oath of office

Dave was officially sworn in on Tuesday for his position as councilman for our ward. Since Luke was with Dave (due to an appointment for his arm prior to the swearing in), Luke got to hold the Bible as Dave took the oath. I'm not sure Luke will remember this when he gets older, but it's a special memory we'll get to share with him as he gets older.

5: breakfast in bed (almost)

(Note: this is my first experiment with writing posts either in five or fifteen minutes. I'm thinking this will either be a really fun or really frustrating exercise!)

Today the kids surprised me with breakfast. Complete at my spot at the table was the rocking chair, two huge pieces of pumpkin raisin bread, half and english muffin with some honey and water in a "2010" champagne glass all lovingly arranged on a cloth napkin and with three very excited, joyful faces anxious to know if this was a good breakfast. It was. Ben would have been excited if he understood the whole plan.

snapshot of a year

 I thought it would be fun to capture this past year with just one picture dedicated to each month. So here you go...

 January: Like father, like son (ben LOVES Dave!)

 

February: Celebrating (Great) Nan T's 90th Birthday

March: I get the crazy idea for homeschooling to do one art project per day for March...didn't quite happen as I'd planned ;)
















April: Reese turns 5

May: enjoying Daddy pancakes on Sunday morning with what must have been almost the last of 2009's blueberries

June: Ben turns 1 (and a few days later cousin Jack is born)!

July: one of my favorite pictures from this year taken at the meeting point in NY where we went to get Hilary and the boys. A few days later Nan died on July 4 :( but she's with Jesus now so it's okay :)

August: Brie turns 7 - where did those years go?!

September: We go to Washington D.C., then Gettysburg with Dave, combining business with pleasure. Here the kids are groovin' to the "silly" music (aka the Anne of Green Gables musical)

October: Luke turns 4 and requests a solar system cake and which Dave creates for him

November: Okay, so this next picture didn't exactly happen in November, but it was close enough. And I couldn't resist including it. We planned a surprise party for Dave's mom's 70th birthday. Dave's brother Eddie, drove up from North Carolina, and, as you can probably tell, this was the icing on the surprise cake.

December: Ben's first really experience with snow (being tumbled face first off a sled several times earlier this year doesn't count : P )

And there you have it: a year filled with death (Nan T) and births (Jack and Caleb), milestone birthdays, memorable trips, tender moments and sweet memories of the everyday but never mundane. Goodbye 2010...may 2011 bring as much joy and grace to meet the challenges which come our way.

teach your (grand)children well

"A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants." [a line from the Mary Tyler Moore show]...
 ...."That's what Grandpa says," giggled Brianna today at lunch (and then proceeded to repeat it several times this afternoon).

Ahh yes, the wisdom our parents bestow on our own children. Like this little gem my Grandpa taught me and which I shared with my second grade (?) class as part of an assignment to recite a poem:
"There was a little man,
Who had a little gun,
And through the fields he used to run.
With a belly full of fat
And a peacock hat
And a pancake tied to his bum"
[Author, sadly, unknown]

Now this begs the question...Dave, what little gems will you share with our grandchildren should we be blessed to have some in a couple decades?

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 :)

Wait - Dad left you in the elevator by yourselves?

Here's a little gem of a story from this past week...

Dave took Reese and Luke to the library one evening. They started to take the elevator (and had already pressed “2”) when forgot he had last week’s books still in his hands. Naturally, Dave asked Reese to hold the “Door Open” button while he ran 25 feet to put the books into the return bin (it's what any parent who has a 5 year-old-who-is-well-familiar-with-buttons-in-a-library-that-is-like-a-second-home would do, right? I probably would have. :) ) But even though Reese had the button pushed the door starts to close anyway and as Dave is putting the books in the bin, he heard Reese say, “Dad, the door’s closing. The door’s closing!” as it bangs shut.


In one second flat, both boys began yelling and stamping their feet as the elevator lifts off. Folks at the check out counter are looking at Dave, mouths agape. Dave looks at them and says, “Well, I guess I’d better take the stairs to the second floor” and begins running up the stairs. The screams could readily be heard throughout the library.

Dave got to the second floor as the elevator doors opened. The two spill out in tears. It took him a couple of minutes to calm them down in the bathroom while he was trying to hide his face as he was laughing so hard at the absurdity of the situation. Once they were calm, they were able to enjoy their time at the library.

