Ballet?

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We were watching Smile of a Child during lunch today when they had a mini "commercial" come up (their commercials aren't advertisements, they are kids either saying memory verses or acting out a verse...something with kids and the Bible in it...). This particular commercial talked about David dancing for the Lord. They quoted 2 Samuel 6:14 "David...danced before the Lord with all his might." They then said something along the lines of, "now everyone get up and we are going to teach you how to dance like David." As the announcer was talking, a video played in the background of little girls doing ballet. Honor immediately piped up,

"David did not dance like that!"

She's too funny!

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Uh Oh...The "Marriage Book" is Her Favorite

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While visiting last week, my good friend, "Aunt" Cindy, brought some gifts for the kids because she's awesome. One of her gifts to Honor was a beautiful Bible for little girls because Honor accepted Christ as her Savior not to long ago. Honor loves it. Normally we would put up such a pretty Bible and only let her use it for church, but she really wants to read it. We can't encourage her to "Read your Bible, pray everyday" and then deny her her favorite Bible! So I put rules on it to keep it safe from the other kids--"keep it upstairs", "keep it on the bookshelf when you aren't reading it", "keep it in its box when you are not reading it," "be gentle with it," etc. She ignores most of them when it suits her purpose, but what am I going to say, "Stop reading your Bible so much!"?

Sigh.

Today she brought me downstairs to show me something in her room and I found her beloved Bible on the floor of her room.

"Honor, I told you to put you Bible back on the bookshelf!"

"I know, Mommy, but I really wanted to read it. It's really funny!"

I wasn't sure how I was supposed to take that...

"Look Mom! I want to show you what I was reading last night..." she flipped the Bible open to where her bookmark was. "'Your teeth are like a flock of sheep'...isn't that funny, Mom?"

"Are you reading the Song of Solomon???"

"Chapter 4, 5. It's my favorite!" (she doesn't go by verses, she goes by the bolded letters...Chapters 4 and 5 happen to be on that page)

And Mommy blushed.

I can only imagine the kinds of questions her "favorite" book is going to produce...

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It's Story Time!

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The kids and I sometimes like to act out their favorite fairy tales. Usually I will read the story and they will act it out, but today I got a bit lazy and just told the stories from memory. Here are some of my favorite highlights:

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The Little Red Hen

Mommy: "Then the little Red Hen said, 'who will help me eat the cake?'"

Honor: "I will!"

Mommy: "said the duck."

Connor: "I will!"

Mommy: "said the fox." (that's who he wanted to be...)

Ariana: "I will!"

Mommy: "said the pig."

Mommy: "'No, I will,' said the little Red Hen. 'Since no one wanted to help me make the cake, I will eat it all by myself.' And she did."

Ariana (visibly upset): "NO!!! That's not how it goes! You have to share the cake!"

Mommy: "No, honey, no one wanted to help the red hen plant the wheat or harvest the wheat or make the flour or bake the cake, so no one gets to eat the cake."

Ariana: "No Mommy! You're wrong! 'And they all shared the cake.' That's how it goes!"

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Little Red Riding Hood

Mommy: "So Little Red Riding Hood walked through the forest to get to her grandmother's house, but she ran into the wolf. 'Hello there, Little Red Riding Hood! What do you have there?' asked the wolf."

Honor: "I'm going to Grandma's house. I have peanut butter sandwiches and cookies."

Mommy: "Mmmmmmmmmmmmm! I love peanut butter sandwiches and cookies. Can I have some?"

Honor: "No. Here's some broccoli instead."

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Snow White (as told by Connor)

Connor: "Here, eat this apple."

Mommy: "Uh uh. I don't take candy from strangers."

Connor: "No, it's an apple."

Mommy: "Well, I don't take apples from strangers either."

Connor: "I'm not a stranger. I'm Inghead."

Mommy: "Nope. Sorry. I don't know any Ingheads. You're still a stranger."

Connor: "No, I'm not. I'm Max."

Mommy: "Oh, my mommy always told me never to take candy from guys named Max."

Connor: "No, I'm not Max, I'm Connor."

Mommy: "Oh, Okay. Hi Connor. I'd love an apple. Thank you!"

Connor: "HA! It's poisoned. You're dead!" and he pushed my head over onto the floor (I was lying down). "The End."

