3 ring circus

it happens every evening.

i scramble to prepare a delicious meal for the fam (usually involving several options for the picky boys of mine), get it on the table, and bow our heads in thanks. and then, the table transforms to a big top circus. example:

in the center ring: the oldest. oh that maxer, love love love him. he, however, loves very few foods. we always insist that he try whatever brad and i are having, then feed him one of the comfort foods we know he will eat. like a hotdog. yum. at this particular meal, i had made some beautiful jello salad with cool whip on top. as maxer adores the cool whip portion, i served him up a lot of whip and a little salad. forced to try the orange jello, he brought it to his lips and instantly burst into fake tears/whines. "the jello just broke my heart" he cried. oh drama. mind you, he was gazing at his reflection in the slider door the entire time, which made the whole scene more comical. this fascination with his own reflection is something he inherited from me unfortunately, i had to change my spot at the table so i could hold actual conversations with brad instead of with myself.

allright, the sideshow: bear. the feistiest of meiste's, after bradley of course :) bear eats fast and furiously. sometimes before the prayer even gets said. then when we ask him to pray, he says, " i eating!" at the dinner i am describing, bear scarfed down his chicken and rice and proceeded to climb out of his highchair and leap to the ground. while brad and i gently asked him to thank us for preparing the meal and then ask for permission to be excused, bear repeatedly yelled "dont talk a me". imagine that little boy bod all angry and that face all scrunched with frustration. hilarious. and naughty.

the husband and i managed to consume our own meals in the midst of it all and were enjoying some conversation at the table until ayla began fussing. time to clear. the routine is that brad holds ayla while i clear. lucky baby girl gets serenaded by her dada while i take care of the table. these songs are not the normal nursery rhymes. no. they are original compositions by bradley. oh they are funny.

some of my faves:

the song in which brad describes to ayla why she is my favorite child (i really do not have a favorite, but he sings things to her just to get a rise out of me. and it works)

the song about stocks and investing. this one includes the chorus "buy on rumor, sell on news" i learned a thing or two during this song.

the frequent subject of ayla jo and her cute rolls of fat on her leggers and tum tum. presh.

so they are all basically inappropriate a little, but so funny as she cannot comprehend what daddy is saying, only that he is singing her praises. so so amusing.

thus concludes the entertainment at the table. already we are gearing up for tonights performance :)

roller

ayla is officially a roller! she has maneuvered her way from back to tummy four times now and could not be more presh. so sweet.

her first roll was in an impressive effort to attract baby luke's attention while he and his adorable mama were visiting from nashville.

aylaroo quite impressed herself in the process.

her second time was no less monumental, but i was not there to witness. i discovered her already rolled and not appreciating her arm being pinned beneath her while one her tum tum. roll number three occurred last night during grandma lampen's welcome home visit. ayla accomplished several close calls, and grandma could not bear to see her get so close without actually completing the roll. so grandma encouraged, and demonstrated, and practised. grandma was rewarded with a roll at long last. fourth roll happened this morn during our good morning jesus devotions. praising jesus in rolls. hallelujah

baby ayla jo also n currently wears size 6-9 month clothing. while my heart grieved a little putting away such cuteness, it quickly rebounded watching the different pink and lacey outfits come out of various tubs donated by dear friends to dress my darling daughter. we are on ensemble number two today just because i had to see it on her. adorable.

not to be unnoticed, the boys also provided me with such delight today. here are two quick stories that left me smiling and so thankful for the babes in my life.

while dining at the greatest restaurant known to man (mcdonalds) with my sis in law, niece, mom in law, and childrens, we caught the attention of the sweet mentally challenged employee. actually, i am sure we caught everyone's attention with the running and screaming and overall disruptions, but this particular employee is the subject of my story. while sweeping the entryway, she entertained my boys with funny faces and noises. the boys giggled while this girl acted as a puppy, and manipulated her face in an array of forms. she then gently placed her hands on maxer's head while he was checking out the toy offerings. finally, she commented on how cute ayla was while auntie amber held her. immediately following that observation, she again saw bear and told us that "he is cuter. sorry." oh we laughed. glad ayla will not remember.

i mean, bear is beyond adorable. this cannot be denied.

as we were leaving, maxer informed me he actually wanted to firetruck he saw in the mcdonalds toy case. i gently explained that we could not choose the toy and should just be very grateful that mommy sprung for a happy meal and they got any toy at all. maxer did not appreciate my answer and in an attempt to get me as upset as i had just made him, he says, "mommy. it is NOT your birthday"

ouch

i love motherhood. and now i must return to it. certain nappers are sneaking downstairs and fleeing back up them whenever i sneak a peek their way.

anxiously awaiting

the dryer is coming! the dryer is coming!

sat, the dryer gave up on clothes drying. it tumbled like a champ, but the wet clothes were just dizzy and still wet at the end of multiple cycles. thankfully, i was distracted by my awesome girls from highschool who came over from near and far to bond all together. this day of fun and food and friends still created a mound of laundry at the end. being a farmers wife and all, i assembled the drying rack directly in front of the corn stove and draped clothes all over it.

