How to catch a snowflake

Step 1:

Find the perfect snowflake

Step 2:


Tell your perfect snowflake to climb to the top of the ladder. Just like rock climbing that you did last weekend.

Step 3:


Encourage your snowflake to jump into your arms, and that you will catch her.

Step 4:


Realize that your snowflake is flying at you at a velocity you did not anticipate, and move out of the way.

OH DEAR...

Step 5:


Carry your bleeding snowflake to your daddy because she is screaming hysterically.


Step 6: 


Get your Mama from her workout to take your snowflake to the ER, because there will likely be stitches.

Step 7: 


Have Mama take her to ER.


Step 8:


Have Mama take care of the snowflake and get her all fixed up... (warning, blood shots)

A very nervous Mini P

Step 9:


Ask Mama to take a picture of your little snowflake with her 3 stitches (to be posted later, when she is up and accepting of the camera)


She did so great and only whimpered during the stitching procedure. She held perfectly still and never fussed.  


Mama's Hindsight Notes:


1. I should have let my parents come to the ER with me. I was very hungry and had not eaten since 11am - AND went to bootcamp and got home at 11pm. 


2. I should have let my parents come to the ER with me. I know I am repeating myself.  But then my dad would have been there to watch the stitches go in and not had to sit down for fear of passing out. (I know, apparently I am a wimp and didn't know it.)


3. Discuss with my kids (without laughing) that we should NOT pretend to be snowflakes and jump from the bunk-bed ladder into the arms of our siblings. 

4 years ago...

...we were blessed with TWINS. 


Let me tell you, each day has been amazing, exhausting, overwhelming, full of love, crazy, wonderful...the list goes on. Unless you have twins, you can't fully understand the joy of having them - or the trials and struggles of having them. 


Never for one moment have I ever considered changing it.


Today, they turn 4.


I look back and now I think - 'thank goodness they can....' fill in the blank here - it could be 'go potty', 'get their own shoes', 'get their own drink of water', etc.


Anything to show their independence because let me tell ya, as the mama of multiples (and 2 other kiddos), independence is  beautiful and freeing. Freeing for ME.  


It allows me to find ME. I still struggle with the guilt of finding ME, because it requires time. Time for me to do things for ME.  But, I do have the most amazing husband who knows that his life will be better if I have the time to do that. So, without complaining, he gives it to me. He's smart like that.


So, to my little people on their 4th birthday....


Happy 4th Birthday to Micah!!!!  

This boy is one of my biggest challenges, despite how absolutely cute he is. He is frequently moody if you do not follow his exact plan (usually just morning - but it can carry into other times). The plan isn't always the same so we have yet to figure it out, and yet some days he doesn't care and is very happy. It's like a mini-vacation on those days :).


He is funny and sweet. I could sit and listen to him talk about things all day long. His mannerisms are sweet and entertaining. And his laugh, oh that laugh. It is infectious and not the loud laugh - but a laugh-in, like he's pulling the silly inside. 


He takes his sweet time in just about everything he does. Eating. Walking. Getting ready for bed. Getting ready to leave. He is side tracked easily because he just doesn't care. He  cares about what he wants to care about, but not always what others care about - lol! He has been known to tell me "I'm mad at you mom, you said I was making you late". Truth hurts baby ;)


He loves trucks of all kinds. He loves loading trailers up with cars, and 'stuff'. He loves anything green. If it is a green truck, life could not be better. He loves to ride in his daddy's black truck, and really loves helping in the yard.  


Happy 4th Birthday to Ainslie!!!!

This sweet thing is our resident 'cat'. She is shy until she isn't. She is finicky until she isn't. And if she doesn't want to talk to you, she won't. Doesn't matter who you are. Even if you are her mama. Or her daddy. Just like a cat.


She is full of color and creativity and spunk. She loves to sit at the table and color pages and pages of anything I will print off for her. She loves dot-to-dots the most. She loves to dress herself in anything colorful - especially if it doesn't really match. 


She is drama up and down. She totally overreacts to things that don't matter. I guess that's what girls do? I don't know, I have 3 other boys and this is all new to me.  Like having an entire load of laundry called "the pinks". I never had that with the 2 big boys.


