An Afterthought

A few more pictures.

Rob's Tan Line

Rob went on an all-day campout last weekend. It was hot and sunny--85 degrees or so. Rob came home with this watch line:

That's from ONE DAY in the sun.

Elijah's Hair Cut

And we finally cut Elijah's hair (Rob's choice, not mine). It really changes the way he looks. He looks like my handsome (and goobery) little man!

Pictures to Post

Random pictures follow.

Boys in the Front Yard

The boys were playing in the front yard with me. I was trying to get them to pose beside the red tulips that line our walkway, but the sun was too shiny.
So they just got up and played while I took some pictures.

Not sure why Elijah looks so grumpy in that picture. ... They were pulling pine-like needles off the neighbor's bush and bringing them to me as "flowers" for most of the day. The neighbors don't really mind, and they're super nice about it. Later in the day the neighbor informed us that the bushes were there when they bought the home 44 years ago. Pretty cool.

Then I was trying to take pictures of Teancom and he was insistent that I take a picture of the plane that he could hear in the sky. Hence him pointing to the sky and shouting at me, "In the SKY!"

Garden

Continuing my obsession with all growing things: this was my favorite tulip of the year.

Lunch Break with Dad

One morning last week Teancom started crying when Rob said he had to go to work. For some reason, Teancom has been antsy to "go with Daddy" for a while. So finally I figured, "Why not?" I told Teancom that we would go see Daddy for lunch. These are the pictures from a very pleasant lunch break with Daddy.

Check out these fun stairs:

The building where Rob works is all new and it's gorgeous. We sat eating lunch in a small lobby area, looking outside through a 2-story window. Elijah wanted to go up the stairs to see what was up there. Rob gave the boring parent answer: "The same thing that's down here, bud." I told Elijah that he could go up with Daddy (looking at Rob as if to say, "What, will it kill you to take him up there?") and that I'd take their picture while they were up there. Elijah was thrilled.Thought it would make a better photo op, but it didn't. Anyways, then we put the boys in Daddy's lab coat, just for a cute picture. Rob was a little hesitant, though, saying, "What if there's virus on it?" I thought, "You wonder this and yet YOU wear the lab coat." So I chose to possibly endanger my sons to take pictures of them in Daddy's lab coat.

Elijah was thrilled about it.

Teancom was not.

(And, yes, Elijah was in pajamas. It's what he picked out for the day. I let Elijah choose what he wants to wear, which means it's often pajamas. Pajamas have cool characters on them!)

Here's April for you. While we were at lunch with Rob, we were lazily gazing out the window at the meticulously landscaped grounds below and across the street (UC grounds). Suddenly it started hailing and raining at the same time (a "wintery mix", I guess), and I watched the hail dance across the cobblestoned drive while thinking about how I left my heavy coat in the van since I was pretty sure I wouldn't really need it.

After Rain Colors

An April late afternoon, just after the rain:

It's not a good picture, but check out the detail in the trees, the popping of the colors, and the nautical color of that sky!

Teancom Takes a Nap

After a rough hour or two, Teancom figured out what the real trouble was and fell fast asleep on the living room floor:

Outdoor Bliss

Teancom LOVES it outside. I know I've reported this fact before, but it strikes me over and over. Teancom will be outside when the weather is just questionable. He'll eat outside at every opportunity. He'll sit outside for HOURS. Just enjoying being outside. Just enjoying BEING probably. Teancom enjoys life. Anyways, I sent Rob to take a picture of Teancom sitting on the top step of the deck, one of his usual spots.

As Rob was trying to take the picture, though, Teancom got up and settled in the middle of the backyard, eating his cheese crackers.

Part 2 of the Update

Easter

We did nothing for Easter this year, owing to the crazy home project, and it was fantastic! We didn't feel like we missed out on anything, and it helped us be calmer and more focused on the real reason for the holiday (sorry, guys, it's not all about the candy and colored eggs). We got Elijah candy for his birthday party, just a few weeks before. My mom sent the kids all an Easter gift. And we had an Easter feast with R&C, which was lovely. What's not fantastic about that?

I did promise Miciah that we could dye eggs another time: Mother's Day. I think that's a good idea, and we might just have to continue that tradition in coming years.

One thing we DID get to do for Easter is sing a duet in church. Rob and I sang "Did You See Him in the Garden?", which is one of the most powerfully moving Easter songs I've ever heard. I really connect with it, and we performed pretty well, I guess. Everyone liked it, anyway, and I LOVE sharing that song with people.

ty.com
My Mom got Miciah a beanie baby duck named Quackly (Miciah is obsessed with stuffed animal ducks, for some reason. She already has 5 or 6 and wants more and more and more) for Easter and it came with an online play. Like webkins, I imagine. She has already spent a lot of time playing on the site and she thinks it's the best thing ever. She has been able to earn enough "beans" to purchase her duck a bed and toys and all that. Weird.

The kids playing on ty.com:More Book Fun

Miciah continues to write us stories and books and such. What a fun stage! Here's the text for her latest book: The Happy Easter Book. (The book was fully illustrated with stickers and everything, but I'm only including the text.)

By: Miciah Thacker
The Happy Easter Book

One day a hen was sitting on her eggs when c....r....a....k! crakaly crak! c..r..a..k!

An egg craked open! The hen flew out of her nest! When the chick was four years old, the chick couldn't wait for Easter! I can't wait!

She couldn't wait for the Easter Bunny to bring her eggs!

