Love those babies

Incase you didn’t know, I love my babies! I could gush on and on about how cute they are. Here are some of my highlights from the last 24 hours

Louisa clapping her hands (why is that so danged cute! Gets me every time)
Annie’s smile (she really knows how to work it, man am I in trouble)
Alex “I have two hurts” (from a runny nose) “kiss them both”
Louisa’s gibberish. I swear she’s fluent in some language that I just don’t speak (twin-ese perhaps)
Annie climbing up ON TOP of the kitchen table to get the empty yogurt container. Not once, but twice!
Annie using a spoon to clean out the empty yogurt today instead of just licking it
I could go on, but I think you get the point

a little collage in us all

I've been looking at some collage art lately. Ok, I admit it, I was inspired by ali edward's blog. So here's my little collage for today.

update

I spent the day yesterday “going deeper” into the realm of teaching reading. I did my research, organized my information, and now have an effective (ha!) game plan for encouraging my 2 year old son to be literate.
So now on to something funny. This is my darling annie. More commonly known as the pajama Houdini. The first pic is what I found when I went to go get her the other morning. I effectively wrangled her back into her jammies for breakfast. But as you can see in the second pic, she wasn’t having anything to do with the jammies that morning. Since then I’ve wised up and put her in jammies that snap, but I’m sure before too long she’ll figure a way out of those too.

Going deeper

I wanna go deeper
But I don’t know how to swim,
I wanna be meeker,
But have you seen this old earth
I wanna fly higher,
but these old arms won’t take me there
I wanna be… I wanna be…
Deeper, by Delirious

Going deeper. That’s the topic of the day.
Running farther
flying higher
doing what you do, only better.
What can you improve on? What are the areas that you need to pick up the pace on?

My own personal challenge this week to myself: pick something and go deeper. Don’t just think of a list of stuff that can be improved upon, but actually do it.

One of my many passions (the first one I thought of when these deep thoughts hit me like a brick wall) is my kids. I am a teacher through and through. Teacher first, mommy second (everything else is a distant third as far as I’m concerned). I’ve been teaching alex since well, he was born. I could rattle off an impressive list of skills this kid has and be done with it. Or I could go deeper. What other skills could we work on. How could I be a better teacher? How could I make a more suitable learning environment? What about the girls – just because they aren’t as “fun” to teach as Alex is, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be working on stuff. What exactly do you teach a 15 month old? (BTW I shirk the idea that just because they are babies, they can’t learn – it’s never to soon to start teaching)
There are other passions in my life, someday I’ll go deeper into them…

Stuff

I was looking at Tenika’s website today, and man does she have the coolest designs! If you don’t know her, she does tee-shirts for scrapbookers. Girl, if you’re reading this, I’m ordering some of those kid tee shirts for my kids as soon as we get city water! I’ll take one of each! Here’s her site: http://www.tenika.com/

Was reading an article about a 5 year old girl who was arrested at school. At first I was appalled (like anyone who reads these sensationalized stories). But then I was reading the debate on my teacher forum, and realized THE KID PROBABLY DESERVED IT. Give some props to the police who did the unpolitically correct thing and removed a dangerous kid from a classroom. Teachers shouldn’t have to put up with kids like that.

Damage control:
The snow has all melted. I went out to do a damage assessment on my yard yesterday. All my flowers look ok, except for the daffodils, which were starting to fade anyway. There are quite a few things that haven’t bloomed yet, so hopefully they’ll be ok too.

Freak snowstorm

According to the weather report we recieved 4 inches of snow. I'm afraid all my flowers are goners. So glad that I took the pics of them the other day. Here are some pics of our snow, most of it had melted by the time I got out to take pictures...

personality quirks

Everyone has them; my children are no different. So here are a few of the personality quirks that make my children unique:
Alex has a thing for pacifiers. I officially took his away after his 2nd birthday, last july. It is a daily struggle to keep them away from him. He knows he’s not supposed to have them, but he takes them anyway. I suppose they are sort of a vice to him. I thought I could keep them away from him by keeping them all in a bucket on top of his sisters dresser, but he figured out how to climb up and get them.
I think I already talked about how the girls have a thing for empty food containers. Well they just have a thing for food in general. The girls are both tiny, around the 10th percentile in weight, but you’d never guess it by the amount of food they can pack away. I swear they can out eat me. If I let them, they would eat from 7 am to 7 pm without a break. The people in the nursery at church think I’m starving my children, because they just eat the whole time they are there.
Here’s another Alex quirk. I imagine this is a universal kid quirk, but it never ceases to amaze me. This kid is more interested in my stuff than he is in his own. He’d rather play with my calculator than his blocks. The paper clips completely fascinate him. My scrapbook supplies (even the non messy ones) are worth their weight in gold. Don’t get me started with keys. The more important they are, the more fascinating. Makes me wonder why I bother investing in toys…

houston, we have snow

That’s right, it’s snowing. It’s not sticking, but it’s the psychological aspect. I’m freeeeeeeezing. Too bad I already cleaned out our fireplace for the winter…
time to curl up under a blankie and read a book

WHY????

