Tales from a Stay at Home Mom

To Work Or Not To Work

2012-02-09T15:33:00.000-05:00

Lately, I have been toying with the idea of getting a job. It comes from this desire to help with our income. I have been watching Nick run himself in circles, working three jobs, just so that I can stay at home. And since the culture we live in pretty much requires two incomes to be able to feed a family of five, I figured I might have to give in.

Of course, the moment that I started thinking about it, I thought of someone else being with Noah all day and missing the summers with the kids and I immediately started to cry.

I was only talking with Nick about getting a job, but somehow Caleb must have overheard us. Out of the blue, he said to me the other day, "I don't want you to get a job, Mom." When I asked him why, he said, "Because I love you and Daddy the same."

It took a little questioning to realize that he meant that he loves the way our family works. He loves his dad working and coming home to him. He loves me being here. He also added, "If you had a job, who would be here with us?"

Okay, so getting a full time job is not in my near future, given my tears and my five-year old's guilt trip. In the meantime, though, I keep waiting for that dream job from home that I hear that other moms have. You know, the ones who work from home for a great company? Apparently, they exist. I just have not found them, yet.

I know it is a short time that the kids are this age and eventually we will become a two-income family again. But, sometimes, it is really hard to see that far down the road.

Abby's Writings

2012-02-05T14:27:00.000-05:00

Just a few snippets from Abby's writing these days...

The theme that was given at school was "How do you get to Heaven?"

I think that when Jesus comes, we will come on a cloud and flot up to heaven. I think that heaven will have sand all over the ground and there will alwas be a rainbow in the sky. There will be a huge house right next to a beautiful sea. I think I will go to heaven someday. I think I will go because I am a christian and I belive in God. I am pretty sure I will go to heaven. I know heaven is for real. I know in heaven is where God lives.

Another random story about pets...

I really really really really really need a pet cat. I will die if I do not get this kitten. I am seven years old and I still do not have a pet! I promise to take care of it! Let me please just have one-just one cat! If you do not let me have this cat I know is waiting for me I will shoot you! I really will! I will save all my money for it! I will not save my allowance for anything else. You can not convenice me to even get a ameracan girl doll instead of a cat! But if you do, I will ask santa for that cat and he never dissapoints me! He always give me exactly what I want! He is the best person in the world! He would give me anything I want. Or grammy will give me a cat. My cat could play with little Noah. I don't care if he does play with my cat! I would name my cat Rose. I think Rose is a pretty name. I love cats more than anything. I already have fish. I don't want a dog. The only animal I want is a cat! I would feed my Rose three times a day. I would do any thing to get that cat that is waiting for me! I love cats more than anything!

Hmm. We went from Heaven to shooting me for not giving her a cat. I think there is a contradiction somewhere between these stories.

The Latest On Noah

2012-02-03T12:42:00.001-05:00

Noah has been fun these days.

My little tornado thinks it is his job to destroy the house. Stop by any time of the day and this is what you will see...

Pots and pans on the living room floor
Plastic lids and containers scattered all over the kitchen floor, in the perfect spot to slip on
Toys...everywhere...ironically enough, not being played with
Full pop cans in the middle of the floor, that have been rolled around for awhile
Socks everywhere
Important papers that belong on the fridge, now wrinkled and slightly torn, somewhere under the couch
Magazines torn and left in pieces
Board books, that are made for babies so that they do not get torn, in pieces, usually in Noah's hands as he brings them to you to read, one page at a time
A tired me, standing in the midst of the mess, asking "Why, Noah, why?"

I used to read Real Simple for great organization tips. I have come to learn that the editors of that magazine in no way have little kids of their own. Sure, they may claim to have the perfect toy storage bins and ways to make a small room appear larger, but if they truly had little kids, they would simply write this...

"To all moms of young children-give up and try again in a few years."

I suppose that would not sell a lot of copies.

Anyway, in the midst of the destruction, Noah does have his cute moments. He loves socks. The other day, when I had just finished folding laundry (quite a task to complete with Mr. Tornado around), he grabbed the folded socks and decided that he had to have them all-at the same time. We went to get in the car to pick up Caleb from school and he would not leave the house without carrying his treasures.

Which is why I am still finding socks under the seats in the car.

He is trying so hard to communicate with us. He can say a few words, one being socks (shocking, I know). He eats absolutely anything in front of him. He is fearless and thinks he can keep up with Caleb. Currently, he resembles Rudolph, with a very red nose. He fell on the pavement and thought it was a good idea to stop his fall with his face.

I still cannot get this kid to watch tv. He will watch something if it is on in the van, but at home? Nope. Hence the destroyed kitchen while I cook. Apparently, breaking one of my favorite bowls to put vegetables in is more entertaining than Elmo.

And, finally, the boy is obsessed with his penis. Every time that I change a poopy diaper (which is A LOT), he giggles and tries to touch down there. The technique that I find that works is to hold his arms down against his chest with one hand and change the diaper with the other hand. Yep, call me Super Mom.

Funny enough, he does not try to touch it when he is only wet.

Oh, I must mention my favorite thing that Noah has started doing. Praying. When we sit down to eat, he folds his hands and looks at us, waiting for our words. After someone prays and he hears the magic words, "Amen," he yells out, "Dah, Dah!" Translation=Amen.

Now, I would love to take credit for my holy child and say that we always make a point to show him the proper way to say a blessing before eating and before bedtime. But, sadly, Noah is normally in the highchair, pushed to the side, while we are dishing out food to everyone with the kids praying before shoving the food in. Somehow, he still figured it out.

I would love to write more, but Noah is currently grabbing the cord from the iron that was left out from when I was ironing Abby's American Heritage Girl badges on her vest and he is attempting to put it where it belongs-in the outlet.

Beautiful Day

2012-02-01T16:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Nick and I attended the funeral of a beloved camp friend.

The service was beautiful with the pastor presenting the gospel to all who were there. And Deb's daughter, still so young, sharing her thoughts about her mom. She did such a lovely job and handled herself with grace and maturity. Every word that was spoken by her and the pastor just brought on more and more tears. Some tears over the loss, but most tears over the beauty that Deb must be seeing right now.

When we arrived home later that evening, the kids were still up, waiting to say good-night to us. As Abby was getting ready for bed, she quietly said, "Guess what? At school today, I gave my heart to Jesus."

I was floored by this announcement, partly because I know my little girl's heart and if she were suddenly to be taken from this world, there would be no doubt in my mind where she would go. So to hear her say that she just now did that was almost surprising.

Once I let it sink in and stopped everything to really hear her, it was amazing. Apparently, her teacher was reading a story and finished with a prayer. She invited the students to pray the same words in their hearts if they deeply wanted to, which Abby did.

I mentioned Abby's prayer to her teacher this morning and she said she was amazed at what went on in her class yesterday. She said the Holy Spirit must have been really working because a bunch of the students said the same thing.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I got to celebrate the life of my dear friend, who is with her Savior right now-seriously-right now! Then, I got to hear my seven-year old announce that she now knows the same Savior and wants Him to be Lord of her life.

My heart is full.

Another Reason Why I Long For Heaven

2012-01-28T19:40:00.001-05:00

I lost a friend today.

When I first met Deb, we were camp counselors together. It was my first year back to camp after a four year hiatus and I remember thinking, "Great, I'm with one of the older ladies. This won't be much fun."

(And by older, she was probably the age that I am now)

Anyone who knew Deb knows that I was completely in the wrong in my thinking.

She was so much fun and I can still hear her sweet laughter. She had a beautiful voice-beautiful. We spent year after year sitting in the back of the alto section together. Yes, we should have been sitting among the younger campers (sorry Jayne), but those times together were precious. Inside jokes were made, stories were shared, and laughter was constant.

Deb played the guitar and knew how to rock out on it. However, she refused to learn how to play more than her "Debbie chords." Anytime that I introduced a new song to our worship evening, she would take one look and would usually say, "Go ahead without me-it doesn't have Debbie chords."

She passed away last night of heart failure. I got the call while in the grocery store this morning. My first reaction was shock. But, when I went to call Nick to tell him the news, I broke down. In the middle of Kroger.

Somehow, I managed to finish shopping, with my only motivation being that my children had nothing to eat for lunch until I got home. Once in the car, however, I let the tears come full force. The radio automatically came on when I started the car, and by God's impeccable timing, this song was playing...

The radio continued to play song after song with lyrics of Heaven and joy. Camp songs came on and with every song came memories.

I know Deb is there, singing with her beautiful alto voice and praising her Savior.

I hope she saves me a seat next to her.

Who's Your Mommy?

2012-01-27T06:46:00.000-05:00

Caleb said to me the other day, "I love you mom. You're the best mom that I've ever had."

While I was of course flattered by his compliment, I just had to ask, "What other moms have you ever had?"

He replied, "Well, there's Izzy's mom and Izzy's dad, Noah's mom, Felicity's mom..."

I just had to ask, didn't I?

Apparently, in the eyes of my five-year old, his friends' moms (and it turns out in some cases, dads) are like moms (and dads) to him, too.

Well, at least I'm the best. You know, the person who actually gave birth to him.

Tackle

2012-01-25T06:40:00.001-05:00

Sometimes Caleb forgets that Noah is slightly smaller than him. He randomly tackles him to the floor (usually gently) and wrestles with him. Normally, Noah, being the typical third kid, goes with the flow. He giggles and eventually fusses if Caleb is annoying him too much.

Yesterday, however, Caleb went a little too far.

I was sitting on the couch, trying to recover from this ridiculous stomach thing, with Noah sitting on the floor next to me. He was quietly (for once) looking through a book, while Caleb was running around, throwing a football in the air to himself.

All of a sudden, I saw a flash of something running past me and saw Noah hit the floor-hard.

Caleb, in his excitement of the game, completely took out Noah in his efforts to score the winning touchdown.

Have you ever seen the previews for the television show Grimm? They show a girl running in the woods, she pauses to look at something, and before you can see what takes her, she is gone.

Or the episode of Frasier, where Niles proposes to Daphne. As the trumpet player is about the ruin the moment, Frasier tackles him within seconds.

Yeah, it looked a lot like those scenarios.

As I held and rocked my screaming baby, I could tell that Caleb felt awful. He truly did not see Noah there because his constant apologies were heartfelt. He kept trying to kiss and hug Noah, who, of course, kept pushing him away.

All was well thirty seconds later when Noah left my arms, attempting to grab my laptop. Guess he survived the trauma.

I have a feeling that my life with boys will just get more and more fun the bigger that they get.

Where Is My Sick Day?

2012-01-23T15:29:00.000-05:00

When do moms get sick days? Seriously?

Yes, I have a loving husband who helps out the best that he can while he still works three jobs, one of which has him grading into all hours of the night. He does great on the basic needs of the kids-he has fed them (with help from being at other homes) and clothed them. I do not expect him to do all of the routine things that I do around here.

Which is why, as I relunctantly look around my house, it looks like a tornado has gone through it.

Coats are left laying on the floor (not just the entry way, either, but in all rooms of the house) and clean dishes are still in the dishwasher while the dirty ones are piling up on the table, counter and a few in the sink. Toys are everywhere. Everywhere. And my personal favorite-the laundry.

Ah, yes, the laundry. There has been a clean load in the dryer for two days now. I have been tempted to hit the dewrinkle cycle, but know that if I am honest with myself, I will not be folding it promptly anytime soon. As for the dirty clothes, they are in every room of the house and, funny enough, not in the actual hampers that are in every bedroom.

I make it so easy for them. I really do.

As I sit here, finally getting on this laptop for the first time in days, relieved to be over the chills and desperately trying to ignore the stomach cramps, I can hear Noah.

Oh, sweet Noah. I usually like the kid. Today-not so much.

He has been on this kick for awhile where he saves his pooping for the middle of his nap. Okay, so he probably is not planning it (although, sometimes I think he is), but the last few days, it has not happened just once, but twice. Per nap.

Today, he did it twice this morning, then dropped his lovey on purpose, prompting him to scream like he was being tortured. When he was out of the crib, he pooped up his back.

Seriously? I thought we were past the infant stage. Oh, that's right-kids like to bring back those fun phases for when their moms are on their last bit of energy.

So, I ask again-when do moms get sick days? I do not remember my mom ever having one, so I guess they do not exist.

Our Cruise

2012-01-20T18:32:00.000-05:00

Our cruise was lovely. Truly lovely.

Left out of Miami, went to Coco Cay, Nassau, then back to Miami. Beautiful weather-just warm enough to lay in the sun, and the constant breeze kept it perfect.

Best of all, was our time together. Just conversation without being interrupted by our precious children. And not just the children, but life in general. There was something freeing about not having an internet connection and cell reception.

When we were still docked in Miami, our phones would not stop. Nick kept getting texts and emails from students and the substitute about the most random things. I could not wait to turn those phones off.

It was like being on a long date with no checking of the time to relieve the sitter. I often found myself checking the time and then realizing that it did not matter.

My favorite place that we went to was Coco Cay. When we first arrived, we wondered what on earth we were looking at. It was a mile long island that did not seem like much. Once we were there, though, we loved it. We explored the island on our own (instead of paying a bunch of money for a tour guide) and my favorite place that we found was this little bench.

For those on the cruise who stuck by the tourist area, they missed this gem. We sat there for awhile, just talking and watching the waves crash up against the rocks. Just sitting there, with no place to go. I thought I was dreaming.

Now we are home and back to life. My first full day back, Abby stayed home sick from school, Caleb had an accident in his pants (thanks to Miralax) and Noah was crabby. Nick went straight back to work, not getting home until 10pm from working the basketball games.

Maybe we can plan our next cruise to celebrate 10 1/2 years of marriage? No? Too soon?

Caleb The Scholar

2012-01-17T17:50:00.000-05:00

Back from the Bahamas. Drove home from the airport in a downpour of rain. Back to real life.

More about that later.

For today, just had to share a Caleb story.

He was doing homework (he is a preschooler and gets an assignment about four times a year) and when asked to write what he will do when he is bigger, he wrote, "Football."

I could not believe that he knew how to write that word without any help from me. Then again, he enjoys sports center as much as his dad, so I should not be surprised. Regardless, I praised him for such a great job on his spelling and writing. I asked him, "How did you know how to write that?"

He shrugged and said, "I just thunk."

So, my brilliant son who knew how to spell football on his own just had to "thunk" about it to know the answer.

Oh, Caleb.

Fearless Noah

2012-01-12T20:20:00.000-05:00

Just a fun video to leave you with as Nick and I go out of town for our anniversary.

Yes, I let him do this a few times and recorded it. Yes, I am a bad mom. But, look at how happy he is.

Abby The Author

2012-01-10T08:34:00.000-05:00

Today's story is brought to you by Miss Abigail Grace Rosenfeldt, 1st grade author.

"Abby R's Dinosaur...

My dinosaur's name is Sophie. Sophie is a Triseratops. She is my best friend. She takes care of my family. If Caleb is bad or I am bad, it uses its horns and hits us in our back for a punishment. Sophie likes to play outside. Me and Caleb like to play with her. We like to play hide and seek. She is the nicest dinosaur I have ever met. She is very gentle and kind. We don't have a car, because we have Sophie to take us to school. Sophie only likes to play with me because I found her egg and my voice was the first voice she ever heard. She is very pretty. She is pink with purple spots all over it. She loves me and I love her. If someone said dinosaurs are extintet (extinct), Sophie gets mad and hits them hard with her horns. I like to play with her at recess and so does evry one else. We get on her back and Sophie spins around and around like a merr-go-round. Her favorite coler is pink. Her favorite food is 'pink'berries. The end."

Apart from the part about being hit in the back with horns for punishment (I swear, we do not do that in this house), I found this to be a rather pleasant story. I could see the influence of other stories that she has read ("Danny and the Dinosaur, mostly) which just makes my day.

There have been nights where I am going to bed and she is still reading. I hate having to tell my child to stop reading, but I also hate dragging her crabby butt out of bed in the morning. I hope her passion for reading never leaves.

I also hope that her teacher does not think we beat our children in the back for punishment.

Tammy's Cookies

2012-01-09T08:54:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I did not come up with this recipe, but anyone who comes our house or invites us to theirs expects "Tammy's Cookies." Truthfully, my best friend passed on this recipe to me and I have no idea where she got it from, but here is a recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies-ever.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks of butter
¼ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 small package of instant pudding (vanilla or chocolate-I usually use
vanilla)

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 ¼ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 package of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and pudding mix. Add eggs and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture. Then add chocolate chips. Drop by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes then cool on a wire rack.

Now, others have used this recipe from me and claimed that I am keeping a secret ingredient from them. I promise you, I am not. This is the exact way that I make the cookies. A couple of things that work for me that might work for you...

-I was given one of my favorite bridal gifts ten years ago-my Kitchen Aid. Best mixer in the world.
-Use butter! Some of you may want to use margarine...butter is always best for baking.
-I take my cookies out of the oven pretty much at 8 minutes. That works best for our stove. Sometimes I let them cook on the sheet for a few extra seconds.

Enjoy :)

Giving All

2012-01-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

Our church is starting a new church plant, which we are a part of. It is going to be a multi-ethnic church, which I will gradually be writing about over the next few months.

As we were driving home from the first meeting the other day, I was explaining to Abby how this whole church plant thing works. In her eyes, she was just hanging out with kids her age, most of whom she knew from our church already, on an extra day of the week.

I explained how we will continue to meet in homes for awhile, then, hopefully in the fall, we will have a building to use. I told her how all of us that are meeting right now, will be responsible for paying the pastor and for the use of a building and how eventually, we will have money for our own church building. It just takes time and faith.

Sweet Abby thought for a second and said, "Well, I have $1.50 in my piggy bank. I could give that to help pay for everything."

What was that story about the woman who gave everything she had? She did not have much, but it was all that she had and it showed her faith being stronger than anyone else. Hmm.

Okay, Lord, you got me again. Way to use my children to remind me of my own lack of faith.

Ten Years

2012-01-05T20:00:00.002-05:00

Today marks ten years of marriage. Ten years. I could have sworn that I just said yes to the dress a few weeks ago, but apparently it was over ten years ago.

While reflecting on the past decade, I thought I would share some of the things that I have learned about myself and about Nick.

Ten things I have learned about Nick...

1. He does not know what the hamper is for, even though it is right next to where he throws his dirty laundry.
2. The little frustrations in life make him crazy, while he handles huge problems with ease.
3. He will put his family first, above everything-even football.
4. He needs respect. Every argument that I can think of came down to him not feeling respected. And yes, people who argue can still be happily married for ten years.
5. His passion for other cultures and all people grows with each year.
6. He desperately needs a man cave.
7. He is a great writer who needs to do it more. Ideas are bubbling out of him and need to be heard.
8. He conveniently likes the fatty parts of meat that I dislike and loves leftovers that I would normally throw out.
9. He still manages to surprise me with sweet gestures, like flowers, spa gift certificates, or cleaning up after dinner.
10. He has made an amazing dad.

