Bed Wrestler

My aunt and her family were also at my parents' house for two of the nights that I was there with the boys. This meant that I slept in a queen size bed with all three older boys. This also meant that I discovered that we have a bit of a bed wrestler.

Boy was Philip all over everyone! He would kick this way and that, He would lay on Brennan, then Nicholas, and then over to me. I am a heavy sleeper, but this was getting crazy! I couldn't believe the way Brennan and Nicholas slept through it all!
Well, almost...

At one point, Philip rolled up right next to Nicholas. I was awake, as I had just been the recipient of a loving kick in the ribs, courtesy of our little kickboxer. I watched as Philip poked and prodded Nicholas, yet neither made a sound. Finally as Philip settled in close, Nicholas merely wrapped one arm around Philip. So sweet!

Philip promptly pushed Nicholas with a resounding "Get off me!". Apparently what is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander!

You know, now that I think about it, Philip was the one we moved out of our bed and into a crib at the early age of about 5 months. Now I remember why!

So There's No Bias in the Media?

As I made the long drive back from my parents today, I listened to a lot of talk radio - we don't have a CD player in our van! Now I have been hearing for weeks about the Immigration Reform Bill that had such bipartisan support that our duly elected Democrats in Congress were going to get through. After all, that is what the people want!!! Or so they told us...

Apparently the PEOPLE flooded the Senate switchboards overwhelmingly and spoke out against the Dems beloved proposal. The measure failed.

So all day long, as I listened to the radio, I heard but one headline - President Bush's Immigration Reform Bill failed in the Congress. Huh? I thought it was the Dem's bill. I guess that was only if it passed.

Everybody Wins

Brennan: Nicholas won't play cards with me any more.

Me: Why won't you play with him, Nicholas?

Nicholas: Because I already won. I have all of the cards.

Brennan: No, I already won because I got rid of all of my cards.

Me: Which game are you guys playing?

Nicholas: War

Brennan: Poker.

Like A Child

It amazes me how I realize that, at times, I still can be as a child in so many ways. I bring this up because my topic for today is sleep. More specifically, MY need for sleep.

Sometimes I think that I am superhuman. I can get everything done on my docket with nary a problem. So when a hard dose reality inevitably hits, I have the nerve to act surprised. And annoyed. Maybe even get angry or frustrated. Why is that? Is it pride, thinking that of course I can keep the house cleaned, entertain and care for the boys, all the while still having my time for this and that little project (or the computer)? How easily we forget that while we are grown, we still have very human needs that must be met. We just don't have a loving adult to remind us of that, so it falls onto our shoulders to develop the discipline to insure that these needs are met.

I have been so grouchy with the boys as of late. I have been a little down and negative. After this trip, I realize that it just might be due to a lack of sleep. I feel so refreshed now. I seem to be handling every little childish occurrence these past couple of days with much more patience and understanding. All because I am rested. It makes a major difference in how I relate to others.

So I am making my new month's resolution a little early. Time to enforce a strict 11pm bedtime for yours truly. Let's see if I can keep this good thing going a little longer...

Since we've been gone...

I feel like it has been forever since being around the blogosphere. We had a fabulous time in San Diego and the boys all did well with my family. So many little thoughts and stories to tell. But we are not home just yet. Flash flooding in the Dallas-Ft Worth area have kept us at my parents in SW Oklahoma. We will leave tomorrow if things have cleared up. And if these flash floods are still going strong tomorrow, well, my Mom's off work and we will go see this movie.

And we're off...

Time for our little vacation. The family reunion is over. VBS come and gone. Tomorrow morning i take the boys up to Oklahoma to stay with my parents and then Colin and I meet out in San Diego on Tuesday for 5 days. I am looking forward to it immensely. After all Colin and I have not been alone together for more than 3 or 4 hours in, oh, 6 and a half years! Yet I am heartsick about leaving the boys at the same time. Brennan does not share my feelings - he cannot wait to stay at Grandma's house!

Prayers please that all of our travels will be safe and not too many tears shed...I'll post pics upon our return.

Cafe Philip

All three older boys LOVE to help out in the kitchen, but I can get a bit, well, OVERWHELMED at all of those hands into everything. I know that it is good for them to learn so I made the command decision to let go of perfection in the kitchen and let the boys lend more helping hands. I am not a complete masochist though. So I have settled on the idea of letting one boy have a special night a month that he makes dinner. Tonight was Philip's turn...

