Where Has all the Bob gone?

Bob the Builder has gone MIA. For his party, John Michael decided to go with a Bob the Builder theme which I encouraged, thinking that there would be Bob themed items a plenty when I scoured the Dollar Stores and Discount party places. Nope, nada, nothing, nary a Bob to be found anywhere. I finally located a sheet of Bob stickers which I used sparingly and we improvised for the rest of the party.

I would say the party was a roaring success, though. He had his buddies Stephen and Jimmy from church and Noah from across the street and of course David and Noah and Justus who we happened to have for respite today so they were already here. As the guests gathered, I turned on a Bob DVD and set up the various train sets on the living room floor. When it appeared that there were more big kids glued to the tv screen than party guests, I shooed them all outside for some games.


JT had buried a bunch of little Tonka die cast construction vehicles in the sandbox and each boy had a chance to dig one up for keepers. JT made it tough! On a couple of occasions the moms had to put shovel to sand and make some "suggestions" to little guys coming up short. Then we threw all the balls in the trampoline and Ben led them in some group activities. That was followed by dump truck races in which each boy had to put 3 balls in his dump truck and race across the yard without losing them. David came up with the ingenious idea that if he crammed his balls three across they would jam together and not roll out. He won the Genius of the Day award. While the boys played on the swing set, Ben helped them out with his Pin the Tools on the Bob game. He had drawn a wonderful Bob portrait and cut out various parts of his costume from construction paper for the boys to try to match up with the picture. Then all the kids got to have their pictures taken with Bob!

As if all that wasn't enough, the boys were ushered out front where they each received a bucket containing their very own tape measure, work gloves and a paint brush. (Each bucket was labeled with the boys' names and adorned with one precious Bob sticker.) They got to put the brushes to immediate use on murals I had drawn of Bob and friends. The gloves came in handy too!
Then as I prepared the cake and accessories they all chowed down on watermelon. The cake was another cake-tastrophe turned genius. Adora baked 3 cakes for me last night which were to have been crafted into the shape and form of our friend Bob the Builder. When she pulled them out of the freezer this morning they were misshapen and a bit...well...let's just say they weren't usable for the task at hand. So Adora once again put spoon to bowl and churned out another sheet cake which came out of the oven with very little time to spare for decorating. My creative wheels began turning and I ended up scooping mounds of warm cake onto my decorator boards, then gave John Michael the Bob lego trucks and told him to have at it. At first he didn't understand. He was waiting to see how Bob's form was going to appear out of those mounds of cake under the skillful hand of his mom. But when he realized I wanted him to drive his trucks in the cake, he was in boy heaven. The whole deal turned out remarkably cute and the duplo holes in Lofty's head made great holders for the four candles.

As the boys ate watermelon they were once again under the tutelage of Benjamin who taught them his original birthday song sung to the Bob the Builder theme music. Cake, ice cream and presents finished off a successful party. Two parties down and 3 more to go this year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUFFY!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Muffeeeeeeeeeeee!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy birthday Mom!

I hope you and Dad are having a great time in Alaska!

I love you!

Blessed are the poor in spirit

It was recently suggested to me that a female who has been raped and is carrying the rapist's child should, perhaps, be allowed by even the strictest of conservative pro-life advocates to abort the baby without any repercussions spiritual or otherwise. It's not that this was a new idea to me but the source from which it came was a genuine surprise.

We had been discussing the dysfunction known as Attachment Disorder or Reactive Attachment Disorder. The attitude of a mother toward her baby during the 9 months of pregnancy, delivery and immediately afterwards are crucial for the baby's ability to develop normal, healthy attachments as he/she grows into a little person and begins to navigate life outside the womb. A baby who is born with the innate expectation of receiving love, comfort and a warm breast suffers a debilitating mental, physical, emotional and spiritual confusion when those needs are not met immediately upon birth. When the first experience of life outside the womb is disappointment, a ripple of distrust etches itself in the baby's brain, potentially causing explosive behavior issues and mental health problems throughout the child's life. These children are suddenly born with the potential to become at worst the most nightmarish sociopaths, at best adults who feel alienated and disconnected from the people who love them the most.

