What I would do for a free dinner...

I originally posted this late last night with pictures and this morning the pictures weren't here. Go figure. Above Hurricane Stella's path of destruction.

Trouble.

"Satan's Mistress" (from the movie The Proposal...very funny, highly recommend it) doing her school work on Thursday.

We've been doing Brooke's school work in the afternoons after rest time for the last several weeks. It used to be that she was so exhausted by this time that I'd rather fold the white load of laundry 10 times over (even with matching five peoples 5 different varieties of socks!) before I tried to teach Brooke anything at 4:00. Her attitude was so bad at this hour that we didn't leave the house after lunch because Brooke was a hot mess. It's funny how things change in a month and how AWFUL yesterday morning was because I wanted to get her school work done before lunch. The motivation I had was the invitation to a dinner at our favorite neighbors' house. I make dinner every night because while we go out for lunch about once a week, we rarely go out to dinner at all. I didn't even care what we ate, I just welcomed adult conversation since Mark's at work and I didn't want to have to clean my kitchen, again.

I could have called this post "I'd rather gouge my eyes out" because that's how I felt yesterday. Brooke took 2 hours to do about 1 hr and 15 minutes of school work. While I am trying my hardest not to strangle her, Stella is wrecking the house and demanding (loudly) that I serve her snack after snack. God forbid I should deny her because then she just screamed so loud that it is impossible to learn anything (except screaming does get a toddler snacks immediately). In hindsight, I should have plopped her fit throwing butt in her crib, but I too busy plotting in my head what I'd like to do to Brooke for making my morning so miserable. :)

This is the path of destruction that hurricane Stella left when she was finished. This isn't even including my pantry. Let's just say that if you are ever dining at my house and I give you plastic cutlery to eat with, you might want to sneak into the bathroom and wash them because I can't really be sure where they've been. It's the least of my worries on a day like yesterday. I must say that Brooke's attitude changed considerably when I told her that while we weren't going to cancel on our neighbor's that were expecting us for dinner, but that I would tell them that we can no longer accept a dinner invitation on a day that Brooke has school work, that really got to her. Wish I would have thought of that before we were an hour and a half deep into our lessons for the day. I lived and learned.

One thing that saved me in all of this misery was Luke sitting on the couch in the basement watching a movie for the entire time that I wanted to kill Brooke and Stella. I think God only knew that I couldn't take much more before I would snap like a twig. After all was said and done, the kids went down for their rests and I regained my sanity...and then the phone stopped working. I was more confused than irritated at this point and I had hoped that one time I'd pick it up and the dial tone would be back. Yeah, that didn't happen and I had to call the phone company for help. It took me 7 hours without phone service to call for help because I was half afraid that I'd make someone come out and then some technician would say, "Mam, of course your phone's not working. It has to be plugged in to work."

They sent someone out this afternoon and it wasn't as simple as plugging a cord in the wall. But it was as simple as removing the screw from the phone jack in Luke's room. It was not a coincidence that yesterday our phone service was interrupted at 2:oo PM. That's rest time around these parts and Luke was in his room doing what he does best, not napping, and shoved a really long screw into the jack. If you remember high school science all the jacks in the house are connected together and if one is busted, it interrupts service to the whole house. I think it's called a closed circuit maybe??? Obviously, I don't remember my high school science very well.

While the phone man was in the basement trying to make sense of our former homeowners mess of phone wires (his attempt to have Internet access all over the house before wireless technology was available) I was upstairs praying that he would find a quick fix because he said that he wouldn't charge us if he could fix the problem relatively quickly. God almost instantly answered my prayers because not more than two minutes later he comes upstairs and asks if there were phone jacks in the kids' rooms. He said he just remembered that occasionally it is the kids that shove something into them causing the whole system to malfunction. Who's kids would do something like that? Before I knew it that nice man was on his way... after having disconnected the jack temporarily in Luke's room so he couldn't hurt himself or our phone service. I was so thankful that God acted so quickly that I could have my phone back and a nap to go with it. :)

Today was also made better because we go to home school co-op on Fridays and don't have to do any school work at home...morning or afternoon. TGIF!

Luke

A few days ago I mentioned that Luke hasn't wanted to eat much of anything (except yogurt and breakfast). Tonight he shocked Mark and I by eating about half a chicken breast for dinner. When he eats something out of the ordinary or healthy, we tell him that we can see his muscles growing or him getting taller. He was extra pleased with this remark so he stood up in his seat so we could see him getting taller. In the above picture he is showing us that he is getting taller with each bite of applesauce he eats. Whatever works.

