I didn’t look at the clock when I heard him come into my room last night. I knew it was late when I felt something hit the bed. A pillow had landed squarely on my foot. I heard some scampering away from my room and then back again, Creepy being deposited there as well. A third trip brought a blanket and his Grouchy Ladybug stuffed animal.

I lifted Baby E into bed, told him I loved him, and gave him strict instructions to let me sleep. Perhaps when I said “Let Mommy sleep,” he thought I said, “Hum a tune just as Mommy is drifting off,” for that is exactly what he did. Groggily, I rolled over and asked him to stop, at which he obliged, but the next twenty minutes were filled with fitful tossing, turning, and the occasional foot in my back. As he finally settled down, my alarm went off.

Of course.

“What’s that?” he exclaimed. I told him what it was and he should go back to sleep, and by the time it snoozed the third time, he was quite asleep, enjoying the rest I so desperately wanted. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in months, so Tim has agreed to take the the kids out to the new house tomorrow after school, while I join them on Saturday morning. That will give me one full evening that will be all mine. The kids will get much needed Daddy time, and I will get much needed quiet time (and the possible chance of sleeping past 4:45 am!!) Then I will be refreshed to join them on Saturday!! 🙂

I was about five minutes away from picking up the kids this evening when all of a sudden my phone went dead. One moment it was playing the audio book of Anne of Green Gables, and the next moment, nothing- nada- zilch. Completely and inexplicable dead.

I spent a while on tech support this evening, and honestly I am quite frustrated. This is the second phone that this has happened to in the last 24 months. I do the recommended OS update, and a couple of weeks later the phone dies. I googled it, and found out that I was not alone in my plight, but unfortunately (and of course) my phone was no longer covered by the warranty.

Here’s the dilemma- With Tim working crazy hours, and spending a lot of time out at the new house to be closer to work, it means that I am pretty much the sole caretaker of the children at the moment. So, I HAVE TO HAVE A PHONE! I need to be able to contact the school, the daycare, my mother-in-law, Tim, (and the list goes on.) Not to mention that I absolutely hate commuting without a phone, so this evening I ordered a new phone- a different make than the last two that gave me issues. Lord willing, this one will arrive soon and will be a sturdy machine!

……

I’ve been reading a lot of books lately, mostly mysteries or thrillers, and I have once again landed on a conclusion I have held for a long time- at least for me, reading can be dangerous. I love reading. I love getting lost in a book, my eyes devouring the words almost faster than my mind can process them. I flip through the pages as I get emotionally invested in the characters, rooting for them in due course. But when I make the mistake of choosing fast-paced, edge of your seat books, I run the risk of their adrenaline seeping into my real world, and so it has. I tried to temper it by reading an easier book at the same time, so I could alternate between them, but to be honest all the reading has put me a little on edge, so for the next little while I will stick to calmer waters. I’m excited to finish my ‘easier’ book, Anne of Green Gables, surprised that I had not read it in my youth. I think I started it once or twice, but never actually got through it. So for awhile, it will be just me and Anne (with an ‘E’ of course.)

As for my children, Big E is up to 96 books, C is at 89, and Baby E is at 45 since January 1. We read at least 4-5 books each night, and this evening was no exception. The one that made me laugh the most tonight was called “Everyone Loves Bacon.” In it, everyone does love Bacon, and Bacon knows it. He becomes arrogant and self indulgent, prideful about how much he is adored and how great he smells. He becomes a celebrity, forgets his old friends back in the fridge, drives fancy cars, and wears a fancy mustache. That is until…

He gets eaten. The End.

What I love the most about reading with my kids is watching their faces as the stories unfold. Sometimes they smile, sometimes they get worried, but nearly every time they get involved. I ask them questions as we read, they offer information, they try to guess what will happen next. Some of the books we read are pointless, but most of them seem to come with a moral, and I have found that the sillier the story, the more likely my kids will remember the lesson.

