thanksgiving and other merry making

Our Thanksgiving holiday always involves time with my dad and siblings. For the past four or five years, they have traveled to be with us at our place and we share a huge feast, play games, visit some sort of local spot of interest like the City Museum, Magic House, Powder Valley, or a local park depending on the weather. This year, we mainly focused on spending time together at the house or at the hotel where Dad, Cimi and the kids stayed. Simon and Ella stuck very close to my little sister Keely who is nearly 11. She entertains them and makes life extremely fun for the few days they are here. Every year, I feel like our time together gets more enjoyable and it's always sad when they all go back home.

This year we embarked on a new undertaking that I secretly hope will become a tradition. I had an itch to hang Christmas lights (which I have only done once and I believe it was during some serious nesting impulses). My older brother Josh seemed very receptive to the idea of helping me. One encouraging word was all I needed to move forward! He worked very hard to hang the lights and climbed all over the porch like a lemur (descriptive comparison drawn by Bryan.) Once Dad and my stepmom, Cimi arrived with the kids, they helped out by running to Big Lots for an extra extension cord. They were so excited to contribute to the merriment, they returned with a couple of lawn ornaments. I have never owned a lawn ornament before. The decorating began to take on a life of it's own, but I have to say, I am drawn into the cheer of it all! I'm very excited to drive up to our house and see the lights glimmering in the dark from down the street.

Let the holiday merriment ensue!

reading, studying, bathing and celebrating

As usual, I have fallen behind in keeping track of all the little milestones and sweet sayings around here. But I don't feel too bad as I've been busy "living life" with these guys. Sometimes getting on my computer feels like more of a drain than productive and helpful. But there are a few notables so I thought I'd pause a moment to scratch them down.

I think I can make the statement that Simon is really reading now. He has been sounding out words here and there and chiming in when I read with him when he recognizes a word or when I push for him to figure it out. He has always liked letters, loves writing words and drawing pictures, but he does get frustrated if he feels like he's not succeeding. So I thought it might be helpful to get him some super early readers that seem less daunting than some of the "I Can Read Books" we have in our library. I purchased the "Bob Books" from one of his school's book orders and he officially began reading them on his own yesterday. He was so thrilled that he stayed up with the light on to read after I'd tucked him in. I am so proud of him and very excited for where this takes him!!

Ella's homeschooling is going well. We have our moments of difficulty, which I notice happen more if we aren't prompt in getting on the ball early in the morning. The more she gets in play mode, the more difficult it is to focus and the day takes longer. But we feel very productive and really get things done efficiently if we start right after breakfast. She is excelling and I have seen so much growth in her confidence as a person and her self expression. Some of that may just be in maturing as she ages, but I have to believe that meeting her needs as she has expressed them has contributed to some of her growth. She loves all the reading and we've finished quite a few books already. She is writing in cursive now and is really quite proficient at it. She likes science and our world history is fascinating. We're learning about Ancient Egypt now and had a field trip to the art museum to see the mummies and Egyptian art. I dare say, I am seriously loving homeschool and the enjoyment, closeness and quality time it fosters!

Josie's vocabulary is expanding and she's successfully repeating words back to us quite a bit now. She's "sugar and spice" as we've always said...the sweetest, most affectionate child I've ever known, but very expressive when she's irritated. She screams to show she's mad and sometimes she screams to show she's thrilled! She's growing so much and is starting to grow out of some of the things that can be so difficult with little ones, like requiring being held for an hour before finally falling asleep at night. We're getting past some of those more "intensive" things with her and she is capable of doing lots of things, but she's still our baby!

Last night during bath time, I was finishing up with Josie when Simon decided to jump in the tub as well. Josie was all washed and rinsed and playing in the water and Simon and I commenced in talking about his fifth birthday plans. I was engrossed in our conversation and hadn't noticed that Josie had gotten quiet and was looking down at something next to her in the water. At the angle I was sitting at, I couldn't see what she was looking at and continued talking until I finally got curious about what she was studying. I sat up and looked next to her to see a small turd floating in the water. She seemed confused at what it was and had been studying it trying to decide if it was friend or foe. As soon as I jumped up with alarm and said, "Oh my GOSH!" she decided it must be foe! She began crying in desperation and panic. I pulled her out and wrapped her up (Simon had already made his exit) and she shivered with nervousness and fear. After the inconvenient impromptu scrubbing of the bathtub while my two youngest waited to be re-bathed, I really couldn't get annoyed or frustrated. It was all too hilariously entertaining. Simon was a champ. I couldn't believe he didn't freak out about sitting in Josie's poo water. But he laughed right along with me. Once I ran the clean bath and Simon got back in, Josie was still afraid. She shook her head emphatically saying, "nuh-uh" multiple times. But I stuck to my guns and she got her second bath. She came around eventually with no more tears shed.

Oh my. Such an event.

Tomorrow is our eleventh anniversary. Tucking Ella in tonight, I told her how excited I was to go out to dinner to celebrate at a fun restaurant (we're doing a family date for this one...Bryan and I had a big Mexican vacation all last week to celebrate year 10-11). Ella said, "Oh no! I'm such a ding dong! I forgot to make you a present!" to which I replied, "YOU are my present, and Josie and Simon too." She added, "And Dad. He's absolutely your BEST present."

She is so right. I couldn't be more satisfied with a life if I had written it myself.

taking credit

Whenever we go on a trip of any kind, Ella is known to "pack a bag." Even on a trip to Target or to the grocery store, she has to have some kind of little something to entertain herself like a book or activity of some sort. Sometimes it's a pain because the unpacking doesn't always happen AFTER the trip so there are often shoulder bags full of books, crayons and toys at various spots in the house.

Late this afternoon, Bryan decided it would be a fun treat to take the kids on a spontaneous camping trip just for tonight. Ella was thrilled and immediately commenced to packing her bag. I packed for Simon and gathered all the linens and as the time to depart neared, I racked my brain for things we may be forgetting.

