Hide and Seek, little Cable style

On Monday nights Parker is at the beloved scouts, which leaves a rare opportunity for Cooper, Sophie and I to play. The sweetness comes out of Cooper as he gets a chance to be the caring big brother to Sophie. Anyhoo, hide and seek has become our go to game for this night and for these two ages. Candyland ended up in Sophie moving our pieces around non-stop and Trouble just meant over and over again popping. So hide and seek it is, no clean up and lots of fun, cable style. Here are highlights of how we roll.
-After I count to 20 and Cooper is hiding I pretend to look for him all the while I am checking my email or just sitting in the counting chair for a breather, hollering, where are you in the confines of my spot.
-I always choose my spots in comfy places that allow me to just chill out for a while, cuz it takes Cooper forever. Under the duvet in my bed is my favorite spot.
-I also have learned to choose places in dark rooms, because Cooper is scared of dark rooms and doesn't come in them, thus affording me longer chill time. I"m such a good mom aren't I.
-Sophie loves to hide now too, she always hides in the last place the most recent player hid. And she normally crawls into place right in front of you. Quite funny.
-Cooper I think caught on to my dark room trick and brought around a spatula with him so he could reach the lights, darnnit :)
All in all it is lots of fun, lots of laughs. The kids are learnig to count to 20, learning to be creative and quiet, and I am getting some alone time :)

Off for now, (Cooper is still under the bed, just kidding) I"ll post about our pageant fun soon. My favorite part about Christmas with little ones. Oh and I'll leave you with a picture or two of Sophie and one of her many outfit changes. Notice anything wrong?

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If you have 5 minutes

Ok, so I stole this entire post from my recent Real Simple magazine. But as I read through this list, I kept thinking, man this article knows my world. So thought'd I share. I challenge you to do 10 of these things! Here is the premise. Pick a task, any task. These mini chores will give you that juicy accomplishment buzz while making the most of sudden-and fleeting-downtime. Gold star for you!

Call your dad (wish I could)
Refold your sweaters and stack them by color
floss your teeth
sew on a button (Ritchey didn't wear his favorite pants for 6 mo cuz I never got around to this)
pitch 3 old items from your fridge
put to-be donated clothes in a bag by the door (mine are in a bag but have been sitting in my closet for a year, I don't think that counts)
Find that evening bag, scarf or top that got lost in the closet
test pens or markers and toss the dead ones
arrange your hangers so they all face the same way (oh and I hear this trick of hang them the wrong way starting out, then by the end of the year any clothes still hanging that wrong way should be tossed into that donated clothing bag by your door)
clear off the  top of the fridge (I am personally saving all that dust for parker's future science classes)
Remove gum wrappers, receipts and atm slips from your purse.
Scan your medicine cabinet and throw away any expired prescriptions, sunscreens and vitamins (I probably should throw away the painkillers from each birth, i was saving them just in case)
Shred something, anything.
Write a thank-you note you've been putting off.
Walk aroud your house with a small can of white paint for touch-ups.
Download the pictures in your camera to you computer (that one is for you janet, who just buys a new card when she runs out of room :)
Paint your toenails
throw out expired coupons
scan your sock drawer and put any one-offs in a basket. If their matches don't turn up after another load or two, toss them.(I could probably fill a landfill with all of our onesie socks)
Open your file cabinet and get rid of five old files. (ritchey and I fight about this every year at tax time, cuz basically I have no files)
Return the netflix movie. (ok, we suscribed to netflix this summer, we literally still have DateNight on our counter from that first week, unwatched)
Match tupperware with lids, if one doesn't have a lid, pitch it. (This alone could lead to world peace)
Look in your shower stall, ditch any shampoos or body washes you haven't used in forever (or in our case that have been empty for over 2 months but still sitting there)
neaten up the freezer.
Sweep under the kitchen table.

Ok, those are your tasks. Now seriously, don't those resonate with you. I really would feel like I climbed a mtn and had the most productive day if I just did a few of those. Instead of killing all my time reading blogs or posting, oh wait....

Christmas Home Tour

Christmas Home Tour of Alexandria.

Thought I'd give you a Christmas tour around our Griswold house. Actually I think we are the opposite of Griswold, cuz he goes overboard and I go way underboard. This year is especially pathetic because we are only in town in the Month of December about 1/2 the month between Aruba and being in TX this year for the holidays. But I supressed my lazy scrooge and on a 70degree day in Saturday we put up the tree and decorated. I normally decorate both living rooms and mantles, but we put it all in one room this year. So here is a tour of our tree and the random things around the house. The first picture below is Ritchey reading like a week's worth of advent storybook readings, since we were gone the first week of advent. I think the 3 of them lasted in that chair together a total of 5 whopping seconds.

