Christmas Prep and Suspense

I took Noah to pick out and purchase gifts for his brothers at the school's Christmas shop. They even wrap the gifts there and make tags so the gifts can be a surprise for parents too. While we were having Noah's gift choices wrapped, we talked about the presents being a surprise for Christmas. I thought it all went well.

Then we went downstairs to wait for Josiah and Nathan's dismissal. When Nathan joined us Noah proclaimed, "I bought you a gift, Nathan!" Of course, Nathan asked, "What is it?" I told him, "He isn't going to tell you." at the exact moment Noah blurted, "BUBBLES!"

Oh well.

Surprise. You still have to wait 'til Christmas, Kid.

The Bestest Place

We had an adventure at Niagara Falls on Memorial Day.

We enjoyed a picnic with my extended family and explored the Three Sisters Islands.

The American side has beautiful areas to walk, climb, play and enjoy for families.

It is one of my most favorite places to go. (If you have children you will know that there can and seemingly must be many "favorites".)

It made an impression on Nathan who is used to playing in Grandma's little backyard creek. He exclaimed, "Niagara Falls: That's SOME creek!"

My Thumb is Kind of Dirt Colored Right Now

I can't say I'm good at gardening. Well, I could.... but I'd be lying.

It seems like I should be a natural "green thumb" since I have generations of farmers in my family tree but, obviously, it's a learned skill instead of an inherited one.

Nevertheless each spring I attempt to make a pretty spot in front of my house. If I don't (and I haven't in times past) I look at those "flower beds" in dismay all summer.

Today was that day. The day of gathering the tools. The day of wishing I knew where my garden gloves are hiding. The day of being cheered on by Noah, "Yes! Let's do it! Let's do this!" The day Nathan looked forward to me working in the garden so he could play my new video game. The day of being motivated by Josiah who had already started doing his own unapproved digging. (He had good intentions and he loves dirt.) Today: we tackled the garden.

And you know what? I like the finished product. I may not be able to tell you all the names of the plants in there but I think I could pull off half of them.

This. This is my garden.

Oh, okay. This is OUR garden. Thanks, Gentlemen, for all your help and/or enthusiasm.

Can't See the Fog For The Clouds

Our latest snowfall is in meltdown mode this morning. The temperature has reached 40 degrees and rain is falling. A lot of rain. A lot of melting. And fog. (Some may say it's a gloomy day but not I. To me it is a sign of spring getting closer.)


During the early drive to Nathan's Pre-K, I pointed out the (I thought obvious) fog to Nathan and Noah. "Wow. Look at all the fog."


Noah squeaks, "Where?"


"There. All around. The clouds are sitting down real low."


"I don't see it!", chirps Noah.


"Yes, you do! It's all around." I try to clarify: "It looks kind of like smoke."


Nathan adds his two cents. "I think it IS smoke."


"No, it's not smoke; it's just the clouds have come down low."


After a moment of consideration Nathan shares his theory: "I think they are maybe making this a spooky road."

Those dang road crews! Always up to something.


"It's not spooky. It's just clouds."


As Noah continues to search for the fog, Nathan does his brotherly duty and teaches him all about how "froggy" the low clouds made the road.


"Fog. It's foggy, not froggy." (At least I didn't see any frogs.)


Who knew a seemingly quick observation would brighten my day with their fun curiosity and imaginations?

Good Enough to Wear Underwear!

'Tis the season.

No, not the holiday season. *shakes head sadly* The bug, germ, sickness, fever, cough-your-head-off season.

We don't make a practice of participating in these "festivities" but this week the boys went all out.

It all began (or reared its ugly head) Thursday afternoon when I naively rejoiced to hear the words, "Mommy, I want to take a nap." out of not one but two of my fine young gentlemen. Seemingly, out of nowhere, there were fevers and coughs and lethargy and snotty noses. 102.8 degrees is not something you want to feel on your little one's forehead.

(Even our dog got caught up in the spirit of things and had a double ear infection.)