Me: Ella, did you get your boots?
E: Yes, and Simon's too.
Me: What about socks...I think you'll need socks with those because it will get quite a bit colder this evening.
E: Yes! I got TWO PAIRS!
Me: Wow Ella, you thought of everything! You don't even need a mom!
E: Yes I do. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have learned any of this stuff.

Credit is nice, though, I think she's done just fine on her own. She's a great kid.

 In the tent

night at the carnival

Today was family day and what a great day we had together! We started with a lazy breakfast, coffee and cartoons, then dressed ourselves for a walk in the woods. We visited Powder Valley which is a favorite place of ours for walking because the path is a "doable" distance for each of us, fully shaded, brimming with woodland creature like deer who are very used to people in their space, and lots of spots for walking across logs, skipping stones over creeks and stamping over wooden footbridges. We spent most of our time skipping stones and getting dirty.

After lunch we rested and then the kids did a 20 minute workout dvd with me (this point deserves a post all to itself...what a sight to see the kids engaged in this activity, with me huffing and puffing and them using cans for weights.) Then we needed more rest and baths.

In early evening, we visited a small carnival close by our neighborhood. It was just the sort of carnival I grew up with...very small town, about five large rides and lots of smells of corndogs, funnel cake and popcorn. Our kids are very wary of carnivals and rides in general and were squeamish at first at the thought of riding ANYTHING. But I talked them into a small inflatable obstacle course, knowing it would warm them up and wouldn't frighten them (at least not after they gave their tickets to the strange lady at the entrance). They took their time and seemed a bit more secure by the end of it. The inflatable served as a great primer and got them acclimated to the excitement that is the carnival.

Next I was able to get them to agree to riding a more legit ride called "The Frog Hopper." Basically, it was a row of seats you get strapped into and then slowly hoisted up and dropped down quickly so that your stomach ends up in your esophagus. I promised to ride it with them so they reluctantly boarded the ride, one on either side of me. We all held hands and screamed as the seats seemed to drop out from under us for a two second free fall. They loved it after the first couple of jolts and were begging to do it again by the end!

Unfortunately, the ferris wheel wasn't working which was a huge disappointment since it was the only grown up ride I could get the kids excited for. So we spent the remainder of our tickets on the frog hopper, the baby cars that drive in a circle and the inflatable mega slide. At the end, Simon piped up that he wanted to ride on the one that flipped upside down. Shocked, I questioned his statement. And he was serious. Even though we were out of tickets, I told Bryan I thought, if he was willing to take a risk, I wanted to jump on it! (Simon is characteristically shy and reserved and slow to draw attention to himself. His teacher last year described him as "careful and observant.") So, Daddy took the girls to get a snow cone while Simon and I got tickets for the upside down ride (four "cages" on two parallel pendulums that swing back and forth gathering momentum till you flip upside down and do a full 360° flip around.)

As we stood in line, we watched the people riding, screaming and some younger ones crying. I thought for sure he'd want to back out as I, myself, began to get a nervous stomach. I asked him, "Simon? Are you SURE you want to ride this ride?" He nodded excitedly, clenching his three tickets and smiling. He said, "I might scream but I won't be scared!" So we waited our turn. As the ride slowed to a halt and the passengers deboarded, the carnie worker approached us at the front of the line and said, "Its gonna be a while. I had a puker." I thought he meant he had to go throw up, but I figured out as he poured buckets of water in one of the cages it actually meant that one of the passengers we couldn't see had thrown up during the ride. Geeeee-Rooossss. After dousing the thing with water, he sent the ride spinning once on empty to rid the seats of ghastly watered down vomit. I began to get even more queasy at the thought of any of these droplets landing on me while we spun through the air and thanked God that I hadn't had any dinner yet. Simon's courage didn't waver. We boarded the ride and buckled in.

Soon we were waving slowly, backward and forward through the air, the large grin still plastered across Simon's face. He laughed nervously and kept his little hand under mine as we grasped the lap bar. It didn't take long to gather speed and as we looped up, it felt as though we were hanging in mid air. Our bodies came up out of our seats and rested on the lap bar and we both freaked out. His eyes were wide and his voice was panicky as he cried out, "MOM! MOM!" I didn't look forward but kept my face fixed on him and demanded he look into my eyes as I reassured him we were alright. (I didn't feel alright...it was seriously scary and I felt like I might throw up too while at the same time wanting to shriek out for my own mother!) The ride felt like an eternity. He never cried, but he seemed in a wide eyed, fixated trance and wouldn't take his eyes off the spinning landscape in order to gain security in my face. As the flipping ceased and we began the slow rocking to a full stop, he turned to finally face me and relaxed. The smile returned and he was proud of himself.

As we made the trek across the pavement to join the rest of our family on the other side of the observation fence, we felt bonded...like we'd won a battle together. I was proud of my little guy. Only four years old and willing to fight a giant! I'm wondering what chapter of courageous exploits this boy may have ahead.

Simon is my little hero today. Oh how I love that boy.

unholy nightime prayers

Tonight in Simon's bed, instead of automatically praying for him, I asked him if he'd like to pray. He asked, "What should I pray for? Do we know anybody who is sick?" I said, "I'm a little sick. I think I have a cold." So he agreed and then asked, "What else?" I racked my brain for what needs might resonate most with him and remembered the stories on the news about severe famine in Somalia, Africa and the large number of children who are suffering and dying from starvation. He agreed that would be a good thing to pray for, so he began:

"God, I bless that you would heal my mom's cold and make her feel better and that you would give the kids in Africa some food to eat. Amen." Then he turned his face to me smiling, and said, "He said yes, Mom." I smiled back and said, "Did he Simon?" Explaining, he continued, "We ask God for stuff and He always says yes." This was such a sweet thought but I know it's not always true, otherwise, there would be no sickness, no death, no starvation in the world. So I told Simon, "He doesn't always say yes...sometimes, if we ask for the wrong thing, for the wrong reasons, or if He has a different plan in mind, He will say no because He always knows what's best." Of course, this moment was somewhat serious and Simon had to turn it into sillyness.