She is a little mama and tattles on her brothers keeps her brothers in line. She loves to have polish on her nails and gloss on her lips!  


She is very smart and likes to talk about things that she knows. Even when she's wrong. She loves to learn and she loves songs and music. She loves books to look at and loves to be read to. Her favorite color is pink and purple. Not pink. Not purple. Pink and purple. 


She loves food and rarely stays at the table longer than Micah. The girl loves her some meat - and never leaves any on her plate.


I cannot imagine life without either of them. The Blessing of twins is indescribable. 


I am one lucky girl!

Sometimes, the answer is in the question

I have hesitated posting this.


It might be embarrassing.


And since this year, I again missed the deadline to apply for Mother of The Year (and I'm pretty sure you have to be nominated...by your kids...), I think it's ok to rat out my kid share a little information about A-Dog that nobody knows.


First lets preface with the fact that this child is very intelligent. 


The extent of homework help he gets from me is "well, did you Google it?" Because that is my solution for everything I don't know.


Which is a lot.


But he doesn't usually ask for help and thankfully he never requires me to nag at him about doing his homework, he just does it.


However, to say that common sense is not his friend is an understatement.


Seriously.


Sometimes it is just shocking.


From simple things like why you wouldn't swing a frozen bag of bread around like a jump rope to him squeezing and shaking the new mustard so hard, perplexed because it won't come out (through the safety cover under the top). The list is long.


But one day he asked for help on Geometry. How hard can it be? I took Trigonometry, Calculus and beyond.


What's a little Geometry?


The question was "The measure of a supplement of <1 (angle - I don't have the angle sign) is six times the measure of a complement of <1. Find the measures of <1, its supplement, and its complement. Explain how you found each measure".


Easy peasy lemon squeezy.


Let's Google that.


What is a supplement?


He has to restate the question, answer the question and then explain how he got the answer.

I realize you can't actually read it, but I will tell you mostly what it says. Notice it is all crumpled up...because after I read it, I made him he realized he should start over.


"The way I found my answer was pretty simple.  In the question it stated...blah blah blah...so, first I sat looking at the question thinking about what the question meant and what it wanted me to do. After about 5 minutes I understood the question and pulled out a piece of paper."


I tried to explain to him that she likely didn't want his 'play by play' of how he decided to answer the question, but actually how he derived the number answers.


It's all common sense. ;)

Side effects of Homeschooling a 1st grader

Yesterday I went to the grocery store. 


I almost went alone.


Until I didn't.


And 2 little people decided to come. (Mini P and Monkey)


As we were driving there I noticed smoke - probably a small fire. Not big. Somewhat close, but not likely to turn into some catastrophic event or anything.


Then Mini P shouts out "look, I see SMOKE!"


Me: "Yes, there is a fire over there"


Mini P: "I think it is a VOLCANO!!!!! See? It has smoke coming out of the top"


Monkey: "That's a VOLCANO???"


Me: "No, it's not a volcano. It's a small fire"


Mini P: "Maybe it's a TOR-MA-DO!!!"


Monkey: "Sis is that a tornado???"


Me: (does anyone listen to me???) "No guys, it is just smoke from a fire."


Monkey: "A fire? I think it's on Pinetop"


Me: "no bud, it's not Pinetop, Pinetop is 5 hours from here"


Mini P: "maybe the it's in San Diego"


Me: (are we are the grocery store yet???) "No, San Diego is even farther"


Mini P: "I think it is Egypt! The fire is in Egypt!!!"


Me: "No. It is a small fire. Maybe over by the McDonald's"


Then I turned up the radio in back. I thought some good music would distract them enough to end that conversation. It worked.


I like that they pay attention during school time, and I like that they can repeat things they may or may not have learned.


Like the game they like to play what word am I thinking of - it starts with a 't' and ends with a 'd'...except they can't read.


Or spell.


That's almost as ridiculous as "what is that?". 


When I have no idea what they are looking at or talking about. 

What ever happened to October?

Next week is Thanksgiving. I have about 50 people coming out to the house for a Thanksgiving feast. I can't help but wonder what happened to October. 