So the person who suggested that these moms who had suffered through conception born out of rape should be allowed to abort their babies was simply considering the path taken by the baby and the daily unattachment happening every day of the pregnancy and throughout delivery and beyond. When every moment of every day is a reminder of such a traumatic life event, how is the mom able to attach to her baby? When the baby is born and now presents a visible presence of that trauma, how can even the most grounded mom not feel some strong repulsion and disgust at the sight of her own infant? I still believe that God's grace can cover even this atrocity with healing and joy but for an instant I was tempted to buy into the argument.

Going back to the disordered attachments of children, we do have a child or two who still suffer the wounds of having been born to an unattached mother. Even after years in their God-given family with daily affirmation offered, the initial wounds caused by the rejection during pregnancy and after birth still ripple through their psyches. As I have been seeking counseling for these children and researching the effect of disordered attachments, I suddenly came upon the realization that these children are the poor in spirit. They are working out of a poverty of spirit that comes from being born at the short end of the stick. It wasn't their fault, they didn't cause this to happen or even allow it to happen...it was done *to* them through a series of unfortunate events. And God calls them Blessed.

They are blessed because while they lack the ability to argue rationally and feel appropriately, alongside the mistrust and dysfunction exists a faith that there is a God and He cares about them. Now the distortions of their thinking may say that the God cares and is mad at them or that they will never measure up to His expectations but the faith remains that He is there. Even children whose dysfunction does now allow them to have this most basic faith are still God's blessed. In the poverty of faith and spiritual ignorance they are still blessed because God refuses to leave them lying in the dust of their genetic legacy. They are poor in spirit, They are blessed........They are blessed, They are poor in spirit. It is this cycling through the blessing and poverty that I find myself witnessing as my own children receive sound counsel and are beginning to heal. After years of banging against the poverty of their spirits I am now confident that they are Blessed as well and that the blessing comes from their poverty of spirit.

Davey is Three!

It was awfully nice of David to come into the world on my grandmother's birthday. It does make it infinitely easier for me to remember the date (unlike JM and Betsy whose dates will be forever confused in my mind - one is the 20th and one is the 21st but which, oh which, is which?!). Since three is an odd number David has to wait until next year for his big party but he didn't seem to notice that the 13 other people sitting around the table (his big brother's happened to have a friend over) were mostly family. Fortunately, every night is a party when you look at it that way.

He wanted a chocolate chip cake with chocolate icing. I wasn't impressed with the cake recipe I dug up off of allrecipes.com but he seemed to enjoy it. We made him his very own cake to have and destroy which he did well. He also asked for Adora's homemade mac and cheese which she dutifully made for him , only to put it on his plate and have him wail, "I didn't waaaaaant noodles and cheeeeeeeeeeeeese!!" So much for dinner. The highlight of the food was probably the individual cup of Ben & Jerry's ice cream I gave him out of my own personal secret freezer stash - talk about making sacrifices for my children! He loved the little plastic spoon that comes embedded in the lid. He raked in some fun gifts - 2 bags of Utz potato chips, a car set from Adora, a set of stomp rockets, a Cars movie lego Duplo set (could John Michael *be* more jealous?!), a construction book and some clothes from Grammy. The stomp rockets have been a huge hit.

Happy Three Davey!

Practice Cancelled

I got this email from JT's soccer coach today. I got a chuckle out of it and I'm fairly sure the little faux-pas was accidental...Just in case you don't have my sense of humor I've highlighted the funny bit. Thanks for the snicker Bob!

Due to the heat advisory for today, we will not practice tonight.
We will meet again on Thursday- drink lots of water and dribble at home!
Coach Bob

A Whole Year of Nathan

Adora baked the cake. Chocolate, of course, with vanilla icing and chocolate sprinkles (nope, not ants). Following family tradition, he got his own little cake to devour at will.

Happy Birthday to Youuuuuuuuuuu!
Yum!...And wearing his Birthday Suit for the occasion!