My favorite book that we have read so far was called “How I learned geography.” It was told from he point of view of a boy during WW2. His family had fled their homeland and ended up living in a refugee camp with no money and very little food. One day the dad goes out to buy food, but instead returns with a large map. The mom asks what happened and he said that he knew he didn’t have enough money to buy enough food to do them any good, but instead he got the map and put it up on the wall. The little boy was furious with his father for doing it, but over the next several days, the boy would stare at the map and imagine himself in different places around the world. His imagination was able to tear him away from the absolute misery that his family was enduring, and it helped him to survive the lonely existence he was experiencing. My kids sat in awe as I read the story. They don’t have much concept of war, or hunger, or extreme poverty, so the story was a great lesson in those things.

I got a pedicure this evening. It only cost me $1, the price of two bottle of nail polish I bought on clearance at the grocery store the other day. There were a multitude of color options to choose from, but in the end I decided on a bottle of pink and a bottle of purple. This evening, with my feet propped on a step stool, and a pile of children’s books beside me, I got my toes painted.

This weekend was a difficult one with the kids, with them and me being so overtired. But this evening, well, it was delightful. I read story after story as I felt the nail polish brush rub across my toe nails, and quite often, onto my foot. With marked determination, C created her designs, cleaned off where the polish strayed, and patiently painted each toe. She would glance up and look at the pages of the book I was reading, and then she would turn her attention back to her task. When she was done, she sat by my side with the boys and listened to the remaining stories.

At bedtime they crawled into bed, we said our prayers, and they settled in- almost completely peacefully. 🙂

Last year was a really crazy year for our family, but one of the many blessings we found in it were the people in our church. They stepped up and prayed for us when we needed it the most. Early in the year I was asked if I would like to be a part of the Secret Sister’s ministry as an Honorary Secret Sister. I had never been involved with them before, but as I was given more information it seemed like it would be a good experience. We were fresh in our grief and trying to regain some normalcy, so I gratefully accepted.

Over the course of the past year, there was a different woman praying for me and my family every month. Sometimes my secret sister would leave me a gift, but the time I know she spent in prayer was the most valuable gift she could bestow. They prayed us through some tough decisions, a multitude of illnesses, and transitions that we experienced as a family and I could not be more thankful. This afternoon, my secret sisters were revealed to me. Some of them I knew, and some of them I didn’t- but each woman deeply impacted me. What a blessing to have been a part of that over this past year. 🙂

You know what is the worst part of being on the periphery of a slumber party? It’s really hard to decided, actually, because so much of it is horrible! I knew going into last night that the night might be rough, but I hadn’t prepared myself for the girls not falling asleep until 11:30 pm, and I certainly did not expect them to wake up before 5am this morning!! I also hadn’t factored in that the boys would get me up 4 times between those hours, so it all added up to me getting pretty much zero sleep. So, today was pretty rough. The kids were all very cranky, and honestly, so was I. There were multiple epic meltdowns, and I think we all let out a sigh of relief when it was time for everyone to go to bed this evening.

We had a birthday party this morning, which we didn’t even stay the entire time for because the meltdowns had already started. The afternoon had been rough, with a mandatory nap that the kids were not happy about. When we woke up, I decided to get them out of the house and after we discussed it, they wanted to go to the candy store and then the beach, so that’s what we did. Baby E had a total freak out at the beach that I was making him wear his coat and things didn’t get much better. Even in sleep, I hear Baby E tossing and mumbling his disappointment.

So acknowledging a certain amount to defeat, I’m going to put this day behind me and pray that a good night’s sleep will help us all. 🙂

On a happy note, C had a great time with her cousins and I am very glad they did the sleepover. However, if they ever do one again at Grandma’s house, I’ll be bunking in somewhere else! Ha! 🙂 

There’s a sleepover going on in the room above my head. There have been plenty of giggles, laughing, and the last time I checked they were covered in hand drawn tattoos. C and three of her girl cousins came home with their grandparents and have been bouncing off the walls ever since. It’s a girls’ night in and my boys were pretty disappointed that they were banished to the basement, but I didn’t mind, they will have their turn too. The boys and I watched tv, ate a ridiculous amount of pizza and junk food, played hide and seek, and rounded out the evening with some books before Baby E passed out in his bed.

