Take it Outside!

Our days usually all start off the same way...coffee, breakfast, chores, school, lunch then freetime. Lately in between these times seems to be "argue with the closest sibling" time. Yesterday, however, I decided to cut into their argue time and make them all go outside. Your thinking that this isn't odd, but trust me, it is! We homeschool remember?? We don't go outside until around 2:30 to not give the neighbors anything to wag their tongues about. Well, it was 12:11 and they were out!

It started out kinda rocky, they still wanted their argue/fight time. So now I have to go out. Put the dishes down and go out. Close the laundry room door and go out. In other words, my "chore" time had to have a time out. So, I decide to build a fire in our fire pit. This of coarse encourages my boys to help me find sticks to burn. All three very happily help me collect dried leaves and small twigs to get things started. I'm very proud to say that I started a very nice fire without the help of gasoline! Not to say that anyone in our house does that! {clears throat and does NOT look towards her husband} Yet one of our lovely boys still wants some fight time. So now he has to go sit in the kitchen and watch us from there, being sure to let me know which sticks are really his carved weapons that he's made and that, "please mom don't burn those". He makes sure over and over that I don't touch "his" sticks. Eventually he calms down and can join us in our stick hunt to keep the fire going.

At this point, I'm not even sure why I built a fire. But now they are all distracted and swinging and laughing and getting along! Amazing. So, I text (I'm quite savvy!) my dear hubby to pick up buns from the store and I get a plan together. He shows up at 2 and our fire is roaring. We decide to grill burgers and hot dogs right there over the open flame. We even throw a couple of peaches on. The kids absolutely love doing this. They were so yummy! So there we were, eating our burgers, peaches, grapes and cucumbers. Getting along.

The afternoon continued quite nicely. I even got a hot bath! Weird! Kids were all out the door with dad at 5 for football with just Bells and I left home in a very quiet house. She played, I read. Oh what an afternoon of fresh air can do!

A day at the Salon

I thus far have not met a 4 year old that doesn't love to cut and paste. My Taters is no different. Give him construction paper, scissors and glue and he'll make a "masterpiece"!

This Sunday the children and I stayed home from evening service because of recovering colds. My eldest spent her evening drawing in her sketch pad, my youngest bothering my eldest and my other two boys creating with construction paper and glue. My eldest son made a very remarkable moose, it actually looked like a moose. Taters on the other hand was more abstract to say the least. I choose after about 1/2 hour into this to bring laundry upstairs...(me upstairs...is this a running theme?) Not even 4 min later I hear a "AHHHH PIE!" Once again I find myself running down the stairs to the kitchen. Oh boy. There is his creation on the table...with a pile of hair on top of it. He no longer has bangs. This was my child with wavy, thick, every girl would want...hair. Now standing before me looking absolutely ridiculous. He appears as though he is wearing a really bad tupea. His forehead still red from his scissors rubbing against it, I bring myself down to his lvl. After explaining why we don't do this I send him to bed. Text his father. Start cleaning the hair off the floor, table...umm everywhere.

In my pre-Tater haircut mind I had been in denial. I assumed boys didn't do this, only girls. My eldest daughter had done it, my eldest son had not. Boy was I wrong, entering stage right Sweet Tater Pie. I do believe we're in for a world of adventure. You see, when my Pie is told something will happen...he wishes for it immediately. The day prior my dear husband told him that on Monday he'd bring him to have his haircut. It is one of Taters most favorite things to do. He adores her. Calls her Aunt Nikki. Not excusing what he did, but I believe this was his motivation...he had to have a haircut immediately.

And yes, early Monday he did get his haircut. Thankfully she was able to somewhat rescue it without him having to be shaved. Trust me, my son has a huge melon that he is still growing into and we agreed that it wouldn't look very nice. So, every two weeks he will get a tweeking. I've so kindly posted before and after pics of my dear child.

I'm beginning to think that I could dedicate a whole blog to Sweet Tater Pie antics. At least this time, however, I didn't need a fire extinguisher.

Afterthoughts of Marley and Me

I'm no film critic and this is not going to be one of those types of posts. While doing mundane chores after watching the film (after dinner), my brain decided to do some movie break downs. If you have not seen the movie and wish to...stop reading.

I was hesitant to rent this movie because we do not own a dog, do not wish to own a dog atm, and I unfortunately have no patience for dogs at this stage of my motherhood. All I had heard about it was that it was a sad dog movie. Well, I got suckered in... my older kids love dogs, want dogs and play with my friends dog. So last night we watched Marley and Me. I felt myself drawn more to the main female character. I will admit that when she suffered the miscarriage I had to leave the room disguising my leaving as getting watermelon while I hastily dried my eyes. My first pregnancy ended in miscarriage, it left me grieved, angry at my love for not being there (he was doing field med training with the Marines at the time for the Navy Corpsman) and very sad. I was about 10 weeks, just getting used to the idea...had a name picked out and boom..US showed no baby. This part of the movie was like a glimpse of my past. It was heartbreaking. But now looking back...I would not have my dear daughter had the first baby survived. She has been one of the biggest blessings of my life and I can't imagine it without her. Ever.

