It should be noted that school starts again today. Since this is the reason why my kids are in California, it seems important to bring it up. I have hours and hours and hours of Practicum scheduled every week. The more I can knock out while they're gone, the less I'll need to do when they're back.
Today Rob and I started the day with a bike ride. It's amazing how much more motivated I am to exercise in the summer when I'm already hot, no matter what I do. Then I took a nap because I don't have many more napping days left.
Then something happened that took me way back. I walked outside barefoot to bring in our trash can and was stung by a bee, right in the middle of my foot. It's been a long time since I've been stung, and an even longer time since it's been on the bottom of my foot. Not pleasant, I tell you. (Though not awful, let's be honest.)
This reminded me of a good little story from my childhood. It's a story of a pesky little brother and a loving father.
One day me (10), Collin (12), Keith (8), Justin (6), Chad (4), and a neighbor (6) were walking through the woods behind our house. I guessed on the ages, but it's accurate enough for the purposes of this story. It wasn't often that us bigger kids (me and Collin) hung out with the younger ones. Probably pure boredom motivated us to do so on that particular day.
Anyways, we were walking through a small section of the woods that we normally didn't bother walking through. It was tiny and not very exciting and about 5 feet away from the lawn. I suppose that day we were "exploring" and hence didn't want to leave the great wild of the woods.
On our first pass through the section, we saw a hole in the ground. We were trying to figure out what the hole was, but we didn't think much of it. On the way back, though, we figured it out. Bees. Or whatever bee-like thing it is that burrows into the ground. Collin and I walked tenderly around the hole. The danger was past (is it past or passed?) and we were happily walking on when Justin and the neighbor started running past us and telling us to run, too.
Too late, though. We were surrounded by swarming bees. Chad was still there, and I was trying to focus through the bee storm enough to get him out, but was completely overcome and ran out myself. I ran to the top of the hill (maybe 50 feet? 75? Not far), where our house was, to get help. Miraculously, my father was just home from work and was standing in the front yard looking at our garden. I was relieved to see him and started quickly telling him what was going on.
Except I was apparently babbling incoherently, because he couldn't understand anything I was saying between the fast talking and the crying. He was listening intently, but I wasn't making sense. I was frustrated because there was real danger down there and I couldn't get it out. Suddenly Collin ran up the hill and declared simply, "Chad's down there."
My dad BOLTED. I've never seen him run faster than he did that day. I remember it clearly, because I hadn't known that my father was that fast. He ran into the bee storm, pulled out a helpless Chad, and pulled about 50 bees off his little body. All of us had been stung a bunch of times, I had 6 stings, but it's harrowing to think that if my father had not been standing there, RIGHT there, there might not have been time. At the very least, him running down there averted a medical emergency.
I remember when he came back up the hill holding Chad, there were bees on him, too. And in that moment, my dad was Super Man.
My Pop isn't a super sentimental being. Back in the day "I love you" was rare to hear. A lot of the love stuff that most of us do easily isn't easy for him. On top of that, he isn't a big reactor. I could come home super excited about something and he'd casually say, "Great," maybe, or just nod. So I'd have to go find Mom so she could be excited for me. Dad was just a cool cat.
But that day, when he bolted down the hill without wondering what might happen to him, ... I knew what that was. That was love.
(Years later Justin admitted that he and the neighbor kid were throwing rocks into the hole, just to see what would happen, and that's why the bees swarmed. Hence this is also the story of a pesky little brother.)
Showing posts with label stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stories. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
It Makes Me Laugh
I should post something like an update, but I'm not in the mood. The kids are off school, so that's fun. Today's my birthday, so that's fun. ... Whatever. Here are some recent funny stories. No boy body parts involved, so these are family-friendly.
Not a Clue
Miciah is now old enough to play real board games with us. It's awesome! She was introduced to Clue by Carol (her best friend / backyard neighbor), and I said, "Hey, we own Clue. We own The Simpsons Clue. Even better." So Rob played it with her, and then last night the 3 of us played it together. It's fun, but simple, and we were having a great time.
I went into a room and made the normal "I don't have much of an idea of who it is" guess, and no one had anything. So that's it, I thought. I lucked onto the answer. My next turn I made the accusation for real: Bart Simpson with the poisoned donut in the Burns Manor. Only it wasn't right. I pulled out the cards and said, "Someone lied to me." And then Rob said, "Oh, I have Bart Simpson right here."
I just looked at him and then Miciah and I died laughing as Rob went on to say, "I was wondering why you were guessing him. I was like, 'I've had an X down on his name since the beginning.'"
Nice.
(Oh, by the way, isn't The Simpsons Clue awesome?! Mr. Smithers is Mrs. White. How funny is that? You can kill someone with a plutonium rod, Lisa's necklace, a sling shot, etc. Totally fun.)
The Phone Call
On Saturday Rob and I were at a wedding and accompanying festivities for a large part of the day. On the way home I called to check in with my brother who was holding down the fort for us. Elijah answered. We talked for a minute about how he wanted to plant more sunflower seeds and then I asked him to give the phone to Keith. It went something like this:
Elijah: I love you, Mom.
Me: I love you, too, Elijah. Can I talk to Keith now?
Elijah: Sure.
long pause
Elijah: Umm, Mom?
Me: Yes?
Elijah: I love you.
Me: I love you, too, Elijah. Can I talk to Keith?
Elijah: Yeah.
Me: Okay, thanks.
long pause
Me: Hello?
Elijah: Yeah?
Me: Can you go get Keith? Is he there?
Elijah: Yeah.
Me: Okay.
long pause
Elijah: Umm, Mom? How do you turn it off?
Me: Turn what off?
Elijah: The phone.
Me: I don't WANT you to turn the phone off! I want you to give the phone to Keith!
Elijah: Oh. Okay.
long pause
Keith: Hello?
Elijah is flaky in the cutest sort of way. I think he's giving the phone to my brother and what is he really doing? Waiting to tell me that he loves me again. What a cutie.
Tank Loves Birds
Rob loves field guides. He'd collect them all if he could. So far we have 6 or 7 of them. Field guides about birds, minerals, mammals, insects. When we went to Yellowstone, he bought another one for the area so he could identify flowers there. Rob's adorable.
Our youngest son inherited this apparently genetic trait. So when Rob asked him a few days ago if he wanted to look at a book that would tell him the names of all the local birds, Tank's response was, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yeeeesss!" He was jumping up and down he was so excited. Tank's adorable.
It just cracked me up. How can one be so excited about looking at a field guide?
Miciah
And, in general, Miciah is hilarious. Rob will say something goofy and Miciah will take it one step further and by the end the two of them are laughing so hard they're crying. It's great. I would tell a story in particular, but usually it's something random like:
"I look like a mouse."
"Yeah, a mouse with a beard."
I know you have to be there for those sorts of things, but you should know that it's awesome.
Not a Clue
Miciah is now old enough to play real board games with us. It's awesome! She was introduced to Clue by Carol (her best friend / backyard neighbor), and I said, "Hey, we own Clue. We own The Simpsons Clue. Even better." So Rob played it with her, and then last night the 3 of us played it together. It's fun, but simple, and we were having a great time.
I went into a room and made the normal "I don't have much of an idea of who it is" guess, and no one had anything. So that's it, I thought. I lucked onto the answer. My next turn I made the accusation for real: Bart Simpson with the poisoned donut in the Burns Manor. Only it wasn't right. I pulled out the cards and said, "Someone lied to me." And then Rob said, "Oh, I have Bart Simpson right here."
I just looked at him and then Miciah and I died laughing as Rob went on to say, "I was wondering why you were guessing him. I was like, 'I've had an X down on his name since the beginning.'"
Nice.
(Oh, by the way, isn't The Simpsons Clue awesome?! Mr. Smithers is Mrs. White. How funny is that? You can kill someone with a plutonium rod, Lisa's necklace, a sling shot, etc. Totally fun.)
The Phone Call
On Saturday Rob and I were at a wedding and accompanying festivities for a large part of the day. On the way home I called to check in with my brother who was holding down the fort for us. Elijah answered. We talked for a minute about how he wanted to plant more sunflower seeds and then I asked him to give the phone to Keith. It went something like this:
Elijah: I love you, Mom.
Me: I love you, too, Elijah. Can I talk to Keith now?
Elijah: Sure.
long pause
Elijah: Umm, Mom?
Me: Yes?
Elijah: I love you.
Me: I love you, too, Elijah. Can I talk to Keith?
Elijah: Yeah.
Me: Okay, thanks.
long pause
Me: Hello?
Elijah: Yeah?
Me: Can you go get Keith? Is he there?
Elijah: Yeah.
Me: Okay.
long pause
Elijah: Umm, Mom? How do you turn it off?
Me: Turn what off?
Elijah: The phone.
Me: I don't WANT you to turn the phone off! I want you to give the phone to Keith!
Elijah: Oh. Okay.
long pause
Keith: Hello?
Elijah is flaky in the cutest sort of way. I think he's giving the phone to my brother and what is he really doing? Waiting to tell me that he loves me again. What a cutie.