Or September for that matter.


I think that there was some baseball...

on two different teams.


Every Saturday in October (and 2 in September). 4 games each day. 


He was at the park from 7:30 in the morning until 5:30 at night. It was exhausting for us to watch so much baseball him to play so much baseball.  I mean, seriously. Who does that? He enjoyed it, but is so glad it's over.


Thankfully they were back to back games. Sometimes (like every other week) we got lucky enough to have 2 games on the same field. Otherwise after each game we'd (or the person that stayed with him - since we did try to rotate it) packed it all up, moved to the next field and get re-situated. Most games were in the same complex - but there were days we had to reload the truck and drive across the street. That was fun. (Not really, if you could hear me, you'd really hear how sarcastic I was being and I may or may not have rolled my eyes).


We also went to the mountains for a few days:

We had Halloween:

Charlie Brown with hair

Tinker Bell with the wicked witch smile

Ninja ready for a fight

Superman about to take off

This is the first year that Monkey has dressed up willingly. This costume was in the dress up bucket...it was A-Dogs. We've lost the mask, but no one really likes the plastic masks anyway. I refused to buy him a costume because he always pitches a fit about wearing it - so, I opted to choose my battles and this wasn't one of them.


We have more candy than you can imagine - and it will be headed out the door very, very soon!


A-Dog turned 14. For some reason, I feel like we never blew out a candle or anything. His birthday started with 2 baseball games and ended with Trunk or Treat at church that night. I know over the course of a week or 2 he had birthday shopping, birthday frozen yogurt, birthday Dairy Queen, birthday dinner out, birthday presents, birthday sitting in front of the van and me in back with the kids (I did NOT appreciate him pulling that one)...so, I guess if he didn't get birthday cake and candle - it should be ok.


Time flies around here and every once in a while I download photos off the camera and think - "WOW, that's great, we did take pictures of that!!!"


I know you are all dying to know about the rocks in my yard. I mean, who wouldn't want to know about the 21 tons of landscape rock my husband ordered. He has big dreams and forgets that he has no time.  


BUT, just wait. You will see what we've done with them!


Cheers!

2 things that don't go together

It seemed like an ordinary enough day. 


I slept in until 7.


I had only 1 kid until noon.


I sat quietly alone until 7:45ish by myself.


What?


What is that you said?


That doesn't sound like MY ordinary day?


I suppose not. 


I suppose an ordinary day is more up and showered by 6:15, twins up by 6:30, A-Dog and my sweet husband out the door by 6:50, wrestle with the twins and Agent P about their 1 TV show for the morning and their breakfast, get kitchen cleaned up (or not) before we start school at 8:00am.


So, it was nearly normal....or no where near actually.


Then my nice relaxing morning got shot (pun at end) when I remembered that Monday night, I was in bare feet in my bathroom and stepped on a cholla cactus thorn - and my foot still HURT. Bad.


Here is where you might think to your self - what the heck are those people growing in their bathroom? No, we do not have plants and cacti in our bathroom.


The beginning of that story is from Sunday night when A-Dog ran himself smack into a cholla cactus at a friends house - but somehow managed to pull all the thorns out...sans ONE. ONE LITTLE THORN. That he left in my bathroom when he used it for a shower.


That I stepped on.


I took it for the team.


No one wants a 6 or 3 year old to have that in their foot.


So I stepped on it. And part of it remains in my foot.


3 days of hobbling was enough, so I sought professional help. (yet another picture you don't need to see - it's the bottom of my foot...)


Upon arrival there are signs everywhere that say "FLU SHOTS NOW HERE". Lovely. 


You see, I am the last person in the house who had not gotten their flu shot. Frankly I don't like shots am too busy.


But, alas, I set a good example and got my flu shot. I did warn the kids to look away. No one needs to see mama wince and have a grimacey face or (gasp) cry.


Then the Dr. look at my foot. Decided to throw an antibiotic at it and hope that helped (rather than numb it - with another shot - and dig it out). I wholeheartedly agreed.


Then asked when my last Tetanus shot was. 


You can see where this is going right? Or left. In the left. Since the flu shot was in the right.