Nathan felt so poorly that I suggested he wear a pull-up. He even felt so poorly that he agreed to that idea. Who wants to have to make that trip to the bathroom when you don't even want to make any unnecessary move?

And so continued the next day.

But. This morning. Upon getting up to check on the boys. Nathan is awake AND up. He greets me with a sing-songy "Mommy! I'm wearing underwear because I'm going to go potty on the toilet!"

O Happy Day!

The fevers are gone.

'Tis time for a new season. Of health. And underwear.

Be Careful Who You Go Home With

Nathan came home from school today proudly carrying his adorable little pie pumpkin. He picked it out for himself at Port Farms which is where the Pre-K and Kindergarten classes went for their field trip.

Aw.... Isn't that a cute li'l pumpkin?

So little.

So round.

So orange.

Aw.

Well. This isn't the actual pumpkin Nathan brought home.

I'm not releasing the real pumpkin's identity until the family has been notified.

Little did the pumpkin know it was entering .... the HOUSE OF HORRORS.

First, Nathan cut it open with a butter knife. (So it would hurt more)

Then he pestered me to make it into a pie. (More like he wanted me to dispose of the evidence)
He helped me scrape the guts out, then put the poor little pumpkin parts in a pan of water and bake it down in the oven at 350 degrees to mush before the skin itself was removed!

MWAHAHA MWAHAHAHAHA!

ehem.

This is all that's left of the cute li'l pie pumpkin.

For now.

Lots of Bodies

Overheard on the way to Nathan's Pre-K.

Nathan: "See that?" *points to the cemetery as we drive by* "There are BODIES in there."

Noah: *surprised gasp* (This in itself had me laughing inwardly.) Then a comforting "That's okaaay."

Nathan: "It's NOT okay! People DIED! From our TOWN!!"

I wish I had real life DVR so I could rewind and see the expressions on their faces as they had this passionate discussion. Is there anything cuter than a 4 year old and a (nearly) 3 year old having a serious discussion? Probably not.

Questions are Good, Right?

It's school time again and Nathan is attending Pre-Kindergarten this year. Yesterday, his first day went so well that he claimed he wasn't ready for us to pick him up yet. Apparently we were NOT missed. Nathan said he did spinning and crocodiling (which he demonstrated for us).

This morning as we were getting ready for his second day of school I had him sit on a chair so that I could tie his shoes for him. It was then that he asked me, "Why do you have big chestses?" I quickly ruled out answering "Because I'm a girl" since he sees a lot of little girls without "big chestes" and didn't want to have more questions this morning about why they don't and, well.... I just said, "Because I'm a mommy." That line works for so much!

If you are having a hard time figuring out what "chestses" means, just remove the double plural and you'll get down to the root word. Okay? Okay.

P.S. Don't worry. We'll work on correct terms and pluralizing another day.

Brown Nosing Comes Naturally

Sometimes you get appreciation when you least expect it.

Not long ago, Nathan asked me if they could go outside. I told him and Eli, "Sure. You can go in the backyard." Most often this is followed by a whiny "But I want to go out front!" (If you have children, I'm sure you can imagine the sound of this statement accurately.) However, this time Nathan exclaimed, "Oh, THANK you, Mommy! That is so nice! I really like you for my mommy!"

What? Where did that come from? And please keep it coming. Thank you.

Wishful

Rainy Days

Through the Eyes of a Child

Not long after our miscarriage, Nathan, my 4 year old, approached me and asked "Is the baby still in your belly?". (I hadn't told him yet since I didn't know how much he would understand.) So I answered him, "No, Honey. Something happened. I had to go to the hospital... Mommy and Daddy are sad because we couldn't see the baby or bring the baby home." Then Nathan asked, "Is the baby in heaven?" "Yes", I said, "Jesus is taking good care of our baby."

With his new knowledge, Nathan made some quick plans. "Let's go to heaven and see our baby!" I had to tell him, "We can't go to heaven until Jesus comes to get us or until we die and go to heaven." Not a problem. Nathan fit that right into our schedule for the day. "First we'll go to Grandma and Grandpa's house then we'll die and go to heaven."

