My dear sweet darling children. I am amazed at your abilities. Amazed that God has entrusted me with your care. You are so good. So creative. So intelligent and inquisitive. So forgiving, quick to have fun and look at the brighter side of things.

Andrew - you cleaned out the van as a surprise for me because you knew I would be driving kids from youth group around for a scavenger hunt tonight. You even pulled out all the rugs and beat them and used a wet rag to clean out anything left in the cupholders. You were sweating like crazy! It is an April evening and was 94 degrees out. You were thrilled to be doing it and I overheard you letting Amelia join in as well, using a gentle teaching voice to direct her as to where things went. Here you are enjoying some cold watermelon after finishing your surprise.


Amelia - every time you pull a candy out of the Easter stash Grandma and Grandpa just sent you, you run to me with an identical candy and say, "One for me, and one for YOU!" and then give me an adorable smile with light spilling out of your huge beautiful eyes.


Jacob - I had so much fun running with you a few weeks ago. What a great conversationalist you are! The time flew by and it was so great to be passing it with you on a cool Saturday morning when the world was still quiet. The next day at church one of the men in our ward came up to me and commented that he had seen us and said it looked like I was having a lot of fun with you. I WAS! Here's a funny picture of you from our road trip last summer.


I love you all! I love that you are all willing to work on things with me. I love the flowers Andrew always picks for me, the way Amelia does something (like leak a little bit before running to the bathroom or open her eyes during prayer), tells us about it, and then states, "But dat's okay." With her eyes kind of squinted, her head kind of nodding at a tilt, and always followed by a knowing little laugh of hers. I love that Jacob ALWAYS checks in when at his friends house within the MINUTE of when I've asked him to. ALWAYS. And even if it's just a check in he's already spilling out what a"marvelous" time he's having and what he and his friends are up to, and what they've eaten, and why they're laughing in the background, and "wait Mom, one more thing, David just told me this joke. You HAVE to hear it........" and I end up having to kind of cut him off while laughing and let him get back to what he's doing.

How grateful I am to be your mama.

TOGETHER!

My boys have been marching around, giggling uncontrollably, with their arms draped around each others' shoulders and chanting...

"We're just two belly buttons out to face the world's problems together,
TOGETHER!"

Now they are laying on the couch pulling each others' ears and shouting/guffawing/drooling
"TOGETHER, TOGETHER!"

Jeepers. I love them.

Okay - funny side note. They were also talking about being Siamese twins. Mike just read this and told me that the night before he had taken the boys to the bookstore and they had been captivated by a book on Siamese twins. Ahh..there is an explanation behind the madness.

Sweetness

Let me give you some background. I've decided to homeschool my kids. I'll have to do a different post on that, but here's what happened tonight.

Our elementary school's Welcome Walk was set for tonight. It's when you find out who your teacher is. You wait, excitedly and impatiently, between 5 and 7 for your teacher to show up at your door. She brings you a little bag with papers for mom and dad, a write up about her, and some fun stuff like pencils...maybe a zebra ruler, and then visits with you for a few minutes and is off again. Then your kids are calling all their friends to find out who's in who's class. Lots of fun.

About 6:30 Jacob started his phone calls. First on the list, Simon.

Here's what I could hear from the other room:

"Simon! Hey! Who'd you get?!

Awesome! Are you excited?

Were you hoping for her?

Do you know who else is in your class?"

....a little chatter. And then apparently Simon decided to start asking Jake the same questions, even though he knew Jake would be at home this year.....

And Jake answered, "I got Ms. Anderson! Oh yeah, I like her a lot. She's the one I wanted the most."

Then he looks over at me and smiles a heart melting smile.

LOVE.

Wednesday Buffet

Here are a few little things that were running through my mind as I laid the floor singing to my boys tonight....

I read a fascinating article in the New York Times today entitled "Are your friends making you fat?" So interesting. Obesity was not the focus, nor was avoiding fat people so you don't end up that way....but social mannerism movement studies that were intriguing, and also made me excited to continue making happy, healthy choices with the realization of the great effect it can have on those around me. Can't wait to discuss it with Mike tonight.

