A Lello Car

So my 4 year old has informed me that he knows that Santa is not real and that me and Daddy really give him his presents. When I asked him who told him that he said, "Grandpa".
But we have still stood in line twice at Christmas parties, (both times landing a spot at the end of the line) to sit on the "pretend" Santa's lap. What did he ask for? A little yellow car.
Just after Thanksgiving, we went to the thrift store to pick out something for him to buy his sister for Christmas. Of course he found some things he wanted too. I told him that I would bring her back and maybe we could get something like them for him. He walked away looking at something else and I tried to hide the little yellow car and another nicer looking tractor in the basket and slyly step away--we both knew the chances of them being there hours later were slim to none. But a couple of minutes later he returned to the shelf and saw the yellow car wasn't there. There was a panic in his face as he looked for me and as our eyes met, the tears welled up. I asked what was wrong and he said with a quivering chin, "a stupid kid took my toys."
I could tell by his mounting emotions that it was not the time for surprises, so I showed him I at least had the car (I hadn't found anything else to put in the basket to hide it anyway). We finished shopping and he never asked me for it. I figured since Christmas was about a month away he would forget. I let him help me wrap presents for his sister and dad and then everyday for about a week he would ask me to wrap his presents and put them under the tree; so I did. Now every time someone asks him what he wants for Christmas, his reply is "a lellow car". Usually the person then asks, if it is remote controlled-- and looks to me for an explanation. No, it doesn't do anything special. Just a 50 cent second hand yellow plastic car-- a 4 year old's delight, and a mother's relief!

Day after thanksgiving shopping

For several years I have stayed out all night in front of electronic stores for some major electronic item that we needed and found in some big door-buster Black Friday sale. I have had fun, usually being able to convince someone to stay out with me. A few years ago I even had my 2 year old camp out all night with me. This year I took a different approach. I slept at home and made it to Wal-mart and a couple of places at about 11 am or so. I was only looking for a few inexpensive items, some pj's, a jacket and a couple of toys all items under $10. I found a whole new crowd. Instead of the gamers and the people rushing to hoard electronic items, I found people finding things that their children needed--many of them trying to fill needs while things were affordable. Instead of the employees barring the door and keeping people from trampling each other in their rush, I was greeted by a distinguished Marine collecting toys for underprivileged families. I was touched by the several occasions I heard comments like, "I still have a teenage boy or a 7 year old girl", or "The family I got has a 5 year old boy and a 9 year old girl" It seemed that most were shopping for others and many for sub-for-Santa gifts. It was a much calmer and more tender experience for me; a nice way to start the holiday season. I think I'll stick with that crowd again next year!

What kids are Thankful for...

On Thanksgiving I asked my kids what they were thankful for -in this order:

My son said:
House

Sister

Grandma

Grandpa

Daddy

Mama

(interesting that I came last on his list)

My daughter's list:

Grandpa

Grandma

Salsa

Eggs

Pinecones

sandwiches

Necklace

paper

pen

Mommy

Daddy

First Girlfriend...

The other night out of the blue my son was climbing into bed and rather sheepishly, yet matter-of-factly said,

"Mom I want to get a girlfriend."

That was about the last thing I expected him to say.

"You do?"

"Yeah, I'm going to get a Transformer that changes into a car, and buy a girlfriend."

--Curse that movie! He didn't see it on my watch!
"Do you know what a girlfriend is?"
Blushing a bit and pulling the covers partly over his head, he spoke through a shy grin, "Yes, it's a girl...that's cute."
"Is there a girl you think is cute?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
"Sara"

"Oh.. you're right, she is cute, isn't she."

Update:

More details came out in a bedtime story. The story as revealed to Grandma had a part where he kissed a certain "P..." on the lips. As suspected, I think the girlfriend is a preschool love.