Lets take a closer look at this sweet little tree. The year we went to a Frasier Fur, my favorite, we went smaller because they are more expensive, I love small little trees now, although this may be our smallest, standing a whopping 6 ft. This is also our most random tree, I describe it as a crap gun going off on it. But nobody is coming to visit us this year, I am not hosting a party this year, so we just let the kids go crazy, even helping with the lights and choosing whatever they wanted to put up. I didn't do ribbon, or coordinating bulbs and I tried hard not to rearrange what they put on, although I did just a couple times when I found 3 on one branch. I know someday when they strip my tree of all their ornaments for their own homes, I will have that oh so chic tree, so for now I love my toddler tree. Ok, Lets take a closer look and tour some of the time honored ornaments.

Aah, here is me in my brownie uniform when I was 10 I think. See Scouting does run in the family! Carrie I hope you still have yours.

Here is Ritchey in college. My crafty roomate Rachel made this of Ritchey at the time. He's in a bumper car in case you were wondering and wearing Revlon lipstick I believe. This is one of my favorite ornaments so I always put it in a prominent, gaping hole spot.

You think this is Sophie's don't you, nope, Ritchey's. He had a crush on Ariel, in elementary school actually thru college, at which point his parents bought him this ornament for him to admire on a daily basis. Ritchey did actually get to meet Ariel in Disneyland when his family visited (while they were college aged :). She was kinda scary though, very large busted, with very large seashells, so he kinda got over her and then met me :) But each year the boys make fun of daddy for liking a girl movie.

This is our newest ornament. We try to get an ornament from wherever we travel. We are sorta good about remembering to do that. This was a cute one because Santa is snorkeling, and so did we! I'm so intentional about my design like that.

Here is the bottom bough, which you can tell one of my midget children thought was a great spot for many ornaments.

Each one of my kids has an ornament from their first Christmas, this is sweet little Sophie.

Here is our first Christmas together ornament. Look at the love.

And finally, here is the best part of our craptastic kid tree, the handmade crafty ornaments from the kids. It is true that our tree is pretty random and a hodgepodge, but these really are the best part, although this one is actually rather large, therefore perfect for barespots, but still large for basically a piece of construction paper. But those angel wings are Parker's handprints. There are many more such ornaments on the tree. Ok, finally just a couple shots from around the house.

Another tacky but oh so cute handmade Christmas mobile. I think Cooper actualy made this. Which is great because Parker's crafts far out number Coopers.

The boy's private own little nativity outside their room. I can't believe we actually still have the baby Jesus on this one. It is the true Christmas miracle.

Here is the grown up nativity that I just love. I don't do the best job displaying it, but I still love it. This was one of those gifts Ritchey got me early on in our marriage, the first and last time he listened to all my hinting and figured out what I wanted for Christmas. What is missing is this ginormous camel that he added to it, it literally is 2x the size of Joseph, so we leave it out.

This sweet picture of Parker when he was Sophie's age,caught our eye last night after we came home from a party. We just stared at it, laughed and reminisced. We then went and kissed each kid as they were sleeping. 

And finally our paired down Christmas mantle. I just didn't have it in me to fill the vases, put out the candles, yada yada yada, but hey, all of this isn't so shabby for a 2 week December. I guess we're done having kids, there isn't room for more stockings :). Ok, well that is the only home on our tour this year, thanks for visiting, and come back next year when there will be a whole nother year worth of crafts on our tree.

A brief conversation in our home today

Here is just a brief post and a brief convo in our house today during 5 o'clock clean up.
As Parker passes by cooper he punches him in the stomach. Cooper starts to whine and cry.
I tell him, "I think you'll be ok, you're a tough strong kid."
He keeps half-crying.  "he's mean"
Me to him, "yeh, but you're kinda a whiner"
Parker pipes in, "yeh, you're a whiner"
Me to Parker, "heh, only I'm allowed to call him that".

That is parenting at its best folks.

Aruba, Jamaica ooh I wanna take ya!