Speaking of whatever works...Of course the chicken wouldn't dare cross his lips unless it was covered in ketchup. I usually buy organic ketchup because it makes me feel better about his obsession with condiments.

This is Luke's "you can't see me" face. He closes his eyes and thinks that suddenly we can't see him. I think this game is pretty funny because he looks like such a goof. The best part is that he cracks himself up while he's "invisible".

Luke is so stinkin' cute sometimes I can hardly stand it. It makes the biting and drawing on the walls tolerable. :) For instance, this morning at 7:10 he comes creeping into our bedroom and climbs up on the bed next to me and kisses me on the lips. He says, "Mom, I just wanted to give you a kiss." My heart swooned. I was even happier when he went back to his room to play quietly for a little while until Brooke got up and went downstairs to get them breakfast. Mark and I didn't have to get out of bed until 8:15 when Stella woke up. Now that's a sweet start to the day.

I think we'll keep him after all.

Brooke's Book Party

Back in March of last year when Brooke was 4.5 we began teaching her how to read using the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I can't say the lessons were always easy, but I can say that Brooke worked very hard to learn to read. We made her this poster so we could keep track of the progress made and decided that along the way we'd reward her hard work for every 10 lessons completed and then have a "book" party at the end. We finished the lessons back in early November, but with the hustle and bustle of the holidays decided to save her party for a time when people had less going on. That time is now.

So I made an invitation with Photoshop Elements and my heart smiled for 2 hours. I wish I really knew what I was doing, I think it would be fun if I got paid to create things.

My dad got a cake from Sam's. Brooke may know how to read, but the cake decorator at Sam's Club doesn't know how to spell. There's an "e" on the end lady! Grampy told you that and you didn't listen! No one really cared. It's chocolate cake and it was yummy.

This is Brooke today wearing her ballet outfit which she associates with appropriate party wear. She was very specific in her wishes. She had to take a bath after rest time, wanted her hair blown dry and straightened, and then wanted her nails painted...blue. Her wish is my command.

It was a small gathering of grandparents, cousins, and our favorite neighbors.

Brooke was a lucky girl because she got lots of new books to read. I took a little video of her reading before bed. I bribed her by saying it was for Grandma Kathy. She does love her so and she'd do just about anything for her... Including reading so I could video her...for Grandma of course!

I finally got some tech help by way of my neighbor, Ben, who's business is computers. My videos were too big and some other problems. So I've got a You Tube account and now I can video until my heart's content. Stella's fit will be coming soon!

Back to the topic at hand...I'm really proud of Brooke working so hard to learn to read. I have said millions of times to anyone who will listen that I will never teach a 4 year old to read. It was a lot of work and they don't need to know how to read that early. Amateur home schooling mistake. I might reconsider if our other children begged me, but otherwise I'm not going there again.

Here's Brooke reading from the book Put Me in the Zoo.

A Little Ditty

Luke wanted me to take his picture because the day we went out in the snow he put his boots on all by himself. From the boy who says routinely with a pout, "I can't do it!" this was a photo worthy event. I love his superhero dinosaur pj's. He has a coordinating pair (from Target) that says, "Saving the world before bedtime". So cute!


A few weeks ago I was singing praises over Luke's improved eating habits. Well, it seems that's all fallen by the wayside since the end of last month. The two weeks before we went to Florida Luke had a fever, cold, and an ear infection. Since he wasn't feeling well, I let him eat what he felt like and now it seems he doesn't want to eat anything. Last night in an attempt to get him to eat dinner I gave him ketchup for dipping. Besides the bites I made him eat, he ate very little. While he was sitting at the table (because I told him he couldn't get down until he ate a few bites), I heard him singing this little song to the tune of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".

He's got more ketchup in his hands,
He's got more ketchup in his hands,
He's got more ketchup in his hands,
He's got no more hot dogs in his hands!

The kid's got issues, funny ones, but still issues. I mentioned that the doctor thought that Luke's tonsils were gigantic and that they needed to come out. I was not too enthusiastic since he's not been sick as a result, but now I am wondering if his tonsils are part of the big picture of his eating issues. We'll be looking into that for sure...soon.

Stella Bella Lovebug

Besides throwing major tantrums these days, Stella has become very affectionate. Yesterday, she crept up next to Brooke and put her arms around her for a hug. It was so cute. Brooke is much more tolerant of Stella's antics and so she was happy to reciprocate.

Today, Stella got the Kitchen Aid mixer attachment out of the cabinet while I was making dinner and when I wasn't looking allegedly hit Luke over the head with it. He was crying loudly and Stella did seem a bit concerned. When I told Stella she needed to give Luke a hug, she leaned in and wrapped her arms around him. Mostly when my kids get hurt, they just want to be mad about it but Luke stood still and put his arms around Stella. It was quite the moment for me when my days are normally filled with screeching and arguing.