Love letters

I have had so much fun being scribe for my kids as letters to my brothers are dictated weekly. I just thought I would share one:

"I love you! You need to come to us and to be grateful. and don't forget your jammies and your marching clothes. You are the best uncle and you are my best uncle and I am 4. The firetruck and the fireman. I saw a picture with leaves on it...I spy with my little eye, something that's brown and you guess it. It's leaves and red and orange! Won't you guess it please? The whole world is what?? and I saw something funny, when I opened the window. I sneaked in my room and if someone came in my room I scared them and they screamed to death again and again. We played a game and earthly home. I am going to sing a song, 'I am a child of God and he sent me here an earthly home and parents and kindly truly thing, teach me kindly, walk beside me, won't you please come here?'??????(he had fun typing all of the question marks)" I have an idea to you. If you sneak into your thing to you, you sneak in someone's drawer and then open it and then come out and scare them, an earthly home and you are a question????? And we have, that's a wonderful question. An earthly home has a deal and treat them well, AMEN.
Now my sister wants a turn:"Sssssssssssssssggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggdddddddddddddddddddd
xxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzzzzzzbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
bbbbnnnnnnnnnnnnnnvvvvvvvcccccccccccxxxxxxffffffffrrrrreeeeeeerrrrrrtttttttttt

(In case you couldn't tell, my little Miss "Ebbe do it myself" typed her own.)

Taco Flavored Ground Turkey $1 per pound who can resist?

In my attempt to cut calories and costs, I bought a taco flavored ground turkey roll (you know the kind in plastic with metal wire twisted over the ends)
My son walked in just as I was squeezing the contents into the frying pan.
“Mom, what are you doing?”
“Making dinner”
Then slightly concerned, but very trustingly he asked, “Is that Poop?”
His question made me take a second look, and I nearly lost my appetite. I assured him it would taste better than it looked. But, when it came time to eat, the little guy opted for a tuna sandwich. Do you blame him?

It's official!

Well, I am happy to announce that we are officially (knock on wood) done potty training! We have had at least a week without an accident (when awake) and have successfully used public restrooms! (I did have to get a bit creative to keep those really loud flushing automatic toilets from flushing with a tiny hiney hanging over.) Luckily only that one tramatic glove experience. Now hopefully we can avoid regression. I have already found somewhere better to spend the $40 a month that we save on diapers too!

Poop Happens--Especially when potty-training!

I have a pre-schooler whose teachers come and do a home visit before classes begin. Our turn was this week. I was babysitting a neighbor up until the visit, and to help keep the house clean took the kids to play in the water. We rushed home to make it in time for the neighbor to get picked up and the teachers' visit. They all came at once, so I put my potty-trainer in my room to watch a movie and hopefully take a nap. She has been potty training for about two weeks now since my niece came to visit and she decided she wanted to be "bid like Dola". She was quiet and I was filling out papers with one teacher while the other was doing some evaluation activities with my son. Then we heard a little crying in my room and struggling to open the door. We figured she had woken up and wondered where we were.

I went to open the door for her, but as I approached, the odor seeping out from under the door told me one little girl had not been asleep. Behind the closed door I found a gloved little girl still in her swimsuit which hung a bit lower in the back now. Her brown mud-like gloves were about 1/4 inch thick,carefully molded around each finger. Little bits of dry fragrant "mud" covered her yellow sponge chair in front of the TV. I quickly made an apology to our guests, turned on the shower and carefully took off the swimsuit to not spill any more of the contents. I plopped it in the toilet, threw her in the shower, swished and flushed a few times, scrubbed a bit, then tried to scrub off the gloves while my daughter screamed "Nooo!!!" in protest. (How thoughtless of me after she worked so hard.) I turned on the fan, scrubbed my hands and then rushed back to finish signing papers. In my hurry I forgot and grabbed the doorknob also caked thickly...AHhh back to the sink, scrub, rag scrub door knob, wash hands, run to grab disinfectant spray, spray knob and anything else in reach and run back to finish signing papers--but where's the teacher's pen?..."Don't worry, she assures me, "I'm sure I put it in my bag." (What she really was saying was, "Honey I don't want it back") Pretty soon a soggy cleaner smelling girl appeared in her "puppy towel" and we said goodbye to the teachers. I went back to the scene of the accident, removed the chair cover, washed it, the sides of the coffee table, a DVD case, and anything else I could find that looked dirty, vacuumed, and went to make lunch. Yummy!

