Not Quite...

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Daddy wasn't able to make it home in time for dinner tonight so Mommy let the kids choose a movie to watch while dinner was prepared. They chose Veggie Tales - "Esther, the Girl Who Became Queen".

Honor: "We like Esther."

Mommy: "Yep."

Connor: "We celebrate Esther."

Mommy: "Well, we read about her in the Bible. She's very important. She even has a whole book about how she saved the Israelites."

Connor: "No! We celebrate her!"

Mommy: "No, honey, we don't celebrate her. We read about her."

Connor: "No! With eggs. We celebrate Esther with eggs!"

I thought we'd covered that one...back to the drawing board!

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Overheard...

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Honor: "A problem is a mistake that you did wrong."

Ariana: "Mmmhmmm."

Honor: "So you need to do it right."

Ariana: "Oh."


Yet again, tone of voice is everything. Honor said all this in her best teacher voice and Ariana responded in her best student voice. This is a serious topic after all!
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Mommy's Name

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Honor received a new wand pen for Christmas and a pad of paper--this was actually one of her favorite "toys"...I'm so lucky I have such easily amused children!

Last night, Honor was going around taking everyone's "order" for dinner. After a while, she wanted to write my name.

"How do you spell your name, Mommy?"

"Honor, you know how to spell my name."

"No, I don't. How do you spell it?"

"Why don't you give it a try and then I will tell you if you have it right or not, okay?"

"Okay."

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A few minutes later, she returned with this:
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"Here, Mommy. I'm done. It says, 'I don't know'."

That's my girl!

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Books

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Connor picked up Grandma's book off the table at Grandma's house.

"Son, you need to put that down."

"But Mom, I want to read it."

"Tell you what. If you can read...this word, I will let you look at the book," I said, pointing to the biggest word on the page, knowing he could not possibly read the word...I was safe in my "trickery".

"Man-u-fact-ur-ing...Manufacturing!"

Sigh.

Grandma, you need to read harder books...

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Out to Lunch

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Overheard while Mommy was making lunch:

Honor (in her best British accent): "I would like to order one chicken breath, a bird wing, and a strawberry."

Connor (in his best waiter accent): "Nope. Sorry. We're all out of that."

Honor: "Hmmm... I would like a peanut butter sandwich, please."

Connor: "Nope. Sorry. We're all out of that."

Honor (in her normal voice): "No, Connor! This is a restaurant. You have everything we ever want to eat!"

Connor: "Oh."

Honor (British accent): "I would like to order one chicken breath, a bird wing and a strawberry, please."

Connor: "Okay. Here you go!"

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Another Prayer

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I mentioned that my favorite time of day is the children's bedtime...mostly because of Connor. I told him a while back that we need to make sure we are putting thought behind our prayers and not just repeating the same thing every time (in his case it was: "Dear Jesus, thank you we ate dinner, please heal grandma Maria. In Jesus' name, Amen"...EVERY TIME). So, ever since I encouraged him to really think about his prayers, he really thinks hard about them. And each is slightly more creative than the last.

And all of them make me want to laugh.

Here was tonight's:

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you we had dinner.
And Jesus, you are good.
And I love you.
And I trust you.
But not the girls, 'cause they're naughty.
And please heal grandma Maria.
In Jesus' Name I pray,
Amen

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New Word

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Honor: "Mom, the Air Conflushioner fell on the ground! You need to pick up the Air Conflushioner because I don't want it to accidentally spray me in the eye."



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Blankies

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Honor refers to her blankie as if it were a little person.

"Mommy, have you seen Blankie? She is lonely. She needs me....Oh! There she is! Hi there, Blankie!"

and Connor takes it one step further...

"Mom, my blankie wants to give me a hug. He loves me. He is my best friend."

...

Yep.

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Peels

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Is it weird that my daughter, Honor, eats the insides of banana peels, would go so far as to fish them out of the top of the garbage to do so, and encourages her brother and sister to do the same?

It is?

Just checking...

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Coloring

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In honor of Christmas, I went through and found a bunch of online coloring pages of various parts of the Biblical Christmas story.

Samuel, while coloring a picture of the star over Bethlehem: "I'm coloring ba-by Jesus', hooousssse!"

Connor, who prefers to get his pictures colored as fast as possible so that he can go on to the next one, was coloring a picture of the entire manger scene:"Look, Mom! They are all wearing black. And the barn is black. And the roof is black. Farms look good in black, don't they Mom?"

Honor: "Ariana is distracting me, so I can't write my name! I wrote the 'H' three times!"

Ariana colored a little girl praying: "It's me! See my pink teddy. I'm praying to Jesus."

... I love my job!

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Tucking Connor In

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Tucking Connor in at night is probably one of my favorite things to do. He tells me the most random things and we have the best conversations. Usually these conversations involve how cool he is or how strong he is.

Like tonight...

Connor:

I fixed the girls' book for them. Aren't I cool? I used my strength. I am so strong! I just had to keep trying and working at it and the arm came out of the string. Keep trying and you can get it right.


-----------------------

And then, of course, his prayers are very sweet and amusing...

Connor:

Dear Heavenly Father

Thank you for this day. And I ate dinner.

And Jesus, you are a good girl...I mean man. And thank you for Mommy. She is a good girl and I am very thankful for her. And I am thankful for everything that you made. You are a good Creator and I love you a lot.

In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.

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Mmmm... A Day in Bed!

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Because the older three kids' rooms are in the basement, and because I try to make the basement as "Samuel friendly" as possible, I have the kids lock their doors after they are dressed so that Samuel can't get in there and "rearrange" things. I unlock their rooms for them when they need to get in there, but in general they stay locked all day. For the most part the kids are fine with this situation--they don't want him messing up their stuff. However, there are times when Connor would like to play with his space shuttle bed during the day. He doesn't actually tell me about this until bedtime though, so there is little I can do to help him out. And then, the way he tells me is not very straight-forward.

Connor: "Mom, I want to stay in bed ALL day."

YES!!!!!

Mommy: "We can't always do what we want to do, Son."

Connor: "But I want to sleep All day."

Mommy: "Well, I would like to stay in bed all day sometimes too, Son, but I have things that have to be done so that I can take care of you. I have to cook for you, I have to do dishes, I have to do laundry, I have to change Samuel's diapers and get him dressed...there's a lot of things that have to be done every day just to do the bare minimum. So even though I want to stay in bed all day, I can't. We can't always do what we want."

Connor pats my arm in commiseration.

Connor: "I'll cook and do the dishes and the laundry so that you can stay in bed ALL day tomorrow."

Isn't he sweet?

Now, if only he was capable of making good on that promise...

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Hiding Place

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Samuel: "I don't WAAAAANT to go to nap!!!"

He runs into the closet and shuts the door while I close the curtains and make his bed.

Mommy (in a very sarcastic voice): "It's a good thing you hid in there! There's no way I can find you in there!"

Sarcasm is lost on small children.

Samuel: "I'm in the closet! I'm in here!"

And, because the kids are constantly talking about how you shouldn't hide from Mommy after the fiasco with Ariana, he came right out of the closet, ready to go to bed.

Nice.

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Aw...Isn't That Sweet?

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Connor is one to repeat his favorite sayings over and over again. His favorite saying = anything that has ever given him a good reaction from Mommy. They start off really sweet and nice, but he uses these favorite sayings several times a day until Mommy's reaction is anything but "good".

Some of these sayings include:

• "But, I love you, Mom!" (Now, I am all for a good, "I love you" said a million times a day, but add a whiny voice to the "love you" and a tackle leg hug at inopportune times and you will see why this has over-stayed its welcome)

• "Jasmine is my best friend." (Followed by a tackle big hug around Jasmine's neck and/or rolling around on her filthy dog bed. Enough said.)

• "I want to keep you forever, Mom" (Usually said while in bed tucking him in...and followed by a no-holds barred death grip where I literally have to peel him off of me)

• "You are the best Mommy in the whole world" (Usually said when I am on the computer and there is something he wants to look at...he is not allowed to hover around the computer so he has figured out that if he says this while giving me a big hug, he can peek at what I am doing. My son is nothing if not smart...)

