A Daily Dose of Mischief

Today our daughter had her baby blessing! In recognition of this very special occasion, her aunt made her a beautiful blessing dress. She looked like an angel: Angels can bring a feeling of peace and comfort! Angel Smile Singing with the Heavenly Hosts...or do I just feel tired all of a sudden.

Sweet baby boy... One year old On his second Birthday Three years and enthusiastic Four years old...so cute I can't believe my baby boy is going to be in Kindergarten this fall!

Yesterday we noticed a red mark on our four-year-old son's forehead. Mom: "Did you bump your head?" Our son promptly put on his ' pouty -face' complete with wide-pseudo-sad eyes and protruding bottom lip: "Yes." Mom: "What happened?" Son: "I was jumping on T's [bunk] bed and kept bumping my head [on the ceiling.] " Then, without breaking his ' pouty -face', the corners of his mouth curved up into a sheepish smile and he added, "...it was kind of fun."

I thought about other clever ways to phrase it, but really, I am just plain tired, so bare bones it is. Thursday at 4:00 a.m. I was sleeping soundly and I suddenly woke up to a huge gush of water. My water had broken. I sat up, woke up D and tried to stop gushing water everywhere. I was not having any contractions, but standard procedure when your water breaks is to head to the hospital. We called a friend to stay at our house with the boys, called my Mom to let her know she could come from Vancouver in the morning, and called the hospital to let them know we were coming. We got to the hospital at 5 a.m., checked in and got hooked up to the monitor. Since my water was broken they would not let me labor in the tub, and I wasn't really in labor anyhow. I got hooked up to an I.V. (which took 4 painful tries) and they started me on a pitocin drip. To make a long story short, I spent all day on pitocin which they kept increasing in an effort to get me to some kind of productive labor....

Today at church our youngest was performing his usual routine of doing everything in his power to not go to his primary class, so I took him with me to drop something off in the van. Playing tug-of-war with him the whole way, I decided to see if he wanted to take a walk. I took him around the block, but the sun was shining and the air was unusually hot for the north Oregon coast for this time of year. I was starting to get pretty toasty walking in the sun with my dark suit on. Assuming he was feeling the heat too, I attempted to persuade him to go to his class, "Wouldn't you rather go and sit in the nice, cool church?" My five-year old replied, "No, church isn't cool,...it's boring." I guess I should stop using 'cool' in its slang form so much at home.

Our youngest has been extra cautious about spiders lately. The innocent non-scary ones hang out in the upper corners of our bathroom all the time. If he sees one in there, he won't go to the bathroom until I capture and release it back to the wild (the backyard). He especially gets nervous when they move. He anticipates where it might go inevitably expecting it to come his direction. Its been a while since he's complained in his quiet, whiny-scared voice about a spider. But today, out of the blue he approached me in his high, sad little voice accompanied by a pouty face, "I don't want to be a grown-up." "Why?" "Because then you'll be high enough to see the spiders." Trying to make him feel better I asked, "Don't you think you won't be scared of spiders when you're a grown up?" Not catching the double negative, he reiterated his stance about being forever scared of spiders, "Yesss." There was a brief pause...

Last week #1 and #2 participated in the school spelling bee. #1 got first for the grade levels through 5th at the school. Today he got to go and participate in the County spelling bee. I was surprised to find out that they don't make the kids stand up and spell each word out loud like they did when I was a kid. Instead they had a list of words that they read off and the kids wrote down the spellings. Then they added up who got the most right and picked the winners that way. #1 got second place in his division for the county. I thought that was pretty cool. He was happy to get second because 1st place would have to advance to state, and would have gone to the county fair as well, and he just didn't want to do either of those things. Good job #1!

Today was my birthday. During our dinner conversation, D asked the boys what they would get me for my birthday if they could get ANYTHING they wanted to. I found their answers to be interesting, and somewhat revealing. #1 said a new car. #2 couldn't decide...and later decided on a new TV #3 said a generator (which would enable them all to watch TV and play video games in the event of one of our frequent power outages here on the coast.) #4 said a Harry Potter book (even though I already have all of them), then when he found out I have them all he said a Harry Potter CD (meaning the books on CD). #5 said he would buy me a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD. All in all it was a good birthday. I have realized how blessed I am to have all that I do have. While there are always things that would be useful, we are blessed to have all of our basic needs and many luxuries. Our house isn't the nicest house, but it keeps us safe and dry. What more could I ask for? I have five healthy boys...

That was the thought that went through my head on friday when I picked up #3 from school. #2 was on a field trip, and so I picked up #3 since he had no one to walk home with him. On the way to the car he slipped his hand in mine, and instead of a tiny kid hand I realized that there was a big kid hand in mine. How long before he doesn't want to hold my hand at all? I had better enjoy holding his hand while I can.

#3 was born with a lot of hair... He has always enjoyed water, dirt and any combination of the two... I can hardly believe he is already 8 years old! Happy BIRTHDAY #3!!!