When I got home from mutual (church youth group that I help lead) I went upstairs to check on the boys and Jake was engrossed in Aesop's fables, and Andrew was settling in to bed wearing....blue gardening gloves. "They help keep my hands soft, Mom." (whatever, honey. Will they help you fall asleep faster?)

Just two weeks ago I was sad, realizing that our dress up stuff doesn't get used near as much as it used to, and then today.....

some adorable little girl decided she knew how to undress and dress herself and enjoyed herself very much. She was a clone trooper, then robin hood, then this. Looks like we may need to add a few female characters to the basket.

And we had fun making and eating peanut butter chocolate cookies. (After Jacob consumed too much dough he informed me that he "maybe isn't such a fan of peanut products after all.")

This is not to say we didn't have two very difficult hours trying to get homework done, or craziness at the dinnertime hour, or crankiness from the two year old when told she had to eat something this week besides cheese, but I just had to chuckle tonight at all the funny, sometimes odd, and varied things that can happen in the home in a typical day.

Sigh

Jacob finished his breakfast, pushed aside his bowl, and rested his chin on his hands. He sat there for a moment, quietly, and then, in a tired, slightly resigned tone, said,

"I guess I can read this Winnie the Pooh book. It should put a smile on my face."

Why Winnie the Pooh, and why a needed smile?...........

Well, the Winnie the Pooh book was within reach, and the necessary arrival of these -

was the reason he was short on smiles.

Jacob is no ordinary child. When he does something, he REALLY does it. I foresee family get togethers in the future as story-tell-athons, recounting (and hopefully laughing hysterically) all his childhood adventures.

So here's the story. Yesterday was a great day. Harmony in the home, Mom working on prepping some rooms for painting, working in the yard together (while it was only 95ish, and not yet 104), yada, yada, yada. Late in the quiet afternoon, while they were all looking at books (we are all finishing up recovering from the flu in JULY - not bitter at all), Jake decided things were a bit too quiet and starts stirring up the pot. Ends up losing his chance to hang out with us kool kats and gets sent upstairs to his room. He starts shooting arrows (sharpened pencils) at me with his bow (hanger) from his room. Naturally mom shuts his door. He opens it and begins again. Mom locks it. Yelling, banging, and then quietness follows. I continue keepin' my cool and taping off the hallway. I run out of painters tape. I go down to the kitchen to get the next roll and WHAT!?! Jacob is dragging himself up to the patio door!

HE ESCAPED OUT HIS BEDROOM WINDOW, LOWERED HIMSELF ONTO THE COVERED PATIO ROOF, AND JUMPED.

So, a long evening in the E.R. with me and three lovely, tired children. (couldn't get ahold of Mike, he was out running after work). Grrrrrr. Yes, he broke the little bones on the top of his foot, and is in a hard splint. Half plaster, half wrap. He is pretty proud of how "awesome I already am at getting around on these things!" Though the hospital bills he is now in charge of paying, and the thought of not being able to swim in this absurd heat has got him a little down. Natural consequences. Lovely things. (Though I wish I didn't have to hang around while he suffers through it.)

Which reminds me of another story that must not be left out of our family archive. Back in maybe March, Jake was out playing in the backyard. I asked him to pick up some things before he came back in, and then I went inside, inadvertently locking the door behind me. I proceeded to go into the garage to do laundry, and Andrew and Amelia came in as well, to ride their bikes. So we couldn't hear anything.....phones ringing, doorbells dinging, or.... WHOOPS - children knocking and calling and finally crying and pounding to tell me they are locked out. Jake (who's worst fear is being kidnapped) took matters into his own hands. He found a hammer and smashed out our sliding glass door - almost all of it. There was glass from the back door all the way to the front door. Ohhhhhh boy. I am glad I refrained from going with my first train of thought - which was to hang him in the tree by his toes and let the opossums make breakfast out of him -but I gave big hugs and helped calm him down and listened to his story. The poor little guy was terrified. And I felt so bad that I had locked the door, even if just out of habit!

So there it is. And I am clinging to the hope that the thousands of extra dollars these "stories" are going to cost us will seem trivial when all is said and done.