All of these are very sweet things to say, but he doesn't just say them once or twice a day...more like once every ten minutes. And it is always very random. And it is usually because he wants to see what I am doing (i.e., when I am cooking dinner and he's not allowed in the kitchen--"But, I love you, Mom" comes out.)

And then of course, I look like the mean Mom when he uses these to interrupt my conversations with visitors and I respond, "that's nice, Son....go play."

He has wizened up though and he now bypasses me completely when I am in a conversation with a guest. The guest doesn't know his tricks yet.

"I love you, Steph. You are the best Steph, ever!" he says in his sweet little whiny voice.

"Oh, I love you too Connor!"and up he goes on the visitor's lap...just where he wanted to be. He is now an active interrupter member of the conversation and has full access to the guest's necklace, watch, earrings, buttons, zippers...anything that he can randomly play with until said guest realizes his or her mistake and puts him down.

Oh...he's good.

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Theology

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Motherhood is an exercise in quick thinking. Because, you know, Moms have to know everything...



Connor: My teeth help me cut my nails.

Mommy: Ugh! That's gross, Son! Don't chew your nails.

Connor: Why?

Mommy: Because it's bad manners.

Connor: Oh. What does the Bible have to say about that?

Mommy: Hmmm... Well that's a good question, Son. I don't think the Bible talks about that specifically, however, in this instance I think "Honor your mother" would work--Mommy thinks that's gross...don't do it.

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New Friend

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"Kiki...don't jump. It's okay, Kiki, I'll keep you from falling. HOLD STILL! Hee hee, that tickles, Kiki!"

Yes, you guessed it. Honor had "caught" a fly and had it climbing all over her hands and arms. It is now her new best friend.

*sigh*

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Play With Me!

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We've been working on treating others they way you want to be treated. All of the kids understand the concept, but sometimes the execution of this wisdom falls short.

All Samuel ever wants to do is play with his older brother. Of course, Connor doesn't always want to play with him. Sometimes Samuel is okay with this and will play with something else. Other times, Samuel feels the need to hit him over the head until he decides to play with him--some might call it a bit cavemanish.

This morning I built a set of train tracks for Samuel in an attempt to keep him out of the other kids way. Samuel loves the trains and happily sat there "choo chooing" around the track.

Connor immediately wanted to play with the tracks, but not with the brother. Samuel didn't care that Connor dismantled his tracks and rebuilt it so that Samuel only had a tiny section with which to play. But Samuel did care when Connor took the rest of the tracks and moved about three feet away. When Samuel followed, Connor moved again. When Samuel followed again, Connor started to move again, but Samuel wouldn't hear of it.

"Owwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!" Connor cried (have I mentioned that he has the most irritating whiny cry ever...he really does.)

"Samuel, don't hit! Connor, just move your body, not the tracks." I said calmly from across the room. Samuel merely wanted to play at the same track set as Connor...he didn't care if he was on the other side of the tracks, just as long as they were together.

Connor ignored my sage words of advice and again tried to move the tracks. Samuel hit him with a train.

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!"

"SAMUEL! DON'T HIT! ...Connor, share with him!" This time I followed up my admonition with a lecture to Connor.

"Are you treating Samuel the way you would want to be treated?"

"No," he whined. He knew where this conversation was headed.

"And what is happening as a result?"

"He's hitting me."

"Do you think that if you played with him instead of trying to be selfish with your toys, that he might stop hitting you?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Then play with him."

Now you might think I am being unfair to poor Connor...after all, he's the one who keeps getting hit. But he has two factors against him: a. he was the one who originally came over to play with Samuel's tracks-- and Samuel was wanting to share with him--Connor was wanting to steal the tracks for himself... a natural response for a sinful 2 year old is to hit. What other recourse does he have??? and b. Connor is five and Samuel is two...although Samuel was wrong in hitting, Connor is old enough to learn how to change his behavior to keep from having fights in the first place, so that I am not constantly having to play policeman...

But I digress...

Two minutes of quiet followed my lecture. Then... "OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!" However, this time I had been watching. Samuel hadn't hit Connor, he had just moved the track and accidentally bumped him. Connor was just worked up because he wasn't getting his way and when he does that, he tends to throw unnecessary fits. The next step, if I do not intervene and calm him down, will be Connor either hitting Samuel or biting Samuel--and he does both of those maliciously. It takes a lot to get him worked up, but once he is there, it is just an accident waiting to happen.

So, I intervened.

"Connor, go sit in the corner until you are calm enough to actually play with your brother...or at least until you are calm enough to play somewhere else without having a meltdown. And no whining!"

Connor immediately stopped the siren sound that irritates me so much and sat quietly crying in the corner. It is my version of counting to ten and he is free to leave the corner as soon as he feels he is under control. All of the kids take turns in the no-fit corner, but Connor might as well have his name written in gold on the wall.

But Samuel wasn't done playing with his brother.

"Samuel, stay away from him, Connor needs to calm down."

So Samuel did the only thing he could think of. He went and sat in the opposite corner.

Poor Connor...it must be horrible to be so idolized.

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What I Learned from Thanksgiving/Ariana's Birthday

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Ariana turned four yesterday...my baby girl is growing up so fast!

Well, I thought I would take advantage of Ariana not really understanding Thanksgiving, but desiring a party. So...Thanksgiving at cousin Brandon's house became (to Ariana's little mind) Ariana's birthday party. She didn't care...there were lots of people to play with, and she got to eat pie. It was a perfect day for her.

Ariana really enjoyed her day overall. She helped me bake her birthday cake, which was the highlight of her birthday....she got to lick the bowl. We also did other fun things like open presents and skip nap.

Yes, you heard me correctly...we skipped nap.

So, without further ado, here are some of the things I learned yesterday:

• Ariana REALLY likes cake batter.
• Telling small children that they should stay away from tiny infants is like telling flies to stay away from honey--it's not going to happen.
• Pecan pie is the best food ever made.
• Children are not very reasonable when they skip their naps.
• Although the food coloring LOOKS red, if it has a yellow cap, it is probably yellow.
• Blue and Red make purple...Yellow and Blue make green (okay I already knew that, but Ariana's cake sure didn't look right with green frosting...)
• Girls don't care if their frosting is green...as long as the sprinkles are pink.
• Grandma (in Iowa) likes to send the most obnoxious birthday cards ever. The kind with little singing people that the kids absolutely must play with over and over and over again....and fight over.
  
• Cake for dinner works well when you eat lunch at 3:00.
• If kids skip their nap, they think they are staying up late when it gets dark outside at 6 pm.
• From now on it is either Thanksgiving or Ariana's Birthday Party...Mommy gets too tired when it is both!

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New Bedtime Song

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Samuel recently chose a new bedtime song, seemingly at random. The song is "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". I really have no idea where he learned this song, but he started asking me to sing the "baseball song", and this was the only one I could think of. He liked it when I sang it and it became his new favorite bedtime song.

The last couple nights, he has attempted to sing it with me. Here is his version: (words that are capitalized are the ones he yells with a huge grin on his face)

Take me.....BALL GAME

Take me........mumble

Buy me PEANUTS AND CRACK-ER JACKS

I ..... care .... BACK

Root, root, root for .... .... TEAM

If they don't win, THEY SHOULD SHARE

.... ONE, TWO, THREE mumble mumble

mumble BALL GAME!!!!

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Educational Television

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TV: Nine

(shows an image of a finger drawing a 9 with a circle and then a straight line down.)

Ariana: That's not a NINE! That's a P!

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Fly Swatter

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Honor to fly:

"Come here fly so I can kill you. It won't hurt. Hold still!"

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Do Unto Others

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Samuel is the best example ever for Luke 6:31

He is a complete mimic of his older siblings. If he gets hit, he will hit back. If Connor plays swords with his toy, Samuel plays swords with the same toy exactly the same way. If the kids share with him, he shares with them. If the kids play with him, he plays with them. If the kids yell at him, he yells at them.

I'm telling you, God couldn't have given me a better object lesson for my older three than their baby brother!

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Good Answer

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We encourage our kids to lock their door when they are trying to sleep so that their siblings do not attempt to disturb said sleep. Their rooms are in the basement...in their play area...so they often get up when they are not supposed to and play before we get a chance to catch them in the act. (We have a key for each of the rooms so we can get in and out, but the kids cannot.) Before we started having them lock their doors, when one sibling would wake up, the first thing they would do was try to wake up all the rest. Not very condusive to a good night's sleep!