It's bound to end up everywhere...
On to the presents. He already has everything a one year old could ask for except a movie of real singing babies.
He was truly captivated by this bizarre display of absolutely no artistic merit. (That's real babies with computer animated mouths singing a vast array of "children's" songs.)

Happy Birthday Nate and may there be many more to come!

GIT

Daddy's very proud of his little Geek In Training. He even took the photos!

Remember This?.....

My how it's grown! Zucchini, cukes and peppers galore. Tomatoes are almost ready and the pumpkin and watermelon vines are spreading everywhere! Way to go Philip!

The Boy Who Might Never Walk

'Nuff Said.....

I love this Neighborhood!

Our neighbors returned on Thursday two days early from a 3 week excursion to the Grand Canyon. Their four children are constant companions to ours all year round but particularly in the Summer months. We missed them terribly. Thursday evening our kids swam at their pool and then their three boys returned here for the night. In the morning we loaded 2 of them into the van and they accompanied us to riding lessons and cousins day at Beth's house. That night all the boys slept in their pop-up camper which they've left open and airing out in their driveway. Yesterday only one of them came with us to the VBS picnic...that felt a little lonely...Today the boys went there to swim and this evening we had a two family game of Capture the Flag - kids against the adults. It was a close game but the adults won out in the end (really the game was called for darkness so we settled the game by seeing who could find the opposite team's flag first - I found theirs).

I never had a neighborhood really with kids to play with and streets in which to ride my bike safely. I'm so glad my kids have all this. We are so blessed. I love running across the street to my neighbor to see if she wants to go to Curves with me (and I love even more when she comes back across the street with armloads of food she's cooked too much of again). She is Pooka's "Auntee Renee" and whenever the dog escapes out of the house I can pretty much guarantee she's over there getting fed and loved on. Next door to us we have Helen and Fletch who are a dear elderly couple. They've been there since my husband was little (well, actually Mr. Gill died when he was older and my father-in-law stood in as the father of the bride when Helen married Fletch - how cute is that?!). On the other side is Frank who has also been there since my husband was small. He's a widower now but keeps quite busy and really doesn't seem to mind when our tribe is running around all crazy like. I often find my girls on the swingset belonging to the neighbors behind us, playing with their friends and dear Jack directly behind us has been known to load up our brush and run it to the dump from time to time. His wife crocheted blankets for every one of the kids after the fire. They all still sleep with them (the blankets not the neighbors)- even the older boys.

Across the court in the back are our friends who also have 3 adopted children and followed us here to this neighborhood (at least that's how the joke goes). We've been known to swap kids when their disfunctions get to be more than we can handle from time to time. She's truly a life-saver. I could go on and on. There are neighbors we met after the fire who have prayed for us and cared for us in many ways. There are neighbors who have been walking through the neighborhood every day since my in-laws owned the house. I don't know of many other neighborhoods like this and I'd be so sad should God ever call us to relocate.

That's my musing for this evening...just lovin' my neighborhood that's all! (And might I add that Capture the Flag is *really* good excercise!)

BOD

Well, today it was Betsy's turn with the classic line to go down in history. We had cousin's day at Beth's place. She is currently living on an estate owned by the father of my college roommate (who happens to be a Lutheran bishop) whom I hadn't seen in a very long time. I had a nice chat with him and he met many of the children for the first time. Betsy introduced him to Nathan to which Bp. Jerry replied, "Oh I have a Nathan too except mine isn't a baby, he's a grown man." This piqued Betsy's interest so she decided to explore the subject further by asking, "So, what color is your Nathan?"

Just in case you're wondering...

...what I've been doing with my time lately I thought I'd share these little gems. Somehow I got myself committed to leading the middle school leadership team through some skits for VBS. After scouring the internet I realized there is very little material out there in the 3-5 minute range geared toward children and simple enough to be performed by children so I endeavored to write my own. The first couple of attempts were a bomb at meeting the criteria so I've put them here so maybe the world will get some use out of them (or just shake your heads and wonder why I've been entrusted with the care of impressionable young children).

