Happy Princess Mommy Day!
My mom is here for a week and she gave me a Princess Mommy day. We all went to the movies together and saw Night At the Museum 2. I was crowned with a daisy chain. My mom and Daniel made a delicious dinner while I had a nap (ahhhh!) and the boys were my knights. What a fun day! Thank you, Mom!
Kids' Day
Daniel is reading Harry Potter to the boys. He is sitting in the hallway between both bedrooms. My siblings will remember similar scenes from our youth. Daniel's not feeling very well, but he's reading anyway to help the kids wind down after a very exciting day. Today we had an official KIDS' DAY. I was a little grumpy when the festivities started (still feeling selfishly jipped-sp? of a decent Mother's Day), but, really, it was a great day.
Things actually got started last night when we let the boys sleep on the hide-a-bed couch. Hyrum and Pi were in the bed, Caleb on the strange loveseat thing, and Lucas slept longways at the foot of the bed. They played Stratego and stuffed animal adventures until 11, maybe later. Yes, that includes Lucas. (I know, what where we thinking...well, the truth is, we weren't).
Today started at the glorious hour of 6:30. The boys watched Return of the Jedi and played on the computer, simultaneously, while I made monkey bread for their breakfast.
Around 10 am we headed out the door for a trip to Winston Salem and the SciWorks museum. (we were a bit delayed by the discovery of mold growing in back of the van, consuming soggy pretzels and a few cloth grocery bags...so that's what that smell was, GAG!) We spent the 30 min drive listening to a SuperMix Cd that Daniel had put together for the boys. It included the theme songs to Superman the Movie and Star Wars, several star war spoof songs (thank you Wierd Al), a few superman tributes, and some of our family TV favorites from Dr Who to Larryboy to Treasure Planet to Chuck.
At the museum Daniel and I tried to say yes as much as possible to the boys. So, we watched two planetarium shows that must have dated back to the 80's. (One of them had to have been made in Utah, the accents were grating to my ears and a shock to hear outside of a mormon film.) Anyway, we worked on some mental challenging puzzles, 'fished' in the miniature stream (with real water, plastic fish), and tromped around goose poop infested pathways looking at deer, frogs, and some very friendly, showoff otters. There was also a spinning granite sphere statue/fountain that slowly revolved with a thin coat/covering/? of water. Daniel and the boys spent a good 30 minutes making the huge rock stop moving and turn different directions and speeds.
As we stumbled out of the last planetarium show at 2:30, I was having painful flashbacks of a Pink Floyd lazerlight show I had once gone to (in my oh so wild youth) and we were all grumpy hungry. I held true to a passing comment I had made the day before and took everyone out to eat at Chickfil-A (trust me, that is a big deal in this family). Even though, by the time we found one, we were only 3 minutes away from home. The boys inhaled their chicken nuggets and fries and played on the play place for as long as we let them.
Then, we, smart thinking parents that we are, Daniel and I trundled everyone over to Harris Teeter for some grocery shopping. I guess you can call the outcome successful, because in the end, Daniel and I were happy because we spent $42 and saved $70, and the boys emerged victorious each with a Snickers bar in hand. (little do they know that they were free, thank you thegrocerygame.com).
We resisted the temptation to end the day with a movie for the boys and a nap for us, and took the boys bike riding---drum roll please----along with their new Razor Scooter. (yep, singular, nuttin wrong with sharing!). None of our boys know how to ride a bike. Even at 9,7, and 5. Sigh. I had heard that two wheel scooters are helpful because they promote balancing. Of course, we just told the boys it was a Kids Day gift. Daniel took turns helping the older two boys ride the two wheeler while I entertained everyone else. We had races, 'flew' like superman, and just enjoyed moving our bodies. Hyrum is still pretty unsure about the whole bike thing, but the exciting news is that Caleb got it. He can ride a two wheeler. He's got to work on his starts, but we've finally have turned that corner. He is so happy.
We ended the day with brownies, ice cream, and chocolate syrup and plenty of compliments to go around the kitchen table and now we are back to Harry Potter and Daniel reading in the hall way.
It's been a fun day. I have left out the near constant bickering of a couple of our children and the slightly more than occasional bursts of temper from me and Daniel. I like the good parts version. I guess it is good to to take time to celebrate the children, even though I am serving them everyday already. I liked their smiles when they heard what we loved about them. I am excited to hear them tell their friends about today. I feel gratified when I hear Caleb say we've got the best family ever (a man of hyperbole he is, on both extremes).
So, I got about 4 loads of dishes piled high and a stinky kitty litter still to attack before the night is done, but I wanted to write down today. It was a good day.
This was another week missing the camera!
I really missed the camera this week. Hyrum was at Camp Thunderbird with his school class Monday -Wednesday. I guess I still am a bit protective because I thought about him a lot. He left us for a week last summer when he stayed with Sonja for a science camp, but this was with strangers and I couldn't call him. I swear he came back older. His hair seemed longer, his face more mature, he had to be taller! There was definitely a new sense of confidence. I really wanted a camera for the moment he came out of the activity bus carrying his bags and sleeping bag, with his rain vest and Joel's Lime CocoCola hat askew. Just think, one day I'll get to see him step off a plane with his bags, scriptures, and missionary name tag squarely on his pocket. On that day, I'll definitely have a camera!
