Forget More Than I Remember

The kids were asking me to share some stories of when they were little...and I keep realizing that I forget more than I remember. Which makes writing these things down in blog form especially valuable. I was rereading a few early posts I did and am glad I captured these everyday priceless moments - especially for Luke since his babyhood is a bigger blur than any of the four.

I'm putting this down to two things: 1. having three children (at the time) three years old and under is exhausting - though you don't exactly realize it at the time since it's all you know. It's not until your fourth child comes after a longer gap that you get some perspective on how intense the 1 - 3 yr stage is. 2. After Reese who got into everything and tested everything and pressed every button he could get his fingers on, Luke's mellow personality means there is less crazy things to remember. Now Ben, is another matter...he's giving his older bro a run for his money is the crazy memory department (think hands in toilets, throwing things down the laundry chute, putting things in the mail box).

So in the interest of memory preservation, here are some of the ordinary day occurances worthy of capturing:

Brianna: has two cavities in two baby teeth, hates the smell of the "clown nose" (i.e. laughing gas) so much that she's willing to consider taking a needle of Novocain if the dentist will let her. If you know Brie, that's a stunning statement!

Reese: wants an Etch-a-Sketch for his birthday (played with one at the dentist's office), was excited to find Richard Scarry's "Best Word Book Ever" at the library completely in tact - and exclaimed over the fact that is had all these "new" pages. (The kids loved that book to it's death and destruction. I think we have a few pages still hanging on)

Luke: Loves his new "George game" he got for his birthday. Loves to hide in the curtain when it's his turn to play hide and seek. Often asks if he looks good or he looks dumb. Told our Youth and Family Director she looked beautiful, commented on how nice the dress was that one of Brie's friends was wearing and said to one of his Sunday School teachers: "Hi Miss Nan. I really like the lesson you taught us today on [I now forget what the lesson was]. Does anything warm the heart of a lady more than a sincere compliment paid by a brown eyed long-lashed boy?

Ben: likes to help clean up and then dump the bucket out right away, LOVES his daddy, likes to pull at the table cloth, loves to be in the thick of it with the rest of the gang, gives the nicest hugs, loves animals

And on the parents of this clan? We finally have tenants on all three floors of the newest rental (Praise God) with only a few things to button up on the second floor. Progress on the back house of another property is starting to gear up again (Hallelujah) and tenants from another property are moving into the front house (Amen). Unless God has something else in store, it will be weird to have Dave home more on Saturdays as we've gotten so used to that being another work day. The few Saturdays where he's only done a handful of things here and there felt like we were slacking or something. Am grateful for increase time together and pray we get at least a little rest before another busy season strikes. Issy's birthday party last week was a great success, especially with Dave's brother Eddy coming up as a surprise. It was the icing on the cake.

There are a ton of pictures I want to post, but our computer got a virus and I've been lazy about getting it back up and running - mainly because of the mental energy it will take to make sure it's eradicated from our system. A step by step guide would be very helpful :)