Let's just say I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. The whole AM came at me with one frustration after another.
I was sitting on the floor in the boys' room, boxing up every last toy to hide until they are earned back. Among the mess were a few leftover pieces of Valentine's Day candy. As I was sorting through the pile, Kai came up to me and lovingly pressed a wrapped mini-Snickers bar against my mouth while saying, "Numy,numy".
He will make one lucky woman very happy someday.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Generosity
We have had to alter the kids' bedtime routine, because the girls were staying up playing for hours after lights went out. Now Leora goes to bed first and I spend some "Special time" with Charla (Leora gets hers during the day). Leora usually zonks out after about 1/2 hour, when Charla hits the sack.
Well, this evening I was reading Leora a bedtime story and Charla interrupts me, informing me that she has something for Leora. She brightly pulls out a toy purse and digs around until she finds one of her beloved toy kitties. She lovingly passes it to Leora.
I praised her for her kindness to share something she loves so much and she simply stated, "Well, she needs it because she's poor." And she skipped happily out of the room.
The sweetness was zapped a bit, but I guess it's the thought that counts...?
Well, this evening I was reading Leora a bedtime story and Charla interrupts me, informing me that she has something for Leora. She brightly pulls out a toy purse and digs around until she finds one of her beloved toy kitties. She lovingly passes it to Leora.
I praised her for her kindness to share something she loves so much and she simply stated, "Well, she needs it because she's poor." And she skipped happily out of the room.
The sweetness was zapped a bit, but I guess it's the thought that counts...?
Monday, March 21, 2011
Hello?
I'm sure toddlers everywhere do this, but it's just so cute to see my Kai at it...
When the doorbell rings or there's a knock at the door, Kai races to the door and starts passionately knocking back. Such a funny lil' guy!
When the doorbell rings or there's a knock at the door, Kai races to the door and starts passionately knocking back. Such a funny lil' guy!
Cute
Charla and Leora were having a rare moment of blissful cooperation, working on a puzzle together. Suddenly Charla exclaimed, "Heavenly Father is so CUTE!"
And Leora immediately agreed, "OH YES, He is!"
My cute girls
And Leora immediately agreed, "OH YES, He is!"
My cute girlsThursday, March 17, 2011
Hopeless
Today's entry is actually about me. It's a step-by-step rundown of my day yesterday. It wasn't really a bad day, but at the end things fell apart so quickly, it was almost humorous even then... it's funnier now that it's over...
5:30am - got up and biked 18 miles at the gym
7:30am - attempted to wake all 4 children with the bribe of chocolate chip waffles; succeeded with 2 youngest.
8:00am - Charla begins throwing tantrum because she doesn't want to wear pants under her dress (it was chilly and I knew we'd be playing outside... it was a good thing later that she wore them)
8:30am - threaten Gregory NO breakfast if he doesn't get up- he hauls his lifeless body downstairs. Charla still screaming, now emptying drawers and throwing toys at her walls.
9:00am - our friends show up to take us along to the zoo. 3 children happily load into van. I go upstairs and force the screaming Charla into the pants, hand her a baggie of Cheerios and we are finally on our way to the zoo.
9:30am - after getting lost a couple times, we eventually pulling over to check GPS. A nice local guy pulls up next to us and gives us directions- I love people in the South.
9:40am - We arrive at the zoo! No more tears!
9:45am - we check in and I decide to buy zoo membership which means embarking on a frustrating endeavor, which I will spare you the details of, but success in the end.
10:15-12:15pm - zoo time! Kids are really very good and happy. Charla trips a few times, skinning her knee (would've been a lot worse without the pants) and hands. After more screaming for a while, she insists on being carried until she has a miraculous recovering upon seeing the playground. I try to take kids on the train, but when it's finally our turn, it breaks down. We wait 15 minutes and I finally dash my kids' hopes and say we'd better get the toddlers home for naptime.
1:00-2:00pm - we have a nice picnic lunch in our friends' backyard and the kids get to play on their swingset. Kai walks into the basket swing, getting a nice big bruise on his lil' cheek.