And of course, it must be remembered, that Jacob absolutely charmed every one of the 7 doctors/nurses/receptionists that helped him. Oh, and the whole waiting room. He is charming and delightful. I am so thankful for that. And as I seek to align myself with Pollyanna, I am glad that it was only his foot that was injured, and that the screen he pushed out of his bedroom window was not damaged beyond repair, and that they had crutches his size...because this mama would be having a meltdown if she had to carry a 50 pound child everywhere. I'm not sure that would have ended pretty.

So now I must get back to "the boredest boy on earth," his brother who is still dealing with an awful cough, and his sister - who just woke up and I am praying is in a fabulous mood!

A little bit of this, little bit of that...

While Mike was out mowing the lawn he spotted a very cool beetle. We all ran out to see it, and I caught this sweet moment on camera. All the children are in poses that so well capture their personalities. Jake's back on his haunches, elbows resting on his knees, checking things out, Andrew has got the gumby body hunched down low, (aaaa! this pic was pre-haircut. His hair was driving me nuts!!), and Amelia is matter of factly showing Mike the mail. Mike is a good dad. I love him!

Here Amelia is humming Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and doing the hand actions. I'm not sure if the sweet potatoes run through the hair enhances her onstage look or not....

Jacob finished up his first soccer season. The lower picture shows him on one of the days he was goalie. He was awesome! A lot of balls were shot at him and he stopped them all. He was such a hustler. The minute he would stop the ball, he was alreading running to throw it back into play. He would toss it far over the other players, and one time he threw it so far, the other teams' goalie had to stop it from rolling into their goal. He was so proud of himself and told us that Coach Pat remarked- after he dove on a ball to stop it- that he did it just like a "PROFESSIONAL!!" (: He was all smiles. We are excited to have Andrew start as well.

And one last little bit: The other night the boys and I were entertaining ourselves by looking through a cake decorating book my mother in law gave us a LONG while back. As we looked through the wedding cake section, the boys started deciding what cake they would have at their wedding. I mentioned that their choices were nice and all, but they would have to see if it would be something the girl would like as well....

Jacob: Ok Andrew, let's look again and try to get something with a little more girly in it, but not too much girly.
(they look for a while, hemming and hawing)
Andrew: Here's a good one. It's pretty pretty, and I like it too!
Jacob: Yeah, that's good. Mom? Do the girls get to choose the other things for the wedding?
Mom: Jake, the girls traditionally get to plan the entire wedding.
Jacob: WHAT!? No fair! I want to plan my wedding!.........Well, if she plans the wedding, how could I help?
Mom: Maybe you could offer to go pick up the flowers from the florist, or get the tuxes, or (I can see that he is not listening to me and is thinking hard)
Jacob interrupts: I know what I can do! I'm really good at spreading out the table cloth at our house, so I will tell her that I am going to put the tablecloths on all the tables!!! (is very excited)

Brilliant!

And of course, as we sat looking through the catalog, I was reminded of the last time we sat down and looked through it.

Here's an update. My sister Lindsay made it for Jake and did such a cool job. So funny. (Okay, so I'm like a year behind in posting about it.) Still such a hilarious cake for a seven year old. He thought it was awesome.

I'm so tired, and my mind is in a million places, and I have two pressing projects that need to be done tonight, but I cannot be on my feet anymore, so I will take a break lying down and record some things I've been meaning to.

-A couple of weeks ago was our week of shows. Mostly having to do with magic and art. The boys made out tickets and money and collected them behind the play cash register. There were top hats, things disappearing under handkerchiefs, music, pirate ship drawing contests, castle drawing contests...and ALWAYS a drum roll called for before the winner was announced. Pillows were laid out for each person to sit on, and place cards were made. I think we did it 4 different nights in one week. It was so fun to see the boys' creativity and planning.

-I love that when Andrew gets really excited about something he cannot stop hopping while he tells you about it. I also love that he stutters for the same reason. "and, and, and, and, 'JACOB! (he shouts), stop interrupting! I'm telling Mom about it!' and, and, and then we......"

-Jacob is playing soccer for the first time and is really enjoying himself. He is pretty aggressive at getting the ball from others and has made a few goals. He runs all out and is exhausted and happy at the end. I was not able to go to his first game and so I asked him about it when he came home. He talked about the team doing well, but only making two goals while the other team made three. It wasn't until Mike came in that I found out Jake had made both the goals, and that even at the time of making them - while everyone cheered for Jake- he acknowledged the boy who made "such a great pass" to him. He definitely made his momma proud with that!