Nathan is such a delight.

And He said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. " Matthew 18:3

Ponytails Are Safer!

Some young, single, fashionable women may wonder why it is that mothers with young children tend to wear their hair in ponytails. Well, I'll tell you...

Once upon a time (exactly 48 hours ago) in a place very close to here (approximately 8 to 10 feet from where I now sit), I attempted to take a quick shower. Now I only had two young ones in the house and I let them play in the fenced-in backyard thinking that perhaps there would be less screams of bloody murder if they had more room in which to entertain themselves. Well, I was right on that account.

As I am enjoying the warm water washing away the tiredness and dirt and stickiness and, well, you get it, I get so far as to finish shampooing when Nathan knocks on the door. (No surprise there.) "What?", I ask. Nathan's voice comes through the door, "Noah got out the gate!" "WHAT?!", I repeat. "GET HIM! GET HIM!" Yes, I did sic my son on his brother. I hurriedly rinse off and grab a towel hoping to God that I don't have to run out front in this state or that the neighbors are gone or inside or something, anything other than outside to witness this spectacle that is unfolding.

I rush to the side door and, thankfully, am able to stop short. Noah is in my car. No, he's not allowed to play in my car but he's not in the street and the neighbors can't see us! I tell Nathan to shut the car door. Yes, I did. I had Noah shut inside the car because he doesn't know how to open the doors from the inside yet. Now with Noah under wraps, I commanded Nathan to stand by the door and keep an eye on his brother.

With my children once again contained, I could rush through getting dressed before promptly retrieving Noah from the car, yelling something about never leaving the backyard without permission until enough loud words had been spoken to satisfy my angst.

Then I took a dog leash and tied that gate shut.

The end.

P.S. My hair just had to go without conditioner until the next available shower. No hair was damaged during this story.

Robot Wives are Mostly Nice

The boys are watching Dave install a new screen door at Grandma and Grandpa's house. (They wanted a new door just because the old one started locking them out all the time. Whatever.)

During this time, I have learned that Nathan has a wife! A robot wife. He built it himself. (Yes, he does watch Phineas and Ferb. No, I don't think they have ever built a wife on the show.) His wife doesn't let him have sawhorses but she does let him have a tractor. His wife also wants him to touch the toolbox.

This is all news to me. He has kept this under wraps until now. I'm just glad that I'm not the only one enforcing some restrictions around here anymore. Maybe he'll listen to his robot wife since he built her and all.

The next time he doesn't like what I have to say... I can just "remind" him that his wife says "You have to eat your vegetables."

I can work with this.

I Love Post It Notes

Do you have any random thoughts today? You can play along on your blog by clicking on Supah's Post It Note below OR leave a comment here OR, even better, play along AND leave a comment!

It Was the Best of Both

We had a taste of Spring yesterday....and it was delicious! Do I dare pack away the winter gear?Spring and Winter Meet

Lost in Translation

On Sunday during Kids Church, the children were playing Follow the Leader.

SomeKid was the leader and began hopping. Nathan did NOT hop; he just ran. Ran and ran. Belinda told him that it was time for hopping because he was supposed to do what the leader did.

Nathan delivered a big sigh then stated, "Aunt Belinda, I don't SPEAK hop."

Homecoming AND Homework

I received an email from John while I was gone telling me this:

It is starting to hit Josiah and Nathan that you are not here, Nathan has cried a few times and Josiah has come close but is trying to be the big brother I guess, Noah is still content knowing that you are still irking.

Aw. I didn't want my boys to have a hard time. It surprised me that my energetic, ornery-leaning Nathan was having the worst time of it. I thought my baby, Noah, may have a rough week since he doesn't like to see me leave for even a short trip to the store but his thought that "Mama irk" (interpretation: Mommy is at work.) satisfied him the entire time. Josiah? I wasn't sure how he would handle it but I think he did great.

