids are home schooled when..." moments the other day at the playground when Carter yelled over to me, "Mama, my mandible is still really sore."  He'd bumped his jaw on the top of Reese's head the night before.

They were enjoying watching the baby moving around in my stomach last night.  Carter peeked under my shirt at my stomach and said, "Is that the baby's eyeball?"  pointing to my belly button.

Sienna nearly sent me into labor this afternoon.  I was in the kitchen trying desperately to get something started for dinner, when Carter screamed a blood-curdling scream from upstairs.  I hoofed it up the steps in a very non-pregnant manner and ran in to Sienna's room.  There I found her, sitting in the pulled-out top drawer of her dresser.  She must have climbed up on the chair, and pulled off the cushion, then up onto the dresser, pulled out the drawer and climbed right in.  While on top of the dresser, she took her board off the wall that holds all of her hair barrettes...that was on the floor with all the barrettes removed.  Most of the articles from the top drawer she was sitting in were on the floor.  The room was a huge disaster!  While I was trying to get it cleaned up, she was sitting on top of the changing table and stuck her pacifier in her mouth...just to make me laugh.  Then when I took her down she gathered up all of her soft headbands and put all of them on her head at the same time.  This kid is so going to give me a heart attack one of these days.

Sporting all 5 of her headbands

So I have to make a little "book brag"....I FINALLY finished a book I have been reading almost all year.  It's pathetic really, because it's not even a very long book, but I'd been reading it every time I went to a Dr. appointment, and since I had 4 this week, I really got through the last part quickly.  The book was Killing Jesus by Bill O'Reilly and it was one of the more difficult books I have ever tried to read.  Absolutely fascinating, but the subject matter was so weighty throughout the story.  It gave me a whole new perspective on the life and death of Jesus and brought His life, to life for me in a whole new way.  Derrick and I also were able to see the Omnimax film Jerusalem  back in July, so seeing that and reading this book really have given me so much to think about in these past few months.  I guess if I had to jot down my main "takeaways" from the book, I would note these things:

1.  Seeing the stark contrast of Jesus' life in comparison with the corruption and utter chaos that existed within the government and church at that time was so eye-opening.
2.  I never realized how oppressive it was for the majority of people who were living in Israel in those days, who were taxed so heavily and trying to abide by all of the religious and political "rules".
3.  At the conclusion of the book it lists the grisly deaths of each of the apostles.  (with the exception of John) Not only did Jesus suffer an unimaginable death on our behalf, but it was both eye-opening and extremely sad to see the fate of each of the apostles.  They were that convinced of what they saw that they were willing to die gruesome deaths just to proclaim it to the world.
4.  I cannot think of a more inhumane method of execution that crucifixion after reading this book.  The extreme punishment Jesus underwent before he even got to the crucifixion was chilling.  To think He could easily have denied the claims, or used His supernatural powers to exit the scene at any time, but didn't, is just unfathomable to me.

There were so many thoughts running through my mind as I read this book, but the main thing I cannot shake is the depth of His love for humankind, and the extent He was willing to go to save us.  This world is full of so many shallow distractions, so many things that compete for our time and our allegiance and our money and our love.  Reading this story just affirms to me again that I want my focus to be on Jesus.  An image of walking on a tightrope comes to mind.  You don't want to look off to the right or left for fear of being distracted and falling off.  So you look dead ahead, keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep your eyes focused on the end of the line, where Jesus awaits.

Pirates and Potty Time

 We've had a busy couple of days....which at this point is silly to say...when is it not busy at our house!?  Carter and Derrick went to a Pirates game last night.  Even though they got crushed, Carter still enjoyed it.  He was talking about it all day today and carrying his baseball around with him everywhere he went.

 The kids did not let the pouring rain keep them indoors this morning.  As soon as breakfast was over they were all screaming to go out.  So me, being the good mother that I am, said, "OK, have fun!"  And they did...I enjoyed watching them from inside the nice DRY house.

Sienna was having one of her normal "candy tantrums" tonight and Derrick tried a new tactic...he told her she could have candy if she peed on the potty.  And wouldn't you know it, she did!  She was so proud, she came into the other room where I was sitting and said very clearly, "Mama, me peed!"

Just another quiet Monday morning...

I look forward to Mondays...I feel like we get back into a sort-of-routine and every once in a while, the kids all decide to sleep in on a Monday morning and give me a few quiet minutes alone.  But not today...

Sienna was up right at 7 am and was ready to go, full tilt and full volume!  She was screaming for candy and screaming to watch this little nursery rhyme video on YouTube (Hickory Dickory Dock) that she's completely obsessed with. (thank you Derrick)  Different animals walk up the clock, and she loves it when an Elephant walks up the clock at the end and smashes the clock.  So she's always over at the computer, banging on the keys, demanding to see "el-fant".  She becomes quite irate within seconds if her request is not met.  So if any of you receive a weird email from me, it may actually be that Sienna sent it in one of her temper tantrums when she was demanding "El-Fant!!"