Well, today during naptime, I heard doors being open and shut downstairs. Livid, I went storming down the stairs. Of course, both Connor and Ariana were in their rooms with the doors locked (Honor sleeps with me at naptime so I can make sure she takes a nap). I knew for sure Ariana had gotten up because I had heard her little voice in the basement only moments before, but I thought Connor had gotten up as well. Because both of their doors were locked, I tapped quickly on each of them--without saying anything--expecting them to jump up and unlock it for me like they usually do when they are awake.

Ariana didn't get up at all.

Connor responded like this: "Leave me alone! I'm supposed to stay in bed!"

He thought I was Ariana trying to play with him. He won the prize for obedience today!

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Time is Relative

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I really need to work on explaining time better to my girls...

Honor: "Aw, Mom! We've been waiting for a minute!"

Ariana: "When I grew up, when I was a baby, I slept in a cradle." (she didn't by-the-way, but that's what her dolls do...)

Honor: "Last week, when I was a baby, I was really cute!"

Honor: "Grandma is coming yesterday!"

Ariana: "Next week, when I am a Mommy..."

(I may add to this list...they say a lot of these types of sayings...these are all I can remember off the top of my head)

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"Laughter Through Tears is My Favorite Emotion"

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The kids and I came home from a playdate just in time for a good nap. While I was changing Samuel's diaper, I heard the girls in the bathroom getting into stuff they knew they weren't supposed to be getting into. They knew they were in trouble when I caught them. Ariana went running downstairs. I decided to finish putting Samuel to bed and then I would talk to her about it when I put her to bed.

Five minutes later, I was walking downstairs. I went to Ariana's room...the door was locked. "Ariana?" I called. No answer. I looked around the basement calling her name. No answer. This was very unusual--Ariana always answers. I figured she must be hiding, not wanting to get in trouble. I went upstairs and looked in all the closets and the pantry, calling her name. No answer. The backdoor was locked. The front door was locked. The garage door...was unlocked, and the actual garage door was open since we had just gotten home. I panicked. I ran outside and looked in the truck. No Ariana. I started screaming her name. No answer. I ran around the property, screaming her name at the top of my lungs. No answer. I thought for sure a cow and stepped on her.

By this point, Honor and Connor were also getting a little scared. They were helping me call for her. Still no answer. I grabbed the phone, about to call Daddy and then the police. I screamed once more at the top of my lungs inside the house. This time I got an answer.

Ariana came walking upstairs yelling for me. She had been hiding in Connor's room, playing "hide from Mommy". It was the one room in the house I didn't look in because I thought his door was locked like Ariana's had been.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" I yelled. And then I started bawling inconsolably. I picked up Ariana and hugged her to me as tight as I possibly could. She started crying too and promised me she would never hide from me again.

I put her down in bed for nap and tucked her in. Once I could form a coherent sentence without blubbering, I knelt to pray. I thanked God for keeping her safe. I thanked Him that we found her and that she was unharmed. I asked Him to comfort me and calm me down. Then I asked Him to help Ariana take a good nap.

Honor: Can I pray too?

Mommy: Of course!

Honor knelt by Ariana's bed solemnly and spoke in a very serious little voice:

"Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you that Ariana was in Connor's room..."

I burst out laughing. I must have looked really silly to the kids. In their minds, Ariana was just in Connor's room. What's so scary about that?

And with the laughter through tears...God comforted me and calmed me down, releasing the burden of panic I had felt. I love it when He answers prayers immediately.

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Play Dough

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I won a small fight in my never-ending battle to escape the holds of obsessive compulsiveness/ perfectionist tendencies today. I am actually quite proud of myself. Until recently, I was a bit paranoid about play dough colors mixing. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I have actually spent time taking specks of the "wrong" colors out of the play dough cups. sigh.

But today I had a break-through. Guess what? Play dough costs less than $0.50 each....even less if I were creative enough to make it myself! If the kids want to mix it together...that's... OKAY.

Take a deep breath. It's just play dough.

I think I shall make this my new philosophy on life.

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MOOOOOOOOOOOM!

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Do you know how many times a day I hear the word, "MOM" whined at me??? I'm starting to cringe any time I hear the word.

"Moooom! I don't WANT to eat that!"
"Moooooooooooom! Connor is biting Samuel!"
"Moooooom! Honor just took the peanut butter jar downstairs!"
"Mooooooooom! Ariana is LOOKING at me!"

...it's enough to make me want to scream. Which I did the other day. I screamed and threw the dry mop up the stairs. My kids looked at me like I had gone crazy...maybe I have.

I need a vacation.

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What a Bargain!

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Okay, I'll admit it....I am not above bribing my eldest daughter to actually sleep at naptime. There are several days out of the week where she does not take a nap, but anytime Mommy is tired or we've done a lot and I know she is tired, it becomes a requirement. Honor has gotten the routine down. She uses the restroom, washes her hands, climbs under the covers of Mommy's bed (Ariana won't sleep if she is in her own room), gets comfy, then turns to Mommy and makes her request, "If I take a nap, can I...?"

Usually it is something easily acquiesced to...such as "can I play outside?" or "can I read my princess book?", etc. Occasionally I will have to say, "no", but that is very rare.

Here was today's request.

Honor was sitting on the toilet, looking up at me with her big brown eyes, dimple pulled out for good measure.

"Mommy, if I take a good nap, can I clean the bathtub?"

I wiped a tear from my eye as I responded, "Yes, Baby. You can clean the bathtub...but only if you take a REALLY good nap."

...she is sleeping as I type...



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>>> TWO HOURS LATER<<<


Honor sits up and rubs the sleep out of her eyes. From the corner of my eye, I watch as she places her legs over the side of the bed and slides out onto the floor. She marches groggily into the bathroom.

"Watcha doin?" I ask.

She yawns. "Just going to clean the bathtub."

I hear her pick up the scrub brush that I used clean the bathroom floor. I hear the swish of a brush moving back and forth four times.

Honor comes back into the room and announces, "All done. Now may I have some candy?"


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Cleaning Up Toys

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Moms tell us that cleaning up messes has a way of helping a child learn that it is easier not to make the mess in the first place, or at least to make it a smaller one. The child soon experiences firsthand that he reaps what he sows: big mess equals big cleanup time...

"Managers of Their Chores: A Practical Guide to Children's Chores"
page 28

Maybe my kids should read this book...

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Can't See the Cows for the Fly

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Sitting at the breakfast table...

Daddy: "Samuel, what's that?"

Samuel: "A bug." (There was a fly on the window)

Daddy, chuckling: "No, Samuel. What is out there?"

Samuel, as if Daddy was a bit crazy: "A bug."

Daddy: "No. They're cows."

Samuel, matter-of-factly: "Nope. It's a bug."

Daddy starts laughing.

He came up with a plan to get Samuel to see beyond the glass.

Daddy: "Look! Big Bird!"

Samuel: "Where!"

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What Does the Bible Say?

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A common question around my house is, "What does the Bible say about kindness?" Typically it is Connor who responds first, "Be kind one to another!" and then he attempts to show kindness to his siblings...or so I thought.

Last night, while cooking dinner, we had a picturesque family moment. All four kids had pushed their chairs up around the kitchen island and were "helping" Mommy by pouring pre-measured ingredients into the skillet and pot. Daddy was standing next to the kitchen table, enjoying watching his family.

Then the fight over who got to hold the instant potatoes pouch began. Daddy quickly grabbed the pouch, fearing that his precious potatoes might get spilled.

"It's okay, Honey," I said smugly. Turning to the kids, I put on my best lecturing tone, "Kids. I thought you were big enough to help me in the kitchen, but I am not seeing any kindness. If you can't show kindness to each other, then no one will get to pour the pouch in." And I put the pouch back in the middle of the island.

There was an immediate response. Honor smiled sweetly at Ariana, "I love you, Ariana!". Connor smiled at Honor, "I love you, Honor". Ariana picked up the pouch and handed it to Connor, "here you go, Connor." In their minds, they figured that the child that was the kindest would be the one to pour in the potatoes.