"So if I asked God for poop, would He say no?" (Grinning from ear to ear and holding in an enormous giggle...all his jokes are about bodily functions these days!) Then he began his hilarious, unholy prayers, "God, please give us hundreds of poops and hundreds of toots! And thousands of peeee!!!" Checking out my face to see if I would play along he began to ask for lots of tongues and eyeballs too. It was a very boyishly boy moment. But I laughed and I imagine God got a chuckle too...

the day the never got mentioned

You might recall when I told you about the new devotional book we've started? I mentioned that here. Well, it's already had an impact. Each lesson is about ten minutes and it starts with a short scripture reading and then is followed by some explanation and engaging Q&A. The first couple of lessons begin with creation, which Simon has also recently learned about in a Sunday school class.

You might recall the story of creation in Genesis 1, but basically, it goes through the order in which God commanded things into being. For instance, day one was light (night and day), day two was the heavens and day three was earth and seas. In my Bible's translation (ASV), it says that on day five God created all kinds of birds and water creatures and specifically, it describes vividly in verse 21 that: God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good. 

That small mention of "sea monsters" seemed to make an impression. Heck, I didn't even know if Simon was listening! But tonight, he was overheard flipping through a booklet he had made in class about creation, ad libbing his own narrative:

Simon: On the SCARY day, God made all the monsters and ghosts. (chuckling at his inventiveness)


Hmmm...that must be Simon translation.

first day of summer break

Today was the first Monday of summer break. It was so wonderful to all sleep in late and  not have to do the school rush! Unfortunately, Daddy was in bed sick so he couldn't enjoy it with us.

But, things went surprisingly well! I expected to have to break up lots of fights and minor irritations between the kids since they're not used to being in each other's space as much these days. But it really wasn't bad!

We did the normal stuff to pass the time like color and play with toys, but we also shook things up a little. We took some quiet time to crack open a new devotional book we bought for the kids over the weekend. Ella was super excited to get into it (she just loves being engaged with questions and learning opportunities). Simon was less enthused as it was his tired time of day since we skipped nap. He had the wiggles and kept wanting to change the subject. I believe he broke into a couple of holy moments with some strategically timed toots as well. Pffft. It's a good thing God has a sense of humor! Josie cried the whole time, but all in all, I think it was a successful ten minutes. I'm excited about the book and about sharing a more focused time to talk about God together. It's always interesting to pick the kids' brains.

Other fun things we crammed into the day were refilling the huge bubble wands and making gigantic bubbles outside in the insane heat and playing with sidewalk chalk. We watered the flowers and then came in muddy and chalky so everyone got a bath. Then after dinner, we did a science experiment per Ella's suggestion, where we soaked dirty pennies in vinegar and then sprinkled salt on them and cleaned them till they gleamed. That was a pretty cool trick I never knew about! And I got to explain to the kids what a chemical reaction is. (Ella's guess at the definition was it was "working together" which was pretty darn close!)

We ended the night with reading and prayers and lots of cuddles. I spent a little extra time chatting with Ella since Simon tuckered out pretty quickly. She is all excited about a new venture she has to make some crafts (bookmarks, scented sachet pillows, painted rocks, tissue paper pom poms, animal masks, the list goes on....) and then sell them to raise money for either some homeless mothers and children or for Joplin tornado relief. We stayed up and made lists together of all the things she plans to make and how much she wants to charge for each item. She is so excited to start, she couldn't fall asleep!

It was a good day...now...what to do tomorrow??

mommy date

I'm always the behind the scenes arranger of dates for our children. But I rarely actually get a date with any of them one on one. When Bryan took Simon on a camping trip a couple of weeks ago (must post about this trip at a later date), I seized the opportunity for some alone time with our eldest. Josie stayed with Elijah and Anna for a couple of hours and Ella and I went out just the two of us!

Ella requested a trip to get a new pair of earrings since she finished the six week waiting period so I took her to a department store to find a nice pair to switch to. We listened to music in the car on the way there and took some photos of ourselves for fun.

Can I just tell you what this photo means to me? Pure bliss. Daddy dates are important for sure, but I think this girl really needed a mommy date. She is always wanting to connect with me one on one and it's hard to meet that need all the time with many demands on my time and attention just to keep this ship sailing! But you can see it on her face. She is happy. And I relished the time alone with her just having fun.

After she picked out some lovely (half priced) silver butterfly earrings, we went out for gelato and chatted. We held hands everywhere we went and came home with full hearts!

school's out for summer!

Simon has been finished with preschool for nearly two weeks now. But Ella's kindergarten graduation was yesterday and the final day of school was today. After her graduation and awards ceremony (she received awards for perfect spelling, excellent grades, a citizenship award, whatever that is, a character word of the month award for displaying respect, and an attendance award which was clearly a mistake because she missed ten days of school!) the school allowed kids to leave early with parents to celebrate.

Ella's class waiting for their awards

So we took Simon and Ella out for lunch at the Murdoch Perk where Simon ordered a big Belgian waffle and Ella got the hungryman's breakfast! Yowzers...scrambled eggs, bacon, two pieces of toast and potatoes! She shared with Josie. The sweetest thing was that Simon insisted on dressing up. He's still stuck on his new clothes we got him for the wedding. It ended up being great that he did that as I was able to get a picture with them both dressed up!

Check out the huge bruise on Ella's cheek. It's a big one. She ran into the wall somehow in our hotel room while she and Simon were playing. It totally looks like she took a beating. But she still looks pretty in her graduation dress! Isn't Simon sharp in his tie?? He is all about looking handsome these days and is particular about picking out his own clothes.

