Intuitive Ben

I am beginning to think that my5 yr old is quite intuitive. Yesterday at the movie theater he came over to me crying during the movie saying that the movie was scary. The weird thing was, the scary part was coming up, but had not happened yet. The same thing happened at another movie when he was about 2 or 3. He seems to sense the impending danger before they even elude to it. If a 5 yr old can be this intuitive about a movie he has never seen, imagine how on top of it he is when it comes to reading his parents moods and worries. He knows when we are frustrated and have worries and more. So, this makes me worry about stressing out my little boy. But I have decided it isn't all about never letting him notice me being frustrated or whatever, but rather when I do have a worry that he see me deal with it in a good way. So, I pray for patience, and restraint, when I don't show patience.

I failed!

Well, I think it is safe to say that there is no catching up from this blogging Holiday Hiatus. I wanted so badly to do 365 consecutive days of blogging, but then Christmas week came along and just threw me for a loop! There is no catching up now, but there is continuing on, and so that is the plan. I am back with plenty of stories to share and funny things said by the kids and general chaos that is our loving home to relay to you : ) So, a quick Christmas recap of the fun, the craziness, the chaos, and the joy of the past few days: It was our turn to host the family Christmas Eve Brunch. 40 of my favorite people all good enough sports to squeeze into my living and dining rooms to sing my Christmas Carols, eat my food and play my silly games for my silly prizes! In the days leading up to this party I worry that my kids will associate Christmas with cleaning. Just cleaning. But it is not only when it is my turn to host the party that the cleaning bug gets me at the holidays. Right or not, my kids get quite a lot for Christmas. I am ok with it, I have rationalized it this way: We don't buy them toys throughout the year, so at their birthdays and Christmas we may go a little crazy but the toys have to last them all year. So, as Christmas approaches I begin to notice all the other stuff we have already. I see something lying on the floor and I begin to say things like, "If I were Santa, I wouldn't be bringing any toys to this house where I see the kids have so much that they have it all over their floors." And I begin going a little nuts cleaning out stuff. But it is really quite great, because we give away bags of stuff that the kids are "done" with (aka "won't miss") and make room for the new stuff to keep them entertained for the new year. But as I was saying, I worry the kids will associate cleaning with Christmas, which is not all that festive. So, I try to squeeze in fun moments here and there, but sometimes I am just not very attentive to that. I think God knew we needed a "fun Christmas moment" one night when, much against my plan of cleaning - as it was the 22nd, and my party was to be on the 24th, and I needed the 23rd to cook - the doorbell rang and there stood my wonderful cleaning lady, her daughter and her 2 grandchildren. They had a gift in hand, which was so thoughtful, as I know they have little to nothing above what they need in their home. The daughter had written and framed a lovely poem "inspired by God" for our home. As I began to gather my kids to the front door to meet our visitors, and upon seeing the kids introduce themselves, I asked them to stay for pizza. With much persuading by me, my kids, and my cleaning lady's grandchildren, they all stayed. What a wonderful evening! Instead of scrubbing floors, I was forced to sit on the sofa in front of the fire with Christmas music in the background and chat with two amazing women, while our kids ran off and played, giggled and just plain got along beautifully. Their family being from Kenya, I learned about how differently they celebrate Christmas. But after this lovely surprise that kept us having a great Christmas season amidst the party preparations, I hope that they decide to add a pizza party at our house to their new Christmas traditions, because it was a welcome surprise and a very welcome blessing. And with all those people in my house on Christmas Eve, I doubt anyone noticed the dust that I didn't have time to take care of. And one last note about that evening - As the kids were leaving that night, Jack yells from the other room, "This was the best night of my life!!! We have to have them come back!" Thank you Jack - you rock. So, the party was fun, and then came the fun evening at my inlaws where the kids have become accustomed to the tradition of me letting them just eat bread and jello and soda for dinner. Not that there aren't other foods, but I don;t fight it on Christmas Eve. Then we get the kids to bed, do our thing, and wake 4 hours later to 5 hyper children ready to see if Santa came. We say our usual, "I doubt he came, you guys haven't really been that good." and then we all race downstairs to find that in fact Santa must have seen some good in them because he really overdid it AGAIN. After 20 minutes of ripping paper, squeals, and battery search and rescue, the kids are busy playing with their new stuff. My hubby and I never get the chance to exchange gifts, because it takes us so long to help them open all the stuff they got that are basically padlocked into the boxes like Fort knox. But we don't care because Charlie gives us the best gift of all - HE SLEEPS THROUGH THE WHOLE CHRISTMAS MASS! Bingo - Merry Christmas to me and my husband. We have a lovely Christmas mass experience and get to grin back and forth at each other over our kids' heads and really "mean it." Then it is off to my parents for party #3! At one point there were 18 children sitting on Nana's floor waiting for Papa to call their name. I think it was a success because no one was trampled, and I recall no crying! I do however recall my crazy boy, Charlie, sitting perfectly angelically waiting with sweet little hands raised for his gifts. Turns out he had strep throat - no wonder he was so docile. I should have been tipped off when he fell asleep at church. All in all though - a beautiful Christmas Holiday with Family. Also: Charlie and I were sharing a pretzel today at my son, Jack's, basketball game and Charlie said this to me, "You're taking all the cheese in your mouth! You're taking too much!" I can not help but laugh at him when he says these sorts of things. He is so explicit, so thorough in his attempts to relay messages to us. I think it surprises us because he is our first child to speak so clearly and so completely at such a young age. While our other children at 2 and a half years old would say, "Uppy, Uppy!" When they wanted us to hold them, Charlie says, "I want you to hold me up and walk around. I want you to pick me up high and walk around!" At bedtime instead of just crying and fussing in his bedroom, he says, "Jack, I want to lay in your bed with you! Please Jacky, Please Scotty! Let me lay in your bed with you!" None of us can handle it - he ends up getting what he wants because we are so enthralled, moved, or just plain amazed at his ability to tell us exactly what he wants. (Plus he has these huge brown eyes that he bats at us.) Next: Tonight we went to Our Lady of the Snows Shrine to take a carriage ride through the lights, ride and feed the animals, see the puppet show etc and have dinner. We had such a great time. But the best was watching Charlie and Ben. They were absolutely amazed with everything, As we were going through the lights, Ben kept sort of leaping up off the seat and exclaiming, "Look mom! Look at that!" and it would be about something that seemed quite simple to me, but to a five-yr-old who may just barely remember doing this last year, it was all new and wonderful. The puppets in the hilariously awful puppet show that we HAVE to see every year (it just wouldn't be the same if we missed it) really got Charlie excited. First he was afraid of the idea of them, then when they came out, he wanted to go behind the curtain and get them, then he decided to leave the puppet show. But all the while he was laughing, smiling, chatting with the folks behind us, just having a really great time. The best part about all the fun stuff Charlie does these days is that the big kids love it just as much as me and their dad do. They laugh at him, they are amazed by him and they are delighted by him constantly. They are almost always on his side. They are all constantly showing me something Charlie did or telling me something Charlie said. But right now Charlie is losing it in his bedroom because he does not want to go to bed. I, my husband, and each of my big boys have tried to woo him to bed by lying with him, reading to him, playing with him and more, and none of it is working. I think he knows. He knows he can work us and he is working it hard tonight....