That song has been going thru our heads for the past month. So here is my Aruba trip blog. I'll probably blog thru pictures and captions to help jog my memory. Cuz let me tell you, as a parent of young children, you forget all about your vacation on day 2 of being home. Ok, so here we go. This first picture is taken in Miami at a yummy cuban cafe. We had to get up at 3:45 a.m. to make our flight out of houston. Ouch, but after sleeping on the whole flight, we were ready to eat, even in the airport. This is cafe con leche and some kinda spicy potatoes. Oh, I"ll warn you, I love food, and this trip was all about food. Mainly because it was an all inclusive and unlike other all inclusives, this food was awesome. So I ate and ate and ate. Literally had 2 breakfasts a day, two lunches... cuz it was there and free. Bad news for a foodie like me.

Breakfast was amazing, please let me tell you. There was a smoothie station where you could give this sweet woman any fruit and she turned it into a smoothie. Then there was an egg station, a carbs/fried food station, yes that is a homeade hot donut on my plate next to a fried plantain (cooked and carmelized banana), at this spot was also hot off the griddle pancakes, how you like them, banana pancakes, chocolate chip, whatever, with french toast, waffles, and oh yes, a big vat of Nutella, my friend emily and kelli always go on and on about it, this was my first experience and I literally covered an entire waffle with it. There was a bread area with any loaf of anything, a fruit bar an oatmeal, yogurt and hot chocolate area, espresso area, you name it. Ok enought, but like I said, food was the highlight of the trip. Not cooking and forcing food down 3 little ones, not cleaning up, not ever getting to eat sitting down, made this a vacation. Oh and lunch was so yummy too, there was always a station with some sort of ethnic food, the first day was a delicious paella!

We celebrated my birthday at this quaint little restaruant off the grounds that literally sat in the sand. Lobster that night, and chocolate mousse with a firework in it :)

Here is a view from our room, gorgeous. Aruba is a dessert island (despite the fact that it rained a ton while we were there). It is also like the wind surfing capital of the world cuz it is so windy there. I thought maybe it was a fluke, but no, super windy, but that means it kept you cool while on the beach. The first day we just spent by the pool and the beach. I even did a pool aerobics class and we played bingo. People watching on a beach and pool, especially one with a bar, is lots of fun. Let me tell you how american I felt in my "tankini" while even the heaviest and oldest of people are sportin their string bikinis. That water aerobics class was scary, one false move and huge bosom could be flung out for all of us to see. Speaking of which there was one solitary topless woman. I get that other cultures are down with that, but when you are absolutely the only one a beach with tons of people, I mean c'mon you know she had to feel a little odd.  More power to ya sister, I guess.

Another highlight of the trip was a catamaran and snorkeling cruise. It was a rainy morning but the last hour it got sunny. The boat ride was fun, lots of fun people on it, good food, gorgeous blue water. We got to snorkel at 3 different spots, but one of the spots was over a sunken ship. It was really kind of freaky, it came very close to the top of the water, so when i looked down some mast or something was right there, like a ghost ship with all these fish coming at you. Ritchey loved this part as he is fascinated with history and things gone by.

The last day we were there it rained all day, so we hopped on the public bus to go into town shopping. Aruba is a great island, very clean, wonderful people, 100% employment there. It is a dutch colony, but almost all the way to south america, they speak spanish, dutch, english and their own native tongue.

Oh, here is a picture of the hotel where Natalie Holloway stayed. That abduction took place 5 years ago, and is like the last murder they had. Super safe place and that poor incident hurt people's perceptions of the island. Ok, this post was really boring. I'll leave you with a two more pictures. One of the book I devoured while there and a funny picture from the arubian airport. I rarely read books, partially because I am an all or nothin kinda girl, like with food or t.v (why we don't have cable). And when I get into a book, there is no putting it down. This was a fantastic book.We had to wake up at 4:30 the day we left(2:30 LA time), but I slept on almost every flight. The sign below was posted in the Arubian airport, random. So now it is back to life here in cold Louisiana. It is very hard to get in the Christmas spirit when you are gone the first week of December and are leaving before Christmas to celebrate somewhere else. I so desperately want to go get a little charlie brown christmas tree and not do much else. But Ritchey probably wouldn't let me get away with that, and I would be eaten up by mommy guilt, so we'll see.