guess how well that worked? not. 24 hours later, most clothes were still damp.

over the last few days, i have discovered we are completely dependent on a dryer. we go through way more than a load of laundry a day. my room is currently an explosion of dirty clothes. there is literally laundry baskets full of clothes needing washing along every wall. eew. towels seem to be what make up most of our loads as there is lots of spilling and bathing happening on a daily basis. example: monday, kendra, katie, and ryan came over for a final farewell before kendra left us for albuquerque, new mexico. during their short stay, my boys spilled two glasses of water all over themselves and the table and the floor while dipping candy in them. well, there shirts came off, towels came out and the washer was full once again. towels take the longest to dry so i just keep rotating them around the corn stove.

i realize the ridiculousness of blogging about a dryer, but i have come to understand that the dryer is like a family member to me. typically very dependable, helpful, and warm. without it, i am lost in a maze of dirty laundry, left only with special occasion panties, and the one shirt i can manage to get dried amidst the smelly farm laundry from my husband and the little boy accident laundry from my kids that take priority over the i spilled pop on my jeans laundry of my own.

brad took us all shopping on sunday morn for a replacement. at first i was all fired up, making friends with the associates at menards, taking notes on prices and makes and recommendations. at lowes brad was tempted to take a dryer, a laptop, and whatever else struck his fancy. sears and the headache started, abc warehouse and i was faint with hunger for fast food and apathy for dryers. monday morn brad committed to fixing the broken one with parts from the three previous broken dryers still residing in the barn. there was cursing, crashing, and a new resolve to put up with abc warehouse. tuesday evening brad left with the truck to pick up the dryer we picked out at abc. he returned with a receipt from northgate and a promise of delivery today between 2-4. though i had no say in this dryer and in fact have no idea what to expect, i am eagerly awaiting northgates delivery peeps. there is a load of wet clothes in the washer, ready to be dried. and there is hope in my heart, and joy in my husband, hunting and gathering appliances for his fam.

i may have been commenting (or complaining) about the lack of clean clothes when brad calmly pointed out i would be an awful amish woman.

agreed.

bring on the maytag. or whirlpool. whatever. bring it on

winter

sometimes, i mean a lot of times, i ask myself and anyone who may be around me at the time why we live in michigan during the winter. it is cold, really cold. single digits cold. the kids all get colds. frequently. our skin gets dried out with the furnace and pellet stove producing heat. it takes approximately 3 hours to get everyone bundled and out the door for anything. driving is hazardous.

and then, we get a day like saturday.

instead of whining and complaining about winter, i stand in awe of a god who created such a beautiful season. the trees sparkle with frost. the ground glitters when snow covered. the flakes fall bringing peace and tranquility.

brad gets to play like he was designed to with his boys. ruggedly, outdoorsy, utilizing the mule and other rather frightening toys.

what a precious proud papa!

and the boys play

hard.

old toys become new again as the snow adds another dimension to our play.

look at this cuteness, a bundled bear. how precious! watching him experience winter as a two year old is such a blessing. he can hardly move, yet still manages to make his short jaunts outside magical.

thank you jesus that we live in a place that we can experience all the seasons with intensity. you are a creative, loving, awesome god and i bless you for showing us these aspects of yourself in the changing of seasons.

cereal

a momentous evening for ayla last night resulted in her initial taste of

solid (if you can call the pasty white stuff solid) food. dr lund recommended we try as the cereal provides such a beneficial amount of iron. as you may have guessed, she did not so much enjoy her meal. she spit it all back out, gagged, and then spit up her entire meal previous of breast milk.




lesson learned: do not attempt to feed her while feeding myself supper. the salad (brad's suggestion, might have something to do with a certain new year's resolution) i had prepared tasted much better without ayla's contribution of baby spit.





eew.





seriously, who looks this cute while preparing to vomit? that's my girl!!

4 month well baby check

though my sweet baby girl is closer to five months than four, we had her four month well baby check up today. and she is a well baby! hooray! her rolls are multiplying and her development is right on track. what a blessing. dr lund noted that if her eyes had not begun to change yet, they would most likely stay blue. my eyes are blue. that makes me super excited and oddly proud she got that from me. hopefully she does not inherit the sticking out neck veins as displayed in the photo below taken by maxer.

this precious little one is so protected by her big bro's that they insisted they come along to her appointment. bear continually reassured me that he is a kid and not a baby, therefore he does not need to talk to dr lund, or even look at her directly. after each procedure, bear said "not weston's turn. only aya".

max would whisper quietly to me about how good his sister was doing. "look mom, she is doing so great!" and she did.

while we were awaiting dr lund, things were a little backed up as dr lund just returned from vacay and we had a midday appt, the boys explored the handless garbage can, and played with toys all over the table. also, we took pics as the camera was left in the diaper bag since florida and was not lost. (i feel the need to declare when i do not lose things as the times when i do lose things are way to frequent. that is my new years resolution, to be more responsible and less messy. kirsten, can you come over and clean again? just kidding :))dr lund's ability to maneuver amidst the toys was impressive. ps- bear did not sprout a mole on vacation, that is a spot remaining from the chocolate santa i had smuggled in my diaper bag to distract my boys from wreaking havoc on the dr's office. it lasted until we were seated in the waiting room, then they confiscated any and all snacks and promptly scarfed them down.

