Espanol

I am here because Amelia has been completely irrational and screaming at me all day.

"Mom?  Will you put the tape right here?"

"Sure."  I put the tape right there.

Screams "I didn't want you to press it down!  Why did you press it down?!  I just said PUT IT RIGHT THERE!!!"  Falls into convulsive sobbing.

So I am attempting to laugh at it rather than be undone by it.

Right now she is locked in her room screaming, "I only know how to write Dad in Spanish!  It's all I know how to do!"  Interspersed with "Who cares?!"

Umm.......did someone else teach her Spanish?  I'm not sure what she is talking about but I am going to mop my floor and pray that the girl gets some sleep already!

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.

Motherhood

Okay. I am having a bit of confusion about how my mother raised 7 children. My reality is that the moment my third turned one, part of my cerebral cortex went missing. Really.

Proof:

• I had to reschedule a doctor's appointment for Andrew three times because I kept forgetting it. Yes, each time it was scheduled for a quiet time in the morning. Yes, I wrote it on my calendar each time. Yes, I received reminder phone calls the day before from the dr. office. Each time I was doing nothing important (dishes, laundry, picking my nose, trying to remember why I opened the refrigerator door...) when I would remember. It was ALWAYS about 30 minutes after the appointment time. AUGHH!

• One of Jacob's good friends had a birthday party yesterday afternoon at Main Event -a place Jake has been dying to go to, and a friend he doesn't get to see often. Yeah - forgot it.
• I have forgotten to feed Amelia lunch....ahem, not sure how many times. (This is how you train your children to be proactive. )
  

• A couple weeks ago I left the house and ran errands without a bra on. No Katie - it was not planned.

I think the trouble lies in recognizing the written word. Whether the paper with symbols is my calendar, an email message, or something large pasted to my refrigerator so I can't miss it, whatever part of the brain processes the letters and signals to my brain what the combination means......that is the section I am missing. So if you invite me somewhere, or simply demand that I do something, you'd better call me 5 minutes before I am supposed to do the something, and hope that I am even home. BWahahahaha! (Evil laughter, because truly, I am in my happy place. Most likely at a park "chitter chatting" as Andrew says, with friends or just breathing the fresh air and trying to let my little brain recover enough to remember to make dinner before 8.)

Yes, my poor husband and children. But. . . . . "All ya need is love!" Right?

Let's be honest. This afternoon was incredibly difficult. Small child lost control, I proceeded to go into this "I'm out of control - I'm in control" bouncy thing. Yelling one minute, calmly ignoring the next. Repeat. Yeah, I know, straight from the chapter in every parenting book of what to avoid.

SO! I am here to remind myself of why I want to be with these little buggers when they wake up all bushy tailed (or perhaps-brace yourself Cheri-breathing fire again).

So here they are in all their sweet glory.





Alright. They are sweet.

Robots.rock.

(must assume robot voice now.)

I have. been speaking. like. a robot. with Andrew. for about. 20 minutes. It was. the only. way. to have. him. help me. put. away. groceries.

As I opened my mouth to begin a new sentence I realized how funny we sounded and burst out laughing. Amelia is following us around with a funny smile of awe on her face.

We. are. wierd.

Jake the Snake

Wow. What a day. My little buddy, Jake, and I had a rough one. There is something about this little full-of-life boy that can melt my heart and also bring out every parenting weakness I have. Sometimes I just feel as though I am completely losing control of myself. He's got a lot of energy, passion, movement, and expectations. If I am not on top of my game....things start spiraling. Not always in a bad direction, but ALWAYS in a direction. And always fast.

We are getting used to all being together all day (school let out last Friday) and trying to figure out a routine that works for all of us.

Here is a picture of the boy on his last day of school. Wearing his school pride shirt. Up at 6:15, in my room, dressed, clapping his hands with a huge grin on his face, singing "It's the last day of school!" over and over.

He was at school before the front doors opened. He wanted to run on the front lawn with the boys who are always early.


After school I took him out for ice cream. Something my mom did with us throughout our school years. Andy was gone at a friend's house, so Jake and I had a nice chat. He said he was kind of excited for summer, but was feeling really sad about not getting to see his teacher anymore or go to class. He asked me to commit to doing homeschool all summer. I agreed, and so far - so good. We started on Saturday - at Jake's insistence. The boys have been eager to do all their assignments and I have had fun coming up with creative ways to challenge them. We even did P.E. yesterday and ran laps.

Anyway, he's a good boy. I love him dearly. I just need quiet moments of reflection sometimes to slow down and not be reacting to his actions. He can be so great. Today I was done with cleaning up our one hundred stuffed animals for the six hundredth time, and said "each of you choose 4 animals, right now, and say goodbye to the rest." They each made their careful and labored selections and then it was time for me to feed Amelia. I sat on the couch and asked Jacob to grab a big bag and see how many of the leftovers he could fit into it. In a moment I noticed him quietly hugging each animal and telling them he would miss them and hoped that they would make another child "really excited."

