Two stories from church today. First, I was the lector for the first reading. When I got back to my seat, Jack came over to me and said, "you were talking about Egypt!" I about fell out of my seat! In my reading I did mention Egypt about 1/3 of the way in! My baby was listening?! Amazing.
Second, today at church Henry was a little down. He was overly tired and hungry and he had scraped his head earlier in the day, so that was hurting him. During the homily, Fr. Mike had told everyone that they were welcome to come up and get a little lamb medallion that you could carry in your pocket as a prayer reminder for Lent. So, during a particularly down moment for Henry, I asked him if he wanted to go up to the alter after church to get a little lamb. Henry immediately perked up and said, "Oh yeah!" Then he wandered up to the window of the cry room (aka where-we-sit-and-only-hear-every-other-word-each-week). He asked me where the little lambs were. I said they were on the purple cloth on the stairs up to the alter. He looked confused, came back to me and said, "but I don't see any animals." I said that they were little and flat so they were hard to see. He burst into tears and said, "but I thought I was getting a little lamb that was alive!" My heart broke! I immediately told him we can go tomorrow to the pet store to buy a fish.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day!
I hope you are all having a lovely Valentine's day! We had had a good time here celebrating that and Luke's birthday. We started off with a flurry of Valentine exchanges first thing this morning. I seriously cried when Henry gave his home-made Valentine to William and explained that that the two smiley faces he had drawn were he and William. William proudly gave me some lotion and a box of Hershey's kisses that Jack was very interested in. Jack kept saying, "oh chocolate! How nice!" The boys each gave Luke an IndyCar Hot Wheel. Then I scrambled to wrap Luke's birthday presents, because I'm just that prepared!
Then it was off to CCD classes for Henry and William. Luke, Jack and I went to Einstein's Bagels for a yummy breakfast. Then we picked the other boys back up. I then scrambled to wrap the kid's Valentine gifts, because I'm just that prepared! : ) Next it was off to the kitchen to bake birthday cupcakes. Sadly I have only one muffin pan, so I made 12 perfectly lovely cupcakes and then chose to put the rest of the batter into these aluminum star shaped baking cup thingys. I ignored the advice to only fill them halfway, or I have no depth perception and couldn't tell how much was halfway, whichever you choose to believe. The stars overflowed all over the place and made a lovely mess and they only slightly resemble stars now. In the mean time, Luke went to a taco van outside of a barbecue shack to get us tacos for lunch. Sounds terrible, tastes out of this world!
After lunch we sang "Happy Birthday" (the Tom Chapin version for those of you who are in-the-know) and gave Luke his gifts. I have to admit they were rather boring on my part. The kids found it rather hysterical and puzzling that dad got things like pants and a book of car wash coupons and something to plug into the car to listen to his iPhone.
Then came our traditional Valentine's day scavenger hunt. This is a tradition from my family. Considering how notoriously awful I was at this game, it may come as a surprise that I chose to carry on this tradition. In fact, I think that every year I either had to have my sisters help me decipher the clues or my parents would just get tired of waiting for me and tell me where the next clue was. One year my parents were feeling particularly evil or lazy or punch-drunk or something and all my clues were things like "in a plant" and "a chair". That may sound easy, but if you have ever looked under every chair in a house or in every plant my mother owns, you would understand the sheer amount of work I did for my little stuffed animal that year!
Anyway, we have the rule that you get the same number of clues as your age and we go youngest to oldest. Jack proved to be highly unobservant as Luke had to put his hand on his clue that was right in front of his face before he saw it. Henry displayed how very bad I am at writing clues as it took him a grand total of 90 seconds to get through his clues and on to his gift. William asked me for "hard clues" this year, so he actually had trouble coming up with a few of them. I was proud of myself for writing something "hard" and proud of him for carrying on my tradition of bad-clue-finding. In the end, every boy got a shirt and a fun gift.
The day is only half over and I'm sure we have more fun in store, but I'm mainly planning on watching the Olympics and moaning over the fact that I've eaten a coffee cake, a bagel, and a giant van-taco today.
Then it was off to CCD classes for Henry and William. Luke, Jack and I went to Einstein's Bagels for a yummy breakfast. Then we picked the other boys back up. I then scrambled to wrap the kid's Valentine gifts, because I'm just that prepared! : ) Next it was off to the kitchen to bake birthday cupcakes. Sadly I have only one muffin pan, so I made 12 perfectly lovely cupcakes and then chose to put the rest of the batter into these aluminum star shaped baking cup thingys. I ignored the advice to only fill them halfway, or I have no depth perception and couldn't tell how much was halfway, whichever you choose to believe. The stars overflowed all over the place and made a lovely mess and they only slightly resemble stars now. In the mean time, Luke went to a taco van outside of a barbecue shack to get us tacos for lunch. Sounds terrible, tastes out of this world!
After lunch we sang "Happy Birthday" (the Tom Chapin version for those of you who are in-the-know) and gave Luke his gifts. I have to admit they were rather boring on my part. The kids found it rather hysterical and puzzling that dad got things like pants and a book of car wash coupons and something to plug into the car to listen to his iPhone.
Then came our traditional Valentine's day scavenger hunt. This is a tradition from my family. Considering how notoriously awful I was at this game, it may come as a surprise that I chose to carry on this tradition. In fact, I think that every year I either had to have my sisters help me decipher the clues or my parents would just get tired of waiting for me and tell me where the next clue was. One year my parents were feeling particularly evil or lazy or punch-drunk or something and all my clues were things like "in a plant" and "a chair". That may sound easy, but if you have ever looked under every chair in a house or in every plant my mother owns, you would understand the sheer amount of work I did for my little stuffed animal that year!
