Vacation is here!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

We made it to vacation time. I am relearning how to relax, and the kids are enjoying the dry weather by playing outside. Paul gets to work until midday on Christmas Eve. We have had little time for making goodies, but we did manage to make some chocolate covered pretzels. Yum! Yes that is chocolate on their faces.

Here what our tree used to look like. It is has been thoroughly attacked by Ella the cat now. All the decorations have been knocked off. The lights are still on, but that is only because they are wrapped around the tree.

Eliza went wild decorating. She did the front and back side of her bedroom door, cut a piece of hedge from our neighbor's yard, placed it in her room for a Christmas tree and decorated it, and created a faux fireplace with several stockings.

How a field trip saved my education

Two hours ago I turned in my last assignment for my child and adolescent development class. I have to say I truly didn't think I was going to make it through that class. I wanted to quit school at least once a week throughout it, and one night I nearly did. Luckily for me, Luke had a field trip the next day. I decided to blow off my paper due that day and enjoy the day with my son instead. I even went to the Trunk or Treat at church that night. Although my stress was not gone, I felt much better after that and managed to get my paper written the next day.

Feeling stressed? Go on a field trip and discover the world again through the eyes of a four-year-old.

Grateful

I am grateful for many things, but tonight I am especially grateful for dollar movies, popcorn, bite size candy bars and chocolate chip cookies.

Paul is off playing guitar with friends, and Eliza and Sarah are spending the night with their cousins. Sleepovers are a very rare thing around here, so this is especially exciting for my girls. It also means that it is especially difficult for the younger siblings. So to appease Luke and Leah I resorted to the above mentioned goodies. I even let them pick out their own movie. That is also a very rare thing around here. After renting the movies we came home, made the popcorn, turned off all the lights and watched Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit until way passed their bedtime.

We (mostly I) decided one movie was enough for tonight, so we are going to watch Bee Movie as soon as we wake up in the morning. We will have to make some special letter B and actual bee shaped pancakes to celebrate our morning movie madness.

Vocabulary

Luke has been catching us off guard lately. As most of you well know, he took his sweet time before speaking. At two and a half he was still grunting and pointing for what he wanted. His only word was "Mam." We were told by the speech therapist that with children's growth around age three, their brains grow rapidly and generally their speech improves as a result. This held true for Luke. This is what he surprised us with lately.

Upon entering his grandmother's home where a room had been painted that day he said, "Mom, it smells interesting in here."

After clearing his throat he pointed to it and said, "Mom, I have an injury."

"You have an injury?" I replied.

"Ya, an injury. Here," he said pointing again to his throat.

At school, Miss Nicole called on him to go to the letter wall to find the first letter of his name. 

He pointed to it and said, "L." 

"L is for what?" Miss Nicole asked.

Luke just looked at her pondering his reply.

"L is for Luke," she said. 

Then Luke finally responded. 

"L is for Luke Benjamin actually."

What a boy! What a mother!

We did well tonight and had all the kids in bed by 8:15. A few moments ago, about 9:25, as I was finishing up my computer related activities, Sarah came into my office.

Sarah: Mom, Luke just sprayed me in the ear with a water bottle.

Me: He sprayed you in the ear? Weren't you sleeping?

Sarah: Yes.

Me: (Giggle. Smile.) Okay, come on, but try not to smile.

Sarah and I then hunted Luke down only to find him with the water bottle still in hand. I thought to myself, "I'll teach him a lesson." I grabbed the water bottle and sprayed him in the ear. Unfortunately I didn't consider that my aim is a bit better than his and my grip is stronger too. I also didn't notice that he had filled the bottle with hand soap as well. Wow, I'm a good mom! 

The poor boy started crying of course, and we went to the bathroom to rinse his ear out. It didn't occur to me that the faucet water might also be a little cool to put in his ear, so he cried more. After we dried him off, I reviewed the happenings with him.

Me: Luke, was it nice for mommy to spray your ear?

Luke: (still crying) Nooooo.

Me: Was it nice for you to spray sister in the ear when she was sleeping?

Luke: Nooooo.

Me: I'm sorry I sprayed you. Are you sorry for spraying sister in the ear?

Luke: Yes.

Me: I love you. Do you still love me? 

Luke: (still crying) Yes.

Catching up again

What have I been up to lately? 

Here is a photo diary of the last month and a half. 

We took the kids to the Birmingham Temple. They stayed in the waiting area with my friend while we went through a session. Later we went out to eat at a real restaurant. We don't do this often as evidenced by Leah's comment after the waiter took our order. She asked, "Mom aren't we going to pay for the food?"

Luke's first week of preschool.

I found this in Grandma Hazel's linen closet. If you recognize it, you have to comment about a memory it evokes!

I took this photo in the hope that I could show it to Grandma later as proof that her parents have been dead for a long time. The poor woman relives her parent's death almost daily. This day she had me drive around the cemetery twice looking for fresh graves because she was convinced that they were just buried.  

The last weekend in January I went with the young women and young men on a "Return to Virtue" hike. They also repelled about 100 ft down between this rock bridge and the cliff. I did not repel.

The next two weeks I spent baking 51 dozen treats for our Valentine's Day fundraiser. I am so glad that is over!

 This is our silly cat who wants to drink out of all of our faucets instead of her bowl. If you look closely you can see the water on its way into her mouth. Is that a cool action shot or what? By the way, you can tell by the sink that I have not been spending my time clean the bathroom. Gross!

The following are pictures from last Sunday. We awoke to snow and church cancellation. It was a very peaceful, slow paced day. I usually don't have time for fun pancakes. The kids really enjoyed these.

