Coming soon....

I have so many stinking ideas for blogging, there's a list in front of the computer with soon-to-be-post topics waiting for me to elaborate on. Because, for the last 2-3 weeks, my late nights of blogging have been replaced with some of my handiwork.

My little girl, who loves to twirl in long flowing dresses (just in case you didn't know), had her fourth birthday this past weekend, and my little hands were feverishly measuring, cutting, pinning and sewing fabric pieces together to create what I hope she will thoroughly enjoy: 2 long twirly dresses.

One white (her preferred choice) with three choices of sashes to mix it up a little
and one blue with white & yellow daisies (why is it when children are finally dressed up and looking gorgeous, they want nothing to do with the camera)
I'll get around to explaining all of this soon, I hope.

A day in the life...

A day in the life of Nathan...

diapers and boots

the other yard is more interesting

a little boy's dirty pants

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A day in the life of Katherine...

being silly

chillin' with the cuz
eatin' lunch with the bro-man
chillin' with her best bud

Muscle Mania

I was at a loss of words for how I was going to write about Nathan's new gig - showing his muscles. So when Katherine walked in I asked her what I should write. Here is her story:

We show our muscles to our mom.
We show them to our dad, too, of course.
Nathan doesn't, except I do.
Mine are bigger than Nathan's but Daddy's are the biggest!

Well, that pretty much sums it up. Enjoy the pictures!

Oh what the heck, I'll elaborate. He is quite impressed with the attention he gets when he shows people his muscles. He gets attention when he loudly proclaims, "Bye Bye" or when he blows kisses, but something about people's reactions to him showing his muscles sparks the little actor in him and he cranks up the cuteness a notch or two. To the unknowing passerby, it might look like a slight bout of constipation, but nonetheless, it's cute.

The only exception is when I have the camera out.

He wants nothing to do with performing for the camera, only live audiences. So Katherine has picked up on the attention she could garner if she shows her muscles in lieu of him.

We have entered Muscle Mania at our house.

This dog ain't too old to learn some new tricks

Well I just learned something today. This garden has been mostly good for me, I think, because I feel so ignorant when it comes to our food basics.

In the garden yesterday, I noticed our beautiful broccoli plants had turned into even more beautiful flowers. I asked Jim, if the blooms were going to turn into the broccoli we eat and he said it was too late.

Well, that answer was lacking a little in the "explanation department" so I pulled out the modern-day version of an encyclopedia, Google, and found out this:

"Broccoli is a vegetable that will flower unlike some other plants. The parts that we eat are called florets. Each floret has the potential of opening a tiny flower. When broccoli goes to flowering, it has bolted and is not edible. Bolting means the plant has finished its reproductive cycle and is now going to make seeds."

Now, that was off of Yahoo Answers so I'm not sure of its accuracy, but it sounds right and makes sense. We waited too long to harvest, but I learned a valuable lesson and it looks like we might be helping stock a honeycomb somewhere.

Some of the other information I've learned from this little gardening adventure:

• Mustard greens are a beautiful leaf. They remind me of a little girl's ruffled skirt. If they stayed around longer and weren't so scrumptious, they'd be a great landscaping plant for low, green, leafy coverage.
  
• Growing a garden in your back yard is fairly easy. I did start with low expectations too, so that might have helped.
• When carrots are seeded heavily (like Katherine likes to do), they grow very crooked because there's no room.
• Young potato leaves look like African violet leaves.
• Celery doesn't like to grow in our back yard.
  

This one's for you, Mr. J!

This is the excitement you evoke when they hear your truck coming home.

She's still a Princess IN TRAINING

Yesterday, this one here, sigh, knocked her tiara sideways a little, if you know what I mean.

A wonderful late afternoon in the front yard had us 3 playing outside, enjoying the warmer weather. I found my comfy, padded, rocking chair to view the activities and referee from, while they played.

Katherine headed toward the big oak tree, hid behind it, I watched her peak around from behind and she disappeared.