Anyway, we have the rule that you get the same number of clues as your age and we go youngest to oldest. Jack proved to be highly unobservant as Luke had to put his hand on his clue that was right in front of his face before he saw it. Henry displayed how very bad I am at writing clues as it took him a grand total of 90 seconds to get through his clues and on to his gift. William asked me for "hard clues" this year, so he actually had trouble coming up with a few of them. I was proud of myself for writing something "hard" and proud of him for carrying on my tradition of bad-clue-finding. In the end, every boy got a shirt and a fun gift.
The day is only half over and I'm sure we have more fun in store, but I'm mainly planning on watching the Olympics and moaning over the fact that I've eaten a coffee cake, a bagel, and a giant van-taco today.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Seasonal whatever whatever disorder
You know that disorder they talk about when you don't see the sun in forever? Like what happens every single Indiana winter? Well, in an effort to curb my sinking mood, I'm going to list a bunch of stuff that makes me happy. I find this to be very helpful therapy. And cheap. It is cheap therapy, which is all anyone can afford these days.
1. Jack snuggles. This kid is a champion snuggler. I finally taught one of my kids to give me snuggles. You just can't be sad with a mouth full of orange curls as your kid burrows into your shoulder with a sweet little "my mommy" escaping his lips.
2. Qdoba taco salads. Yum.
3. When William just walks up to me and says, "Mom, what is the Cat's Eye Nebula?" And 10 seconds later he is trying to explain to me how to get another extra life on Mario Brothers. And 10 seconds after that he is telling me that even though he is 7, he really loves the Clifford movie and wants to watch it. And 10 seconds later he wants to read me a story he wrote.
4. The squirrels on our back deck. I love to watch them eat squirrel corn.
5. The fact that Henry and William spent a lot of time making Valentines for each other today with out Luke or I suggesting they do such a thing. And that they are both adamant about hiding them until Valentines Day for each other.
6. That Henry can write his name, tell me the sounds that letters make, spell a few words, and he wants to be able to add and read. He has totally blossomed in the past two months and it is just so exciting to watch.
7. Word puzzle books. Just got my first one from my subscription I bought with Christmas money. Puzzle books that come in the mail are even better than just plain puzzle books. Mail (that isn't a bill) also makes me very happy.
8. The half hour that happens once every three weeks where all the laundry is done.
9. When Luke comes home. Days are long when you are the only grown up in the house! I could say something snarky here about Luke not being a real grown up, but that would be so beneath me. But teasing Luke is also something that makes me happy...
10. The ladies in my life. Mom, sisters, aunts, friends...in this testosterone world I have gotten myself into, you are so important to me.
11. You guys too. Dad, uncles, friends...I like you guys too. : )
12. A fresh jar of peanut butter. I love when you open it and it is untouched and smells so good. Only made better by a perfect green apple to spread it on.
13. The Colts. Oh, Peyton, I'm counting on you!
That's it for now. The kids are literally jumping off the couch onto the ottoman and then falling onto the floor. They are yelling "ow, ow, ow, ow" and making strange spitting noises. I'm kind of afraid to go in there, actually. Maybe I'll just keep typing until they stop. Of course, then I may never stop typing. I think if I left them to their own devices, they would explode into a glorious burst of light and giggles. That's my current theory anyway....
1. Jack snuggles. This kid is a champion snuggler. I finally taught one of my kids to give me snuggles. You just can't be sad with a mouth full of orange curls as your kid burrows into your shoulder with a sweet little "my mommy" escaping his lips.
2. Qdoba taco salads. Yum.
3. When William just walks up to me and says, "Mom, what is the Cat's Eye Nebula?" And 10 seconds later he is trying to explain to me how to get another extra life on Mario Brothers. And 10 seconds after that he is telling me that even though he is 7, he really loves the Clifford movie and wants to watch it. And 10 seconds later he wants to read me a story he wrote.
4. The squirrels on our back deck. I love to watch them eat squirrel corn.
5. The fact that Henry and William spent a lot of time making Valentines for each other today with out Luke or I suggesting they do such a thing. And that they are both adamant about hiding them until Valentines Day for each other.
6. That Henry can write his name, tell me the sounds that letters make, spell a few words, and he wants to be able to add and read. He has totally blossomed in the past two months and it is just so exciting to watch.
7. Word puzzle books. Just got my first one from my subscription I bought with Christmas money. Puzzle books that come in the mail are even better than just plain puzzle books. Mail (that isn't a bill) also makes me very happy.
8. The half hour that happens once every three weeks where all the laundry is done.
9. When Luke comes home. Days are long when you are the only grown up in the house! I could say something snarky here about Luke not being a real grown up, but that would be so beneath me. But teasing Luke is also something that makes me happy...
10. The ladies in my life. Mom, sisters, aunts, friends...in this testosterone world I have gotten myself into, you are so important to me.
11. You guys too. Dad, uncles, friends...I like you guys too. : )
12. A fresh jar of peanut butter. I love when you open it and it is untouched and smells so good. Only made better by a perfect green apple to spread it on.
13. The Colts. Oh, Peyton, I'm counting on you!
That's it for now. The kids are literally jumping off the couch onto the ottoman and then falling onto the floor. They are yelling "ow, ow, ow, ow" and making strange spitting noises. I'm kind of afraid to go in there, actually. Maybe I'll just keep typing until they stop. Of course, then I may never stop typing. I think if I left them to their own devices, they would explode into a glorious burst of light and giggles. That's my current theory anyway....
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