2:00pm - Kai goes down for nap. I assemble gardening tools and start having my way with the front yard garden, clearing away old leaves and trimming the hedges (... of many small villages... sorry, I couldn't resist).
3:00pm - I go inside to start making Italian bread to go with dinner, leaving Gregory with a big shovel to till the garden bed.
3:30pm - come back outside to find Gregory flinging shovelfuls of dirt back, high over his head onto the sidewalk, like a cartoon character. I demonstrate the correct way (again) and resume attack on the bushes.
3:45pm - some joggers jog by and give me a weird look when I wave "hi" to them.
4:10pm - I get the dough to punch it down and discover that I'd been gardening in my bright kitchen apron that I had forgotten to remove after starting the bread.
5:00pm - abandon garden battle, to throw bread in the oven and start lasagna. All kinds of cooking mishaps happen (getting scalded by hot water, dropping noodles on the floor, etc), but success in the end. Feeling really tired and drained. Tell Fred I'd like a night to myself. First some soaking in the gym hot tub, a shower at the gym and then some relaxing at Barnes and Noble where I need to pick up a book anyways... yeah, that sounds nice.
7:00pm - dinner is FINALLY all ready (note to self: start making lasagna before 5pm). I sneak a bite of fresh warm bread and my heart sinks. I can't taste a thing. I've been getting progressively more congested over the past week. I'm not able to taste a single bite of dinner. At least the family likes the food.
7:30pm - head upstairs to grab a change of clothes and shampoo. Make a pit stop and heart sinks again... stupid Aunt Flow. Can't go to the hot tub. SO, I announce that I will shower at home and then go to Barnes and Noble. Discover rash on foot, probably from kneeling in the garden.
8:00pm - Fred gently asks whether I've seen a Barnes and Noble around. I was sure I had, but research reveals that the nearest one is 66 miles away. Exasperated, I consider trying a different book store, but decide to just head to the base Starbucks and read a book in peace.
8:15pm - climb into van and discover that girls left the lights on and the battery is dead.
8:16pm - I send Fred this text: It's pointless. I can't win. The van is dead. I give up. I'm sitting in the car until the kids are in bed and you rescue me. Love you.
8:30 - get a call from friend Maryjo. Turns out I had accidentally sent the text to HER. I unload my day on her and she reassures me that it'll be ok. Then I send Fred the text. I add that I need chocolate.
8:35pm - Fred comes out to the van. We consider jumping the battery, but by now Aunt F. is really having her way with me and I just want to lie down. Fred suggests a movie. I surrender to the idea and trudge upstairs to collapse in bed.
8:40-10:30pm - Fred brings up a bowl of Kettle corn (my favorite popcorn. I had talked myself out of binging on chocolate). Luckily the shower helped clear my nasal passages enough that I can taste the popcorn a little.
Movie interrupted by Gregory informing us that the girls were sneaking into his room, mouths full of water, and spitting it on him. We discover them soaked, give each one good swat on the bottom and leave them screaming in their room, to go enjoy the rest of the movie. My cat senses my misery and snuggles with me until it's done.
11:00pm - I finally crash for the night, grateful that the day is over.
5:30am - got up and biked 18 miles at the gym
7:30am - attempted to wake all 4 children with the bribe of chocolate chip waffles; succeeded with 2 youngest.
8:00am - Charla begins throwing tantrum because she doesn't want to wear pants under her dress (it was chilly and I knew we'd be playing outside... it was a good thing later that she wore them)
8:30am - threaten Gregory NO breakfast if he doesn't get up- he hauls his lifeless body downstairs. Charla still screaming, now emptying drawers and throwing toys at her walls.
9:00am - our friends show up to take us along to the zoo. 3 children happily load into van. I go upstairs and force the screaming Charla into the pants, hand her a baggie of Cheerios and we are finally on our way to the zoo.
9:30am - after getting lost a couple times, we eventually pulling over to check GPS. A nice local guy pulls up next to us and gives us directions- I love people in the South.
