Days of our Lives

A hint of Spring...

Ear tubes for the third time, in the hopes of reversing some hearing loss.

The stomach flu in its varying forms hit every family member but Mike, once or twice, or thrice, over a twelve day period.

And since when do toy guns get included in an attempted family photo?

Just another week in the life of,

US!

Sharing Chocolate

On top of my fridge I keep a ceramic jar with candy in it, chocolate to be specific.  Periodically, I will offer the chocolate as a treat.  It is an unspoken rule, that the children never help themselves to it.

The other day, Luke (as usual), was entertaining the neighborhood kids.  The neighbor kids were delighted watching Luke ride along a piece of wood and then off of a bike jump...  They were fascinated with all of his ropes that he had tied to this and to that...  Luke soon came in explaining to me that he was having a show, and could he take out a treat for each of the kids that they can pretend to buy at the show?  "Yes, fine," I replied, "They can each have one piece of candy."

In the meantime, Mike called to say he would be late getting home.  Megan was choosing to not be as obedient as I would have liked.  Dinner was hot and ready to be served.  Drew was emptying drawers at my feet.

In a nutshell.
My patience was being put to its limit.

Drew and I sat alone and ate dinner, while the kids played outside.
Megan soon joined us.
The other kids soon trickled in, dismayed at dinner being eaten without them.

I went to the front of the house to turn on our outside lights.  When I returned to the kitchen, there on the counter sat my ceramic candy jar.  It was cold to the touch and had a single piece of candy in it and one empty wrapper.

My patience, unfortunately reached its limit.

"Where has this been?" I asked, more loudly than I'd have liked.
"Outside," came Luke's soft response, "I took it for my show."

"The whole thing?" I continued to question loudly, "It was full. How many pieces did everyone have?"
"I had two, Joshua probably had five and the other kids were going crazy wanting some," Luke admitted.
"Of course they were going crazy, wanting some. What kid wouldn't, when given free reign over that much chocolate?" I questioned.

I was mad.   I will not detail the next few minutes for the world to see, but to ease my tantrum, I left for a little while.  And, my husband, being the good man he is, cleaned the kitchen spotlessly, and enlisted the children to get into action fast.  They worked, practiced and cleaned.

I returned home an hour later.  Feeling sorry for myself and my lack of patience, feeling sorry for my children that they have an inpatient mother, and feeling sorry for Mike, having to come home from a days work to 'that.'

Sitting on my kitchen counter sat the following: 

For the first time in a few hours, I smiled.

I immediately went and found Luke, who was obediently, sitting at the piano practicing.  As I hugged him and thanked him for the card, he told me the money was to buy more chocolate.  I told him that would probably be the right thing to do, but he didn't have to spend five dollars on it.  I thanked him for his generosity.  As Luke's little repentant face looked up at me, I hugged him again, apologizing for my outburst.  "It's just chocolate," I humbly admitted.  "It was nice of you to want to share."

That night, as I relaxed in a bubble bath, reading an uplifting magazine article, referring to a faithful dad, I read,

"As children, blessed with such parents, we can feel heartfelt gratitude for 

their simple yet profound examples and sacrifices."  

And I realized, that for that day, it was the other way around.

I felt blessed for my children, and felt heartfelt gratitude for  

their simple yet profound examples and sacrifices.

Stoney Davis

Back during the Christmas shopping season, I happened to come upon a DVD on Amazon, that I thought might capture my kid's attention.  (With the exception of Megan, rarely do my kids watch a movie from beginning to end.)  Upon arrival of  the DVD in the mail, I began to have second thoughts about giving it to Luke for Christmas.  I thought he would be somewhat disappointed to receive a DVD, even if it was about a horse.

A few days later, Mike and I were leaving Megan in charge to babysit one evening.  To help ease Megan's burden of four children, (three of which get very hard to manage for her) I decided to call upon my 'magic skills' and abracadabera-d a movie, 'Horse Crazy .'

That evening we came home to four very happy children, who could.not.stop.talking. about the movie. "Tyler," "Wild Mustangs," "Nevada," "Stoney Davis," etc. etc.  All the kids watched it again twice the next day.  That night, Mike watched it with them.  Monday, while the kids were at school, Joshua wanted to watch it again.  Only problem was, he snapped it in half getting it out of the case.

To make a long story short, a few weeks later, Nana replaced the ever-mourned, 'Horse Crazy' DVD.  That day the children watched it two times.  It has been watched at least daily ever since.

All day, everyday, Joshua dresses up in some home-made chaps and vest (thank you Halloween 2007), too-big cowboy boots with spurs, black cowboy hat of Lukes and with two ropes wrapped around his arms, he recites,

"My name is Stoney Davis. I from da gwate tate of Texas.  In Texas I ride quawter horses and live on a tousand acre wanch."

And then he sits down to watch the movie.