On the menu was spaghetti and breadsticks. Simple enough, and perfect for my budding chef extraordinoire...
And his spaghetti sauce was magnificient! he did a great job attending the pot, just stirring away...

Next he helped knead the bread dough and form the "little snakes" aka the breadsticks- always fun for little ones...
He couldn't resist sampling the dough!
Such great one on one time for both of us! Everything tasted great, and so what if the bread was shaped a little funny! I cannot wait to have dinner prep with Brennan and Nicholas as well!

Happy Belated Birthday, Mister J!

It happened while we were on our trip, but our precious Jonathan Charles turned 1 year old last Thursday. We celebrated, of course, with the required cake and ice cream!

When you are one, your brothers decide that you will have a Cars Themed Birthday, but Jonathan did not mind it one bit.
He loved every minute of all of the festivities centered around him. He loved the birthday cards best of all. He would not put each one down - forget the gifts!

I cannot believe how fast the last year has flown! Jonathan so loves watching his brothers. He loves to laugh, and finds plenty around here to laugh about.

Jonathan is such a joy to our lives - I cannot begin to imagine how dull our family would be without him! Happy Birthday to my precious baby boy - We all love you very very much!

The Great Outdoors

We arrived back home from our Family Reunion in the Woods on Sunday, but I think that I am still in denial! There is nothing like being out in a cabin without TV, or phones, or even clocks. Well, we had our cell phones, but didn't even peek at them. Talk about a way to relieve stress from life - just drop all concept of time. Time to do this and that...hurry we're late...got to do this and that before this certain time.

Our trip to the woods was a good time for some things though, like a time to reflect. As I watched the boys play from the cabin window and did the dishes (by hand - no dishwashers!), all I could see is the joy that God has blessed us with. Dad playing football with Brennan, Nicholas and Philip gathering sticks and rocks, Jonathan crawling at my feet. We didn't have much room in that tiny place. We didn't have but a few toys - a couple of matchbox cars and Jonathan's walker. But we had contentment and each other. I can't believe that I must remove myself from every day life to see that so clearly as I did there deep in the woods.

We are back, but I am trying to hold those moments close as we reenter the hustle and bustle. Let us all be grateful for all we are blessed with today!

Boys -n- Bugs

Brennan received a new bug catcher container last week. This morning as Colin and I were packing for our trip, Brennan was out in the yard. He was very excited as he ran to me with his first find - a june bug. Except I didn't see it moving. And it looked kind of stiff.

"Sweetheart, that's a great find, but I think he's dead." I told him.

Brennan merely replied, "I know. It's because he's missing two legs."

And it was. That's a mystery that I think we will never get to the bottom of.

Political Rant Tuesday

Okay, most of you just bear with me on this one. I happen to be fairly opinionated and passionate when it comes to politics. On most days I have a rant of sorts on some issue. So rather than my blog turn into a rather negative rant of in all in our country (which I happen to LOVE!), I will save my week's worth of rants for one post on Tuesday. Skip it if you so desire - I just need to get these things off of my chest so I don't walk around the house in a huff!

Today's rant stems from a comment on this blog post. A comment was made about Republicans wanting to require voter IDS so that they can steal elections. This burns me up. Maybe I am missing something, but how does requiring an ID disenfranchise any LEGAL voter? Don't those who are LEGALLY voting only once at one poll have a picture ID (usually a driver's license, but even a registered ID card will do)? Who doesn't? How is this a hardship of any kind? All I can see an ID accomplishing is that those who are voting are doing so once, in their own name, as a legally registered voter. In other words, IDs are making sure that laws are being enforced in practice and not just in theory. Why is that a bad thing? What are Democrats worried about? Do they have to count on illegal votes to win elections?

Whew! I feel better now! Thanks for obliging me guys, and I promise no more politics until next Tuesday!

DISCLAIMER: I am not actually a die hard "vote for whoever the Republican is". I am an Independent. I vote according to the person, not the party. This has left me with a Republican in the most recent years because I will not support a politician who believes in killing innocent children or that the state is better equipped to raise children than the family. And yes, I know that Bush has killed innocent children in Iraq, but before you make that argument, prove to me that he has authorized actions which have killed more there (in Iraq) than the alternative candidate (aka John Kerry) has authorized the killing of in the womb (through his support of even PBA). Disclaimer off.