ayla is seriously a delight. a wonderful baby, content and happy most of her life. we were reminded again and again how adorable and good of a baby ayla jo is while out and about in florida. she spent most of an entire week bundled up in a sling, or stroller. she would smile and coo whenever spoken too. here we are at gatorworld, feet away from real gators. here's max climbed up onto a display, directly next to a sign prohibiting such behaviour., directly above a seemingly hungry and crabby gator. thankfully, it was to cold to really get the gators moving, so he was safe. ayla is the cute pink blob strapped to my chest.

a happy new year finally at home

our past week of holidays have seemed quite surreal as we have been celebrating in florida! that is right, the meiste's loaded up the PLANE and headed to sunny (though not all that warm as florida was experiencing record cold temps. we are talking 24 degrees) florida. we were not alone on this adventure. we went to visit brads parents and the wenke's and brian meistes came as well. there were more memories made than i am able to type at this type, but rest assured these are things i desire to document and so will appear eventually.



in the meantime, here is the story of our arrival home last evening amidst the snowflakes.



the preparations for departure actually began fri evening, after spending the day soaking in the last of florida, brad ended up with the stomach flu! not even joking. i banned him to the living room, lysoled my way to putting the boys down, and began the packing process in between checkin in on the violent vomiter.



when dawn broke, brad was still pukin and the packing was not much farther along. taking advantage of having a grandma close by, i called in a breakfast order and started loading the kids up for the short drive to gma's condo across the subdivision. apparently i took to long, for grandma appeared at the door to take max for a walk to her condo. well, this left bear completely distraught. i strapped him in the strolled and strapped ayla in her sling. finally we approached the condo to see gma coming along with bear's bike. well with bikes available, no one wanted breakfast so meltdowns multiplied and timeouts were doled out. i asked gma to babysit while i threw the rest of our belongings into several small luggage arrangements. after a short while, she dropped the boys off as she was just to tired and went home to her condo for lunch.

thankfully, we had several leftovers in the fridge which i combined into a snack lunch for the boys and some bread for the still healing cookie tosser. i quick went outside and sat poolside for 20 minutes as that was what i had wanted from the vacation and sat was the one and only day sunny and warm enough for such an activity. when my time was up, i did yet another load of bedding and started dragging things to the van. we were on our way.

the airport was way busier coming home than we arrived one week ago. security checks took an entire 45 minutes during which the boys would try to sneak away. also, there was an apparent prob with the a/c because hot hot hot. i thought the puker was going to pass out or upchuck all over so i entertained the kids, hauled all our carry ons, and kept the ticks/ids at hand for the check. risky move, i lose everything, including my cell at sea world...

once our two diaper bags, one carry on suitcase, portable dvd player on loan from the habers, my purse, the sling, the stroller, the carseat, all five pairs of shoes (yes, even ayla's were suspicious), two belts, and max's backpack were deemed safe; we set up camp by the gate. i took the kids to forage for sprite for brad and his pukes, get candy and gum for the ride, and purchase a shake that i was craving despearately. no sooner did i successfully complete these goals when we started to board and i had to toss the shake. no time for tears, because we had to drag all aforementioned carry ons on the plane and stuff it in the appropriate places.

our seats were arranged nicely. max at window, wes in middle, mommy and ayla on my lap, aisle, and then the sickey. once we were situated, the fam we sat behind on the flight down to flordia arrived and took over the seats in front of us. this is not just your typical fam but a loud mouth mother, whiny toddler named amelia who sounded as if she had a very contagious case of pneumonia, and their 18 month old son carter who we heard repeatedly "is such a charmer", "is so tired", and is his mommy;s "little man". carter does not like to fly, and as brad says the loud mouth lady's "husband hates her".

i glanced at brad with a look that asked "should we just bail now and start walking to mi?", and then noticed how wet my lap had become. oh sure, ayla pooped everywhere!! while the pilots were taxing down the runway, i was stripping my babe to nakey and using wipes to attempt a massive wipe down of the poopy baby girl. i tossed the outfit in the garbage and managed to wrestle another one on as we took flight.

the rest of the 2 jr flight went smoothly until we began our initial descent and max had to pee something fierce. he cried, he begged, he whined. still, the stewardesses said no, please wait until we land. then bear began to cry as the turbulence bounced us around and max went into hysterics. as soon as we touched down, i rushed maxer into the bathroom, hauled bear onto my hip and watched in giggles as max peed over the entire bathroom during the jarring ride to the gate.

we collected our baggage and hightailed it into the winter temps, me with bear riding on the stroller crying that it was too cold. he was right! brr. the veen was again our refuge and it took us only 10 minutes to find in the freezing cold.

so, moral of the story, we are just staying home for the next 25 years. feel free to come over as we will not be leaving.

just kidding, we had a beautiful time (mostly) and are so grateful for the opportunity to vacation as a fam. thank you jesus for the safe and adventurous travels.