I turned back to the stove, happy in the kids' silence.

Suddenly that silence was broken by Daddy yelling, "No! Knock it off! You can't help Mommy anymore. Get downstairs!" and he "escorted" them kicking and screaming down to their playroom.

What???

When he came back upstairs I questioned him about it. "What was that all about? They weren't hurting the pouch. They couldn't get it open without scissors. I don't understand."

Daddy looked at me, still miffed at the kids. "It wasn't the pouch. While your back was turned, I watched Honor squeeze Connor's arm, and Connor pinch Ariana, who turned around and squeezed his arm. They were being quiet so you wouldn't hear them."

Aw.

Well, at least they were working together...

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I Want, I Want, I Want

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There are certain values that I want to instill in my children--okay, there really is a long list of values that I want to instill in my children--but topping that list is the value of giving and serving others. I want them to be thankful for the gifts they receive (which, in general, they are...except for that one time...which Honor was later abundantly thankful for and bragged about), and I want them to enjoy giving to others from their heart.

However, toy manufacturers feel it is their responsibility to destroy any effort on my part to teach a spirit of giving...unless I intend to give my children everything in their catalogs. Somewhere down the line, various toy stores/manufacturers discovered that I have four children and they began sending us catalogs. It was innocent enough at first. I actually like Fisher Price and so their catalogs helped determine some of the toys we got for our kids. But we now have to hide the mail the moment we walk in the door.

It started with Connor. "Mommy, I really like batman, and geo tracks, and legos, and astronauts, and power rangers, and superman..." (you get the idea)

"Well, Son. That is nice that you like all those things, and God has blessed you with many wonderful toys. Instead of thinking about all the things that you want to have, why not think about the things that you can give to others?"

"I think that Samuel likes batman too. Maybe we could get him the batman toy and maybe we could teach him to share it with me..."

Nice try, Son.

Then the JC Penney's catalog came in the mail. That one never made it to the kitchen table, but somehow Ariana found it in one of our unpacked boxes in our room.

"Mommy, I want the princess castle!"

I didn't even bother with explanations. "That's nice, Dear. Now give Mommy the catalog." Amazingly enough, the catalog was found by the garbage men a few days later. How did that get in there???

This evening Daddy went over to our old house to check the mail. He returned home with a pile of unforwarded mail...one of which was an American Girl catalog. Let me tell you, we've gotten these before and I have always been very diligent about removing these from the pile before I even entered the house--I do not want to open that can of worms. (Besides, these dolls scare me...don't ask.) But Daddy is not quite as diligent.

As expected, Honor pounced on the "pretty dolly magazine!".

"Mommy! I want this little girl."

"Honor, you already have several pretty dollies."

She silently read through her magazine some more.

"Mommy, I think it would be wonderful to have this outfit so I could match my dolly."

"That would be nice. Maybe when Mommy learns how to sew, I can make an outfit for your dolly."

That pacified her for a few minutes.

"Mommy. Just one more thing. I think I would like to get all of these for my dolly."

"That would be nice. Do you have the money to buy all that?"

"Nooo! Quit teasing!"

"I'm not teasing. I don't have the money to buy all that, so I figured you must."

She groaned and thought about it for a minute.

"Okay. Then I only want this one thing for my dolly."

I just laughed out loud at her "one thing"...a miniature TV and remote control for her dolly. Yeah. Like that would ever happen.

Sigh.

Perhaps tomorrow we can work on the value of money...

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You Just Have to Hear It

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There is nothing cuter than hearing a 2-year-old boy say, "mmm. mmm. mmm. This hot dog is delicious!"

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Limited Exposure

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There's a sure-fire way to tell when my kids have been spending an unbalanced time in one activity or another. Begin limiting their exposure to that activity.

Yes, my kids are normal...they will complain when they no longer get to do their newest favorite activity, but it is what they do after that shows me they've truly been spending too much time there.

For example...

Wii Mario Party 8

Two days after I stopped letting them play this every day, I walked into the front room and they had "built" their own. They took their cardboard blocks and made a game board with it. Then they took their little Donkey Kong figurine they got from some kid's meal a long time ago, and made it into the ending spot. They threw their fists in the air like they were hitting pretend dice and moved their little people figurines around the game board.

It's a good thing Grandma spent all that money on their birthday present... who needs to play with the toy when you can play with a box?


TV

Because of the move, my kids have watched a whole lot more TV than they've ever really done before. What can I say? Grandma was right when she called it the electronic babysitter and I had a lot of packing and unpacking to do.

I have once again removed morning TV (except yesterday when the ADT guy came over and they were trying to follow him around the house...TV helps).

Today at the breakfast table, my older three were making up theme songs for their toys. ♫ "It's the pink rabbit, Hop, It's the blue rabbit, Hop, It's the yellow rabbit, Hop, It's the purple rabbit, Hop! Together they work together to save people. Yeah! Let's Go Rabbits!" ♫



Yes. My kids have imaginations. Perhaps I should begin limiting their exposure to nuclear physics...

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Can You Say Cranky?

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For the last few days, I have been opting out of naps with Honor so that I can get some work done. Honor usually only needs a nap when we've been doing a lot of walking in the morning, and since the majority of my mornings the last two weeks have been spent unpacking and cleaning, she hasn't had too much exertion, thus the nap has been unnecessary.

I think she may have needed one today. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from bedtime this evening (most of which were said in a wailing voice):

Honor: What are we going to do in the morning?

Mommy: I don't know. Maybe read some books and play.

Honor: No! I will never read books and play ever again!!!

(She wanted to hear something along the lines of either a. going somewhere or b. watching Angelina Ballerina, her new favorite show that we found on Netflix and has been a lifesaver when it comes to unpacking. But today we found out that we get the Smile of a Child network for free on regular tv...I am so excited!!!)

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About ten minutes after I put the kids to bed, Daddy heard some screaming downstairs. As usual, Mommy was called upon to investigate.

Mommy: What is going on?

Ariana was lying in her bed, humming.

Honor: Ariana won't stop making noise. I told her to stop, but she wouldn't stop! And she's making so much noise that I can't smell my blankie!!!

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"My Mouth Hurts"

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We stayed home from church today--the first time in a long time. It started yesterday with Connor needing three breathing treatments (we are going to get a second opinion about his "no allergy" verdict--I'm not buying it!). I told Daddy that he should stay home with Connor today and I would go in since we were scheduled for nursery. Daddy's allergies have been really bad too, so I figured he could use the extra rest.

This morning, Samuel came into our room with a stuffy nose. I suggested that he should stay home too, even though he wasn't all that sick, I didn't want to risk infecting someone else. About 20 minutes later, Honor started screaming. I went down to her room and made it just in time to see her vomit. Ariana wasn't far behind. When Connor woke up, he showed me where he had vomitted in the night as well. Nice.

Thankfully, once the girls (and Connor) had lost it, they seemed fine. All four children obediently laid down on the couch in their pajamas and watched tv all morning. We actually got some stuff done.

Around noon, the kids told me they were hungry. I had given them a couple of crackers throughout the morning and they seemed to be holding their own, so I made up a nice batch of chicken noodle soup. That's when it all went south.

Honor found a piece of bread on the table and took a bite. "OUCH!!! The bread hurt my mouth!!!" She then began screaming histerically. Believe me, I had no idea what to do.

"What do you mean your mouth hurts? Do you mean your throat? What part of your mouth hurts?"

"Noooooooooo!!! My MOUTH hurts! See! Right there!!!" she wailed, pointing at her mouth. There was nothing there and her throat looked fine. She continued, "The raisin juice this morning made my mouth hurt!!!" (Raisin Juice = Grape Pedialyte)

"Honey, I don't think the juice hurt your mouth. Drink some water. That will make you feel better."

She obediently drank some water.

"It didn't work!!!!!!!"

I went to the kitchen and thanked Daddy for remembering to pack the childrens motrin. I gave her some medicine.

"It's not any better!!!!!"

"Give it a second, Honey. Why don't you try some soup...that might make you feel better."

Thankfully, she calmed down a little. Instead of simply wailing irrationally, she decided to try to figure out why her mouth hurt.

"I must have swallowed a cat."

Yep. That's probably it.