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Got to love story time!
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Guess What I Did Today!

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I bought an iron! I'm sure everyone is as excited about this as I am. I am bursting at the seams.

Really.

Okay...not really. I didn't buy it for me (although, when I went back to link to my previous ironing post, I read Busy's comment and remembered wonderful craft uses for irons!). Daddy wanted an iron. He has decided that Downy Wrinkle Releaser is not enough (well, it might have been enough if we actually had some...). He recently bought himself some new dress shirts and apparently feels the need to make sure they are completely wrinkle free hidden beneath his suit jackets.

Anyway, before I left for the store to buy said iron, I reminded my dear husband that I do not iron. His response was music to my ears.

"I would never have you iron! You don't know how!"

Yep. And I intend to keep it that way...

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Really???

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While walking down the aisle at Fry's today, Ariana and I had the following "conversation"...

"Mommy, my tummy hurts."

"Aw...I know...it's past lunchtime. We'll be done soon and we can go home."

silence...

"Mommy, my tummy hurts. I think I have a baby in my belly."



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Surprising Revelation

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When we got ponies, I was not looking forward to the chores that come along with them, but I found out something about myself: I actually enjoy mucking stalls. I'm not joking. I like it so much that I forced my friend to do it shared this opportunity with my friend who recently came to visit for a week. I'm not sure she had as much fun as I do, but she was a great sport about it. She even washed my dogs after she was done!

I will admit that the actual "scooping" of the manure and dumping it in the compost heap is not my favorite part, but once it is cleaned out and I have to rake the stall it is actually very relaxing. It kind of reminds me of a Japanese rock garden without all the "zen" stuff. Of course, the hour that I get to spend in silence away from screaming children might have something to do with it. I doubt I really need to make the lines quite as straight as I do...

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More Than My Dreams, O God

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A friend of mine posted the lyrics to this song that he wrote on his facebook page and I thought they were fantastic so I'm re-posting them here.

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I said thank you for loving me;
For dying on that tree.
I accepted Your forgiveness
And the grace that set me free.
But God You told me that you wanted to be,
Not just my Savior, but everything to me.

Chorus:
More than my dreams, O God
You want to be to me.
More than a means of grace,
And a way to find mercy.
You want me to give it all to You;
To desire You alone.
You want Your worth to be
More than my dreams,
More than my dreams.

I prayed for good health, please Jesus,
And someone who loves me for me,
A job that would pay my bills,
That my hard work would be seen.
But God, you told me that you wanted to be,
Not just my answer, but everything to me.

Chorus:
More than my dreams, O God
You want to be to me.
More than a means of wealth,
And a way to be happy.
You want me to give it all to You.
To desire You alone.
You want your worth to be
More than my dreams.
More than my dreams.

I thought that I would be blessed
For doing something for Jesus.
I asked you to bless my ministry
And I asked for you to be with me.
But God, You told me that you wanted to be,
Not just my blessing, but everything to me.

Chorus:
More than my dreams, O God
You want to be to me.
More than a means to an end
For a thriving ministry.
You want me to give it all to You;
To desire You alone.
You want you worth to be
More than my dreams.
More than my dreams.

More than my dreams, O God
You are to me.
All this life’s pleasures and fame
Fortunes and things,
I give it all to You.
I desire You alone!
Your worth is everything thing to me.
More than my dreams,
More than my dreams.

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I'm Sick

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...then ACT like it!!!

My children never act sick...unless they AREN'T sick. Case in point. If I serve broccoli, all of a sudden Ariana's tummy hurts and she can't eat a thing. But if I'm serving pizza, she'll eat it whether she's been in the bathroom all day or not--she'll sneak it if I don't let her have it outright!

When they aren't sick, they want to lie on the couch all day watching TV. When they ARE sick, they can't wait to get downstairs and play with their toys.

Take it easy? Unheard of for my sick children, but ask them to laundry and they are too tired to stand up.

So I really shouldn't feel bad when my son and daughter start throwing up for no apparent reason because there are NO warning signs.

Ariana got sick first last night so I was on the ball making sure her hair was tied back, that she was taking sips of water (just sips mind you) every 15 minutes while she was awake, and overall hovering until she went to bed.