Ten things I have learned about myself...

1. I am always right. I never realized it before, but Nick has told me this many times so it must be true.
2. I am not as patient as I thought I was.
3. I have a knack for making yummy chocolate chip cookies, which my husband could eat every day.
4. I used to think that I would make an amazing wife and whoever got me was lucky. Now, each year makes me more aware of how selfish I can be. Thankfully, Nick still lives in some kind of bubble world where he still finds me amazing.
5. I do not need jewerly or candy (well, candy does help sometimes) to make me happy-when my husband helps me clean up after dinner or makes the bed, my heart soars.
6. Took me long enough to realize this, but I have this deep need to feel appreciated.
7. There is absolutely no way I could have delivered three babies (especially that Noah-what was that amazingly quick birth about?) without Nick by my side, being the sweetest man in the world, even though I was cursing at him.
8. I am glad that I am a morning person and he is a night person-even married couples need some alone, quiet time at some point.
9. Even though I think I know best and always have the correct ideas on how to do things, God gently reminds me that Nick has a pretty smart plan as well.
10. I am so glad that I married my best friend.

Happy 10 Year Anniversary, Nick. We have moved twice, changed jobs, lost friends and made new ones, delivered three babies and lost one, and have counted on each other through it all. The conversations have never stopped and I look forward to what we talk about for the next ten years.

I love you.

Boys Vs. Girls

2012-01-04T06:56:00.000-05:00

So far, I have raised my children the same. I give them the same love, I feed them the same food, they have the same rules to follow. Yet, the difference between Abby and Caleb is simply amazing.

Let's take a look at our house when it is time to get ready to do anything.

I open the doors to both bedrooms, turn off the fans, and turn on the lights.

Abby takes about a second to wake up, then bounces out of bed, goes to the bathroom, and heads down to breakfast.

Caleb covers his head with his blankets, moans, and rolls over to fall back asleep. It then takes the work of two parents to coax, sometimes threaten, him out of bed. He then skips the whole bathroom routine (no idea how) and drags his feet to breakfast.

Abby eats her breakfast quickly, then runs upstairs to get dressed, brush her hair and her teeth. She hurries back downstairs to look for her shoes and coat.

While Abby is looking for her shoes and coat, Caleb is still at the table, halfway done with his cereal. When he eventually finishes, he drags his feet upstairs and just looks at his clothes that are laid out for him.

After looking at them for a couple of minutes, then hearing my threatening voice, he starts getting dressed. This takes awhile because he has to stop and play with every item that he sees around his room in the midst of changing his clothes. I am not kidding. Yesterday, I was "helping" him get dressed, i.e. standing there to keep him on task, when I watched the following...

He took off his pajama bottoms, put on his underwear, but decided that they did not fit right. He threw them on the floor, then put them in the drawer when I reminded him where they go, took out another pair, but also grabbed a toy on his dresser and started playing with it. I reminded him to put on his underwear, he did, then his pants, then he walked over for another toy before I had to remind him that his pajama top was still on. He laughed, started to take off his pajama top, then left it on top of his head for awhile since it made a funny hat. Hilarious. By some miracle he finally changed his shirt, then made his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth, pausing only three times to pick up more toys.

Meanwhile, Abby was downstairs, fully dressed with coat and shoes, backpack on and ready to go.

My personal favorite was last night. He went to his room to get his pajamas on for bed. Noah followed him and by the time I got to their room, this is what I saw...

Caleb had pulled his pants and underwear down, but not completely off, because he had got distracted by his new remote controlled car. The car had gone under his bed so both he and Noah were on their knees, looking under the bed. Again, he had his pants and underwear down to his ankles. He was bent over. With his butt to me.

Lovely.

I looked to my left at Abby's room. Her pajamas were on, teeth brushed, and she was sitting at her vanity, brushing her hair.

Oh sweet Abby, please do not go to college and leave me alone with these boys.

Just Another Family Road Trip

2012-01-02T19:30:00.001-05:00

I was almost asleep in the car, with my thoughts literally saying, "Hmm, I won't have much to write about for this trip home-it's been kind of boring," when we heard the sound.

We were crossing the bridge that always signifies our "only a half an hour to home" mark when we heard a loud sound. Everything was kind of bumpy, but since the bridge is currently under construction, we figured that it was the road. Then we made it across the bridge and still heard the sound. It finally occurred to us that we had a flat tire.

It is really fun to be crossing a bridge with nothing but construction walls on the side of the highway in sight while having a flat tire.

Thankfully, within seconds of realizing what was going on, there was a rest stop. We quickly pulled in, jumped out to assess the damage, and could not believe what we saw.

Where on earth had our tire gone?

As the wind almost whipped the doors off the van, we set to work. And by "we" I mean "Nick." I learned how to change a tire back when I first got my driver's license. Never had to do it since, so you can imagine my expertise. It ranks right up there with my ability to drive a standard.

Since we had never used our spare tire in the six years that we have owned the van, we just assumed that it was in the back. You know, under all of the loot that I had just jammed in there so carefully. While Nick jacked up the van, I started emptying all of the bags of toys, suitcases, the laundry bag and, of course, the huge box that held our new rotisserie.

I threw it all onto the front seats, except for that blessed rotisserie box-there was no way that thing was going to fit anywhere else. Unless I wanted little Noah to hold it. Nick and I finally looked in the back and found a problem.

There was no tire. And no place where a tire should be.

So, after six years of owning this van, I pulled out the owner's manual (which was not easy to do since the glove compartment was blocked by all the above-mentioned bags) to find out where the tire could be. We finally found it under the van (sure) and used the proper tool to get it out.

Now, let me mention that in the midst of all of this, I fully expected Nick to lose it. He was supposed to meet his friend who had amazing tickets to the Bengals game that afternoon. These magical tickets gave them permission to hang out on the field before the game and to sit in the Macy's skybox. Since this little delay was pretty much ruining his chances of getting on the field, I figured he would be upset.

However, Nick was actually enjoying himself. He was so proud of himself that he remembered how to change a tire that he ignored the fact that he was cold, tired (four hours of sleep for us the night before) and late for a big game. He just kept talking about how his family is so much more important than a game.

I felt like checking his forehead to see if he was feeling okay.

We finally got the tire changed, the van loaded back up (no idea how we managed to put the remains of the tire in the zero space that we had left) and made it to the next exit with a gas station. Since the spare tire had sat around for six years, it was not the fullest. Unfortunately, the gas station that we found had a broken air pump. No problem-there was another gas station across the street.

Put the money in and realized that that one was broken, too. Not only was it broken, but the little air that was left in the tire was disappearing. I went in to speak with the attendant to find out if they could fix it or at least offer some advice. She had no idea, but as I was walking out, a guy walking out at the same time said, "Hey, I have an air pump for you."

He walked over to his Uhaul to find it, with Nick running over to find out why I was following a strange man to his car. Thankfully, that worked and we were on our way-again.

Many back roads later, we were two minutes from home when I looked back and saw that Noah had fallen asleep. You know, after not sleeping for six hours. Unbelievable.

Someone mentioned to me that the first day of the year is an idea of how the rest of it will go. Hmm.

Okay, so we had a rough ride home. But, it could have been worse. Think about it-we were only a half hour from home instead of being made to drive for hours on a spare tire. We found a gas station that was open on a holiday. The guy with the air pump just happened to be there at the same time. Yes, it was windy, but not icy and the rain held off until after we started driving again. And no one was hurt when the tire blew-ON A BRIDGE.

If our year is going to be like this, that would be okay with me.

Jesus And The Wii

2011-12-31T12:34:00.000-05:00

The kids favorite thing to do while playing Wii, lately, is to create a bunch of Miis.

Let me explain for the non-Wii readers...a Mii is the character that you create for yourself on Wii. I thought it was a simple case of each player has their own Mii, but you can actually create as many as you want and make them move around the "room" in funny ways. Hilarious, if you are a kid.

Okay, so I find it kind of funny, too.

Anyway, the kids have been making lots of Miis. Most of them are names of their friends. Caleb has made numerous Noahs-some on behalf of his little brother and the others named after his friend at school. He has also made many Calebs. Shocking, I know.

The other day I heard this conversation while they were eating dinner and plotting out their next adventure in Mii Land...

Caleb: "I'm going to be a bad character."
Abby: "But, you can't be the bad character-you are being the king. Kings are good."
Caleb: "Well, what about King Harold? I'm going to be King Harold. He was bad."
Me (finally chiming in): "You mean King Herod?"
Caleb: "Yeah, that's what I said."

From that point on, the conversation somehow got to them discussing how to make a Jesus Wii and how they always wanted Jesus on their team because He's the best and would make them win every game.

Perhaps they should talk with Tim Tebow about that theory.

Seriously, though, I love their never-ending series of thoughts. I love that they see Jesus as the winner of all. True, He most likely does not care too much about who wins a game, but He does care about each individual player. Just as He cares for Abby and Caleb and their attitudes toward how the game is played.

Not too long after this conversation, I heard Caleb say, "Look at my team! We just won! I played with Jesus, Noah, and Mommy!"

Sounds like a pretty terrific team.

Store Trip

2011-12-27T14:32:00.000-05:00

I told my mom that she should just run into the store while the kids and I waited in the car.

She did not believe me.

So, we ran into the store, in the pouring rain, to grab "a few things."

I decided to put Noah in the fun cart where he could "drive" himself around. Caleb insisted that he could sit next to him and still fit. As I finally gave in and put him next to his brother, he looked at me and said, "See-I can fit."

He said this while his knees were squished up to his chin, but whatever. He made sure that he was right.

Abby then insisted on pushing the cart. Sure. Why not? We only knocked over a few displays.

My pro shoppers started scoping out the place for samples. The older two enjoyed some juice, while Noah reached for the cup of cereal. I handed it to him, but kept the spoon. Well, you would think that I was keeping his lovey from him. He cried with much drama until I handed him the spoon. But, genius mom that I am, I took away the cereal. You see, I understand that Noah trying to use a spoon equals a mess.

Apparently, not holding his precious cereal was a tragedy, so I gave in and let him hold it. About two seconds later, it all fell on the floor.

I refrained from saying, "I told you so," simply because he would not understand a word that I was saying.

The best was when Noah started crying and I realized that he had unbuckled his seatbelt (no idea how), turned over and his feet were stuck in the bottom of the cart. I had to remove Caleb first in order to have room to move Noah. While pulling Caleb out, his shoe got stuck and fell off.

Really?

I found myself standing in the middle of the aisle, one kid crying and stuck backwards, with the other kid laying on the floor without a shoe. A man walked by and I could see him laughing.

I gave up and started laughing, too.

I finally unstuck Noah and sat him properly in his seat. Went to check-out and who do I see but my junior high home-ec teacher. Perfect timing. Clearly, the scene that I had just created showed that I did not listen well in her class.

Finished off the trip by running outside in the rain with Noah continually taking off his hood to drink the rain.

Next time, we are staying in the car.

Christmas Thoughts

2011-12-22T08:40:00.000-05:00

I have a pile of cookies to make, a ton of laundry to wash, and my house is a disaster after Abby's playdate with the girls in her class yesterday. But, I need to write!

This busy week and the fact that I am still getting over a never-ending cold has not left me with very much time to just sit and think.

Oh, and of course I have had to spend way too many minutes of my life updating my Facebook pictures before this whole Timeline thing goes public. Brilliant idea-let's pick the one week of the year where everyone is running around like crazy, trying to get last minute things done, and pressure them to have their profile updated before Christmas Eve.

I know. Such priorities that I have in my life. Such problems.

Anyway, today's topic is The Elf on the Shelf.

Whose bright idea was this?

I never heard of the idea until this year. Apparently, this lovely tradition involves moving an elf around the house, so that he is found in a different place every day. The elf is Santa's helper and reports back to him on if everyone is behaving.

Kind of creepy, if you ask me, but I can see the fun in it. Judging from the numerous Facebook pictures that friends have posted, Mr. Elf can find himself in some pretty interesting places.

So, clearly, my children do not know much about the elf. But, their neighbor does. The other day, Abby was playing at their house and said something about not thinking the elf is real. To keep their five-year old innocent for a little while longer, the mom pulled Abby aside and nicely asked her not to say things like that in front of her daughter, which I completely understand.

All this time, I was worried about Abby having the magic stolen on the playground by some classmate that has older siblings. I never thought that she would be the one stealing it from others.

Between her scepticism and her amazing reading skills (she read the teeny-tiny return address on the American Girl Store package that was on the porch when she got home from school-way to ring the bell, delivery guy), it is getting harder and harder to fool her. I am thinking it almost easier to just tell her the truth to avoid further complications.

If she comes out and asks about Santa again, I will tell her the truth. The thing is, I could totally see her thinking it is awesome that she knows something that Caleb does not know.

Even in the midst of the this Santa and Elf business, I love that my kids are still excited about the actual reason that we celebrate this holiday. The birth of our Savior.

There have been times that we have missed an actual dinner together, especially when Nick is working games at the school. But, my kids still get out the advent stuff and read the latest page in the book. They love hearing the story of Jesus' birth and wait for me to light the candle. They quickly open the calendar to see what picture is next.

It probably helps that my mom gave them an advent book that has a piece of chocolate for every day, but I think that it is their love of Christ that drives them to remember...

Anyway, only a few more days until the big event. All of the planning and baking and buying will come together.

And in the middle of all of that, a baby was born, changing us forever.

If You Give Me A Muffin

2011-12-19T22:50:00.000-05:00

I have lots of thoughts to write about, but as this is the first day that I have felt somewhat healthy, I need time to catch up.

In the meantime, I found this on a friend's facebook page today and thought it was perfect. I believe it was written by someone named Kathy Fictorie and is based on the "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and such books by Laura Numeroff.

IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN

If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Yep. That about sums up my days. Add on a terrible cold that I am just now getting over and you will understand my exhaustion.

The Magic Might Be Gone

2011-12-14T15:44:00.000-05:00

While Abby was "helping" Nick hang up Christmas lights a couple of weeks ago, she started having the dreaded conversation.

No, not that one. She is only seven.

She told Nick that sometimes she does not think that Santa Claus is real and that we just buy all of the presents.

Crap. The magic is ending.

Nick never confirmed that she was correct, but simply said, "Talk to your mom about it."

Thanks partner.

Thankfully, Abby never brought it up again. I am hoping that if she does bring it up, that she chooses not to do so in front of Caleb. At least let him keep the magic a little longer. In the meantime, she keeps talking about when Santa is coming, made reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn, and was just this morning asking me what the reindeer's names were.

I remember being very skeptical as a child about the whole thing. I stopped believing at a rather young age, but kept up appearances to humor my parents. My life was never shattered by the whole experience-I just grew up.

My brother found out in a fun way. He wrote his letter to Santa, which my mom said that she mailed. A few weeks later, he was reaching for something on top of the fridge (don't ask my why or how he was doing this) and found the letter. My mom tried to cover up by explaining that it was another letter that he wrote and that she really did send the original.

Nice try, Mom. Billy played along for a little while longer, but the damage was done. The magic was gone.

If Abby really does pick this year to stop believing, I hope that she is not the kid at school that every parent dreads. The one who tells all of their precious children that there is no Santa Claus.

Well, I knew this day would come, but I was hoping it would hold out a little longer. And if Abby finds out, it is only a matter of time before Caleb figures it out, too.

Poor Noah. He does not stand a chance.

Carseats

2011-12-12T15:37:00.000-05:00

In order to help my loving husband out this morning, I agreed to take the kids to school. He had an early meeting and lots of grading to do, so I skipped my normally slow Monday morning and hustled to get everyone ready on time.

Caleb was a pure delight. Three of us were wearing coats and shoes when I realized that he was still eating breakfast in his pajamas. After "patiently" motivating him to get ready, we finally all walked outside to the already running van. You see, I was smart and started the van earlier so that it was warm and defrosted for us.

Somehow, when I ran out to start it, I neglected to glance at the backseats.

As I opened the door with all three kids around me, I realized that I was missing something. Noah's carseat.

Hmm.

I quickly ran through my options. Not take the kids to school? No way. My head was already spinning from their volumn level. Borrow another seat from a neighbor? Perhaps.

Everyone had already gone to school, except for my next door neighbor. I hesitantly rang his bell, knowing that he was probably asleep since he tends to work at night. He never answered, so either he was really, really asleep or else he chose to ignore whoever might be crazy enough to ring the bell at 7:52 a.m.

Then I regretted even drawing his attention to look out the window. Since I was about to put Noah in the car without a carseat, did I really want my policeman neighbor seeing me in the act of the crime?

Looking around like a criminal, I handed Noah to Abby, who was sitting in the very backseat, and she carefully pulled her seatbelt over herself and her baby brother. I cautiously drove my kids five minutes down the road to my carpool friend's house to grab their extra carseat.

Why not just ask them to pick up the kids in the first place? Because they were all home sick with the flu. Yep.

Finally got a state-certified carseat in my car, got the kids to school, then stoppped at Nick's school to get Noah's carseat from his car. Oh yeah, did I not mention that is where the carseat was?

The only consolation to my guilt as I drove Noah for five minutes without the proper safety seat was that for years, no one ever used carseats. And somehow, babies survived. So, that makes it okay what I did today, right?

Sorry Noah, you are such the third kid.

The Christmas Season

2011-12-11T10:47:00.000-05:00

Whew. I am finally sitting down to write on here after a ridiculously busy week.

Why does everything have to happen in December? Yes, it's Christmas, but must we pile everything into this month?

I am not complaining-all of the things that have occupied our time have been great. Going to the Andrew Peterson concert. Writing out Christmas cards. Buying gifts. Going to Nick's work party.

I should clarify Nick's work party. Because he teaches for a school that the late Carl Lindner helped to start, every year we get invited to the huge Lindner Christmas party. It is our one night a year where we can pretend that we live a luxurious life.

We also had our annual Christmas party last night. We started hosting it the year after those of us who left our former church suddenly found ourselves banned from the original friend Christmas party. Apparently, when you stop attending a church, you are no longer allowed to be friends with people who go there. Sure. That sounds like the body of Christ.

Anyway, I love opening up our home to our friends and family to celebrate this season. I love the Christmas lights, the candles, the laughter, the food, the traditions.

