Overheard

We often separate our boys at bedtime. Once they're asleep, we put them back in their room; Bryce & Nathan share the full bottom bunk, and Jeffrey sleeps on the twin top bunk.

Tonight we put Nathan in our room and he had a fit. He was miserably crying and saying he wanted to be in his own bed tonight. So Rob told him that once he was asleep, we would put him in his own bed.

Now, to what I just overheard Nathan yelling at the top of his lungs from our bed:

Nathan--Dad! DAAAAD! Daaaa-aaaad!
Iiiiiiiiii'm
Asleeeeeep!
Daaaaad!

Clearly, he still wants to be put into his own bed. While he's awake.

EXCUSE THIS HOUSE

Author: Unknown

"Some houses try to hide* the fact
That children shelter there;
Ours boasts of it quite openly,
The signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the doors;
I should apologize, I guess,
For toys strewn on the floor.
But I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read;
And if the doorbell doesn't shine,
Their eyes will shine instead.
For when at times I'm forced to choose
The one job or the other;
I'd like to cook and clean and scrub,
But first I'll be a mother."

The bad part is when I don't do the possible cleaning inferred in the above poem, but also don't really tend to the children, either....




*my sister, Kristy, doesn't try to hide her children's messes--she's actually planning on putting up a vinyl board sign in her house that says "No, this house is not under contstruction. Children live here." Ha ha ha ha!

Mushy-ness

I can't help it. It's thanksgiving. I am thankful for messy children and my messy house; it means we're living, engaged, plugged in. I can't say I'm thankful for all the fighting, but I'm thankful for the little moments that make me smile, chuckle, or roll my eyes.

Enter mushy-ness and cliches that I really mean:

Rob. What more can I say?

How did I get so lucky? There are not words to describe? He's my knight in shining armor? (See, I warned you about cliches) Don't think we don't fight. We do. A lot. Especially now that we've been married nearly 12 years, and boy do we get irritated with our spouse having the same annoying mannerisms they had 12 years ago that attracted us to them when we were dating.

But I often feel like Rob is one in a million. He treats me with dignity and respect. He doesn't put me down. He believes that sarcasm is destructive, and never uses against me vulnerable parts about myself.

When I spend the day crashing and watching online tv shows inbetween carpools, grocery runs, and telephone calls, and he comes home at 8 to find the kids have been grazing on apples, peanut butter, crackers, bagels, and carrots, he doesn't yell at me, or even passive-aggressively sigh,or make little comments out of the side of his mouth. He starts cleaning up their piles of messes, and then cooks a light dinner, maybe chicken salsa quesadillas and some frozen veggies warmed up. He keeps going even when he doesn't want to, even if I've given up for the time being.

He listens to me, he validates what is important, exciting, boring, or frustrating to me. He is FAR more selfless and pride-less than myself. In the bedroom he treats me like a queen, always taking the time to care more about me being happy, than himself.

He does most of our laundry. He does most of our dishes, and cleans out the litter box and remembers to feed the cats. He does the morning routines while I sleep (and I sleep HARD), and wakes me up when he's leaving for work. He does the weekend cooking. He always makes sure we have family prayer in the morning and at night. How much more romantic could he be?

And the computers, woohoo for Rob. He can troubleshoot just about anything, even if he would rather be doing something else (i.e. playing WoW). He comes and helps me figure things out that are beyond my understanding.

He won't let me beat myself for my sins and shortcomings, explaining that is Satan's plan, to discourage me into believing I'm a hopeless cause (even though it's hard not to believe that!). He won't let me compare myself, and has actually gotten it through my head that I can't compare my worst against someone else's best, which we gals ALL know we do. In fact, we compare our worst against the best parts of a dozen different people's strengths, creating this impossible, enviable amazing person to wish we were, that doesn't exist.

He defines success as being able to help his wife be happy. What more could a little cinderella wish for? He makes me want to be a better person. Here's hoping we make it to the celestial kingdom together, because he's a keeper! I love you, Rob.


and ps. Happy Birthday tomorrow, honey.

You took the words right out of my mouth

Well, not really. I didn't think up this perfect post, but TJ did. And for those of you who are too lazy to click on the link (though you'll miss out on all the witty comments to her post), here are her exact words:

Sometimes I wonder...
if my kids have any I idea that Blaine and I don't know what we're doing. Seriously, I'm the mom?

Van-versations

Many conversations occur while I am in transit with my kids, like the time the boys were discussing mammals and reptiles, and argued over whether or not "mommy" was a mammal. I was quite amused (and should I be relieved?) that they finally classified me as a mammal because I don't lay eggs.

Here is a conversation that I participated in recently:

Me: (Quite annoyed, just getting off of a phone conversation on my ear bud, which ended up not being visable to Jeffrey) Jeffrey! Could you NOT see that I was on talking on the phone? Will you please wait until I'm off the phone to talk to me?

Jeffrey: I didn't know you were on the phone. I thought you were talking to yourself.

Me: (Now quite amused, laughing) What? You thought I was talking to myself? What, do you think I'm crazy? That I just talk to myself?

Jeffrey: Daddy talks to himself.

Me: Yeah, but daddy IS crazy.

Jeffrey and Bryce: Nearly fall out of their seatbelts they are laughing so hard. Nathan even joins in laughing, wanting to be part of the action.

It turned from me being irritated, to having a really good laugh with my boys. We called Rob and told him about it, and he also cracked up. It was so funny that over a month later, the kids are still bringing it up.

Money Can Buy Happiness

Recipe for happiness:

$10 for two pumpkins
Scraping and carving tools
Good friends

Mix well and have fun!



I couldn't resist the above blog title. I was so tired Thursday evening after scouts, but had promised Tami we'd carve pumpkins with them. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and purchased two pumpkins (Jeffrey already won a small one at school for an art contest), and we set up in the garage.

I'm so glad we did, because the kids could not have had more fun. They love, love, loved carving pumpkins. In fact, when Tami and Kevin came over with pizza, the kids could hardly be bothered to stop designing their jack-o-lanterns and actually eat yummy junk food.

I had so much fun with my kids and our neighbors, and as I've already stated, my kids thrived on the evening. It was such a refreshing night. And having no school the next day was an added bonus.