Cleanliness is next to...

Apparently we have kids who are meticulous about personal hygiene.  Can you really ever have too many toothbrushes?  I don't think so.

Oh, don't you hope she used your toothbrush?!  Although I know from personal experience, there are worse things kids can do to your toothbrush...  Like THIS.

Q-Tips

What are the chances her ears got clean? :)

Memorial

One of the reasons we went down to see Cory's Mom, was to put the marker on his Dad's grave.  About mid-afternoon, everyone gathered together at the cemetery.

The boys (this time meaning Cory and his brothers) worked to get a hole for the stone.

I was touched at how everyone (even the children) pitched in to help.  They took time to get it even and "just so" and then brushed the dirt off the top so it would look nice and clean.  It was a tender thing to see Russell's family performing this service for him.  

I think proper cemetery etiquette requires that you not step or walk on someone's grave.  I don't think any of the kids have heard this requirement and flatly refuse to comply.  Their favorite thing to do is to sit down around the grave and play in the sand.  Some of them were writing their names, some of them wanted to smooth the dirt down and make it "pretty", and Charles Allen buried one of his Chuck E Cheese cards for "Grandy."  While some may not approve of this behavior, I think it is wonderful.  I feel sure Pa loves knowing that his grandkids still love being near him.  Its still hard sometimes, knowing that he's not right here with us, the way we'd like.  But seeing the kids, so full of life, energy and love, takes some of the hurt and pain out of being at the grave site.  It seems so much more warm and approachable with the kids playing around.  Its part of what makes Russell's spirit seem closer.

Before we left, we sang "Sixpence" in Russell's honor.  The last time we were all gathered there, it was the first time most of us had been back to his grave since the funeral.  It was a cold, gray, wet day and we sang (or tried to sing) that song.  There was hardly a dry eye by the time we got done and several hearts were breaking.  Many of the girls continued to cry long after we'd gone back to the house.  This time was much better.  The day was bright and sunny and warm and we were able to sing the song with love and happiness.

Before we left, we had all the children climb in the back of Pa's truck and take a picture.  This is one of those pictures that is worth a thousand words to me.  I can't decide if my heart is swelling or breaking when I look at this picture.  But I love it and I love all those sweet faces looking back at me.

Reminders

Most days during the week I have time to "keep house."  Some days we have errands or activities to attend to, but usually part of my day is spent caring for our home and keeping it clean and well-cared for.  Last week, there were several days in a row where we were so busy that the usual routine of housekeeping was disrupted. By Saturday, I was feeling that my house was overflowing--overflowing with dishes that needed washing, overflowing with laundry in various stages of care that needed attention, overflowing with toys that needed picking up, beds that needed making, and rooms that needed cleaning.  I was lamenting the plight of our house to Cory as we worked on some laundry together.  It seemed that I could spend day after day keeping the house clean, but give me three days of doing little or no housework and things suddenly looked like I hadn't cleaned of picked up in ages.  It just gets so overwhelming so quickly.  Why can it not just stay clean longer?

 Right in the middle of my pity party (because really that's what it was), Paige walked into the room in nothing but a diaper, rubbing her tummy and sucking her thumb.  She had the cutest expression on her face as she walked over to me and reached her arms to be picked up.  So I took a break from laundry and sat down with her on my lap as she snuggled with me, babbled and cooed in her cute little baby voice, and laid her head on my chest.  As I sat and held her on my lap, I realized that I had gotten side-tracked by those (sort of) important things.  My house may not be as clean as I'd like.  My dishes may be piled in the sink more than I'd like.  There may be toys cluttering the floor more often than I'd like.  But I have four children who I love more than life itself and who I know love me.  I know they need me.  And I know the things I do besides keep up with the house are oh-so important.  There is nothing like a sweet snuggly baby on your lap to remind you where your priorities lie.  I'm thankful for those little reminders that climb into my lap, that sneak into my mind and lift my heart.  "Our lives are made, in these small hours, these little wonders, these twists & turns of fate. Time falls away, but these small hours, these small hours, still remain."

An Afternoon at Grandma's

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at Cory's Mom's house.  It was a beyond beautiful day.  I sat outside watching the kids play for at least 3 hours, maybe more.  I don't even know.  I just soaked in the sunshine and I loved every minute of it.  While I was sitting out there, I had time to take some cute pictures of the cousins playing.  I love that they love playing together so much.

Charles Allen was showing Ian some of these cards he'd gotten at Chuck E Cheese.  Ian thought they were great.

I love how focused and intently they are looking at the cards.  I LOVE those boys, even if they are a bit rowdy and rambunctious.  If the truth be told, I think it makes me love them more. :)

After they'd looked at the cards for a while, they had to put them in their pockets for safe keeping. 

The girls were having just as much fun playing together as the boys.  They pretended the baseball Kyleigh's holding was a pet dog.  They also played with their imaginary pet horses.  Such sweeties.

Oh yes, they have so much style.  They are so sweet and sassy and growing up WAY too fast!

The boys were never still for long.  Much of the time they were running and chasing each other through the yard.  