I'm ready for summer, but we'll miss Mrs. Morton. Ella truly loves this woman! She wants to invite her to her seventh birthday party.

Bring on the summer!!

promised photos of Josie

I wish I could find words to describe the angel that is Josie. I know she's my kid, but seriously, there is no denying there is something SPECIAL about this one. I've never seen a kid so affectionate and so quick to connect with others. She is not shy about sharing her smiles with people and warms up to new friends quickly.

This may be my favorite picture of her...it really captures the silly smile she doles out on us daily. And her expressive eyes...always raising her eyebrows to let you know she's ready for fun!

This photo is just a bonus. Enjoy!

Love my girl!

nuts about broccoli

My son is a health nut in the making. He loves vegetables and isn't a big fan of all the "normal" foods kids are supposed to like. He passes on macaroni and cheese every time as well as cheese burgers and other such fare. I have to admit, I make a killer pizza, yet he complains. Tonight's meal was homemade sausage pizza on Naan bread, a real treat. As soon as he saw it, he said, "Awwww....I don't like pizza very much!" But I made a big helping of green leafy salad on the side with broccoli, cucumbers and carrots. Ella dug right into the pizza first as both kids leave their least favorite thing till last and devour their favorite flavors first. I usually have to get involved by asking them to take a couple of bites of the less favored item before filling their stomachs with the stuff they think is yummiest. This ALWAYS happens when there is toast involved, or lemonade or, in Ella's case, macaroni and cheese. But tonight, with Simon, it was broccoli. He devoured all his broccoli (raw, mind you) first, munching and crunching and all the time thanking me for such a yummy salad. When his broccoli was all gone, he worked on some of the lettuce but then asked, "Can I have some more broccoli please Mom?" in his most polite tone. I had to snicker to myself when I replied with, "Eat a few bites of pizza first buddy and then you can have more broccoli." In the end, Ella cringed as she downed her broccoli so I let Simon finish hers.

It just doesn't seem right. But I think it's pretty cool.

tidbits

I've been out of the habit of updating some of the bigger happenings as of late. So, to try to get back in the swing of things, this post will consist of some small tidbits of recent happenings.

We went out of town last weekend. The plan had been to stay with our close friends in Joplin but the recent tornado that devastated the town derailed our plan. We drove through though and had a look at things and it was beyond the worst my imagination could have conjured. All this talk of tornadoes has had an impact on the kids and Ella was really saddened by what she saw. I could hear her gasping in the back seat as she said over and over how SAD it was. And then I could hear her praying under her breath. That Sunday we visited Frontline church in Oklahoma City where Bryan was speaking as a guest and the kids talked about things they were afraid of as well as things they were thankful for. Ella's depiction of this was a drawing of a large blue tornado and a picture of Bryan and me. For clarification, she's thankful for us and scared of tornadoes.

On the same subject, Ella told me she wanted to move. Her exact words were, "Mom, I like our house a lot but I think I want to move somewhere else." I responded: "Why? Where do you want to move?" Ella: "I want to go somewhere where there aren't tornadoes." This spring has been kind of scary weather-wise.

Some hail at our house this month. It had begun to melt by the time the photo was snapped, but was originally around 2.5" diameter.

On a happy note, Ella finally learned how to blow a bubble! She also got her ears pierced and didn't even shed a tear!

Time with Simon has been fun and challenging at the same time. He is so sweet and kind and always the gentleman. But also, he's been pushing some discipline boundaries and picking silly fights with me about not wanting to comply with simple requests at random times throughout the day. Today was a bit challenging and, even though it was mainly a good day with lots of smiles and fun together, there were a couple of trying moments, mainly due to tiredness I think. As I prayed for him tonight, he made his requests known and instructed me to pray for the things he asks for every night: Good dreams, no bad dreams and no nightmares. But during the prayer, he tagged on, "And to OBEY." Sweet boy. I know sometimes it feels so hard to respond right in the moment, especially when you're physically out of whack and tired. I know he wants to. We have got to get this whole to nap or not to nap thing figured out.

Along with the prayer time, Simon pulled me close and asked if he could tell me a secret. I leaned in and he whispered, "When I grow up, I want to become a pilot." Dramatic pause...."or a PIRATE."

In Josie news, she's pretty much sleeping through the night and is close to being fully weaned. WOWZERS. She's growing UP! She's soooooo sweet. Such a hugger. Always cuddling and scrunching up her nose to give a sweet smile. Totally need to post some pictures soon. She's a doozy. Here's a quick lookie-loo:

Lovin' the swing!

Alrighty, that's all for now. Life is busy and changing...summer's almost here (Simon's school is over now and Ella's kindergarten graduation is tomorrow morning!! UGH. So ready to close this chapter of kindergarten stuff.) Onward and upward! Hoping to be better with the blog during the summer months!

Simon's last day of school.

pippi longstocking is poisoning our youth

We had a play date the other day. I was busy in the kitchen cooking and arranging for some grown up fun time and should have known better. Little did I know, my son was upstairs wreaking havoc with his little buddies. When the destruction was brought to my attention by one of the other kids, I was summoned upstairs to the bathroom first. There was water all over the floor and a broken glass. Hmmm...yes. Understandable. I do believe Simon knows better on this one...but I wasn't totally shocked that he wanted to play with water in the bathroom and a broken glass is an accident that could have been prevented by one of us lazy grown ups who should have put their empty water glass in the proper place (I'd point the finger at Bryan but I think it actually might have been mine...) I gave him a free pass on this one, aside from a stern look and some pointed questioning.