Tonight as we sat around the table eating our strawberry shortcake for dessert, #2 brought up the topic of growing up. He stated that sometimes he wishes he could be a kid forever, and sometimes he wishes he could be a grown up now. His reasoning for wanting to stay a kid involved that its more fun to not be smart. In his words..."You know how I'm really smart? I have more fun when I act like I'm not smart." This has led him to believe that being dumb is more fun than being smart... #3 piped up and said, "The number one reason I want to be a grown up is because then I can do whatever I want...except at work, and number two grown ups don't get throw up sick as often as kids do." Then #4 and I had the following conversation... #4: I want to be a grown up so I can play the Wii whenever I want to. Me: That's assuming you get a job and buy a W ii of your own. #4 (with big, innocent eyes): But I'm going to live here for a while after I grow u...

For me spring means brighter days, warmer weather, and reviving life. Already we've seen crocus blooms and daffodils. The sun play longer. The grass is ready to mow. The trees' leaves are beginning to show. This past week was the much anticipated Spring Break. However, the Spring part of Spring Break seemed to elude us... ...almost. What comes to mind when you think of Spring? #1 (11): Easter #2 (10): Flowers #3 (8): Boiyiong #4 (6): Spring Suit Mario #5 (4): Spring Vacation What did you do to celebrate Spring during Spring Break? #1: I played in the snow #2: I played the Wii #3: Play on the Wii all day #4: Show people the Wii #5: I forgot

I have always been pretty much an anti video game kind of Mom. Nothing against video games, just that I knew that my boys would become obsessive over owning a game system the way they have obsessed about their computer time. The way we have it arranged is that they each have one day a week that they get computer time, and they get two hours. Two hours seems like a lot, but when its only one day a week it really isn't. Last year we had a chance to play a nintendo wii at Grandpa's house. The boys of course, loved it, and we were surprised that we enjoyed it too. The boys knew better than to ask about getting one though because I had vowed we would not ever get a game system. A lot of time and thought went into the decision to change my mind though. At Christmas the boys received Christmas money, as did D and I. We decided to save our money up to get a Wii . However, we didn't want to just go out and get one and by this time they were pretty much sold out anyhow. So we saved...

How often do we joke with our kids that its extra protein when they get grossed out by a bug in the picnic punch, yet we wouldn't dare drink it either? Nor would we eat our macaroni salad with a utensil that fell in a mud puddle. We are careful about putting contaminated things in our mouths, yet we may not be as careful about what contaminating things come out of our mouths. At least with contaminated food, we can throw it out so another person is not afflicted; however, once the words escape our mouth, there is no way to retract them and prevent them from contaminating the ears of all who directly or indirectly hear them. S (second oldest) was complaining the other day about how he said prayers everyday for help to resist the temptation to swear and to get the bad words out of his mind because at school "all the boys", including his church friend, say bad words. I'm proud of him for choosing to not swear. Then yesterday, I saw a national News clip about a 14-yr-old...

Puberty seems to be a fairly frequent topic in our family these days. This last week we were visiting family... #2: When I go through puberty, I won't be myself anymore. Me: Who will you be then? #1: He'll still be himself, just an angsty version of himself. Then last night #4 came downstairs to use the bathroom after bed time. He said he was afraid to go alone and wanted one of us to stand outside the door and wait for him. In the past it has been a fear of werewolves that kept him from going to the bathroom alone after dark. We fixed the problem by putting a new curtain on the window so he couldn't see the dark outside. I asked him what the problem was since the curtain was up and he said in a very sincere and frightened voice, "I'm scared...of PUBERTY." I couldn't help it, I busted up laughing. He didn't find it amusing and went on to ask his Dad if puberty is real or not. D replied that it was. We later found out that #2 had told #4 that puberty i...

#1 aka J is turning 11 today. Here are a few pics from over the years... Baby boy! Three and a half years old Awww...Six years old Cub Scout...Eight years old Last Summer, age 10

#4: All babies start out fat and chubby. #5: No they don't! Babies start out as a spiky ball! Earlier that day I had taken #5 to Costco where he flipped through a children's book on the human body. There was a section on the beginning of life, which included a small picture of an egg being fertilized. #5 who is only four years old, pointed to the picture and asked me what that was. I replied that that is how a baby starts. He must have remembered and it stuck in his head. Thus, babies start out as a spiky ball!

We were at the beach yesterday looking at tidepools and taking some pictures. D went ahead of us and climbed up on some tall rocks so he could take pictures. We waited for him to get done. For a long time he was standing there silhouetted against the sky while he took some pictures of a lighthouse out at sea. #4 noticed D and asked me: Does Daddy have hydrothermia? Me: No, Daddy doesn't have hypothermia. #4: Then why is he just standing there not moving? I thought it was cute that #4 thought Daddy was too cold to move. It was cold, but pretty warm for February.

After reading the label on a bottle of pickle relish, #2 expressed disgust it had been around for over 100 years. We explained that the company that made the relish was 100 years old, not the product. A brief moment later, #1 said, if the relish was 100 years old, it would be called relic .

#2: If it weren't for puberty I couldn't wait to be a teenager. Then I could drive... Gold nuggets of wisdom my friends...