 

Almost there

Almost to childfree bliss that is, well 5 day bliss, we're not giving them away or anything. But as I was typing up menus and ideas for the grandparents who are watching the kids, I started to worry. Not about my kids, not about our trip, but for my dear dear in-laws. I mean 5 days watching my kids, at my age it is rough, but at 60, thats even rougher. I am hoping and praying (literally) that their behavior will miraculously calm down for just this week, their yes mam's will be right on, and the tantrums and fights will fade away. Now it is true that grandmas have a much better way with kids then us mean ole crotchity parents, but still 5 days is long. Thankfully the Cables have almost an unending supply of patience, that for some reason I just didn't get.  So just a short little post letting you know we are getting ready for Aruba. I have no idea what we'll do for 5 days with no chores, errands or kids. We are bringing books, cards and dice (any other thoughts all you 10 followers? oh and keep it clean :) I still haven't decided on a swim suit from the 100 or so I ordered, still haven't decided if we want to fork out $50 to check a bag rather than cram it all into 2 little carryons, and most of all, I still need to go get a pedicure, so that my pasty white legs and feet don't scare off too many people. If I don't post before Wed, well think of me on the beach with my mai tai, my rockin new suit. But don't be too jealous, one thing you can count on is I won't return a bronze goddess, you'll never no I even set foot on the beach.

The depths of my love for Ritchey on Thanksgiving.

Oh Asparagus dish, oh how you will not let me escape you. Below you will get a step by step walk thru of my experience with Ritchey's only request for thanksgiving, asparagus dish. I know what you are saying right now, oh I love asparagus! Oh, and so do I. But I really don't think the nasty things I dumped out of the cans can really be called asparagus. They certainly didn't smell like asparagus, more like stale vomit, (I literally had to plug my nose) and they didn't feel like asparagus, but maybe more like a limp wet sock. oh wait that is what they smelt like too. Anyhoo. I'm not even going to go into the rest of the recipe cuz you will see it below. But I will say, this is a Cable family must have, they eat it by the panful at their holiday traditions, Donna (who married my brother in law) and I have both been initiated in the asparagus dish club. Even more mortifying was that I had to bring this to someone's house I had never been to before. But surprisingly many of them enjoyed it, that made Ritchey feel so much better, after the grief I gave him all day. So here you go, feast your eyes on this. And just so you don't go to bed with this as your last image I left you with my family's time honored recipe. Brown sugar and butter in one of the pictures, now that is heavenly. Happy late Thanksgiving. I hope everyone enjoys all the family traditions throughout the holidays, even the not so enjoyable ones like this.

 The hard boiled eggs really add the delicious aroma of the canned asparagus.

 What would a thanksgiving dish be without cream soups.

 I deviate a little from Janet's velveeta and went with sharp cheddar. I literally could not bring myself to cover anything with velveeta.

 Just when you hoped or thought it was over, the final touch, breadcrumbs (oh no, he wouldn't let me), rather SALTINES!!

 Look at that layered perfection.

 Now this is another story. Anything with brown sugar and butter can't go wrong. This is my mom's candied yam's recipe. And no, there are no marshmallows on this.

Here's to family recipes, the good and the bad!

I miss living with a girl!

Can I just say swimsuit shopping and feedback on clothes is just pointless with a man. Every time I buy a new outfit, get a new haircut, try on the dreaded swimsuit, I have to rely on pictures from a phone, or pictures by said useless man, and then send them off to my sister or some other girlfriend to get some real honest feedback. Today was really brutal, i took pictures in the winter with my muffin top and all, from all angles so that my sister could see whether my new swimsuit choices were truly brutal or not so bad. I threatened her with no laughing, no sharing with a single soul even her husband and no black mailing. But she is kinda used to it now. So yes, there are days I miss living with my roomate Rachel, living down the street from a good girlfriend, and shopping with my brutally honest sister. Sharing shoes, sharing opinions, and less eye rolls when I just can't make up my mind. So if you ever see me in an awful outfit, with an awful haircut, or hanging out of my suit in all the wrong places, just blame Ritchey and his manly lack of contructive feedback in all such things :)

Thoughts about raising kids.