Later that day during their afternoon swim in my bath tub big brother informed me that she "pooped in the tub". I am not exactly sure what happened, because all I could see was a nicely formed wet nugget on the step in front of the tub--was she trying to get out? Did she just hang her tail overboard, or did someone fish it out? I'm still not sure, just surprised she still had something left inside of her! I have heard of similar stories, but I just didn't expect it to happen to me--luckily it happened on an otherwise good day!

Kids say the darndest things

I just have to write a few funny things my kids have said as they are starting to use new phrases and terminology. The one that sparked this entry was just after I had had the talk with my 4 year old, the one that I wish I didn't have to have until he was 10 or more, but alas, this is the world we live in... anyway, I was walking by and heard him from the bathtub say, "Don't!... that's my favorite part!" spoken like a true man. On the subject of bathtubs (or our indoor pool as we like to call it) my son asked me to get him some "gobbles" for his bath. When I asked him what he needed them for he said so that he could see under the water while he swims.
We were riding a public bus last week and he turned around and noticed the man sitting behind us covered in tatoos. "Mommy, what did he do?" he asked rather loudly. The man sort of chuckled as I searched for something to say. Then embarrassed he said to me, "Mommy he heard me!" which seemed to shock him almost as much.
After a little roadrash from sliding on the loose gravel on the road in front of our house, my kids and I decided it was time to sweep it up. I filled the dust pan and my daughter emptied it into a bucket, my son found a stick that was frayed and worked hard scraping away at the pavement. At one point he stopped and said, "We are working really hard." I agreed. Then he continued, "We are learning lots of money!" I was hoping to teach other things, but we'll work with what we get!

When I grow up I want to be a Pilot

One night this summer we were at an outdoor movie and it was getting late, and as a plane flew over my son started talking about how he wants to be a pilot when he grows up. There is not much to see, but I tried to capture his voice because I love the way he says things.

Dancing queen

We just found a few dress up things that we forgot we had and so the latest thing to play is dress up! She has had a blast changing outfits 10 times a day. I turned on some music for her to dance to in the pink dress, but when this song came on she recognized it as the one from our wedding video and insisted on getting the veil on. Her brother quickly wanted to join in. Moments like this are so fun!

4th of July parade

We missed the flag ceremony this 4th of July, but we decided at the last minute to try and make the children's parade. Our kids have never watched a parade, so I wasn't sure how long they would last. When we told them to get ready, they wanted to ride in the parade .

Thank goodness Grandma Honey is always prepared we were able to decorate their little bikes in about 5 minutes and get down to the parade. We were just in time for the beginning of the real parade. They were so excited to be in the parade though, so we let them ride a little before the actual parade got to us.

The crowd was a little intimidating, so we didn't see any tricks on the bike. This was one of our favorite floats.

It is always the highlight of the parade to see the family in the band

(and be glad it isn't us walking in the heat)!

Home-made Clothes line

I draped a few sheets over chairs on the back patio to dry one day, and about an hour later my kids called me into my room to see what they had done.

Summer water fun

When it is hot outside, we love the water! Here are a few of our water activities from this summer!Here is one to prove I was there.

We love the rivers.

Hikes are always better when there is a little water involved.

We still love the water parks, even though it's much more of a drive now.


Here's a nice stream that takes no driving or hiking!

At least the lakes are closer to our home now.

On a camping trip we made our own streams.

The kids just love our indoor pool!

Hard working men!

Another great thing about the fencing business is the "take your son to work" days! As you can see, it was the best thing for him. There is nothing else quite like a long day in the open fields, with the sun shining and some good old fashioned hard work!

One post at a time...

A couple of months ago there was an online entrepreneur essay contest. My personal favorite was written by Mark Wainwright...

"This isn't a rags to riches story; if you want that, just go ahead and move on now. This is more a story of rags to... let's be honest... rags.
Bill and Christine have raised 5 children, the youngest (twin boys) will be graduating high school this June. They currently have 5 grandchildren whom they adore. They are both active in their community, their church, and in local politics.
Bill and Christine are small business owners who will never be rich. The company may never really be profitable... Bill's personality precludes him from having a really good business model. He wants to, and works endlessly to, provide his customers the best products with the best service; but doesn’t have the heart to charge them for it. He keeps his prices as low as (actually lower than) possible and at the end of the day he is left tired, virtually penniless, and genuinely happy.