-My garden is in! What? Do you hear that? An angelic hallelujah chorus?! Yes. It is beautiful. Smaller than originally intended, but good for my first time. I have 6 tomato plants, 2 zucchini (when we came home from the store, Jacob went running out to show Andy the zucchini plants and Andrew hugged them to his chest "Mmmm...zucchini bread."), 1 cucumber, and a number of herbs. It is so enjoyable to sit and weed for a little while in the evening while the kids play.

-We have a playscape finally! I scoped one out on Craig's List and the kids love it! Amelia could swing forever, and the boys are awesome to push her whenever I am doing something else. They are so funny together.

-On a past Friday the boys and I were having one of those "What would we ever do without our little Millie girl?" conversations. On Saturday evening Mike and I were worn out from a day in the yard and Jacob made dinner for everyone. And not the same thing for all of us, mind you. He even made me a salad with chicken on top! (Leftover ingredients, but he did have to cut a few things). He called his operation "Jake's cowboy cookin'." He then insisted on doing all the dishes and wiping down the counters. I was thinking "This boy is HEAVEN SENT!" Later on as I was weeding the garden he came and sat down next to me.

"Mom? Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, buddy boy."
"Do you ever wonder what you would do without me?"

Oh my goodness! He got kisses and hugs and lots of reasons why we would be so sad not to have our wonderful Jacob around!

-And lastly, little Amelia Love has grown some hair and I can put it in pigtails! So exciting! She is adorable! She loves to have her hair done. If I mention it, she runs to the bathroom and waits to be lifted to the counter. She also wears my shoes everywhere and likes to pick out what shoes she and I will wear. The other day she played dress up in her room. She would point to the items she wanted, and wait patiently for me to put them on, would walk around for awhile (oh so conscious of herself), and then would choose new things to wear. She cracks me up. I want to squish her always. OH YES! -she really loves to prance - she has this little hop in her step all the time. And she wears a "pearl" necklace most days and headbands around her neck, and loves to fold her arms now.

-So that's that. Some things I didn't want to forget!

Heads Up

Today we went to pick up a playscape for our backyard. (Hooray!!!) While waiting for a guy to come back with some different tools, I slid into the seat of the van, hoping to get a some needed shut eye in the air conditioning. The boys were busy rearranging all the wood pieces in the big trailer. After a few minutes Jake knocks loudly on the window. I open my eyes, and with a very serious look he motions for me to open the door.

As soon as the door is open he soberly gives me the latest heads up:

"Okay. Mom? (right hand comes up and out, palm open, head cocks to the side a little and bobs almost imperceptibly) if anyone comes by and tries to sell you a unicorn horn, do NOT buy it. There are no such things as unicorns. He probably just went up to the Arctic and found some washed up Narwal, took it's horn, and is going to sell it to you. (Pauses and thinks for just a second). He will probably just make up the cost of getting the Narwal horn, or maybe will try to even make a bit extra."

I almost totally lost it when he said unicorn horn. I didn't see that coming. Where does he come up with these things!?! And Narwal? As he walked away it took me a few moments to remember that it is the name of some kind of fish - maybe a type of small shark? Whatever.

Update:
I (Miguel) looked it up, and Narwhals are crazy -like a unicorn for boys, but for real. Here is a page with several pictures.

Happy Campers

Jake runs away (again), but is soon distracted by something better to do with his time. Andrew and Amelia soon join in.

After a bit he comes in and says, "Mom, will you come out and look at our campsite contest? Just let us know if they are both equally good, what we could do better, or if there's just a personal winner."

I was greeted by this sign:

Here are the results, Andrew's being the one with the "slippy" tucked safely inside for a restful puppy sleep, and Jake's having the rifle with arm's reach.





(camp Jacob: visitors not allowed)-remnant from running away stint

I told them they were "both equally good" and then they ran off to protect their handiwork from the little Amelia girl.

Goulash

Here are some random items from the past few days:

#1: We had some of the boys friends come over for a night hike on Friday evening. Tons of fun. The weather was perfect, the moon was out, and the sandwiches and brownies tasted delicious. Something like "hunger is the best sauce"....