Then mother hen called her. It's time to go! Go where? she asked.

Suddenly, mother hen led her chick out of the barn for a Easter egg hant! Is it Easter? she asked. Mother hen said yes!

This is the best Easter egg hant ever! she said as she picked up eggs. Relly!

Thee End

(the back cover says:
Becuause she is vary sweet and kind!
for M$. Lyon$
for M$. Lyon$
from: Miciah
(Ms. Lyons is her school teacher.))

Rob was reading the book with her and he said, "Miciah, if the chick was 4 years old, she would be a full-grown chicken." Miciah, with perfect logic, said, "Elijah is 4, and he's not a man." At this point in Rob telling me the story, I started laughing. What a good point! Rob went on to tell Miciah that it's not the same with chickens. But still, I think that's a tally mark for Miciah.

Miciah also wrote us this riveting book: Not Ugen! (This book was illustrated, too, of course, and I'm including the 2 that cracked me up.)

To: Mom and Dad
Not Ugen!
By: Miciah Lynn Thacker

Hi! I am painting a picher! Do you like it? Oh, No! Not ugen!

I Have't to take a bath when that hapens. But I don't know why.

My Mom says that It is Because I got drty ugen! How? I ased. You wer painting! And wut? I asced.

The paint splaterd you! Oh. I said. Just take A Bath! said Mom.
The End

Elijah

Elijah is still a sweet, sweet boy. Spastic as all get out, now that it's warmer outside. Which has made me think a lot about March and April weather. We despise April because it's not warm enough, but April is warmer than March, and we have nothing against March. I have decided why that is. March is our savior from winter. March is when we get to say things like, "It's finally warming up!" And April gets a bad rap because we want it to be warm like RIGHT NOW. For April we think things like, "Aren't you May already?" Poor April.

Anyways, fact remains that Elijah is a spaz. It'll be warm for a few days and then it's rainy and cold-ish for a week. And all of the kids are being almost intolerable.

But Elijah still melts my heart by saying things like, "Mom, I love you, and I like your eyes." Aw. Who can't love a boy like that?

He also is widely recognized as being the boy with a ton of expressions. In fact, a couple at our church, whom we hardly ever talk to really, just recently said to us that they refer to him as The Boy With a Thousand Faces. Elijah is always winking and smiling this cute little shy smile and nodding and raising his eyebrows. He's very expressive.

He's also very good at compliments. We had a friend come over and he said, as she was leaving, "I like your slippers." She said thank you, but they were sandals, not slippers. He thought about that for a minute and then repeated, "I like your slippers." Elijah is one of the best geniune complimenters that I know. It's adorable.

Other things that he's complimented of mine: my shirt (he's actually wearing it right now--the Mighty Mouse one), my dresses for church, and my hair. "Mom, do you know why I like your hair?" Why, Elijah? "Cause it's getting big." Elijah is excited that I've decided not to cut my hair for the rest of the year (Not growing it out, mind you. Running a social experiment and taking journalistic notes along the way). Elijah has decided that he wants his hair long, too. "Like yours," he says. I haven't talked to him about growing mine out, he just wants his long. I just shrug my shoulders. Who really cares, right? But his hair is getting really shaggy, as you can see in this picture:
I just can't see why I should turn down his request to grow his hair out a little.

Teancom

Still the most addicting child on the planet.

The other day I was lounging about the house, reading a book (this is mainly what I do these days. Lounge and read. Read and lounge. It's great.), when it dawned on me why I've been enjoying this so much. 1 - I have the time to read. My boys let me have some "me" time. Miciah NEVER let me do that. And 2 - Teancom will just come, curl up beside me, and sit with me. For hours. Literally, hours. What's not warm and cozy about that? Get yourself a cup of hot chocolate, enjoy a good book, and cuddle with your calm 2-year-old.

I have decided, though, that the drawback to Teancom and his addictive cuddling, is that he's an obsessive cuddler. He HAS to cuddle A LOT. If he wants to be held, you have to hold him or he freaks out. And he'd prefer you held him most of the time. I still carry him a lot, even though he's old enough that he should be walking everywhere. ... About this time in his life is when I should be popping out baby #4, right?, so then he would HAVE to stop being held cause I'd have a new one to hold. But as there isn't a baby #4 in the near future, we'll deal with a clingy, cuddly Teancom.

Rob and Work

I haven't written about Rob and work for a while because his work has ceased being a stressful thing. It was all Rob would talk about for months, and now it's not really a stressor for him. It's WONDERFUL.

We have realized, as Rob returns to his normal self, that he hasn't been his normal self for YEARS. We're talking years upon years. Really, almost since we got married. While he was in school and so stressed and busy that he could hardly see straight. Having Rob back is fantastic. I told him he is never allowed to go away again. I feel like he's been re-born this year. His joking around and easy smile are commonplace again.

I also told Rob that if one of our kids has his disposition, and they're thinking about higher education like a PhD, I will tell them it's not worth it. I'm not sure Rob being Dr. Thacker was worth losing Rob for 7 years. Perhaps time will change my mind on that, though, since time does things like that.

Rob and Church

Rob's calling is also no longer very stressful. Actually, a few weeks ago we had a stressful day that revolved around his calling, and it was weird, cause we haven't done that for a long time. It was a reminder to us that we need to still be diligent about our committments to each other and that if we're not mindful about balance, things won't STAY balanced.