Why is it that alex feels the need to dump out every toy box in the house?
Why is it that I have to be holding at least one baby every minute of every day? (Including right now, as I write this)
Why do my children FREAK OUT every time they see food? I swear every time I walk past the bananas sitting on the counter, the kid I’m carrying goes bonkers. Forget leaving the pantry door open, or leaving a box of crackers sitting where they can see it.
Why is it that every time I attempt to accomplish something (be it read a book, clean something, WRITE THIS ENTRY, answer the phone, or attempt to create some sense of order in my house…) my daughters both throw a huge fit. It took me 30 minutes to make the bed this morning.
Why did it have to get colder out? When the weather is nice, I can throw my kids in the yard and they don’t destroy my house.
Why won’t this kid in my lap just sit still? She doesn’t want to be up, she doesn’t want to be down. She just wants to squirm.
Why does alex have to steal his sisters pacifiers? Doesn’t he realize they stay much quieter when the pacifiers are in their mouths?
Why am I so frustrated that I can’t get up and get anything accomplished? When I worked in childcare I used to be able to sit and watch kids play for hours. NOT ANYMORE!
Why does my son repeat himself over and over and over? He clearly doesn’t understand the concept of being ignored.
Why do I bother trying to clean the house? Heck why do I bother trying to keep anything clean?

the grass is always greener

And man is it green here in NW Ohio.
I’ve been so excited about spring this year. I had a major case of cabin fever. The fact that my friends were all posting pictures of the pretty spring flowers didn’t help a thing. So anyway, spring is here in Ohio, my flowers are finally blooming. You know what else comes with spring? BUGS! Biting bugs, stinging bugs, buzzing bugs… Now I remember why I like winter. NO BUGS! Just goes to show, the grass is always greener, isn’t it…

But here's what's come up in my yard so far:

Silly pics

Here are some silly pics of myself that I took this morning. They were inspired by liza.

Signature

I've seen this on a few other peoples blogs, so here's mine!
The topic: signatures
what makes you who you are

Colour: blue. Definitely blue. It’s mellow and cool. It doesn’t attract a lot of attention
Word I most like to be described as: servant
Best meal I cook: well, since I’m a pretty lousy cook, I’ll go with chili or cheesy-noodles
Best Dessert: anything that has chocolate
Favourite Book: I’d like to say the Bible. But I’m terrible about reading it.
Outfit: I wear sweats as much as I possibly can.
Bedtime: I’m drained by 10 pm
Sound: laughter
Wish: to be completely selfless. To be able to give of myself indefinitely. To not be so focused on my own needs, that I ignore the needs of the people around me.
Style: laid back - hands down. Go with the flow, roll with the punches, take life in stride.
Word: NO! ( a word I say wayyyyyyyy to much, I need to cut back on it!)
What I crave: quiet, quiet, quiet.
Surround me with: inspiration – books, magazines. Laughter – it keeps you young

Thanks and a story

A word of thanks to Tenika, who correctly identified the title/artist from my inspirational song the other day. It's called Legacy, and it's by Nichole Nordeman. Thanks woman!
And now for a story:
This story starts last night. I had this brilliant idea for an art project, right as I was getting ready for bed. Instead of staying up to work on it, I wrote myself some notes, and went to bed. I should have stayed up to work on it, because I laid in bed and thought about it for 2 hours. Which means that this morning I’m a little off kilter, because of my lack of sleep.
So keep in mind that I’m sleep deprived when I tell you about my morning.
Up at the crack of dawn again! (which for me is any time before 7:00 am) the kids all pile on the bed for our morning cuddle routine, which I love dearly. Everything is hunky dory until 10:30. I’m working on this great project I spent all night thinking about, (at the kitchen table because there is NO ROOM on my desk). Which means that there is paint, an exacto knife, and a bunch of other stuff that I don’t want my kids to have access to in plain view where any sticky little finger can grab it. The girls decide they are ready to get up from a morning nap. But they hardly slept a wink, so they’re both grumpy when I try to get back to work on my project after getting them out of bed.
So here’s the scene. Annie and Louisa are both pulling on my sweatpants, and screaming their heads off. I’m trying to keep them away from all the hazardous items on the table (which I am ALMOST successful at), and scrambling to finish this project so I can clean up and get lunch on the table. While this is happening, Alex is throwing a royal fit because he wants to put his winter coat and boots on to play outside. Even though it is 75 degrees outside he won’t go until he has both. Ever wish you could clone yourself? That was me this morning. I could have used about 3 of me.
I ended up having to feed the kids early (so they’d leave me alone!). Which I don’t like doing because they are terrible about mooching my lunch when I eat after they are finished.
But they are all blissfully quiet now. The girls are napping (for real this time) and alex is playing right outside the window (minus his coat and boots this time).
Life is good