So Ritch and I got in a serious child raising discussion the other night. I think I have mentioned that my boys have been in this neverending (like going on a year now) hyper mode phase. Its hard to enjoy dinner times, free time, family time, and all times in between because you are having to holler over their loudness, force them in the bath, force them in bed, and break up the fights. But more than outright disobedience it is just the energy they have which does lead to them not hearing a word we are saying. Anyhoo, Ritch in particular has not enjoyed this phase of parenting. It exhausts him physically and me mentally. He feels all he does from the minute he gets home is say, no, stop that, no, no, cut it out, time out, spanking, get in bed, quiet down, kinda stuff, and that is no fun. He was sharing all the fun memories of his childhood, and specifically commented that he was ever like this as a boy. Now granted we rarely remember what we were like, but I do believe that he was a quiet boy, always in his head, solving problems, etc. And the personality of he and his brother are different then ours. But its also hard not to examine our parenting, is there something we are doing that is causing such distruption and craziness. So since Ritchey can only compare our childrearing and homelife to that he had growing up, this is what he went on. The only conclusion Ritchey can come to is the fact that we lead a much more structured home life then he had growing up. His family never had bed times, never monitored t.v. time or junk food consumption, never had their kids get jobs in their teen years, no curfews, etc. Sam and Janet are very much go with the flow, flexible folks. And despite what most parenting books might say, they produced 3 excellent, responsible young men. Our house is quite different. We are in no way some authoritative prison like home. But we definitely have some boundaries. We have snacks at snack time rather then grazing all day, we have limits on t.v. time and video game time. We have a pretty consistent bedtime and nap times. We have family dinners most nights, battling with Cooper every night to choke down his food. We have homework time, clean up time, etc. etc. Now I personally don't feel that these structures are too, well structured. But Ritchey wonders. Are our kids having a fun and carefree childhood, or are we dictating their every move. It definitely got me thinking, I see his point. But when I break it down, I truly feel like all of these structures/routines are from my conviction and heart, and are best for my family. They are not decisions made on a whim or to have a controlled life. I truly don't want my kids watching t.v. at their whim. I don't want video games to be their go to activity, I want them to ask when they want a snack rather then have free reign of the junkfood drawer and so forth so on. I realize this is different in every family and I totally reserve judgement, but my heart of hearts just can't relax on it. I have this problem lots in life. I am pretty black and white when it comes to my personal convictions. Now thankfully, thanks to Romans, I have relaxed in how I apply my convictions to others, but for myself and my family, its hard to shake what I feel is best. I'm certainly open to discussion, as Ritchey and I did the other night, but it takes a very good argument or a massive movement of the spirit to show me otherwise. And let me interject that I am trying to say YES to their random crazy impulses more, reserving no to those things I feel strongly about. Anyhoo, So here are my conclusions, and I would definitely be open to some of yours. Ritchey thinks the boys are acting up because of all the rules/structures (but he couldn't name a rule or routine that he thinks should go), I think they are in this phase cuz of their ages. 7 years old is a not an older child with maturity and self discipline, but they are slowly trying to find their new independence, have wildly creative minds, and still tons of toddler energy. Cooper, my 5 year old, well that is all you have to say, 5 year old boy with an older brother. No longer is he this 3 or 4 year old toddler that just toddles around folllowing and obeying his brother, now he is a full on participant with his own crazy ideas and plans and voice. I dunno, any amens to these two ages. So combined, watch out. And Cooper especially is my free spirit, melodramatic one, which Ritchey's family never had thrown into the mix. And my second conclusion, is yes, my kids may not have the same fond memories that Ritchey has, like late nights with his parents, or cartoons all Saturday morning (although we do all snuggle in bed and watch a few cartoons together on Saturday), but they will have fun memories, just different memories. I dunno, maybe I'm making excuses. I do know that as Parker in particular ages, I need to figure out how to give him freedoms and independence. And I don't want them to look back on this time as a time they tried to break free. But I just don't feel that is what our family is like, I"m not sure Ritchey thinks that way either. The point is, we are trying our best (pretty much), we are seeking the Lord and following what I hope He is laying on our hearts, and we are trying to keep the dialogue going, remaining flexible over the years. I think our kids have  a good life. I think when we do follow our routines and our rules, I do it in love and most of the time tenderness. We all do damage to our kids in the long run, I hope ours is kept to a minimum. So as Ritch and I ended our discussion, our final thought, was, man, raising kids is hard. Especially if you want to do a good job. Ok, I vented. I don't post this necessarily looking for answers, although if you have some, do share. And I don't post this to hear feedback saying, "oh, no, you are doing a great job". I just do it to keep up the dialogue I suppose, and to be held accountable maybe, and well just to vent, cuz that is what a blog is all about. Thanks for listening to my more serious rantings this evening. Here is a pic of my wonderful little clan, just for the fun of it.