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Lessons I Learned on Our First Day Living on a Farm

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Okay...technically it is not a farm--we have only three animals (none of which are considered "farm" animals), and I have not yet started my garden--but it is 5.3 acres of pasture land smack dab in the middle of the "country", smack dab in the middle of the "city"....it's pretty nice.

Also, technically it has been about a day and a half--we moved our beds in yesterday and I dropped the kids off with grandma (THANK YOU GRANDMA!!!!) around 2ish so that I could help unpack and get things settled before we all spent the night and it is around 1 am the following day--but who's really counting???

Well, without further ado, here are the lessons I've learned:

Roosters crow at midnight--I had no idea. I knew they didn't just crow at sunrise, but midnight...really??? Mommy silently strikes "rooster" off the list of animals to incorporate into the family farm.

Fire alarms work even without being hooked up-- with the battery removed--really. Just ask Daddy. I woke him up around 3 am last night because I heard a loud beeping noise. We went to investigate together and found the culprit to be a fire alarm that we had thrown willy nilly into the bottom of the hall closet until Daddy could get around to putting a new one up. Daddy quickly removed the battery...and the alarm kept beeping. Can you say "freaky"??? Eventually the scary smoke alarm stopped beeping and we went back to sleep. Which leads me to the third lesson:

Curtains prevent small children from waking up 2 and a half hours before normal-- I know I have said multiple times that once I move into my "new house", I will start waking up with the sunrise, but I have decided that I want to ease into this...on a day when I went to bed before midnight and did not get woken up by a random fire alarm in the middle of the night.

Try as they might, children cannot whisper--After waking up 2 1/2 hours earlier than normal, I begged my darling daughters to try to be quiet so that they didn't wake up their brothers so that Daddy and I could attempt to ease into our early morning. They tried. Really, they did. I will give them a "D" for effort.

Water pooling in the ceiling of a freshly painted bedroom makes a nice balloon shape--yep...we've already had our first water line leak. I went down to the girls' room to unpack a box of their clothes only to find a giant water bubble dripping onto the freshly laid carpet. Daddy ripped the ceiling down to find that, not only had the ceiling been patched before (not very well apparently), but there was a bit of mold growing there. Nice. He followed the leak up to the laundry room, ripped open another hole in the wall and figured out that the water had been leaking very slowly from the washing machine valve since we first turned the water on to the house. Thankfully Mommy is married to the handiest husband around and he quickly replumbed the pipes. He would have repatched the wall and ceiling also, but his dad reminded him that the house insurance covers that so he opted to wait over the weekend and have a professional do it to save us a small amount of money.

A thoroughly sanitized jacuzzi bathtub feels wonderful after a grueling day of packing and unpacking--once you can get past what the tub used to look like and force yourself to relax. Yes. VERY nice.

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I Hear Music

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In the move, Daddy found his old Guitar Hero guitar that doesn't work anymore so he let the kids play with it. Most of the kids just played with it, but Ariana sang along with her pretend song. A future songwriter in the making...

♫ ♫
I love Mommy!
She is a precious girl

I love Mommy!
She is so beautiful!

I love Mommy!
She is a precious girl

I love Mommy!
The big, bad girl

I love Mommy!
The pre-cious girl

And I am precious too...

I love Mommy!
The pre...cious...GIRLLLLLLL

I love Mommy!
She is my favorite.
She is my favorite.
She is my favorite.

The precious girl.

Rock and roll!

♫ ♫

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Camping Highlights

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Daddy and Connor went on their yearly church men/boys campout. Here were the highlights that I, as a mere woman, was given.

Giant Bruise

Connor returned home with a giant, softball-sized/shaped bruise on his thigh. When asked how he got this perfect blue circle on his leg, I was told that Connor felt the need to chase all the boys that were twice his size as they rode their scooters around the big circle. Apparently, there are a lot of rocks in the area. Small child running faster than his little legs should go = fall on rocks and big bruise. Did he cry? "Yes. Until I got to him. Then he was fine. He was more upset when I told him he couldn't chase the boys anymore."

BB Gun

My son is five years old. Despite what other people may do, I never felt the need to encourage my five year old to shoot a gun. So when my husband started packing his BB gun and target trap, I asked a very logical question, "What do you think you are doing?" His answer wasn't quite so logical, "I'm going to teach Connor how to shoot a BB gun." My response wasn't very submissive, "No. You. Are. Not." It was then that my husband looked at me like I was the crazy one. "Honey. Lots of the guys bring their guns. This is just a BB gun. The worst thing that could happen would be he shoots his eye out." And he grinned at me like he thought it was all a big joke. HA. HA. HA. "Fine. But if he gets hurt, I will shoot YOU with a BB and see how YOU like it." As usual, it turns out I was worried for no reason. Connor isn't all that big. I was told that he couldn't hold the gun by himself or pull the trigger by himself...and after having Daddy shoot it in his hands a few times, he lost interest and went and played with the other boys. Oh well...there's always next year to turn him into a little soldier...

Potty Humor

What's a men/boy's retreat without learning to talk "like a boy"? Of course, this was a church retreat so the talk wasn't that bad, but Mommy is sensitive to talk about bodily functions--it's just not done. So after several repeats of his new favorite joke--basically adding the word "butt" after every sentence and laughing his head off--and his new found amusement in burps and flatulence, Mommy about had it. Even Daddy had to tell Connor, "Son, you are going to get me in trouble! If you keep talking like that, I'm not going to take you next year." It took a day or two, but he has finally stopped the potty humor. **sigh**

Roughhousing

Two days straight of roughhousing with boys who are the same age as him, but twice as big. Enough said.

The McDonald's Toy

For some reason, the guys always seem to feel the need to eat lunch at McDonald's on their way home...and to grab the toy. This year's toy was a "transformer ball"...that's what Connor calls it. Mommy calls it the "annoying toy that all the kids want to 'share' and Connor doesn't want them to have...and falls apart every time they drop it so that Mommy has to constantly turn it back into a ball" toy. It might just get lost in the move...

Father/Son Bonding

This came from our pastor. "Your boys had a great time. Connor absolutely had a blast and they had some wonderful bonding experiences. None of the boys wanted to leave." Thanks for sharing that pastor...otherwise I would have had no idea. You see the kind of information that they share with me...

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The Dog Locked Us Out

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Yes. I'm serious. Our dog locked us out of the house today.

See, Daddy took Connor on a Men/Boys church campout this weekend, so I decided to do something "special" with the other three and walk up to Subway for lunch--we haven't done that for a while and the weather was BEAUTIFUL today. Well, Daddy took our truck which has our house key on it--the other house key is on his mustang keys which is being borrowed by a friend of ours.

No big deal. We have an alarm on our house, so I set that and left the door unlocked. I could hear Jasmine panicking inside (She has had minor panic attacks when we leave since DeJour died--it's worse when I leave separate from Daddy...like today), but we went ahead and left anyway, figuring eventually she would calm down.

Fast forward nearly 2 hours.

I tried to open my door, and the dead bolt was locked. Impossible. At first I thought my neighbor must have come over and locked the door, but they would have called me first. So we walked to the back of the house and I had Honor climb in through the doggy door (I figured it didn't make much sense that a robber would go in our house and then lock the door) and unlock the back door for me. Jasmine had spilled water all over the kitchen floor.

And then it hit me. She locked the door. Somehow during her panic attack, she must have jumped up and hit the deadbolt.

She must not feel safe when we are gone...

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Time for a Potty Break

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Ariana: I want to sit on your lap.

Mommy: Okay!

I lift her up on my lap. She gives me a kiss. She looks at me and gives me a sweet smile.

Ariana: Don't worry. I won't pee on you.

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Another Dinner Conversation

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Honor is all about becoming a Mommy lately.


Honor: I'm almost a mama, Mom.

Mommy: No you are NOT.

Honor: I said ALMOST, Mom.

Mommy: No...you are not even almost a Mom.


She thinks about it for a moment.


Honor: How about in 20 minutes?

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I Have No Greater Joy Than to Hear That My Children Walk in Truth

Mommy: WHAT HAPPENED???

Honor: Mom. I'm going to be honest with you. We broke the curtains.

Mommy fought hard to keep a straight face.