What's funny is that she had this elephant stuffed animal, and I was trying to clean out everyone's rooms this weekend and put it in a bag for the thrift store.  She saw it and pulled it out last night and insisted that it was not an elephant, but a "piggy".  We told her, no it was an elephant, and she said, "No, PIGGY!"

As I was trying to get breakfast ready this morning, then with all three kids awake, since Sienna's screaming woke everyone up, Sienna thought it would be great to, one-by-one carry in all of the kids Beanie Babies and put them on top of the kitchen table.  Let's just say there wasn't much room to fit a plate or cup once she had all of them piled up there.

After we successfully managed to eat our breakfast amidst the Beanie Baby jungle, the kids went upstairs to play in Carter's room while I cleaned up.  They were up there and pretty quiet for about 3 minutes when he screamed down, "Sienna spilled juice ALL over my bed!!"  Sigh...the one morning I actually gave her juice and this is how she thanks me.  Well, it wouldn't have seemed like a normal day without at least one load of laundry anyway, right?

After breakfast was put away, Carter's bed was stripped and the laundry was in, we ventured out to the playground and library.  I couldn't help but notice something different when we entered the Children's Department and Sienna very enthusiastically ran over to the fish tank.  There is now a child safety lock on the front of the cabinet under the fish tank that had previously not been there.  Hmmmm, I can't help but think back to our visit a couple of weeks ago when Sienna had opened this cabinet and was running around the library with a can of fish food.  Maybe that little incident spurred them to put the lock on?

The kids enjoyed another tour of the WPXI News Station and Weather Center tonight.  They did a great job listening and enjoyed seeing themselves on TV!

Kennywood Day

We enjoyed our annual free Kennywood day, courtesy of Derrick's work yesterday.  It was a cool and comfortable day to be there and the kids had a blast.  It was fun to see Sienna participating in so many of the rides this year...hard to believe when we were there last year she wasn't even able to walk yet!  How time flies!!












The older kids enjoyed doing some of the wooden roller coasters with Derrick to start off the day.  Carter is now tall enough to ride almost all of the rides...not that he wants to just yet.  Derrick has officially declared that next year (when I am NOT pregnant), I will be riding all the spinning rides with the kids and he will happily sit them out.  Turns out riding 10 consecutive rides that spin around and around isn't all that great when you are in your 30's. Sigh...old age is kicking in!


Last night when the kids were getting ready for bed, I told them to wear warmer clothes since it got so chilly.  They were both shivering when they were brushing their teeth so I told them to change.  Carter went into his room and changed his shirt and came back out and said, "I'll be warm now because this shirt is BLACK!"  I had to laugh at that and then explain to him that black is only a warmer color when the sun is shining on it.  Oh well, he had the right idea I guess.

Candy Crush

So I dragged up all the baby stuff over the weekend to be washed, the car seat, the swing, burp cloths, etc. Sienna was so enamored by it all and had to test it all out on her baby dolls right away.  She wanted her baby doll buckled into the car seat, which was a little eerie to think in a few weeks there will be a real baby in there!  The older kids were in the basement and it really caught them off-guard to come upstairs and see the car seat out with a baby in it.  For that first split second, I'm pretty sure they thought it was real.

Sienna's candy craze has me on edge these days.  If anyone forgets to close the pantry, it's like an instant magnet for her and the only thing that will make her happy is to actually eat candy.  Of course I do not allow this to happen whenever she wants it, which means we've sometimes been having 6 or 7 meltdowns a day due to her refusal to eat anything but candy and my refusal to give her any.  Most parents use their child safety devices on steps or cabinets containing chemicals or doorknobs leading outside.  I'm saving up mine for the pantry.  Me the tired mom...thinking to self, "Look how fun it is, Sienna, to walk up and down these steps. Oh, and look at all the pretty bottles under the sink, you could play with those.  Please, just forget about the candy....PLEASE!!"

Derrick said the other night, and it's totally true, that Sienna is going to be the most enthusiastic trick-or-treater in the neighborhood this year.  Imagine her delight when she realizes that everyone in the neighborhood is handing out candy...for her.  She will be in absolute heaven!

Little Sluggers and Ninja Warriors

The kids enjoyed their last day of Home School Baseball today.  I have to say, for playing a summer sport, they really lucked out with how cool most of the practices were.  It was almost chilly out there today!  Derrick was practicing pitching to Reese all week and gave her the challenge of hitting a ball in the air today.  Reese was so proud when she finally hit a pitched ball today for the first time rather than using the tee. She didn't want to ride that wave too long though and promptly quit playing as soon as she made it around the bases.  Sigh...ahhh Reese my little overachiever! Carter also hit a couple of really good ones way out into the grass.