Will you Marry Me

So today Parker had a friend over, a friend who is a girl. Parker is totally not into girls, kinda understands what a girlfriend is, kinda doesn't. But he is a goofball. So in the car today he and his friend girl were in the way back of my smokin mini van. He leans over to her and says "You are lovely and I'm going to marry you and kiss you." At which he lunged for her to peck one on her. Now he didnt' say this in a sweet meaningful way, but in a teasing kinda way. She yelled back, "oh no your not mr. kissy bissy, you are gross and disgusting and crazy. Nice. He kept trying to lay one on her in an annoying (and innocent way). I finally told him to quit and to save his kisses for his wife. That whoever he married someday wouldn't be so happy that he gave away so many kissed to Rebekah when he was 7. "Well what if I marry her?" was his as usual smart alec response. At which she reminded him that there was no way she was going to marry him. Then he proceeds to tell me that no one wants to marry him, that all girls think boys are ugly and gross. Now Rebekah did chime in that she thinks boys are beautiful. So then Parker changed gears and instead of kissing her, tried picking his nose in front of her, seriously debating whether he should wipe a booger on her. Nice, Parker, real lady killer, wonder why Rebekah called you gross and disgusting.

Sleepover Fun

Oh how fun 7 year old boys are. If you haven't had one around you in a while, they are a funny breed. And you kinda think your's is the only dorky one, until you get them together and see the symphony of fun and dorky all put together. They laugh at the littlest of things, bodily noises, dumb jokes, funny sounds, physical comedy. And they seem to be trying to one up each other in everything, especially in the realm of laughs. Thus started our night, our first sleepover with 2 other wonderful dorky little boys (and I do say dorky with all the love in my heart). On the way back to our house from picking them up, they filled the back seat with loud squeels and the aforementioned dumb jokes. Parker especially was crazy, bouncing around trying to make his friends laugh with any little comment. Thankfully he sort of chilled out by the time he got home. It was interesting watching the dynamics. You could definitely tell the other two had older siblings, they were much wiser in the ways of the world, well in the ways of their christian school world. Parker was singing some rhymig song and would stumble upon a bad word on accident, like when he was rhyming something to Ritch. He had no idea it was a bad word but the other too were quick to point it out. It was kinda cute though, they begged him not to say that word anymore, that is wasn't a good word. They were the cuss police. And funny thing the next song was them quoting all the books of the Bible they had learned at school. I was cracking up from the front seat. Listening to them debate what came after 1 Corinthians was comical as I'm pretty sure this was the first time in the history of 2nd grade boy sleepovers this had been done. Anyhoo. I digress. We went home had pizza, rootbeer and cheese puffs. (have you ever tried to have just one handful of cheesepuffs, impossible). They played some Wii NBA basketball. Another opportunity for the other boys to show their higher level of maturity. They knew every player, team, and move and smack talking. At one point one little boy yelled out after a slam dunk, "That's how I roll, suckas, Lebron's the man". parker had no idea what they were talking about or even how to play the game, he had always been content playing 1990's version of double dribble with his dad. And as he shied away from playing, readily confessing he didn't know how, they were so sweet to encourage him to try and that they would show him what to do. They really were sweet boys. Not one bit of fighting, bickering, gossip, drama, malice and so forth, quite different from my sleepover days. After video games we went outside to build a fire and roast marshmallows. They were hysterical out there too, in typical 7 year old boy fashion. And another highlight of the evening was that one boy (while I ran inside) peed on the fire to help it go out. Priceless.  A huge wrestling fest took place at jammy time, that was my favorite part. I see my boys wrestle with Ritchey all the time, but this was way better. No fake daddy moves, no letting the other guy win, even Cooper jumped on the dog pile. They were giggling like little girls. One boy had no modesty in changing clothes (same kid who peed on the fire), another brought along cologne so he could smell better, and Parker got dressed behind his chair. We popped in a movie and finally turned out the lights on 3 tired boys at a 11 p.m. And of course everyone was up by 7 a.m. I put myself thru the torture of making star wars pancakes again, served up with chocolate milk. And after breakfast, more wii, more outside play and after a  lego building contest, the boys were gone. And it was a ton of fun. Such sweet, fun loving, innocent little boys. I loved it and so did Parker, and Cooper for that matter since they were kind enough to include him on almost everything. We will definitely do a sleepover again, maybe not too soon, since it left in its wake 2 very tired and crabby boys. And actually Cooper 2 days later has been in bed all day with a 102 degree temp. Probably not related, but the lack of sleep probably didn't help his immune system. Yay for little boys, frogs and snails and puppy dog tails. Enjoy the pics and brief clip of the future of WWF.