Oh, how sweet, she's hiding from me, I thought. I'll go peek around the tree and surprise her.

I get up and do my best to tip-toe through crackling leaves and twigs, step up on the mulchy area around the tree, whip my head around to the backside of the tree and say, "Boo!"

No Katherine.

Hiding or standing up.

She was on the ground in the grass just behind the tree and had pulled down her pants to her ankles, spread both her legs straight out in front of her, and was propping her hiney off the ground with both hands, PEEING!

I stood there dumbfounded.

"Katherine, you hid behind the tree so I wouldn't see you, but you'll let the whole neighborhood watch you pee in the front yard?"

"Yesth."

"I declare. I'm speechless. When you're done, we're going inside, but first I have to inspect your skirt and make sure you didn't pee on it."

"Ok, Mommy. I love you."

So now I have to monitor Disney movies AND YouTube videos?

We have seriously taken for granted the kid-friendliness of the YouTube videos we've been watching.

Tonight, our sweet little family moment was turned upside down.

Nathan was sitting on my lap, Katherine was on Jim's lap and we were watching YouTube videos of trucks for you know who. One video lead to another, which then lead to another, etc. and next thing you know we were watching about coal trucks. That's cool, coal trucks. Don't know much about them.

It was a simple video with a country/twangy tune showing 5-second pictures of coal trucks and then the artist started stinging:

Well it's 40 below and I don't give a f#%* got a heater in my truck and I'm off to the rodeo...

The adult's eyes went from normal to bulging and we both started scrambling to find the mouse to turn off the video. Jim got to it first and after about 2 seconds of quiet while processing what we had all just heard, we busted out laughing. Well, anytime you're 3 years old and have no idea why both of your parents are laughing hysterically, you must start laughing also. So, Katherine started her borderline obnoxious/snorting-type laugh which then lead to Nathan laughing half out of fear that we'd all lost it and half out of feeling left out.

Even more proof that no matter how hard I try to shelter these little precious beings, they're gonna experience the world way more than I want them to.

Daily snapshots

I remember as a kid thinking that riding on the lawn mower was so much fun. I have to pretty much tie these two to the porch columns when Daddy mows to keep them safe.(No, he is not actually mowing. The blade is turned off and they're just riding around.)

* * * * * * * * *

He loves carrying around his blanket. Thank goodness he's not picky about which blanket, because there have been many instances where I've had to incarcerate a blanket because of excessive yard debris.
Here, he is fascinated with sister being big enough to take a shower by herself. It must be the "loving her independence" stuff, because she loves to take a shower by herself and does a pretty good job.

When Mommy is forced to outgrow naps

I think there needs to be a book written and entitled: "When Mommy is forced to outgrow naps" because I would buy it. Heck, I could probably write it myself, although I don't think what I'd write would be very inspirational. It would be more depressing and bitter.

There's no secret there. I am a napper and I have thoroughly enjoyed the year when both of my children were taking naps in the afternoon. But, unfortunately, that time is nearing an end.


Katherine is very quick to tell even strangers, "I have outgrown my naps. I do not nap anymore." Which, theoretically, could have been true back 2 years ago, if we would have been able to put up with her little world crashing to pieces every evening, with plenty of crying, whining and pure out mean-ness to add to the pleasure of preparing something to eat. But, at almost 4, she's proving that even a half hour nap means not falling to sleep until 10:30, even when she's in bed by 9, and that her world is able to stay intact without naps.

So, it is a sad day in our house because she functions just fine and goes to sleep better at night without naps.

Now, Nathan on the other hand, still needs both naps. There are times he will decide not to take the morning nap and act like the afternoon one is up for grabs. Au contraire!

And as for the mornings when he decides that waking up when the clock starts with a 5, this is usually what I wake up to...
He tries to take his clothes off in protest, I guess.