All three kids were extra energetic this afternoon and evening (Read as obnoxiously loud and over-the-top craziness!)  I am pretty sure their screaming was violating our neighborhood noise ordinance.  I finally had more than I could take and told Carter and Reese they should go outside and run up and down the hill 20 times like they were completing an American Ninja Warrior obstacle.  (They love that show!)  I was totally joking but the funny thing was, they actually put their shoes on and went out and did it!  Well, maybe that's not quite accurate.  Reese ran up and down about 3 times before she started walking up, then going halfway up, then a quarter of the way up, then just running in a circle at the bottom of the hill.  Carter was counting each time up as 1 time and each time down as another...I heard him counting 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20.  Ooops, think you missed a few, buddy!  Then they went into the garage and got umbrellas and made a "hideout" on the hillside, boldly proclaiming that they wanted to stay out there all night.  Then 2 minutes later they all wanted a lollipop.  Then it started to drizzle three minutes later and all of them came running back inside.

Fountain Fun

Since warm days are getting harder and harder to find this summer, we decided to take the kids over to Station Square after church today to enjoy some fun in the fountains.  They really liked it a lot.  We even got to see a train zipping by, which they all thought was pretty neat.  I was joking about it with Derrick...how we spent one of our first dates down there eating and watching the fountains, and how different it is now, going with 3 kids and me pregnant with #4.  Ahhhh, the difference 10 years makes.

 There were tons of Pirate fans there this morning since there was a 1 o'clock game today.  We told the kids they were waiting for the boat to take them across to the stadium and Carter piped in, "The GOAT is taking them to the stadium???"  Seriously Carter, think about this for a second or two and you will realize how ridiculous that statement is.  hehehe

The train approaches!

Car Wash

This afternoon, while Derrick tried to tackle the formidable task of cleaning up the garage, I thought I'd keep the kids entertained by washing the cars together.  I remember helping my Dad wash the cars when I was a kid.  I am sure my memories of it are so dimmed and juvenile that I thought I was helping a lot more than I really was.  But I certainly underestimated the amount of messiness the kids would cause doing what I thought was a fairly straightforward task.

First of all, I think whatever dirt was actually removed from the cars was only transferred to Carter and Reese.  They were BLACK when all was finished.  I thought washing the cars was supposed to be a clean undertaking, but apparently not.  I should have just ditched the sponges and let them use their clothes to wash the cars.  Carter only wanted to spray with the hose, so he kept spraying over and over again, but somehow managed to miss all the areas that Reese was soaping up, and also managed to give Reese and I both nice showers.  Reese was only washing the bottom half of the car and only did one side before she wanted to move on to cleaning the tires.  Reese's method of using the sponge was to dunk it in the soapy water and throw it at the car so it left a big soapy splat mark.  Carter would get his sponge nice and soapy and then carry it right over Reese so it dripped all over her head.  The front of the van was washed and sprayed and washed and sprayed 4 times, but the rest of it was left untouched.  I think the cars may have actually been in worse shape after the washing than they were before.

Then I started trying to dry the car, and Reese took a sponge to it and Carter sprayed it again with the hose.  Well, I supposed this is just paybacks for the ways I "helped" my parents when I was a kid.  Next time I may just wash the cars after they go to bed though!

Growth Spurt...

 So I need to give a little shout-out to Derrick's always-masterfully planned garden.  We are in the peak of garden season here at the "Berad Homestead."  Unfortunately the cooler summer this year has totally stunted our tomatoes!!!  In spite of planting 40 tomato plants this year we are getting almost no harvest, much to our dismay.  I give so much credit to farmers who stake their livelihood on their crops, never knowing what the yield will be.  Even just having a suburban backyard garden is a ton of work (mostly Derrick these days).

It's exciting to look out the window each morning and see what has grown and ripened overnight.  The sunflowers have really sprung up fast, we have some massive lima beans growing on the deck, and I've been trying some new recipes lately that have turned out pretty well.   I made this Kohlrabi Slaw last night...this Parmesan Lemon Zucchini a couple days ago and this Quinoa Enchilada Casserole last weekend....YUM!

 Speaking of growing...I feel like I blink and the kids have sprouted up another inch overnight.  They are getting too big, too fast.  And, oh goodness, there is another one coming in about 50 more days, hopefully give a few.

Tonight the kids were playing with a box of little figurines and critters Derrick saved from when he was a kid.  Carter ran into the room with one, a figure of an Indian, and asked us, "What is this guy called again, a Minion?"

Look at the Kale!!!