This morning, Honor greeted me with, "Mom. I've got bad news. Really bad news. Connor threw up all over his bed. He just told me. Come downstairs and see."

Just what I want to hear first thing in the morning. Thank you for interrupting my dream of walking through a peaceful garden in SILENCE with that wonderful piece of information.

So, I went downstairs and sure enough there is a mess on his floor and on the side of his bed--in a perfect pile. Except, Honor neglected to mention the pile on the floor, so that ended up on my foot...another lovely surprise. After I screamed and had Honor run upstairs for a towel, I tried talking to my son.

"Connor, when did you get sick?"

"In the middle of the night."

"Why didn't you come and tell Mommy?"

"It's okay, Mom...I vomited on this side and slept on the other side so it was fine."


...yep. Thanks for that explanation, Son.
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God Speaks

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Connor: "God speaks English."

Mommy: "Yep, that's one of the languages He speaks."

Connor: "And God speaks Spanish."

Mommy: "Yep, and French, and Chinese, and Russian, and all the other languages because who made language?"

Connor: "God."

Mommy: "That's right, so he speaks all of them."

Connor: "I hope He speaks to me in English..."

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Say Your Name

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Through Netflix, we get to watch some movies and some TV shows on demand. Because of this, my kids have discovered "Super Why". They are WAY too cute when they watch this show. First of all, there are four characters and I have four kids, so each of my kids has "become" a character. Samuel is "Alpha Pig" (I think by default), Ariana is "Wonder Red" (because she wears skates), Honor is "Princess Presto"(because she has a wand and makes pink letters), and Connor is "Super Why" (because he flies and he has an "iPod"). On TV, all four characters get together and put their hands in the middle for a little cheer...and my kids copy them. When their character is introduced, each of my kids raise their arms up in a cheer and Connor walks around with his little chest puffed out and his fists on his hips like a superhero.

But the cutest thing is how they talk back to the TV when it asks them a question. All four of them answer (although Samuel generally doesn't answer correctly unless the question is something like, "what letter makes the 'I' sound?" "I!!!!"). At the beginning the Super Readers ask the kids their names. All four kids answer.

Honor: "Honor!"

Connor: "Super Why!"

Ariana: "Ariana!"

Samuel: "Nana!"

Much too cute!!

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"The Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day"

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Tonight I asked Honor to run downstairs to grab her laundry basket because I had clean clothes in the dryer that needed to be put away. Usually when I ask her to do something, she will do it, but often I hear something along the lines of, "hold on a minute, Mommy, I have to finish coloring first." This time she didn't say anything to me at all.

I finished putting away dishes and still hadn't seen or heard anything from her so I walked into the laundry room to see if she had in fact already gotten the basket and set it on the ground. What I saw when I went in there warmed my heart--Honor's little feet were hanging out of the dryer and the basket was almost full of clothes. Not only had she gotten the basket, but she took the initiative to actually take the clothes out of the dryer too. That's my girl!

I sat there and watched her for a few minutes in bliss. After she had taken them all out, I held out my arms for a giant hug. She came running over and I told her how proud I was of her and how happy Jesus is that she had such a servant's heart.

Her response was even sweeter:

"I wanted to do that for you so you didn't have to do it, so then you could cook dinner."

What a sweetheart!

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Spelling Bee

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"Mom, spell Respect."

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

"Good job, Mom. Spell Kindness."

K-I-N-D-N-E-S-S

"Good!" Honor's face scrunches in concentration. "Hmmmm... You're really smart so I'm going to give you a hard one!"

Finally! Someone acknowledges my genius!

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Adventures in Mopping...

Otherwise called, "Why It Only Happens Every Other Week (if I'm lucky!)"

9:30 am

"Okay, Kids...Go downstairs and clean the basement. Mommy is going to mop the floor and I want your room to be all cleaned by the time I'm done. Then we can play playdough."

"Okay Mom!"

The kids run downstairs. I turn on music and start moving furniture around.

9:35 am

I turn around to see Honor and Ariana twirling to the music.

"Girls...hurry up and clean downstairs so that when I am done mopping, you can play playdough! There isn't much to do...go get it done."

"Okay, Mommy!"

The girls run downstairs. I continue moving furniture around and grab my broom.