Paige was in heaven sliding down the slide.  Her daddy was so awesome and fixed the broken bottom step on the playhouse so she could climb up and slide down over and over and over again.

The boys did slow down long enough to climb on top of the playhouse.  None of the girls even thought about doing this.  Even once they realized the boys were up there, their main question was, "How did you get up there?"

As you can see, they are quite high.  They were not scared or intimidated in the least.  And just for the record, I did ask Ian (for what its worth) to stay away from the other side of the roof, where he would have farther to fall. :)

It was the most beautiful day ever.  The weather was perfect.  After playing outside and visiting all day, we had grilled BBQ chicken, french fries, salad and coleslaw for dinner.  It was a delicious end to the day.  I think we all enjoy the time we get to spend together as a family. 

The Tooth Fairy Strikes Again

 Ian has had a loose tooth for a while now.  He's been working on it, wiggling it a lot, and hoping it would be ready to come out soon.  Finally, yesterday it was deemed "pullable".

A big smile with all his teeth.

Prepped and ready to go.  Cory is so good to pull the kids' teeth.  Truthfully, wiggly teeth give me the willies.  And this one made a gross popping noise when it came out.  But Ian was a pro and didn't seem bothered by the procedure at all (loud pop included.)  

And here is the cute snaggle-tooth smile.  He's now the proud owner of two permanent teeth, a mouthful of baby teeth, and a hole that represents (and I quote) "A lot of money."  I'm interested to find out how much "a lot" is.  I might be interested in parting with a tooth, if that turns out to be true.

Spring is in the Air

Can you feel it?  We sure can!!  We've loved the snow this winter, but we're itching for Spring.  These warm days are heaven.  And boy, we sure hope they're here to stay!

We love some sidewalk chalk around here.  Its a springtime staple!

These girls sure are lucky to have a brother as sweet as Ian!

From the looks of that sweet sugar, I think maybe they know. :)

Another big part of our springtime is softball/baseball.  Ian was getting in some practice time.

He was pretty good!  It was fun to watch him hit.

After watching Ian for a while, Merry Grace wanted a turn.  Bless her heart, she didn't hit a single ball all afternoon.

But she did not give up.  She tried again and again. 

And again...and again. :)

After hitting the ball for a while, Ian moved on to football.  He practiced kicking the ball.  I can't say for sure, but I think he has good form. :)

Merry Grace thought if Ian was doing it, it must be worth trying.  So try she did.  I think she needs a little coaching to figure out the tee.

Ian and Cory threw the ball over the van.  

Another day, we spent time outside on the trampoline.  (Check out Charles Allen's hair.  LOVE it!!!!)

Ian and Charles Allen had some kind of pushing game they were playing.  Oh, how differently boys play!

I'm not sure what's going on here, but I love that jump of Ian's!!!

But really, the best part of Spring is what is beautiful about any season--time with family and friends!

Got Paper?

Believe it or not, we do actually have paper.  Although you'd be hard pressed to tell that from Paige's scribbling these days.

Why not write on a feminine hygiene product while you snack on oranges?  I don't see a problem with that, do you?

And you know, when you've run out of space on that, why not move on to the toilet paper? (I just love her focused, intense look.  Its serious business when you write on that toilet paper. :))

And when all else fails, use your tummy!  There's lots of skin surface area that works magnificently!

Thanks heavens she's cute! :)

Pigtails

My baby has pigtails! Seriously, one of the cutest things ever. :)

Sometimes I Still Get Surprised

In conjunction with the fries from McDonald's, I'd gotten both Ian and Merry Grace a small water.  Somewhere between the school run and piano lessons, they started getting silly and before I knew it the peals of laughter had turned into someone spitting water on the other one.  As the chauffeur to four kids, my car is rarely (okay, okay...never) in pristine condition.  But even I have limits to what I can tolerate and spitting water is beyond that limit.  I told the two of them that when we got home they would be responsible for cleaning out the car.  That meant gathering up the things that people had left behind in the car (jacket, shoes, toys) and throwing away any trash that was lying around.  We got home, I got them started and then started cooking dinner.  I knew they weren't just cleaning up--I could see them out the kitchen window, and I could hear lots of talking and giggling.  I guess I just expected that there would be at least some cleaning taking place.  So when they said they were getting tired and wanted to come in for a snack, I went out to check.  Not only had not one single thing been picked up or thrown away, I was surprised to see what looked like a couple of red circles on the carpet.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered there were indeed red circles drawn on the carpet in lipstick.  Yes, that's right.  Lipstick.  There was also some white stuff that looked like it had been drizzled on the carpet.  Turns out, they'd found a packet of ranch dressing and drizzled it onto the carpet.  So not only had the car not been cleaned, shockingly, it was in even worse shape than before.  I consider my greatest achievement for the day that I did not yell at those two little rascals when I saw what they'd been up to.  I can't decide whether to congratulate myself on my self-control or kick myself for being so stunned that I was at a complete loss for words (angry or otherwise!)  Usually when the kids make some kind of intentional mess, I have them clean it up.  But after seeing their car cleaning attempt, frankly, I think I'll handle this one myself.  Tomorrow.