My kids during all those parts of coarse were focusing on the dog. He was crazy misbehaving and all it did was kind of make me glad I didn't have to deal with that right now lol. (sorry to any dog lovers that read this, I still have a 2 year old to potty train)

Then we move on, they have two babies now and the second one has colic and tends to scream alot. Alot alot. The mother is exhausted of coarse and the dad walks in. Oh boy. I don't know about any of you...but her tantrums...I've been there. The build up of a stressful, exhausting day spewing out all over your husband. All of a sudden everything is there fault. Everything down to your lack of sleep. Its overwhelming, these moments where you feel your the backseat driver in your life and someone is pushing the pedal faster and faster. You start belching out every thought you can think of why its their fault that you feel the way you do. And while they are standing there starring at you trying to figure out whats going on you gather momentum and fuel your own fire. Its at these moments that I (like the female character) forget that I chose this. That I chose to be a stay at home mom and he work. Going into it I knew that more often his sleep would trump mine. That he would have long days and need that wind down at the end to gather himself. That I would be the 24/7 "super" mom. (cough) Then of coarse I tend to start cleaning something, its what I do when I'm frustrated, mad, sad..you name it. And thats when it all hits me...what I've said. How there was truth mixed in with insanity of me being overwhelmed. And I have to face the music. I apologize, and my husband being who is he accepts it. And then even better, he wants to talk. He wants to try to figure out ways to make it easier on me. This coming from my super man that has his job and so many responsibilities that thinking of them makes even my head swirl. Superman indeed.

Then a baby girl. Dog is older, still acts like a puppy...which I guess is good and bad. And the dad runs into the old friend (the one that goes through girlfriends like underwear). He's complimented on his life, his family...that he did good. Then the friend goes his way picking up girls as he leaves. Who would most men envy? The guy with the responsibilities of four worlds on his shoulders or the one walking away single? To me, as a woman, I felt sorry for the single guy...our adventure as a married couple has been so far the best trip of my life. As my kids grow and develop into who their gonna be, its exciting! I feel like I'm in on one of the worlds best kept secrets that I get to watch unfold before my very eyes! My family amazes me daily, nothing seems better.

Then the end. We all know the dog is sick. We all know the dog is gonna die. And he does. You get to witness how much he was loved and the impact he had on his family. The one that touched me the most was the eldest boy. Total love of a boy and his dog. My dear husband takes this moment to do a "cry check". I'm dry, my sons are dry...though Pie is very sad. My dear dear daughter is caught. Crying profusely into her pillow. She of coarse wishes for a dog of her own. My dear allergic daughter. Though I must admit that her allergies seem to be getting better around dogs. Will there be a pup in her future? When all our potty training days are over and mom has more patience with living things other than children...maybe. For her and her brothers, I hope so.

Sweet Tater Pie

Oh the joys of motherhood, they are countless. Yesterday I was blessed to add one more to my list of moments of my life. Our third child, Sweet Taters (nick name that so fits) is one of those children that live out loud. And yes, he is loud. His personality is barely contained between these walls. He's a cowboy, a superhero, a snuggler, a race car driver and recently added...a budding chef.

Late yesterday when dinner was a memory and bedtime looming, our dear Sweet Taters decided that it was the perfect time for popcorn. Other members of the household were upstairs crocheting, reading and getting ready for bed. The only one downstairs with him was his younger brother that is ok with whatever "Pie" wants to do. Very quietly (I'm not sure how, he is loud remember) they use the step stool to pilfer a pack of microwave popcorn from the cupboard. Then just as quietly they place said popcorn into the microwave on top of the spatter shield and power it up. Back to the folk upstairs..."What's that smell?". Hurrying down the stairs we find Pie and his accomplice looking quite pleased with themselves because, "My popcorn is cooking and I did it all by myself". Smoke is rolling out of the microwave as I hit the cancel button and hurriedly get the popcorn that no longer resembles popcorn and my now melted splatter shield outside. My eldest daughter and son help open windows to get the smoke out of the house, not to mention the smell. In all the chaos Pie realizes that somehow he made a wrong choice and is apologizing repeatedly, "I'm so sorry, I cooked the popcorn too long". Showing me his buttons, his timer had been set for 10 min, leaving a dark stain on the back of the microwave.

Later after so many sweet hugs, Sweet Taters promises that he won't use the microwave anymore and will ask for help when he wants popcorn. However, I know my Pie and his curiosity is endless as well as his need to perform tasks with no help. Fire extinguisher in hand we will greet tomorrow with a smile and a prayer and "Pie"'s personality busting at the seems.