9:40 am

"Mom! Honor and Connor aren't cleaning!"

"Neither are you, Ariana. Get downstairs!"

I finish sweeping the laundry room and bathroom.

9:45 am

'OW!!! Get away from me! Don't touch that! OW!!!'

**feet pounding on the stairs**

"Mom! Ariana squeezed me!"

"Stop trying to take the toys she's working with and clean the room!"

Honor runs back downstairs. I finish sweeping the kitchen and start on the dining room/living room.

9:50 am

**piercing scream of outrage**

'OW!!! OW!!! No Samuel!!! OW!!!'

**feet pounding on the stairs**

"MOOOOM!!! Samuel pulled my hair!"

"Why did Samuel pull your hair?"

"Because I was cleaning up!"

"Did you choose to clean up the truck he was playing with on the table instead of all of the blocks and bricks and legos all over the floor?"

Honor looks down at the ground, "well... he's not cleaning!"

"Stop worrying about what he is and isn't doing and you do what I asked you to do. The basement is HUGE...clean up somewhere else!"

Honor heads back downstairs. I begin using the dust mop on the floor.

10:00 am

**silence downstairs**

10:05 am

**silence downstairs**

10:10 am

"What is going on down there?"

"Nooothinnngggg!"

Mommy runs downstairs to find them climbing on a tower out of their ride along cars and chairs in Connor's room.

"What are you doing???!!!"

"It's okay, Mom. We're just building a tower."

"I can see that. Don't do that. Everyone out of Connor's room. Lock the doors. CLEAN THE ROOM!!!"

"Yes, Mom!"

I go back upstairs and get the wet mop out.

10:15 am

I start mopping the hallway, making a path from the stairs to the bathroom in hopes that it might dry in time.

10:20 am

It didn't.

"Ariana, what are you doing up here? Get downstairs and clean!"

"I have to go potty!"

Sigh.

"Okay, hurry up."

I continue mopping. Ariana runs to the bathroom, does her business, then slowly walks back downstairs.

10:25 am

"Connor! What are you doing up here?"

"I've got to go potty!"

Sigh.

"FINE. HURRY. UP."

I continue mopping. Connor runs to the bathroom, does his business, then slowly walks back downstairs.

10:30 am

"Mooom! Honor and Ariana aren't cleaning!"

"Connor, you need to do what's right, even when they aren't. Clean!"

I keep mopping. Almost done.

10:35 am

Samuel tip toes into his bedroom...leaving a trail of dirty sock prints on my freshly wet floor. How did his feet get so dirty???

"Samuel. Get. Downstairs!"

He heads back downstairs and I re-mop over his prints.

10:40 am

The floor is finally done. I empty out the mop bucket outside and yell down my threat.

"Is the room clean yet?"

"Noooo!"

"Well, you better hurry and clean it...I am almost done. I just have to put away the furniture and then I am going to check on you. If it isn't done, you won't get to play with playdough."

"Noooo, Mom! Wait! Just five more minutes!"

"Just hurry up."

I finish putting away the table and chairs, end table, rocker and dog kennels. I wash the windows just to give them a bit more time.

11:00 am

I walk downstairs. The room looks exactly like it looked when I sent them down to clean.

"You guys didn't do anything! You have 10 minutes. If this room isn't clean in 10 minutes, I am throwing whatever is left out AWAY!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Three children start scrambling as fast as they can to clean the room. Samuel happily continues rolling his truck back and forth on top of the costume cabinet, oblivious to the chaos around him.

11:05 am

The upstairs is mopped...and the basement is clean.

And it only took all morning. Not long at all.

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Military Funeral

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For those of you who were unaware, my last grandfather passed away on March 8, 2010. He would have been 94 on March 22nd. I have very fond memories of my grandpa. For one, he always called me by my mother's name--even when I was little. I didn't understand why until I looked at some pictures of my mom when she was a child--boy did we look alike! What's even crazier is how much I look like my grandma when she was my age--we could be twins!

But I digress...

I remember spending weeks at a time with my grandparents as a child. Grandpa and I would get up early every morning and walk Lady, their wolf/husky mix. Lady was a beautiful dog with long silver hair. We would walk her a few blocks down the street to the park, run around a bit, then walk her back home. I remember laughing as Grandpa brushed her butt after every walk to make sure the fur "back there" was clean before going into the house. There was a time I thought potty humor was funny...