I have resigned!

as the guardian of all things in our house. Sure, I will still look after those ever lovable, adorable little people that inhabit our cozy dwelling, but all of the little things (comic books, card games, special toys) that older boys know better than to leave within grabbing distance of a certain someone in particular...

well, I relinquish any responsibility for anything that might be further destroyed by this little fellow. It is about time that others besides Mom learn to keep treasured items up and away from little hands. Basically this means not in the middle of the floor.

Am I being too unreasonable? I really don't think so! Anyway, who could be angry at a guy like that!

Pool Season Begins

We officially kicked off our summer season today with a trip to our neighborhood pool. We had a blast, and I am amazed at how well Brennan retained his water (pre)swimming abilities over the long fall/winter/spring break. Down here we could swim year around if we had a pool (or pretty close to it), but because high school kiddos are needed to lifeguard we still only get June and July to perfect our strokes.

The one thing I am continually amazed with is how easy it was to manage all four little ones at the pool by myself. I almost dare to say that it does get easier with 4 boys (and the oldest being 6) than it was with just a 2 and 1 year old. And as each boy has entered our lives, I have been so quick to tell myself that "Oh, now that I will have a baby (or 2,3,4..) I guess I will no longer be able to (go to the store with them all, take them to the pool/park by myself, shower, etc)." Yet as each one has arrived, I have managed to complete all of these tasks, and with much greater ease than I would really expect. God really does continue to pour more grace onto us with each new blessing! And now all of the fretting that I had done beforehand seems so silly!

I am sure that this cycle will still repeat itself in the future. That's the funny thing about us humans - we are sometimes so slow to learn!

My Minstrel

Philip has been pacing the house all day, guitar in hand, singing songs from Moe and the Big Exit (the latest Veggitales show). Now if I could just figure out how to record it...it is hilarious! (For now, you will just have to imagine it!)

Well, what did you do this weekend?

We had a fabulous weekend in which the garage was finally finished being organized and cleaned (thanks mostly to my DH) and I got my nice new flower bed planted in the backyard. I have been wanting to plant some flower beds out back for a while, and I am finally getting around to it.

I also had to spray paint a bunch of Caprisun boxes (the ones that the juice pouches come in) so that we would have dirt "bricks" to make our wall of Jericho for Vacation Bible School next week. See Colin, I knew that the boxes would come in handy for something eventually! (My patient husband has to put up with a regular pack rat, you see - I am getting better about throwing stuff out!) Notice the nice neat garage - all Colin's hard work!

Our pumpkin plants are in full bloom. Just lovely! One tiny snag - whenever each fruit gets to be about the size of a shooter marble, something comes along and eats it. If this keeps up I'll, well, I don't know what I will do. Pout, I guess!

And here is a tiny new pumpkin!

And finally, my rose bush. This was my birthday gift a few years back and I just love it. I have great memories of my Mom's rosebushes when I was young and I loved having fresh blossoms on the dining table.

This work around the house, sprinkled with two delightful birthday parties and a picnic lunch at the park Sunday after Mass, made for a wonderful weekend together. Just what we needed to kick off the summer.

Another Milestone

Tuesday, Brennan lost his first top tooth! Actually, we had to take him to the dentist to have it pulled. It had been loose for several weeks and the gum was starting to swell. The dentist said that it was because the permanent tooth was already coming in on top of it. I didn't even know that could happen! At least we now have the infamous toothless smile picture for the books!

A Week in the Life of a 2 year old

I am motivated! I see my older brothers do their schoolwork, and I want mine too! So I practice tracing my name on a piece of paper. I can do this for almost an entire hour!

I am helpful! I insist on helping my Mom unload the groceries. And look at my resourcefulness! I can even build a paper towel tower! Now that is a skill for my resume!

I am an artist! While Mom was at the grocery store, Daddy so kindly let me finger paint on the kitchen floor that Mom had just mopped the night before. Hey, Dad's cool! Besides, Mom didn't freak out about this exhibit nearly as bad as later in the week when I would finger paint a huge basketball-sized circle of blue finger paint on the family room CARPET.

And the best thing about two year olds is that we are easy to please! Pick us up the on sale watermelon and watch us display smiles of pure joy!

But of course, there is still that nit picky detail about learning to share...