Tank Loves Birds
Rob loves field guides. He'd collect them all if he could. So far we have 6 or 7 of them. Field guides about birds, minerals, mammals, insects. When we went to Yellowstone, he bought another one for the area so he could identify flowers there. Rob's adorable.
Our youngest son inherited this apparently genetic trait. So when Rob asked him a few days ago if he wanted to look at a book that would tell him the names of all the local birds, Tank's response was, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yeeeesss!" He was jumping up and down he was so excited. Tank's adorable.
It just cracked me up. How can one be so excited about looking at a field guide?
Miciah
And, in general, Miciah is hilarious. Rob will say something goofy and Miciah will take it one step further and by the end the two of them are laughing so hard they're crying. It's great. I would tell a story in particular, but usually it's something random like:
"I look like a mouse."
"Yeah, a mouse with a beard."
I know you have to be there for those sorts of things, but you should know that it's awesome.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Teancom
Getting the Mail
Teancom decided to go get the mail. Remember there is snow on the ground. He decided to wear a long-sleeved shirt (not a sweatshirt, mind), boots, and underwear that was inside-out. When he came back inside he said, "That was cold." Ya think?
A Toddler Check-Up
Earlier today he checked my nose, like a doctor would do, with his itty-bitty play flashlight. He said, "What do you have up your nose?" I thought of answering, "Little hairs and boogers," but thought I'd wait to see what he said was up there. After examining my nostrils he said, "You have a kiger and a wion up there." I laughed. This is the game that the doctor played with him last time we went, and he loved it. I think he had a tiger and a dog in his ears, and he would have had more if she would have checked as many times as he wanted her to.
Then he checked my ears, eyes, mouth, shirt sleeves, pant legs, hair, and socks, just to see if anything was inside any of those. He got done and looked disappointed as he said, "You don't have anyfing up your anyfings."
Teancom decided to go get the mail. Remember there is snow on the ground. He decided to wear a long-sleeved shirt (not a sweatshirt, mind), boots, and underwear that was inside-out. When he came back inside he said, "That was cold." Ya think?
A Toddler Check-Up
Earlier today he checked my nose, like a doctor would do, with his itty-bitty play flashlight. He said, "What do you have up your nose?" I thought of answering, "Little hairs and boogers," but thought I'd wait to see what he said was up there. After examining my nostrils he said, "You have a kiger and a wion up there." I laughed. This is the game that the doctor played with him last time we went, and he loved it. I think he had a tiger and a dog in his ears, and he would have had more if she would have checked as many times as he wanted her to.
Then he checked my ears, eyes, mouth, shirt sleeves, pant legs, hair, and socks, just to see if anything was inside any of those. He got done and looked disappointed as he said, "You don't have anyfing up your anyfings."
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Rob Kisses Snow White
So, I don't remember how it came about, but we were all at the dinner table last night and suddenly I was telling the kids a story about how Rob kissed Snow White. And then he had to tell her he was married and had 3 kids, but she was okay with that. So he said she could come live with us, if she wanted, and she did want to, but first she had to collect her stuff from the Dwarves' House. And her stuff was probably dusty, since she'd been asleep for so long, so it might take her some time. Plus, the house was probably a mess, cause you know how the dwarves are, so she'd have to clean it, too. But she'd be joining us in a few days. I turned to Rob and said, "What, Rob, you think maybe Saturday? Did she give you a concrete day?"
Rob just looked at me. I insisted. "Rob? Did she say Saturday?" He complied. "Sure."
"See?" I said. "She'll be here on Saturday." Miciah looked at Rob and said, "Daddy, is that REALLY true?" ... Can't get anything by Miciah. ... He said it was true. She said, "I don't believe you. Snow White is just a story!" Rob reminded her that she believes in fairies.
Then the whole thing died down because dinner was ready and we needed to say a prayer. Rob asked Elijah to say it, and so Elijah closed his eyes, folded his arms tight, took a deep breath, and said, "Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for the food. Thank you for the day. Please bless Mommy will stop thinking Snow White is real. ..."
And I don't remember the rest after that. I was laughing too hard to hear it.
Rob just looked at me. I insisted. "Rob? Did she say Saturday?" He complied. "Sure."
"See?" I said. "She'll be here on Saturday." Miciah looked at Rob and said, "Daddy, is that REALLY true?" ... Can't get anything by Miciah. ... He said it was true. She said, "I don't believe you. Snow White is just a story!" Rob reminded her that she believes in fairies.
Then the whole thing died down because dinner was ready and we needed to say a prayer. Rob asked Elijah to say it, and so Elijah closed his eyes, folded his arms tight, took a deep breath, and said, "Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for the food. Thank you for the day. Please bless Mommy will stop thinking Snow White is real. ..."
And I don't remember the rest after that. I was laughing too hard to hear it.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Library Card
We went to the library today to settle our account. Returned about 15 items, books and movies, that were all on time. The problem? One of the 2 DVDs of a season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has gone missing. We looked for it for a week. No go.
So I gave up and went in so they could revoke my library card. Just kidding. I paid them $16.99 and we laughed about kids and their uncanny ability to lose things even when we think we know that those things are in a safe, known place. They let me take the one DVD and the case back home, since I technically just bought it from them. The kids like "Jinja Turtles," as Teancom calls them, the library needs money to run, and I like the Cincinnati Library A LOT, so everyone wins.
When we were there and she was scanning in my 2 foot pile of items, Elijah grabbed a "library card:" it was a business card that listed the branch's operating hours. He said, "Does this let me check out movies?" I giggled and said it didn't. "But it's a library card," he insisted. I paused. "It's a card, and it's from the library, but it's not a Library Card." He looked at me like I was crazy, then he looked quizzically at the card in his hand. "What is it then?"
We continued that conversation trajectory until it ended, I thought, with me telling him that he couldn't take the card home, because I already had one in my wallet. We were back in the van before I saw the card in his hands. He saw me see it and said, "I wanted it." I figured there wasn't much harm in him taking it; that's what they're there for, anyways. And if they didn't want kids to take one, they wouldn't put it so close to the edge of the counter.
As we drove away from the library Elijah said, "Does this card make me a member of the Church?" I laughed. Ah, the power of a card.
So I gave up and went in so they could revoke my library card. Just kidding. I paid them $16.99 and we laughed about kids and their uncanny ability to lose things even when we think we know that those things are in a safe, known place. They let me take the one DVD and the case back home, since I technically just bought it from them. The kids like "Jinja Turtles," as Teancom calls them, the library needs money to run, and I like the Cincinnati Library A LOT, so everyone wins.
When we were there and she was scanning in my 2 foot pile of items, Elijah grabbed a "library card:" it was a business card that listed the branch's operating hours. He said, "Does this let me check out movies?" I giggled and said it didn't. "But it's a library card," he insisted. I paused. "It's a card, and it's from the library, but it's not a Library Card." He looked at me like I was crazy, then he looked quizzically at the card in his hand. "What is it then?"
We continued that conversation trajectory until it ended, I thought, with me telling him that he couldn't take the card home, because I already had one in my wallet. We were back in the van before I saw the card in his hands. He saw me see it and said, "I wanted it." I figured there wasn't much harm in him taking it; that's what they're there for, anyways. And if they didn't want kids to take one, they wouldn't put it so close to the edge of the counter.
As we drove away from the library Elijah said, "Does this card make me a member of the Church?" I laughed. Ah, the power of a card.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Soundbites from The Great Trip of 2009
These are the rest of the stories I collected from the trip, and then my posts about The Great Trip of 2009 are Done.
In Utah, Elijah spent the night at Aunt Lisa's house (she bribed him with video games and Lucky Charms--he loved it!). These next three soundbites are from his stay at her house:
Lisa was telling a story about a little boy who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said, "All of you are members of the church." Elijah said he wasn't a member. She said, "Yes, you are. You're a Mormon," thinking that he didn't recognize the church's full name. He said, "No, I'm nothing." She pressed him a little further until he said, "I'm not a member. I'm nothing! I HAVEN'T BEEN BAPTIZED!" - July 12
"Do you want to see my muscles?" ... then he punched Lisa in the chest (to demonstrate his strength, of course) - July 13
Elijah asked for "coffee" in his hot chocolate (at home we put creamer in our hot chocolate: Coffee Mate brand) - July 13
A Justin and Teancom conversation:
"Teancom, roar!"
"I can't."
"Why?"
"I'm broken."
-July 13
Teancom was giving kisses. Then, holding up his pointer finger, he said, "Only 1 more." He gave me another kiss. Then: "Only 1 more." etc. -July 17
We visited Grandpa Downs one evening. Teancom is notoriously slow at warming up to people, so he wasn't keen on giving Grandpa a goodbye hug. Grandpa handled it nicely, and then said, pointing to each person, "Did you know that I'm a Robert, and you're a Robert, and your daddy's a Robert?" Teancom's eyes got really big. He spent the next minute pointing to Daddy, then Grandpa Downs, then himself, and then doing it all over again. It was really really cute. I think Teancom liked being one of 3 Roberts. - July 18
I was putting Teancom to bed. I whispered, "I love you."