Grandpa used to play croquet and catch with me in the back yard. He used to plant flowers and he'd let me help pull weeds and sometimes I even got to water them--with miracle gro! In the afternoons, he would let me sit on his lap in the recliner and read to him. At night we would sit around the tv watching Wheel of Fortune and then square dancing or some sort of bluegrass type music...unless there was a ball game on. Grandpa loved his sports!

Grandpa wasn't much of a talker when I was young. He liked to listen though and since I like to talk, that suited me just fine. But I wish he would have told me about his military service. It wasn't until after I was married that I even knew he had been in the army. It wasn't until his funeral that I learned that he had actually served in Germany during WWII as an ambulance driver. So I wasn't prepared for his burial.

I went up to Iowa early to help my mom put together pictures and music and what not for his funeral services. Grandpa had two: one for his nursing home and one for everyone else. After the second service, an American flag was draped over his coffin and the pall bearers escorted him into the mausoleum next door.

When I walked in, I noticed the two soldiers standing at attention in the mausoleum, but I thought they were there for something else. It never dawned on me that they would actually do something, so I was unprepared. You see, in the service itself, there had been a box of tissues on every pew. In the mausoleum...nada. I only had a package with 4 measly little tissues in it in my purse--and apparently I was the only one with ANY tissues. I ended up giving one to my mom, one to my brother, one to my sister-in-law and splitting one with my sister. I should have horded them all!

The pastor read Psalm 23 and said a prayer. I thought it was over. He came by and shook the family's hands and while he was doing that, the soldiers started moving. SLOWLY. The first soldier ceremonially turned to face the casket, then SLOWLY raised his arm in a salute at the casket. Then the other soldier played Taps. That started the tears.

Grandpa was buried in a mausoleum so there was no ceremonial 21 gun salute, but what they did inside the mausoleum was almost more solemn because it was so SILENT. After the Taps, the second soldier, marched SLOWLY up and did the slow salute. Then the two soldiers faced each other and SLOWLY folded the flag up into a triangle with stiff, focused movements. Then they each saluted the casket again. Then one of the soldiers walked slowly over to my mom and went down on one knee, handed her the flag and said something to the affect of, “As a representative of the United States Army, it is my honor to present you this flag. Let it be a symbol of the grateful appreciation this nation feels for the distinguished service rendered to our country by your father.” I couldn't tell you the exact words because EVERYONE was bawling by this point and I was literally choking out sobs. It’s a very moving ceremony. Then the soldiers stood and saluted my mom and dad then they slowly marched out. I'm pretty sure my dad saluted back because he was also in the military, but to be honest, I was crying too hard to notice. It was a great honor to have been part of that ceremony and it is not something that is easily forgotten.

Just like my grandfather.

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Learn Something New Every Day

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So...
I was not aware that my camera (which I have had and LOVED for five years) is capable of doing things like this:



or this:




However, my five year old son figured this out sometime between 3:23 pm and 5:00 pm, when he apparently snuck upstairs during naptime and took my beloved camera downstairs. He then proceeded to take ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE pictures...yep... Well, to be exact, he took 127 pictures and 8 one second movies. 30 of his pictures were of the above Lego sword...he must be very proud of it.

Here are some of the highlights:



That's my boy!

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In Continuation

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Daddy read my last post and the following conversation occurred:

Daddy: "Honor, don't eat your boogers, it'll make you sick. Just put them in your little pocket..."

Mommy: "Don't say that! She'll do it! Honor, don't put boogers in your pocket."

Daddy: "Yeah, don't put them in your pocket; just put it in the tissue or wipe it on the wall or something..."

Mommy: "No! Don't wipe it on the wall! Daddy's just joking!"

Honor: "Mooooom. I wouldn't wipe it on the wall! Only Ariana does that..."

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Someday She'll Thank Me for This Post

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Overheard as Honor used the restroom.



cough, cough, cough...

clearing of throat...

clearing of throat...




"Mom, I think I have a booger stuck in my throat. I eat my boogers so I think I have one stuck in my throat."



okay...

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