#2: Some background for this one - Jacob has/had a habit of eating everything. He's done this since the time he could coordinate his arms and hands enough to get things to his mouth. When I say eats everything I am talking wood (including his bunk bed), any plastic toy, cups (all the plastic ones have been completely gnawed around the rims), shirts (he sometimes would come home from school with little holes gnawed from the collar to the belly button - and soaking wet), pants (a brand new pair of church slacks had a 1/2 inch hole chewed through the knee in the first hour of wearing them), all the buttons off his shirts, snaps off his jackets, I think you get the picture. For a time I viewed clothing as disposable - a one use item, if you will. We accepted hand-me-downs from as many sources as were offered, and he probably ate his way through 30 t-shirts, 3 pairs of church pants, and probably 4 different button down shirts were always sitting on top of my mending pile. Luckily he seems to have by in large curbed this habit. (Unfortunately his fingernails now bear the brunt of the incessant chewing. We offer carrots constantly as a substitute - but, whatever... hopefully he'll grow out of it.)

SO... Anyway, as we were driving to our night hike I overhear this exchange between Jake and Simon:

(Simon is an accomplished whistler - I am not exaggerating...and he's 8 years old. He had been whistling and I think Jake was feeling some pressure to show off some of his stuff as well.)
Jake: "There are a lot of things I can do too, that you probably don't even know about."

Simon: "Can you chew through a telephone wire?" (In a challenging voice)

Jake: "Well, yeah, probably. I mean - it might get a little shocky as I got to the electricity, but I could do it."

Simon: (you could hear him shaking his head) "Dude, you're a hamster."


#3: Andrew woke up with a fever early Sunday morning. As the day wore on, his stomach ached. At one point he bounded down the stairs and said, "Mom! I said a prayer to God to not let me throw up, because it hurts my throat so much, and now I don't have to throw up anymore!!" So darling. He even told Jacob last night about his experience and told Jacob that "he could pray when he was sick and Heavenly Father would help [him] too."
Fast forward to this morning. He wakes up feeling worse. He tells me he has said "three..what comes after three? (I answer) Four prayers this morning and i still feel yucky. Then a few minutes later, as he is puking____ "God"....barf..."didn't"...barf..."listen to"....barf..."my prayers!"...sobbing.
Oh my goodness. What do you say? It broke my heart, and I told him that maybe Heavenly Father knew there was stuff inside that needed to come out. Poor, sweet, Andy Roo.

watch it, mister

Yesterday Jacob warned Andrew:

"Um Andrew? I wouldn't really call mom silly if I were you, you might end up appearing before a court before you are 18."

Big eyes from Andy.

Gotta Love Him

This is a conversation Jake and I had today. As we drove home from school I asked him the question I ask him everyday...

Me: "What was your favorite thing about today?"

He fairly exploded with excitement as he told me that they played Dragon Whip in P.E. today. He told me that they all had different colored handkerchiefs tucked into their waistbands and they had to try to steal the flags of anyone with the same color flag as them. He told me that no one had been able to get his.

Me: "Wow. You must have been a quick mover, today!"

Jake: (spitting with all his enthusiasm and using all sorts of hand motions) "Not only was I quick-footed, but as soon as someone was about to grab my flag I would leap as HIGH as I could and then practically do a side flip as I spun out of their reach. Then I would hit the ground rolling and head for the safety zone. Worked every time."

i burst out laughing. What a kid.

Jake-o-licious!

I inherited a cake decorating book (circa 1987) from my mother-in-law ages ago. My boys love looking through it.

This afternoon Jake asked me to get it down for him. After browsing it's pages he brought this picture over to me:

 

"Mom! This is the one I want for my birthday! Still foxy at 50!"

"Ha! I think that cake is for a 50 year old, Jacob." (not wanting to explain foxy to him.)

"It's okay. We'll just write 'Still foxy at 7!"

"Mmmhmm, how 'bout you look for a second choice, too!"

Here's the second choice. Kids kill me.

 

**Don't think I'm not SERIOUSLY tempted to make the fox cake -saying and all. What a hilarious memory! I just wonder if he would hate me as a teenager looking back at photos, or if I would spend half my time at a party trying to quietly explain the cake to parents. I'll get back to you if it happens (:

Budding Wadsworth

Today as we were out and about Jacob looked at the tangle of intersecting freeways in front of us and contemplatively remarked,

"When I look at that highway with my poet's eyes, I see ramps and race cars."