The Temple

We went to the temple last Friday, and it was a stressful day because things didn't go down as they were "supposed to" in my planning brain. I realized, later, after I was so stressed about this that I almost cried, that this is why I rarely plan anything more involved than dinner. Cause I have a hard time adjusting to things if they don't go how they're supposed to.

Anyways, it was great to go to the temple with Rob and the kids. Rob went through a session with his parents (to correlate with Mandy going through the temple for the first time. She was in UT, we were in OH), and I took care of the kids on the temple grounds. Elijah has been BEGGING to go to the temple, and how do you tell a 5-year-old no? You don't. You take them to the temple!

Funny enough, for all his wanting to go (and he really wanted to go, cause a friend offered to watch the kids for us so we could go through together, and I mentioned this to Elijah and he said NO! He wanted to go to the temple), he had a really short attention span while we were there. He liked sitting inside and being in the garden area, but he was just your typical spazzy 5-year-old most of the time, too.

While we were there, we had some adventures like Teancom falling in the stream (he was far enough away that by the time I could have reached him, he could have been in big trouble if he hadn't gotten himself out) and saying, "I choked." Great. And Elijah saying he had to go potty and then running off in an odd direction and out of sight. I found him inside the temple waiting room (which was the OPPOSITE direction of the way he started running, of course), with a temple worker helping him go potty.

It was a wonderful night, but when Rob got out of the temple, I said, "Rob, you just got a dose of spirituality. The kids are YOURS."

April and Service

At our church, the women's group focused on Service for the month of April. April isn't over yet, but I have spent a good amount of time and energy this month on service stuff. It's been fun and interesting and I've learned a lot about service and what it is and isn't.

As part of my service efforts, I learned how to make bread. No, I never knew how to make bread before. Rob and I made 3 different recipes, all of which are very good, and I can now say that I can make bread! Hurray for me!

Losing Weight

Rob and his family are doing the 12 week Health and Fitness Challenge that Rob and I did a year ago with my sister-in-law. It's great to be back in the swing of healthy living. Our motivation this time is to be in shape enough to enjoy Yellowstone at the higher elevation, and to be able to hike Mt. Timpanogas when we're in Utah. I'm excited about that! I've never hiked it before.

And after almost 2 weeks of the challenge, Rob has already lost 7 or 8 lbs. He is now at the lowest he's been since our first year of marriage. And total weight loss, from his peak, is 70 lbs. He hopes to be able to lose another 15 lbs. during this challenge to put him actually below what he weighed when we got married. One thing I love about Rob: he has shown he can do it when he puts his heart into it. So, hurray for Rob!

And that's our update from this end. Hope you're all doing well and that life is as good to you as it has been for us.

So Beautiful

I love these flowers. Amaryllis. They are striking!

We have red ones, too.

I'm not sure how to make them stand up straight, though. The flowers are so top heavy that they lean and just keep leaning.

These flowers are a lot of work (half of the year in your garden outside. Dig up the bulbs in October-ish. Let the leaves die back for a month. Then pot them inside a few months later. After the last frost, plant them back in the garden, and repeat), but it's totally worth it!

Alright, Already! (an update), Part 1

Things are going good in Thackerland. (Ooh. I LIKE the sound of Thackerland.) Life is smooth for the most part, we're happy and healthy, our plants are growing, our house is standing, and our cars are running. What more do you need?

Money

Money. We need money. Do you know why money is the root of all evil? Because the minute you have a little money, things break. As follows:

The TV

I've already reported on the TV and it's inevitable demise. I have since decided, though, that we will wait for it to die completely until we buy a new one.

The Lawnmower

Our lawnmower broke. Again. It's a hand-me-down lawnmower that was a godsend when we got it over 3 years ago, and that has served us well enough since then. We have been grateful for it, of course, but it's been one step past dead for years. We've welded parts together, jerryrigged it into working, etc. Now the part that we welded has broken again. ... Luckily, lawnmowers aren't that expensive. At least not the kind we'd buy. In a month or two, $200 will make us the proud owners of another cheap mower.

Speaking of lawnmowers, we're thinking pretty seriously about buying an old fashioned mower. You know, the no gasoline required kind. Just you and the blades. If anyone has any expertise/knowledge/advice about these, pass it on, please!

Rob's Palm Pilot

You know what the Palm company doesn't make any more? Palm Pilots. Rob's Tungsten E2 broke on Monday. It's been dying for over a year, but we've been waiting for it to completely biff it. Which it did, of course, only days after the lawnmower died. What's with that?

Rob is lost without a PDA. I used to think it was a luxury to have one, but Rob is such a better person with something that has an alarm on it to remind him about mundane things that repeat on a weekly basis and so he really should remember it anyway because, Hello! Trash Night is ALWAYS on a Thursday!, that we instantly bought him a new one. $200.

You can't buy JUST a PDA any more, though. People don't want JUST a palm pilot. They want a phone/radio/camera/PDA/internet browser/waffle maker. What cracks me up is that Rob bought a multi-function phone that he will never use as a phone: the Centro Smartphone. And that's funny.

The phone arrived today. So Rob won't forget that Thursday is Trash Night.

Rob's Wedding Ring

It didn't break, he just lost it, as I've previously reported. I tried to convince him to hold off for a few years or something, but the idea appalled him. He NEEDED a ring. And that's cute, you know? The symbol of our union and all.