Check out the table legs. I had to teach Stella a thing or two about table manners and the bungee cords worked like a charm. Since the day my dad rescued my kitchen from that hideous shade of blue it was previously, I took the high chair out of our eating area and didn't want to put it back. I found our booster seat with a strap in the basement and decided that was the end of Stella in the high chair.

The problem with this said booster seat is that all of our kids have found rather quickly that it's really fun to be able to push themselves away from the table whenever they want to. It's annoying to me to have to push her back in multiple times every time she sits at the table. I thought about ending her meal to teach her a lesson, but I really don't want to deprive her of food, therefore making her even more fussy than she already is. Enter bungee cords.

I revelled in my victory this morning when she tried to push back from the table and was unsuccessful. Score one for the mom! God was smart to start people out as cute little babies. Imagine if we began life as adults, you'd look at that full size perpetrator and tell them to get the heck out of the house. We've only got 18 more years before these little punks move out. Until then, I'm trying to enjoy being tortured every day. :)

For My Friends in Texas

We've got lots and lots of snow. Are you jealous? It is fun and it looks prettier than the gloom we're used to having this time of year.

Brooke eating snow in the backyard.

This is the back of our house. Notice the door open? Yeah, it's not very energy efficient, but there was no where for Stella and Luke to go without being lost in the snow. I am not exaggerating. While I was trying to shovel a little path on our back patio, Stella took a face dive into the snow. If I weren't so caught off guard, I would have taken a picture of her face completely covered in snow. I'm not kidding, I couldn't see any of the features of her face. She was fine of course.

If you can see the blue big kid swing (as opposed to our two baby swings), the snow is about an inch and a half from the seat and the snow is completely covering the bottom piece of wood on our fence. If I weren't so bad at estimating, I would say there is 12-14 inches of snow. If you think I just did what I said I can't do {estimating} you're wrong....I just got the ruler out and measured how far the snow went up my leg. It's math and I'm at a loss.

Good idea, Stella. Let's play chalk in the snow covered driveway. I'll cut her some slack since she's only one.

This is the side of our house. In some places the snow covered my knee. It was silly to think we could play in anything but the snow in our driveway. The snow is perfect for big kids, but not so much little people.

I shoveled the driveway all by myself. It was a lot of snow and ibuprofen. Just FYI...if you spread the equivalent of Icy Hot on a good portion of your body, it feels like your on fire...but in a good way. I say good because I didn't have to be treated for burn wounds afterwards. Maybe a little less next time would be a better idea.

There is a ton of snow elsewhere in our front yard, but Luke insisted on "shoveling" where I had already shoveled and in turn put snow back on the driveway. Thanks for the help Buddy!

I was thankful that the kids occupied themselves nicely while I shoveled. Few things are more annoying than trying to do something with kids fighting and crying in the background.

If Brooke were heavier, I think the snow would have been up over her thighs. I am so glad that we got to play in the snow and now I hope we don't have to do it again before it melts. Every party has a pooper, that's why they invited me! It's hard work dressing and undressing, being the photographer (because it didn't happen unless I've taken a picture of it, right?), and being the trail guide. Brooke really appreciated it and told me so, and then I was glad we braved the 22 degree temps to have the most fun anyone could have in a foot and a half of snow.

Stella Marie and a Tantrum... or Three

We're snowed in here! There's lots of snow and no where we have to be. I kind of like that...if Mark were home. I shoveled the driveway today while the kids were resting/ napping. More on the snow tomorrow. As a side note, Stella does own clothes and I do occasionally put them on her. Take your "judging" goggles off please. :)

What I really wanted to share with you is my miserable baby, Stella. Little Miss Stella Bella has been a pain in the you know where. She's kicked her bad behavior up a few notches and it's setting a new family record. Brooke's, pardon my french, ass kicking behavior started after she turned two. Luke, it's a little fuzzy, but I can remember last winter having knock down drag out battle of the wills with him. Stephanie remember when he freaked out about us going in your craft room? Uh, huh. He was a pain too, but a little older when he started making me earn my keep around here.

Stella having the fortune of two deviant role models is working on a much faster time line. She is throwing fits (LOUD ones) at every turn. Just for fun or when she's not getting her way, Stella can and does launch food the length of our kitchen table. What is comical about this stage is that she runs around in circles trying to find the perfect place to throw herself on the floor to have her tantrum. It keeps me sane so mock her a little. You can see it here on this video. Get ready! Here it comes... Or not. I must be doing something wrong. Ever since I got a new Canon PowerShot camera with video, my videos won't upload. Gotta work on that one!