Humble Pie

Customer: Good Morning, I'd like to buy some Humble Pie.
Cashier: Well, we have several varieties. Which do you think you'd like to try? This one has been spiced with cinnamon, allspice and a dollop of Embarrassing Myself.
Customer: Hmm, well that one looks good but doesn't sound very appetizing...
Cashier: Well, this one here has freshly whipped cream and Serving The Homeless sprinkles.
Customer: Yes, I see. Do you have any others?
Cashier: Oh, this is a popular choice – and my personal favorite. It's a make-it-yourself pie kit.
Customer: Now that sounds good. I bet I could really wow my dinner guests with that!
Cashier: Mm, no probably not, our pastry chef here gets all the credit for making it. Our customers are always telling him what a great job he's done with this one! No one seems to notice the person who actually bakes it. It's guaranteed to be delicious, though!
Customer: Thanks for the recommendation. I think I may as well get all three. Do you have change for a 50 dollar bill?
Cashier: Actually, sir. They'll cost you more than that. Humble Pie is an expensive delicacy. It costs a lot but it sure is worth it.
Customer: Oh, well I'd really like to buy all three Humble Pies. What will it will cost me?
Cashier: I'll take the shirt off your back and they're all yours!
Customer: Ok, I guess I can give you that if you say they are worth it. (takes off his shirt, hands it to the cashier. She gives him the pies.)
Cashier: Thank you sir! We'll be giving this shirt to someone who needs it.
Customer: Thank you for the pies.
Cashier: Sure thing. Come back tomorrow. We're having a special on Patience Pastries! They're worth the wait!
(Customer begins to leave with his pies)
Cashier: Sir, you forgot your wallet!

A Satisfying Story

Narrator 1: Having gone to the store to buy ice cream, Bill found himself without any money in his wallet. Thinking through his day, he realized that he had left his wallet out when he ate lunch at a restaurant and the money had most likely been stolen. Not easily angered, he returned the ice cream to the store freezer and walked calmly to his car, whistling a happy tune.
Narrator 2: On his way to his car he considered who may have stolen his money. He hoped that it had been someone with more need of it than he. In fact, he sincerely prayed that the person who stole his money would be blessed.
Narrator 3: He soon forgot about the stolen money and began to consider how he could get the ice cream for which he gone to the store in the first place. He considered trying to trade ice cream for one of his own possessions but the only thing he could think of was his hermit crab. He wasn't sure the store owner would be willing to trade him some Chocolate Cyclone Whippee for Hermie the Wonder Crab but he was willing to try.
Narrator 3: He was eager to buy the ice cream because he had promised it to the neighbor boy who loved Chocolate Cyclone Whippee Ice Cream more than anything else in the world and he, Bill, loved to make people happy. When he arrived home to get his hermit crab, he found the neighbor boy sitting on his front porch looking for the promised ice cream.
Narrator 4: Not wanting to be rude to the young man but not having the ice cream to give him, Bill decided to enlist the neighbor boy's help. He explained his problem to the boy and asked if the boy himself had anything worth trading to the store owner in exchange for the Chocolate Cyclone Whippee Ice Cream. The boy thought for a moment then reached into his pocket. He was grateful to Bill for trying to get him the ice cream and, not wanting to seem greedy or rude, he very much wanted to help pay for it.
Narrator 5: However, when he pulled his hand from his pocket it was empty. He had thought he had several marbles, a piece of string and his special sea-polished rock in there but all must have been lost in his pant's last trip through the washing machine. He sadly realized he had nothing to offer.
Narrator 5: Bill quickly realized his little friend's predicament and ran into the house, coming out shortly carrying Hermie in his cage. The two walked hand-in-hand to the store, Bill carrying Hermie in one hand and holding the boy's hand in his other. They had a lovely chat on the way there about all things squirmy and squishy and presently arrived back at the store.
Narrator 6: The store owner, surprised to see Bill returning to his store so soon after his departure, inquired to Bill about his day. Seizing the opportunity to discuss the matter of the Chocolate Cyclone Whippee and the Hermit Crab with the store owner, Bill quickly recounted all of the days' events to him, ending with his offer to exchange the crustacean for the dairy confection.
Narrator 7: The store owner was initially taken aback by such a generous offer on Bill's part but, once giving it some good thought, decided that Hermie would make a wonderful store mascot. And so, at the end of it all Hermie found a delightful new home, Bill's neighbor enjoyed his most favorite Chocolate Cyclone Whippee Ice Cream and Bill felt the satisfaction of having made all things right in his world.