Anyways. We went to the mall where I bought my ring a year and a half ago. Went to the same store and asked if they had the same band, so that we could get Rob a matching band. They had one, but Rob would have to come in and get his finger sized before they ordered it. ... My ring was $350, before the price of gold shot up. So we figured his would be about $500. No: $700. Ouch. The guy told us they'd have that style probably through December, so we should watch the price of gold (right. We don't WATCH the price of gold!) and if it dipped, we should buy it on that day, cause it'd be about $20 cheaper, say, if the price fell from $900 to $600 an ounce. Woo hoo.

We moved on. I took him to another store that had similar bands that were beautiful, but he was determined to get the matching band. Fine by me. We've always wanted, but never had, matching bands. It'd be nice to have them finally. ... At the end of the night Rob was disheartened. $700 was more than we wanted to pay, for sure. And Rob HATES spending money on himself. I told him to look at one last store (I didn't even know it was there. Tucked back by the kids' play area) and guess what they had: the matching band, in Rob's size, for $450. We bought it on the spot and Rob wore it home. How's that for fate?

They also told us that if Rob found his ring within 30 days, he can return the ring for a full refund. For jewlery, that's an incredible return policy. Our 30 days is up May 1st or so. After that, if we find the ring, we'll pawn it. (Just kidding. I'm not sure what we'll do with it if we find it. But pawning it is an option. It has platinum in it.)

... I think that's the entire list of unplanned things to spend money on lately. Rob says we should pray that nothing else breaks. Amen, brother Rob!

We are fortunate, though. We've been working really hard regarding our finances, so we had money in the bank for all these purchases. In fact, we could go buy a lawnmower and TV right now, for cash. We just don't WANT to. We have better things to do with that money. Like get out of debt. (Still in love with Dave Ramsey.)

The Home Project

Ah, yes. That. Rob's mom and dad came down for 3 days and Rob and Vaughn tore into the project! Before they came down, Rob and I spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours tearing down wallpaper. Shouldn't have thought it would have taken so long. But it did. Here's Rob scraping the last of the paper off the walls:

Rob took some time off work while his parents were here so that they could do as much of the project as possible. They put up the frame. Worked really well and it looks great! Before, remember, it was just a piece of wood across my ceiling and that did not make me very happy. One of those: "If you think that's going to fly, think again." The frame gives the space a little depth. It's perfect.

They then tackled some of the smaller things, but the things that take some expertise or precision. Like putting in tile down a 2-inch space. Fixing another tile. Mudding. Lots of mudding. Caulking. Puttying.

On the 3rd day the options were to start on the floor or to finish up the little things here and there. Vaughn said that we wouldn't want to finish the floor till last, but they could replace the subfloor and leave it like that for a while. Umm, no. Mentally that would drive me NUTS! I have a particular psychosis revolving around floors, apparently. So they finished up the little things. Hurray!

They also finished stripping our cabinets, and put the new cabinets up. The new cabinets are a Home Depot basic set that a neighbor helped us adjust so it would work for our doors. We now have 4 excellent, brand new cabinet doors, if anyone wants them. Though, what would you do with doors and no cabinets? I don't know.

Vaughn, stripping a cabinet door:

Rob's mom kept saying, "I'm not being very helpful." But she was the person who kept me sane the whole time. It was a little frustrating to have our home multitasking as a construction zone, and Carolyn kept the kids entertained and provided me with someone to talk to while the guys were making a big mess. Here's some pictures of her playing with the kids and reading them books:

I am afraid that any home project picture will look like we've made a step backwards instead of a step forwards. The doors are all off the cabinets. Nothing's painted. And the frame they spent so much time on still needs painted, so it won't look right if I take a picture right now. ... But I guess if you can have a little vision, I'll post this picture of what it looks like now:

I'll have to continue this later. Elijah says it's his turn to play on the computer.

My Garden

I'm loving the Spring and our garden. We did spring bulbs this year, for the first time (we've always wanted to, but do you know when normal people think about spring flowers? In the spring. You plant spring bulbs in the fall): mainly daffodils and tulips. They're beautiful, and next year we'll probably add more.

Rob and I have decided on the layout for our front garden. It's a done deal, and we already have all the seeds we need. We've never done just seeds before, but it'll save us literally hundreds of dollars (we average spending about $200 a year on our garden). But now that our front garden is planned, and Miciah's baby garden in the back is planned, I need more room for flowers. We've expanded another 2 areas in the back, as well as created a garden mulch area around our lilacs on the side (hopefully this will save the lilacs from looking as sad as they did last year).

Additions this year:

- Wildflowers on the side, between the lilacs. Perennials.

- California Poppies surrounding our Red Bud in front. (Last year we did marigolds here, but I dislike marigolds. A lot.)

- Another rose bush. From the neighbor's. It was crowded out by bushes and dying. I'm betting it's going to take off in our yard, where it doesn't have to compete.

- A trumpet vine to cover part of our side fence (actually the neighbor's fence, and they approved the vine. Trumpet vines grow wild in KY, and these neighbors are from KY). If it goes well, we'll add another one (at least) next year. You have to train them, so I want to wait to see how hard this is/how much time and focus it takes.

- Vining up our "posts" in front will be morning glory and another red, white, and pink plant that has flowers shaped like stars! I'm also interested to see how much work it takes to keep the morning glory from taking over the rest of the garden. It may or may not be worth it for more than just one year.

We let the kids pick out a few plants a piece.

Miciah chose flax (with delicate blue flowers), marigolds, and miniature sunflowers that only get about 2 or 3 feet tall. All those won't fit in her garden, unless we shove it all in. And we just might.