C spends her time around boys, her brothers being poor substitutes for the imagination of a seven year old girl, so the chance to spend time with her cousins is incredibly special to her.

After I picked up the boys this evening (and before our junk food binge) we dropped by the beach. The weather was beautiful today and they wanted to play on the pirate ship. Interest in that didn’t last long because it was much colder and windier by the water, but we did enjoy watching the icy waves trying to push their way onshore.

Oh, and it’s 10:15pm and the girls are still giggling. It’s going to be a long night! 🙂

I didn’t tell this big kids this morning that their daddy was going to be visiting them for lunch at school. He’s had a crazy schedule lately, and I didn’t want to get their hopes up in case he had to cancel, but I was thrilled when he called me and told me he was on the way. I imagined the kids spotting him in the hallway or cafeteria, and throwing their arms around him, and from what I understand, that is pretty much what happened. They were both so excited to see him and my heart warmed as I listened to them recount their day when I picked them up.

We met daddy at the library and then home for some pizza, playtime, and (of course) story time. They sifted through the books as they sat on the bed with daddy, and finally landed on three books to conquer tonight. I snuck in a bath as Tim tucked the kids into bed and now the house is quiet. What a special day!

Of course, as I was about to hit ‘publish’ I heard Baby E scream. Well, it was a nice couple of hours of quiet while it lasted! 🙂

They say silence is golden, unless you have a toddler. After years of toddler experience, I confirm this to be true.

I handed Baby E his toothbrush this evening and he wandered out of the bathroom. I usually insist they stay in the bathroom while brushing their teeth, but the two big kids were arguing about something and he just walked out. I didn’t think much of it until I noticed that it was quiet, so I decided to track him down.

I found him next to our kitchen table, ramming what I assumed to be his toothbrush rhythmically down on the bench. But then I noticed the sound… it didn’t sound like the bottom end of a tooth brush hitting plastic. It sounded like something puncturing plastic. How could his toothbrush be doing that?!? And that’s when I realized his toothbrush was dangling from his mouth.

Oh no. I stepped forward, trying not to look alarmed and asked him what he was doing. He looked up, smiled at me with a tooth brush between his teeth and a knife in his hands. He was stabbing the bench with a knife!!!

I felt a lump in my throat, but I calmly asked him to stop and to show me what he had in his hands. I mentally sent up a prayer that he didn’t try to throw what he was holding, and he let me get near him and take the knife away. I stared at him, relieved that he was fine, and I looked at the bench and noticed about a dozen knife marks spread about.

I set the knife out of reach and held him, my heart pumping fast as I thought of what could have happened. I told him how dangerous the knife was and we talked about never picking up something like that again.

I had used the knife earlier in the evening to open up a bag of cheese, and while I thought I had placed it far back on the table, apparently it wasn’t far enough and he had gotten ahold of it and gave me a mommy adrenaline rush that I won’t be forgetting any time soon. 😦

a survey of the damage

The kids got an unexpected day home from school today, as it snowed some last night and we woke up to about a half inch on the ground. The back roads must have been bad because what started as a two hour delay turned into a full day off. Of course, I hadn’t heard about the closure until after I had gotten the kids up, fed, dressed, up the hill, and strapped in their carseats ready to head to the daycare. So I unstrapped them, and got them back inside and they stayed with grandma for the day and played with some cousins. And while I wish I had a snow day too, I was glad they got the chance to have some fun and play in the snow! 🙂

4 Bible Stories for Kids and Grown Ups

By C. 

Page 1

500 million years ago (or less or more) Adam and Eve was born. God loved them. One day Adam and Eve disobeyed God, filling the world with darkness.

Page 2

One day Jesus was born to save the world and he was born in a stable.

Page 3

One night Jesus died on a cross to wash away our sins.

Page 4

Three days later a miracle happened and Jesus rose from the dead.