Teancom whispered back, "I wubbed you, too. Now be quiet." -July 19
A tender moment with Elijah:
"Mommy, you're the mostest thing I love."
Then, while my heart was full, a moment later he said:
"It's a beautiful day, huh, Mom?"
I said it was. I thought about how wonderful being a mother is, and how happy Elijah and my other kids make me.
Then he said, "And, Mom? I'm hungry."
- July 21
At bedtime on Teancom's birthday:
"Happy Birthday, Teancom," I said.
He responded, "Happy Birthday to you, too." - July 21
My Dad was lecturing Elijah about something or other. Teancom joined in, as kids do, with, "Yeah!" Elijah looked at Teancom and said, "Stop it! You're not my dad!" Then he paused and thought for a second and added, "Or my grandpa. Or my uncle." ... or anyone else in a position of authority over me. - July 22
A random moment:
Elijah said, "You can exercise your bootie like this," and then he grabbed his butt. - July 22
"Water beds are crazy, know why? Cause they're full of water!" - Elijah, July 23
A fire truck passed us on the street and Elijah enlightened us by telling us what firefighters do: "They're good finders and sneakers. They find our keys and sneak them out to us." Furthermore, did you know that "they can turn into little bitty mouses that can climb up anything"? Very useful skills when you're a firefighter. - July 24
We went to the Redwood Forest and rode a cool train. Both my mom and I remembered that the engine was named Hercules. (It wasn't. We think that might be the type of engine it is, or the company that made it.) Teancom pronounced it Turk-a-wees. In his phone call with Daddy, he said:
"We didn't ride on Tank Engine. We ride on Turkawees. REALLY, Daddy." -July 25
An Elijah and Mom conversation:
"Mom, how old were you when you were ... 8? Were you 8 years old?"
"Yes."
"Oh!"
- July 26
The End
In Utah, Elijah spent the night at Aunt Lisa's house (she bribed him with video games and Lucky Charms--he loved it!). These next three soundbites are from his stay at her house:
Lisa was telling a story about a little boy who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said, "All of you are members of the church." Elijah said he wasn't a member. She said, "Yes, you are. You're a Mormon," thinking that he didn't recognize the church's full name. He said, "No, I'm nothing." She pressed him a little further until he said, "I'm not a member. I'm nothing! I HAVEN'T BEEN BAPTIZED!" - July 12
"Do you want to see my muscles?" ... then he punched Lisa in the chest (to demonstrate his strength, of course) - July 13
Elijah asked for "coffee" in his hot chocolate (at home we put creamer in our hot chocolate: Coffee Mate brand) - July 13
A Justin and Teancom conversation:
"Teancom, roar!"
"I can't."
"Why?"
"I'm broken."
-July 13
Teancom was giving kisses. Then, holding up his pointer finger, he said, "Only 1 more." He gave me another kiss. Then: "Only 1 more." etc. -July 17
We visited Grandpa Downs one evening. Teancom is notoriously slow at warming up to people, so he wasn't keen on giving Grandpa a goodbye hug. Grandpa handled it nicely, and then said, pointing to each person, "Did you know that I'm a Robert, and you're a Robert, and your daddy's a Robert?" Teancom's eyes got really big. He spent the next minute pointing to Daddy, then Grandpa Downs, then himself, and then doing it all over again. It was really really cute. I think Teancom liked being one of 3 Roberts. - July 18
I was putting Teancom to bed. I whispered, "I love you."
Teancom whispered back, "I wubbed you, too. Now be quiet." -July 19
A tender moment with Elijah:
"Mommy, you're the mostest thing I love."
Then, while my heart was full, a moment later he said:
"It's a beautiful day, huh, Mom?"
I said it was. I thought about how wonderful being a mother is, and how happy Elijah and my other kids make me.
Then he said, "And, Mom? I'm hungry."
- July 21
At bedtime on Teancom's birthday:
"Happy Birthday, Teancom," I said.
He responded, "Happy Birthday to you, too." - July 21
My Dad was lecturing Elijah about something or other. Teancom joined in, as kids do, with, "Yeah!" Elijah looked at Teancom and said, "Stop it! You're not my dad!" Then he paused and thought for a second and added, "Or my grandpa. Or my uncle." ... or anyone else in a position of authority over me. - July 22
A random moment:
Elijah said, "You can exercise your bootie like this," and then he grabbed his butt. - July 22
"Water beds are crazy, know why? Cause they're full of water!" - Elijah, July 23
A fire truck passed us on the street and Elijah enlightened us by telling us what firefighters do: "They're good finders and sneakers. They find our keys and sneak them out to us." Furthermore, did you know that "they can turn into little bitty mouses that can climb up anything"? Very useful skills when you're a firefighter. - July 24
We went to the Redwood Forest and rode a cool train. Both my mom and I remembered that the engine was named Hercules. (It wasn't. We think that might be the type of engine it is, or the company that made it.) Teancom pronounced it Turk-a-wees. In his phone call with Daddy, he said:
"We didn't ride on Tank Engine. We ride on Turkawees. REALLY, Daddy." -July 25
An Elijah and Mom conversation:
"Mom, how old were you when you were ... 8? Were you 8 years old?"
"Yes."
"Oh!"
- July 26
The End
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The Dragon and The Chicken
Over the past few weeks of our cross country tour (which I will henceforth call: The Great Trip of 2009) I have been collecting soundbites of the trip. Same idea as a photograph--an image of a moment captured on film--but with words on paper. I'll be posting them all eventually, but there was one that stood out and deserved a post of its own: The Dragon and The Chicken.
We were in the car and it was late. Often, when we're at home, Rob tells the kids bedtime stories (they don't ask me anymore, cause I tell lame stories that usually go something like this: "Once upon a time there was a kid named Miciah/Elijah/Teancom who needed to go to bed. Then he did and the world was right. The end."). But that hasn't happened as often as the kids would like, since our schedule has been chaotic and crazy (but fun!). So Miciah asked for a bedtime story. "A funny one," she said.
Rob thought for a minute. "Once there was a chicken."
Immediately Elijah cracked up and said, "Not THAT one! It's too funny."
After we finished laughing, Rob revised his story to include a dragon (dragons, apparently, aren't nearly as funny as chickens). And chickens, cause Miciah liked that idea. It was a random story that involved a flock of chickens that really turned out to be ostriches, but the dragon thought they were chickens, and the dragon ate chickens, so the ostriches had to figure out a way to not be eaten.
After the story was over, Elijah said it was his turn. This was his story, almost word-for-word:
Once there was a dragon. And the dragon ate chickens.
And there was a bunch of chickens in his cave. And the dragon ate them all up.
Then he had room for only one more chicken. Then there was one more chicken.
And it fwew up. (Mom interjects: "The chicken flew?")
Yeah. It fwew up and landed on his head. (Mom interjects: "On the dragon's head?")
Yeah. Then it FWAPPED him in the face! And the dragon fell down.
Then he got back up. And he ate the chicken.
Then he had a tummy ache.
... the story went on for a little bit, and ended like this:
Then he spit out all the chickens. And he ate them all up again.
Then he had a tummy ache.
The end.
Rob and I laughed so hard that we cried. And we've been saying to each other: "And it FWAPPED him in the face!"
We were in the car and it was late. Often, when we're at home, Rob tells the kids bedtime stories (they don't ask me anymore, cause I tell lame stories that usually go something like this: "Once upon a time there was a kid named Miciah/Elijah/Teancom who needed to go to bed. Then he did and the world was right. The end."). But that hasn't happened as often as the kids would like, since our schedule has been chaotic and crazy (but fun!). So Miciah asked for a bedtime story. "A funny one," she said.
Rob thought for a minute. "Once there was a chicken."
Immediately Elijah cracked up and said, "Not THAT one! It's too funny."
After we finished laughing, Rob revised his story to include a dragon (dragons, apparently, aren't nearly as funny as chickens). And chickens, cause Miciah liked that idea. It was a random story that involved a flock of chickens that really turned out to be ostriches, but the dragon thought they were chickens, and the dragon ate chickens, so the ostriches had to figure out a way to not be eaten.
After the story was over, Elijah said it was his turn. This was his story, almost word-for-word:
Once there was a dragon. And the dragon ate chickens.
And there was a bunch of chickens in his cave. And the dragon ate them all up.
Then he had room for only one more chicken. Then there was one more chicken.
And it fwew up. (Mom interjects: "The chicken flew?")
Yeah. It fwew up and landed on his head. (Mom interjects: "On the dragon's head?")
Yeah. Then it FWAPPED him in the face! And the dragon fell down.
Then he got back up. And he ate the chicken.
Then he had a tummy ache.
... the story went on for a little bit, and ended like this:
Then he spit out all the chickens. And he ate them all up again.
Then he had a tummy ache.
The end.
Rob and I laughed so hard that we cried. And we've been saying to each other: "And it FWAPPED him in the face!"