Great Time at Grammy's

We had a great time visiting Grammy and Tata in Ohio. Thanks for all of you who prayed for our safe trip. I was very worried about doing all the driving but it worked out just fine, especially with Adora as our recreational director and a handful of new CD's to listen to - Narnia, Odyssey and Your Story Hour kept the crew enthralled. Who needs a DVD player in the car when the world of story can thrill and entertain?! We only had 3 kids throw up (2 of them hit their cups!), no one wet their pants and the babies only screamed for a combined total of about 1 1/2 hours out of the whole 16 hours of driving we did there and back. Once we got there we had a great time - all in all, a wonderful trip. Thanks for putting up with all of us Grammy and Tata! We love you! Here's the pics:

The kids spent quite a bit of time in the stream. They learned how to skip rocks and catch lots of these critters. Ruth learned how to take off her shoes and get mud between her toes. Meanwhile, JT and Philip helped Tata chop and haul wood. JT had the best seat in the house.

Sunday afternoon found us at a family reunion for my mother-in-law's side of the family. The kids enjoyed some games that were planned for them and especially enjoyed being reunited with JOE who now has a very adorable brand new baby girl of his own - Congratulations Joe and Katie!

Monday we visited the zoo with our friends who have 8 children. Five of theirs were off to camp so we just took the girls and the youngers to the Columbus zoo while the three big boys trotted off to Kenyon with Tata to play in his physics lab. JT built a car with the lego Mindstorms he had there and Philip really enjoyed putting together some basic movies which were, apparently, a real hoot when played backwards. The flamingos and gorillas are my all-time favorite visits at any zoo but here we were treated to 2 baby flamingos.

JohnMichael, Betsy, Alana, Cordelia, Miriam and Fiona. Betsy and Fiona really enjoyed seeing each other again. We'll meet up with them again in September at the beach. I'm not sure what happened to David and Ruth in this picture...And this other pic is Nehemiah in the tiger's den. What a cootie!

A Decade of Phlip

Happy Birthday, Philip!

This is the actual big day although we had his party on Sunday so there wasn't much splash and excitement today. Shortly after JT's 10th birthday I announced that for the next two years anyone turning an even age would get a party. This is a big deal since parties don't come 'round these parts very often. We usually figure by the time we pull off cake and ice cream with the other 12 family members, we've pretty much had a party. So this way it gets divided fairly evenly - 5 this year and 4 next. You might notice that JT sort of got shafted in the deal and now has to wait until he turns 12. In this world of instant gratification we're considering it a counter-cultural lesson. In the meantime Philip's tenth kicked off the party train. JM will get a party next month, then Betsy in September, Miriam in October, Ben in November and Jesus in December (although 2007 is an odd year, I'll let it slip this time.... ).

Our neighbors went out of town for three weeks so we thought it would be a great idea to host a pool party at their house (yes, Michelle, we did ask them...). So since we had a pool with water I thought Philip would enjoy a piratey theme and we ran with it. The whole shebang was m.c'd by Cap'n Daddy who did a bang up job of talking like a pirate for two hours straight as he directed the boys to "Walk the Plank" for a canonball contest, hunt for treasure Ben had hidden in the bushes, dive for gold coins in search of the ones bearing a black spot and beat him in the Talk Like a Pirate challenge. Ben's creativity was invaluable in creating a wonderful setting for the event and keeping things moving quickly with fun activities.We did arrest the theme long enough to kick a soccer ball around for a while to meet with Philip's dream of playing soccer with all his buddies at his very own party.