9:40am - We arrive at the zoo! No more tears!
9:45am - we check in and I decide to buy zoo membership which means embarking on a frustrating endeavor, which I will spare you the details of, but success in the end.
10:15-12:15pm - zoo time! Kids are really very good and happy. Charla trips a few times, skinning her knee (would've been a lot worse without the pants) and hands. After more screaming for a while, she insists on being carried until she has a miraculous recovering upon seeing the playground. I try to take kids on the train, but when it's finally our turn, it breaks down. We wait 15 minutes and I finally dash my kids' hopes and say we'd better get the toddlers home for naptime.
1:00-2:00pm - we have a nice picnic lunch in our friends' backyard and the kids get to play on their swingset. Kai walks into the basket swing, getting a nice big bruise on his lil' cheek.
2:00pm - Kai goes down for nap. I assemble gardening tools and start having my way with the front yard garden, clearing away old leaves and trimming the hedges (... of many small villages... sorry, I couldn't resist).
3:00pm - I go inside to start making Italian bread to go with dinner, leaving Gregory with a big shovel to till the garden bed.
3:30pm - come back outside to find Gregory flinging shovelfuls of dirt back, high over his head onto the sidewalk, like a cartoon character. I demonstrate the correct way (again) and resume attack on the bushes.
3:45pm - some joggers jog by and give me a weird look when I wave "hi" to them.
4:10pm - I get the dough to punch it down and discover that I'd been gardening in my bright kitchen apron that I had forgotten to remove after starting the bread.
5:00pm - abandon garden battle, to throw bread in the oven and start lasagna. All kinds of cooking mishaps happen (getting scalded by hot water, dropping noodles on the floor, etc), but success in the end. Feeling really tired and drained. Tell Fred I'd like a night to myself. First some soaking in the gym hot tub, a shower at the gym and then some relaxing at Barnes and Noble where I need to pick up a book anyways... yeah, that sounds nice.
7:00pm - dinner is FINALLY all ready (note to self: start making lasagna before 5pm). I sneak a bite of fresh warm bread and my heart sinks. I can't taste a thing. I've been getting progressively more congested over the past week. I'm not able to taste a single bite of dinner. At least the family likes the food.
7:30pm - head upstairs to grab a change of clothes and shampoo. Make a pit stop and heart sinks again... stupid Aunt Flow. Can't go to the hot tub. SO, I announce that I will shower at home and then go to Barnes and Noble. Discover rash on foot, probably from kneeling in the garden.
8:00pm - Fred gently asks whether I've seen a Barnes and Noble around. I was sure I had, but research reveals that the nearest one is 66 miles away. Exasperated, I consider trying a different book store, but decide to just head to the base Starbucks and read a book in peace.
8:15pm - climb into van and discover that girls left the lights on and the battery is dead.
8:16pm - I send Fred this text: It's pointless. I can't win. The van is dead. I give up. I'm sitting in the car until the kids are in bed and you rescue me. Love you.
8:30 - get a call from friend Maryjo. Turns out I had accidentally sent the text to HER. I unload my day on her and she reassures me that it'll be ok. Then I send Fred the text. I add that I need chocolate.
8:35pm - Fred comes out to the van. We consider jumping the battery, but by now Aunt F. is really having her way with me and I just want to lie down. Fred suggests a movie. I surrender to the idea and trudge upstairs to collapse in bed.
8:40-10:30pm - Fred brings up a bowl of Kettle corn (my favorite popcorn. I had talked myself out of binging on chocolate). Luckily the shower helped clear my nasal passages enough that I can taste the popcorn a little.
Movie interrupted by Gregory informing us that the girls were sneaking into his room, mouths full of water, and spitting it on him. We discover them soaked, give each one good swat on the bottom and leave them screaming in their room, to go enjoy the rest of the movie. My cat senses my misery and snuggles with me until it's done.
11:00pm - I finally crash for the night, grateful that the day is over.
