67 Clothes Pins later

A scheduled play date that would leave 4 boys, ages 4 to age 1 1/2, inside for 5 hours had be nervous for the state of my house and my sanity.  

A trip to the store to buy some clothes pins and 75% off Christmas lights, and digging through the storage room for old sheets and I was armed and ready to go.  

This is not a fort for amatures.  This was some serious fort building.  It is complete with Christmas lights for illumination purposes.  The inside is pretty roomy.

Needless to say, both Colton and Jareed loved the fort.  There was much excitement as they explored their new territory.  Jared was quick to make plans for what him and his best friend would do in the fort.  

How well was it received on the play date?  Well, due to the flu play date was postponed for the 2nd time.  

Now that I have a supply of clothes pins, we can try again some other day...

Love grows

Being a mother is full of milestones.  As you cross each one, you think, "I love you so much, I could never love you more than this moment."  Before long, another milestone is hit and your love continues to multiply.  

There is the moment that you first hold you baby.  You heart is bursting with love, pride, and exhaustion.  And your love begins to grow.  Your baby rolls over for the first time, and it's as if he just won the gold medal. Your love grows. Hearing him say his first word, even when their first word isn't "mommy", your love grows. (After the 50th word, it wouldn't be so bad to hear "mommy")  

He falls, and breaks his leg.  You spend the next 5 weeks by his side all day long.  You love and determination to make it ok, get him through it.  And your love grows.  You watch them play, hear the sing, hold them as they cry, and your love grows.  We bake cookies together, go for bike rides together, and build sand castles together, and your love grows.  

When you least expect it, your love grows.  In the middle of the night you run to his room to find him ready to throw up.  With no time, and no options you offer your hands.  Before you know it, your hands are full of vomit.  The only thing you think of, "is he ok?"  Your love grows and you are strapping him into his boosters seat and putting a bib on.  He starts throwing up, and at the same time his brother starts throwing up.  It is vomiting in surround sound.  All though your head is full of many thoughts, you focus on, "help them, make them ok."  Yes, even when you least expect it, your love grows.  

Not a New Year Resolution

I realize it has been awhile since my last post.  I would be lying to say that my New Years resolution is to write more frequently; it is not.  Truth be told, there are just many days I have nothing to say.  Then there are days that I have a lot to say, but am too exhausted to even think about it.  Sitting on the couch watching Blacklist or something like a mindless Bravo show is more up my ally.  Then there was the challenge of finishing Colton's Christmas stocking.  There were times when I wanted to write something, felt like writing something, but needed to work on that.  There just isn't enough hours in the day.  When I start on cross stitching the tree skirt, you will probably never hear from me again.  Anyway, in the near future I do predict some new blog posts.  No promises of keeping my thoughts current, not that they ever were in the first place.  

This is the word of The Lord

Jared loves to play church.  Upon discovering Mark's old youth Bible, Jared was more equipped to read the scripture.  What transpired was quite interesting and entertaining.

Jared: God gave us a star, so when we look at it we will think of him.  (I don't know where he gets this from, but it was touching)

God does NOT want us to hit others.  No guns!  And no pushing.  God did not make us so we could hurt others.  (So, I guess he was paying attention when I was lecturing him about guns)  

God does not want us to be naughty.  Farting is naughty.  God does not want that. (God is not going to be happy with me)

Jared is then hit with a moment of true inspiration.

Jared: God does not want Mommies and Daddies to yell at their little boys.  No matter what the little boy does.  It makes Jesus so sad to hear a Mommy or Daddy yell at their little boy.  No more yelling at little boys.  This is what the Bible says.

Thanks be to God.

Do you promise to tell the whole truth?

As dutiful parents Mark and I have attempted to teach our children morals.  Stealing is wrong, hitting is terrible, talking about farts at dinner, although funny, is not appropriate.  Recently we have noticed Jared trying to be sneaky: toys slipped in his pocket at nap time, sneaky extra blanket into bed and hiding it behind his bear, slipping toys into bed.  

Tonight I saw Jared sneaking out of Colton's room holding a diaper.  It was a clear sneak.  It didn't take a lot of Sherlock Holmes work to discover the diaper was hidden under his pillow.  Not what I was expecting.  

As we are getting ready for bed I remind Jared that in our family we don't keep secrets from each other.  I ask if there is any secret I need to know about.  Thankfully,  he spills the beans.  Curiosity gets the best of me, and I ask, "Why?"  

He wanted to wear a diaper.  It's been over a year and a half since he last wore a diaper.  So, I press on, "but why?"

He wants to see what it feels like.  So there I sit, feeling confused, but determined to be supportive.   I am trying to teach him to not keep secrets, so I can't very well ridicule this idea.  On the other hand, it's a little bit crazy.

We agreed, tomorrow he can try on a diaper, and he can always tell Mom and Dad everything, no matter how ridiculous it is.

Don't trust the eyes

It has been brought to my attention on numerous occasions that Colton has very nice, big, blue eyes.  We have sat along parade routes and had people in the parade stop to point this out.  Almost everywhere we go, someone will mention it.

  In the past several months, Colton has figured out how to use his eyes to get what he wants. It doesn't matter if we are getting groceries, picking up a prescription, or eating out, I almost always have a stranger (typically an older woman) tell me he was flirting with them.  This is typically followed up with such phrases like, "what a cutie" or "such a darling."  He will do it to people he knows.  I have seen him work his charm with my brother.  

I have word to describe all of Colton's victims: suckers.  Don't get me wrong, the kid is cute.  But he knows what he is doing.

The pictures below illustrate my point.  It is a time order of events.  First he pulls off the flower, then he turns on the charm.  

 Today hew as using his magic again.  We were outside and he pulled out his Little Tikes Car.  He got behind it and pushed it down the driveway.  He seemed to be impressed with the speed it gained going down the hill, because he quickly drug it back up the driveway to try again.  This time, I saw him push extra hard as it sailed down the drive.  It was no surprise it sailed right onto the road.  Colton stopped, looked at me, said "ah-oh," and smiled a very proud smile.  He can be such a stinker, but this sucker falls for those eyes everytime and I find it impossible to not smile back.  

Busy Weekend and Simple Pleasures

At bedtime, we always have a "talk" with Jared.  The "talk time" originated as a reward at age 3 for giving up his blankie.  Usually, we discuss the joys and concerns of our day.

This past weekend was very busy.  Friday night began with Mark and Jared going to see "The Living Bible" at church.  Apparently there were even live camels and sheep.  Jared was quite taken in with the resurrection.  As he explained to me, "God made Jesus stronger than a super hero, because he woke up after he died."  Saturday morning was a 3 year old birthday party at the park district gym.  Much running around, and loud screaming ensued.  In the afternoon/evening we celebrated my birthday at the Hofbrauhaus.  There was a German band playing many polkas and waltzes.  Much dancing and loud music ensued.  Jared was in his element. Sunday was a little more relaxed.  We did make it to the library and the park. 

At bedtime, I asked Jared if he had a good weekend.  We talked about how busy we were and I listed all the different things we did. I asked him which was his favorite.  He said, "Getting the big book."
 I said, "Oh, going to see the Living Bible?" 
He clarified, "No, getting the big book from the library."  Yes, the big Star Wars Lego book from the library.  Even though he doesn't know anything about Star Wars and occasionally will play with Legos, getting this book was the highlight of his weekend.  I guess it's the little things in life.  Next weekend I'll just give him a box of paperclips and some paper and call that good enough.