Honor: I'm going to tell you the truth. Ariana didn't want me to pull on the curtains, but I wanted to make a swing. So I did. Ariana didn't want me to. But I swinged on it anyway. And it broke.

Mommy fought even harder to keep a straight face. Honor saw the twinkle in Mommy's eye and possibly a twinge at the corners of her mouth. She took advantage of the momentary weakness.

Honor flashed her dimple: Do you still love me?

And Mommy burst out laughing.

It's a good thing we're moving in a few days...

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Wants and Needs

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We were sitting around the breakfast table and the kids were chatting away like normal...

Honor: Mom, can we go to the store today and get me a new bike.

I laugh.

Mommy: Nope

Honor: But Moooommmm! I want a bike!

Mommy: We don't always get what we want.

And then Connor piped up:

"We don't always get what we want. We get what we need. And sometimes what we need is not what we want."

hmmm....do you think I say this a lot?

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I Don't Understand

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I went upstairs to tuck Samuel into bed for naptime. When I came back downstairs, Honor was running back and forth to the restroom with a bunch of wet wipes.

Mommy: What are you doing?

Honor: Ariana pee'd on the floor so I am cleaning it up.

That's nice.

I walked over to Ariana.

Mommy: Ariana did you pee on the floor?

Ariana, very sullen: Yes, Mom.

Mommy: Do you need new underwear?

Ariana: No. They're dry.

Mommy: Do you need a new dress?

Ariana: No. It's dry.

Mommy: If you didn't have an accident, why is there pee on the floor?

Ariana: Because I peed on the floor.

Honor walks past us to the laundry room.

Mommy: What are you doing?

Honor: I need to get new underwear.

Mommy: But Ariana doesn't need new underwear.

Honor: No, I need new underwear.

Mommy: Did you pee on the floor?

Honor: No, I just had a little accident in my underwear.

Mommy: So, who peed on the floor?

Honor: Ariana.



So...Ariana peed on the floor, but Honor needs new underwear... I don't get it.

Now time to go and REALLY clean the floor...

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Teeth Are Bad

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Yesterday, Samuel bit Connor HARD on his back, in self-defense (Connor was lying on top of him)...leaving quite the little bruise. (Samuel doesn't do things halfway...)

This morning, I looked at the bruise to see if it had gotten any better. The kids all came to look too.

Ariana felt the need to make this a teachable moment for her younger brother:

Samuel! You can't eat Connor!

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It's Circus Day Today!

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We went to the circus today for the first time as a family. It was a small circus, but the last time "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey" was in town, I priced out the tickets and found out it was going to cost around $160 just for the kids! Outrageous! But a friend of ours from church called me up yesterday and told me about the circus this morning and Daddy agreed it sounded like fun. So we drove for an hour to go to a substandard circus, in an outdoor arena, with swamp coolers to keep us from getting overheated. The people who passed out popcorn, etc., were the performers! They were dressed in normal concession clothes, but I figured it out when the guy passing out popcorn was wearing make-up--he was the slapstick comedian (clown without "make-up"). When I thought about it, I realized that I recognized two other performers as well. I felt really bad for them actually, that had to be a lot of work--some of them performed more than once!-- and then to pass out food too...they work real hard for the money!

But the kids had a blast! The animal shows weren't all that exciting--the lions and tigers looked like they were going to fall asleep the whole time--but the acrobats were neat, and the "Ring of Destiny" had me squeezing poor little Honor for comfort. The kids got free little American flags to swing around and stickers put on their shirts by clowns. At intermission, I took them all to get their face painted--only Connor and Ariana were interested in that (Connor got a basketball/hoop, and Ariana got a heart). Then we ate some cotton candy (they LOVED that!) and left before the second Act started (Samuel was falling asleep...too much excitement!)

Here were some conversations that happened at the circus:

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While watching the "cat act":

Daddy: I feel like watching "Beastmaster" now.

(It's a good thing we have Netflix...he's watching it as I write...reliving all that is "fantasmagorical")


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Daddy: Didn't you want to get your face painted?

Honor: No.

Daddy: Why not?

Mommy: She was scared of the clowns.

Daddy: Oh, Sweetie. They're okay. They're just people with their face painted.

Honor: But they have big shoes!

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As we were leaving, some men walked by and smiled at the kids.

Connor: They just wanted to look at my cool basketball!


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Mommy: What was your favorite part of the circus?

Honor: I liked the ponies!

Connor: I liked the face painting!

Ariana: I liked the cotton candy!

(So...basically everything that we could have at home...)

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Why Honor Needs to Grow Up

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Daddy: You're getting too big!

Honor: No I'm not!

Daddy: Yes you are! You need to stop growing up!

Honor: Noooo Dad! I need to be a Mommy!

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At Least She's Honest

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The rule in our house is, if you are over three, you must take a bite of everything on your plate before you can be dismissed from the table. Ariana attempted to get down without eating her green beans, so I gave her two green beans to eat. She took them and walked away.

She walked up to me five minutes later with mashed potatoes still in her mouth. For some weird reason, she refuses to swallow food she doesn't like...she just holds them in her mouth until we force her to swallow.

Mommy: Ariana, swallow your food!

She swallowed. I noticed she only had one green bean in her hand.

Mommy: Where did your other green bean go?

Ariana: It's gone.

Mommy: Where did it go?

Ariana: In Jasmine's mouth.

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A Little Princess

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My niece and nephew came over during naptime today. Because it was naptime, I decided they needed to have quiet time (since they couldn't actually take a nap). I allowed Honor, Connor and Ariana to stay up too since they were doing well.

So, I forced the kids to sit down on the couch to watch a movie. I let Honor choose: "A Little Princess" or "The Secret Garden". She chose "A Little Princess".

Right in the beginning, the child asks, "have you ever met a real princess?" And the response was: "All women are princesses. It is our right."

Right on cue, Connor chirped up, "Hear that! All women are princesses!"

Yep. That's right, Son. Remember that.

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Check Out This Blog

So...check out my friend Sarah's blog for a chance to win some beautiful earrings (and to read some humorous posts and see some awesome photography!)

And then I Married a Missionary: 7 New Things and a Surprise Ending

Things I Love About My Children

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• I love that my children run everywhere. In their innocence, everything is exciting to them--going from the living room to the toy room is an adventure. I'm not even sure they know how to walk.

• I love that my kids make me "presents" by wrapping their toys up in blankets for me to unwrap.

• I love that my kids can't wait to share things with me and they can't wait to show me things they've created.
  

• I love that they love each other and play with each other.

• I love that I get to tuck them in every night and hear all of their little prayers.
  

• I love Samuel's little voice. I love that he calls Ariana "Nana" and Jasmine "Masmine". I love the way he asks for songs. I love the way he tries to tell the other kids what to do. I even think it is cute when he pretends to be angry just so he can have an excuse to give someone a dirty look and talk threateningly. I especially love listening to him pretend play with his toys, giving them all unique voices. His voice never fails to bring a smile to Daddy and Mommy's face.

• I love how Samuel mimics his brother and sisters. I love his smile that lights up his face. I love that he chews on the corners of his blankie to go to sleep...and offers it to me to chew as well. I love that he loves trucks, cars and balls-- and books about trucks, cars and balls. I love that he can sit at a table and roll cars and trucks back and forth for hours. I love that if there is a ride along car near by, he will ride it to the next room instead of walking. I love how he sticks his little tongue out of his mouth when he is concentrating.
  

• I love Ariana's love for others. I love how she greets me every morning with a, "Wow, Mommy! You look beautiful!". I love how she stands up for whichever sibling she deems to be the underdog at the moment..."Don't be mean to my sister!" (or "my brother", whichever is most appropriate), is a common saying around our house. I love how she tries to mother everyone.

• I love Ariana's hair. It is super long and wavy...it is just beautiful! I love her smile--both of them--her real smile, and the one that she puts on when she is trying to be cute. I love that she sings all of the time--and she is a good singer. I love that she trusts me completely. I love that she likes to help me cook dinner. I love it when she acts like a princess, walking around stately and bowing her head slightly to those of us who are merely peasants. I love that her eyes twinkle.