He's pretty close to figuring out how to climb out of his crib too. I've seen him get within an inch or one good jump from completing the last hoorah over the edge of the crib. I dread the day I wake up to a little person carefully touching my sleeping face while he's holding some Q-tips, a steamer basket and has diaper rash cream smeared across his face with some in his mouth.
Katherine did that one time, and I still have no idea how long she was awake. She quietly left her new big girl bed and went playing. I saw remnants of her "play" in the kitchen by the pots and pans on the floor, in the office by the rubber bands spread across both office chairs, in the guest bathroom from the toilet paper strewn about and in the 4th bedroom because she got into the balloons and had brought me a handful of them asking me to blow them up. After scraping my heart off the floor and managing to swallow all of the fears of what could have been, we had the talk about not roaming about the house until I am up; and even established some new rules.

I'm thinking I better keep him in his crib as long as I can because something tells me balloons would be the least of my worries.

Ups and downs

What makes one day better than another? How is it I can have over a week of days that make me wonder what I've done right in this world, then be slammed with one that negates it all. I think if I knew the answer and how to prevent bad days, I'd write a book and make millions.


For me, sleep has a lot to do with it. Mine and my children's. Runny noses that lead to ear infections, teething and generally doing something for myself while it's quiet at night, all find ways to rob me and my children of precious, precious sleep.


And possibly hormones. Yes, I admit it. Those annoying little chemicals find surreptitious ways to control minutes of my life I'll never get back. Predicting them? Ha! I don't think so. Controlling them? Might as well write them off as one of those "that explains it" things, kind of like teething.


Whether or not the house is a mess. I am shallow enough of a person to let the house's "state" be in charge of my moods. Although, I have come to the conclusion that cleanliness isn't necessarily my goal any more, it is clutter-control. Floors, bathtubs, towels, etc. used to get "cleaned" much more. Now, the truth is, the smell they emanate or their level of stickiness decides their soapy fate.


If I feel rushed or have a lot to do in a little bit of time. Deadlines, real or self-imposed, and my ability to get them accomplished are factors leading to a good day.


Children's moods. They have bad days like big people, and sometimes they're just gonna have a crappy day no matter what I do. 'Nuff said.


Yet somehow, somedays, when I've had little sleep, a child or two is in a bad mood, little to no "picking up" has been done lately and we're running late to get to school on time - I can still manage to have a good day.


There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, and I somehow manage to avoid feeling like...


There is one thing that is for sure: God always meets me there. Wherever I am - apologizing to my daughter for not mommy-ing well, finding no energy to provide entertainment other than the TV, resorting to fast food for supper, not truly thinking out how to handle a biting child and stomping my feet on the ground because I'm not being heard. I am being heard and He's begging for my attention.

And when I am finally broken enough to realize I can't do it, I'm having a bad day, and I call out to Him, there is peace. It might be that really nice peace that makes the room quiet and children get along for about 5 seconds, but then, it's usually followed with the peace that follows me through the continued chaos of the day.

Why does it take so long to relinquish? Why is it usually my last thought? I guess, because I'm human and broken.

I hope this means I'm due for some more good days.

The life he loves

What more could this boy ask for: freedom from clothes while reading a truck book.
He is turning into quite the little flirt. Waving and clearly pronouncing bye-bye to ladies older than 30 is usually followed up with blowing kisses. He's also acquired about 5 girlfriends at Katherine's school, who just happen to be teachers.

He gets beside himself excited when we play hide and seek. Finding Mommy today was the ultimate excitement in his life. He is unable to contain his excitement so he squeals, does a hot-potato dance, buries his head in whatever chair/pillow/soft-thing is around, turns around in circles and declares "There she is!" over and over again. He's not that into hiding himself, just finding the hiders.

A day in the life of Little Miss

Katherine is really starting to pick up on my supper-time frustrations.

Nathan started his normal I'm-ready-to-get-down-so-keep-feeding-me-as-I-walk-by-so-I-can-continue-playing supper routine which leads to frustration on his part for not being able to communicate this and then leads to flinging food.