Monday, March 14, 2011
one more...
charla recently told us that she wants to visit heavenly fathers house because she thinks he would have a kitten there.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Charla-isms
i promise. every day i am couting the blogworthy things my kids say and do. it is sitting down to blog them that proves challenging. i am just building suspense.
i can always count on charla for a laugh.
today in primary the leader asked the kids what their plans are for spring break this week. charla raised her hand and i was curious what she would say since we dont have any plans. i guess she has made some...
apparently we are going to the store to buy some carrots for the easter bunny.
then yesterday...
for some reason we explained to charla that our presidentas name is barack obama.
charla screwed up her nose and said...
that sounds wierd.
a couple days ago....
i took gregory and charla with me to run an errand. as we left our neighborhood chharla decided we needed to name our house. after all we have named our van cici and freds car traxx.
charla wanted to name the house darlene and gregory insisted we name it love. then inspiration struck.
it must have been inspired by my german heritage. we decided to combine both names. so now our house is named lovene.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Anatomy
Fred took the older 3 to the Montgomery Art Museum. A neighbor told us about the fantastic children's area they have and you can't beat the price of admission: FREE!
When the kids got home they were all raving about the fun time they had. I really look forward to going myself.
Fred shared one particularly funny experience.
Apparently there were a pair of statues of angels, one male and one female... and they were naked. Charla walked right up to the male statue and exclaimed (remember, this is a quiet museum),
"PAPA! LOOK! It's his PENIS!"
I'm sorry I missed seeing whatever shade of crimson Fred's face turned.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Litter
Spring here really is lovely. The trees around here have been bursting with flowers for the past 2 weeks. Leora will randomly start belting out the Popcorn song.
Some of the "popcorn" trees have started shedding their tiny flowers. The petals look a lot like bits of paper. On our way to pick Gregory and Charla up from school, Leora noticed the petals and exclaimed, "Oh no! Someone left lots of trash on the ground!"
I laughed and assured her there wasn't any trash. "Those are petals, honey."
She balked at me and insisted, "Those aren't PUDDLES! They're trash!"
I grabbed a twig from a nearby tree and showed her how the flowers fell apart and I think she finally believed me.
Some of the "popcorn" trees have started shedding their tiny flowers. The petals look a lot like bits of paper. On our way to pick Gregory and Charla up from school, Leora noticed the petals and exclaimed, "Oh no! Someone left lots of trash on the ground!"
I laughed and assured her there wasn't any trash. "Those are petals, honey."
She balked at me and insisted, "Those aren't PUDDLES! They're trash!"
I grabbed a twig from a nearby tree and showed her how the flowers fell apart and I think she finally believed me.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Losing Things
It's been about 8 weeks since Charla's fingers got caught in a door on our first night in our new home. She's been a real trooper about it, even though her fingers looked pretty awful for quite a while.
Well, the doctor predicted she'd probably lose at least one, if not 2, of her finger nails. And this week it finally happened.
She was SO excited when the nail fell off, that she exclaimed, "OH, I hope the Tooth Fairy will visit and bring me some money!"
I couldn't resist.
When she woke up the following morning, there were 4 shiny quarters left under her pillow.
We happened to have a conference with her teacher that afternoon. Mrs. Buckner told us she'd never seen Charla so happy and motivated.
It looks like the 2nd one won't be far behind. And I doubt it'll be too much longer before the Tooth Fairy gets to collect Charla's teeth as opposed to her finger nails.
my pretty, funny lil' girl
Well, the doctor predicted she'd probably lose at least one, if not 2, of her finger nails. And this week it finally happened.
She was SO excited when the nail fell off, that she exclaimed, "OH, I hope the Tooth Fairy will visit and bring me some money!"
I couldn't resist.
When she woke up the following morning, there were 4 shiny quarters left under her pillow.
We happened to have a conference with her teacher that afternoon. Mrs. Buckner told us she'd never seen Charla so happy and motivated.
It looks like the 2nd one won't be far behind. And I doubt it'll be too much longer before the Tooth Fairy gets to collect Charla's teeth as opposed to her finger nails.
my pretty, funny lil' girlTuesday, March 1, 2011
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