• I love that Connor is a boy. I love that everything either has to do with superheroes or robots. I love that his drawings are either Wall-E or Spiderman--it makes it easy to identify! I love that he runs around trying to get people to roughhouse with him--I love the way his face lights up whenever he thinks someone will. I love that he thinks he is strong and tough and brave. I love that he talks about protecting me and his sisters from evil. I love it when he talks in his superhero voice.

• I love that he is curious. I love that he taught himself how to read. I love that he loves to read. I love that he taught himself how to write. I love the way his ears stick out of his head. I love the mischievous look he gets on his face right before he does something he doesn't think he is allowed to do. I love that he holds his hands behind his back so that he isn't tempted to touch things that he's not supposed to. I love that he tries to be good. I love that all he wants out of life is to hear that he did a good job. I love that he gives me kisses on my arms (even as it annoys me...is that weird?). I love that he named his purple teddy bear David so that he could play David and Golliath with him. I love that he names his toys "Jack" during pretend play. I love it that Connor can always be counted on for a hug and a kiss and an "I love you Mommy!"

• I love that Honor is such a big girl. I love that sometimes when I am talking to her, I feel like I am talking to a teenager, yet then she will make an incredibly innocent remark and send me into a fit of giggles. I love that she tries to take care of her siblings. I love how she helps me round up Samuel when it is time for a diaper change--and that Samuel hasn't figured out that she is on my side yet. I love how she is able to pick out her own clothes now.
  

• I love that she still sucks her thumb for a few minutes before falling asleep. I love that she needs her blankie to go to sleep so that she can smell it--and that she offers to let me smell her blankie too. I love that she sings and acts out movies after seeing them only once. I love how she "trades" her toys in such a way that her sibling thinks its a good thing the he/she gave up their most prized possession. I love how she dances around the room. I love that all toys and ambiguous cartoon characters are automatically girls if she is playing with them. I love the fact that if something is pink or purple, it will always be a hit with her. I absolutely adore her dimple.

Hmmm....have I mentioned that I love my children???

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Whiny

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Why is it that my girls think if they repeat their request in an annoying, high-pitched whine, that I will turn around and say, "okay!"?

Honor: Mom, can I please play Word World after naptime today?

Mommy: Nope. Not today.

Honor: Mom-mmmyyy! I said, PLEASE! Can I PLEASE play Word World after naptime today?

Mommy: Nope. Not today.

Honor folds her arms across her chest. Hmmph!

When did she turn into a teenager?

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Bambi/Dumbo Mix-Up

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Connor: Is Dumbo Twitterpated?

....

Connor: Why are you laughing?







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How to Spell Ariana

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I have been trying to teach Ariana how to spell her name. I made up a song to help her remember it, to the tune of "This Old Man". All of the kids love to sing it, but Ariana is having a hard time remembering how it goes...

♫
A-R-I
A-N-A
That's how you spell Ariana's name
It's A-R-I
A-N-A
That's how you spell Ariana's name
♫

But Ariana likes to sing it like this:

♫
A-R-I
A-N-A
That's how you spell Honor's name
It's A-R-I
A-N-A
That's how you spell Honor's name

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That Doesn't Sound Quite Right...

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Last night we went over to Aunt Steph's for dinner. After dinner, we (mostly me, but Steph was amiable) decided to teach Honor and Connor how to play the card game, "War".

They did fairly well until we got to the face cards.

Here was my attempt at explaining them:

The King is like the Daddy card, The Queen is like the Mommy card, and the Jack--the one with the "J" on it--is like the kid card. Just like at home, Daddy is the boss over Mommy and Mommy is the boss over the kids...

The Ace--the one with the "A" on it--beats everything.

Then it goes like this: Daddy beats Mommy and Mommy beats the kid.

And then I realized what it was I had just said...

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Little City Slickers

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I think I may have mentioned that we were blessed with a new house (have I mentioned that I have the best in-laws ever?????). It is basically my dream come true....5.3 acres of irrigated horse property, a 3900 sqft shop for Daddy and a basement home--perfect for homeschooling in AZ! I will talk more about the house and the future goals for it another time and I will eventually show you all some "before/after" pictures, but we are not there yet.

See, the previous homeowners unfortunately were involved in a messy divorce and were forced to sell their house/property so the assets could be evenly split. One of them was okay with that, the other...not so much. So the property/house are not really in "move-in" condition. To top it off, the previous owners were smokers--the entire house is covered in tar from 15 years of smoking. We had a work day Saturday and scrubbed all the walls and as much of the ceiling that we could get to, removed all the carpet and mopped the floors. We still need to replace all the light fixtures, get new carpet and paint...and then clean again :-D.

The outside needs some work as well. They had planted a bunch of gorgeous trees...and then neglected to water the property for a year. Thankfully the citrus trees are still in decent shape, but the mature cottonwood trees are falling down....in the form of little sticks all over the pasture.

I wanted to work on the house somehow during the morning...there had to be something I could do with the kids in tow! Daddy came up with the idea of picking up sticks in the pasture.

The way our property is irrigated is the water comes in and floods the pasture, then it flows through some pipes up to the grass around the house. Because of all the sticks in the pasture, the pipe leading to the yard will get clogged, so the sticks need to be removed.

We can do that!

The kids were so excited to go to the property and pick up sticks. We got there about 10:15 am.

Mommy: Okay, kids! Pick up the sticks over there...

I started raking. Yes...I fully intend to rake at least half of the 3 acres of pasture by hand.

Connor: Mom! Look at this stick!

Mommy: Yep.

Honor: Mom! Look at this stick!

Mommy: Yep. Put it on the pile over there.

Samuel sits down on the ground and starts throwing dirt. Ariana starts drinking from my water bottle.

Mommy: Pick up sticks you two! Look at those big sticks over there! Go put them in the pile. ♫ Clean up, Clean up, Everybody Everywhere... ♫

Ariana and Samuel completely ignore me.

Honor and Connor are comparing sticks.

Connor: Moooommm! Honor took my stick!

Mommy: Connor pick up one of the other 5 million sticks!... Samuel get over here!

Samuel gets mad that I dared to tell him not to go into the fire pit and sits down on the ground, crying.

It is now 10:45.

Connor: I'm hot! This is hard work. My back hurts. My hands hurt. I don't want to pick up sticks anymore.

Mommy: You only picked up five sticks!

Honor sits down by the fence.

Honor: This is hard work. I can't do it anymore.

Mommy pulls out the big guns. She walks over to find the tricycles for Samuel to play with. Now he's entertained.

Mommy: It looks like no one is going to get a special treat because Mommy is the only one working.

Connor and Honor suddenly have renewed energy. They each pick up five more sticks.

Mommy works hard raking the yard until 11:30. The kids are covered in dirt and practially laying on the ground.

Mommy: Time to go!

Kids: YEAH!!!!

They jump up and run to the truck.

Ariana fell asleep on the 10 minute ride back to our house.

They have got to be toughened up!!!

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Lullabies

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I reinstated the lullaby for my older three (Samuel never lost his). It started as an addition to devotions, but it soon became a required part of the night. Ariana's favorite is, "You Are My Sunshine", Honor's favorite is, "La, La, Loo", and Connor's is "Think of Me". (Samuel prefers the first two...)

Connor is funny.

"Sing me my lullaby, Mommy."

Mommy sings it while Connor closes his eyes. He pretends to go to sleep.

After I am done singing, I lean over and give him a kiss. "Goodnight, Baby. I love you."

Eyes stay closed and he breathes in and out peacefully...he is quite the actor.

"I love you too."

Apparently sleeping boys merely whisper I love you...

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The Correct Answer

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9 times out of 10, I don't need to hear the question in order to answer Connor "correctly".

"Good Job, Son!"

Considering he asks a question or makes a statement at least every 30 seconds, this response has come in handy.

"Mom! I hid my hot dog under my chips."

"Mom! I climbed up into my chair all by myself."

"Mom! I put the robot in the box."

"Mom! I'm sitting on the couch."


However, occasionally the standard response fails. Undaunted, Connor will then repeat the statement over and over until he gets the correct response.

"Mom, I would like to play with my transformer."

"Good job, Son."

"Mom, I would like to play with my transformer."

"Good job, Son."

"No Moooom. I want to play with my transformer."

"Oh. Not right now Son."