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Anyone for Cheerios?
We leave for Yellowstone and our extended vacation on Friday morning. So I should be packing or cleaning or something. Instead, I am going to post a story about Elijah and Cheerios.
He has ideas about the world that make little sense unless you are also 5 years old, in which case you'll think his ideas are not only plausible but brilliant! I am not 5 years old, but I like to remember, as a mother, that my children come up with ideas that are so Fun! and Exciting! and New! and Interesting! to them. So I try not to get annoyed, even when the ideas are messy or frustrating to me.
This is Elijah.
Elijah is 5 years old and very curious.
He has ideas about the world that make little sense unless you are also 5 years old, in which case you'll think his ideas are not only plausible but brilliant! I am not 5 years old, but I like to remember, as a mother, that my children come up with ideas that are so Fun! and Exciting! and New! and Interesting! to them. So I try not to get annoyed, even when the ideas are messy or frustrating to me. A few days ago I opened the freezer to find one of my mugs full of water and Cheerios, frozen solid. My husband is a scientific kind of guy, so I assumed he was running some experiment with the kids to teach them about the properties of liquids, solids and freezing points. I didn't even ask myself, "Why the Cheerios?"
I took the mug out of the freezer--if the kids needed to view a frozen solid, it was ready for viewing--and called for Rob. He came into the kitchen and I asked him why he chose to use one of my mugs (instead of, say, a throw away plastic cup). He looked at me blankly and I motioned to the mug sitting on the kitchen counter. He examined it, laughed, and said he had nothing to do with it.
Then I called for Elijah. He came into the kitchen and I asked, "Did you put Cheerios in the freezer?" His face lit up. "Oh, yeah! I forgot! Is it done?" He immediately got a chair and pulled it over to the fridge. As he was opening the freezer door I told him that I took the mug out already. He hopped over to the counter and picked up the mug. As he was checking out his frozen Cheerios I asked him why he froze them. The answer was so simple: "So I can eat frozen Cheerios." Ah. Of course.
I stopped him before he could get out a spoon and try to eat it. Only because I knew it wouldn't work. He was disappointed, but I told him he could try to eat it when it had thawed a little. "What will it taste like?" he asked. I told him I didn't know, cause I didn't want to spoil the fun by telling him that it would just taste like water and soggy Cheerios. Gross.
Here's to my curious little man! A scientist in the making.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Randomness
All I have is randomness in my head right now, so that's all this blog post is going to be. I hope it will be entertaining enough, though, to justify the randomness. Here goes.
The Watchtower
I think I already said that I'm sick. Got sick early Friday morning and I still feel like a truck ran over me. I'm just SO TIRED still. Yesterday I went to the doctor and found out I officially have Strep Throat. ... Strep sucks.
But today I found a good side-effect of having strep! My kids are with a friend so that Rob could go to work and I could sleep. I was in bed, half-awake half-asleep, when there was a rather insistent knock at the door. I opened it to find two very nice people standing there. Jehovah's Witnesses. Truth be told, I've never had a JW at my door before. Heard lots of stories, but never personally had the experience. They looked at me in my PJ's and bedhead, pale face (Rob says I've been pale for days. That's paler than normal, so it must be pretty pasty white) and sort of paused. I told them I was sick, and they believed me (hard not to tell that I'm sick, since I'm so out of it). So they just handed me a copy of The Watchtower and went on their way. Fine by me. It's titled "Why God Saved Noah. Why We Should Care." I'm debating if I'll read it or not. I mean, I already KNOW why God saved Noah, and I already DO care.
Parley Parker Pratt
Another good side-effect: I've been able to read a lot. I'm so tired, and I don't move much, so I'm in bed for a good part of the day, or sitting on the couch. But it's maddening to just do NOTHING. So I've been making good progress on Parley P. Pratt's Autobiography. He's my great-great-whatever-grandfather, and I love the man. Bold and brave. Probably was something of a prick at times, but he was so motivated to do right! Gotta love it.
Of course he's fond of making grand statements about how everything that he's gone through is harder than anything anyone else has gone through. How the sufferings that the State of Missouri put the Mormons through marked Missouri as a tyrannical state for all of eternity. A little harsh, I think. Or how the joy of the Saints was greater than any joy anyone else could ever have experienced. But I think this kind of talk may have been an 1800's thing to do: over-the-top emotional and romantic. Very interesting to try to interpret it back into modern-day thinking terms.
Lilburn Boggs
Anyways, I've just read the part about the sufferings in Missouri. Even without the flowery romanticism, the stuff that the Mormons went through in the 1830's in Missouri, ... wow. Tough stuff. Painful, painful stuff. And Parley isn't nice to the State of Missouri or the Governor of the state at the time: Lilburn W. Boggs (and several other men. Truly, some of them were more mobsters than law-keepers. Some of them were relatively good guys, though. Gotta keep it fair).
Parley has this to say about Governor Boggs, calling him "the modern Herod":
"Lilburn W. Boggs is dragging out a remnant of existence in California, with the mark of Cain upon his brow, and the fear of Cain within his heart, lest he that findeth him shall slay him. He is a living stink, and will go down to posterity with the credit of a wholesale murderer."
So, I was thinking about this man, and why he was such a rotten apple, cause I really think he wasn't a nice man or a good man. And I think I've come up with a reason that no one has really looked into before: his name. His first name was Lilburn. What kind of name is that? And you can very quickly come up with a great nickname for that: Lily. Poor little Lily: made fun of his whole life for his rotten name. Not that this gives him an excuse for being so terrible, of course, but I do think we should all be a little more sympathetic to poor little Lily next time we think of him (assuming, of course, that we ever DO think of him).
Uberty
The other day I was getting into the shower when Miciah walked in to use the bathroom. She looked at my body and said, "Mom, why are yours longer than mine?" My what, sweetie? "Your these," she said and she pointed to her own chest. Ah, yes. I said, "Because I'm a woman. Someday you'll hit puberty and get them." "What's uberty?" It's not 'uberty', Miciah. It's P-Puberty. "What's puberty?" I told her it's when you start changing into a woman. Much to my surprise she said, "Oh. So like, when I'm in high school I'll get those?" Yeah. High school or Junior High. And that answer seemed to satisfy her alright.
"You're so pretty all the time."
Elijah is a charmer and a sweet little boy. Today he wanted to lay down with me, which was fine, of course. All the kids are suffering somewhat from Mom Deprivation. Elijah wanted to know if, when I got better, I could play with him. Yes, of COURSE! I would LOVE TO when I'm better. They've all been pretty understanding. Anyways, he was laying next to me this morning and he said, "Mom? I love you." I love you, too, Elijah. "Mom? I like you." I like you, too, Elijah. "Mom, do you know why I like you?" No, why. "Because you're so pretty. All the time. You're so pretty all the time."
Awww.
Rob is a Gem
Rob has been great with me being sick. I think it helps that I actually LOOK sick. I hate when he's sick, but the only indication that he's sick is that he says so. When I can TELL he's sick, it's a little easier. And Rob says that I'm very pale. Plus, I just sit there half the time, staring into space. Luckily, this is abnormal behavior for me.
Anyways. He took off work on Friday (or rather worked from home), since I was completely incapacitated. I couldn't even get out of bed, or sit up. Literally. It was awful. He cut back his Sunday committments so he could take care of the kids. And yesterday he worked from home again, since I wasn't any better. He set up the doctor's appointment for me. And he's completely taken care of anything and everything that needs done. He's made dinners and lunches. Put Miciah on the bus in the morning. Grocery shopping. Changing diapers. Everything. I am so lucky that he is such a good guy.
Today he had to go into work for a while. I told him I wasn't capable of watching my kids today. I WANT to be, but I'm still pretty out of it. So we called up some friends and begged them to take the boys. We have good boys, and they were happy to help. They sent Rob home with dinner, which makes me want to cry. How nice is that? We'll totally have to do something nice for them when I'm better.
And that's all I've got. Rob is laying down, says he feels really tired. Uh-oh. That's DEFINITELY not good. Keep your fingers crossed for us, and a few prayers might not be a bad idea, either.
The Watchtower
I think I already said that I'm sick. Got sick early Friday morning and I still feel like a truck ran over me. I'm just SO TIRED still. Yesterday I went to the doctor and found out I officially have Strep Throat. ... Strep sucks.
But today I found a good side-effect of having strep! My kids are with a friend so that Rob could go to work and I could sleep. I was in bed, half-awake half-asleep, when there was a rather insistent knock at the door. I opened it to find two very nice people standing there. Jehovah's Witnesses. Truth be told, I've never had a JW at my door before. Heard lots of stories, but never personally had the experience. They looked at me in my PJ's and bedhead, pale face (Rob says I've been pale for days. That's paler than normal, so it must be pretty pasty white) and sort of paused. I told them I was sick, and they believed me (hard not to tell that I'm sick, since I'm so out of it). So they just handed me a copy of The Watchtower and went on their way. Fine by me. It's titled "Why God Saved Noah. Why We Should Care." I'm debating if I'll read it or not. I mean, I already KNOW why God saved Noah, and I already DO care.