Bill and Christine started a business in the 1990s which they fittingly named A Better Fence Company. It is in every way a family business. When they incorporated a few years ago, the corporate officers were Bill, Christine, and the children who then were old enough to work with them. The payroll has at some point included all of Bill's children plus his brother, a nephew and his son-in-law. The handful of employees that weren't actually related, were quickly adopted and invited to family trips to the lake, barbecues and movie nights. One of the company's first non-related employees in particular, still keeps in close contact and is treated like a son and brother.As you might expect, it isn’t always easy. There are good times and bad, and the stress of running a business has taken its toll. Health, time, two mortgages and dozens of dreams and aspirations have all been sacrificed to keep the company afloat. Once when Bill was feeling the strain of being pulled in every direction, he wanted to change his ad in the yellow pages:
Best Materials
Best Installation
Best Price
Pick any two.
Christine didn’t think it was a good idea. Bill listens to talk radio and is an avid reader—mostly non-fiction books. He works hard, seems to have boundless energy and never takes a day off. That doesn't mean that he doesn't take time to go mountain biking with his teenage boys, haul the family to the California coast for some winter body surfing, or act as a personal guide of the best local hikes when friends visit.... he does all that... but that is about the only thing that can get him to stop working. Even then, he usually makes time by doubling up on work before and afterward. If Bill ever wakes up with nothing to do, it is time to worry--the apocalypse is here!Christine is the kind of friend that you never let go, regardless of time or distance. She has spent the last 30 years doing the delicate dance of raising a family and working from home. Initially trained as a secretary, she taught herself computers, accounting, and business management. She still answers the phones and handles the day-to-day office work of the business. However, her work never stopped her from supporting each of her children as they developed their social lives and went through school, (all of them honor students), nor from being present to cheer them on in their extra-curricular activities including sports, arts, music, drama, and Eagle Scout rank.
I guess I have a unique perspective on Bill and Christine’s business. They never sold anything to me... or bought anything from me. They raised me. They taught me from early on in my life, the value of work. When people talk about work ethic, they usually mean how many hours you put in. Bill and Christine taught me the ethics of work (long hours was definitely part of it). Big companies tend to measure business success in profits, cash flow, growth or revenue. Bill taught me that success comes from hard work, integrity, honesty, and love. You wouldn't think that there is a lot of love in the vinyl fencing industry, but let me tell you, it's there. First of all, if your fence is built with love, you'll know it, you can tell while it is being installed and decades later when everything else seems to have fallen apart around it. But that’s not the only love that goes into the business. I've been working in the southwestern desert on a 120° day, covered in dirt and concrete digging post holes by hand, dripping with sweat and thinking how much I loved my job. Now let's be serious, I didn't love the heat, the work or the blisters. I loved working with my family. I loved the pride of taking a hard job and doing it well. I loved the opportunity to find creative solutions to real world problems, and the accomplishments of dealing with a lot of responsibility and autonomy at a young age. While Bill and Christine might not leave their children a large inheritance in the traditional sense (number of dollars when they die), they have left an invaluable inheritance of skills, values, and character that built up day by day, and post by post."



Very well put Mark!

Doddle King

I was listening to NPR the other day and they had some sort of Doodle specialist on talking about the importance of doodling even for adults. He said that if adults did it more often then the youth would do it more because it would be important. My brothers have been working on art portfolio's for high school and college classes and watching them, my son has recently discovered the love of drawing. He loves it and draws about 10 or more pictures a day.

The doodle expert said that most people stop doodling because at some point we decide that we aren't any good.

On two occasions my son has come to me and asked for safety pins. When I asked what for he said,

"So I can stick my picture on my shirt and show my friends" Then excitedly with a big grin he added, "They're going to Love it!" I helped him tape it on his shirt (had to snap a photo as shown) and he ran off to knock on the neighbor's door to show them. As I watched him run out the door, I was hoping that he would return just as convinced that they loved it. Wouldn't the world be a different place if all of us felt like that about everything we do?