With still many things to get done and attend before Christmas morning arrives, my heart is still full thinking of why we are celebrating this holiday. Even if the perfect gifts are not bought or if sick kids mess up our plans, we will still celebrate because our Savior was born.

The Irony Of Dates

2011-12-04T22:30:00.006-05:00

Our family has always had fun with dates.

On my side, my grandma, my mom, my brother and I all have our birthdays on the 24th of a month. My dad and my grandpa were born on the 19th of a month. My parents were born in '55, I was born in '77 and my brother was born in '88, all double digit years.

On Nick's side, he and his mom were born on the 13th of a month, while his dad and sister were born on the 5th of a month.

And, of course, there are our children. All born the same week of October. Add on Noah being born on 10/10/10, and we are pretty much some kind of freak show.

Even our child who we lost had a special due date. July 10th. That was the first day of camp that year and also a due date of a friend of mine. Even though we never got to meet that child, Noah arrived exactly three months after the due date.

All of this leads me to not be surprised at today's date. Exactly two years ago, we lost our third child. Tonight, we went to the Andrew Peterson Christmas concert that we attend every year. Ironically, the first time that I heard Andrew Peterson sing was when he opened for Caedmon's Call at Grove City College about thirteen years ago. He sang a song called, "Lullaby" about the child that he and his wife had recently lost. I remember thinking, "How awful. I cannot imagine going through something like that."

Little did I know that that song would someday be a comfort to me.

Tonight was a comfort to me as well. In the midst of a sad day, I was able to celebrate the amazing love story of Christ, the hero who came to save us. The prince who has rescued his lost love. He makes all things new and I long to see Him and our child someday.

We took Abby to the concert this year, which she greatly enjoyed.

Noah Update

2011-12-02T12:54:00.000-05:00

Is it possible that a fourteen-month old could already be in the terrible-twos stage?

No? It is only going to get worse? Terrific.

Noah apparently thinks that he deserves everything that he sees. That includes anything hooked up to an outlet, everyone's food, every cleaning product under the sink, my laptop, every remote and all of the buttons on the side of the tv. When I say no and squeeze his hand, it then becomes a fun challenge.

And I would love to know when the screeching will end. I am seriously thinking of investing in a set of earplugs.

Noah has developed this method of screeching to get my attention, then speaking sweetly when I look at him. If he just spoke sweetly to begin with, I would be a much nicer mommy. Instead, the screeching turns me into a person who wants to throw her precious son out the window.

Noah does have his good moments, though. He is a super happy kid who loves to smile and laugh. He eats anything put in front of him. He goes with the flow of our busy life and was very laid back about spending time out of town last week. I could have lived without the screeching on the 300 mile car ride, but oh well...

He is also becoming quite the little talker. His favorite thing to say? "What's that?" Over and over and over again. He also says, "I touch." He says that line with a devious look as he watches my reaction.

And when my reaction is "No," as it often is, the screeching starts again.

Now that he is such a professional walker, Noah seems to have developed this independent attitude. When I am picking up Caleb from school or listening to Abby's class recite their memory verses, he thinks that he can walk anywhere in the school and touch anything that he pleases. My apologies to any student who might have found their class work that was hanging in the hallway suddenly destroyed. Even when I am holding him, his feet are constantly going.

At least he is understanding us a lot more now. When I tell him to get something, he does it. When he is asked what a dog says, he replies, "Ruff." Of course, that is what every animal says according to Noah. When I tell him "No," he understands enough to grin at me before going back to whatever trouble he was in.

I am so very tired.

Still, in the midst of the never-ending chaos that my little tornado brings to our home, he is still a treasure. He is almost fourteen-months old and I cannot believe how quickly that has happened.

Decorating

2011-11-29T22:31:00.000-05:00

Well, we put up the fake tree.

I did miss the tradition of dragging the real tree in, leaving the house smelling of pine.

I did not miss clogging my vacuum with pine needles and cutting my arms with branches.

It was kind of uneventful putting up the tree. I decided to do it alone while everyone was at school, so that the fun part of putting on decorations could be ready when they all got home.

Oh, but wait. Noah was home all day. He was fun.

Apparently, my one-year old thought that I needed his help. He decided that he was best needed by walking in circles around the tree, climbing over me as I adjusted the branches. He also found it helpful to bite and scratch my legs while I stood on a chair to build the top. Oh, and he loved taking out every possible item in the house while my attention was on the tree.

Still, I managed to get it done and ready for my family. With Mannheim Steamroller playing on the ipod, we hung up our ornaments with care. Nick and I smiled at the ornaments that were wedding gifts and reminisced over the ones that were from trips that we have taken. The kids got excited over their personal ornaments and we carefully hung up the homemade ones out of Noah's reach.

We all placed the angel that represents our lost baby on the top and center of the tree.

Noah managed to break only two bulbs and knock down just a few off the bottom. The top seven feet of our tree are decorated beautifully while the lower two are simply covered with lights. Mr. Noah simply does not understand the words, "Don't touch!"

Actually, I think he understands them perfectly, but also understands how to smile sweetly and look innocent about it.

So, here we are, all decorated and ready for Christmas. For some reason my heart is really in the Christmas spirit this year. Two years ago, I was mourning the loss of our baby. Last year, I was sleep-deprieved from baby Noah. But, this year, I am ready to enjoy the holiday with my crazy family.

And it is not just the decorations, gifts and feelings, which are all wonderful. I just keep thinking about how much the Creator of the universe loves me. He became a human being to save me. And I have done absolutely nothing to deserve it. Nothing.

God became man. Not only man, but He came as a baby in a barn. I grew up on a dairy farm. Trust me, there is nothing glamorous about it. He came here because He actually loves me. Amazing.

Christmas Tree

2011-11-23T20:28:00.000-05:00

I have always been a firm believer in having a real Christmas tree.

I love the smell of the pine and the tradition of going out into the woods to cut down the perfect tree.

And by perfect, I mean a tree that, once in the house, has to be cut a few more times to fit the stand evenly and has to be pruned to keep the branches from breaking through the windows.

The last few years, our tradition has been to buy a Christmas tree while in PA for Thanksgiving. Why buy a tree five hours away? For the price. You know-we save money on a tree here only to double our gas cost carrying it home on top of the van.

And look like the Griswolds while driving home.

However, this year I have become lazy. As much as I love the tradition of bundling up in the cold to walk through the mud and tie that sappy tree to the top of the van, I have given in to buying a fake tree.

If it makes it any better, Noah and I listened to Christmas music while driving to the store to pick out our tree.

My laziness comes from not wanting to clean up pine needles on a daily basis, especially with Noah around. And from not wanting to tear down our tree right after the kids open their presents as we pack up to visit my family.

Part of me feels like a cheater. We are going to miss out on the joy of dragging the tree into the house, cleaning up the needles that fall onto the driveway, sidewalk, porch, and living room floor. And the fun of trying to position the tree exactly right while laying under the tree, getting covered in sap and ending up with scraped up arms and hands.

Oh well-maybe someday I will go back to it. In the meantime, I will enjoy this holiday season mess free.

Except for the mess that Noah will inevitably make by taking the ornaments off the branches every day.

Our Home

2011-11-17T13:46:00.001-05:00

This past week, Abby brought home a paper that she wrote at school with the subject title, "I am so thankful!" This is what she wrote...

I am so thankful for blessings. One time my brother Caleb told me he was going to give a suprise. He said he was going to give it to me in three days. Shure unoth (enough) in three days he gave me a Rapunzel doll. That was a blessing of love to me from my brother. I love him very much. Thou he is nice sometimes he can be mean to. He can be funny and loveing to me to. I am also thankful for haveing a cozy house. It is so good to have a cozy house. In the liveing room everybody tells about what they did that day. Once me and Caleb were playing Wii, with mom and dad. I like doing that in my cozy house. But only sometimes we can do that all together. Ushley (usually) its only me and Caleb. I like haveing a cozy house. I am thankful for love. Once Noah headbuted me in the nose. But I never do it back to Noah. It's fun to have brothers even thou they can sometimes be annoying. I love both of them. They are both very nice to me. I have so much to be thankful for.

Two things struck me while reading this. One being that I need to work on teaching Abby to drop her "e" when adding "ing." Secondly, and most importantly, my daughter has the luxury of feeling safe and loved in her "cozy house."

I look around my house and think things like, "I wish I had more storage space," "I wish I had an entire room just for toys," "I wish I had a guest bedroom," "I wish my dining room was bigger" and "I wish everyone would just put their stuff away when they are done with it."

Abby looks around her house and thinks, "I love my house because we are all together" and "I love my family and everything that comes with them."

Many children in this world are not feeling safe. Their homes are not "cozy." Their idea of love has been distorted. Consistency is not a word that they understand.

The next time I look around my house and see chaos (which will be in about a minute when I look up from this screen), I will try to see it through my daughter's eyes and see love.

Abby And The Boy

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Abby is only seven, right? She did not suddenly turn into a teenager and I missed it?

The other day, she was doodling on a piece of paper and I saw what it said. She wrote "Abby loves Andrew."

Um, excuse me? I have looked around and her father and brothers are not named Andrew so who exactly is this boy that she is loving?

He is a boy in her class and she thinks he is pretty nice. I have met him many times and yes, he is nice. But, she loves him?

When I asked her why she wrote that, she replied, "Well, you wrote that you loved a boy in that book!"

Whoops. Apparently, in one of the books that has been passed on to Abby from my youth (thank to my mom for saving them), I wrote, "I love ....." Okay, so there was an actual name written there, but given the age of social networking, I would not be thrilled about my crush of the 6th grade finding out that I "loved" him.

Sadly, on the same page, I also wrote not nice things about the other girl who liked him. We are friends on facebook so I believe I will keep her nameless as well.

I have been trying to remember my feelings in the 1st grade and I really do not remember "loving" boys. Sure, they were fun to play with at recess, but loving them? Not so much. I do remember being in the 3rd grade and one of my boy friends explaining that he liked me and two other girls. It was not exactly the romance of the century.

So it begins. My daughter has discovered that boys are different (well, she does have two brothers so she has known that for awhile now) and apparently worth noticing. Lord help us.

Typical Rosenfeldt

2011-11-09T20:20:00.001-05:00

We were in the car today and heard Abby throwing a fit about something. When asked what was wrong, she went on a rant about how the clip would not stay in her doll's hair, even though it did work before, but now it kept falling out and her hair was all crazy without it.

I know. Real problems.

I told her to slow down and relax. I also mentioned that yelling about it will not make it work any better.

As usual, I was responded with silence. You know, the silence that every kid gives their parent when they do not want to admit that they might possibly be right.

When we reached our destination, she was getting out of the car and suddenly had a gloating look on her face. She held up her doll, who had her hair perfectly pulled back in a clip, and declared, "See, yelling does work!"

I give up. As Nick and I unsuccessfully tried to hold back our laughter, he said, "She really is a Rosenfeldt. We yell until it gets better."

Sometimes there are teachable moments. Then there are moments like this when you just have to laugh and realize that your children are guaranteed to pick up the not-so-lovely traits that you possess.

I just wish that they would pick up my "desire to have everything put away" trait.

Worship Of Sports

2011-11-07T09:16:00.000-05:00

Let me start by saying that I love to watch a good game. I am competitive and you can always hear me cheering on my kids when they are playing soccer. I get chills at the end of Remember the Titans, I cried the first time that I watched Hoosiers, and I even get a little emotional during the final basketball game in Teen Wolf.

However, I am having a tough time understanding the worship of sports. How does a game impact so many emotions and actually ruin someone's day by its outcome?

As I woke up this morning and checked my facebook newsfeed, it was flooded by complaining, cursing of the refs, and bitter jabs at other fans. Why? Because a football team lost.

Yes, a team. A bunch of guys who play a game just happened to lose one.

I get it. I am married to a huge football fan. When he was watching his own team lose in the beginning of their game yesterday, he became angry. Then he was dancing around with the kids by the end of the game. My confusion is why must so much emotion be invested in a game? I mentioned to him that he was wasting energy (which he was) over a team that might win in the end (which they did). He said that I was right, but I have a feeling that it was just one of those responses to keep me quiet.

Thankfully having our kids around has kept his emotions in check when it comes to watching football together. After all, we do have slightly competitive children who need to learn lessons from us.

That being said, I will not be watching next week's Bengal's game against the Steelers. I am staying far away from my husband that day.

I guess I am just struggling with why a game is so important. And why we worship athletes. Why are they getting paid millions of dollars to play a game? I get the challenge of it all and how hard they work. But, why are we not idolizing educators, farmers, missionaries, and public service workers? Where are their millions of dollars signing bonuses when they decide to take on their jobs?

I also wonder what this world would look like if all of the passion and concern for a team was suddenly devoted to what is going on in the real world. What if facebook was flooded by people who were outraged over the water problem in third world countries instead of the bad play calls of their team? What if all of the anger over the bad calls of the refs was directed at the injustices going on all around us?

I am not trying to put myself above this-I definitely have my own idols that I follow (getting more excited over watching an episode of LOST than going to church, for example), but I am just trying to understand what is going on. How has it reached the point where the outcome of a sporting event controls our lives?

It is a game. Games are supposed to be fun. They should not determine our happiness.

I suppose I am a rare person to be thinking this. Perhaps I will just avoid facebook on Sundays. And Monday nights. And Thursdays. And Saturdays.

Or I will just join the social networking world when there is a day of the year that there are no sports on. Oh, wait...

AHG

2011-11-06T07:49:00.000-05:00

There is a reason that I have a degree in working with high school students and not elementary.

My lack of patience.

I signed Abby up for American Heritage Girls at school. They were looking for leaders for the thousands (okay, not thousands, but many) 1st graders that signed up. My response was, "I cannot be a leader, but I will help out sometimes, especially with the camping trips." Soon after, I received an email that said, "Thank you for volunteering to be a leader."

What?

Apparently, another mom received the same email after sending the same kind of email that I had sent, and now we have found ourselves the leaders of the 1st grade squad.

Nick has asked me why I just did not say no. I really have no good answer-it was like magic how we got conned into doing this. It was a bit of guilt mixed in with obligation so that our girls could be a part of this organization.

Anyway, once we met a few times (with our younger boys running around and crying for our attention i.e. the reason that we did not want to be leaders) ideas started to come together and we found ourselves somewhat organized. Somewhat.

We just met this past week for the first meeting. And had our butts kicked.

Actually, most of the girls are sweet and were excited to do whatever we had planned. There was one girl, however, that had nothing but attitude to every idea. I should have expected it-she was in Abby's class last year and gave everyone attitude the entire year. I honestly do not think she knows how to smile. Which is really sad-most 1st graders should be smiling all of the time.

I introduced a get-to-know-you game...attitude girl said, "Oh, I hate this game! I had to do it this summer."

The girls sat down to have a snack. Attitude girl did not get to sit with her favorite friend so she slouched in her chair, folded her arms, and frowned.

After having a snack, attitude girl kept saying how she was still hungry and wanted more to eat. She actually sat out of the final game because she was "too hungry."

Honestly, if it was not for attitude girl, I do not think I would have felt so deflated. The rest of the girls seemed to have a good time, even though their energy was through the roof and I am not sure they heard a word that we tried to teach them.

I have a new found respect for elementary teachers. Absolutely no idea how they do it every day.

So, now I feel like I am in survival mode for the rest of the school year. Sending out emails to parents about meetings and snack lists while Noah attempts to type on my laptop with me. Waking up the boys from naps to meet Nick at the high school so that I do not have to have them with me while I round up 16 1st graders and attempt to lead them. Praying for these girls, especially attitude girl, and spending time organizing their year.

I know the joys will far outweigh the work, but in the meantime, I am reminded why I love to teach high school kids.

Funny enough, every elementary teacher reading this is thinking, "I have no idea how high school teachers/youth directors do it."

Caleb And His Wives

2011-11-05T23:13:00.000-04:00

It has been a long week of stuff. Everytime I find myself on the computer, it is to send emails about meetings for school or to reply to questions for kid stuff, or to work on Mary Kay orders. I have not had time to just write and reflect, leaving me to have all of these thoughts swirling around in my head, anxiously waiting to come out.

One would think that I have time tonight to write about everything, given the fall back and all. But, as every parent knows, young children do not quite get the fall back rules and will still get up at the usual time. In other words, as I sit here at 11:05/10:05, Noah will wake up at 7:00/6:00 tomorrow morning.

So, I will leave you all with the latest conversation with Caleb...

Caleb: "Someday, I'm going to marry Aunt Karen."
Nick: "Which one?" (Caleb has two Aunt Karens)
Caleb: "All of them!"

You know both of you Aunt Karens are laughing right now.

Caleb: (holding up ten fingers) "I'm going to have ten husbands."
Nick: "You mean wives?"
Caleb: "Oh yeah, I mean wifes."

Yes, the spelling is correct. Caleb wants ten wifes.

He is just too much sometimes.

My Boys' Room

2011-10-27T12:40:00.000-04:00

Boys are kind of gross.

Every morning, when I open the door to Caleb and Noah's room, I am greeted by an overwhelming scent of urine. Sometimes, Noah gives me an extra treat by adding a poopy diaper to the mix.

Seriously, what is up with the smells? Even when Abby was in diapers, I do not remember her room stinking like that.

It does not help that Caleb still wears pull-ups to bed. The child physically cannot wake up to anything, especially his own bladder. Between him and Noah, I do not know how they both tend to sleep in-doesn't the smell wake them up in the middle of the night?

Even without the stench, their room is always a mess, too. Okay, so that is mostly Caleb's fault. After all, the one-year old is not exactly playing in there every afternoon. Every morning, I risk my life to attempt to walk into their closet to seek out clothes. I never know what I am going to fall over on my way in.

Not only is it stinky and messy, it is also a little scary. Caleb keeps collecting these fake spiders. Thanks to trick-or-treating at King's Island and goodie bags at parties and soccer, he has quite a group of fake insects. I would not mind so much if he put them away when he was done, but, as I mentioned before, he is not known for picking up his toys very well. I cannot keep track of how many near heart attacks I have suffered thinking that I was about to step on a real spider.

Do they have to make them look so real?

As an added bonus, he left one on the stairs the other night. Yep, almost fell down the entire flight of stairs trying to escape the rubber insect.

I love my boys, but I will admit that I prefer walking into Abby's room-it is the color of lilacs and has dolls and pretty pillows and jewerly. Even when she leaves things out, it is still comforting somehow.

Oh well. I guess the smiles that I receive from my boys in the morning make the bad smells worth it.

Usually.

Bathtime

2011-10-23T19:54:00.001-04:00

For those parents thinking of having a third child. Take a glimpse at my night of bathing my children.