INSERT VIDEO HERE...I'M A LOSER.

The truth is that children can be hard to love. That doesn't mean that we don't love them, a lot of times it's just hard. Few people really are honest enough to admit that. My take is that most feel that something must be wrong with them to feel this way.

We are always bombarded with images of some angelic mother/parent-love that's supposed to come natural to all parents. If only we could be flies on the walls at other's houses! Often times we are comparing our weakness to someone's strengths. Of course we all put our best foot forward when we're out and about!

In a book I'm reading called "Parenting is Your Highest Calling" and 8 Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt the author Leslie Leyland Field's writes: Once your little one develops a steel will, a vocabulary, and an elevated sense of her place in the world, loving that child can become an Olympic sport. So true! She writes that "true biblical love is difficult to live out because it is a call to death." Wow! Death. Really? Some days I do feel like I am dying a slow, painful death taking care of our kids. They get that from their father. Love you honey...Come home soon!

Somewhere along the line I got the notion that raising kids would be easy, should be easy...if it was done right. Stop rolling your eyes. You know you've looked at that parent at the playground/grocery store/play group and thought that you had the solution to their problem. Been there, done that.

I've shared before that Brooke challenged my thinking on this one. I read, researched, polled, and questioned and ultimately tried to figure out what I could do that would "work". What I realize now is that I thought parenting should be easy and I was mad that it wasn't. Pissed is probably a more accurate term.

I still struggle trying to love my kids in a way that puts my wants and desires behind theirs. I also realize that God doesn't want a specific formula or strategy to work. What??!! I like specific, list crossing off kinds of things, follow step 1 then precede to step 2 sort of plans. But really, He wants us to want HIM. He is my strength and my help. I do it all imperfectly (as Ani DiFranco would say), but that's okay because God didn't make any of us perfect. So stop judging people! My kid may be a terror, but she and he's mine. :)

Some days when my kids are driving me crazy and I am calm enough to have perspective, I think if I am this exasperated, how must God feel? We are all children of God and we don't do what we're supposed to!

I share this struggle so that maybe you won't be trapped in the same kind of quagmire. The more kids you have, the harder it gets. More than two? You're totally hosed. That's why were having five, right honey? Going for broke...or insane. I was just kidding on the five part, I think.

So the moral of the story is to cut yourself some slack and laugh when your kid makes a spectacle at a Florida amusement park and tell everyone around you with a laugh that you get to take that one home...and let yourself enjoy it. Our kids learn not by what we say, but by what we do. Gulp. And double gulp. It's a good thing we have help.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Yesterday we left Steve's early in anticipation of the snowy weather we would drive through on the way home. Mark and I figured it would be better to meet a snowstorm in the daylight than at midnight. We packed up and got on the road around 2 PM instead of after dinner. Little did we know that the weather would be the least of our worries. Enter unfortunate events.

For starters, after 2 hours of driving Brooke threw up outside a gas station. We get back in the car to drive one more exit and she needed to stop again. She vomited 5 times while we were driving until we stopped at a hotel outside of Macon, GA. Brooke is so brave when she throws up...braver than her wimpy mother! We had to stop not only because Brooke was sick, but Mark was going down too. We get settled into the La Quinta and everyone was asleep before 10 PM. I wake up around 11:30 to hear Stella cry and then call out from the pack n' play in the corner. I go over to discover that she threw up all over her bed! Let me just tell you so you can appreciate my heroics, that I do not deal well with vomit. Mark was dealing with his own issues so he couldn't help me and as a result, I was left to do what I hate most...to clean up puke. After I cleaned Stella up I found out that they had a laundry facility and off Stella and I went to clean her blankies. After all was said and done, I had some really nice conversations with the woman that worked the desk overnight and I did two loads of laundry. I was never so thankful to have access to a washer and dryer as I was last night!

Stella ended up getting sick on and off from 11:30 until 3:30 AM. I ended up using half the hotel's towel supply by spreading towels out on the carpet on the floor in front of the bathroom. This is where Stella and I slept from 3:30 until 7:30 in the morning. I can say that I never knew what I was capable of handling in this type of situation. God gave me the strength to take care of Stella and I didn't even gag... which is a miracle by itself!

As it turns out this morning everyone was finished throwing up and we were able to get back on the road without incident. I was so thankful that we only had to stop once in 7 hours of driving and that it wasn't for someone to throw up. I guess at some point Mark called Steve to tell him that some of us were sick and he was sick too! I don't think it could have been food poisoning because we all ate different things and Luke and I didn't get it...yet. My theory is that we got some virus at Disney maybe. Stella probably puked because she licked everything she could get her mouth on from her shoes to rides. See picture above?