Date with Jack

I got to enjoy a nice evening prayer service and choir concert that my son Jack performed in. He and about 9 other kids singing beautiful Advent carols. It was absolutely lovely. After that there was reconciliation service, which my 9 year old's eagerness to participate in inspired me to partake also, which I had not done in a while. This was all very nice and made for a good evening, but the best part came after. Jack and I headed out for tacos. The conversation went like this: Jack: Mom, which animal would you rather be stuck in the middle of the ocean with? A Great White shark or the hugest eel ever? Me: Ooooo, I think the eel. Jack: Mom, seriously that is not smart. You could hide under a shark's body, his eyes couldn't see you because of where they are on his head. But an eel? An eel could wrap around your body and then eat your face off. Mom: I think a shark could smell you though. Jack: So could an eel and plus they are so ugly and you hate eels. Mom: True. I really hate eels. I don't know. Jack: how about this, would you rather have a snake for a pet or an eel? Mom: Eel. Because it couldn't escape and kill me. Jack: what if it was not a poisonous snake? And the conversation went on like this for seriously like an hour or so! Really fun to get to just shoot the shi# with Jack. He's a fun guy.

The Duct tape wallet

Scotty is hilarious. He gets so excited about things. My husband would say that he gets that from me, and I actually quite agree that if it is genetic, it comes from me, not his dad. I mean I get pretty giddy about stuff, and I'm always wondering why my husband isn't hopping up and down too, or screeching a bit. Anyway, I digress. Scotty gets excited about things. And the last couple days the excitement has stemmed from the idea of... a duct tape wallet! He decided that he wanted to make a duct tape wallet for his brother Jack for Christmas. Then I found out the library was having a duct tape craft afternoon that included making a wallet, so of course I signed him up. When I told him this you would think I just told him that we were going to Disney World. He said I was the greatest mom ever, and he was gasping for breath because of his excitement. Such a funny guy. So he comes home with a wallet made of duct tape that is quite cool, a bracelet for his sister and a pen with a rose on the end for me. And he was VERY proud. He even put 5 bucks in the wallet for Jack! What a nice little guy.

Pajamas

Why am I so stuck on finding my kids the perfect Christmas pajamas? I get them pajamas every year to wear to bed on Christmas Eve. I have this vision; Elaina in a white nightgown and the boys in red men's button down pjs. I have Elaina's covered, but the red pjs are illuding me. I know the boys could likely care less what color their pjs are, but since in my perfect Norman Rockwell vision they are wearing red, I really want to find them. I think this desire for the perfect pjs stems from a need to feel in control of something at this time of year. All the Christmas fun and shopping and hustle and bustle makes everything feel like it is going so quickly and so out of control. All the colors, all the craziness, while fun, can be a little...well, crazy. If I can get my kids to all match perfectly and look like a little picturesque Christmas vision on Christmas Eve, then for some reason maybe it will help my own mind settle and sit back and relax and enjoy the vision and the day. I will be tricked into thinking I have some control over my household. Because I am sure everything else about that day is going to be pretty crazy : )

What I say

I say some weird things throughout the day. Today: -No, no you may not put a leash on your brother. No, you may not. -Nope. You cannot set anything on fire. No, put the lighter away, and do NOT light anything on fire. -No, the dog does not want to be on a leash in the house. No, do not put that leash on him in the house. -Get your tongue off of the floor. Quit licking the floor. -Get your body out of the refridgerator. I'm surprised you fit in there. Get out of there. and the classic... -Get your hands out of your pants.

Scotty

He is listening to headphones while doing his homework. What might you expect an 11 yr old boy to be listening to? Some hard rock? Some rap? Not my 11 yr old. He is listening to the They Might Be Giants Science CD. And he keeps singing out loud, and saying things like, "I wish you could hear this song, mom." and "Did you know the sun is not a gas, liquid or solid?" and "Isn't it funny that when I was little I thought that lava was not liquid?" And at the same time he is working on his science vocabulary note cards. He keeps drumming the air and raising the roof...he cracks me up.