Ahh... what they won't come up with...

My Little Chefs

It's Friday night and the boys wanted to cook their own dinner. Mike wasn't going to be home until late, so I let them have the kitchen to themselves. I'll let the pictures tell most of the story.





They were so meticulous with it all. They did everything except open the oven door and turn on the burner. Jacob even wiped down the counter and sinks when they were through washing dishes. Andrew was adorable. It took him about 10 minutes to fill the muffin cups, and I think almost as much made it into his mouth!


As they sat down to eat, I listened in on a couple of funny conversations.

A: (Said with so much enthusiasm I can't help but grin as I type it) Jacob! I'm so proud that I made these muffins all by myself! They taste great! VERY great! Are you proud that you made the eggs all by yourself?

J: Yes, Andrew.

A: Jacob! I have a plan! When we grow up we can be restaurant guys!

J: Yeah! I know, How about we plan it and then build it! You could pass out the menus to all the people, and then come back in the kitchen - and all the while you'll be on your skateboard - and you'll skate back in the kitchen and tell me what they want!

A: Yeah! And we can call it the french fry store!

J: No, there's like a million french fry stores...hmmm....

*some silence as they think*

A: Well, of course, we'll need a playground, of course.

J: Oh yes.

____________________

They munch some more and then:

A: Jacob, you did a wonderful job on the eggs.

J: Thank you!

*a little pause..

A: The eggs taste a little wierd.

J: I know. Kind of like crackers.

A: Yeah....but soft crackers. They're okay.

J: Your muffins are very soft.

A: I know. I love them! Mmm mmm!

Will work for wisdom......

I love my family. I would like to think that I would do anything for them, but this past year proved to be a selfish one for me. Snuggled up to the white throne for about 6 months, and then again a couple months later, being HUGE, and having a severely sprained ankle, all led me to focus on myself. On reflection I realized that most of last year was surviving the daily grind, instead of enjoying and guiding it.

Thank goodness for a new year. "I feel good, na- na- na- na- na- na- NA. I [hoped] that I would..." (you know the tune), and I'm ready to be all that I am asked to be. Boys - I will be there for you and be FUN again! Burn the DVD player!! Mike - I might start to look cute again, AND cook dinner for you. Double whammy! Family and Friends - I promise to pick up the phone when you call, and actually do something for YOU for a change.

As I have been trying to figure out how to change the habits my family and I have slipped into (and out of), I have first started reading my scriptures, and secondly started reading my favorite parenting book Parenting with Love & Logic. Both are sources that I am eagerly diving into, hoping and trusting that the experiences of others will allow me some insight into how I might make personal progress this year, and in turn, bring more harmony into our home.

Onto the fun little things of today:

Jacob: "Figuring out that puzzle was harder than jumping on the back of a running mare!"

Andrew: "I am just going to give myself a BIG HUG!! I am soooo happy that I found all the pictures by myself"

Amelia: I am trying to roll over, but when I get close to it, I stop and give a huge smile to the audience I always have, and then flop back. Hee, hee, hee, ha, ha, ha..(evil laughter)

Cheri: Yay! I'm a big girl! I just finished all the laundry...AND put it away!

Cowboys

For the past hour the boys have been playing cowboys. They couldn't decide who got to be the Lone Ranger, so they both are. (Not so "lone" as they would like to think). So anyway, they assigned me to be shopkeeper a few minutes ago because they had some supplies they needed to purchase. I sold them new hats, boots, saddle grease, sunglasses....whatever they brought up to me. At one point Jake threw down two books on the table and said in his best country western accent: "I'll take these; How to Heal a Wounded Cowboy (Doctor Dan the Bandage Man) and How To Train Your Dog (Poky Little Puppy)." He does this often, where he takes books/manuals along with him. Our books get all sorts of creative titles depending on his current persona. I wish I had written them all down!

As the amount of stuff they were purchasing escalated, I reminded them in my best cowboy voice, that "you'd best be prepared to put each a those away, one at a time, just the same's as you're pullin' them out, one at a time."

Jake stops for a second, cocks his head to the side and asks, "Is this here a rental shop?"