"Mom, I'm wearing Daddy's shoes."

"Good job, Son."

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I Know A Lot

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Honor:

You don't brush Snow White's hair because it isn't like my hair. And Snow White wears a crown...but only on her birthday. See. I'm smart. I learn lots of things.

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Robots Aren't Alive

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Connor: "Robots aren't alive."

Mommy: "Nope."

Connor: "But I am alive!"

Mommy: "Yep."

Connor: "Robots can't die because they're not alive. But I can die."

Mommy: "You can die??? Oh no! I don't want you to die! You better be VERY careful so you don't die!"

Connor: "I won't die until my boys are men and my girls are mommies."

And once again, I am left wondering where he comes up with all of this...

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Birthday Presents

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Here is a rundown of the gifts my children received from Mommy and Daddy...and Daddy's response to each. FYI...Daddy only bought two presents--both of which were picked out by Mommy over the phone--a "Hello Kitty" electric toothbrush and a Littlest Pet Shop playhouse....because Honor was accidentally shorted 2 presents when Mommy counted them up.

Honor:

Honor's response to all of these was borderline ecstatic:

• A camera--first gift I had her open at her birthday party so that she could take pictures of Connor opening his presents. It was a cheap digital camera so if the kids end up breaking it, it is okay.
• The Hello Kitty toothbrush
• The Littlest Pet Shop playhouse
• A toy cash register: "New kitchen stuff!!!"
  
• A Snow White doll
• A musical treasure box--this was her favorite gift and was not put down all evening.

Daddy's response to her presents: "Do you like what Daddy got you? Daddy got you all of those. Well, Mommy picked out the toothbrush. What do you say to Daddy?"

Mommy did not correct Daddy. Honor knew the truth...Mommy got all the thank you's.

Connor:

Connor's response to all of these was more thoughtful than ecstatic. I could almost see his little head trying to figure out how to break all of his new toys. Of course, all of his came in plastic packaging that was impossible to open, so he didn't get to play with them immediately like Honor did her treasure box.

• Camera--a gray copy of Honor's
• a Wall-E electric toothbrush (the kids could not wait to use their new toothbrushes this morning...and Samuel kept trying to steal them!)
• A simple black robot that walks (this became Samuel's favorite toy)
  
• A mini-robopet (I swear he has been asking for this forever...but I think he was disappointed with it--it doesn't look like it does on the box.)
  
• A Bumblebee transformer: "Which transformer is this?", "Bumblebee," I responded. "No it isn't. Who is it?" I sighed. "Look Son. It says right on the box: Bumble. Bee. Don't you recognize him? He's your favorite." Connor looks at the box. "Oh. It IS Bumblebee. He's my favorite!" I sighed again.
• An Optimus Prime transformer (this one he recognized immediately)
  

Daddy's response to his presents: "Do you like what Daddy got you? Daddy got you all of those. Well, Mommy picked out the toothbrush. What do you say to Daddy?"

Mommy did not correct Daddy. Connor gave Daddy all the thank you's.

Now you see where their loyalties lie!

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My Morning

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The following is a literal transcription of my morning. I have edited out all of the side comments that Connor made about his new transformer (picture non-stop talking about lasers and swords and punching bad guys), and all the side comments that Honor made about her new Snow White doll (high pitched conversations between her and the doll), and all the side comments that Ariana made about Connor's new mini-Robopet (her "kitty"...similar conversations to Honor's), and all the side comments that Samuel made about Connor's new Robot ("it's WALKING, Mommy!!!" over and over and over again.)

Connor: "Mom. Can you help me turn Bumblebee into a car?"

I turn Bumblebee into a car.

Connor: "Mom. Can you help me turn Optimus Prime into a semi truck?"

After much struggle, I turn Optimus Prime into a semi truck.

Ariana: "Can you make the kitty walk?"

I wind up the mini-robopet. She runs to the table to make mini-robopet walk 6 inches.

Ariana: "Mommy! Make the kitty walk, PLEASE!"

I wind it up again.

I try to eat my breakfast.

Honor: "Mom! I can't find Snow White's shoe! Can you help me find it?"

I find Snow White's shoe.

I take another bite of my grapefruit.

Connor: "Mom. Can you turn Optimus Prime into a robot?"

Mommy: "NO! I just turned him into a semi truck! Only one transformation a morning!"

Samuel: "Potty!"

Mommy: "You want to go potty?"

Samuel grins: "Yes. I want to go POTTY!"

Mommy: "Okay."

We walk into the bathroom.

Mommy: "Take your shorts off."

Samuel: "Okay."

Mommy: "Take your diaper off."

Samuel: "Okay."

Mommy: "Okay. Get up on the potty."

Samuel: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

Connor: "Bumblebee's arm fell off!"

I lead Samuel out of the bathroom and put Bumblebee's arm on.

Mommy: "Connor. I am not going to spend all my time putting these arms back on. Be more careful."

Connor: "Okay."

I put another diaper on Samuel.

Honor: "I broke Snow White's crown!"

Mommy: "Oh no! The crown is supposed to stay on her head, sweetie. There. Now don't take it off again."

Honor: "Okay, Mama."

Ariana: "Mommy, wind up the kitty please!"

I wind up the Robopet, AGAIN.

Connor: "Bumblebee's arm fell off again!"

Mommy: "Connor, this is the last time I am putting it back on. Next time it falls off, I'm putting it up."

Connor: "Okay, Mommy."

Honor: "Moooom! I can't find Snow White's other shoe!"

I help her find the other shoe.

I lay out the children's clothes.

Mommy: "I am going to the restroom. When I come out, I want you all dressed!"

All (except Samuel): "Okay, Mama!"

Ariana (in the bathroom): "Mooom!! Can you fix this?

She holds up her shirt that is inside out.

Mommy: "Not now. Go put your shorts on."

10 seconds later....

Ariana (in the bathroom): "Moooommm!!! I can't get my shirt off!"

Mommy: "Go put your shorts on."

10 seconds later....

Ariana (in the bathroom): "Moooommmm!!! I can't get the shirt right!"

She tries to hand me the inside out shirt again.

Mommy: "Go put your shorts on!!!"

I come out of the bathroom.

Mommy: "Ariana! Why aren't your shorts on???"

Ariana quickly puts on her shorts. I help her with her shirt.

Connor: "Bumblebee's arm fell off."

I put Bumblebee on top of the computer cabinet.

Honor: "I lost Snow White's crown!"

I sigh.

Samuel starts grabbing his bottom.

Mommy: "Did you go poopie in your pants?"

Samuel grins: "Potty!"

I dutifully empty the diaper into the toilet.

Samuel: "Bye bye Poopie!"

(That kid would be easy to potty train if he wasn't so against actually USING the toilet...not that I'm in any hurry whatsoever! Three little kids rushing to the bathroom out in public is enough for now!)

Honor: "I am going to put up Snow White's shoes so we don't lose them."

Mommy: "Okay. Good idea."

Ariana: "Uh Oh, Mommy! I broke it!"

I look over to find Robopet's leg snapped in half.

Mommy: "Oh no! Well, when Daddy gets home, he can super glue it."

I put it on a shelf.

Ariana: "I want my kitty!!!!"

I sigh.

Connor: "When Daddy gets home he will super glue it Ariana."

Ariana: "Oh. Okay."

I sigh again.

Samuel, pulling on my pant leg: "She STEALED!!!!"

I look over to see Honor putting her Hello Kitty toothbrush back on the counter and sigh again.

I look at the clock behind Honor's head. 11:10 am.

Mommy: "'Martha Speaks' is on!!!"

All: "YEAH!!! 'Martha Speaks'!!!"

I turn the tv on. The kids sit quietly on the couch.

I sigh in contentment. Some days the electronic babysitter is a lifesaver!

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Transformers

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What crazy person thinks that a level 2 Transformer features a "quick robot-to-vehicle conversion!"???

Two very competent adults, one of which used to build jet engines for a living, cannot figure out how to get this robot to switch from a semi truck to a robot and back...and they expect a 4 year old to be able to do it without breaking it???

They are nuts!!!

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More Fun With Connor's Present

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Well, now we understand why Jasmine has such a problem with the Mini Robopet.

Ariana: "That's my kitty. Come here kitty!"

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