Highs and Lows of Motherhood

Ok- First the high moment before I share my low moment.
I have a new trick for clean up time around the house. Our basic 5 o'clock clean up that I have shared about in the past was getting kind of old and routine, still working, but just not as motivating. I used to give them each 2 rooms to clean in their entirety (yes everyday at 5 p.m.) If they did a great job without 3 strikes they won dessert for the night. Strikes came from getting off track, constant reminding and a poor job in the end. Anyhoo, I got this latest twist from a genius teacher who knows how to get little kids to clean up a kindergarten room. I now tell my boys that there is a secret item laying around somewhere that needs to be cleaned up. I set the timer for 15 minutes and whoever happens to clean up the secret item I am thinking of, they get the prize. (Candy out of the halloween bag) It has worked great. They scurry around quickly (which was one way the old way was getting old, they were taking forever and lost their scurrying drive) trying to pick up more than the other in hopes that they cleaned up the secret item. One day it was a spoon lying in the middle of the toy room, another day it was a picture album under the art table. Now unfortunately Parker has picked the item up every time. But he is my wonderful boy who then always chooses a candy with multiple pieces so he can share with the very sad Cooper and mooch Sophie. But tonight I am going to have to stack the deck in favor of my little redheaded sweetpea. I'll just say the secret item is something that I saw him specifically pick up- cuz that is true motherhood love. yay for my clean house!

Ok, for my low. So I got totally shot down today by a teacher in my efforts to be a stellar party planning room mom. I'm not really the room mom, there isn't one. And for many reasons too long to go into here, Parker's class has been a bit discombobulated (I'm sure I nailed the spelling of that!) and has kind of gotten the raw end of the deal in a lot of areas. But that is life. So when the teacher asked me if I could help plan their thanksgiving party, I did what comes naturally, kinda waivered and wanted to bail. But Ritchey reminded me that this is why I am a stay at home mom, so I can do all these wonderful stay at home, kid supportive things. Ok, does this mean I have to get off my bum, put the bon bons away and turn off Oprah. Just kidding of course. So with Ritchey's little pep talk I embraced the idea and got planning. I was going to plan the best party ever for them. I placed phone calls, got prices, made lists. Then I called the sort of teacher (long story) and gave her my ideas. And can I say they were all completely shot down! Yes! She has her mind set on a certain event type and venue, and mine were definetely not along those lines. So God bless her for feeling the freedom to say no thank you. But man, I must admit I was pretty taken a back, bummed and a little frustrated. So there ya go. My first time trying to be all miss room mom, didn't go so well. Their day will be fine, and I"ll still help out where needed, but guess I won't get to do what I do best,  plan and organize the whole shebang.

So there ya go, the day in the life of a stay at home mom.

Preacher's Kid

So Parker, who never tells me anything about school, nada. Not even about gym, recess or lunch, the biggies. He didn't even tell me he had a new teacher. For all I know I drop him off and he skips school all day, finally shared a tidbit, and its kinda funny. "Mom, when I raise my hand a lot to answer questions during Bible time, my teacher calls on me and then tells my other teacher (he has two, one in training), that I do so well and know answers cuz my daddy is a preacher" So my thoughts were, great, you're already being typecast and labeled the preachers kid, I can just see the other kids rolling their eyes. But I was also proud to know he actually raised his hand. (I already knew he has a crazy accurate mind for all things Bible). But he is so shy in school I was shocked to hear he actually raised his hand to answer. I was worried he only answered during Bible time so I asked him if he raised his hand during math, reading etc. and shockingly he does. So there ya go. I'm happy and concerned all at once. Happy he knows God's Word well, happy he feels the freedom and confidence to raise his hand. But I'm also seeing him being that "annoying preacher's kid with all the Bible answers" and then the final concern is that, is this all he will be. That he'll  never know he can skip class, that he can rebel at times, that he can love the dummies and the heathens of the world :) that he would love Jesus really and truly with his heart, soul AND mind. But I also don't want this to be his early phase, he gets burned out by always knowing the Bible answers and living up at the church, that he forsakes us all and rebells forever. So can you tell I'm reading way to much into this simple comment of his. It was funny, but gave me pause, I guess that's all I'm saying.

Chats with Sophie

This morning, in the quiet of Parker and Cooper away at school, Sophie grabbed my hand and sat me down on the couch. Then she went and sat across from me on the comfy chair, crossed her legs and began to chat. It wasn't her words she knew, but her adult chat, she kind of babbles in a way that adults sound like and uses hand gestures that she sees adults use. She was having a chat with mommy. I loved it. I asked her if she would sit across from me like this 20 years from now after getting home late and chat with me. She said yes. Then she went and grabbed her baby doll to rock while talking to me. I asked her if she would come visit me once she had babies and still sit and chat with me. She smiled and said yes and continued to rock her baby. For some reason I never really visited with my parents much or stayed up late catching up with them, I don't know why, it just didn't happen. But Sophie and I had a nice conversation, and I hope I got a taste of years to come.