The next two pictures are four days after the snow fall. It was 73 degrees today.

Yes, there are ten children in my backyard. Yes, this is pretty normal. The strange thing is that only my four children live on our street. The others just sort of show up. 

Luke getting a breathing treatment at the doctors office yesterday. Should I be concerned that the nurse practitioner said "I wouldn't go and buy a nebulizer yet. Just rent or borrow one for now." 

Luke's 4th Birthday

This year we celebrated Luke's birthday with my family in North Carolina. It was a Thomas the Tank Engine/Bob the Builder/whatever party. 

Yes, that's me. I'm usually taking the pictures, so this is a rarity. I thought I'd post it for posterity's sake.

Sarah, Evan, Elijah & Luke

My Mom

Thank you Mom for making the cake. It was cute and yummy!

Night time prayers

As most well know, Luke LOVES trains. He loves Thomas the Tank Engine and his favorite story is Tootle. Tonight his prayer went like this:

"Heavenly Father. Thank Thee for my family. Thank Thee for the people in the hospital. (His way of asking for Heavenly Father to bless the sick.) Please bless Thomas. Please help him be safe. Please help him 'stay on the rails no matter what.' In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." 

If you have read Tootle before, you will have recognized the phrase. If not, you should definitely find the book so you can appreciate how much my son loves trains. This is a very long book for a little kid to sit through, but Luke loves every line of it. 

Not so normal visitor

I am suffering with a head cold, and all day I have sort of looked and sounded like I'm stoned. Normally, I wouldn't consider this blog worthy, but . . . today I didn't have our normal visitors. 

This afternoon I was resting in our "big room" in front of the television with the computer on my lap, a box of tissues at my left, and a cup of water (my fluids) on my right. Luke was watching the end of a movie in our front room when I heard the front door open and close. This is happens several times a day. Luke is convinced that the mail carrier delivers the mail 3-4 times a day, so he is constantly running to the mailbox. We live on a quiet street in a quiet town, so I have no concerns about this. I kept emailing for a few minutes and then realized Luke hadn't returned yet. I set the computer aside and went to our side door. As I walked out onto our carport I looked up to see one of our local police officers walking toward me. I don't know the officers name, but I have waved to him thousands of times (it is drivers etiquette in small southern towns to wave to everyone you pass.) I was shocked to see him, and it was apparent in my stoney glazed face. After my initial "deer in the headlights" look, I realized Luke was following him. A degree of relief followed, but I immediately realized that the officer was evaluating the situation, particularly ME. He explained that he found my son walking in the road, and he wanted to make sure everything was all right. I tried to assure him that everything was fine, and I told him about Luke's habit of checking the mail. He stared at me as I spoke evaluating my speech and body language. As he drove away, I couldn't help but notice he was radioing in about what he observed. I can only imagine what he said. Do you have any guesses?

New leather sofa

Well, new to us. 

After the whole episode with the bugs, I was very eager to get rid of anything I could . . . especially our ugly, old sofa. We put it out at the edge of our drive upside down before a good rain fell. I hoped that would deter any desperate individuals from taking it home. I hadn't considered my neighbor however. He has always been a little crazy by our standards, but now he has advanced Alzheimer's as well. After several days of rain, he placed it in his front yard to keep. Fortunately, his wife caught him as the city truck was coming to get it. 

Our new sofa is another hand-me-down from my in-laws. It features recliners on each end, and yes, it is leather. I have wanted a leather sofa for a while. Although it wouldn't be my pick off the floor at the furniture store, it is very comfortable,  and I am very grateful to have it. Thank you Jane and John! 

Its destruction has already begun. Luke stabbed it with a pencil yesterday (pop!), and our sweet kitten has placed a few scratch marks on it as well.  

Backyard picnic

At times we find it necessary yet difficult to escape the daily grind of work and church. We also find that the very walls of our home feel as though they are crushing the very life out of us. I realize that sounds pretty bad, but I am trying to help you understand why I cooked sauerkraut and hotdogs in a skillet on charcoal briquettes in Alabama heat in my backyard when I had a functioning kitchen. Why I chose to carry a dining table and 6 chairs outside to my backyard to eat with bugs. Why I snuck around my home whispering orders to the children about all the condiments and such that they had to carry to the table in our backyard. As pathetic as it seems, it worked. We surprised Paul with a "BBQ?" or "Picnic?" We ate our dinner with the bugs, and Dad breathed a sigh of relief while he ate staring at the blue sky. I am sure our neighbors wondered, but we enjoyed it.

I forgot to get the camera out until after dinner, but here we are, Sorry!

My sweetheart turning the very large compost pile after dinner. We have had 3 volunteer tomato plants from it this summer. Note the "garden" in the background. Every year I honestly think I will be a better gardener. This year I have grown very healthy grass and 3 cucumbers. The tomatoes are growing but haven't ripened yet. My fertilizing in May only killed 4 or 5 tomato plants. I am so proud! I am amazed that I still have 4 children. I guess it's because they have learned to feed themselves to some extent, and they don't require weeding.

He was happy eating outside with the flies. Honest!

Yes, we did smores too. I hope the video below works. If so, check it out.

We weighed Luke last night, and he is officially 45 lbs. now. Leah is 50. Sarah is 56. Eliza might be mad if I told her weight. Let me just say that she is very tall, and her weight reflects that fact.

 

Lovely spring day

Leah and Luke were sick of mommy playing on the computer, so I gave them the chance to get involved a little. We took pictures with the computer (You've got to love photo booth). This was the one we liked the best.