In lieu of gifts which are always confusing and disappointing to Philip, I risked a social faux pas and emailed all the moms ahead of time offering an opportunity for all the party participants to pitch in together and get him a lego crane he's been showing us in the lego catalogue for about the past 3 years. Normally way out of our price range, this turned out to be a real blessing for all - Phlip got what he really wanted, all the guests were united with a joint blessing for the party boy and nobody had to run to the store, wonder what to get and wrap in the car. Philip couldn't have been more thrilled with it!

I had found a great idea for a pirate ship cake and went at it starting at about 9:00 the night before. "Round about 10 an entire 1/4 of the ship simply fell off the side. I laughed a bit, decided to do without that bit and as I was re-icing the starboard side, the port side began to lurch and lunge but I knew the water beneath was made of nothing but butter and sugar. I was in trouble. We watched, then, as the entire middle of the cake imploded and within minutes I had a mangled mound of chocolate cake. It was an Ace of Cakes nightmare if ever I saw one. Undaunted, I grabbed the wooden skewers bearing skull-laden sails and burned them over the gas stovetop. I stuck them willy nilly into the whole mess, crammed a couple of playmobil pirates head over tin cups next to them and announced that I had finished what was of course my original plan all along - a Pirate Shipwreck. Fortunately, I was prepared with the desert island baked into a large pizza pan and arranged the remaining playmobil guys to look as if the ship had crashed upon the shores of the island. It all turned out quite cute and I was very fortunate to be planning for a boy party as Philip thought it was a hoot. Had it been Betsy, alongside the disaster of a cake, I would have had tears and dramatics with which to contend.

Notice the captain wading onto the shore while two others have already discovered treasure on the island.

This picture sums all the fun...

ARRRRRR Natey!

(Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Curly Top

See, I told you there were curls up there!

Hot Tip of the Day

A turkey baster is a really good tool for cleansing dog poo out of a baby's mouth.

Eavesdropping

I was hanging out my bedroom window the other day listening in on a conversation between JT and his sisters. They didn't know I was listening and the whole thing provided me with some small level of amusement as I witnessed JT trying to make sense of these critters he calls sisters. The conversation went something like this:

Ruth, Betsy and Miriam sitting in the grass when JT comes by.

JT: Whatcha doin'?

Betsy: Making grass wreaths.

JT: What are they for?

Betsy: We're going to give them to the poor people.

JT (after a long, thoughtful pause): How many poor people do you know?

Ruth: Twelve.

Miriam: Eight.

JT: Oh. (He looked perplexed, opened his mouth to say something, then stopped and walked over to Philip who was watering his garden) Hey Philip, they're making grass wreaths for the poor people.

I didn't hear Philip's response but then I saw JT sort of shrug his shoulders and wander off in a different direction. The whole thing was particularly joyous for me to witness since JT didn't make a single derogatory comment. He was really just trying to figure it all out. Now I *know* he's making progress.

Philip's Garden

What started out as a homeschool project is turning into a what looks like a nice surplus of vegetables for our summer eating. Philip took on the management of this garden plot and has really impressed me with his diligence and passion for the project. He and the girls spent many hours digging up the plot out of a grassy spot in the yard. They turned the whole plot over no less than 4 or 5 times. Then Philip planted some seeds that a farmer friend of his passed on to him - he has watermelon at one end and pumpkins at the other. The rest we planted as seedlings - zucchini (you can see the beautiful yellow flowers), one tomato plant towering over the rest in the back left of the garden, some more watermelons of a different variety, yellow squash, green peppers and a few more I know I'm forgetting. We were limited to whatever seedlings the farm we visited had as I was only making one farm trip with 12 people so, while it would have been nice to plant some peas or beans, it just didn't happen this year. He's been out there watering daily. Miriam planted some broccoli in the front yard (so some people have flowers bordering their front walk, we have broccoli...d'you have a problem with that?!) and JM and the other girls planted sweet potatoes. I'll let you know how things grow...