Not so Secret

We had several errands to run this afternoon and about halfway through them, Ian started to get hungry.  Why he was even in the car with me is another story unto itself, but either way, when he gets hungry, he needs food or he will throw up.  Learned that lesson the hard way.  So I grabbed a McDonald's fry for he and Merry Grace to share.  When we got to school to pick up Elise, I had the kids put the McDonald's bag away so that Elise wouldn't feel bad that she didn't get anything.  I even specifically told them to keep quiet about it when Elise got in the car.  She had been in the car for all of about thirty seconds when Merry Grace says, "Hey Elise.  We did NOT go to McDonald's!"  Somehow, that's not exactly what I'd had in mind. :)

Sight Words

As a Kindergardener, Ian is learning to read.  Each week he's supposed to learn 4 new sight words.  This week, we've had his words--some, her, would, make--up on the refrigerator so he can get used to seeing them and help us remember to practice them.  A few minutes ago he came up to me and said, "Mommy, I know my sight words so good, I can read them without looking at them!"  And he proceeded to put them behind his back and quote, "Some, her, good, make."  I'm thinking we may not have explained the concept of sight words well enough. :)

Tent Time & Other Fun Stuff

One day when the kids were home from school for a snow day, they built this huge tent in the playroom.  They used six kitchen chairs and about 15 blankets.  It was really neat and entertained them for hours.  Even Paige loved it!  

The clean up part wasn't quite so fun, as they were surprised that I actually meant that I expected them to do most of the clean up.  I'm not sure why that came as a shock, since I said it about 15 times as they drug out blanket after blanket.  But eventually they did some good work and we used a little teamwork and got it cleaned up wonderfully.  I love how much fun you can have with little everyday things.

For example:

A few weeks ago, Elise came down with strep throat.  Unfortunately, since she'd never had it before I just thought she had a sore throat and she had to suffer a few days before we caught it.  When Ian first said his throat hurt, we knew what we were up against and got him some antibiotics pronto.  So, even though he had to stay home because he was contagious, he wasn't feeling very bad.  This is what the kids did with some of their time.  Paige, ever the copy cat, wasn't about to let the big kids have all the fun.  I didn't really want to put her in the pillowcase because I didn't think she'd actually be able to walk in it--which sounded like a recipe for disaster.  Surprisingly, she could walk like nobody's business and kept up with Ian and Merry Grace with ease.  They really are awfully cute. :)

Spirit Week

I love Spirit Week at school.  I don't remember getting the chance to dress up when I was a kid in elementary school, but I think its so much fun.  This year our favorite was crazy day.  It started out as Crazy Hair Day, and quickly evolved into crazy everything day. :)

Elise was so much fun to help dress.  She had great ideas for what she wanted to wear.  And she came up with the idea to have her pigtails stick out sideways.  I just braided two pipecleaners that I'd cut the right length into her hair.  She told me she definitely had the best hair and outfit in her class.  And I don't doubt it a bit!

I thought it was a little harder to come up with something crazy for Ian.  But this is the outfit we finally agreed on.  His craziest thing was the orange hair, thanks to the leftover hair paint from Halloween.  He was really excited to finally be joining Elise in this tradition.

Merry Grace proves, however, that you don't actually have to be in school to dress crazy.  She wasn't going to be left out, even if she was just staying at home.

And then, after the kids left, she added this cute pink toboggan and furry black kitty cat ears.  I really think that completes the outfit. :)

My favorite part is how cute they all look, even dressed all crazily.  If only it were that easy for all of us. :)

Strawberry Sonker

On Monday, I made a Strawberry Sonker for Family Home Evening refreshments.  I had made a peach one at Cory's mom's over the weekend that was pretty yummy, and decided another one was in order.  The kids were pretty excited about it, especially with that aroma of sugar and berries wafting around the kitchen.  I haven't made one in a while before this weekend, since I usually make them in the spring and summer when fruit is more "in season."  So it came out of the oven and I dished up plates for everyone.  I looked over at the table in time to see Ian take a bite and quickly make a frowny face.  "Ian, didn't you like it?"  He paused for a second, looked around and then said, "No.  It wasn't very good."  "Oh really," I said.  "That's too bad."  He didn't say anything for another minute and then broke the silence with, "It really tastes like strawberry throw up."  I just couldn't keep from laughing.  I, in no way, thought it tasted like strawberry throw up.  And never in a million years would I have imagined it being described in such disgustingly graphic terms.  At least now I know when I make sonker there will just be more for me. :)

And now, after that glowing review, should you decide you want to give it a try, here's the recipe.  And, just for the record, everyone like it but Ian and Merry Grace.  So I think the odds are in my favor.

Strawberry Sonker

1/2 stick melted 

1 cup of milk

1 cup self rising flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 lb. strawberries

Cut up strawberries and heat in pan over medium heat with 1/2 cup sugar until juicy.  Mix milk, remaining sugar and flour in bowl.  Pour butter into 9 x 13" baking dish.  Pour milk, sugar, flour mixture over butter.  Spoon fruit and juice into pan (do not mix).  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until light brown.