My journey home began early in the morning, one week ago. Once the trip home was underway, I was looking forward to seeing and hugging all of my gentlemen. We called from Pittsburgh and asked them to meet us at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Upon our arrival, there were squeals and smiles and BIG hugs. Nathan kept telling Grandpa and I, "I am REALLY happy to see you!" Josiah jumped into my arms to hug me. Noah grinned from ear to ear. I couldn't have asked for a better homecoming.

Can you tell that they missed me? Certainly not from this picture.

~PART 2~

John started working the next morning so I quickly had to get back into the swing of things at home. I was told that Josiah had to do a book report for school, his very first book report, and that John saved that for me to do with him. We had three evenings to do it and John and Josiah had already read the book. The first evening, we didn't have the construction paper required but we read the book again. I bought some construction paper and I started helping Josiah follow the instructions the second night. It was not successful but now he knew what he wasn't supposed to do.

It's hard to get Josiah's picture sometimes. I had him show me his dollars that Grandma has given him for Valentine's Day. Sneaky, eh?

I'm not sure that Josiah will ever want to do another book report with me again. His report was to have six pages attached and folded accordion style. I kept pestering him with directions.

Follow the instructions. You have to focus on what you're doing. Use pencil first then go over it with markers. Write neatly. Draw the picture right here. Keep your letters the same size. You better write that word again. What is the setting? Please don't drink over your book report. Do you remember the main characters? What pictures do you want to draw that will tell the story? You don't have to draw the same pictures that are in the book. Be careful with the paper. Don't wrinkle it.

And so on... until is was finished. *whew*

Yes, I do have perfectionist tendencies. "Hi. My name is Sarah and I'm a perfectionist. I have been relaxed about the state of homework for 3 days now. Oh wait. I forgot something. 0 days now."

I think his first-grade book report turned out well. His pictures? They may need some explanation. But I think this format was a great way to get him thinking about the aspects of his book and how to tell about the story.

Child Rearing Is a Full Time Job

Train up a child in the way he should go.... Some things are very important.

Encourage creativity.

Get permission before touching breakables.

Take care of those smaller than you.

Treasure "old" things.
Some day you may really, really appreciate it.

Keep your face clean.

Try to look at things from another viewpoint.

Stay hydrated.

Never, ever punch your uncle in the you-know-what's.
Nic said that Josiah almost learned his first vulgarity.

(Nobody worry. He recovered. I think.)

Note: They may be shocked initially when you enforce your standards but it's worth it.

I hope.

Waiting AND Getting Shiny Teeth

It's a waiting kind of day over here. There is the waiting for my dad's surgery to be done and the waiting to hear how John's job interview is going/went. Just waiting.

Did you ever realize that when you say or write a word very often, it starts to sound and look strange? Maybe your words are different than mine. waiting. waeting. wating. whaeting. I think it's pretty cool that in the old days people just spelled a word however they thought it looked best and that they liked to be creative about it. Sure. Standardized spelling is nice but where's the creativity in it? Hm?

Okay. Enough weighting. (See? That spelling brings up a totally different meaning. Oh well.)

Here are the latest Nathanisms:

"I'm your hero."
"Welcome to my world!"
(This one is completely John's fault.)

"Mommy! My teeth are shiny! From wipes."
(This is a result of too much unattended time in the bathroom.)

Kids Are Snack Height

The Place: My parents' house.

The Time: Lunch time

The Occasion: Football playoffs

The Crime: Taco Theft

The Victim: Nathan

The Culprit: Jesse the dog

Soon after Nathan began eating his second taco, there was an outcry against Jesse.

"Jesse stole my taco! He ate it! He's a bad dog. He's a VERY bad dog!"

The kids tend to forget that they are at just the right level for Jesse to snatch their food right from their hands. It happens almost every time. Sometimes Jesse is sneaky about it. Other times he will nonchalantly walk by and just grab it and go. A lot of the time, they abandon their food for just a moment only to return and find it missing. Jesse steals food. It's what he does.

I asked Nathan about the incident so we could get all the facts straight.



He must have thought the story needed some embellishment.

Next time, Nathan, watch out for that dog, octopus, pipe food-snatching team!