Kissing it Better cont.

I gave my kids a ziplock baggie of raisins to keep them occupied while I had some visitors the other day. Later that day my daughter brought me her bag to get a re-fill, but the corner of the baggie had been chewed through. (For some reason she has a hard time digging things out of the corners and chews through the bag instead.) I told her I couldn't fill it because there was a hole in the corner and they would fall out.

"Oh, sorry," she said and she promptly kissed the bag, then said, "better" and held it out for me to fill. Another time I was changing her diaper she noticed a scratch on the wall and kissed it better too.

Let's go fly a kite!

The kids love the fact that you can pretty much fly a kite any time you want at our new house.

Thanks to uncle Brandon & aunt Valerie for giving us the biggest kite ever.

Uncle Bryce taught us that paper airplanes are even better in high winds--now he just need to teach Mom to be able to make such cool paper airplanes

.

Imagine--the life of a 2 year old

Two year olds have great imaginations. I caught my daughter emptying my bathroom drawer the other day and laying out the hairspray, shaving cream, lotion and other bottle carefully in a row on the floor. When I asked her what she was doing she put her finger to her lips and said, "shhhh baby sleeping" while gently patting them with the other hand. Then she lied down next to them and covered them with a towel blanket and continued patting them like any good mother putting her children down for a nap.

Since we moved she decided she loves showers! She gets in my shower any chance she gets and just lets the water run over her for as long as I let her stay. Sometimes I find her standing inside just pretending she's taking a shower. We have a video tower with adjustable shelves. She loves to empty out all the videos, remove the shelves and gets inside. She calls it "my shower".

She has just started singing and doing hand motions. It's still a little hard to tell what she is singing, but it is so cute.

Ironies of motherhood

Sometimes motherhood can be a rollercoaster. I often find myself doing ironic things like yelling, "stop screaming!" or swatting at a swinging arm while saying, "Don't hit your sister!"

Somedays I wish someone would give me a "time out!"

Of course you always will at some point do something your mother did that you swore you would never do. But it is just as sobering when you see your child do something naughty you remember doing as a child.

By the end of the day my arms ache from holding my children.

But, when I am away from my children, my arms ache to hold them.



Some days I think I could do a lot if I had a day without them.
But really, I don't know what I would do if there came a day I had to live without one of them.

My mother used to say, "I hope that someday you have a daughter just like you." It was used as both a blessing and a curse!

At times over the past few years I have found myself wishing we were to the next stage--smiling, sitting up, self-entertained, walking, eating alone, weaned, nursery, potty-trained, preschool, etc. but then when I actually stop and enjoy a moment with them, or see an old photo, I realize how fast it all goes, and wish I could slow down time.

I love it when I see my children doing something that I have taught them...except when I didn't mean to teach that to them.

Scrubbing fingerprints off windows, mirrors and walls gets old, but when they get old I will probably miss the little reminders of play and exploration.

Happy Mothers Day to all mothers!

Skinned knees

So my daughter got her first skinned knee sometime yesterday, but noticed it last night, and it turned into an hour long sob-session and "ahhhhh, doh chachih" (don't touch it) until I finally tricked her into a bath and then her brother convinced her to get a bandage on it, and carefully un-wrapped it for her. After 2 hours of watching a movie, with intermitted whining, the crisis calmed.

It surprized me because we've always said she has such a high pain tolerance--maybe it's blood--only it didn't bleed. Scratch-a-phobic? Does that exist?

This is the same kid my husband calls "chop chop" because she was helping me cut meat and mistook my hand for the chicken breast...which leads me to where she probably got it...when she cut my hand it was on the knuckle and not too deep, but thinking about all the raw chicken juice all over my hands, and then the added pain of cleaning it out sent me into a "I don't feel so goo---was that a seizure?" Let's just say luckily Grandma was there. The doctor assured us it happens all the time, there's a fancy word for it like imabigbabyandcanthandleit shock. He said it usually happens when they tell big football players that they have to get a shot. So I guess what I am complaining about is I passed it on to my daughter--let's just hope we both get over it before she has to get stitches or brakes a bone! The good news is the chicken turned out okay!