Then - and this is going to get a bit PG-40....so stop reading if you need to...


Then she scolded me for not calling the office when I turned 40 so that she could order a mammogram.


OH, did I forget to do that? Wow. Wondered what I had forgotten to to this year...I am 40...


So, there it is. I stepped on a thorn, and next thing you know I'm getting a mammogram. 


I'm sure everyone that goes in for a cactus thorn comes out with an appointment for a mammogram....

A-Dog turns 14

It hardly seems possible that he is 14. 


Weren't we just celebrating his 7th birthday?

Seems like it.


And now look at him...

So, here it goes.


Dear A-Dog on your 14th Birthday - 


Happy Birthday! You are growing up so very fast, some days right before my very eyes. I keep wondering when time will slow down and it keeps going faster. You have changed so much in the last year.  You are learning to take responsibility for new things and take on challenges that you are not asked to. 


Thank you for always being proactive about your school work, projects, meetings and involvement. I am so grateful that you do your homework without us having to hover and nag. That is an amazing quality to have and I'm glad you have it! 


I'd like to say thank you for always helping Dad outside in the yard. But you and I both know that would be a lie. We are very aware that the biggest punishment that we could ever give you would be yard work ;). 


You are a really awesome person and people are lucky to be your friend. You are loyal and trustworthy.


We are ridiculously proud to be your parents and thank God that he lent you to us to raise! 


A-Dog we love you more each day!!!

New shoes, favorite colors and hand-me-downs

There was just no clean way to title this post. I have all that to share, so what better way? You will get all that in no particular order, as usual.


It should be said, a brother should not have to wear all hand-me-downs and little brothers should get some things that are his own. Monkey in particular. 


He is so close in age or more appropriately so close in SIZE to Agent P he often just gets new clothes from the room down the hall. Sometimes it is the coveted Star W@rs shirt or the monster truck pjs...and I guess it could be (gulp) underwear. 


But I have draw the line somewhere.


Just close your eyes for a moment and think about wearing hand-me-down underwear. 


Scared you didn't I?


Scared me too.


So, the brothers do not share their personal items.


This week, that also included socks. 


Monkey got new socks. Nice cushy white socks with a small color band on the bottom of them, so you can easily match pairs. (Although navy and black are WAY too close in color for me).


And in 4 days he has taken OFF his new socks for exactly 7 minutes.


Non-consecutive minutes. 


They are on his feet all day. All night.


The only problem is there is only 1 pair of socks with green on them.


Green is his very favorite color.


LOVES GREEN. Green candy, green shirts, green socks, green crayons, green plates, green cups. The list goes on.


How do people so small have opinions SO large about the color that they must have? It's quite unfortunate since Agent P's favorite color is RED and nearly half the hand-me-down shirts are RED. 


And Monkey is not color blind.


But he was completely smitten with me today when I pulled out the socks with GREEN on them! Ya, I know how to win him over! I'm not gonna lie, I am not above giving him exactly what he wants. He has the sweetest kisses and is such a daddy's boy, I do what I need to do for him to notice me.


Shoes is another area I don't require sharing. First sharing isn't the right word because that would imply that Monkey and Mini P share shoes and while their feet are near the same size, sharing shoes would never work.  


Mini P's shoes are pink and often sparkly.


Monkey's are not.


See the problem?


Thought you might.


But to expand on the differences in children raised the the same household - here is the shoe problem we encountered recently.


Monkey got these new shoes:

I can still order shoes for the twins, so I showed the website to Agent P, ya know, to show him the other colors these shoes came in. Like Brown.  

Big mistake.

Here are his top 2 choices.

There is just something about both of these shoes that scream "don't wear me to church". 

He is not the owner of either of these. 

His third pick was RED. Of course. 

He currently has no shoes on order. 

We are at a crossroads and can't figure out what to do. Likely he won't get these.

We will have to compromise.

With a pair of shoes that blend more than scream.

Naps are not optional...yet.

I am a firm believer in napping. 


I think it is important.


I think it makes for better people.


I think my kids should also nap, not just me.


Kidding. 