After cleaning up the wet floor, vacuuming the glass up and disposing of the trash, I chatted with Simon about his poor decision making some more. Then, I went in his room to check on the situation a bit further. Gasp! The room was littered with change! The whole floor was covered with pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters...what in the world???? I couldn't fathom what happened on this scene. So I sat with Simon on the floor and asked for an explanation. He told me he thought it would be fun to throw his money up in the air. So he emptied his piggy bank and tossed all the change up until it covered everything. I inquired further, "Did you really think that was ok to do? WHY would you DO that??" I was flabbergasted. I was totally dumbfounded by the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

Fast forward to this afternoon...Simon requests to watch The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, which the kids discovered while they were sick last week and watched like fifteen times. Ugh. But I oblige him and sit down to watch it as well. It's the opening scene. Pippi is on a ship singing a song about living life however she wants with no apologies to anyone ever. (Great role model, yes? I totally want my kids to never say they're sorry for anything, don't you?) After the opening number, she pulls jewelry and coins out of a treasure chest and asks her father what they'll use it for. Pleased with the bounty at her finger tips, she tosses all the coins in the air without a care in the world. Ahhh....now I get it.

Darn that Pippi. She's bad news.

wedding blues

This weekend, our dear Michael and Amie got married! For those unfamiliar with these two wonderful people whom we dearly love and majorly adore, Michael is Bryan's youngest brother. Amie has been a friend of our family for years but in the last couple of years, has become one of my closest friends and, before she moved down to Atlanta to be with her now husband, was a weekly babysitter of our kids. Needless to say, she was already family to us, before she and Mike even decided to date. So, we've been counting down the days till their wedding, first and foremost just so we could SEE them again (Atlanta feels so far away sometimes!) but also because it's a really exciting occasion to celebrate their marriage!

Ella is somewhat of a romantic at her ripe age of six and a half. So she LOOOOVES weddings. And Bryan had taken Simon shopping this week to pick out some fancy clothes to wear. He was so excited about his new dress pants, shirt, vest and tie and had been asking me all week if he could wear it. I kept saying, "Wait till the wedding on Saturday! Then you can wear it!!"

Wednesday, the coughing began. Thursday, the runny nose took off. Overnight on Thursday, raging fever ensued. And Friday, I began to get a little panicky that the kids and I were going to have to sit this one out and miss the wedding we've so anticipated.

Friday night was the rehearsal and Bryan and I tag teamed it so he could do the officiating and I could see family and friends for a bit. But Saturday was still up in the air. I monitored the kids closely all day Saturday and the virus seemed to progress. Ella barely got off the couch all day which you KNOW is a bad sign. It was a guarantee that the kids wouldn't be well enough to attend, and with most of our friends and all of our St. Louis family attending the wedding, all hope seemed lost that I would be able to attend as well.

But then, HOPE! I have a wonderful friend named Sarah who I met at the kids' preschool (I'm sure there will be posts to come about their family as our kids love playing together and we so enjoy Sarah and her husband Kyle) whose kids had the same virus the week before. I texted her questions wondering how high and how long their fevers persisted. In the midst of our texting, she offered to come stay with the kids so I could go to the wedding.

Elation! But major GUILT in having to leave the kids behind. Ella was teary and bleary eyed and didn't seem to understand WHY she couldn't just go for a little bit. She had her heart set on seeing them and especially dancing with them. And in all the rush to get ready, Simon didn't seem to get all the information that he wasn't going to be able to go either. (His fever was equally as high as Ella's but he was still bouncing off the wall all day.) As I got my heels on to walk out the door I heard him calling out from upstairs, "MOOOOMMM! MOM!!! I need  you!" Which is usually code for, "I'm on the toilet and could you please come wipe me." But this time, I reached the second floor to find him in his room trying to put on his new clothes. He said, "Mom, I need you to help me with my tie!" My heart shattered. Totally destroyed. "Oh Simo. You're sick buddy and you're not going to be able to go." Oh the horror. The guilt. The tears.

After the ceremony, which was so lovely, moving, beautiful, joyous, etc, I came right home. There was a reception a few hours later which Sarah offered to come back to watch the kids for. But after visiting with the kids, especially Ella, I didn't think I could bear the guilt of leaving them behind. Ella asked me lots of questions about Michael and Amie's plans and if she'd get to see them soon. I told her they'd be going on their honeymoon really early the next morning and they would fly home to Atlanta after that. She began to tear up again and said, "I don't want them to go on their honeymoon, Mom. I miss them so much!" 

But again, HOPE! Bryan made a few phone calls and was able to reach Michael and, joy of joys, Michael and Amie were able to drop by our house on their way to the reception in order to give Simon and Ella a little squeeze. I can't express how special this short 20 minute stop off was to us all, especially Ella. It seemed to take the sting out.

Uncle Michael

Beautiful Aunt Amie and poor sickly Ella.

This made everything right in the world.

 

So now, it's the day after the wedding and the kids are beginning to mend. Fevers are down to low grade and the coughing has let up a bit. And so I'll close this post with some comic relief. Do you notice the severe chapping of Ella's nose in the middle photo? That poor girl chaps like nobody's business when she gets a cold. Her hands go crazy dry and cracked in the wintertime too. For this reason, there is a huge tub of Eucerin in her room. Since she's been sick, she often globs a big mustache of Eucerin on her upper lip but it hasn't seemed to help all that much. So we switched to Aquafor which has soothed and healed a bit more effectively. After we read books and got tucked in bed, I set her up with a fresh box of tissues and her Aquafor within reach for nighttime use. She slathered her nose with it and said quite seriously, "Aquarfor rules. Eucerine drools." And then we both laughed for a solid three minutes. Ahhh....we needed that.

eavesdropping

We were out a bit past bedtime last night and as we were driving home we enjoyed the sleepy ponderings of our oldest two.

Simon: Mommy? I want to go to heaven.
Me: Why do you want to go to heaven, Simo?
Simon: Because I love God. And I want to see Grandma Florence. Where IS heaven? I think it's up in the clouds. I think God lives on one cloud.
Ella: How will we get there? 
Simon: God will make himself invisible and he will come and get us. While we are sleeping, God comes and takes us.