Not a favorite activity of mine.

He was reprimanded and turned around to face the wall.

I then took a deep breath, looked at Katherine and said, "Now what were we trying to talk about?"

She lovingly reached across the table, held on to my two hands with her two tiny hands, looked me in the eyes and said, "Mommy, do you just want to talk about your day?"

Am I that transparent?

* * * * * * * * * *

She's also figuring out that when she does or says nice things, she gets lots of positive attention and praise. Now whether or not she believe this is anyone's guess, but she said to me "Mommy, I like sandwiches. I like whatever you make 'cause they're really good for my body."

* * * * * * * * * *

She's very quick to point out when she's not been so good. At the end of the day, I enjoy talking about the day and telling her what I really enjoyed, what I had fun doing, what she did that was so good or what she did that might have hurt someone's feelings, etc. She will disagree with me when I tell her she's been good that day.
K: I was not good all day. (shaking her head no, with eyebrows up and eyes rolling back)
Me: Well, what did you do that wasn't so good?
K: I screamed in the bathtub.
Me: You're right, you did scream even after I asked you not to.
K: Yep, I did and you forgot.
Me: Did you do anything else today that might not have been so good?
K: Ummmm.
extremely long pause
K: No, I was good the rest of the day.

Little Miss Particular she is.

Waiting...

When I wrote the caption for the picture below, I realized that many things in my life are causing me wait...

Waiting for garbage truck.

My sister-in-law, bless her heart, is 5 days past due from giving birth to her 3rd child. Talk about waiting.

I'm still waiting on what path my career is supposed to take.

Waiting on an answer to our financial questions.

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:14

Youth Fair

We made it to the Southeastern Youth Fair on a cold, crisp, sunny morning. For me, the Youth Fair has been more of a social event and/or lately a teaching opportunity, rather than a trip for sheer enjoyment. I mean really, who likes to walk around pushing a stroller or chasing a child or two down poop-laden aisles listening to hogs squeal and politely asking any FFA or 4H member to kindly hold open the barricading 3-board gate so I can push the stroller through? Not me.

But, dare I say, it was all for educational purposes? I don't think I can say that either. Nathan was only interested in this:

He cared not one ounce for any of the animals or displays the Ag. kids worked so hard on. Well, I take that back. The animals were interesting until I demanded he not stick his hands/fingers inside every stall/pen he could find. And then the race was on. He would usually try to outrun me to another stall/pen, hurry up and stick his yummy appendages inside and try to touch or grab whatever animal was near until I forced his hands out.

So, we spent a lot of time walking around in the wide open areas, away from nibblers.

He's also not decided if he's ready to outgrow naps, so any morning activity is a crap shoot. If I plan something, he will undoubtedly wake up at 5:45 and be ready for a nap at 9:30. But if I leave the day totally open, lo and behold, the little booger sleeps in until 7:15 (which is my equivalent to Christmas day for a child).

That was Thursday AM, and Friday PM was the hog show. My niece, K, was showing a hog for the first year and Jim had to work late that night. It is extremely important to me that I show K my support for accomplishing the task of buying, raising, feeding, watering, caring for, speaking about, showing and eventually "letting go" of this hog she appropriately named Barbie-Q. So, I braved going to the show sans husband, with a compliant child and a non-compliant child.

K's mom, my sister-in-law, said to me when she saw me walk in the over-crowded, standing-room-only arena with both kiddos, "You must be crazy comin' in here with two kids."

I took that as a compliment and as you probably guessed, we didn't last for long inside the arena. We headed out to Barbie-Q's stall and did some socializing with family members I hadn't seen in a while (because that's what it's really about, right?).

Luckily, daddy came to pick up Captain Destructo, they both went home and I got to hang out with the one who hadn't been getting very much attention from me for that evening.

She did make it very clear to me and my parents that raising a hog was not for her. Guess that's one area Disney hasn't expanded the Princesses adventures to.