I followed the boys up the stairs to their bathroom, pausing to catch Noah as he almost stumbled at the top step. We went into the bathroom where Caleb promptly removed his pants to pee. I grabbed Noah to keep him from touching the stream of urine, tripping over a stray bath toy that somehow left its home in the basket. I took Noah out of the bathroom to change an extremely smelly diaper, leaving Caleb to start the bath water. I returned to find Caleb just standing around, naked, with no bath water started. Noah started to open the toilet lid so I placed the bath toy basket on top of it to keep it weighted down. I leaned over the tub to start the water when I saw Caleb removing the basket because he had to pee again.

Sure, the kid has no problem wetting his pants when he is too busy placing Wii (ironic name of a game system given the current topic) to stop and use the bathroom. But, in the chaos of three people in a small bathroom, he is all about going again.

Before I could stop him, Noah immediately reached his hand into the toilet. The toilet that had yet to be flushed. I ran his hand under water and put him into the tub. I had finished bathing Noah and had just started on Caleb when I heard a cry from downstairs. Apparently, Abby slipped on the steps and had fallen down.

Not wanting to leave Noah in the tub without my watchful eye, I quickly wrapped him up and went to inspect the damange. After all, the girl currently has an ankle sprain so why not add a broken arm to it? Abby was laying on the floor, crying just enough to get my attention, but at least it was not a serious injury. I encouraged her to get up and come upstairs while I continued to hold a wet, naked Noah.

After getting Noah dressed and leaving him with Abby in her room, I finally finished bathing a then shivering Caleb. I managed to get him into his room, just in time to remember that his sheets were in the dryer. You know, because he wet the bed last night.

I took Noah from Abby so that she could start her bath. Normally, she is the easy child who takes her own showers. But, since her foot is currently wrapped up for her sprain, she needed a bath in which she could not get her foot wet.

Cue more chaos. I kept Noah with me since I cannot trust him alone with Caleb and his tiny chokable toys. While Abby kept her left leg over the side of the tub and I attempted to wash her thick hair with a cup, Noah took a toy and kept throwing it into the tub. He would then scream to get it back, but then immediately throw it in again. At one point, Caleb tried to come into the bathroom, left when I yelled at him to give Abby some privacy, but did not shut the door all of the way. Next thing I knew, Noah was out the door and crawling toward the top of the stairs. I raced over, grabbed him, just in time to stop him from tumbling headfirst down the stairs.

Miraculously, I finally finished bathing Abby, sent her on her way to get ready for bed, then settled down to relax Noah with a bottle. That was when Nick returned to find our house a peaceful place.

If he only knew.

Journaling

2011-10-21T06:41:00.000-04:00

Abby's class regularly writes journal-like thoughts in class. Her teacher gives them a theme to write about and lets them be creative. The following is what she brought home this week. The topic-"Why I can't go to bed right now."

I will be writing this exactly as Abby wrote it so good luck reading the kid writing.

I can't go to bed becuse baby Noah is sick and I want to help get him better. I can't sleep becuse Caleb is making a raccet and it's LOUD! I have to finish my book mom! If I clean up can I stay up? Im waching a cute movie and it's almost done, two minits! Noah is screming so loud that none can sleep thou it it's so loud. Can I have a bedtime snack? Mom, Caleb wreseling with me so much that I can't move a tiny bit and I can't berth (breathe) either. Mom Noah headbutted me in the nose and it's bleeding. Felicity came over, can me and Caleb go over to play with her pese just this one time? I can't sleep Mom, becuse dad is yelling so loud that you coud hear it for miels. Im so exsidid for tomorer I can't sleep a bit, not even a tiny bit. Can I have just one more cookie, just one more plese? Mom I'm in the midil of a troble game. Mom, my best frend Sidney's on the phone and she asked to have a sleepover tonite and stay up late, can I go? (This is where my voice is apparently heard) As long as you don't stay up late, that's fine with me.

Before anyone goes calling social services on us, I would like to defend my family and make sure the truth is told that Nick does not yell all of the time, Noah does not headbutt on purpose, and Caleb is smaller than Abby and does not really pin her down to the point of passing out.

What fun to be an elementary teacher and read these thoughts. No wonder I sometimes get strange looks from her teacher.

Caleb And The Girls

2011-10-19T15:00:00.000-04:00

Caleb has great friendships with girls.

I think it is because he has an older sister. And because he has always been outnumbered on our street by girls. There was hope when little Cody moved in across the street, but then he moved away this summer, much to Caleb's dismay. Now, he has to wait around for Noah and little Daniel across the street to grow up.

In the meantime, I have heard some fun conversations from Caleb and his ladies, lately.

While walking out of school the other day, I listened in on a talk that Caleb was having with his carpool friend, Izzy. For some reason, they were talking about marriage.

Caleb: "Boys marry girls and girls marry boys."
Izzy: "What about boys marry boys and girls marry girls?"
Caleb: (laughing) "Oh, Izzy, that's silly. Boys don't marry boys and girls don't marry girls!"
(Thank you private school)
Izzy: "Okay, so girls marry boys and boys marry girls. Just like my mommy married my daddy!"
Caleb: "I could marry you someday."
Izzy: "Okay! That would be okay because I'm a girl!"

Love it.

As I am typing this, Caleb is playing with his neighbor, Felicity, who I am watching for a little while. They were playing with a toy and then Felicity said, "Let's pretend it's at a store and we are shopping for it!"

Caleb, being the understanding brother that he is, agreed.

They used Noah's shopping cart to walk around the living room, shopping for toys. This is what I heard...

Felicity: "Oh look, those are so cute!"
Caleb: "Yes, they are cute!"
(My son will make a great husband if he can understand that women say "cute" quite often while shopping.)
Felicity: "Let's go pay for it."
Caleb: "Look, it says it's a million dollars."
Felicity: "That's okay, I have a million dollars.
Caleb: "Me too!"

Really? Would you two like to share some of that money with your parents?

The Healing Power Of A Fry

2011-10-18T12:32:00.000-04:00

Not feeling well during Abby's soccer game

So, apparently Noah does not do well with shots.

He had his one-year check-up this past week. The night before his appointment, he woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. Good timing-at least we already had an appointment lined up.

The fever was from an ear infection (following in the footsteps of his siblings with their constant ear infections). He went through the torture or being examined by the doctor, received his shots, then dealt with stopping for meds to make him feel better.

Sometimes I wish the doctors had pharmacies right in their office so that we do not have to run another errand with a sick child.

Anyway, I figured Noah would sleep better that night from his meds. After all, my other three always did.

Nope. Up a lot, just wanting to be held and still running a fever.

He perked up a bit on Saturday, just long enough for us to go to the soccer games. However, by night time (why is it always night time when they bring on their true colors?) he was not feeling well again. By Sunday morning, his temperature was 104.1.

Yes, I panicked.

The doctor saw him that morning and sent him over to Children's for blood work. As if the kid had not been
through enough already. Drawing blood from a sick one-year old...not fun. I felt my eye make-up running a bit while I held back tears for his pain.

Thankfully, the blood work proved that he was okay and that the fever was simply the result of a reaction to his shots. Seriously? I have him get shots to prevent getting sick, only to have sick child who will not eat, drink or leave my arms?

Two days later and he is finally getting back to his usual self. He is still a bit clingy, but at least he is eating and drinking.

I must admit, I did enjoy the closeness while he was sick. He just wanted to cuddle and sleep in my arms. It has been a long while since he has wanted to do that.

Of course, he was a bit spoiled during that time, so now he still thinks he has to be in my arms all of the time. Sorry buddy. You are one of three kids.

My favorite part of this entire experience was the turning point. Sunday night, Abby and I got home from a birthday party just in time for dinner, which Nick was not able to make because Noah would not leave his arms, leaving us to get some fast food. Noah sat there, watching us eat, and the moment he saw the french fries, he smiled and reached for one.

I promise, the kid has maybe had one fry in his life.

He ate that fry and enjoyed every bit of it. Then another. Then another.

Hey, after not eating for two days, I had no problem with it.

More Quotes

2011-10-15T10:10:00.000-04:00

-Abby was in the car with Nick and started talking about her dating life.

She said, "I can't wait until I'm ten!"

Nick asked why and she explained, "Because then I can find a boyfriend and date him!"

She then went on to explain that she would get married at age eleven.

I don't think so sweetheart.

-Abby was trying to figure out today's date and she asked, "Is it the 13th?" Caleb replied, "No! It's the 14th!"

When I corrected him and said, "Actually, it's the 15th," he shook his head and explained, "I'm just all mixed up today!"

Conspiracy Of Birthdays

2011-10-11T12:05:00.000-04:00

I would like to know where the tradition of birthday parties started.

More specifically, the tradition of celebrating the person who did nothing but enter the world via the work of his or her mother.

Let me see if I have this straight. The mother goes through nine months of pregnancy, goes through painful labor, and takes another few weeks to heal from the torture that has occurred to her body. She then has to celebrate those memories each year by spending money on a party for her child. She has to bake, clean, cook, plan, and put on her happiest face for her child on his or her "special day." She watches her child have a great time, thanking all of his or her friends for their gifts, but never actually thanking the person who did all of the work.

Does that sound like a conspiracy to you?

I believe it is time for tradition to change. When it is a child's birthday, all of the gifts and love should be showered on the mother. Balloons should be replaced with flowers, cheesecake should be served instead of birthday cake, and pinatas should be filled with chocolates and spa coupons instead of candy and stickers.

If only this was true already. I just celebrated all three of my children's birthdays this past week. If it was all about the mom, I could be basking in some great gifts right now. Perhaps instead of this look of exhaustion and defeat that has been on my face all week, I could have a radiant glow from a day at the spa. Instead of still waiting for a thank you from any of my kids, I could be in a blissful mood from all of the kind words that were spoken to me on my special days.

Sadly, this tradition will never change. For one thing, we moms are outnumbered. Our kids will never go for it and something tells me that our husbands will not, either.

Secondly, and most importantly, something happened at the birth of our children. Seeing their joy became more important than our own happiness. Watching them celebrate with their friends and family is like forgetting the pain of labor when we see their newborn faces.

Someday we will get our thank you. You know, when our children become parents and realize what they just took for granted all of their lives.

Happy 1st Birthday, Noah!

2011-10-10T10:09:00.000-04:00

A year ago today, I went into super fast labor and had baby Noah two hours later. No drugs. No calm breathing. Just chaos.

Funny that a year later, he is still bringing on the chaos.

Noah is hilarious. Anytime anyone is laughing, he has to be a part of it. He giggles at everything and finds himself rather amusing. Now that he is walking around, he looks around expecting us to applaud him everytime. In fact, he looks a bit insulted if we fail to acknowledge his great accomplishment.

He is also into everything. He has piles of toys, but for some reason, he is determined to get that bottle of Resolve out from under the sink. He still finds the dishwasher fascinating and loves to watch the spin cycle on the washing machine.

This year has flown by and I cannot believe my Noah Michael is a one-year old. Simply amazing. I love him so much and find myself just watching him in awe. Perhaps because he is our baby and I want to savor every moment of this time.

Or because he is so stinkin' cute and fun to watch.

Either way, he is a wonderful blessing in our lives and I cannot imagine our family without him.

Some Abby And Calebisms

2011-10-08T21:59:00.000-04:00

-Caleb was picking on his sister while eating dinner and I said, "Caleb, stop being such a bum." He replied, "For the record, I am not a bum."

Oh. Well, excuse me. I thought we were off the record.

-While riding home from his soccer game, Caleb was talking about a particular play in his game. He explained what he saw and said, "It was unbelievable!"

Hearing his excitment over a three-on-three boy's soccer game where the boys do more laughing than playing was pretty cute.

-Nick was teasing Abby about how toys really come alive while we are gone. She argued that they did not, but Nick kept insisting that they did. Abby said to him, "Daddy, if you really think that happens and you are 32 years old, then you are insane."

She also went on and said, "You know that's for kids, right?"

Funny that she is so above the Toy Story idea, considering this is the same girl who rings the bell and knocks on the door before we get in our house, to warn the toys to go back to their places.

Happy 7th Birthday

2011-10-06T21:27:00.000-04:00

Seven years? My Abby has really been around for seven years?

Seven is one of those ages that has always seemed to mark a significant point in life. No longer a baby or a toddler or a pre-schooler, but an actual kid. Abby is not just a cute little girl, but a kid. I cannot think of another word to describe the age, but "kid."

Eventually, she will grow into a more detailed age. Pre-teen. Not looking forward to that. Or the teen years.

But, I am skipping ahead. Today, my little Abby turned seven-years old and I love her more every day.

She is doing so well in 1st grade. She enjoys her friends and has such a heart for people. Her favorite things to do when she gets home is to play with her dolls, especially her American Girl dolls, and to read. Gone are the days of reading little books. She flies through her American Girl chapter books and her library books. She has been working on my collection of Little House on the Prairie books. She keeps asking to read Harry Potter. Sorry, Abby, in a few more years.

The girl is also loving soccer. I know it is early in her career, but I see her as a great mid-fielder. She already talks about wanting to play in the World Cup.

Abby is also really sweet with her brothers. Okay, I will be honest. She is really sweet with Noah. She tolerates Caleb. I do not have the heart to break it to her that Noah will eventually bug her just like Caleb does. I will enjoy her tender heart toward Noah as long as I can.

I have been blessed with such a dear, little girl. Happy 7th Birthday, Abigail Grace. I love you, sweet girl.

Caleb's 5th Birthday

2011-10-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

My little boy is five-years old. Little Caleb Paul, who is loving life, is actually five.

He got to start his day by having Fruit Loops for breakfast. Not exactly the breakfast of champions, but a treat that helped him out of bed. The words "fruit loops" actually motivated his usually tired and grumpy self out of bed with me only having to call his name three times instead of ten.

I stopped by his pre-school class to deliver his birthday treat. His entire class was very excited about their pumpkin shaped cookies and I am sure his teachers were even more thrilled about the sugar. A bunch of four-year olds hyped up on sugar-sounds perfect.

He also had another surprise in store. His daddy picked him up from school. Not only that, his daddy then took him to meet me at LaRosa's for lunch. He was pretty excited.

Dinner was of his choosing so of course he chose the dinner of champions-hot dogs. Anything in the world to eat and that is what he chose. Sounds perfect.

Add on some Wii, some outdoor baseball, and extra dessert, and I do believe that he had a great day.

Words cannot express how much I love this boy. He has his irrational moments (especially in competitve situations), but who doesn't? He is full of energy and love. He will swing the baseball bat around the house one moment, then sit and draw a picture for me in the next moment. He is a wonderful big brother to Noah and loyal to his friends. He is so close to reading, does better math than I do, and loves to learn.

And all of my faithful readers love his Calebisms. The child is never boring.

Happy Birthday, sweet Caleb. You have blessed my life is more ways than you will ever know.

Run On Sentence Kind Of Day

2011-09-30T21:00:00.001-04:00

It is amazing how one little decison can set off the entire day.

At 5:30 this morning, Nick tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "I really need to go to school early to get some grading done-would you mind taking them to school?"

Such sweet pillow talk.

That decision basically flip-flopped my entire day around. My morning was like a run-on sentence...

Stay awake since 5:30, pack lunches, empty and load the dishwasher, get everyone ready, pick up preschool carpool friend (at least I made her mom's day!), take the kids to school, load the huge box of a blow-up bouncing castle that a friend is letting me borrow for the party into my van, go to the bank, go to the store for birthday party supplies, stop at my mother-in-law's work i.e. my old workplace to get a Mary Kay order, stop at the bank again, drive around for a few minutes so that Noah can fall asleep (which he did not), go back to the school to listen to Abby's classmates tell me their memory verses, pick up Caleb and our preschool carpool friend, take her home, load their camera case into the van since mine is getting repaired, race to my hair salon to get my hair fixed (my haircut last week was not good enough for my high maintenance hair) while driving through the drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A since I forgot to pack Caleb's lunch, sit in the salon with Noah in the stroller who is watching me as I throw food at him, while my pregnant stylist quietly judges me (she will not judge me in two months when she has her own child), piled everyone into the van, finished feeding Noah his yogurt, got into my seat only to see that the Chick-Fil-A water had spilled everywhere, filling to the brim of two cup holders while I hear Caleb in the back saying, "I thought I heard a spilling sound," raced home behind moronic drivers, while I barely could see out of my side window because of the huge bouncy castle box, got home, changed Noah and put him to bed (while he sighed with relief), helped Caleb open yet another birthday package that was left on the porch, put him in his room for some quiet time, unloaded the van full of groceries, pinatas, the camera bag, the empty Chick-Fil-a cup, the diaper bag and my purse, cleaned up the spilled water, put the groceries away, then sat down.

It was 1:00.

I then made the mistake of opening the living room blinds, only to see that the wind had blown our gazebo over. I could see the tear in the canvas cover and the metal bars were bent. So, I did the only thing I could do at that point.

I closed the blinds.

Add on making dinner, cleaning the floors, the bathrooms, helping with homework, and playing Wii with the kids, and that about sums up my day.

So, when Nick comes home tonight after broadcasting the school's football game online and wonders why I am passed out on the couch, drooling, perhaps he will read this and know why.

At least it is the weekend-every mom's break, right? Oh wait...

Thirty-Something

2011-09-25T20:46:00.000-04:00

I turned 34 yesterday. Yep.

Birthdays used to be fun. Getting another year older was greeted with excitement and everyone gathered around to celebrate the milestone. I looked forward to receiving gifts and being treated great all day.

Now, my only request for a gift was that each child would not complain, not cry and clean their rooms.

Not one of them listened.

Caleb fell apart during his soccer game (again), Noah whined a bunch (still in the screeching phase, too), and Abby ended the day by crying because she was not allowed to have a sleepover at her grandma's house.

Thanks kids.

Oh well. Such is the life of a mother. I would rather have my kids and all their faults then not having them at all. They did get me some very pretty, scented candles :)

For some reason, I am really feeling my age this time around. I just keep seeing 40 growing closer and closer. It sounds old, but now that I have many friends who are 40 and over, it does not seem that old at all. I still feel like I am in college and I am pretty sure they feel the same way.

Makes me wonder if my grandparents feel that age, too.

Anyway, it was a nice day, in the midst of typical children. I got to sleep in until 8:30 (that really was a big deal for me), followed by breakfast in bed. I went grocery shopping-alone. We went out to eat after the soccer games were over and I received a free dessert complete with the restaurant staff singing to me. Very loudly.

We also had cake and ice cream at the house. Candles were forgotten, so after searching my cupboards, the only candles I could find were old number candles from the kids' past birthday parties. However, the only numbers I could find were "3" and "1." So, I blew out candles that said I was "31."