Under the Big Top

I got to go to my first ever circus! Muff called Adora while Ben and I were in Kansas City and asked her to check with me about treating the whole crew to a one ring circus. Checking with me went right by Adora and she immediately assured Muff that of course we would all go! What great fun! All the cousins were there - except Maegan who was working at the Cow. We got there nice and early as we were all so excited to be there. We were first in line for the camel rides - I pulled the old, "I never got to go to Disney World so can I ride on a camel, Dad" blink the eyelashes and smile trick. I was the first one on the camel...


It was poorly attended and hot as you-know-where since it was the first show of the run and the afternoon of the first day off school. So we had front row seats and spent our time pouring water on each other to cool off. My personal favorite moment was the clown who came out in his underwear as his pants chased him...um...he chased his pants...around the ring. What a hoot! There were Chinese acrobats and a contortionist and a dog and pony show and elephants and camels and a clown and a trapeze act, fun, fun, fun!! Which reminds me, for those who don't know it Ringling Brothers Circus (which this wasn't) figures every kid should get to go to the circus at least once in their lives so they give a free ticket to every kid under a year old. Just go to their website and sign up your newborn and they'll send a ticket to you in the mail good for anytime in the life of your child and, yes, they do have a provision for adopted children too! Anywho, here's the two pics I got off my cellphone. I'm sorry I didn't have my camera but it got to pouring down rain anyway so maybe we're better off that way...
Miriam, Ruth and Addison on the camel:



J ohn Michael (second from front) and David (behind JM) on the elephant in the big ring:

Sharing

Nate's New Trick

Besides figuring out this trick, he's also gotten seven teeth, more CURLS on top and can crawl like a pro...

DOD

I've been working on getting John Michael and David to pay attention in church since they want to receive Eucharist in the worst kind of way. Every Sunday, they go up to the altar, carefully fold one hand over the other and look up at the priest expectantly. JM almost got Fr. Rob once...Anyway, today I reiterated to David the importance of saying the prayers along with the congregation and he took on the task with great attention. He managed to get through about every other word as the congregation spoke, "Lord I am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and I shall be healed." Then he turned to me triumphantly and repeated, "Mom, only the say the word - I can do that....See? WORD!"

Special Olympics!

DOD

Last night I was nursing the baby and listening to my husband bathe John Michael and David. It was late, they were very dirty and we wanted to get them in bed so we could have some time together. I heard Fr. Joel pull David, who obviously was not cooperating, out of the tub and attempt to get him dry. Fr. Joel finally said with quite a bit of exasperation in his voice, "David, lift up your hands!" Blissfully unaware of his father's sense of urgency, David gleefully proclaimed, "We lift them up to the Lord!"

Buy the CD!

I posted the link to Alden's website so now you too can order the CD and put My Mommy's a Pirate on endless loop in your brain! Check out my new My Favorite Links section!

DOD

I was laying in bed nursing the baby this morning when David showed up at my bedside. He loudly asked me, "Mom, can I have breakfast?" "Well, David," I replied, "didn't Daddy already give you breakfast?" At this his whole demeanor changed. He looked down at the floor and shyly shifted his toe across the floor then he said slowly, "Yes...Daddy got me breakfast...but still..." Then he sighed and looked deeply into my eyes with a look that said, "My poor deluded father actually thought what he gave me for breakfast would suffice."

Happy Mother's Day!

For all intents and purposes my Mother's Day began on Saturday. Since we now have *two* moms in our house, I wanted to be sure Nehemiah had a little something for his mom too. Of course, I waited until the last minute to get it together which really complicated things. Fr. Joel was occupied with the days' activities at church (congratulations, by the way to Father Jeff!) so I was left with all the running around. I farmed out Ben to a neighbor who took him to his buddy's baseball game before taking him to his Sibshop in the morning and Alpine Climbing class in the afternoon. That same friend also picked up Philip from basketball after Fr. Joel dumped him there on his way to church. Meanwhile, I dropped Adora off at school for her final final and drove everyone else to the t-ball game. We got everyone out of the van, across the highway and to the baseball field for practice and then used the half hour before the game to do some errands. This involved dragging 5 kids (including the two babies, the 2 year old and the 3 year old - Thank you Jesus for JT!!) into two different stores, in and out of the van, back to the parking lot, back across the highway and back the 1/4 mile hike to the baseball field. I got everyone settled down and Nathan began to scream. He screamed for 3 days straight as his two canines worked themselves into place so I was prepared. He'd been drugged and numbed but still was feeling owey and howly.