Oh, and I forgot to tell you that I almost lost my wedding ring in the parking lot of the rest area we stopped at for Brooke. It was already snowing pretty hard and Brooke and I were hurrying back to the car when I flung open the car door and my ring just sailed right off my finger and into the slushy snow on the ground. I panicked for 2 seconds until I looked beside the front tire and found it. That would have been more than unfortunate.

I am just so glad to be home and can't wait to sleep in a bed instead of on the floor. I will be praying tonight that Luke and I don't get sick next. My stomach is feeling a little iffy, but it could be reliving the craziness of last night or my paranoia. Glad to be home. Looking forward to staying home for a long, long time.

Plain Crazy

We went back to Magic Kingdom today planning to stay until the late afternoon and call it a day. Things didn't go as planned. Well, really it was Stella that didn't go as planned. After lunch she was so tired, she just melted. We went back to Steve's and took naps again. Aw, shucks. What a bummer. Read sarcasm. I am exhausted and so are the kids.

I've smelled enough engine fumes to last me until next year. We've ridden this Tomorrowland Speedway ride 4 times in two days.

Today was cold. Not Yankee cold, but Florida cold at 40 degrees. When we went back after dinner tonight we wore (the kids and I) our pajama pants under our regular pants. It's all about the layers. I was just happy that my jeans would fit with an extra layer underneath. See I can eat more peanut butter fudge, funnel cakes, and egg rolls from the Chinese place close to Steve's house!

The men and my children LOVE the monorail. I think Luke, Mark, and Steve could ride it all day. Silly boys!

We rode some new rides which was a nice change of pace. Aladdin's Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and the adults rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

This is the Jungle Cruise that Stella HATES. We rode this in December and she cried the whole time. Today she cried again and then some. It could be the bad jokes that make her cry.

Inside the monorail.

We stayed at Magic Kingdom tonight until the crazy hour of 9 PM. By the time we got back to Steve's, the kids went to bed at 10 PM which is a family record. Stella had mercy on us and was an angel all evening. She didn't even cry when we watched the fireworks. They were LOUD and she laughed and clapped. Brooke even liked them with her hands covering her ears. Luke on the other hand, wanted to go home. He was brave though, and I was proud of him for not acting like a lunatic.

I am surprised that no one has puked this trip because we have eaten so much junk food. Lately, Brooke will tell us that we need to eat more healthy food which usually is a thorn in Mark's side. :)

I am not looking forward to going home to snow and really cold temperatures, not to mention our impending overnight car trip, but I am so EXHAUSTED from all this fun. We live a tough, tough life I know. But on the flip side, when the fun's over, it's really over. Mark will be leaving us for a SIX day trip when we get back. Glamorous, very glamorous.

ABC's The Bachelor features a pilot right now and I want to yell at the TV and tell those unsuspecting ladies to run. The life of a pilot is for the birds. Get it? Birds. I've got to get some sleep. I am not getting up before 8:00 tomorrow. I mean it. Really. We are packing up and taking more naps and hanging out until we leave after dinner. Homeward bound. I hope the weather and Stella will cooperate.

Take Two

It was chilly here today but let me just say that I am glad to not be at home. At least it's not snowing here! We went back to Sea World (for free!) and saw the things we missed last time. The first stop was the manatees and we were lucky to catch them at feeding time. They feed them lettuce and more lettuce. The park lady said they each eat about 50 lbs of lettuce a day! That's what's in the water... lettuce and lots of it.

This picture was taken from the underwater viewing place.

The penguins are so cute.

The sea lions are a crack up the way they bark at each other.

The Sea World mobile.

If nothing else our kids will have cavities after this vacation is over. Luke had two huge tantrums today. I'm talking full out crazy, screaming like someone was abducting him. It created a little spectacle. I thought it was a little funny, but sad because he was over-tired. We went back to Steve's and took nice long naps. All is well.

My neighbor, Stephanie, loaned us her backpack baby carrier (again!) but Mark and I both agreed this would be the last time we use this particular one. Doesn't Stella look like she could climb right out?

Is there anything not to like about seeing killer whales performing tricks? I really enjoy watching them drench the people silly enough to sit in the "splash zone".

I think the Sea World animal trainers have strange jobs. They have to care for the animals but then perform also. Imagine the resume...trains jumbo whales, has the balancing skills of a tight rope walker, and dances like a fool.

Although, I might brave all that... to do this everyday. :)