Parley Parker Pratt
Another good side-effect: I've been able to read a lot. I'm so tired, and I don't move much, so I'm in bed for a good part of the day, or sitting on the couch. But it's maddening to just do NOTHING. So I've been making good progress on Parley P. Pratt's Autobiography. He's my great-great-whatever-grandfather, and I love the man. Bold and brave. Probably was something of a prick at times, but he was so motivated to do right! Gotta love it.
Of course he's fond of making grand statements about how everything that he's gone through is harder than anything anyone else has gone through. How the sufferings that the State of Missouri put the Mormons through marked Missouri as a tyrannical state for all of eternity. A little harsh, I think. Or how the joy of the Saints was greater than any joy anyone else could ever have experienced. But I think this kind of talk may have been an 1800's thing to do: over-the-top emotional and romantic. Very interesting to try to interpret it back into modern-day thinking terms.
Lilburn Boggs
Anyways, I've just read the part about the sufferings in Missouri. Even without the flowery romanticism, the stuff that the Mormons went through in the 1830's in Missouri, ... wow. Tough stuff. Painful, painful stuff. And Parley isn't nice to the State of Missouri or the Governor of the state at the time: Lilburn W. Boggs (and several other men. Truly, some of them were more mobsters than law-keepers. Some of them were relatively good guys, though. Gotta keep it fair).
Parley has this to say about Governor Boggs, calling him "the modern Herod":
"Lilburn W. Boggs is dragging out a remnant of existence in California, with the mark of Cain upon his brow, and the fear of Cain within his heart, lest he that findeth him shall slay him. He is a living stink, and will go down to posterity with the credit of a wholesale murderer."
So, I was thinking about this man, and why he was such a rotten apple, cause I really think he wasn't a nice man or a good man. And I think I've come up with a reason that no one has really looked into before: his name. His first name was Lilburn. What kind of name is that? And you can very quickly come up with a great nickname for that: Lily. Poor little Lily: made fun of his whole life for his rotten name. Not that this gives him an excuse for being so terrible, of course, but I do think we should all be a little more sympathetic to poor little Lily next time we think of him (assuming, of course, that we ever DO think of him).
Uberty
The other day I was getting into the shower when Miciah walked in to use the bathroom. She looked at my body and said, "Mom, why are yours longer than mine?" My what, sweetie? "Your these," she said and she pointed to her own chest. Ah, yes. I said, "Because I'm a woman. Someday you'll hit puberty and get them." "What's uberty?" It's not 'uberty', Miciah. It's P-Puberty. "What's puberty?" I told her it's when you start changing into a woman. Much to my surprise she said, "Oh. So like, when I'm in high school I'll get those?" Yeah. High school or Junior High. And that answer seemed to satisfy her alright.
"You're so pretty all the time."
Elijah is a charmer and a sweet little boy. Today he wanted to lay down with me, which was fine, of course. All the kids are suffering somewhat from Mom Deprivation. Elijah wanted to know if, when I got better, I could play with him. Yes, of COURSE! I would LOVE TO when I'm better. They've all been pretty understanding. Anyways, he was laying next to me this morning and he said, "Mom? I love you." I love you, too, Elijah. "Mom? I like you." I like you, too, Elijah. "Mom, do you know why I like you?" No, why. "Because you're so pretty. All the time. You're so pretty all the time."
Awww.
Rob is a Gem
Rob has been great with me being sick. I think it helps that I actually LOOK sick. I hate when he's sick, but the only indication that he's sick is that he says so. When I can TELL he's sick, it's a little easier. And Rob says that I'm very pale. Plus, I just sit there half the time, staring into space. Luckily, this is abnormal behavior for me.
Anyways. He took off work on Friday (or rather worked from home), since I was completely incapacitated. I couldn't even get out of bed, or sit up. Literally. It was awful. He cut back his Sunday committments so he could take care of the kids. And yesterday he worked from home again, since I wasn't any better. He set up the doctor's appointment for me. And he's completely taken care of anything and everything that needs done. He's made dinners and lunches. Put Miciah on the bus in the morning. Grocery shopping. Changing diapers. Everything. I am so lucky that he is such a good guy.
Today he had to go into work for a while. I told him I wasn't capable of watching my kids today. I WANT to be, but I'm still pretty out of it. So we called up some friends and begged them to take the boys. We have good boys, and they were happy to help. They sent Rob home with dinner, which makes me want to cry. How nice is that? We'll totally have to do something nice for them when I'm better.
And that's all I've got. Rob is laying down, says he feels really tired. Uh-oh. That's DEFINITELY not good. Keep your fingers crossed for us, and a few prayers might not be a bad idea, either.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Stories - a sort of update, minus Christmas morning
If you have a spare hour or two, read on. If not, beware.
Stories to tell about the kids and the holidays. Along the way, maybe we'll get an update out of it. We'll see.
Holiday Shopping
When my mom was in town we went shopping at a mall with the two boys. My boys aren't used to malls, since I go to a mall about once a year, usually against my will (or at least it's not normally my idea). They were pretty good, considering it'd already been a long day. We went into our second store, JCPenny's. Mom was standing in line to buy what we came for and Teancom ran off (following Elijah's lead). This is quite unusual for Teancom, so I was surprised by the mere fact that he ran off, and he ran away far enough that I wasn't sure where he was. I found Elijah, commanded him to stay with my mom and then went to find Teancom. My mom directed me to where he was, which was directly opposite from the direction I thought he'd gone. I couldn't find him for what seemed like 5 minutes (really it was less than a minute). During those 5 minutes Insane Mom came to the surface.
If you've ever not been able to find a child for any amount of time, you are well acquainted with Insane Mom. The voices in your head go something like this: "I'm sure he's safe. He's just around the corner. I'll find him. It hasn't been long enough for someone to snatch him away. Besides, if that happened, there are security measures I can take. He's just hiding behind something and he'll show up soon. How long has it been, 30 seconds? Highly unlikely that someone's taken him away. Crap, what if someone took him? What would I do? I need to stay calm. ..." All of that goes through your mind in a flash, and it completely skews your concept of time. You're also listening to your audible voice as you call your child's name, hearing that it's not quite calm-sounding, even though you're trying so hard.
Teancom was fine, of course. He popped out from behind a clothes rack and said in his cutest playful voice, "Ta da!" Insane Mom was relieved and I had to resist the urge to run to him melodramatically and hug him while I gushed pitifully. Instead, I did the right thing: I walked to him with my Serious Mom face on and spanked his butt. While he cried (over the shock more than anything--he so rarely gets spankings) I scolded him with harshness in my voice and talked about how it was NOT funny and he was to NEVER do that again. Then I picked him up and hugged him and carried him back to where my mom and Elijah were. ... And then I let my heart rate return to a normal pace.
Christmas Spirit
On some beautiful December evening, we all walked out of our house to go somewhere. Rob was holding Teancom and he saw the neighbor's Christmas lights. He said, "It's Christmas! It's beautiful! I like it." Rob and I have been saying that to each other over and over.
I didn't really get into the Christmas Spirit this year until Christmas Eve, and it was pretty much gone by mid-day on Christmas day. I just didn't have it in me this year. Maybe it's an every other year cycle? Cause we went all out last year and I did almost absolutely nothing this year. We'll have to see how next year goes.
Christmas Eve
We spent Christmas Eve with the Joneses (if you can't keep up with them, join them!) and it was wonderful. They had made sugar cookies and we all got to frost them in a frenzy of icing and sprinkles. Then we went carolling and it was delightful. Another family joined us for the frosting of the cookies and the carolling. They aren't members of our church, so I asked them if they sing Joy to the World with the phrase "saints and angels" or "heaven and angels"--I know different people sing it differently. Well, she was pretty shocked when I asked her and had me repeat it because she thought I'd said that we sing it "Satan's angels." That was pretty much the highlight of my night. They sing it "heaven and NATURE," and that's how we sang it when we went carolling.
Elijah's Apology
A few weeks ago Elijah had done something to something of mine and whatever it was ended up breaking in the process. I knew Elijah didn't do it on purpose, but it still frustrated me that he broke the item (it was clearly an important item since it comes so readily to my memory). Elijah's a sweetheart, though, and so he said, "I'm sorry," very genuinely. Our usual response to this is "It's okay." But it wasn't okay that he'd broken it, and I told him so. He paused after I finished telling him I was still frustrated and he looked down. Then he looked back up at me and with all the innocence of a child, he said, "Will you forgive me?" ... This of course made me pause, too, and all my frustration was lifted away. It's as if Elijah were looking at me and saying, "Where are your priorities? Is that item more important than me? Are you going to let your frustration stand in the way of forgiveness?" I kneeled down in front of him and gave him a hug and told him that I absolutely did forgive him. What a sweet boy.