Elijah chose sunflowers. The ones that get 12 feet tall. We picked out a spot for them to go, in the mulch area we expanded in the back. I'm interested to see how these go. We've never done anything like them before. We have a few already planted inside (from a Primary activity), and the sprouts are HUGE! Sunflowers are fun.

I love flowers. I love dirt and digging in it. I love watching things grow. I love the purple growth on the roses. I love watching our transplated rose come back to life after looking like plain green sticks with no growth at all. I love the yellow blaze of the forsythia bush, now green and bushy. I love the shouldn't-be-there violets in the backyard. I love the beautiful white flowers in the front yard, in only one little spot beside the driveway. I love gardens.

A picture of my front garden. There will be more pictures this year as all our plant projects mature:

The Home Project Ruined My Life

Just kidding. But the Home Project has been RULING my life for a while now. I feel like I haven't had energy to think about many "extra" things--like reading, blogging, chatting, visiting with friends, etc.

I'll repent soon. And I'll post some pictures of how it's looking now. Rob and his dad got a lot done over 3 days, and all the work looks really good so far. I'm impressed. We've also had some stellar neighbors who have helped us along the way: letting us borrow tools, and helping us with the cabinets. Hurray for nice people!

More Soccer Pics

Rob took more soccer pictures the very next week (April 3, 2009). So, if you want to see them, continue. If not, disregard.

Nice action shot!

We look like we're dancing!

This girl was the last defender, so I decided to do this brilliant cut into the center to beat her and be alone with the keeper. And this was the result:

Watching the other team run off with the ball. What was I thinking? This isn't outdoor! (But it WAS a brilliant cut.)

Me, trying to look intimidating next to a 220 lb. 6'3'' guy.

Tamra, the Blur, taking a free kick.

I just loved this shot of the guys in a line. ... She didn't score, by the way.

Going in for the ball!

Leaning back for the kick. I like this picture.

And the game is over. I'm standing next to Ann, our coach. Behind us is Toby, the Giant, Ann's husband.

Tamra

Elijah and the Bank

Usually I like to post about the cute moments in motherhood--the ones that melt your heart. The moments that make it all worth it. But motherhood isn't just a series of cute moments. There are hard moments, too. I don't like to dwell on the hard moments, but they're as real as the cute and fuzzy moments, and just as important. So today I'm going to write about a hard moment.

Elijah and the Bank

You know what went wrong with today? It's the last day of Spring Break. That's what went wrong with today. The rest of Spring Break went relatively smoothly. I know this, because I was telling that to my brother yesterday in a letter. So it must be true. I said that it was Thursday night and I thought it was pretty safe to assume that Spring Break had been a success. And then today happened.

The kids and I were playing at a friend's house. This particular friend often thinks, like most of us tend to from time to time, "Everyone ELSE has it all together, so what's wrong with me?" I always try to reassure her that everyone else does NOT have it all together, and that even if they did, it wouldn't matter. Having it all together is overrated. Anyways, this friend's son was having a bad day and there were several frustrating moments. I told her that I've been there, quite often, and that it just as easily could've been my son. She said she wasn't sure she could imagine my son having a bad day. I could tell she was serious, and I wished that I could give her a snapshot of a bad day with my sons. Perhaps I should not have wished that, though. Cause you know what happens with wishes? Yep. They can come true. Anyways, moving on.

The play date was over, and I was putting the kids in the van when I looked over at Elijah who was holding himself very suspiciously and crossing his legs ever so slightly. Elijah is 5 years old and has the potty thing down, but he's been having issues with telling us he has to go WAY too late. Like, when he has to go RIGHT NOW. Umm, son, that's a little late. So for the last few weeks we've been trying to help him recognize the early signs of needing to go potty. Like holding yourself and crossing your legs. "Elijah," I said, "Do you need to go potty?" His too-quick response: "No." I didn't believe him. "Are you SURE? Cause you look like you need to go potty." "No," he responded. "I just like holding myself." Uh huh.

We took off and headed to the bank. I only had one errand to run, and it was to deposit some money at the bank. Quick, easy, and the kids get suckers. How could it go wrong? The bank was, I kid you not, 2 minutes from our friend's house. We got there and the kids were excited to go in and terrorize the bank. Elijah and Teancom typically like to play tag, which makes the tellers and managers very happy, of course. Which is why I don't say much about it. I know they love it.

After I finished filling out the forms for a deposit I glanced at Elijah who was speeding past me. "ELIJAH!" I shouted in my Serious Mom voice. "GET YOUR SHOES ON. NOW!" Elijah responded to the voice very well and gathered his flip flops from the corners of the lobby where he'd stashed them. In that same Serious Mom voice I called him over to me, though I was sure to make it a little nicer sounding, since he had obeyed me very promptly and all. I then further explained to him what would happen if I saw his flip flops off again: I would throw them away. And I don't make idle threats. And he knows it.

I walked up to the teller and gave her my deposit with a half-exasperated, half-amused type of look. "It's Friday," I said. I don't know if she thought that was explanation enough, but I did. I had just given her my check when Elijah said, "Mom, I need to go potty!" Ugh!

Usually I have a little patience with my children. But not on the Last Day of Spring Break. I think I rolled my eyes and then said, "Elijah! We have talked about this over and over. I just asked you if you needed to go and you said no." He said something like, "But I need to go now!" Again, I was unmoved. "You'll have to wait until we're done. The bank doesn't have a potty. We'll have to go to a store and use their potty. But you'll have to wait." How do I know the bank doesn't have a potty? Yeah, we've done this before. More than once. Elijah whined a little and bounced up and down a little to show his displeasure at my response. But he was silent.