Somehow with a screaming Nathan on one hip I managed to knead the blue clay for Nehemiah's handprint project, work it into its picture frame and get Nehemiah's hand firmly embedded in it. Just as I was trying to wipe the blue clay from my hand with a half-dry wipee, still balancing a screaming Nathan on my hip and trying to coral Nehemiah who was also covered in blue clay, one of the moms sheepishly turned to me and said, "I'm sorry but is this one yours?" and pointed to John Michael. I gave her a wary look and hesitantly responded with a "...yes..." to which she replied, "I'm very sorry to say this but he's pooped on the bleachers." Sure enough my little Ornery Pants had pooped in his underpants, pulled it out with his hands and wiped it on the bleachers. I realized my little half-dry wipee was going to get a bigger workout than I had imagined...

I didn't see much of the game but I did see the that the girls were enjoying themselves even if Ruth had suddenly decided to do everything with her left hand and Miriam was confounded by the idea of a foul ball (she hit the ball, she ran, now why was everyone screaming at her to go back *home*?!). They finished up and we carted everyone the 1/4 mile back to the road, across the highway, into the van and home...ahhh...another Saturday morning accomplished (oops, forgot to pick up Adora so had to turn back and go back to the college...) and Nehemiah was sufficiently prepared to present his mother with a special surprise for Mother's Day.

The actual day was wonderful - the most wonderful day I can remember really. I awoke to my dear sweet husband telling me to go back to sleep and take my time...he would get the kids roused and ready for church. This is no small task for two people and I was perfectly content to let him fly solo on my special day. After a leisurely snooze, I nursed Nathan and carried him downstairs for the day's first interface with the objects of my motherhood. My ears were greeted with a strong chorus of Happy Mother's Days coming from around the breakfast table. Philip ran over to Nathan, baby talked "Happy Mother's Day, Nathan!" and then looked deeply into my eyes and said, "Mom, can I have a banana?"

I noticed Betsy had assumed my usual Sunday morning role of Neatness Officer. She had the spray bottle, a hairbrush and wipe rag and was busily going about the task of brushing hair and wiping breakfast off of faces. She did a much better job than I thought...she might even earn herself a new title!

After church I had the privilege of serving as altar guild...which meant blessed silence alone in the sanctuary - a job I cherish deeply since it affords me some of the few quiet moments I get in a month. We also had plenty of food leftover from Saturday's ordination reception and so Fr. Joel took on the task of Food Police to the screaming masses while I enjoyed my contemplative tasks on the altar.

We went home and I was treated to the ultimate expression of my own personal love language - my family DID something for me - they cleaned house. now you can buy me flowers or even chocolate, you can hug me, sing to me or cheer me on but if you really want to tell me you love me, clean something! And clean they did....while I rested...and read...and fiddled around and then Adora and I escaped to plan out our own evening's entertainment. We came home with three new card games and 7 new movies and the rest of the evening was spent playing There's a Moose in the House and watching American Hero after we were treated to a show by Ben and Philip and a brief exchange of gifts. The show featured Ben and Philip singing My Mommy's A Pirate while acting it out in costume with props. I enjoyed it so much I demanded two encores. Ben's shows have finally arrived at the point of as much enjoyment for the audience as for the actors. The gift exchange included a new George Foreman grill for me and Nehemiah's presentation of handprints to Adora. It was perfect...really!

I have the best family in the world. I know, I'm a bit biased, but I really think it's so. My children may be a bit loud and dysfunctional at times but they're mine and I love them like crazy. I love their crazy Dad and I love Adora and our beautiful godson. Our household may be messy and loud and crazy but it's what God planned out just for us and this is what motherhood is all about.

New Car!

Adora purchased her first ever vehicle - a 1997 Mercury Villager. Now she has her first Mom Mobile - if only she had her license she could drive it! (ok, we're working on it...)