Back to Work
Through a series of small unfortunate events of our own, we had several days at home after Christmas. We were supposed to play with friends on Friday but I got HIT with some stomach bug that Miciah and Teancom also had. I slept nearly all day, and when I wasn't sleeping I was lounging about, moving as little as possible, and reading a book. On Saturday we were supposed to go north to visit with Rob's family, but of course it hinged on us being healthy. I woke up Saturday feeling better (though it's all relative--still the most active thing I did all day was vacuum the living room floor, and I had to rest for 20 minutes afterwards), but Rob woke up puking. Nice. So we both sat on the couch all day feeling pretty lousy. No trip up north. Sunday morning, however, found us feeling MUCH better and we were able to go see his family then. Fortunately everyone was able to re-arrange their schedules so that we could see everyone on Sunday, and we're grateful for that.
On Monday our furnace tried to break. (This story is all connected, I promise.) It's given us problems for years, the poor old thing. It's almost as old as I am, and for a furnace, that's ancient. So we spent Monday getting free estimates on furnaces. The first guy who came got it working again (by tapping on a part. Who knew to tap on that part?), so that's good. But because of the furnace issues and all the salesmen in and out, Rob didn't go into work on Monday or most of Tuesday and significant parts of the other days, too. (We have decided to hold off on buying a furnace for now. We'll wait for it to out-and-out break, I think.)
Looking back, I feel a little guilty about the whole thing. My entire desire this year was to lay low this holiday break. I wanted to be at home on Friday, Saturday and Monday, but we had plans on Friday and Saturday (good plans, of course, but still plans), and Rob was going back to work on Monday. I told Rob that apparently God answered my prayers in ways I wouldn't have asked for (and did NOT ask for), but the end result was that we had a lazy few days at home together doing nothing at all.
Because of all the time off, Elijah was just used to Rob being at home. When Jan. 5th came along and Daddy had to be at work, Elijah wanted to call him. He asked where Daddy had gone and seemed somewhat perplexed when I told him that Daddy had to work. Anyways, when he was talking to Rob on the phone he said this phrase and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. A cute, sad little boy saying to his daddy: I should've gived you a hug when you leaved.
Holding Out for a Hero
For my birthday in June my brother gave me an iPod. This isn't the family iPod, it's mine, and I love it. I listen to it while I'm driving (which is MY music time, not music time for the kids), and I usually just go to my entire song list and hit random. I love listening to it this way: I get to listen to some songs I've temporarily forgotten about, it mixes it up and gives me variety, and most fun of all, it gives me insights into what kind of music my children like. Elijah's new favorite song that we discovered this way is Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler. I happen to have 3 versions of this song (the other 2 from the Shrek 2 soundtrack (Jennifer Saunders is genius)) and his very favorite is the original 80's version. It's like 6 minutes long, but he loves every second of it and asks for it over and over again. He beats his arm to the rhythm. And he calls the song his Superman song (I assume because it says the word 'hero' in the song).
Well, there's just so many times you can listen to a song like Holding Out for a Hero. It's a fantastic song, don't get me wrong, but at some point, 18 minutes into it (that's 3 listens for you math-inclined people), your eyeballs feel like they might fall out. So on a drive we told Elijah we had to just move on to the next song. He objected, but come on! It went next on the random play to Credence Clearwater Revival's Have You Ever Seen the Rain. I said, "Everyone likes Credence Clearwater Revival!" Elijah listened for another few seconds and then passed his verdict: "Borrring!"
I have since realized that just about every song is boring next to Holding Out for a Hero! The song goes about 100 mph. So last time we listened to my iPod in the car, I moved it to my dance playlist and then the songs weren't boring.
I love that Elijah likes songs with a hard beat. He always has (and Miciah generally always hasn't. Teancom hasn't put his opinion on the board yet). The other day he wanted to listen to music at dinner, so we turned some on (again, randomized on my song list), and some of the harder rock stuff came on. Elijah turned to Rob and explained to him that he liked these sorts of songs because they'd "make [him] grow big and strong." Sweet!
The wii
This is many stories all rolled into one, and it starts with some sad news.
Bernar
Bernar, who has been staying at our home several nights a week for almost 2 years now, came home 2 weeks before Christmas and informed us that he'd just been laid off. Bummer! I stayed somewhat composed for a little while and then I bawled for the next 2 hours. Bernar has become part of our family and we will miss him dearly (we already do!).
When he came home that day, he had 2 Christmas gifts for us. I didn't look at them, I just carried them in a bag back to our bedroom where we were keeping all the gifts until Christmas Eve (when the kids carry them under the tree--totally a fun tradition!). After he'd left, I took the gifts out of the bag and set them out. I looked at the bigger box and thought, "Something about the weight and shape of this box is really really familiar."
Back story
(The back story here is that we'd decided in January to get the wii for Christmas. That was ALL we were getting. We'd purchased the wii in August (actually, a friend purchased it for us in Colorado of all places), and it had been sitting in our closet since then, though we'd opened it and made sure it worked first.)
So I got the wii box out of the closet and put it on top of the gift from Bernar. Same size. Same weight. Not good.
I made Rob call Bernar (since I still was not very composed) and ask him if that's truly what it was. Yep. So now we had 2 wii's. Instead of finding someone to sell the other wii to, we just offered for Bernar to take it back and keep the money. He agreed it made more sense for him to take it back, but then gave us $200 instead. We ended up making the wii from him and all the accessories were from us (and there are too many accessories!), which meant we could then afford MarioKart, the other game we were saving up for.
Interesting wii Sideline
(I e-mailed Bernar and told him we'd like to make the wii from him, but that next time we saw him (which would be sometime over the break), we would give the wii back to him so he could return it. He called me and said that'd be fine and that they'd be coming up to Cinci sometime during the break to do some shopping. Fine. ... He called me back about 5 minutes later and said that he just looked at the receipt and that he had 7 days to return the wii, and that today was day 7.So that trip that would happen "some time" happened on that day. I felt bad about that, but I guess it all worked out.)
Miciah's Room
Back to Bernar losing his job. We were sad to tell the kids. Elijah decided that even though Bernar didn't have a job, he could still live with us, and if he got a job in Cincinnati again, he could come back. When I told Miciah, she was respectfully sad for a moment and then she looked at me and said, "Does this mean I get my own room?" I told her that if she wanted (and we weren't sure she would want), she could move down into that room. She said she did want that, and after one more night in her old room (at her request), she moved downstairs. This change has been WONDERFUL for everyone. I knew it'd be good for Miciah, but it's been good for the boys and for me and Rob as well. So, as sad as we are that Bernar is gone, it's been fantastic for the family that Miciah now has her own space.
Having said that, if Bernar wanted to come back, we'd kick her back up to the boys' room. He was a delight and a blessing to us.
I have just now decided to make a separate post of Christmas morning.
Miciah and the Reindeer
We took some cookies to our neighbors (the ONLY people we brought goodies to. We were SLACKERS this year), the Jaspers. They are so nice to us, especially the kids. They invited us in and gave our kids something yummy to eat. While we were there, Mrs. Jasper offered Miciah a reindeer. She said she'd had it for years and years and was ready to get rid of it. She talked to her like it was one-on-one, all cute-like, with her arms on Miciah's shoulders: "If your parents will let you, you can take it home. It comes with a bear for your middle brother, and a mouse for your littlest brother. Would you like to take it home and put it in your bedroom and take good care of it?" To everyone's shock, Miciah said no. Rob asked her why she didn't want it, cause it was fine with us. Miciah said, "Well, if Santa wants to bring his reindeer on Christmas Eve, he can do that, but I don't want a reindeer in my room!" We all laughed and laughed that Miciah thought Mrs. Jasper was offering her a REAL reindeer.
She showed Miciah the little wooden reindeer and Miciah immediately said she'd love it. And they have loved it. Thank you, Jaspers!
Miciah's Gym Teacher
Some of the excitement and craziness of our break revolves around the fact that Miciah's gym teacher passed away the day before Christmas. She was in her late 20's, Miciah said, and the news reported that she'd been killed by her ex-boyfriend. Scary! So it was a little crazy having to explain to Miciah that her gym teacher had passed away and to talk about murder. ... I attended a little conference that the school put together the Friday before school started back up. Had an expert on child grieving, particularly in school settings. It was interesting, he was very informative, and I felt like I then had SOME idea of how to talk to Miciah about all this. She's had people in her life that have died, but no one's been murdered. That's a whole different set of issues. ... They also talked about how the school would be handling it when the kids got back.
Miciah has now met the new gym teacher (a recently retired gym teacher who has agreed to stay on until they find a permanent replacement, or till the end of the school year, whichever comes first) and she reported that "she's the nicest person in the world!" and then added, "except for you Mommy." What shocked me about the last part was that it seemed so genuine. I can think of about 1,000,000 people who are all nicer than I am. :) But it was a cute sentiment anyway.
$17.95 Oil Change
Over the break we got oil changes and tire rotations on both vehicles. We are realizing, now that we're consciously budgeting for our cars, that it takes more money than we thought to maintain vehicles.Especially if you've been putting things off. It's a change of philosophy for us, but one that I think will pay off in the long run (both monetarily and safety-wise). Anyways, Rob found this fantastic deal on an oil change. Normally they're at least double that price.