I turned back to the teller and took a deep breath. She was half-giggling at my situation, but I was not in an amused mood. I usually try to be, but I wasn't feeling it today. The teller was just getting the cash I'd asked for when I heard a noise that didn't sound quite right. I turned around and saw Elijah's feet making the noise. A "squeaky, squeaky, squeaky" as he scrunched his toes against his flip flops. Against flip flops that shouldn't be able to make a "squeaky, sqeaky" noise like that. Why were they doing that? Oh, they're wet. Wait. They're wet. "Did you just pee in your pants, Elijah?" I asked, full well knowing what the answer would be. He looked at me, bottom lip sticking out, and nodded his head. "Aargh!" I said and swung back around to the teller.

She counted out my money as I thought about how I wanted to beat my son. I have never beat my son, or either of my other two children. But right then, right there, it seemed to "make sense". It seemed the logical, right thing to do. I was no longer trying to take a deep breath and laugh about the situation. I was mad!

We walked out of the bank and I spanked his butt. Hard. I hardly ever spank my children, but the sudden peeing is NOT behavior that can continue. Elijah started crying really hard and I told him that we were going to go home and he was going to be in BIG trouble.

The entire drive home I listened to the music and just tried to tune out the world, especially Elijah crying. Right then, I did not want to think about the fact that I have 3 children. I thought about how it would go down, once we got home. It was 4:00 p.m. and Rob wouldn't be home until 5:30. I therefore took the only acceptable course of action: I called Rob and said, "Is there any way you can come home earlier?" He knows that when I ask, there's a reason. "Sure. I could leave right now," he said, like a good husband should. "What happened?" With obvious anger in my voice I said, "Elijah peed in the bank." "WHHAT?" Rob said. "Yeah. ... Yeah," I said, and my tone said, "I don't EVEN want to talk about it."

Rob saying he would come home relieved a lot of the tension. Suddenly, I could make it until 4:30. It might sound silly to call him home for such a little thing, but my sanity when I'm with my kids is not something trivial. Sure, I should be a braver, stronger person, and some days I AM a braver, stronger person. But not today.

We got home and I sent Elijah to his room, not to come out until Daddy got home. I made him strip his pants and underwear and left him crying in his room. I didn't even care if he put on new pants and underwear. I threw his nasty clothes in the washer and went about my life, pretending that I was calm. Thankfully it wasn't long until Rob actually arrived. I told him where Elijah was and noted that since he was quiet, he'd probably fallen asleep. I then yelled at Rob. "It SHOULDN'T be so HARD to NOT PEE IN YOUR PANTS!!!" and "Why can't he just GET IT?!" and then I sort of collapsed my head onto his chest as he hugged me. I thought about how Rob was sort of laughing about this, but I wasn't laughing! It's hard, though, to keep being SO upset when someone else is laughing about it. I instantly calmed and put all thoughts of abandoning my children to hungry wolves out of my head.

After a minute or two of calming, I opened the door to Elijah's room and sure enough, he was sleeping. Not just sleeping, though, sleeping naked from the waist down. So, of course, I had to take a picture.

There's aftermath to this story. Like the fact that he woke up in a pool of pee. And that he was still in the shower when his friend came over for the evening. But that's the After Story story.

So there you go. That's my Still Can't Find the Humor In It story.

I Am the Anti-Green

I have a good friend, RB, who is very green. I like to tell her that I am the Anti-Green: I'm Red.

But I'm not really. More and more I'm becoming aware of our environment and the need to conserve. Not coincidentally, at the same time I am becoming aware of how much things cost. Going green is also friendly for the budget. I have been finding out that I care about both.

Starting last summer, and particularly when we started the Dave Ramsey class, Rob and I became hyper-aware of our energy usage. Why? To save money. I'm not going to claim that there was any other motive involved. We shut down our fish tank. All our light bulbs are now the cute swirly florescent ones. We turned off our deep freeze (did you know this can save almost $100 a year? We didn't). We consciously drive less. ... Those don't sound like big things, but giving up the fish tank and the deep freeze were both something of a sacrifice for us, and little things add up.

The whole time we were working on conserving energy, I knew that I am NOT a water conserver. In fact, I never gave my water usage a thought until a month ago when RB, my green friend mentioned above, casually mentioned what her water bill was. Over a 3-month period, her water bill averages $100 LESS than mine. Woah! What are we doing wrong?

This got me thinking very seriously about our water usage. I talked to Rob about it and suggested that the water bill went up when we got a dishwasher. Dishwashers are wonderful things, and I'm not sad we have one (thank you to Dad Thacker for buying it for us. It's lovely). But I over-rinse my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I know this. I ALWAYS have done it. It's something of a compulsive need. And as I was talking to Rob about it he said, "Maybe we should put the dishwasher on "light" instead of "normal."" I thought about this and then laughed. How silly! How silly that Rob would be suggesting that we change our dishwasher setting instead of asking me to just rinse the dishes less. I mean, I'm a human being. I can change my behavior!

I told Rob I would try for 3 weeks to rinse the dishes less. So far so good. The dishwasher does a good job, for the most part. I have adequately surpressed my irrational anger if the dishwasher doesn't get something completely clean. I do miss over-rinsing the dishes, though. It's some of my best thinking time. Plus, I like the sound of running water. Maybe I will allow myself a few cheat days when I can rinse the dishes all I want.