Great Scott! 1000 foot rolls!!!

I thought I'd be a little economical so I tried the 1000 foot roll of Scott's toilet paper--Since I had a coupon it made it just a little cheaper than what I usually buy. Well, the coupon never got scanned, so I didn't end up saving myself that, and I have decided whoever "Scott" is, he obviously hasn't had any young kids at home for a while, or he never would have dreamt up such a crazy amount of unravelling on a single roll.
Advice to mothers: no matter how good the coupon or the sale, Think AGAIN! But, if you do find yourself rolling up the absurdly large roll for the 15th time, or adding to your massive wad under the bathroom sink that you just can't get yourself to throw away...you are not the only one. If you are about to pull out your hair if you see one more strip of white...here is a hint: (disclaimer:This may work once and only once,) but try turning on the radio and having the kids shove as much strewn out toilet paper and/or tiny tiny static clingy bits of toilet paper into a garbage can as they can before the song is over!

Training wheels

I've recently realized something about my son. He likes to be fully confident that he can master something before he will take the next step. That is probably why he was a late potty-trainer, but then when he finally decided he could handle it, he never had any accidents .

For Christmas we gave him a little bike we got second-hand and bought some training wheels for it. He has loved it, but has been panicked any time the training wheels came loose. He never let us raise them at all.

But since we've lived here he's been riding bikes with the neighbor kids a lot and came in one day and excitedly said, "Mom, Mom, I popped my wheel --Come see!"

A little confused I asked, "You mean you popped a wheely?"

"Oh yeah, Come see!"

I told him if he could pop wheelies, then it was time to take the training wheels off. So the next time one came loose, we practiced riding around the driveway once with just one training wheel, and then I took them off. Within minutes he was callling me to see what he could do.

Although you can't really tell from the video there is a significant slope from the man hole down to the paved road. In the video he rode from about half-way, but by the end of the night he was going down from the top!

Come See!

Playing House

Time flies when you're un-packing! It seems like we've only been here a couple of weeks, but the calendar is telling me elsewise. On the first Sunday we were here someone asked me what I would be doing the next day and I said, "I don't know, I guess just play house with the kids" and that is pretty much what it has felt like. It still feels like a vacation home in a lot of ways. But, we are having fun.

Mommy loves the dishwasher, the windows, the big shower, the DEEP comfortable tub, the walk-in pantry, the washer & dryer, the master bathroom, the laundry room, the garage, and office. Daddy likes everything mommy does, plus the big TV we got for a deal with the entertainment center, and the walk-in closet/changing room. The kids love having their own rooms, lots of new friends, a park accessible all day, the dirt hill in the back, and the "racing track" (they run laps from the front door through the front room, dining room and into the kitchen and then back pushing their doll strollers.)

It is fun to have a daughter, because she enjoys "playing house" and helping out a lot more than my son. She loves to help me load & unload the dishwasher and the dryer, and helps me wad-up clothes after their dry. Her job is to put the kitchen towels away. Sometimes she gets distracted and pulls out a "teao" (Which by the way is the same word she uses for cow--but in this case she is referring to a towel--or wash cloth) and wipes down everything in sight. She will sit on the counter for hours and "wash dishes" if I let her, but she ends up washing the cabinets, counters and floor in the process.

We got a little step-stool for the pantry, but she has claimed it as her own "ahn See" (translation--I want to see!) So she follows me around the kitchen while I make dinner repeating "ahn see, mommy, ahn see" pushing her stool and climbing up for the closest look. I keep reminding myself someday I will miss her eagerness to learn and help.

Moving, Moving, moving

So I was told that I needed to update.....We just moved and are still trying to get settled. It is nice to have our own place, and the kids are loving the local park and having their own rooms. It took our daughter a couple of days to stop wandering through the house repeating, "Mama eh ahh uuu?" (Where are you) for those who aren't current in their baby language skills. The new house created quite the maze. But life is good, and we are enjoying what feels like a vacation home. The kids have made an easy adjustment so far. We would love to have visitors, so any time anyone is in town, give us a call.