On the way home, Dave tried to bring some levity to the mood as the boys were still shaken up the experience. He asked who would be the first to tell Mommy about their fun adventure. Luke said, “That was a bad adventure ... bad adventure!” in true Lukie style. Reese finally cracked a smile over the situation.

At home, Reese starting telling me the story. The first thing out of my mouth was, “Wait – Dad left you in the elevator by yourselves?!” You know, because little men sometimes get excited and get the facts all muddled together. So, Dave began to clarify what had happened. When he got the part of imitating the boys (and we could picture them looking at each other, eyes wide and yelling AAAAAHHHHH!) all of us couldn't help but laugh hysterically over it. Reese got a big kick over this retelling.

Lessons learned: (1) Elevator “Door Open” buttons only work for a few seconds and (2) Despite how grown up they want to be, one quarter of a minute in an elevator by themselves reduced our two little intrepid “Dad, I’m big enough to do that” explorers into helpless puddles which is probably not a bad thing - Reese may be more willing to wait for Dave or I before pressing any buttons.

Seriously though, Dave would never have done this in another place. Though it does make one think about the choices we make, for better or for worse, in places familar and comfortable...

Dear Jesus,

Whenever I take myself too seriously, become prideful, think I am better/more capable/more...whatever, than other people, please remind me of the time when we were in Washington and I was bending over to get something out of our bags and Reese thought it would be funny have his new dinosaur toy "pinch" my bottom...with a great handful of people around to get a good view of this tableau...and who, apparantly couldn't help giggling and sharing this funny sight with their friends. Thank you for these children who bring us joy and a good dose of humility.

In your name,

Amen

You've Got to Be Kidding Me! (YGTBKM)

A title I've used (at least) once before, but those words were the first to run through my head.

"Luke locked himself in the bathroom, Mom," said Brie.

"YGTBKM" says I in my mind.

Upstairs I go to the "blue bathroom." Try handle on door (old door handles tend to be cantankerous). Door handle seems to work fine but door won't budge.

"Luke, did you lock the door?"

"No, Mama."

So, I ask that same question at least a thousand times because I am in complete denial that for the first time seven years since being in this house, that one of our children has actually managed to lock him/herself in the bathroom with the equivalent of a deadbolt for a lock (and of course no key or even keyhole for said lock)!

Plan A: Denial.  Doesn't work.

Onto Plan B: "Turn the lock Lukie to open the door. No, not the door handle, the thing below the door. No, not the door handle, it's the silver thing below the door. Can you turn it? Try and turn it."

Plan B: Doesn't work.

Back to modified version of Plan A which I'll call Plan 1A and a half: Unscrew door knob in wild hopes that the doorknob is, after all the problem. No dice there. Okay, maybe it will work if I poke finger through the hole once we remove the doorknob and point Luke toward the lock he needs to turn. Darn, the doorknob is stuck - Luke can't pull it out.

Scrap Plan 1A and half.

Plan C: call fire department (YGTBKM!)

Pause here for a second...did I mention we recently visited our local fire department as part of our homeschooling curriculum? How coincidental that just 5 days after getting a tour and talking with the kids about the difference between real emergencies and non-emergencies I get to call that same department to come and get Luke out of the bathroom!!! YGTBKM! Though on the upside - Brie asked if we needed to call 911, so I was able to reinforce that this was not a 911 type emergency and I just happened to have the direct phone number to our fire department written down because of the very-fresh-in-our-memory-tour. Unpause.

Execute Plan C. Fire department kindly responds to call to rescue 3 1/2 yr old from the bathroom. They try a Plan A of their own - pry molding off door frame and release lock with handy tool. Plan A fails because bathroom door lock is a deadbolt. (BTW - Reese was watching this whole process VERY closely. Just making a note of it now :) )

Plan B. Attempt to send firefighter through very narrow bathroom window. Other two firefighters who attempted to execute Plan A aren't sure if he can make it throught, but...he does! AND without having to rip the screen! Phew. Lock undone. Luke out. Replace window. Profusely thank firefighters for coming to the rescue. Carry on with plans to go to Joann Fabrics.

Seriously, though, I can only take such a light-hearted and humorous look at this because I was highly confident that they'd be able to get Luke out. However, I probably would have freaked out and totally lost my cool if I knew Luke was hurt in there and I couldn't get to him or if I wasn't sure if they'd be able to get him out without smashing the door apart (which would have been really scary for him).