I don't nap. But most days I wish I did. 


And I wish someone made me cookies and milk each day too...


But that is off topic.


Here is why I think that they my kids should nap:

1. If you do not go right to sleep and you mess around for all but the last 12.5 seconds of nap, then fall asleep. Well, people can walk into your pitch black room, open all curtains and blinds, remove your sister, walk to living room and get the camera, walk back and photograph you without you even knowing.

2. If you don't nap in the truck while driving, even though you are very tired - you may not be able to make rational decisions or act in rational ways. You may be prone to fits of hysterical crying and bawling and talking while you cry and no one will be able to understand you. At all.

Puke bags are a must for all vehicles.

Fall Break. It's a blessing and a curse.  It gives us a well needed break from school and routine. But it messes with us too.


We lose track of all things.


We lose track of time.


We have nearly no schedule to follow.


We try to go out of town.

So, our mountain destination is about 4.5 hours for most people. For us, closer to  6 hours I’d say. We just couldn’t seem to get out of town and we can never get anywhere without several potty stops and just when I think we are all set, someone is hungry. It is a viscous cycle.

I needed to stop and switch out a movie at the store and my sweet husband forgot to exit and so there was a 45 minute detour to double back, switch out the movie…then might as well get gas right? Ok, back on the road…

Then we needed to make a stop for an electronics cord (and yes, potty break).

No wonder it takes us so long to get places.

When we were just about there – the end in sight, like 30 minutes left...it all went downhill (on an uphill road).

From the very back of the Suburban, I hear “I have a headache”. Agent P. Slumped over in his chair...

Then I hear “I don’t feel so good”. When I looked back at him, I informed the driver that we needed to pull over…ASAP.

By some miracle (because God is very aware that I cannot handle puke, especially in the vehicle) there was a small opening for us on the side of the road that we pulled into and scooted away from the road a bit.

From here I can only tell you that A-Dog obviously did not understand the urgency in which poor Agent P needed to get out of the truck. They were both in the back, and were trying to climb over the mounds of backpacks, games, blankets and shoes to get out the door. Not to mention getting around the 2 seats in the middle with car seats and 3 year olds. But A-Dog had no sense of urgency. At ALL.

So, A-Dog (for whatever reason) decided to climb out first (again, he was NOT the one that was feeling ill and took a very big chance being in front of Agent P).  Right behind A-Dog I could see my sweet Agent P ready to blow puke all over the middle section of the truck. His sweet cheeks showing signs of releasing, if you get my drift.

I grabbed A-Dog by the arm and somehow pulled him from the truck like saving him from a burning building. I then plucked Agent P and quickly turned him near horizontal to the ground and swooped him about 2 feet from the truck hoping and praying that I didn’t get hit by puke and that he didn’t puke all over himself.

Again, I’m not good with puke.

He proceeded to puke on the ground.

Apparently I have a kid that has a propensity to get car sick on wavy winding roads.

Didn’t know that.

Now I do.

I will bring a bag next time.

Why I blame Mother Goose

I think that everyone has heard of Mother Goose, right? Hard not to have heard Mother Goose if you grew up in the US. 


Part of our current 1st grade curriculum has Mother Goose as part of our daily reading. They (writers of said curriculum) wanted me to purchase this new book and follow along with which poems I was to read each day. There is no activity that goes with it, just poetry and nursery rhyme introduction.


Soooo, since I'm not a complete follower...


I pulled out the Mother Goose book that I got when I was 3. Suffice to say, it is older than 10 years old. Maybe even 20. (ya, just checked the copyright...1954...but that's not how old I am thank you..)


But you can't actually change MG, right? I mean Nursery Rhymes DO remain the same right?


So, when it says to read page 9, I can just pull out a random poem and read...RIGHT???


Someone agree with me here, or it will totally blow the image I have of myself as a somewhat responsible person.


Today, I flipped the book open to find something on the fly that I recognized.


Here was what we read:


"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do (I hear ya sister!)
She gave them some broth without any bread;
She whipped them all soundly and put them to bed"


If you don't see the part where I may have gasped, you just don't understand me at all. 


Had nothing to do with her house, I'll give you that one for free.