Well, I think I've convinced myself again that I can do it. I am just going to have to find the energy to raise this child well. There is a lot of good, and I don't want it getting wasted on my watch! (that sounds bad, but sometimes it is SO HARD that I wonder if it's worth the effort. Not the child - the end behavioral result.)

I'm babbling. Ughh. Parenting is hard.

Good Mom/Bad Mom

You may look at this picture of Andy's m&m's and crackers breakfast and gasp in horror. I would rather look at things in a positive light.

Here is a list of my justifications. I mean, uhhh, good things we can gather from this picture...

1. A well balanced breakfast of antioxidants and whole grains
2. His pajamas are clean - his mom must be industrious
3. His face is clean - someone must have given him a bath recently
4. He is learning his letters "Look Mom, a T with a top hat!"
5. He is obviously able to take care of himself by getting breakfast while his mom sets a wonderful example of the importance of exercise. (I was in the other room doing pilates.)
6. His smile indicates he is happy

well, well, well (or as Andrew would say, wew, wew, wew..), things aren't so bad as they seem.

Compsilators and Laughter

Imagine, if you will, Andy Roo wearing his green Robin Hood tunic, a new pair of flashy cowboy boots with big white stars on them, and a silver breastplate. This is what he chose to wear on our family walk this evening. You know how kids sometimes throw together funny combinations and it seems to work? This combo was not working. Every time I looked at him I wanted to shake my head. So anyway, while on our walk, the King of Secret Vocabulary informed us that we had better watch out because he had a Compsilator in his pocket and it was filled with poison! He then waved his stick - I mean, laser - at us and ran on ahead. I always wonder if the "special words" are a lack of understanding of the words we use, or a creative mind at work. I guess it could be both...he doesn't remember the word, but he doesn't let that get in the way. Who knows. He does make me laugh, though.

In other news: As I was out running errands this morning, Andy and Amelia were having fun as usual with each other. Andrew getting right in her face and making loud goobery noises, and Amelia kicking her feet and opening her mouth wide in delight. At one point I am assuming she had had enough. She started fussing and Andrew started consoling:

"Laaa-deee, don't be sa-ad!"

Continued fussing.

(this time giggling all the way through his words) "Laaa-deee, it's okay. You don't need to cry!"

Amelia stops fussing for a moment.

"Mom! At first I just told her she was okay, and then I put my laughter on and told her she was okay and she LIKED IT!! I should put my laughter on EVERY TIME!"

He can be such a goofy kid. And he loves his "Busta Bear." (don't ask. it's one of his many nicknames for her.) And she loves him.

In fact, tonight at dinner we had such a sweet conversation. Mike was asking the kids what they would want in a house. Andrew requested a tree house, and Jake requested "a nice room by himself." Then he decided someone would need to keep Amelia company so he would share a room with her, and Andrew could have his own room. But Andrew wanted to be with her and Jake. He stretched out his arms (he was seated at the table between Jake and Amelia) to each of them and said he loved them both. They both talked about how good it was to be together and how they didn't want anyone to be lonely, and all three had big blue eyes and smiles. It was so adorable and heartwarming to watch and listen to.

Oh brother, I am tearing up as I type this. I love my kids and I am so glad that they love each other. Amelia watches the boys like they are her heroes. She puts up with being wrapped like a burrito and rolled across the carpet, forced leg lifts, and disgustingly slobbery kisses x 20 all over her head, all with a smile and shining eyes. What a joy my children can be.

Enough Already!

Yesterday afternoon, while shopping with the kids, I had a sudden onset of sickness. A fever swept over my body and within minutes had every joint aching and my skin sensitive to the slightest touch. We cut the trip short, rushed to the checkout line and I nearly lost it as Jacob pulled out his precious wallet and began to painstakingly count out his change in order to pay for the Skittles he wanted to purchase. I tried so hard to be patient, but every second was killing me, and Andrew was whining full throttle about wanting some Skittles too. (I did NOT give in!)

As soon as we got home, I locked the deadbolt, gave the old spiel about not opening the door if someone knocks, and crashed on my bed. A few hours later Jacob woke me up to tell me Amelia had been crying for awhile and he thought she was really hungry. I was then reminded that they were hungry too. Milk for the girl, oatmeal for the boys, and then a crabby mom all but pushed them into their beds and shut the door.

It was a long freezing cold, burning hot, freezing cold night.

This morning Andrew wanted me to read Go Dogs, Go! to him. Poor guy. I did my best to stay awake, but numerous times I would find myself mumbling things like "Christmas is already over" and listing off the names of the lotions I have... He was confused and annoyed that I kept reading things that "aren't on the page!" You know the state I'm talking about - eyes are switching sockets, you can barely contain the head roll...

And I'm hacking up a lung. So there it is. I'm miserable, but hopeful that it will be gone by tomorrow. A couple of friends have granted me a chance at sanity by taking the boys for playdates this afternoon.... and now the pressing question is "How many nights am I allowed to feed the family pathetic dinners?"