I had absolutely no problem with that.

Now life is moving on, I am another day older, and I am too busy planning the kids' birthday bash to even really remember that I just had my birthday.

Such is life.

Walking Man

2011-09-22T15:58:00.000-04:00

Well, it is official. Noah is now a walking man.

That is, if you count taking four or five steps and then tumbling over as walking. Which I do.

He has randomly taken a step here or there, but then immediately fallen to his kness, because, let's face it-crawling is faster for an eleven-month old. However, yesterday, while playing with his toys in the living room, he stopped to walk to me. Then he did it again. And again. True, he fell pretty quickly, but I blame it on the shouts of excitment that came from Caleb and me as we celebrated this huge accomplishment.

I think he could have kept going, but the doorbell rang, ending our moment. I answered it, thinking it was one of the neighbors coming to play. Nope. Mormons.

Now, any other time I would have loved to have chatted with them, firmly, but lovingly, defending my faith. However, Noah's shining moment had then become a screaming fit because I dared to walk more than two feet away from him. Sorry, Mormon guys-my screaming baby was not going to help me show the patience that my faith teaches me to have.

Regardless of the interruption, Noah continued to perform and entertain the whole family. He thinks he is quite the stuff.

I would have to agree.

Outcome

2011-09-17T22:02:00.000-04:00

Since when did being a parent become so hard?

Nick planned on taking Abby and Caleb to the Reds game tonight. It was the last chance to take them to a game for this season that was not on a school night. The only thing the kids had to do was not cry if they lost their soccer games and pick up their stuff around the house.

Simple, right?

Well, Caleb was doing okay. He was playing soccer really well and was keeping a good attitude. All of a sudden, the other team had the nerve to stop him from running the ball down and scoring again, and he just stopped in the middle of the field. We assumed it was because he was tired since he had been in the entire game at that point. He took a break and we thought he was going to go back in.

Nope. For no logical reason, Caleb decided to not play the rest of the game. No matter what we said or what his coach said, he refused.

And he refused with loud crying.

While we all watched his team lose the lead and get destroyed (I am clearly not bragging since I am admitting his terrible attitude, but he is the best player on the team so far), our confusion grew. Who was this kid? Certainly not ours-we are better parents than that, right?

After shutting down his arguments and excuses, Caleb finally admitted he was wrong and apologized. He knows he is going to apologize to his coach and if he ever does that again, soccer is over. It is not about winning or losing the game-it is about quitting. He needs to know that he cannot quit the game just because he is mad at how it is going.

He is almost five-years old. Shouldn't he know all of these life lessons, yet?

Anyway, as much as Nick wanted to take him to the Reds game tonight, he knew he had to say no.

It really sucks when their punishment messes up our plans.

Since Abby was a dream today (played a great game with only one sub, she got a cramp and stopped for a few minutes, got over it, ran back in and scored a goal, helping to win the game) and helped out at home without complaining, I took her to the movies.

Caleb stayed home and cleaned his room.

I really want my kids to be happy and do fun things. Yet, I do not want them to get whatever they want after not earning it and to be spoiled brats.

Again, when did this parenting thing become so hard?

Consistency.

It is just so exhausting.

11 Months

2011-09-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

Noah turned 11 months old the other day. Yep, he is getting old.

He knows how to walk, but just does not want to. He likes to take a step toward me and then fall into my arms. He stands around a lot so I know he knows how to walk, but life seems much easier for him when he crawls. His speed is ridiculous. Within seconds, he crawls to exactly where I do not want him to crawl.

This little guy has also mastered the stairs. He never practiced on them, but the other day, I found him halfway up the stairs. After I recovered from my stroke, I carefully walked down toward him, so as not to scare him into falling.

(If you are new to this blog and never read about Caleb's fall, go back to beginning and check out why I have such a fear of kids and stairs.)

So, now that my super fast boy thinks the stairs are fun, we have officially moved the ottoman to the bottom of the staircase to block him from going up. Yes, I have heard of gates, but the ottoman does not ruin my walls like the gate did. I do let Noah climb all the way up when I am following him and once he reaches the top, he raises his hands in celebration and then claps.

He is pretty proud of himself.

Something I could live without-screeching. He can communicate words like, "Mommy, Daddy, Uh-Oh, Thank you," and other sweet sounding words. So I am confused on why he thinks he needs to screech at a high pitched sound to get my attention. My head is literally aching every night.

I guess it is one of those things that we parents like to forget about. Kind of like how a mother forgets the pain of childbirth (kind of) enough to want to go through it again. We must forget irritating stages (like screeching) and remember all of the sweet moments. Otherwise, all families would consist of one child.

Noah loves food. All kinds of food. He tolerates me feeding him yogurt, but other than that, he wants to be feeding himself. He eats food like his brother does-he shovels it. Sometimes I see the look on Abby's face when she is sitting between her brothers at dinnertime-it is a look combined of disgust and "How did I get here?"

He is a lot of fun to play with now. Caleb crawls around and Noah chases him. The kids also love to push him in the dumptruck as you can see on this video.

He is such the third kid.

Noah continues to be really attached to me, which is sometimes frustrating, but usually very sweet. Before I know it, he will be too busy for me. I want to enjoy this cuddling baby as long as I can.

Name Association

2011-09-13T07:27:00.002-04:00

Caleb has a teammate on his soccer team named Nick. Very easy to remember, for obvious reasons.

Over breakfast today, Caleb randomly said, "If Daddy dies, I will always remember him because of Nick on my team."

Okay. So that is the one reason he will remember his dad? Interesting.

10 Years Ago...

2011-09-11T08:31:00.000-04:00

Many people on facebook are talking about where they were ten years ago. 9/11 is now one of those days that is similar to the JFK assasination...everyone seems to know exactly where they were when the event occurred.

10 years ago today I woke up, never turned on the television or checked the internet, and went to work. It was my second job, waitressing at a local restaurant, so that I could earn extra money for our upcoming wedding.

I arrived at work, walked into the kitchen, and was confused as to where everyone was. I walked out into the dinning room and saw my co-workers glued to the television. I joined them and watched in horror at what I was seeing unfold in front of me.

As reports came in of other crashes, I began to wonder who was next? A plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania and my immediate thoughts were going out to anyone that I knew who lived near there.

By the time the restaurant opened for lunch, we were slammed with customers who just wanted a place to watch television during their lunch hour. No one really cared what they ordered-they just numbly sat there, staring at the news reports. Business men sat with construction workers. No one complained about their food or the wait on their order (since I was the only waitress on a normally slow Tuesday). They just sat there and stared.

Nick was student teaching and called me at work. My mom was at a church meeting and also called me. I called my best friend who lived not too far from the Pennsylvania crash. We all just wanted to hear each other's voices in the midst of the chaos.

Things changed that day. In some ways, it feels like it just happened. In other ways, I have a tough time remembering life before the event.

After awhile, life continued to go on. We got married a few months later and celebrated without a care in the world. We got on a plane and flew to our honeymoon destination, only pausing to complain about the length of time it took to go through security.

But, I think about those people who lost someone that day. They do not need it to be the actual day to remember all of the heartache and loss. They remember it every second of every day. My prayers go out to them. I cannot imagine losing someone in such a vicious way and having to be reminded of the details of it with every news report.

To the victims of 9/11, may we never forget.

The Beetle

2011-09-06T21:01:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I forget how different boys are.

Then Caleb makes friends with a beetle and I am suddenly reminded that I have no idea what goes on in their heads.

As we were getting ready to leave my parent's house yesterday, he found a beetle. He carefully put it in a box for the trip home and when I asked him the beetle's name and he looked at me like I was stupid and said, "Joey Votto."

Of course. What else would his name be? Since one of our fish and most of Caleb's stuff animals are named after his favorite Reds player, of course the beetle's name would follow suit.

As we started our trip, it was suggested that Caleb let Votto go on the side of the road, since chances were slim that he would survive the five hour drive. As Caleb thought about his choice, I saw his face begin to crumble. He had to either let the bug go and save his life, or keep his new friend for a little longer, risking his end.

The sobs began and we finally agreed to let Votto continue on our journey a little longer. Caleb let the beetle crawl all over him and talked very sweetly with him. My favorite line of the trip was "I just kissed him!"

Great. Remind me not to kiss you before your bath tonight.

True to family pet tradition, Caleb passed out into a blissful nap on the way home while Nick and I took turns checking on the bug. We made sure he was still alive and not escaping. Finally, about an hour from home, Caleb finally agreed that his "moving slower than before" friend needed to breathe the open air and leave us.

We pulled over, Caleb said his tearful (and I mean tearful) good-bye to Joey Votto, and I released him into the wild. We talked about how he would find a wife and start a family and be happy. As we pulled away, Caleb sobbed and stared out the back window.

Yes, I teared up, too. What have these children done to me?

All of this over a beetle.

I love Caleb's tender heart. And his imagination. He truly believes in his heart that this beetle and his new family will find their way to our house someday.

Both kids are now talking about wanting a dog and a cat. Lord, help me.

Maggie

2011-09-02T12:55:00.000-04:00

I came across an article today about this upcoming book. The book is titled, "Maggie Goes on a Diet."

Wow.

I do not know which was worse to read-the summary of the book or the yahoo users opinions typed below the article.

Apparently, this book is geared toward kids ages 8 and up (Maggie is 14), but because of the written style, ages 4 and up will be targeted.

The cover alone makes me angry. Let us take a young girl, full of emotions that are out of control, put her in front of a mirror and have her long for the skinny look. Best part of the book is that she loses a ton of weight in a short time, becomes pretty and popular and has guys interested in her.

I am all about kids being healthy and exercising and eating the right foods. However, throw the word "diet" in front of little girls, and you are practically forcing the eating disorder to start early. Abby is six-years old and is already starting to compare herself to others (which deeply saddens me). The last thing these young girls need is to have a book geared toward their age, telling them that they need to look like this ideal.

My kids eat healthy because I give them their food. They even get to have cookies and ice cream and candy-all within reason. So far, they all seem to be "good enough" for the standard by which our society says is beautiful. For kids who have more freedom to eat anything they want, then perhaps weight problems can arise, but is that their fault? Even if the author is writing this for a 14-year-old, I highly doubt most 14-year-olds are cooking for themselves. Write a book for parents.

Oh wait. Those have been written.

Does this author honestly believe that by writing a book about a junior high girl dieting to be popular, he is going to convince young girls to eat healthy? If anything, it will just force them to feel even more bad about their already fragile selves and take more drastic measures to achieve the ideal.

People who support the book are responding to "anti-little girls dieting" opinions by saying, "All you fatties do is complain and eat! Oink, oink, oink."

That was actually one of the more mature responses that I read.

Well, I am not a fattie, I do not eat and complain all day. Neither do my children. But, as a mother of an impressionable little girl, I do object.

I do not live in a dream world. I know that their are many obese children who need to understand healthy eating and exercise habits. However, their parents are 99% part of that outcome. If the parents do not care enough to feed their children properly, they certainly will not care enough to buy them a book about dieting. The ones who read the book will most likely be the kids who have nothing to worry about.

But, then they will worry.

Weight problems, even with children, all stem from something else. Ask anyone who has struggled with either over-eating or any kind of eating disorder...it never goes away. This Maggie will still be the same person inside no matter what size she shrinks down to. Her insecurities will remain the same. And her beauty.

Since I will be one of the ones avoiding this book in the library, I suppose I am one of those "fatties who eats and complains." Because, there is no other logical explanation to object to this book, right?

Yes, It Breaks

2011-08-30T08:43:00.000-04:00

I have heard the quote "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." After this morning, I am thinking that is fairly accurate.

My day started great. Woke up at 5:45 to work-out, read my Bible and started my routine of packing lunches, backpacks, and making a bottle. Woke everyone up and then I made my first mistake. I told Caleb to use the potty right away.

I do not know what I was thinking.

To clarify, he still wears a pull-up at night. The boy cannot wake up to use the bathroom no matter what we have done. I am told this is still normal for a lot of boys and since they still make pull-ups for his size, I have not been too worried. However, I am trying to stress going right before bed and right when he gets up.

Well, apparently, Mr. Sunshine was not awake enough to agree with me that he needed to go. First argument of the morning. Add on fighting with his sister, being a complete slowpoke getting dressed, and again refusing to use the bathroom-well, my voice was not the quietest.

It seems that when I begin a bad mood, then everyone has to follow suit. Suddenly, all attitudes were negative and everything that could go wrong, did. Not finding items needed for school that day, realizing Caleb had wet his bed (even with a pull-up?) and above all of those things, Noah following me around and whining the entire time.

I think my favorite part was after everyone left, door slamming behind them, I dared to empty the dishwasher. As I put the silverware away (figuring I should do that first, since Noah could grab a knife and hurt himself) I heard a crash. Somehow, my 10 month old grabbed a Corelware bowl and dropped it on the floor, causing it to shatter in a thousand pieces.

The reason we have Corelware and not nice dishes is because of children-it is not supposed to break!

Well, evidently, it does. You know...from the fierce strength of a baby.

Even as I type this, my normally content baby is screaming in his crib like someone is torturing him. (Do not worry, I checked on him and he is fine-I am not that bad of a parent.)

Sometimes I think my day could be a lot easier if I just stopped after the work-out and quiet time. But, how boring would that be?

Even on mornings like this, I know I am supposed to strive to be the Proverbs wife. You know-the one none of us moms like to think about. Thank God for his grace because I continue to fail miserably in the role He has called me to.

The crabby baby is finally starting to fall asleep so I will attempt to take a shower. I am a little hesitant to find out what catastrophe occurs while I take five minutes for myself.

Competitive Caleb

2011-08-28T15:00:00.000-04:00

According to Nick, God is laughing at him right now.

Mr. Competitive now has a son who is just like him. Caleb played his first soccer game yesterday. He did really well and scored a bunch of goals. However, the rest of his team were like typical four-year olds and spent most of their time on the field, waving at their moms and laughing.

Not our son. Once he saw the other team score twice in a row, he was determined that would never happen on his watch. Whether he was on the sidelines or on the field, every time the other team scored, I saw his face fall a little bit more. As he watched his teammates dance around the ball, not really going anywhere with it, I could see him thinking, "What are they doing?!"

During the entire game, I was proud of him. If he fell, he got right back up. Even though he was keeping score, he did not cry or complain-he just got out on the field and did his best. He even passed the ball when his coach told him to. Which is why when the last whistle blew, I was blown away by his reaction.

As the parents lined up to make a tunnel for the kids to run through, I heard a terrible scream. Was someone hurt? Was someone being attacked? Nope. It was Caleb. On the sidelines. Crying because they lost.

Crap.

I have never seen anything like it. It was not just a few tears, but screaming and sobbing. Part of me was feeling his pain (I have been told I am also a little competitive), while the other part of me was embarrassed to admit he was my child. I mean, come on...if I saw someone's child behaving that way, I would strongly question their parenting skills.

As I am sure all of those other parents were doing.

Eventually, he calmed down and by the time he was eating lunch in the car (super smart timing by the way-let's schedule the youngest kids to play at lunch time), he realized how ridiculous his behavior was. We talked a lot about good sportsmanship and he promised to never react that way again.

Let's hope that is true, since it looks like it is going to be a long season.

Part of the problem is, Caleb has watched his sister play soccer for two years. During her first year, her team never lost a game and she continually scored goals without hardly trying. He also loves watching sports with his dad and knows how to keep score. Plus, his sister's team played right before him and won.

Add all of that up, plus hunger and the heat, and it was a disaster waiting to happen. Excuses aside, though, Caleb is learning the important lesson of losing gracefully.

I just pray he learns it quickly.

Nice Words

2011-08-25T17:45:00.000-04:00

After listening to Abby and Caleb argue with each other while I was making dinner, I came up with the perfect solution to stop them.

I announced, "From now on, you have to really think about what you are about to say before the words come out of your mouth."

I thought it sounded like the perfect thing to say. You know, because kids always listen to their parents.

Abby was quiet and chose her words carefully throughout dinner. Caleb was thoughtful, too. I saw him staring off into space and then gradually grinning. He said (half to himself, but half to us), "No, I can't say that." Then he continued to think and grinned again and said, "Nope, can't say that, either."

Somehow, I do not think I made my lesson stick very well as I could not stop laughing.

1st Grade and Preschool

2011-08-24T20:50:00.000-04:00

School started today.

Did you hear the shouts of praise coming from my house?

Okay, so I do not want to be one of those moms who longs for school days to get rid of the kids. I love my children. I love having them around and I miss them when they are gone. However, I could do without the fighting. And the whining. Apparently, they are angels for other people so why not bless others with their company?

My baby Abby started 1st Grade today. I seriously have no idea how that happened. She hurried along the halls this morning, saying hello to her friends, anxious to get settled in her new classroom. No long hugs good-bye or tears of fear. I stood in the hall, waiting for some sort of acknowledgement of a farewell, but she was completely embracing her six-year old academic life.

When I was debriefed on her day that afternoon, she loved it. I heard stories of recess ("It is not as long as last year, Mom!"), lunch ("I did not get a cookie with my lunch!") and friends ("I saw my old friends at lunch and recess!"). Apparently, everything worth mentioning involves the playground or food.

My little Caleb started his second year of preschool. Just like his sister, he ran into his classroom and I never had that hug or tearful regret. It helped that all of his buddies were there. They encouraged each other so well that the need for moms was long forgotten.

Breaks my heart a little bit.

Caleb's summary of the morning? "The snacks were good-Teddy Grahams...There are new bikes on the playground...Noah, Ollie, Marc Hayden and I played with puppets...we went to the library."

That was actually more information than I ever received last year, so I guess that is something. I still have no idea what he learned, but I did receive some fun answers to my questions...

Me: "Did you play with any of the girls?"
Caleb: "Uh, no, I guess not. I don't talk to them much."
Me: "Did you have any accidents?"
Caleb (with surprise in his voice): "Actually, I did not!"
Me: "What did you learn today?"
Caleb: "Uh, I don't remember."

Glad to see our tuition money is going to good use.

All in all, a good first day. It ended with the two of them picking on each other, Abby in tears over some girl drama and Noah getting crabby. I personally think he was spoiled by the quiet all morning and then was mad it did not last long.

Oh wait. That was me.

Seriously, though, I miss my babies when someone else is taking care of them. Part of me already misses the summer.

And the other part of me loves the fact that I got to finish my book today.

Abby The Girl

2011-08-22T08:21:00.000-04:00

Abby is such a girl.