This and That

oh friends. I have gotten dangerously close to giving up on blogging. Remember how gung ho I was just a month or two ago, but now I see why so many friends have fizzled away. Its not even that I am too busy, in fact things feel a bit slow around here. And really with this crazy crew around here, I do have things to blog about. But its more the feeling of, I don't really feel like it. But I will not give up, cuz in general I am a major giver upper. Ritch and I even laughed at this thought when we were considering enrolling Parker in scouts, well, if he is anything like us, he'll give up eventually. We kinda took comfort in that too, I know weird. So I will try my hardest to not give up.

Also I can't find my camera charger, so my camera is not a trusty friend to this blog these days.

But here are some things that have been going on. Cooper celebrated his much anticipated generic bday at Chuck E Cheese. It was wonderful. It was at 3 o'clock on a Friday and there was't another soul there. Which was great cuz keeping up with the 10 five year olds was enough on its own. A funny story about this was that as always I went cheap. I didn't want to pay the $11 per child just so they could have pizza and a personal visit from Chuck E. so we just brought our own cake, drinks, chips and bought some tokens for everyone. Except for the fact that that fee also reserves you a table and that they didn't let our drinks and chips in, whats wrong with piling toddlers in a couple booths and not having any drinks to wash down my amazing light saber cake. Ritchey said it served me right being a cheapskate. But hey, I saved $100, thats not just chump change folks. Anyhoo, it was a sucess. My mom was in town and the fact she survived a chuck e cheese bday party and living in my own personal chuck e cheese of a home for a long weekend was testimony to how great our weekend was. (minus the fact that her new tradition is to let each child pick out their own bday gift, which is always disasterous. Cooper picked out an entirely new bedroom linen set, yes starwars, nasty scratchy comforter and matching sham and all, it is gross)

Also that weekend the boys had their first rapides junior runner race. This is the first athletic competition or group activity we have ever enrolled Cooper in, so we were curious to see how our little waif child faired. (he is 2T in waist size) And it had been a while since Parker tapped into that drive I know he has somewhere. Well, they both did great. Cooper shocked us all by coming in 4th place out of like 44 boys (6th out of 131kids), he ran the whole 1/2 mile, (with Ritchey jogging along) was beet red at the end, but loved every minute of it. And Parker also did great. He was more aggressive in his starts, and even propelled past a couple people in the homestretch, he too got 12th out of 68 boys. Ritch and I, and my mom, were so excited and so proud. What a funny feeling watching your kids work their hearts out, sweat, painful faces, achy bodies, and do so well. I was almost in tears.

And finally another great parenting idea going on here, not mine, so I can brag. My kids have gotten crazy unruly, disrespectful and disobedient (not out of malice but out of shear energy and inability to even here me barking at them). So we went back to the basics of yes mam and yes sir, no mam and no sir at every level. Because this basic level of acknowledging us, respecting and answering us, really could solve a myriad of issues. So my wonderful early educ. friend gave us the idea of the marble jar. its all about rewards with her, not removals. So every time they replied with yes mam or no sir, or whatever, they get a marble in the jar and when it is full, which it basically is after less than 2 weeks, they get to go to the dollar store. it has been genius. And it is a family jar, so Parker keeps encouraging Cooper to say yes mam as to rack up more marbles. From maybe one yes mam every couple days by our eldest only, we are at at least 10 a day. Its actually kind of annoying at times as they battle for marbles, but it is doing the trick. The energy isn't down around here, but the following guidance and answering me and doing what I ask is definitely getting better.

Here are some pics before I lost my camera case.

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That last pic is of my race for the cure 5k. I love 5ks, just hard enough to work for, but not painfully difficult. I wish they were free, I'd do one every weekend.  I kinda look like I am floating on air here, I normally look this happy and gracefull while exercising :).

ok, so thats that, my wonderul nailbiter of a blog. Sorry I never got that knowing God quote for you. Just go buy the book, it is a classic and a great "going back to the basics with marbles" kinda thing for your faith. Off to bed, alone, Ritch is off on a soul searching retreat. Its good for him, and in the end, good for us