I think Simon believes God comes and whisks him away every night while he dreams. I just love hearing what comes out of those little mouths!

growing in your sleep

We often talk about how kids need rest so that their bodies can grow. Usually, it's an incentive we employ to encourage the kids to hurry up and get to their beds. It's an interesting fact that we like to use, and seriously, sometimes I think the kids look bigger after they've napped! We can always tell when Simon is going through a growth spurt because he'll ask to go to bed or decide to crawl under the covers during "rest time" after lunch instead of playing in his room. And when he sleeps, he sleeps for HOURS! Anyway...I digress.

So tonight, we got to bed a little later than normal. I'm in the middle of a serious baby proofing of Ella's room in order to move Josie's crib out of our room to begin a more serious approach at weaning. It's been tons of work to sort and organize all the little choking hazards that six year olds play with! I worked a big chunk of yesterday and today on the room and got most of it done, but it put us a little behind on our bedtime routine. I could tell Simon was very tired because he was slow to obey and out for some negative attention. As I wrapped things up in Ella's room, I could hear him downstairs with Bryan and Josie. Bryan warned him a couple of times that he was being too rough with his little sister. All of a sudden, I heard her cry out and begin wailing painfully. And I knew something had gone terribly wrong...I rushed down to comfort her and saw she had a bite mark on her big toe. He had really BIT HER! It was a deep indention, but fortunately he hadn't broken the skin. Ugh...

After receiving some serious discipline and a stern talking to, it was most definitely time for bed. (However, we made time for a puzzle and a quick book so that there was some POSITIVE attention in there as well!) As I laid next to Simon in his bunk, he was chattier than I expected. I thought for sure he would pass out as soon as he hit the pillow. And so I brought up my little sleep incentive...

Me: "Simon, if you don't get some sleep, your body can't grow!"
Simo: "I don't want to grow anymore."
Me: "Really? You want to stay this little forever?"
Simo: "Maybe God would make me stop growing so I could stay little."
Me: "Don't you want to get big and have your own kids and your own house someday and be big and grown up like Daddy?"
Simo: "Yeah."
Me: "And do you want to get married?"
Simo: "Yes. To Ella."

He really adores Ella. And I took the opportunity to remind him that Josie adores him that way. She looks up to him and laughs at everything he does. I encouraged him to be her protector and be kind to her and never hurt her on purpose. He looked so remorseful, I thought he might cry. He seemed to get it. And then he showered me with kisses and I showered him with kisses and then he rolled over and feel asleep.

My guess is he'll wake up an inch taller. :)

hang up and play

This is a small rant, just to warn you.

While we were in Kansas City on spring break, we visited a local park with a small playground. It was a beautiful day, the sun was bright and warm, and there were a few other kids enjoying the time outside as well. Specifically, there were two other boys there with their dads.

Pretty cool when dad's take their kids to the park, yes? I love that!

But what I noticed was not so impressive. Both dads were on their smart phones surfing the web or texting or whatever, THE ENTIRE TIME. I'm not exaggerating in the least...I mean, the ENTIRE time their kids played. Fortunately for the two boys, they found each other and began playing dinosaurs. At one point, boy #2 wanted to swing and called out for his dad to come push him. The dad's eyes didn't budge from his phone as he answered, "No son. You know how to do that by yourself. You go on ahead." He totally blew him off. A while later, the dad decided it was time to leave and called his son to go to the car. The son protested and said he wanted to stay at which point the dad got really irritated and told him to stop whining.

Now I hesitate to judge other people's parenting as there are many times I feel as if I have failed at the end of the day. But this is an issue that really, really bothers me. Sometimes I just HATE the hold that technology has over our lives. What a missed opportunity that dad had to connect with his son. He probably thought he was doing the little guy a big favor by letting him go to the park. But what I saw was total rejection.

I've mentioned how I'm trying to be better about not spending so much time on the computer, especially when the kids are up and around. There are already so many demands for our time as parents...can't we try a little harder to stop willingly giving our precious time and attention to our gadgets and gizmos? (I know it's hard to take me seriously when I use the word "gizmo.")

In all seriousness though, I challenge you to power down whenever possible. And I'll keep trying to do the same. Hopefully, we'll all end up actually talking to each other or enjoying some other ancient passtime.

checking in

I've become embarrassingly bad about keeping this blog updated. Truth is, I've been doing my best (well, not my best, but "better") to not spend any "free" time on my computer while the kids are awake. I find it sucks me in and I end up an hour (or more) shorter of time to connect with them. Also, I've been doing a bit more freelance than normal so my time on the computer has been spoken for. 

Right now, we're on spring break. We are using the time to get away from the house and all it's demands and are staying in a hotel in Kansas City. We've been relaxing a lot, watching cartoons and March Madness basketball, swimming a TON, snuggling, tickling, doing color wonder, eating snack food instead of meals, and taking lots of baths (due to the overload of chlorine.) We visited a park yesterday and relished in the spring sunshine, played with Ella's new jump rope and Simon's new tee ball set and ball glove. Ella has gotten to be pretty proficient at jumping rope and swimming! Simon is still rather cautious about swimming, but he at least will swim with a floatation device which beats last year when he wouldn't even get in the water until he'd watched everyone else for two hours. I'm not even kidding.

Some brief updates of late:

1. I've been mulling over and praying about doing home school next year. It's something I never thought I'd consider, but after observing my kids more closely over this last year and learning more about their strengths and weaknesses, I think it could be a real help to them. It is something we're in prayer about and a decision I don't take lightly.
2. Simon is becoming increasingly proficient at writing his letters, drawing and coloring. I've heard him sight read and sound out a few words here and there too. At a recent Parent/Teacher conference, his teacher described him as "cautious" in general, but excelling. He is quiet in his temperament and she said sometimes he seems like it's not worth the effort to get in the middle of boyish squabbles over trains and things. But he has made friends and enjoys school a lot.
3. Ella got the birds and the bees talk on the playground. Wow. Wasn't exactly prepared for that yet! Fortunately, she is quick to share with me anything that doesn't sit right with her, so it was an opportunity for some clear and helpful direction and clarification from me.
4. Josie seems to love music a great deal and requests "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" all day long. The other morning, after she woke up early and was still cuddled in bed with me, she spent a good ten minute humming and making her own music. It was so sweet! She has said a few words which Ella is keeping track of in her journal. Just this morning, we were cuddled in the hotel bed and Simon's head was resting on my lap. She patted him on the hair and said, "Nye Nye." (Night night). She's growing quickly and is so charming!