Next, we tried the water save feature on our washing machine, but that's a no go. The feature fills up the sink and then puts the water back into the washer on the next cycle. For some reason, though, the feature isn't working right. We've had it work a few times, but more often than not, it won't spin all the water out of our clothes. And that's just not worth it. Increased drying time would make up for the decreased water usage. So our next option there is buying a new washing machine, which I'm actually considering. But it'll be a long way out.

At the Natural History Museum there's a whole "use less" exhibit that's disguised as a time machine. They've recently added little "rain drops" throughout the exhibit that tell you how to conserve water. One of those rain drops said that we use 70% of our water in the bathroom. That number seems a litlte high to me, but still, it led me to think about the shower. I often take multiple showers a day--long showers--just cause I like them. They're soothing. They're warm. And I can tune out the world.

So when I went to Home Depot this week for some part of our continuing home project, I looked at the shower heads. Out of the 30 - 40 shower heads there, only ONE of them was a low-flow shower head. So I decided to look on-line. I found this shower head:
http://evolveshowerheads.com/roadrunner_showerhead.html
And I bought it. Not only does it reduce the water flow by a gallon a minute during the shower, at the START of the shower, when you just turn the water on, it runs the cold water out and then slows the water flow to a trickle until you're ready to step into the shower (they call this ShowerStart Technology). How cool is that? The feature that will speak to Tamra's over-water-usage? 1.5 gallons/minute. The feature that will speak to Rob's over-water-usage? ShowerStart Technology.

Next on my list: finding a low-flow faucet (or attachment for a faucet) for the bathroom sink.

(For a review of the Evolve shower head mentioned above, go to this site:
http://fivepercent.us/2008/01/06/evolve-shower-head-roadrunner-washes-green/
It challenges us all to use 5% less energy. The tag line:
If you cannot change the world by yourself, start by making a small change … just 5% less is easy, and here’s how. )

Precious Sleep

The other day Teancom was crying in the middle of the night. Okay, it wasn't the middle of the night. It was early night, like 10:30, 11:00 p.m. Something like that. Anyways, he cries in the middle of the night quite often, and if we ignore it, he usually just goes back to sleep. And it doesn't seem to wake up Elijah, so why go in when we know Teancom is fine? Right? Right.

This particular night, Teancom started crying and cried for a little while. Maybe 10 minutes or more. Then he stopped and we patted ourselves on the back for waiting and teaching him to cry it out and all that.

As we were shutting down for the night, Rob said, "Tamra, come see this." And I walked in the boys' room to see this:

What a precious sight.

(Remember they sleep in bunk beds, so Teancom had to climb up the ladder to get in bed with Elijah.)

The flash from the camera disturbed Teancom (who is the world's lightest sleeper), so we got out of the room quickly. Moments later I heard a pattering of feet, but didn't think much of it. After a little while, though, I thought that it was probably Teancom, returning to bed. So I walked back in the room to find Teancom back in his own bed, fast asleep, covered by a blanket.

I returned to my own bed and mentioned it to Rob. I just can't help but wonder how many times this has happened without us knowing anything about it.

And It's April (an update)

Elijah being adorable and spastic at the same time.

Springtime Musings

I've been wondering why Spring didn't HIT ME this year like it did last year. Last year I was writing odes to springtime in my head, and this year Spring is just nice, like normal. I finally figured it out by observing the magnolias.

This year the magnolias are gorgeous, and this week, they're the Spring flower to see. (I figured out through this that there's another kind of magnolia called a star magnolia with gorgeous star-like pure white flowers. SO beautiful. Makes the crab apple trees look dirty off-white by comparison.) A lot of the flowering trees that I anticipate every year haven't bloomed yet: weeping cherries, red buds, dogwoods. Some of them have bloomed, here and there across town, but most of them are waiting for the magnolias to be done hogging Spring's center stage.

Now, last year. Let's review, briefly, through pictures, what Spring was like last year.
This one is dated March 3, 2008:
And this one is March 10, 2008:Spring was starting, early March. The kids were eating lunch out on the back porch. And then, mid-March was a very unseasonal cold snap. Dumped a foot of snow. And Spring was screwed up. A lot of Spring flowers didn't get their moment to shine. Or, rather, when they got their moment to shine, so did every OTHER Spring flower. The early Spring flowers got shafted (sorry, daffodils and tulips), but everything else bloomed all at once. There was the cold snap and then BAM! it was Spring! Every time I'd drive around town, I was in awe at the explosion of Spring all around me. It was beautiful.

So this year, as I waited for Spring, I was expecting the same fireworks display of flowers. It was not to be, though. Not like last year. This year we get to drag Spring out over many weeks. So, I still am reacting the same way. Just piece by piece. As Spring normally comes.

Elijah

Elijah is now 5 years old! Hurray for him! We had a low-key birthday party (it's the only kind of party I know how to throw) for him. We invited 5 families and all the kids ran around like wild children and it was lovely.

Elijah licking the icing off a candle.

Elijah chose his cake and ice cream: dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate icing and Superman ice cream. What a brilliant combination!

Kid chaos during the party (and this isn't even all the kids that were there):
Elijah is a gem of a kid. The day before his birthday Rob was conducting at church and told a bunch of Elijah stories that I haven't posted on here yet, cause I'm a slacker. So here's a series of Elijah stories.