Oh, and it was great to see how much Brie retained from our firehouse visit and emergency plan discussion we had. When she knew I had called the fire department, she went right out front to our "meeting place" to greet them.

Now, onto pray that this is the only time we have the fire department come to our house for any reason ever again. God is good always!

Literary Classics

Here's one of the kid's favorite poems (mine too) - we came across it in a "More Phonics Through Poetry" book we got for school. Okay, so maybe it's not a "classic," but it should be - I wish I had known about this one when I had to memorize and recite poems in school!

Skink and Skunk by Lucinda Cave

A skink met a skunk
and a skunk met a skink
on the bank of a river
while drinking a drink.

"I think," said the skink,
to the skunk, as they drank,

"You might make a stink
and a stink would smell rank."

"Who? Me?" quizzed the skunk,
to the skink with a wink.
Then Skunk flipped her tail
and emitted a stink.

"That stinks!" shrieked the skink.
"I am outta here, Skunk!"
Skink leaped in the river -
Kersplash!
And kerplunk!

A Slice of Nostalgia - The Pop Bottle

For some reason (maybe it was after some crazy antics of the kids), I thought about the time I get a hands on physics lesson while we were still living in Brampton.

I was in the kitchen and noticed a half empty pop bottle on the counter or in the fridge. Since nobody else was around and apparantly, because I had some time on my hands to contemplate the pop bottle and its contents, I decided the best thing to do in this case was give it a good hard shake. I'm not sure why I thought this would be a good idea. Maybe I wanted to test the conventional wisdom that, indeed, shaking a bottle of carbonated beverage was not a good idea. Maybe I knew that shaking a full bottle was a bad idea, but nobody ever told me what would happen if you shook a half empty bottle. Or, maybe I just thought it would be fun to boogie with a pop bottle.

Whatever the reason, I picked up the bottle and started to shake it, not once, not twice, many times, HARD. Then, I decided to take off the cap.

Bad idea.

The pop sprayed everywhere. In my face, all over the cupboards, on the dining room ceiling. Apparantly, when you shake even a half empty pop bottle that hard, it builds up enough pressure to shoot the liquid onto the ceiling of the next room.

Conclusion: Conventional wisdom was indeed right, even for half empty bottles.

A Slice of Nostalgia, Part Two

This time instead of a tree, it was a track for [look up what they’re called –look at Van Trapp lodge] in Austria (or was it Germany?). Anyway…

Dad and Mom treated us to going down these things. The first time we went down, we took it a little slow to get the feel of the track. The second time, we were a little more adventurous. Going around one of the bends, the thought crossed my mind that if you went too fast, it would be possible for the roller-slide thingy to flip over. Not exactly the thing you want to have happen on a cement track, wearing no helmet and with other people whizzing down the track.

About halfway down, I decided to stop and wait for Hilary and Lauren to catch up. A few seconds later, Lauren appeared. And then, an empty roller slide. As Lauren pulled to a stop behind me, I asked her if she knew what happened to Hil. She didn’t.

Thinking fast, I got off my cart and pulled it off the track. Lauren was about to follow suit when a boy who came around the track crashed into Hil’s empty cart, causing it to hit Lauren in the back. Seriously! Could anything else go wrong?

We finally managed to get Hil and Lauren’s carts off the track and I started running up the hill with visions of Hilary lying on the track with her head split open. After slipping and sliding halfway up the hill, I look up and there appears Hilary, looking a little shaken, but again, completely fine (except she had torn her shirt – one of our favorites)!

Then we put our carts back on the track, piled on and continue down the hill as if there was nothing unusual about this whole incident.

A Slice of Nostalgia, Part One

Since Brie broke her arm, it brings up many conversations about past childhood experience from both Dave and I and with friends, such as...

...the time Hilary fell from a tree about 30 ft. up. I was also in the tree though was a few branches below her. She thought it'd be fun to swing on some branches (okay, so I know she like monkeys, but seriously...). The experiment worked the first time. But then, she swung on a branch that was much thinner and CRACK!

It was scary seeing her tumbling to the ground, especially since she was head first at one point. God had to have completely surrounded her since she landed flat on her back and only had a few scraps and bruises from hitting all the branches on the way down.

I'll tell you, it's not so easy to climb down a tree when you're shaking from panic and worry!

To my consternation, Hil proceeded to get up and run home while I'm trying to tell her to lie still in case of neck or back injuries. But, obviously, she was okay in the end.

This made me think of another Hil story which I'll share soon. :)