That's all I have for now. Josie is up and our friends from Joplin (the Clevenger family) have just arrived to finish out our vacation together! There is more fun to be had!! 

mlk

You might remember how I mentioned we have a new chalkboard wall in our kitchen. I use it to plan our menu and the week's activities. At the start of the month, Ella pleaded to write some things for me about the month of January. Here is the drawing she came up with...see if you can decipher its interpretation:

Need a hint? I know it looks a bit like a Thanksgiving turkey to the untrained eye. But it's actually a portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. (you know...because Martin Luther King Jr. Day is in January.) You see how she spelled his name right above our menu? And those are conversation bubbles coming out of his mouth. They say things like, "love," "Be nice," "I have a dream" and I believe I remember her quoting, "Don't hit people."

Below the menu is Ella's own "dream" for the world:

It reads:

I want it to

be kindess, [kindness]

Love, peace,

perfect, hugs,

family, home

sweet home

and Brothers

and Sister.

That's her dream for you.

josie's first birthday

My Josie and her baby blues

Our little baby is officially a toddler. Her first year went by so quickly!

For her first birthday, we kept it simple and had her grandparents over for dinner and a quiet evening of celebration together. We ate some veggie soup which she is known to devour and introduced her to the joys of chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Surprisingly, she didn't lay into the cake like we expected (or like her siblings did on their first birthdays.) When we gave her the cupcake, she promptly squished it in her fist and then proceeded to pick it apart with her fingers, exploring the feel of it rather than the taste of it. I gave her a few small bites, which she accepted willingly, but she wasn't all that impressed. So what you see in this photo pretty much ended up in the trash can.

I had a lovely video of us singing her the happy birthday song and blowing out the candle, but somehow in my transfer of images from camera to computer, I deleted it *boo hoo*.

After dinner and cleanup, we opened presents. We got her a pair of soft soled shoes to help her in her new walking efforts and a fun sippy cup with a straw which she prefers over the handled sucking kind. Memaw and Papa got her a foam book which she has taken a real liking to and has been flipping through today.

A new development on her birthday was this special "photo face:"

She has officially learned how to strike a pose.
Happy birthday, my sweet love! You light up our lives!

one small step for josie

Just shy of her first birthday, Josie officially began walking. She didn't want to perform for the camera when I actually took the time to GRAB the camera, but this gives you a general idea. And by the way, today is her birthday!

daddy daughter date

For Christmas, Bryan and I gifted each other books we thought the other would benefit from. I gave him a book on raising daughters which I thought would be helpful for both of us to read. It has had an impact for sure and reiterated to him the importance of quality time with his growing girls. Bryan used to regularly take Ella out on "dates" but the practice has gotten lost in the last couple of years for various reasons. As a sort of new years resolution, the hope is to get a daughter date in once a month.

When Bryan asked Ella if she'd like to go on a date earlier this week, the look on her face was priceless. She beamed! She was so excited, it was all she could talk about. When she woke up the morning of her date, she said, "I can't wait till tonight!" and she told all her friends at school that her dad was taking her on a date. When Bryan picked her up from school, she told many of the moms retrieving their kids the she was headed for her daddy date.

I helped her pick out a pretty dress and shoes and curled her hair and even let her wear some shimmery eye shadow and lip stick. She felt beautiful. As Bryan got ready, Ella requested that he get dressed up and "not wear jeans." She's an old fashioned girl, I suppose. So he got spiffy for her.

They left for the Chocolate Bar and Simon, Josie and I had pizza and played the Wii (which is a preferable date for Simon!) Ella ordered pizza at the restaurant and shared a beautiful chocolate dessert with her daddy. She ate quite a lot and he helped her with her manners, like eating slowly and putting her napkin in her lap. After she was quite full and let out a louder-than-she-expected burp, a look of embarrassment crossed her face and she leaned in to Bryan. "Pretend that was you, Dad, if anybody asks!!!"

On the way home, pondering the loveliness of her date night, she told Bryan, "Dad, I think it might be kind of weird if I married you."

Seeing her come alive with special Daddy time amazes me. What a high calling it is to be a parent and to have so much power to build up or tear down. I hope these times with Daddy will increase her confidence and desire to stay true to the lady she was created to be and that, through being pursued and honored, she will learn what it is to be treated rightly by the opposite sex. I love seeing her with her Daddy. She just adores him. In fact, last night at bedtime, we were all cuddled up reading books in her room and she was next to him. She told him with a smile, "Our date night never ends, Dad." He'll always be her number one fan.

christmas 2010 highlights

We had a lovely Christmas this year! The kids picked out our tree all by themselves. I actually stayed in with Josie since the weather was seriously frigid. I was very proud of myself for releasing the need to pick the perfect, most proportionate tree. They all did very well in my absence! It was a good exercise in letting go!

On the 22nd, Mimi flew in on a little charter plane. She was sick with a cold but was still in good spirits.

Uncle Josh came in on the 23rd bearing many amazing gifts. He's a very good gift giver and seemed to rather enjoy spoiling us all. Here he is beaming with satisfaction as his gifts go over big. (Sorry the photos in the post are all terrible!)

Uncle Josh, my big brother.

For Simon, the big hit was the matching Spiderman gloves and hat, which he didn't want to remove until he started sweating.