And what's the catch on a super cheap oil change? "Free inspection." Did we ask them to do a free inspection? No. Rob showed up to change cars (van for the car) and they showed him the list of things they'd found wrong and/or things they'd suggest doing. Total price for everything they found, parts and labor? $819.25. Nice. Granted, some of the work we already knew needs to be done. But it makes me instantly skeptical when someone lures you in with a cheap oil change price to come up with a self-serving $819.25's worth of work. They found another $175.69 for the Corolla.
Worse than the price tag for what they found? One of the things they said needed fixed very soon: the back brakes. So now everywhere we go, Rob's worrying about the brakes.
Rob: "Do the brakes feel stickier to you?"
Me: "What does 'stickier' even mean?"
So what is the REAL cost of a $17.95 oil change? $21.83, all said and done (where's that $17.95?). PLUS, knowing that your vehicles have $994.94's worth of work waiting to be done (or, alternately, that the place you took your vehicles to was trying to swindle you into THINKING there was that much work to be done), and your peace of mind.
Next time maybe we'll just pay double and skip the free inspection.
Teancom's Elf
Teancom still loves and adores his elf that my mom made him. We lost it for a week or so. Then I took down the Christmas tree and found the elf behind the couch (and another favorite toy of his, a donkey, nestled in the branches). He was happy to have it back. It is his best friend and it's adorable! I walked into the dining room one morning to hear him saying, "Elf is so beautiful!" That made me laugh, and I made him repeat it, just to make sure I heard it right.
He also has refused to eat dinner once until he was holding elf. Usually this is against the rules (no toys at the table), but there are occasionally times to break this rule, and this particular time seemed one of those times. He promised to actually eat if he was holding elf, and I thought that once he was holding elf, he'd forget all about that promise. But he actually held his end of the bargain. And instead of deciding that now elf sat with him for every meal, at the next meal he handed elf to me and said, "Don't want elf get dirty!"
He also insisted that he take elf to church with him (also against the rules, but again, it seemed an appropriate time to break that rule). We told him elf had to be quiet (there's a bell on the elf), and he told us he'd keep elf quiet. For the most part he did. I took him to the bathroom to wipe his nose and the whole way there and back he was stretching out elf's arms and saying, "Elf touch wall!" "Elf touch mirror!" Totally cute.
Another day he insisted that I hold elf's hand, and then that I tickle elf's feet.
If you timed your reading of this post, and you logged over 2 hours, I apologize. And let me know, I'll increase the warning time at the start of the post.
Tamra
Stories to tell about the kids and the holidays. Along the way, maybe we'll get an update out of it. We'll see.
Holiday Shopping
When my mom was in town we went shopping at a mall with the two boys. My boys aren't used to malls, since I go to a mall about once a year, usually against my will (or at least it's not normally my idea). They were pretty good, considering it'd already been a long day. We went into our second store, JCPenny's. Mom was standing in line to buy what we came for and Teancom ran off (following Elijah's lead). This is quite unusual for Teancom, so I was surprised by the mere fact that he ran off, and he ran away far enough that I wasn't sure where he was. I found Elijah, commanded him to stay with my mom and then went to find Teancom. My mom directed me to where he was, which was directly opposite from the direction I thought he'd gone. I couldn't find him for what seemed like 5 minutes (really it was less than a minute). During those 5 minutes Insane Mom came to the surface.
If you've ever not been able to find a child for any amount of time, you are well acquainted with Insane Mom. The voices in your head go something like this: "I'm sure he's safe. He's just around the corner. I'll find him. It hasn't been long enough for someone to snatch him away. Besides, if that happened, there are security measures I can take. He's just hiding behind something and he'll show up soon. How long has it been, 30 seconds? Highly unlikely that someone's taken him away. Crap, what if someone took him? What would I do? I need to stay calm. ..." All of that goes through your mind in a flash, and it completely skews your concept of time. You're also listening to your audible voice as you call your child's name, hearing that it's not quite calm-sounding, even though you're trying so hard.
Teancom was fine, of course. He popped out from behind a clothes rack and said in his cutest playful voice, "Ta da!" Insane Mom was relieved and I had to resist the urge to run to him melodramatically and hug him while I gushed pitifully. Instead, I did the right thing: I walked to him with my Serious Mom face on and spanked his butt. While he cried (over the shock more than anything--he so rarely gets spankings) I scolded him with harshness in my voice and talked about how it was NOT funny and he was to NEVER do that again. Then I picked him up and hugged him and carried him back to where my mom and Elijah were. ... And then I let my heart rate return to a normal pace.
Christmas Spirit
On some beautiful December evening, we all walked out of our house to go somewhere. Rob was holding Teancom and he saw the neighbor's Christmas lights. He said, "It's Christmas! It's beautiful! I like it." Rob and I have been saying that to each other over and over.
I didn't really get into the Christmas Spirit this year until Christmas Eve, and it was pretty much gone by mid-day on Christmas day. I just didn't have it in me this year. Maybe it's an every other year cycle? Cause we went all out last year and I did almost absolutely nothing this year. We'll have to see how next year goes.
Christmas Eve
We spent Christmas Eve with the Joneses (if you can't keep up with them, join them!) and it was wonderful. They had made sugar cookies and we all got to frost them in a frenzy of icing and sprinkles. Then we went carolling and it was delightful. Another family joined us for the frosting of the cookies and the carolling. They aren't members of our church, so I asked them if they sing Joy to the World with the phrase "saints and angels" or "heaven and angels"--I know different people sing it differently. Well, she was pretty shocked when I asked her and had me repeat it because she thought I'd said that we sing it "Satan's angels." That was pretty much the highlight of my night. They sing it "heaven and NATURE," and that's how we sang it when we went carolling.Elijah's Apology
A few weeks ago Elijah had done something to something of mine and whatever it was ended up breaking in the process. I knew Elijah didn't do it on purpose, but it still frustrated me that he broke the item (it was clearly an important item since it comes so readily to my memory). Elijah's a sweetheart, though, and so he said, "I'm sorry," very genuinely. Our usual response to this is "It's okay." But it wasn't okay that he'd broken it, and I told him so. He paused after I finished telling him I was still frustrated and he looked down. Then he looked back up at me and with all the innocence of a child, he said, "Will you forgive me?" ... This of course made me pause, too, and all my frustration was lifted away. It's as if Elijah were looking at me and saying, "Where are your priorities? Is that item more important than me? Are you going to let your frustration stand in the way of forgiveness?" I kneeled down in front of him and gave him a hug and told him that I absolutely did forgive him. What a sweet boy.
Back to Work
Through a series of small unfortunate events of our own, we had several days at home after Christmas. We were supposed to play with friends on Friday but I got HIT with some stomach bug that Miciah and Teancom also had. I slept nearly all day, and when I wasn't sleeping I was lounging about, moving as little as possible, and reading a book. On Saturday we were supposed to go north to visit with Rob's family, but of course it hinged on us being healthy. I woke up Saturday feeling better (though it's all relative--still the most active thing I did all day was vacuum the living room floor, and I had to rest for 20 minutes afterwards), but Rob woke up puking. Nice. So we both sat on the couch all day feeling pretty lousy. No trip up north. Sunday morning, however, found us feeling MUCH better and we were able to go see his family then. Fortunately everyone was able to re-arrange their schedules so that we could see everyone on Sunday, and we're grateful for that.
On Monday our furnace tried to break. (This story is all connected, I promise.) It's given us problems for years, the poor old thing. It's almost as old as I am, and for a furnace, that's ancient. So we spent Monday getting free estimates on furnaces. The first guy who came got it working again (by tapping on a part. Who knew to tap on that part?), so that's good. But because of the furnace issues and all the salesmen in and out, Rob didn't go into work on Monday or most of Tuesday and significant parts of the other days, too. (We have decided to hold off on buying a furnace for now. We'll wait for it to out-and-out break, I think.)
Looking back, I feel a little guilty about the whole thing. My entire desire this year was to lay low this holiday break. I wanted to be at home on Friday, Saturday and Monday, but we had plans on Friday and Saturday (good plans, of course, but still plans), and Rob was going back to work on Monday. I told Rob that apparently God answered my prayers in ways I wouldn't have asked for (and did NOT ask for), but the end result was that we had a lazy few days at home together doing nothing at all.
Because of all the time off, Elijah was just used to Rob being at home. When Jan. 5th came along and Daddy had to be at work, Elijah wanted to call him. He asked where Daddy had gone and seemed somewhat perplexed when I told him that Daddy had to work. Anyways, when he was talking to Rob on the phone he said this phrase and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. A cute, sad little boy saying to his daddy: I should've gived you a hug when you leaved.
