What they say...

Charlie after falling down: I need ice for my butt. I literally touched the icepack to the outside of his pants for .5 seconds. Ah, that's better now. Ben, at the Valentine Preschool party while staring at Grace about 12 inches from her: Grace is so pwetty. me: Did you tell her? Ben: No me: She might think that's nice to hear Ben: Ok. Grace you're pwetty. I love how he just wears his heart on his sleeve! If we could all be like that, what happy days everyone would have! Charlie: I taking down these Valentine decorations! I want Christmas! It took a while, but I was able to convince Charlie that Valentine's Day is fun too. But I get his point. I just don't remember any of my other kids rebelling against the end of Christmas the way this guy has been doing! After my own heart. Ben upon seeing the pink soccer ball I brought to the park: I don't mind that manly pink ball. Not sure where he got the words "manly pink" but he has been using them lot lately. Also I don't want to forget: -Last night all 5 of my kids got into Charlie's bed during the nightime story. Pretty funny actually having Scotty (11) squish in there with us. -We had a very fun Valentine's Day: Daddy made a delicious dinner of filet mignon for me and him and chicken nuggets for the kids and fruit, vegies. Chocolate covered strawberries and a big heartshaped cookie for dessert. And we all watched The Bee Movie together.

-Ok, Ben just stapled a bunch of pokemon characters together in a big long line, which he cut out of paper, then he taped it on his shirt from shoulder to shoulder. He is so proud!

Attack of the Boys

The kids are supposed to be downstairs cleaning up the rest of the basement - I gave them a huge head start. I can hear this: Jack: "Elaina, quit crying. And no, you cannot go to the bathroom. (Elaina sobs) Scotty, you know what is going to happen. We do all the work, and crying Elaina goes upstairs and tells mom we were being mean. (Elaina sobs) And then mom says, 'Awe, poor Elaina, just stay up here with me' and then we finish all the cleaning ourselves like every other time and Elaina does nothing. (Elaina sobs) She gets out of it every time. (Elaina sobs) No, Ben, she is faking all that crying again, she cannot go upstairs. Elaina, clean." Wow, perhaps I've let Elaina off the hook a few too many times. And Elaina is still sobbing. Not even sure why. I think she just really does not want to clean and so she is crying. So, I just called Jack upstairs and it turns out she is sobbing the words, "I miss Tavy!" (My inlaws" dog who passed away a while back.) This has happened before. Is it an excuse not to clean, or is she actually sideswiped with the reality of the dog's death every now and then? I really do not know. She is quite unusually attached to dogs. Not sure what to do with this one. A manual would be good.

The kids' Commentary

Charlie: on using the toilet - "I'm big like Ben, and Jack and Scotty." "I need to go standing up. Not sitting down. I need to stand up and go potty." "Mom, smack my bottom and shake the drips off." "Going poop is hard." "Poop goes only on the potty chair. I'm sorry mom. I'm so sorry." Jack: in a very serious sad voice - "Scotty, you know that grandpa who died? You know him, this is the chair that he died on. Sitting right on it." (not true) Elaina: to my friend as she walks in the door - "Is your hair different?" (and it was, but not like hugely different, she just had not straightened it - and it was up in a ponytail. She is super observant. Maybe she will be a spy, or mentalist some day.) Ben: regarding the upcoming Valentines day - "I know what you can get dad! Dad LOVES hugs! and you can make him a special dinner!" Scotty: calling home from school - "Mom, I need your permission to be in the equations contest on February 26th." (Why would anyone need permission for this!?)

You Aw Just So Pwetty

Well, I had the most sweet moment EVER with my 5 year old today. I had asked him to clean up his legos, and then I found them still a mess. So, I called him upstairs to finish the job. He walks into the room and he is just standing there, staring at me sort of weird as I am telling him to clean it up. I say, "Ben, what are you doing?! Start cleaning it up, why are you just staring at me?!" And he says, "oh, sorry, you aw just so pwetty." And then he goes on about his business cleaning up. So of course I begin to melt. I had done my hair a little differently and had put on make-up, so I guess it surprised him a bit. But that was the cutest thing EVER! So I go over to him and hug him and tell him that is the sweetest thing I have ever heard. And then of course I helped him with the legos. : )))

Elaina, Charlie and the Perfect Friendship

It is a match made in heaven, really. She wants to constantly pretend that Charlie is a dog. Charlie loves to pretend that he is a dog. She wants to constantly pretend that she is nurturing some inanimate object. He will pretend very well right along with her since he isn't really sure what is alive and what is not. She loves to be in charge. For some reason he lets her take charge of him. She sends him on little errands. He rushes off to do her bidding - happy for the attention. They are both just a tad insane. It works out so well! Today I am thankful for Elaina's (7) friendship with Charlie (2.5). Right now they are pretending that my decorative eggs are some sort of eggs that they found in the wild and are waiting for them to hatch to discover what animal will emerge. Question is...do they actually think the eggs will crack?I am pretty sure Elaina realizes they are pretend. Charlie however, may just play along FOREVER until those eggs crack. Elaina may be smarter than I think.