After spending the weekend with my college friends and doing some thrifty shopping at Goodwill, she was super excited to see the new dresses that I bought her. She immediately tried them on and modeled them for us. And by model, I mean she twirled around and smiled over her shoulder.

Where did she learn how to do that?

Then she noticed the two purses that I bought. When Nick saw them, he said, "Don't you already have enough purses?"

Men just do not get it.

Abby, on the other hand, saw them and said, "Oh, Mommy! I love the red one! You needed a new purse so that you aren't always using the same one through the seasons!"

I swear that I have never said that to her. Somehow, she just gets it.

Radio Technology

2011-08-18T14:41:00.000-04:00

Caleb heard a song on the radio in the car that he liked and said, "Mom, fast-forward back to the beginning of the song!"

Um, well, first of all, it was the radio and that radio does not have a DVR.

(Although, I personally think it should. How has that not been invented, yet?)

Secondly, "fast-forward back?" Let us introduce the word "rewind" to your vocabulary, Caleb.

Mommy Ailment

2011-08-17T14:49:00.000-04:00

Noah has been suffering from an ailment that I like to call "Need More Mommy."

The symptoms include crying when set down on the floor, crawling after one's mommy everywhere that she goes, and not being happy in anyone else's arms, but one's mommy.

Other signs of this disease are whining, lack of motivation to play alone, and an irrational fear of one's mommy not returning from the bathroom.

The prescription is to simply outgrow it and eventually give one's mommy a bit of freedom. Sometimes it takes a few days, other times it takes months. Either way, I am hoping my little boy soon figures out that he does not have to be my shadow every second of every day.

At least he is really cute and forgiveable.

Soccer Mom

2011-08-12T14:42:00.000-04:00

Soccer started this week.

Need I go on?

I still feel like I am twenty-two years old and just out of college. So, how is it possible that I currently drive a soccer mom mini-van?

There is a jogger stroller in the back, camping chairs in their bags thrown in there as well, fast food wrappers in the crevices of the backseat, and soccer balls rolling back and forth with each brake. Every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night, you can find me at the soccer field, watching one child play soccer, playing soccer with the other, while running after a baby who wants to crawl onto the field.

I will take this life over being a dance mom any day.

Anyway, Abby picked up right where she left off last fall. Once she got on the field, you would never think she had missed the spring season. What surprised me was that at the end of her first practice, she had tears in her eyes. Apparently, she felt lonely joining a team that had already played together in the spring. Somehow, ice cream helped cheer her up and by her next practice, she was excited to play again. Thankfully, a couple of other girls joined at the last minute so Abby is no longer the only "new girl" on the team. They all seemed to have a lot more fun the second time around.

Caleb played at his first practice this week. Watching little boys play soccer-absolutely hilarious.

When girls play soccer, even at a young age, they seem to listen to their coach and stand still when hearing instructions. When boys play soccer, it looks like a bunch of puppies trying desperately to be good, but quickly failing. Every little distraction had them turning their heads toward it and away from their coach. When the coach was talking to them, they all had to join in on their opinions.

Sweet Caleb was one of the boys with the most opinions. Shocking, I know. I could not hear every comment he made, but I could tell by the look on his face that he was very serious about every subject he discussed.

God bless the volunteer coaches.

Anyway, Caleb had a great time at practice. He surprised me by not yelling or crying when he did not succeed and even laughed when he kept falling over. Much different from his sister, who, at that age, would skip the remainder of practice if she tripped. I love boys and their non-drama.

So, the freedom of summer is over and soccer is starting. I am going to take notes from little Noah and just go with the flow of the hectic schedule.

In Control

2011-08-04T09:54:00.001-04:00

Caleb was kicking a ball around in the house (why do so many of my posts start with my son getting ready to destroy my house?) when he accidently kicked the ball too high. It went straight toward the hutch with lit candles.

We all heard the crash, stopped what we were doing, and looked over the damage. Even though he managed to knock the ipod out of the ipod player, the candles were still okay.

After assessing what happened, Caleb said, "Boy, it's a good thing that the Lord didn't want those candles to get hit!"

Wow. My son has such a complete faith in God that He trusts Him to be in charge of absolutely everything.

Even the candles not falling down.

What Happened?

2011-08-01T08:15:00.000-04:00

This is me on the
Giant Swing
in college

I am not quite sure what has happened to me.

I used to be able to go on rides at amusement parks that spin and feel fine. Star spinning with my campers was a breeze. I lived for windy, country roads.

My rebellion against motion started when I became a driver. I got so used to driving, that when I became a passenger (in the backseat), I easily became carsick. Gone were the days of reading or doing puzzles in the car.

After that, windy roads became a problem. Not while I was driving them, but as a passenger, I could not handle them. The first time I realized it was on a mission trip in Jamaica. Sitting in the back of a non-air-conditioned van for four hours of windy, bumpy roads=upset stomach for me.

Funny enough, it was another mission trip where I really got carsick. The windy roads of West Virginia were so much fun when I was driving. When I was a passenger in another car on those same roads...well, thankfully I made it to the side of the road before losing my dinner.

So, after all of these experiences, I am not quite sure why I volunteered to be the person who spins in circles for a minute during a game the other night. It was a Minute to Win It game with some school moms. After successfully running the board, our team needed another win to clench the title of...well, there was no title, but a grand prize of juice boxes to win.

I stepped up to the challenge, grabbed the edge of the toilet paper and spun in circles, wrapping myself up like a mummy.

Even though I felt a bit dizzy afterwards, I still felt well enough to enjoy some cake that was smartly offered after that part of the game. I still felt okay as my neighbor and I walked to her van. I did not feel okay as we took back roads home to our neighborhood.

I kept my head between my legs as we talked of other things, but suddenly I knew it was over. She pulled over and I lost my Bravo dinner in some stranger's front yard.

What really bums me out is that I lost such a great meal.

As if that was not ridiculous enough, as I was throwing up, a pick-up truck slowed down and yelled out the window, "Hey, we have to do the same thing!" They drove past us and slowed down a little up the road. Apparently, we all need privacy when throwing up on the public street.

As I approach another thirty something age (seriously, I forget how old I actually am sometimes), I am wondering what has happened to my body? What has happened to the body that could eat anything it wanted and not gain a pound? That could go rock climbing without a fear of falling? That could sleep anywhere and not feel sore the next day?

That could spin in a circle for a minute without losing a meal?

Oh, that's right. I am in my 30's and have three children. That's what happened.

Abby To The Rescue

2011-07-29T20:09:00.000-04:00

The kids enjoy playing baseball in the house with Nick. Yes, I have breakable things in here. Yes, I am crazy.

They were playing the other day when Abby hit the ball directly at Nick. More specifically, directly where he did not want to be hit.

While he lay on the ground in pain, Abby had the solution. She ran into the kitchen, opened the cupboard, and grabbed a cup. She then offered him his protection.

A little too late, and not exactly the right kind of cup, but still a nice gesture.

9 Months And Counting

2011-07-27T09:19:00.000-04:00

With his Great-Grandpa

Time for another Noah update.

I am trying to wonder why I ever buy toys. This kid has quite a collection to choose from, considering he is the third child. Yet, all he wants to do is explore and play with non-toys.

His personal favorites are the collection of measuring cups (which he has discovered make pretty swell drums), the tv and dvd remotes (so that is why I keep finding the dvd player on), and my laptop. Seriously, if I am on here, the kid just looks at me with those really cute eyes, smiles, then attacks the keyboard with his sticky fingers.

He also loves to "help" me upload the dishwasher. He has this type of radar to know when I am opening the door. He could be playing contently with his toys (for once), but the moment he hears it open, he immediately races for the kitchen to be a part of the action. It reminds me of a cat hearing the can opener.

Why are doorstops so exciting? Every one of my children (especially this one) loves to flick the doorstop and hear its funny noise. But, that is not enough. They then have to take it off the wall and chew on it. Noah then takes it with him everywhere that he goes as some sort of proof of his accomplishment.

Well, apart from the destruction of my home belongings, Noah is a very sweet baby. I do not know if baby is quite the right term anymore, considering he is moments away from walking. He stands around and cruises a lot. I just pulled out the toy that helped the other two learn to walk and he immediately fell in love with it. He walks around the house with it all day (until he gets stuck and just looks at me for help).

Noah still says "Mama" a lot and finally added "Dada" the other day. He tries to say "Abby." He gets as far as "Ahhhh" and I know what he means so that is good enough for now.

I love how much he is growing, but a part of me is sad every time that he does something new. I felt like Abby was a baby forever, but Noah is flying through the growth stages so fast, that I feel like I am missing them. I just want him to stay this little cuddle boy forever, probably because we plan on this being our last baby. Yet, I love seeing him learn new things every day and look forward to finding out who he becomes.

Technology

2011-07-22T16:39:00.000-04:00

Abby asked me the other day, "Did you tell Grandma that I lost my second tooth? If not, we better text her and let her know."

Text her? Really? What happened to calling?

Okay, so maybe she thought about how her grandma was at work and texting would be easier, but something tells me that her thought process did not go that far.

Her understanding of technology got me to thinking of what a different life my kids will grow up having compared to me.

-They use my camera and take pictures, then immediately look to see how their shots turned out.
-I remember taking pictures and being so excited to develop the film and see the results. Yes, many shots were fuzzy or not centered, but they did the job and represented whatever activity I was trying to capture.

-If they need to walk away from the television for a moment, they press the pause button.
-Um, hello tv that had a dial on the actual set with three, maybe four channels, depending on where the bunny ears were positioned.

-When they watch movies, they place the DVD in the player and select what they want to do.
-We had these things called VCRs and we actually had to wait (gasp) while we fast-forwarded to what we wanted to see. Then we had to be kind and rewind.

-Our kids get to watch movies on road trips with the built-in DVD system in the van.
-Long car trips meant playing the license plate game and picking on each other while we listened to the boring radio stations of our parents.

-We have the air-conditioner running all summer, set at the lovely temperature of 71 degrees.
-I grew up in a farmhouse where the only way to cool down was to blow the window fan directly on our faces while we attempted to fall asleep.

-When waiting for a doctor's appointment or on car trips, they have handheld video games.
-The only video game system I had was an Atari that stayed in one place-the living room. I think if I mentioned Space Invaders or Pac-Man to my children, they would think I was speaking another language.

-When wanting to hear a certain song, my children simply find it on the ipod and press the play button.
-Oh, the joy of cassette tapes. I am so thankful that our stereo (yes, we still have one of those) still has a cassette player because I just cannot part with a few tapes from my youth. Especially the homemade mixed tapes, each one representing the trials of that season of my life.

So, my kids will continue to pause the tv (except for when I am around and tell them, "Too bad, just miss a minute of your show") and text the family of their news. And I will continue to make sure they are playing outside and using their imaginations.

While I sit on my laptop typing this under the air-conditioning vent.

Complaining

2011-07-20T14:27:00.000-04:00

I do not remember when it came up, but the Bible study of high school seniors that I led at camp started talking about complaining. I challenged them to take the rest of the day and to try to not complain.

That was at 10:30 a.m. By dinner at 5:30 p.m., one of them came up to me and confessed, "Tammy, I complained."

I suppose I could have judged him if I myself had not already lost the challenge as well.

Why is it so easy to complain? It just naturally rolls off my tongue. And if out of the mouth flows the heart, then what on earth am I doing?

One of my campers noticed that she would say "I'm tired" just to say it. If she really thought about it, she was not actually tired, but just said it because it was routine to say it. Hmm. I am so guilty of that.

During the day-challenge that I gave my campers, I really did try. I bit my tongue many times, but after awhile, I did give in. When everyone around me is doing it, it is more fun to join in with my thoughts than to just walk away. And really, what did all of our complaining accomplish? Did it make things run smoother? Did it take away the heat? Did it make our campers perfect angels?

Nope. None of that. All it did was burden our hearts and make us exhausted.

Which of course we complained about.

I notice it with my own kids, too. The complaints that I hear from them are straight from our mouths. Anyone who wants to be humbled by their attitude needs to have a child follow them around for a day. Apparently, it is true-attitude reflects leadership.

Here is my challenge to you readers-take a day and not complain. You might be great at it and never notice a difference. Or, you might be like me and bite your tongue all day. Either way, it should be interesting.

Letting Them Go

2011-07-18T16:05:00.000-04:00

I just returned home from counseling at camp (hence my lack of blogging). I have many thoughts to share, both about camp and missing my kids, but today, I want to share what is heaviest on my heart.

We counselors only get a week to engage in the lives of our campers. That is one week to hear their stories, offer advice and a listening ear, and send them back to reality.

I heard some heartbreaking stories this past week. Some that made me wish we could keep their tender selves in the bubble of Camp Lambec. Away from bullies, peer pressure, and tough family lives.

I also heard a lot of deep questions, some that are still being debated by great theologians today. Again, one week is never enough time to even come close to answering them.

The age of technology that we live in is helpful. Communicating through facebook and email (at least for me, who lives 300 miles away from the campers) is a great way of keeping up with them.

However, I find myself clinging to the most important thing that I can be doing for them-prayer. As the campers are now back in their real worlds, my heart is heavy in prayer for them. If only the bubble could last forever.

One Year

2011-07-07T11:06:00.001-04:00

I will be at camp and absent of technology on the actual date, but our third child's due date was July 10th. She (as we all had a feeling it was a girl) would have been one year old. As I watch other friends with the same due date week celebrate their children's first birthdays, I am happy for them, but sad to think what might have been.

Things have gotten easier, especially with the joy of Noah. But, there are days when it just hits me-we lost our baby. It does not matter how long ago it happened-the pain is still real.

Sometimes a song in church will make me think of her. Especially the old hymns where the lyrics speak of our eternity in Heaven where there are no more tears. Every time I hear "Your Hands," by JJ Heller, I burst into tears. That song was constantly on the radio when we lost our baby. It was like God gave those lyrics to the songwriter just for me.

I know that there is a purpose to everything and I am so fortunate to know the love of God. And everytime I look at Noah, I cannot imagine life without him. We have been so blessed with three amazing kids. Yet, I still long for the day when I meet our fourth child in Heaven someday. What a sweet reunion that will be.

In the meantime, my dear one-year old must be having a delightful time in the arms of Jesus.

Mom's Vacation

2011-07-06T09:11:00.000-04:00

When a friend of mine heard we were going on vacation, she asked, "So, when is your vacation?"

Any mom knows exactly what she meant by that.

Vacation is great, but it is also a lot of work for the moms. I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful husband who spends a lot of time with the kids and helps out so much. However, it really does come down to the mom to remember everything that the day requires. And I mean everything.

Trip to the beach? For me, that required a bag of beach towels, sunscreen, and hats. And sand toys, baseball gear and chairs. Also the cooler filled with water and lunch. And a lunch bag. Also, the diaper bag, the feeding chair and more sunscreen. In that diaper bag, I had to remember wipes, diapers, feeding utensils, formula, bottles, bags, and bibs.

And I wonder why I forgot my own sunglasses and book to read. As if I would have ever had a chance to read a book. There is a reason that my books usually stay in the bathroom-it is the only peaceful place to think.

Time at the pool? Most of the same items listed above, but add on arm bands and floation devices, plus the condo key and pool toys. Oh, and the security guy just happened to hand me the wristband that our group had to keep with us at all times while at the pool. Seriously? Did my hands look empty or something?

Going out to eat? Again, the diaper bag, this time filled with toys and cheerios to keep Noah entertained. Not that any of those things worked-he still wanted to be held the entire meal. All of the extended family was great with holding him and walking around with him. I just always find it humorous that when the main course arrives, Noah automatically finds himself back in my arms. Which is great-I love the kid. Just wish he did not love grabbing everything on my plate.

Shopping was fun. I waited all week to go into my favorite store at the boardwalk. And how did I spend it? Abby had to go to the bathroom. The nearest one was a few minutes walk away. We found it just in time, then I had to deal with her tears as her favorite ring went down the drain. Got back to the store, spent about five seconds looking in the store, when Caleb announced that he had to go to the bathroom.

Oh, and this was in the midst of a diarrhea phase he was going through.

I carried him to the bathroom, begging him to not go on me, and made it just in time. He could barely walk back to the store because he was sore (from many bathroom trips), so I had to call it a night and leave early.

After a night of Noah keeping us up all night (we later discovered it was from teething, which led me to regret my impatient thoughts toward my son), I thought I would attempt to take a nap by the pool. When sharing a condo with eleven other people, the pool was the most peaceful place to sleep. About ten minutes into my nap, Abby joined me. She went straight into the pool, which meant I then had to keep my eyes open and watch her.

Okay, so laying poolside while watching my daughter swim is still a pretty great vacation. I just cannot express the level of exhaustion that I was feeling right then.

Add on the constant stress of keeping the kids quiet and well-behaved (especially in the early hours when others are sleeping) and then the super long trip home...well, let me just say that I am ready for that mom vacation.

However, watching my kids find their inner fish while in the pool...watching them build sand castles together...painting pottery with my daughter...watching Noah smile at the waves and hear him laugh in the water...totally worth it.

Car Trip

2011-07-04T08:44:00.000-04:00

For anyone who has traveled with children, this post is for you. And if you have never traveled with kids, then consider yourself warned.

When caravaning with others, it is almost a certainty that they will all need to use the bathroom exactly 20 minutes after the baby has fallen asleep.

Your child, no matter how sweet, will suddenly develop the arms of an octopus when you attempt to find him in the car. Baby food will land everywhere except for in his mouth. And if you are giving him a bottle, he will take the longest he has ever taken to eat because he knows that you are uncomfortable sitting there.

Your children singing to a song they love is very endearing. When you are crammed between them in the backseat while attempting to feed the above mentioned octopus and they are screaming the song from the top of their lungs-not so endearing.

Your baby will promptly poop in his diaper ten minutes after you have left a rest stop.

You may think you are being a good parent by rewarding good car trip behavior with a chocolate milkshake, but in reality, you are bringing on more trouble. Within a few minutes of the shake being finished, one of your children will throw it all up. The best part is when the only thing you have available to catch the vomit in is a McDonald's Happy Meal box.

Chocolate liquid running through a cardboard box. Onto your lap and down your legs. Onto the carpet and to all of the surrounding objects. While the baby is crying because he is waiting for his bottle that you were previously holding in front of him.

I do not believe I will be drinking a chocolate milkshake anytime in the near future.

Fourteen hours of traveling like this and you will find yourself needing a vacation from vacation.

And Caleb Again

2011-06-29T21:04:00.000-04:00

I promise I will stop writing about Caleb soon. Once he stops coming up with these great one liners.

-The kids were playing in the pool and their grandpa was swimming toward them, pretending to be a shark. He told them, "I'm going to eat you!"