Holding Out for a Hero
For my birthday in June my brother gave me an iPod. This isn't the family iPod, it's mine, and I love it. I listen to it while I'm driving (which is MY music time, not music time for the kids), and I usually just go to my entire song list and hit random. I love listening to it this way: I get to listen to some songs I've temporarily forgotten about, it mixes it up and gives me variety, and most fun of all, it gives me insights into what kind of music my children like. Elijah's new favorite song that we discovered this way is Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler. I happen to have 3 versions of this song (the other 2 from the Shrek 2 soundtrack (Jennifer Saunders is genius)) and his very favorite is the original 80's version. It's like 6 minutes long, but he loves every second of it and asks for it over and over again. He beats his arm to the rhythm. And he calls the song his Superman song (I assume because it says the word 'hero' in the song).
Well, there's just so many times you can listen to a song like Holding Out for a Hero. It's a fantastic song, don't get me wrong, but at some point, 18 minutes into it (that's 3 listens for you math-inclined people), your eyeballs feel like they might fall out. So on a drive we told Elijah we had to just move on to the next song. He objected, but come on! It went next on the random play to Credence Clearwater Revival's Have You Ever Seen the Rain. I said, "Everyone likes Credence Clearwater Revival!" Elijah listened for another few seconds and then passed his verdict: "Borrring!"
I have since realized that just about every song is boring next to Holding Out for a Hero! The song goes about 100 mph. So last time we listened to my iPod in the car, I moved it to my dance playlist and then the songs weren't boring.
I love that Elijah likes songs with a hard beat. He always has (and Miciah generally always hasn't. Teancom hasn't put his opinion on the board yet). The other day he wanted to listen to music at dinner, so we turned some on (again, randomized on my song list), and some of the harder rock stuff came on. Elijah turned to Rob and explained to him that he liked these sorts of songs because they'd "make [him] grow big and strong." Sweet!
The wii
This is many stories all rolled into one, and it starts with some sad news.
Bernar
Bernar, who has been staying at our home several nights a week for almost 2 years now, came home 2 weeks before Christmas and informed us that he'd just been laid off. Bummer! I stayed somewhat composed for a little while and then I bawled for the next 2 hours. Bernar has become part of our family and we will miss him dearly (we already do!).
When he came home that day, he had 2 Christmas gifts for us. I didn't look at them, I just carried them in a bag back to our bedroom where we were keeping all the gifts until Christmas Eve (when the kids carry them under the tree--totally a fun tradition!). After he'd left, I took the gifts out of the bag and set them out. I looked at the bigger box and thought, "Something about the weight and shape of this box is really really familiar."
Back story
(The back story here is that we'd decided in January to get the wii for Christmas. That was ALL we were getting. We'd purchased the wii in August (actually, a friend purchased it for us in Colorado of all places), and it had been sitting in our closet since then, though we'd opened it and made sure it worked first.)
So I got the wii box out of the closet and put it on top of the gift from Bernar. Same size. Same weight. Not good.
I made Rob call Bernar (since I still was not very composed) and ask him if that's truly what it was. Yep. So now we had 2 wii's. Instead of finding someone to sell the other wii to, we just offered for Bernar to take it back and keep the money. He agreed it made more sense for him to take it back, but then gave us $200 instead. We ended up making the wii from him and all the accessories were from us (and there are too many accessories!), which meant we could then afford MarioKart, the other game we were saving up for.
Interesting wii Sideline
(I e-mailed Bernar and told him we'd like to make the wii from him, but that next time we saw him (which would be sometime over the break), we would give the wii back to him so he could return it. He called me and said that'd be fine and that they'd be coming up to Cinci sometime during the break to do some shopping. Fine. ... He called me back about 5 minutes later and said that he just looked at the receipt and that he had 7 days to return the wii, and that today was day 7.
Miciah's Room
Back to Bernar losing his job. We were sad to tell the kids. Elijah decided that even though Bernar didn't have a job, he could still live with us, and if he got a job in Cincinnati again, he could come back. When I told Miciah, she was respectfully sad for a moment and then she looked at me and said, "Does this mean I get my own room?" I told her that if she wanted (and we weren't sure she would want), she could move down into that room. She said she did want that, and after one more night in her old room (at her request), she moved downstairs. This change has been WONDERFUL for everyone. I knew it'd be good for Miciah, but it's been good for the boys and for me and Rob as well. So, as sad as we are that Bernar is gone, it's been fantastic for the family that Miciah now has her own space.
Having said that, if Bernar wanted to come back, we'd kick her back up to the boys' room. He was a delight and a blessing to us.
I have just now decided to make a separate post of Christmas morning.
Miciah and the Reindeer
We took some cookies to our neighbors (the ONLY people we brought goodies to. We were SLACKERS this year), the Jaspers. They are so nice to us, especially the kids. They invited us in and gave our kids something yummy to eat. While we were there, Mrs. Jasper offered Miciah a reindeer. She said she'd had it for years and years and was ready to get rid of it. She talked to her like it was one-on-one, all cute-like, with her arms on Miciah's shoulders: "If your parents will let you, you can take it home. It comes with a bear for your middle brother, and a mouse for your littlest brother. Would you like to take it home and put it in your bedroom and take good care of it?" To everyone's shock, Miciah said no. Rob asked her why she didn't want it, cause it was fine with us. Miciah said, "Well, if Santa wants to bring his reindeer on Christmas Eve, he can do that, but I don't want a reindeer in my room!" We all laughed and laughed that Miciah thought Mrs. Jasper was offering her a REAL reindeer.
She showed Miciah the little wooden reindeer and Miciah immediately said she'd love it. And they have loved it. Thank you, Jaspers!
Miciah's Gym Teacher
Some of the excitement and craziness of our break revolves around the fact that Miciah's gym teacher passed away the day before Christmas. She was in her late 20's, Miciah said, and the news reported that she'd been killed by her ex-boyfriend. Scary! So it was a little crazy having to explain to Miciah that her gym teacher had passed away and to talk about murder. ... I attended a little conference that the school put together the Friday before school started back up. Had an expert on child grieving, particularly in school settings. It was interesting, he was very informative, and I felt like I then had SOME idea of how to talk to Miciah about all this. She's had people in her life that have died, but no one's been murdered. That's a whole different set of issues. ... They also talked about how the school would be handling it when the kids got back.
Miciah has now met the new gym teacher (a recently retired gym teacher who has agreed to stay on until they find a permanent replacement, or till the end of the school year, whichever comes first) and she reported that "she's the nicest person in the world!" and then added, "except for you Mommy." What shocked me about the last part was that it seemed so genuine. I can think of about 1,000,000 people who are all nicer than I am. :) But it was a cute sentiment anyway.
$17.95 Oil Change
Over the break we got oil changes and tire rotations on both vehicles. We are realizing, now that we're consciously budgeting for our cars, that it takes more money than we thought to maintain vehicles.
And what's the catch on a super cheap oil change? "Free inspection." Did we ask them to do a free inspection? No. Rob showed up to change cars (van for the car) and they showed him the list of things they'd found wrong and/or things they'd suggest doing. Total price for everything they found, parts and labor? $819.25. Nice. Granted, some of the work we already knew needs to be done. But it makes me instantly skeptical when someone lures you in with a cheap oil change price to come up with a self-serving $819.25's worth of work. They found another $175.69 for the Corolla.
Worse than the price tag for what they found? One of the things they said needed fixed very soon: the back brakes. So now everywhere we go, Rob's worrying about the brakes.
Rob: "Do the brakes feel stickier to you?"
Me: "What does 'stickier' even mean?"
So what is the REAL cost of a $17.95 oil change? $21.83, all said and done (where's that $17.95?). PLUS, knowing that your vehicles have $994.94's worth of work waiting to be done (or, alternately, that the place you took your vehicles to was trying to swindle you into THINKING there was that much work to be done), and your peace of mind.
Next time maybe we'll just pay double and skip the free inspection.
Teancom's Elf
Teancom still loves and adores his elf that my mom made him. We lost it for a week or so. Then I took down the Christmas tree and found the elf behind the couch (and another favorite toy of his, a donkey, nestled in the branches). He was happy to have it back. It is his best friend and it's adorable! I walked into the dining room one morning to hear him saying, "Elf is so beautiful!" That made me laugh, and I made him repeat it, just to make sure I heard it right.
He also has refused to eat dinner once until he was holding elf. Usually this is against the rules (no toys at the table), but there are occasionally times to break this rule, and this particular time seemed one of those times. He promised to actually eat if he was holding elf, and I thought that once he was holding elf, he'd forget all about that promise. But he actually held his end of the bargain. And instead of deciding that now elf sat with him for every meal, at the next meal he handed elf to me and said, "Don't want elf get dirty!"
He also insisted that he take elf to church with him (also against the rules, but again, it seemed an appropriate time to break that rule). We told him elf had to be quiet (there's a bell on the elf), and he told us he'd keep elf quiet. For the most part he did. I took him to the bathroom to wipe his nose and the whole way there and back he was stretching out elf's arms and saying, "Elf touch wall!" "Elf touch mirror!" Totally cute.
Another day he insisted that I hold elf's hand, and then that I tickle elf's feet.
If you timed your reading of this post, and you logged over 2 hours, I apologize. And let me know, I'll increase the warning time at the start of the post.
Tamra
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