Uncle Josh made Ella's dreams come true by gifting her the entire set of Narnia books.

We celebrated Christmas Eve at the church with a candlelight service. Ella was thrilled to read some of the Christmas story up on the stage although she was suffering from a rather nasty runny nose.

 

Christmas morning, we celebrated in our normal way. Bryan sat with the kids and told the story of Jesus' birth and the kids threw in their two cents as well. Then we opened our stockings. The kids were thrilled with all the little treasures, especially the new toothbrushes! I love that they get so giddy over Crest spin brushes. And of course, the large tin of m&ms which they've come to expect. We also gave Ella a Magic Tree House (Christmas in Camelot) book which was the only thing she asked for specifically this year. She was ECSTATIC to open it and had it read cover to cover within a couple of days.

We spent Christmas day with the Mowrey clan and had lots of fun eating and laughing and opening gifts. I'm still trying to find the room for all the kids' loot!

I promise we didn't let her actually eat candy canes.

Amidst the loot

batman birthday

Simon requested a batman party this year to celebrate turning four. (Can it really be true that he's already four??!) We haven't really done a "proper" party for him in the past since we learned through experience (Ella is always the guinea pig) that smaller parties are better until the child is a bit more mature and able to handle all the activity and attention. (Ella always cried when a crowd sang her happy birthday.) This was the first year that we instituted the "guests equal the number of years you are" rule. Simon was able to invite four of his closest buddies and we had a swell time celebrating dark knight style.

We decked out the table with all his favorite junky foods (and threw in some carrots for good measure.)

Always gotta have the chocolate cupcake.

Simon is into all things super hero these days and I wanted him to be able to dress up as Batman for the day. He already had a super cool mask, but no attire. I found some cheap Batman pajamas online at Walmart and considered that the costume. I tracked down capes at Oriental Trading Company and was able to get one for each of our guests so they could join in the fun! The only problem was, the day before the party, I gathered my things to assemble Batman goody bags when I noticed I hadn't counted Simon in on the total when I ordered the capes. I was one cape short! I envisioned teary meltdowns as Simon handed out capes to all his friends and didn't have one for himself. It was too late to order another one (DRAT!) Fortunately, I had a remnant of black satin stored away in the basement (leftover from the dress I had made for my senior prom...gasp!...I am NOT a hoarder!) I whipped together a cape, amidst muttering under my breath how annoyed I was at myself for miscounting, that made Simon look the part! He wore it all day and has even asked to sleep in it (I denied the request since it ties around the neck and I was afraid he'd wake up in the night strangulating!)

The boys all played nice and there were no tears, fights or black eyes. I was rather pleased with the whole affair! There was even space for some adult conversation! My only regret is that we didn't wrestle all the boys down to get a photo of them in their capes. It was a little too high energy to remember such things...

Simon got a batmobile from his friend Gabe. It's super cool.

simon's bedroom makeover

For Simon's fourth birthday (Dec. 9) I decided that his big present should be a room makeover. When we moved to this house almost four years ago, Simon's room was a bit of an after thought. He was only six months old, still slept in our room, and there was too much going on to really put much thought into his play space. As he's gotten older and needed more room to play, I've felt slightly guilty that I never made his room special or suited to him. It's kind of been the "whatever-is-handed-down-or-leftover" room. And it wasn't inviting for play or imagination because it was crowded, disorganized and small.

When Ella got a bunk bed, Simon insisted on spending weekend nights in her room, and that underscored my feeling that he needed to feel excited about his own space. We conned my dad and step mom into lugging another IKEA loft/bunk bed when they visited us for Thanksgiving and I set to work on the makeover the week before Simon turned four. Here are the before and afters...

Bed, before: It was a platform bed and was awesome for transitioning from a crib to big boy bed. But with a small room, it was impractical since there was no way to store anything underneath.

Bed, after: IKEA Kura Reversible bed with canopy. Instant imagination tunnel and tons of space to play underneath. I imagine making some curtains that could enclose the play space below to create a hideout if he fancied. Someday, maybe.

You'll also notice that I (along with my amazing painting gal pals) painted the walls a deep navy blue. It was a risk in such a small room, but the large windows and coat of crisp white on all the trim make it pretty sharp. All the bright colors POP against this deep blue backdrop. I'm in love with the color! The star wall light stays on most of the time, especially at night, because the deep hue on the walls absorbs light and it gets super dark under the canopy.

Closet, before: It was nothing special. The doors are made of thick particle board and couldn't be any cheaper or more unimpressive. Simon used them for collecting random stickers.

Closet, after: I used an entire can of magnetic primer under a fresh coat of white. I wanted Simon to be able to spell words and use his magnetic letters and phonics system on the face of the doors. But even after ten coats, the primer is only strong enough to hold the thinnest, flattest magnets. The larger letter magnets barely stay on. It's still kind of neat though.

Ceiling/Light fixture, before: TERRIBLE! Ugh! Plaster textured ceiling with ancient, not so cool vintage flush mount light.

Ceiling/Light fixture, after: I hand drew some simple, cartoon clouds and used the remnants of an old can of blue paint I had leftover from Ella's room at our old house. I love the way it turned out! (Ignore the bit of white still left around the base of the new fixture...I'll have to touch that up!)

And the light fixture was such a fun shade of yellow, it was what gave me the inspiration to move forward with a dramatic shade of midnight blue. They complement each other, don't they?

Wall art, before: I kept the airplane decals that I had used in his room before because I thought he'd miss them.

 

  

Wall art, after:  Fortunately, the decals show up better on this new wall color. The same goes for the pinball glass that has always hung in his room. It is highlighted and more noticeable now.

He loves it, and I am thrilled to have done such a massive overhaul on his room! The amazing thing is, I was able to achieve pretty dramatic changes without spending much money since paint is the biggest alteration and the bed and lights were IKEA-mazingly affordable! It was fun to do and I hope it will bring him hours of imaginative play.