I can't believe I don't have ANY pictures of Lucas as Superman. His love of Superman is fast becoming his world. He wears a Superman outfit 4 or 5 days a week. He stepped it up a notch this week though. We went to the local Acme Comic store on Wednesday (waiting for our local egg drop off!) We had rushed out the door so Lucas made it out with out shoes and I had to carry him. As we were looking at a lifesize window cling of Superman, Lucas made a startling discovery. He looks at his socked feet and then at Superman's bright red boots, back and forth, back and forth. Finally, he looks at me and says, "Mommy, I need red boots!" We ventured into the store and Lucas was in heaven. He pointed here and there saying "there's me!" --a superman comic book, a supergirl poster, a bust of Superman Returns Clark Kent. I guess as far as he was concerned, this was a store partially devoted to him. He certainly seemed confident in there. He proudly announced to the store owner that he was Superman. He even tried to convince me that he was an adult, being Superman and all, therefore he could read the adult themed comics. Luckily, instead, he happily settled on a Superman book for kids. We truly have a comic fan in the making. He reverently held his purchase and gently touched the plastic covering. The next two days and nights were spent getting anyone who would to read him "the book about me". So, fair warning, the next time you see Lucas, he may only answer to Superman.
Now I Get It!
Lucas asked me again if I was human, so I decided to ask him the same question. He gave me that 'duh!' look that children do so well and replied "No, I'm a man, you are a human."
More Lucas Wisdom
Well, a question really. Lucas asked me, 'Mommy, are you a human?" My first thought was what would Joel say. What would you say? I took the dull route and replied yes, but it would have been fun to say, "Well, no, actually I am.......
New pictures!
I have decided to make a scrapbook of all our fun adventures with our extended family. I've uploaded pictures from Grove Park Inn and last spring break in New York. I think mom or joel may have more pictures than I do. If you do, maybe I could bring up some CD's to copy the pictures on to.
A joke for you
This morning, Lucas sees his dinner plate still out on the table
He wants to use his dinner fork to eat his breakfast
I explain that it has germs, that it is his old fork from yesterday
He pauses, thinks, points to his breakfast fork and says
Oh, so this is my young fork.
Sobering Liberation
This is not the type of entry one would expect on a blog like this. No 'today we made cookies, watched caterpillars, and solved world hunger, all before naptime' here. The blissfully happy mothers need not read any further.
Yesterday I came to a realization that was both liberating and sobering at the same time. I realized that no matter what I do, spending 3 hours with 4 children (my own children at that) is down right EXHAUSTING! It doesn't matter how much I preplan, how earnest my prayers for patience, or how I spent the previous 6 hours of the day. By the time dinner is on the table at 6pm, I will be wiped out.
This is extremely liberating because I no longer have to search for the 'perfect' combinations of activities or even try to find the right frame of mind (you know, that one in which every aspect of motherhood is glorious.--heck, even on a good day, I'm exhausted.)
The sobering part is pretty obvious--there is nothing I can do to escape it. Well, except grind through the next 10 years. (By the way, as I write this, locked in my room, I can hear things being thrown. So far I've labeled the sounds of the push car, a brown paper bag, and some legos. Lovely.)
Why write about this? Because today I am processing that fact that although I played baseball with Adam, read books to Lucas, and helped Hyrum plant a tree (yes, a tree), I got to listen to Caleb declare me to be one of the worst mothers. So, I decided to be one. When we went to get cookies at the store (free on Thursday!), he had to stay in car. I am refusing to help him with his homework, he's lost reading computer priviledges for week, and he has to go to bed right after dinner. So, the question is, am I trying to help him learn a lesson (be careful what you say, you are still responsible for the words, even if you didn't mean them), or am I just plain angry and getting back at him.
You decide, I am way too exhausted to think.
Rachel
PS on a happier note, those of you keeping tabs on Hyrum's progress, today he got to participate in the ice cream social for doing 100 multiplication facts in 5 minutes. This is GREAT becuase 1) it shows that all the flashcards we've done at home are working and 2)he DID NOT GIVE UP!!!! On this red letter day, he also did excpetionally well on his writing benchmark today. I quote his teacher "like a fish in water."
Green Surprises Are Better Than Pinches
A few weeks ago, Lucas decided to help out and he washed our camera. He brought it to Daniel with a big grin "see, Daddy, aw clean!" (drip, drip, drip). So, I don't have a camera to capture today's adventures and thought I'd write about instead. Then I thought, why not send it to my family for some St Paddy's Day fun.
The boys made Leprechaun traps a few weeks ago (thanks, Family Fun magazine). Caleb put off making one until just recently because he wasn't sure he they were real. But, last night they must have come. We found shamrocks and pennies all over the floor leading from the bathroom to the fridge. In each of the traps was a chocolate bar and some stickers.
They left a note on the couch:
You made great traps, but we got free
We are not here as you can see
Your (fake) gold we kept, cuz it was fun
And then left chocolate for everyone.
Caleb yippeed and repeated over and over, I believe! I believe! They are real!!
We found two other surprises as the morning went on. The water in the toilet bowl was green (Caleb insists it was Leprechaun pee) and the milk in the fridge was green as well.
It was really hard to get the boys to eat breakfast because they kept finding possible leprechaun tricks everywhere. (Mom, was this DVD case green yesterday? Hey, the battery recharger is unplugged! I bet they put this pinecone outside for us to find, I've never seen it before!)
Lucas had another reason to skip breakfast. In the middle of the melee, he found a corner to sit and quietly eat the entire special dark hershey's bar that the leprechauns left him. (I wonder if the little green men had given him the special dark bar in hopes he would share with his mommy?) Oh well!
Happy St. Patrick's Day, may your day be merry and green--with some dark chocolate in your leprechaun traps!
Love, Rachel
PS lucas wants to type
jhhhgh9ihggghjbn n njbjrcdsre