Caleb said, "You can't eat me! We're in the same family!"

Good point.

-While winning a game of Toy Story Memory with his cousin, Andrea, he told her, "I told you I was going to run the table."

Not too difficult to do when he has the first three pairs marked.

Who Taught My Kid To Talk?

2011-06-28T09:30:00.000-04:00

Okay, I can't help it. I have to share more Calebisms.

-He went outside to play on the balcony. When he walked out, the wind started to blow him away. He said, "This is not the best idea I have ever had."

He then gave up and went out anyway.

-Caleb was hitting his baseball against the wall and Nick asked him if he should really be doing that. He replied, "Yes indeed."

-Grandpa mentioned how he would be making bacon while we are here on vacation. He asked Caleb if he would eat any. Caleb looked at him like he was crazy and said, "I'm a big fan of bacon."

Calebisms At The Beach

2011-06-26T21:28:00.000-04:00

On vacation this week. Myrtle Beach. With kids.

Yep, there is going to be some fun stories over the next few posts.

I figured I would start with some Calebisms today...

-After being attacked by a shark in the swimming pool ie. his Uncle Tony, he pulled his cousin Andrea over and whispered, "Okay, here's the plan. We're going to get the shark."

-While getting ready for bed, he looked out the window and saw people swimming in the pool. He turned around and announced to everyone, "You're not going to believe this. There are still people in the pond."

-Before bedtime, Caleb said, "I wonder what I'm going to dream about tonight." When asked what he dreamed about the night before, he replied, "I went swimming, oddly enough."

Oddly enough? Whose kid is this?

Should be an interesting week.

The Cup

2011-06-22T15:16:00.000-04:00

The line of today:

"I don't want to put a cup on my penis!"

To clarify, Caleb just learned about baseball players wearing cups to protect themselves. The fact that he randomly said this line an hour after learning about cups made it rather funny. To be fair, the kid is probably picturing an actual drinking cup. Honestly, who would want that?

From Noah's Perspective

2011-06-21T09:27:00.000-04:00

What Noah is most likely thinking these days...

Well, I guess these crazy people around me are my family. They do not seem to be leaving anytime soon, which is good, since they are pretty entertaining.

I noticed the man I am supposed to call Daddy is around a lot more now. Some days he still leaves for the day, but quite often, he is around more than he was when I first arrived. I am really glad because he is a lot of fun. He plays a lot of baseball with my brother and dances with my sister. I hope I get to play like that someday.

Speaking of my sister, she seems pretty great. She gets down to my level and plays with me, smiling sweetly and using fun voices. I am not really a fan of when she picks me up and moves me to a different place. Doesn't she know that cords and DVDs are more fun to play with than my toys?

I really like my brother. We share a room, which is pretty cool. Whenever I am too excited to sleep, he keeps me entertained. Sometimes when I talk loudly in the morning, he wakes up and talks with me. He has learned that if he tries to leave our room before me, I cry, so he is pretty patient and waits for me. He also has these really cool cars that he (sometimes) shares with me.

My favorite person is Mommy. I try to show her how much I love her by constantly crying for her if she is in the room. I like everyone else a lot, but if Mommy walks by, I would rather go to her. For some reason, she moves around a lot. I watch her going from room to room, picking up things that I know my brother and sister will just get out again. I think she should spend her time better by just sitting with me. That is why I whine for her-I am just trying to help her have a better day.

For a long while, I just laid around and watched everyone around me. Eventually, I sat up so that I could see better. But, when I was sitting there, I realized that everyone still kept moving and got to do so many cool things. So, I decided to keep up.

Crawling is awesome.

I get to see new things (and by see, I mean put them in my mouth). Did you know there are all sorts of cool things on the ground, that are the perfect size to swallow? And best of all, I get to follow Mommy everywhere. She has the best things in the kitchen. I think they are called measuring cups-they are way better than my toys.

Even though crawling is great, I find that standing up and scooting my feet around gets me places, too. I am particularly interested in finding a way up the stairs. That way I can never be left behind.

Recently, I finally gave in and clapped for my family. They had been asking me to do it for awhile, but I figured I would keep them in suspense. When I finally did it, they yelled and laughed so loud that I was not sure that I wanted to do that again. Eventually I did and it is pretty wonderful to see them smile so much.

Sometimes when I am doing all of these things, I see my Mommy looking at me. She seems to have this sad look in her eyes, like she is disappointed that I am growing so quickly. That is why I cuddle with her and give her lots of kisses.

Yes, I suppose I will stick around with these people. They are alright.

Baseball Fan

2011-06-19T20:41:00.000-04:00

For anyone who says Caleb is a minature Nick, I just might have to agree with them now.

This boy loves baseball. He loves to play it, he loves to watch it, he even loves to pretend his toys are playing baseball together.

We recently put a gazebo up in the backyard. I think it is great because we needed shade. Caleb thinks it is great because he can throw a baseball on top of it, wait for it to roll down, and then catch it in his glove.

Every day is the same routine. He wakes up, puts on his Reds hat, eats breakfast, then immediately seeks out his dad so they can play baseball in the house. Yes, in the house. I personally am not a fan, but Nick finds it hilarious.

I wonder if he would find it as hilarious if the ball went flying toward the television instead of my candlesticks.

When I hear the sound of the ball hitting the wall or crashing into shelves, I am reminded of one of my first visits to Cincinnati. I was dating Nick and met his childhood friends. These guys had a great tradition of playing baseball in the living room of one of their homes. The rule of the house was no baseball in the house, but they would wait until the mom was asleep and then start playing. However, it did not matter how late it was or how quiet they were-the moment they would reach for the bat, they would hear, "Adam, are you playing baseball?" (All of Nick's childhood friends that are reading this are now hearing her voice in their head, hearing the exact inflection that all know and love.)

They never knew who she knew. However, as a mom, I think I know. It is a sense that we have.

Or, she had nanny cam set up that they never knew about.

Anyway, Caleb has followed in his dad's footsteps and loves the game. He is content to sit and watch the Reds play into extra innings and his favorite player is Joey Votto. He has been looking for a Votto shirt, but apparently all stores think that either babies or grown men are the only ones that want to buy them. I think that Caleb's head is going to have a permanent hat imprint because he never wants to take off his Reds hat. Seriously-found him asleep with it on the other night.

I love that he loves the game. Even more, I love that he shares that with Nick. Then I picture the day when Abby will be off at college and I am at home with three boys. My only thought is, "I hope the house survives."

A Mother's Mission

2011-06-18T08:06:00.000-04:00

My mom came across this article and thought I would enjoy it, which I did and thus am sharing with you all.

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/motherhood-as-a-mission-field

Ironically, as I was reading this, I was getting frustrated with Noah, who kept begging to be held, with snot dripping out of his nose and spit up on his clothes that I will now have to wash.

My Superhero

2011-06-17T17:02:00.000-04:00

The kids were playing contently together the other day...

...let us just take a moment to bask in this sentence. They were playing contently together.

...okay, moving on. They were playing together, pretending to be superheros. At one point I heard Abby say, "I'm Ironman and I'm going to iron you!"

Well, what else would Ironman do?

8 Months

2011-06-12T15:36:00.000-04:00

What happened to my baby boy? I thought I had a few more months of our last being in the baby phase. Apparently, Noah thinks that he has to be just like his older siblings, so he is racing to keep up with them.

He started crawling a few weeks ago. The first day, he kind of inched around. After that, he just took off. No army crawling or butt scooting-just typical crawling.

Terrific. Now I actually have to baby proof. That was a lot easier to do when it was just us. Now I have to watch out for all the other crap that the kids get out. Caleb wants to play Toy Story memory every day-the problem is, he never remembers to put the cards away. Noah has chewed on so many cards that Caleb knows which ones are which-little cheater.

It seems crawling is not good enough for him. He stands up at anything he can get his hands on. My personal favorite is when he stands at his piano (set at a height at which he can sit) and gradually pushes it across the room. It is pretty funny, until he eventually remembers that he is eight months old, falls down and cries.

Noah is also going through a rough teething time. His first two bottom teeth have made an appearance, but I think the upper ones are hurting him. He normally naps well, but has been waking up early out of almost every nap, lately. I blame it on the teeth.

Or on the fact that the older two kids are now home all day. He did start waking up early from naps about the same time that school let out. Hmm.

Changing his diaper and clothes is like trying to ready an octopus. Arms flying everywhere, body wiggling over in an attempt to get to something more interesting. I have tried raising my voice to get his attention, but it only results in his cute giggle and dimpled smile, leading me to laugh.

I guess I understand his laughing at me-hearing someone say "No Noah" does sound a bit silly. Should have thought of that before naming him.

Even in the midst of losing sleep and hurtful teething, Noah is still a pretty happy kid. What a blessing.

Summer Break

2011-06-08T08:58:00.000-04:00

During the toddler years, I heard other moms of school-age children complaining about summer break. I remember thinking, "Why have kids if you just want them in school all of the time?"

Somehow I know have a bigger appreciation for what they were talking about.

Honestly, I love having them home all summer. There are just a few things that I could do without. For your fun reading, here is my list of the pros and cons of having the kids home all day every day for three months...

Pros:
The joy of having the kids around
Summer vacation
Lots of playing outside
The kids get to play together
No driving back and forth to the school
Able to stay home and get caught up on housework
The kids can sleep in
The kids make up adventures in the backyard
No more homework
No packing of lunches and snacks
No fighting on early bedtimes
Running around in the sprinkler

Cons:
The kids are always around
Long car ride to the beach for vacation
Constant applying of sunscreen
The kids end up fighting together
Driving back and forth to the park, waterpark and playdates
The house only stays clean at night, while everyone is asleep
The kids never sleep in
There is a steady stream of sand, dirt and water being tracked in from the backyard
Being constantly begged to play board games over and over again
Hourly requests for food
By the time the kids go to bed, it is past my bedtime
Finding wet bathing suits under the bed

Oh well. Even with the negatives, having them home is a joy. Lots of memories have already been made and I am sure there are lots more to come.

Our Messy Weekend

2011-06-06T10:12:00.000-04:00

Forget spring cleaning. Every bit of it that I have accomplished in the past few weeks (and it was not very much) has been thrown out the window. I no longer see the point when random things like this weekend happen.

Let us start with the van. As previously posted, I recently cleaned it out. However, the very next day ruined all of my hard work.

I bought groceries. It was a lovely trip, since I was able to shop BY MYSELF. Moms, you totally get the luxury of it. I was able to think, pay attention to all of my coupons and the sales, and read the tabloids while waiting in line instead of entertaining a baby and ignoring the begging from the older two.

Apparently, my smart thinking and paying attention to detail was left at the store. I somehow left one bag of groceries in the van. In Noah's carseat. To be found 24 hours later. In 90 degree weather. The contents being: yogurt, hot dogs, crescent rolls, and butter.

Oh, the butter.

First of all, I was so mad because every item in there (apart from the butter) were bought with great coupons. Secondly, why could it not have been the bags with cereal or toilet paper? No, it had to be the cold items. Seriously?

As much as I hated to throw everything out, I could not risk poisoning my family to save a few bucks. The worst part of it is the carseat. It now smells like butter. I have washed the outer part in the washing machine, I have cleaned the plastic part, and have sprayed everything with Lysol. Yet, it still smells like butter.

Sure, butter smells great. Like movie theater popcorn. But, when it continually sinks into Noah's clothes and makes him greasy...not such a great smell. I will be looking online today to compare prices on carseats. My little mistake of leaving one bag of groceries in the car will cost us the price of food and a carseat.

On to the rest of the weekend...

Nick stayed home with Noah yesterday while the rest of us went to church. We had a busy day ahead of us and needed him to nap well. Noah, not Nick. Although, it might have been better if Nick had just napped all morning.

He decided to clean out the fishtank. The problem started when the light dropped into the fish tank, causing the light and the pump to stop working. As Nick continued to work with everything, more drama occurred. This is the text that I received while exiting church...

Tammy, I just destroyed the top of the shelf in the dining room, dropped all of our wedding cards in the fish tank, broke the aquarium filter, broke the radio, shorted the circuits and basically killed the fish. How is your day going?

I was then left with the dilemma of staying away from the disaster, or actually calling him back and coming home to help.

I chose the latter.

Turns out, the top of our china cabinet fell, which is directly over the fish tank. It is an old piece of furniture, but free, so whatever. The bad part is that our stereo is on top of it, which is now sitting on the table, awaiting my attention to see if it is beyond repair. Our wedding cards have been sitting in the same basket for nine years, also on top of the china cabinet, to keep safe from sticky fingers. Now, about twenty of them are drying out on the kitchen counter, after falling into the fish tank.

I love the irony.

After much trial and error with circuit breakers and plugging things in, we finally found the reset button on one of the outlets, and it fixed the entire wall. The pump is now running, the light is now on, and the fish (by some miracle) are still alive.

All of this happened in one weekend. No wonder we are so tired.

At least one good thing came of this...we were able to read some wedding cards and remember with fondness who was there to celebrate with us nine years ago. I will not tell the guests who exactly ended up in the fish tank, but if it was you, your card is now seasoned with extra memories from our marriage.

My Dirty Van

2011-06-03T20:53:00.000-04:00

Now that school is done and carpooling is over for a few months, I decided to clean out the van.

It was lots of fun.

I expected to find a few wrappers here and there or maybe a lost toy. And I did. Next to lots and lots of things that I never wanted to find.

Let's start with the bread crumbs in the backseat. Not just on the seat, in the cracks of the seat or on the floor. But, also piles on the side of the van, in the cupholder and on the arm rest. Apparently, when my daughter is eating a sandwich on the way somewhere, she leaves the crust there and neglects to tell me or throw it out when we reach our destination.

Seriously, Abby? Just throw it out of the window and let the birds eat it.

Moving on to the wrappers on the floor. Not just on the floor, but underneath the seats and in storage pockets. My favorite place to find wrappers? Under the back seat, perfectly positioned so that I cannot reach them from under the seat or from the back of the van. They just sit there, mocking me.

Now this one was one of my favorites. A half-eaten sandwich from Caleb's carpool friend. Want to know what happens to an uneaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich after it is hidden for awhile? No, you do not want to know.

I also found some random things that had been missing. A marble from Hungry Hungry Hippo. Some of Nick's baseball hats that he is always looking for. McDonald's toys. The Three Amigos DVD.

Sure. Okay.

And of course, the crayons. I found some melted ones which immediately went into the trash. I also discovered some artistic work by my precious preschool riders. I had caught them in the act of drawing on the windows a couple of weeks ago and immediately shut down that project. However, I discovered that their handiwork extended to the walls and ceiling in the back of the van.

Terrific.

I made Caleb clean the windows (which of course he found fun, thus making the punishment worthless), but I am still at a loss as to how the crayon is going to come off of soft material. I may have to break out the magic eraser and give it a try.

My van is now clean (as clean as it will ever get after living in it for five years) and I can now enjoy riding in it without wondering where that smell is coming from.

I know I am not alone. Thankfully, I carpool with two other moms who have similar looking vehicles. I think we find comfort in knowing that none of us is perfect or a super-mom. We do know super-moms, though. While driving for a school function, two of us had students who looked around, turned up their noses and made comments about how dirty the vans were.

Clearly, they are the only children in their family.

Now, on to the summer where I am sure my van will stay perfectly clean. Vacation, camp, King's Island...all of these adventures will leave my van looking spotless and new. And after that is soccer season and school-what a breeze.

Creativity

2011-06-01T13:00:00.000-04:00

I have never been one to come up with creative things for the kids to do.

When Abby was a baby, I remember visiting a friend who had a daughter that was Abby's age now. I walked into her living room, and there was a string tied across the room, with decorations hanging from it. Her daughter was finding her inner artist and decorating the house. I remember thinking, "Wow, I do not have the energy for that part of parenting."

Thankfully, my children have learned to be creative on their own. My cozy "reading room" loft is now their art area. And, judging from the video here, they find adventure in something as simple as a box.

While Nick and I were hard at work, putting together our new gazebo for the backyard, they decided to make an airplane out of the box.

My hope is that they will continue to work together and get along this well all summer.

I am sure that will happen.

Forgetfulness

2011-05-28T10:31:00.000-04:00

I have mentioned this show before because it is hilarious. The Middle. If you are part of any family and have not watched this show, yet, please do. Season Two just wrapped up, but catch it online somewhere and enjoy.

In the season finale this past week, the mom on the show seems to be forgetting everything. She walks into a room and cannot remember why she went there. She calls someone on the phone and then immediately forgets who she called. My personal favorite was when she was on the phone with her husband, needed to make a call and panicked because she could not find her phone.

Yes, it was in her hand, next to her ear.

Today, I actually looked at the kids, who were playing Angry Birds on my phone, and asked them, "Have you guys seen my phone?"

I am not kidding.

What has happened to my brain? Do brain cells somehow get pushed out with each delivery of a baby? Because I have noticed that with each kid, I have lost more memory and rational thinking skills. One would think that those things would be important when being called to raise children.

Wait, what was I writing about?

Caleb's Logic

2011-05-27T09:13:00.000-04:00

This morning, while eating breakfast, Caleb randomly asked me, "Can God fly?"

Good question.

I told him that I suppose so, but that He does not need to fly because He is already everywhere.

His response to that?

"Well, God is with the birds so He has to fly to be with them."

Guess that answers that.

Ironic

2011-05-25T10:02:00.000-04:00

Noah was laughing at me today (he and others do that often) and I noticed something in his mouth. A tooth!

After months of constantly wearing a bib to collect his never-ending drool, the boy finally has a tiny tooth starting to stick up through his gums.

That would explain the crabby naps the past few days.

The irony in this is in which exact tooth is coming in. It is the same tooth that Abby just lost.

That got me to thinking that by the time Noah looses the tooth that he is just now getting, Abby will be twelve years old.

Loosing teeth and going through puberty in the same house. Terrific.

The Tired Life Of The Tooth Fairy

2011-05-23T13:52:00.000-04:00

Abby officially lost her first tooth yesterday. After it happened, she giggled nonstop for about an hour. Then she fell asleep with a smile on her face, with dreams of the Tooth Fairy coming to give her a reward.

Let me tell you, the Tooth Fairy is tired today.

I usually check on her before I go to sleep, and she is always sound asleep. Last night, however, she decided to open her eyes to see what was going on. I quickly palmed the money and slid my hand back from under her pillow, pretending to be reaching to rub her head.

I am so smooth.

I waited a little while and just as I was about to try again, my sweet little girl came into our room, having bad dreams of bugs in her room.