Except sometimes, he just recites the line while doing something else.  (It is stuck in his head, just like a line to a song.)

(In fact, it has even happened to me.  One day I found myself busy with my own tasks, several times beginning to say, "My name is Stony Davis...")

To make the story even shorter.

I had a temper tantrum the other night.  Yes, you read that right.  Me, the mother, had a temper tantrum.  It went something like this.

"I.AM.DONE.
I AM DONE!
NO MORE STONEY DAVIS.
I CAN'T STAND IT. I AM CONSTANTLY TRIPPING OVER ROPES, OR SPURS OR COWBOY HATS.
I DO NOT WANT TO TIE THE CHAPS ONE MORE TIME.
I CAN'T EVEN STAND THE MOVIE, I HAVE THE WHOLE THING MEMORIZED AND I'VE NEVER EVEN SAT AND WATCHED IT.
PLUS, THAT OLDER BROTHER IS A BAD ACTOR, I AM DONE!"

And with more than a little drama, I scooped up the cowboy boots and spurs and put them in a high cupboard. I ordered Luke to hide the chaps and vest in the dress-up box.  I opened the mud-room door and threw the ropes in the garage. And for added effect, I slammed the door.

Obviously, no one was on my side.  The next morning, all the kids were at school.  Drew was napping,  I was on my bedroom floor folding laundry.  Quietly, and very sweetly, I hear.  "Can you help me put on da chaps? I gonna be Stoney Davis.  Where are da wopes?"

I have decided to really hear the words of our dear, 'grandpa-aged' friend.  Last night he said, "One day, you'll miss having the ropes to pick up or the boots to trip over."

And so, I guess, I'm not done.
Stoney Davis is part of our family.
At least, for now.

Wooking Nice

"Oh Dewie, you wook so nice,"

exclaimed Joshua as he came running down the stairs and saw Drew's new haircut for the first time.

And though I cried as the baby hair was being cut away, even I can admit he looks so much better with his new haircut.  It has been needed for quite sometime.

A Rarity

love, love, love when there are
two kids at school,
a sleeping baby upstairs in his crib, and
two kids asleep on the couch.
(Even if the couch naps only lasted 20 minutes.)

An End

Today I bought my last cans of formula.  I've imagined this event for years.  I thought I'd be happy.  After all, formula is very expensive and I have formula fed four of our five babies from week one.  We have spent a lot of money on formula.  I don't even want to imagine the total cost.
But, it was with bittersweet feelings, I pulled the formula off of the shelf at Costco this morning.  And as I often do, I got a little teary eyed...
Another stage is soon ending.
But,

I love flower bouquets at Costco.  I always gaze at them.  I don't often buy flowers for myself, unless Luke is with me, then I sometimes do.  Luke always wants "to get some flowers for you mom."  Which interpreted means, he picks them out and I pay for them.
As I walked by the flower display today at Costco, still processing my 'no more formula' feelings, I had a fabulous idea.  Each time a stage ends that I am a little teary eyed about, I will buy myself flowers! But, so as not to be selfish and wallow in my own self-pity, I will find somebody to share them with that needs to be cheered up far more than me.

This morning, I handed over a beautiful half bouquet of yellow roses, to a dear neighbor and friend who had yet to make any contact with any of her Chilean family members following the earthquake in Chile.  With tears in both of our eyes, we embraced.  The flowers offering a simple expression of love.

As I look at my beautiful half bouquet of roses sitting on my table, I count my blessings.

Formula or no formula, I am very blessed.

Oh The Thinks I Think...

(This years book)

So it is no secret, I don't LOVE holidays. But, I often love to make random days into something. And as I explained last year, March 2nd is one of those days.

BUT, this year it is even bigger and better.

I'll give a little background.

1. Having a baby, means age is marked in months. Each 30th, I have announced how many months Drew is that day...
Aagh-slight problem, this month; there is no February 30th.
(And if you remember, I was VERY picky about Drew NOT being born on March 31st, as he'd never be able to have a 'real half birthday.')

2. Occasionally, the kids will ask how many months they are, and we will all practice our 12 times-tables, plus a little addition and we'll come up with the answer.

Well guess what?
I am so excited.
Think, random day/Dr Seuss day/half-birthday/how many months old today-and you have one very exciting day at our house...

Today of course is March 2nd, so not only will the kids find the Dr Seuss book on the kitchen table, but Drew is technically 11 months old today,

and Luke, is exactly 100 months old today!


Wow! For all that to fall on one random day, makes today extra special.

Forget just the Dr Seuss book. Today might even include a cake (Luke's request), and it will definitely be chocolate (my request).

Really-who needs silly holidays like Valentine's Day, St Patrick's Day or even Halloween, when you've got Dr Seuss day combined with someone turning 100 months old and 11 months old.

Can't happen too often.

From me to you, Happy March 2nd!