Up in the Attic

The day that Rob and his dad took out our wall, Rob had to go up in the attic for several hours. During that time Teancom asked me where Daddy was. I pointed towards the ceiling and said, "Up there." Teancom said, "He's in the sky?!" Elijah perked right up and said, "He's in the sky? He's up with Jesus!" I explained that Rob was not really up in the sky, he was in the attic. Shortly after that the kids heard Rob's voice but couldn't see him. I saw Elijah's eyes get really big and you could see all over his face that it was as if Rob's voice was coming down to us from heaven. I told Rob to stick his hand down through the gap in the ceiling, so the kids could see where he was. Rob waved to them and Elijah ran up and said, "It's okay, Dad! I know you're up with Jesus!"

Later Elijah wanted to know why it was taking Daddy so long. He said, "Why is Daddy still with Jesus?". I said, "I don't know. Maybe they had a lot to talk about." ... Afterwards I told Rob that next time he visits Jesus, he ought to invite me to come, too.

Walking on Water

I know I've said this before, but I am continually impressed with Elijah's faith. Here is another example:

We were reading a kids' version of some of the New Testament stories. We got to the page about Jesus walking on water and Elijah was very interested. We had talked about miracles a few days before and told the kids that miracles can happen where there is faith. So after I finished reading what the book said about Jesus walking on water, Elijah said, "Jesus could walk on water because he had enough hope, right?" "Yeah," I said. "Hope and faith." He thought for a minute and then said, "So, if I have enough hope and faith, I can walk on water?" ... I am not sure what the appropriate response to a question like that is. I hugged him tight. I'm not sure what I said. I wouldn't have told him no, so I probably told him yes. Because he CAN walk on water with enough faith. Only, there has to be something about the will of God in there and usually there's an element of need... But it's humbling, to me, that Elijah wants SO MUCH to be good so that our Heavenly Father can bless him.

Watching the Weather

The other day Elijah decided that he needed to check the weather to find out what he should wear. He turned on the TV by himself, changed it to the right channel, and then watched the weather for a good 15 minutes. The weather channel he picked is on a 2-minute repeat, so there was nothing new to learn after the first 2 minutes. ... I just thought it was hilarious and had to take a picture of it:
How cute is that?

We are grateful that Elijah is in our home. He is a sweet boy.

Teancom

At church the other day he said, "I have super powers! I kill these people!"

Teancom is all about super powers lately. For the last 3 weeks or so, he has been alternately the Red Transformer or the Red Power Ranger. He'll furrow his brow, get into his fighting stance and weave from side to side, like he's ready for an attack. It's hilarious.

I had to take this picture of Teancom.
The brown mark across his forehead is from the top of a mug filled with hot chocolate. He was mad at me while I was taking these pictures, but I got him to smile enough to get this shot (he was trying to make a face at me).

Teancom has continued his weird-names-for-toy-dogs tradition by naming his other favorite toy dog Tofa. Like sofa, but with a T. Yeah, I dunno, either. So his 2 dogs are named Twit and Tofa. ... I like to joke with him and call his dog Tofu instead. He doesn't think this is very funny.

Miciah

Miciah made this for Rob:
It's hard to tell the shape, but it's shaped like a head, and you can see the face. She made it last night instead of going to bed on time. Before she made Rob's, she made one for me that said she loved me and on the back it said, "A long friendship." Miciah makes wonderful things and it warms our hearts. She can be very thoughtful.

(Speaking of that, if Justin and/or Katie are reading this, Miciah made you a card last week and I haven't mailed it yet. So, sorry about that. I'll remember to mail it soon.)

Soccer for Ciah

Well, indoor soccer is over for Miciah. She played in 2 sessions and the amount of improvement from the very beginning to the very end, ... INCREDIBLE. She learned to be more aggressive and go to the ball. She stopped whimpering about being tired and/or getting hurt by other players (as in: "She kicked the ball and it hit my leg"). All the players improved a ton by the end, and it makes me wonder if this age isn't just an age where there's a huge jump in physical skills. ... Miciah's team tied for 1st. They got 1st for their first session as well. The coach was really nice and gentle with the girls, and we told him that if he's going to be coaching again next year to give us a call. We can definitely sign up for that again.

Moving Blues

One of the biggest pieces of news for our family, but particularly for Miciah, is that our neighbors moved. They have 4 kids, lived across the backyard, and the kids were over like 12 hours a day. Miciah's "best friend" was one of them: Kaitlyn, who is in kindergarten. ... They weren't sure the house they were buying would close, so they didn't tell us they were moving until they were gone, pretty much. Miciah found out on Saturday that they were moving on Saturday. Kinda rough. Plus, it was Elijah's birthday party, so we didn't have time to help them move OR mourn with Miciah over the whole thing.

They moved to Indiana and they have 7 acres of land and horses and stuff. Very cool for them. Just a bummer for Miciah and the boys. Miciah has a good friend that she sits with on the bus, though. Her name is Olivia, and we had her over last night. She is delightful. Very easy-going and friendly and nice and happy. Miciah and Olivia play brilliantly together. So hopefully the playdate helped to transition Miciah from constant playmates to only her brothers and arranged intermittent playdates. And hopefully Olivia can come play lots. Cause we like Olivia!

Life in General

And that's life. We are making progress on the kitchen, but not enough to warrant another picture. We are currently taking down the wall paper and as soon as possible we will be mudding and then painting. We have picked out the flooring. It's a light tile with a blue accent in the middle, and the blue will match the blue we'll put on the walls. I think it'll look nice when it's done. We're still unsure of how the cabinets are going to go, but whatever. Who needs cabinets?