Playing the Piano

My joy is overflowing! The boys piano lessons have been going absolutely swimmingly ever since I instilled the "one hour a day" practice! I am so happy for them. They are enjoying it more - I can tell by the way they sit straight down when their teacher arrives and they begin to show-off how well they can play their pieces. I can tell, by them calling me into the room to "hear what I can do!" Who would have thought that actually putting some concentrated effort into something would make such a difference? duh! I guess I just always had let the kids rule how much they did something, whether it be practice piano, shoot baskets, or work on making a little movie. It seems these days, now that I have begun to push them a little more on these activities, they don't push back quite the way I would have thought that they would. They push through and excel! Yippee! Also I don't want to forget: -Charlie has had some potty accidents here and there. Nothing terrible. But any time he does, he says so sweetly, "I'm sorry mom." and he sticks his little bottom lip out. How am I supposed to be a Tiger-mom when I have to deal with THAT!? -Charlie flooded - and I mean really flooded, like a whole inch of water on the bathroom floor - the basement bathroom today. First he shoved a bunch of toilet paper in the drain of the sink. Then he turned on the water and left it running until it flooded the whole bathroom. I was upstairs changing all the sheets, and my husband was working from home in an upstairs bedroom. All 4 of my other children were in the basement when this happened. No one noticed it. We found it later. Seriously!? -If you ask Charlie (2.5) who was born in the stable he will say, "Jesus." and when you ask him who Jesus' mom is he will say, "Mary." and when you ask him who else was there he will tell you , "The kings. A camel. A cow. Sheep. A horse. Angels." I don't think that is half bad for a 2 yr old. -Lately the kids get a kick out of telling Charlie that no, he can not do something. Because no matter what it is, Charlie will say, "Please I do it!" For instance, the kids could say that no, he can't keep hitting them in the face, and Charlie will say, "PLEASE I keep hitting you!?" Or the kids will say that no, he can not keep breaking all the eggs in the carton, and Charlie will say, "PLEASE I keep breaking them!?" The rest of the kids think this is hilarious. -Had a great time playing basketball tonight with the girls. Scotty was the tenth player, and he played really great. Very proud of him. -Today I am super thankful that I get to go to a mom's conference in Bloomington,IL in March. It is such a wonderful, faith-filled weekend with the perks of getting to hang with my sisters and friends all weekend! I signed up today : )

Blogworthy moments

We changed our nursery into a weight room yesterday. : ((( Yesterday's snow day brought some fun: Whole family watched a movie in the basement about Pistol Pete. That spurred on a basement basketball game using the little guys' indoor hoop. Followed by a family board game of Cranium. Hot chocolate, cookies. Then more basketball. Music practice (which is fun for me to hear, because ever since I instilled the 1 hr practice, the boys have been really progressing!) And finally, an "all kid sleepover" in the basement. (though we talked the 2 yr old into sleeping in his own bed) I have not seen or heard the kids yet this morning, I bet they will watch cartoons down there till I make them stop. Which will be when I want some pancakes - that's their job this morning. But then what...I mean yesterday I spent time in the morning on my computer making reservations for Spring Break and a mom's weekend away. And during that time: -Charlie spilled yogurt everywhere. -Charlie spilled his drink everywhere. -Charlie took off his clothes and ran around naked (totally naked). -Charlie was found exercising in the weight room. -Charlie got my ipad quite sticky. I better find some good entertainment for Charlie...the truth is, he has 4 older sibs home to entertain him, so I let down my guard thinking that will be enough...not so much. Even though I made my kids clean up the basement yesterday before we they could have fun, practice their music for an hour each, clean up their lunch mess, and didn't let them have the friends over they wanted (because it was a family day), randomly they each came up to me and said something to the effect of "you rock, mom" or "mom, you're fun." Sometimes it isn't easy being the parent that lays down the law, because we want to only be the fun one, but I think kids don't really know what they want until we show them. My kids begged for friends to come over, then I planned a different kind of fun afternoon (which included some cleaning and practicing), and they were still thrilled. I wonder if I can somehow get them to think changing all the bedsheets today is fun....