And I'm not saying that her kids didn't deserve it either.


I'm saying that all 3 of the kids just sat and stared at me when I said "She WHIPPED them all soundly and put them to bed". 


Then I caught myself - "I mean wiped. She cleaned up their faces".


Not that I am opposed to letting my kids in on the simple fact that the Old Woman felt overwhelmed and the kids needed a good whipping or anything. I mean, she was OLD. And she had A LOT of kids (the picture shows 17 ages 10ish and under).


I just wasn't quite prepared for that right after our morning devotion about how it makes God happy when we are in charge of things and take care of them (such as animals, children, trees and flowers).  


Because I don't think that is what God meant as a lead in to the Old Woman's naughty kids.


I think I might actually need to hand pick (pre-read more like) my Nursery Rhymes and Mother Goose Rhymes. 


Or get a good therapist.... because here is another one you might like.


"Little Nancy Etticoat,
With a white petticoat,
and a red nose;
She has no feet or hands, (focus on this line as what I would have to explain to my peeps)
The longer she stands
The shorter she grows."


I will stick with Little Miss Muffet I think...

The Washing Machine

I know. You are probably sitting there thinking "has she just run out of stories?"


No. 


Not even close.


But some of my stories are just so far fetched, I thought I had better toss in something that seemed realistic.


A few months ago a few of us were chatting about our stinky front load washers (stinky even after a load is just done). Because that is what upscale Moms do. We talk about our washers. And why they make us crazy. Besides the fact that we have to use them.


A friend suggested that I make my own detergent. I laughed - HA. Just like that. Or, it might have also included a bit of a snort and snicker and a look that said "are you stinkin' kidding me???"


But she is a mom who has endured busy-ness with her own twins (now 14) and so I know she would never lead me astray. 


I hope.


So, since I was really tired of the stench that my washer was sharing with the rest of the house, I decided - how hard could it be?


I mean, I am a pretty good judge of most time management situations. 


Except the time I thought apple picking with the kids would be fun and I would have apples to make pie and stuff. Then I forgot I have 4 kids. And a husband. And ended up with nearly 100 apples to wash, peel, core, slice and prepare for freezer.


Or recently when I thought it would be fun to make peach jam. Since I had never done that before. Ya, cuz apparently I forgot I have 4 kids, and schedules, and the list goes on.


Thankfully, my parents always seem to know when I might have gotten myself in over my own head. They sweetly ask if they can come help because they just have nothing else to do that day. (as a side note - the apple /corer/slicer - totally worth the money). 


Back to the washer.


Like a good little internet searcher - I found a recipe for homemade laundry detergent. After I found like 10 that were nearly identical, I figured it wasn't a scam.


So I obtained the 3 ingredients needed and made detergent.


Then I also found out my washer has a setting called "tub wash".


So, after a good "tub wash" and switching detergent - MY WASHER DOESN'T STINK. 


AT ALL.


EVER.


Seriously.


I also don't use softener anymore (any one need some 7th Gen3ration softener? : ) ). 


The clothes have been less stinky because the washer is less stinky. 


Thank goodness.


And here you were thinking there was no way I could do an entire post on my washer. 


Maybe next week I will do the dishwasher.

Schooling Success!

I've started several posts and just couldn't finish a single one. 


My mind wanders. 


The laundry piles up.


My life moves forward so quickly. 


More things happen than I can remember and nary a photo to show for it lately.


I have a box of art projects that is over flowing.


I have school papers that need to be filed.


I have lesson plans to organize.


I have books to sort through and separate in to school, reference, school readers and fun reads.


But today. Today is special.


Today all my hard work of teaching my children at home has come to fruition. 


Today my nearly 4 year old twins discovered that they could take the lid off the train table, clear out all the toys stored in there, put Mini P's pillow, blanket and Mini P herself in there - and then have her brother put the lid back on. 


And fit.


I am a proud parent and can't believe how amazingly intelligent my children are.


I mean let's face it. That took creativity, math calculations and ingenuity to come up with that.


During nap.

When they should be sleeping.


In their beds.


And that is exactly why I have so little time to blog. :)