My thought was, "Great! I can 'check the bed for bugs' and make the transfer." However, Nick reminded me who I was dealing with. She obviously had just checked under her pillow and would do it again before falling asleep. So, we put her back to bed.

We both tried again later, but she still kept waking up. This time, Nick distracted her while I carefully slid the tooth (and picture she made for the Tooth Fairy) out from under her pillow. I was about to deliver the cash when she started paying attention to me.

I managed to slip out of her room, tooth and picture in hand, giving the money to Nick, without her noticing anything was amiss. With all the time he spent in her room, I assumed he was leaving the money as she fell asleep.

Nope. He came back, cash in hand. Apparently, she was wide awake.

Crap. Now if she were to look, there would be nothing under her pillow.

That is exactly what happened. She soon wandered into our room (this is after midnight, by the way) and said with confusion, "There isn't anything under my pillow! My tooth is gone, but there is anything else there!"

We came up with a couple of lame excuses like, "Maybe whatever the Tooth Fairy left fell down under the bed," to which she replied, "I already looked!" And "I bet the Tooth Fairy took the tooth and will be back with your reward once you fall asleep," which seemed to make sense to her tired mind.

I put her to bed, rubbed her hair until she was officially asleep, and made the delivery.

Thank the Lord, I think it actually worked.

When I got her up this morning for school, she looked at me for about a second, then immediately woke up and checked under her pillow. Low and behold, there was her $2.

I really do not mind when my children stop believing in this stuff. It is very exhausting to fool them.

Princess Mommy

2011-05-20T20:00:00.000-04:00

Abby told me that I looked like a princess today. My response? I laughed.

Let me explain.

Her class invited all the moms to school today for a belated Mother's Day tea party. I went to the closet to find something nice to wear. For most people, that would be an easy task. For someone who is still changing shape on a weekly basis after having a baby-a bit difficult.

I finally found a skirt that fit comfortably (I am all about the comfort) and a shirt that somewhat matched.

(The shirt that had actually matched did not conform to my baby gut as well as I had hoped.)

After I got dressed, I still had to feed Noah. Long story short-I am glad my skirt had a pattern that hid the strained sweet potatoes that somehow found their way on there.

By the time I drove to school in the 80 degree heat (not complaining-loving it!), had tea with Abby, drove home (noticing my mascara smear in the rearview mirror), was tackled by Caleb and fed Noah, I was slightly unkempt. I then proceeded to fix Abby's hair for her dance pictures. That required lots and lots of gel.

I had just set down the gel on my lap while slicking her hair back, when Abby decided to sit on my lap. Yep. Hair gel, right next to the sweet potatoes.

It was exactly at that moment that Abby decided to tell me that I looked like a princess.

Hence my laughter.

Thank you, Abigail. I will enjoy your compliments while I can still get them, you sweet, innocent girl.

Farewell Caleb

2011-05-19T08:49:00.000-04:00

Caleb has passed away.

Not my Caleb! But, his beloved pet fish, Caleb.

(Yes, my son is super creative when it comes to naming his fish. The other fish is called Nemo.)

I went to feed them this morning...

(By the way, my agreement to getting fish was that I was not the one to take care of them. Yet, who feeds them? Who cleans up their feces? Yep.)

So, I was feeding them, and like always, I looked to make sure all four were accounted for. After looking in vain for Caleb, with Abby by my side, I suddenly found him. Lying on the bottom of the tank, not moving, eyes wide open.

Abby noticed him, too, and while I was thinking through when I would tell Caleb (definitely not then, as he was about to leave for school), Abby yelled, "Caleb, come see this!"

Thanks Abigail. That was super helpful.

As I hid my tears (for my Caleb, not the fish Caleb), I explained what happened, but ended on the cheerful note of how we will get another one to replace him. Caleb was quiet for a moment, and then started talking about all of the other fish he was going to buy.

Well, the death of our first pet went better than expected.

I continued to get them ready for school. At one point, I looked over and saw one of Abby's fish circling Caleb. She sniffed at him, then nipped at him, causing his stiff body to flip over in the water. Seeing enough, I turned off the tank lamp and walked away. No need for the kids to witness that part of nature.

I am not a huge fish fan, but in this case, I am thankful we are not saying good-bye to a dog or cat. I know that will happen someday, but for now, I am okay with losing a pet we can flush.

Girl's Weekend

2011-05-18T10:26:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, I took Abby with me to see my little brother graduate from college.

In the four hour car ride there, we listenend to music, watched a movie (she did, not me), read books (again, just her) and had fun conversations. There was no fighting over whose turn it was to pick the movie or who got to sit where. No emergency bathroom stops. No crying for a bottle. No changing a diaper on the side of the road.

It was lovely.

My favorite part? When she took a bite of her chicken nugget and said, "My tooth is loose!" I looked in the rearview mirror and saw it wiggling away. Finally. The girl has been burning with envy every time she sees her friends at school losing their teeth.

We spent the night at one of my college roommate's house. Kristan lives a half an hour from my brother's college so it worked out well. Her kids thought Abby was awesome and kept following her around. It was pretty cute. Plus, I got to spend time with Kristan :)

Noah, Leah and Abby

For the first time ever, Abby and I shared a bed all night. That was interesting.

First of all, I am used to a king sized bed, so sharing a smaller bed with a kicky six-year old was fun. After she finally calmed down from playing with the kids until 10 pm, and then had some tylenol to help with the pain of her loose tooth, she fell asleep. Truthfully, I am pretty sure I fell asleep before her.

I thought, "Great! She will finally sleep in!" Nope. 6:50 am she was tapping me on the shoulder. Seriously?

Went to church with Kristan's family, where the sermon was about self-control. Funny. The way our children could not sit still during the service made me think they were not listening to the pastor. Hmm.

Finally got to see the house that my brother has been living in this past year. Typical college house-that should be enough description. Something tells me that the girls' floor was a lot cleaner.

Abby was so proud of her Uncle Billy when he walked across the stage and received his diploma. She kept waving at him and his girlfriend, Brittany, who also graduated that day. I cannot imagine sitting through that ceremony with the boys, but Abby was a trooper. Okay, so the bag of snacks that my mom gave her probably had something to do with her patience.

On the way home, she watched Tangled and promptly fell asleep after that. I enjoyed listening to my music and being alone with my thoughts while she snored away. Considering we got home at 11 pm, I gave her the choice to sleep in and go to school late. She agreed, but come Monday morning, she was awake and ready for school.

I used to have that kind of energy. Where did it go? Oh, that's right-she took it from me six-years ago.

I am so thankful that we had that time together. Too often, my only time with my daughter is helping her do her homework and then asking her to watch Noah while I finish housework. The way that she kept hugging and kissing me the entire weekend, I knew that she missed our time together, too.

I Love My Boys

2011-05-16T20:38:00.000-04:00

Why I love my boys...

-With new sand in the sandbox, Caleb will contently play for hours, running his cars through the roads that he creates. If he is inside, he lines up his cars on the dinning room table and races them around in circles.

-During the past couple of weeks, Noah has accomplished a wonderful thing. He can go from his belly to sitting up. Every mother knows that this is a celebration time! No longer do I have to run for his cries of help because he fell or rolled over and cannot get back up. He simply keeps rolling and sits up.

(Granted, the crib now has to be lowered and he is into everything, but still...)

-Caleb told me on the way home today that he is happy that I am his mom. He also added that he is happy that he has a brother.

Just as I was relishing the words, he added, "Noah will get bigger someday and help me get Abby!"

I think I will just ignore that part.

-Anytime that Noah is upset, the song, "Jesus Loves Me" immediately calms him down. Although, for some reason the other day I started to sing, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly," and he found that inspiring as well. Maybe he is just laughing at my voice.

-Caleb has really been excelling at two things, lately. Baseball and Memory.

He destroys the ball when pitched to. Then he runs the "bases" i.e. patches of grass, toys, or tree trunks with such determination that one would think his life is on the line. His dad loves that he bats left.

We play Toy Story Memory a lot. A lot. Both Nick and myself started off by letting him win. Then we realized that he actually beats us without our assistance. Seriously. I tried my best at the game today and he beat me by five pairs.

I will blame that on the fact that each child has taken away a few brain cells with his or her arrival.

-Finally, Noah has two adorable features that I absolutely love. His hair is straight with one big curl in the front. It just kind of hangs there, looking cute. He also has a huge dimple when he smiles-which is most of the time.

I look forward to when Noah gets old enough to hang out with Caleb. They are going to be a handful, but such fun as well.

Spouse Time

2011-05-13T22:27:00.000-04:00

While I laid passed out on the floor, next to a happily playing Noah, Abby asked me a good question.

"Mommy, if you are so tired all of the time, why do you stay up so late?"

Excellent question.

Our pre-kid days

Actually, I do not stay up that late. If I am crawling into bed after 10:00, I am already dreading the lack of energy that I will feel in the morning. However, coming from my six-year old's perspective, that is late. In her opinion, I should be going to bed at the same time as she does hours earlier.

My answer to her questions was simple...to spend time with my husband.

I explained how it is important for moms and dads to spend time together-alone. Her daddy is at work all day, I'm with the kids all day and as much as we love them, we need to have time to just talk together and catch up on our days.

That seemed to make sense to her and she accepted my response.

It is true. That time alone with your spouse is so important. And it can easily get lost in the shuffle of a busy day. Or busy week. Or busy life.

How easy it is to let our marriage become about our kids. But, what do we do when the kids are gone and it is back to just being "us" again? We better have something to talk about!

One of the best things that my parents did for me was that they were always communicating. About everything. They had their own friends, but their friendship with each other was clearly the most important to them.

Thankfully, I married my best friend. During our friend stage in college, I suddenly had the realization that if Nick dated someone else, I would lose my favorite person to talk with. That is why I had to marry him :)

It is not easy to have the spouse time. After a day of constant chatter from my talkative children and wearing a shirt that is covered in spit-up (Noah's, not mine), I usually just want to stretch out on the couch-alone. I need my space! And that is a good thing, but I do find that when I get into my own little world of facebook and angry birds and ignore Nick, I go to bed feeling restless and discontent.

How good it is that God does not want us to be alone. I love my husband and feel blessed to spend every day with him.

*I am writing this as I sit alone on the couch and he is at the Reds game, tweeting about his excellent seats. I think he has some making up to do :)

One Of Those Days

2011-05-10T19:25:00.000-04:00

Today I dealt with an unusually crabby Noah, who did not take a good morning nap or afternoon nap.

I then dealt with a tired Caleb, who was making his painful face, meaning he needs to go to the bathroom. I mixed some miralax in his juice, hoping that would help him out.

Throughout the afternoon, I dealt with Caleb, who kept having accidents in his underwear. And they were not just pee.

Abby came home and I dealt with homework, dinner, more Caleb accidents, more whining from Noah, and fighting between the older two. And a thunderstorm.

Finally had everyone out of the bath, the older two getting ready for bed, and was relaxing Noah with a bottle when I heard Caleb crying of more accidents. Handed Noah off to Abby, cleaned up Caleb again, took Noah back and he promptly puked all over me.

Everyone is now in bed, I have the washing machine loaded and ready to go, but am waiting on Caleb to officially fall asleep just in case of more accidents.

I am writing this now so that when Nick gets home from coaching his game, he can read this and understand why I am passed out on the couch in a house that smells like lysol.

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T14:43:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a lovely Mother's Day.

I got to sleep in. By sleep in, I mean that I was not up at 6 a.m. in order to get everyone out the door on time. I was in a deep dream when I heard a crash downstairs, followed by tears and Abby yelling, "It's all my fault!"

Unable to ignore it, I went downstairs to find out what happened. Nick was feeding Noah and Abby had accidently knocked over the flowers that were picked out for me. The water was dripping off the dining room table, onto the floor, soaking through all the random papers that were left out. I pretended not to see the breakfast tray that was clearly prepared for me and helped her clean up. Then I went back to bed and tried to fall back asleep.

"Tried" is the key word.

Within moments, everyone brought me breakfast in bed, which was lovely. Even Noah got in on the action, crawling around on the bed with his brother and sister. I was given flowers and a huge balloon, all of which Abby picked out the night before without me knowing.

My gift from Nick was that I could go do whatever I wanted all day while he stayed home with the kids. And, to not feel guilty about it.

Yes, ladies, pretty sweet gift.

We went to church and once we were home, I immediately took off. I really did not know where I was headed to, but quickly decided on Ikea. Why? Because I could.

I walked through the showcases of rooms at a slow pace, taking in every idea for how to decorate a room. Around me, there were couples, with the woman in the lead and the husband looking like he was being tortured. Clearly, the women were getting their Mother's Day gift of shopping. I also saw families shopping together, with small children running around in circles and older teens arguing about what they wanted.

Oh, the pity I felt for them. Too bad those moms did not have the freedom gift that I had received that day.

After taking pictures of numerous table and cabinet sets I liked (our old, but free, dining room set is gradually falling apart), I left Ikea and headed to Panera. Why? Because I could.

I savored my soup and salad in the quiet restaurant. No "Can I have thats?" or rushing through my food to keep a baby happy. I opened up my notebook and wrote a children's story that had been on my mind. Seriously. Had an idea a few weeks back, but never had the quiet time to actually write it down.

I finally gave in and headed home, since we still had to go to Nick's parent's house for dinner. After all, we needed to celebrate the wonderful mom who raised her son to know how to give a good Mother's Day gift to his wife.

Even though all I asked for from the kids was "No fighting, no arguing and clean rooms," but got none of that, I cannot complain. I had such a lovely afternoon just being me and had my amazing children and husband to come home to.

That was yesterday. Today, I have changed diapers, fed children, cleaned the fish tank, baby-sat my neighbor's kids (and changed more diapers), went for a walk with three children (only one was mine), did laundry, and cleaned up the messes that were left from yesterday. And that was all this morning.

Back to reality.

Yep, Caleb Again

2011-05-04T20:20:00.000-04:00

The boy is never boring.

-We had the following conversation the other day...

Caleb: "I just had a baby."
Me: "But, boys can't have babies."
Caleb: "Oh! I mean my husband."
Me: "You mean your wife?"
Caleb (looking embarrassed): "Oh! Yep."
Me: "What is your wife's name?"
Caleb, "Um, I forget."
Me: "Is it Isabella?" (His carpool friend)
Caleb: "Yes!"
Me: "And what is your baby's name?"
Caleb: "Isabella!"

Isabella should be flattered.

-While praying tonight, Caleb went through his usual lines and then suddenly said, "Please be with our enemies and let us love our enemies so that they can know God."

What?

Somehow, in the midst of a week of our world celebrating death (which I found myself doing, in memory of the horrible events of September 11th), Caleb decided to pray this way. He never ceases to amaze me.

The Dancing Conspiracy

2011-05-02T20:22:00.000-04:00

I miss soccer.

Okay, so maybe I do not miss it during this ridiculously rainy spring, but I miss the simplicity of the sport. As I parent, I know that I will pay for a uniform and shoes, pay for the season, and eventually throw some money in for a gift for the volunteer coach.

Dance, on the other hand, is a whole other story.

We paid for the dance class in December, when Nick bought Abby the package for Christmas. He also bought an outfit, tights, and shoes. Great. Not too bad.

Then I realized how short of a time that money got us. Before I knew it, it was payment time again. I could not believe the amount they expected for five hours. And of course my energetic daughter went through two pairs of tights at that point.

I love that Target sells them a lot cheaper than the dance studio.

Once Abby was officially hooked and looking forward to her recital in the summer, I found out that we had to buy her costume. And it was not cheap.

We were finally in the home stretch, knowing one more big payment was coming up, when I began to hear rumors of ticket sales for the recital (or, as they call it, The Showcase).

Seriously? I have to buy tickets to watch my daughter dance for three minutes? I never had to pay extra to watch a soccer game.

Oh, and this is my favorite part. In order to purchase the tickets, the balance for the rest of the year had to be paid in full. So, I had to pay money so that I would be allowed to pay more money. Sure.

There cannot be more, right? Wrong.

Every girl has to have her hair done the same way and have on the same make-up. They have little bags of supplies at the front desk-for a price. Thankfully, the make-up they are using is Mary Kay, which I sell. Ha-ha! Got you dance studio! You will not receive my $3 for the sample make-up kit!

My favorite sentence to come out of Abby's mouth this past week? "I like dance, but I am ready for a break and want to play soccer in the fall."

Bless you child.

Noah Update

2011-04-28T08:37:00.000-04:00

I have no idea what is going on with this kid, but Noah is taking off like crazy.

It all started when he began sitting up before he was six months old. Like, barely falling over, just sitting there, happily playing.

Okay, that is super nice for me so I accepted this change.

However, now this guy thinks he can go anywhere he wants to. My computer cord is way across the room? No problem. He just rolls over and over again until he gets it. His favorite toy behind him? He just crawls backwards.

Okay, so the crawling backwards thing is rather amusing. He gets up on all fours, rocks back and forth, desperately trying to go forward, then eventually pushes himself backwards across the room. Hilarious.

If this child sees something he wants, he will find a way to get there. Suddenly, his little area of safe play is not good enough. The rest of my non-child-proof home is calling out to him.

Oh, and for an added bonus, he started pulling himself up on things. Yep. That would be him getting up on his knees, trying to reach for more toys. I love the look he gives me-"Who, me?"

Noah also finds absolutely everything hysterical. I do not remember my first two babies smiling this much. I am super grateful he is so happy and hope it lasts forever.

All I am waiting for now is the rain to stop so we can get out and take adventures together while the other two are at school. Come on, sun, I know you exist. Please bring some warm weather our way so that Noah can meet the bike trail that we will take lovely walks on.

Other People's Children

2011-04-27T14:38:00.000-04:00

This is for you, Kacie. My sweet, camp friend who reads my blog to procrastinate on studying for her college finals.

I usually write about the witty things that my children say or do, but this time, I have two fun things from other families. Yes, other families are funny, too.

-One of the doctors that I used to work for had this amusing story to share. His son, who was recently potty trained, was missing some underwear. Not from his drawer, but from his body. When his dad asked him where his underwear was, he suddenly remembered that he had an accident at the neighbor's house and that he had left his wet underwear there.

Embarrassing enough, yet? Oh, it gets better.

When his dad asked him where in the house the underwear was, he replied, "Don't worry, Dad, I hid them real good!"

The neighbors have yet to find the underwear.

-While at Caleb's preschool Easter party, one of the girls in his class was hovering over Noah. She is African American and her parents had a baby boy shortly after Noah was born. While she was cooing over Noah, I said, "You have a baby brother just like this, don't you?"

She looked at me and said, "Yeah, but he's not white!"

Whoops. My bad, Kamari.

Kids are fun.