50 things

My friend Susan did this in her blog, so of course I had to do one too:
50 things you might not have known about me:
1. I’m left handed
2. I hate primary colors
3. I spend way too much time on the computer
4. I’m in church EVERY Sunday, no matter what. (that includes having 5 day old twins)
5. I wish my yard looked like those in Better Homes and Gardens
6. I’m afraid to decorate my house with nice stuff, because I’m afraid my kids will ruin everything.
7. I’m terrified by worms! (makes yard work interesting!)
8. I love living in the country
9. I hate spending money
10. I once spent a summer building fences.
11. I have never once in my life gotten strait A’s, but I was on the deans list for most of my Jr. and Sr. year of college
12. I wear contact lenses
13. I hate coffee
14. I love John Wayne movies
15. Kohl’s is my favorite department store. It’s the only place I by clothes
16. I love going to the library, we normally go once a week
17. I don’t have cable TV
18. I plan to home school my kids until they are ready for college
19. I’m completely tone deaf, but I love to sing to my kids
20. My husband rides a motorcycle
21. I talked my husband into buying his motorcycle
22. If I had lots of money I’d adopt at least 2 children from a foreign country, probably Russia
23. I love washing dishes by hand, I have a brand new dishwasher that I never use.
24. I’m glad that I don’t have to leave my house every morning to go to work
25. I watch reality tv! – Survivor, the Apprentice, American Idol, and the Amazing Race
26. I’m terrible at sports, because I’m really uncompetitive
27. Jory and I are both middle children
28. I teach the Kindergarten Sunday school class at church
29. I have never dyed my hair
30. I got married when I was 22 years old
31. I enjoy hanging out with my mother
32. My cooking is pitiful, I have about 10 things that I can cook
33. I drive a white minivan
34. I enjoy listening to NPR and watching PBS
35. I love fresh fruit
36. I have no desire to be wealthy or famous
37. I love the mountains
38. I have walked from the U.S to Canada, (over a bridge at Niagara falls) and from the U.S to Mexico (also over a bridge from El Paso to Juarez)
39. My desert must include chocolate or it is not desert
40. I love taking road trips
41. I wear my hair in a ponytail 95% of the time
42. The only jewelry I ever wear is my wedding/engagement ring
43. I’m always cold
44. I don’t wear makeup – ever
45. I’m usually in bed by 10 pm
46. I feel a sense of accomplishment if I can make it through the day without turning the TV on, even for Alex to watch
47. I prefer to be barefoot
48. I hate camping, but love being outdoors
49. I’m very laid back
50. I don’t subscribe to any magazines

Some inspirational words to start the day with:

This is a song that I heard on the radio yesterday while I was scrapbooking. It spoke to me on several different levels. So even though I don’t know the title/artist, I’m going to share part of it with you:

I want to leave a legacy
How will they remember me
Did I choose to love
Did I point to You

It was on the Christian radio station. If anyone knows the title/artist I’d love to know! I wish I had the rest of the lyrics…

Construction = excitement

Or it does in our house anyway.

This is what I saw when I looked out my window this morning. They are laying the pipes that are necessary for us to have city water. If you know me you’ve probably heard my tales of woe regarding my water. Our water is so bad that we’ve killed two water softeners in two years. The amount of crud in our water overwhelms the water softeners and they just die. The rust in our water ruins every thing it touches: clothing, showers, sinks, toilets… we even have a streak of rust running down our driveway from where jory left the hose running for too long.
So you can understand my excitement. My son is also extremely excited about the construction equipment in his yard. Not because he’s excited to be rid of the vile water, but because he’s a two year old boy. He’s totally in little boy heaven, watching all this heavy machinery. It’ll be a sad day when the crews move on to their next assignment.

why my children will never attend public school

Can I pull out my soapbox for a minute?
I’ve always known that I wanted to home school my kids. I made this decision in college, before I was even married. There’s too much bias in schools, they’re way too political. Since I have a degree in education, I figured I might as well put it to use and home school my kids.
With that background information provided, I now return to my soapbox.
I was perusing the teacher books at the library recently, and stumbled across the book “Dumbing Down our Kids, Why American children feel good about themselves but can’t read, write or add” by Charles J. Sykes. Oh my freaking goodness. Talk about an eye opener. If I wasn’t planning on HS my kids earlier, I certainly am now.

In addition to being political, he claims that current teaching strategies are ineffective - this book has shot down every single teaching strategy that I learned in college as ineffective (with inclusive evidence to support his claims) he also discusses how teachers and administrators are lowering their grading standards, to make the kids look smarter. I could go on and on about this book, but I think you get the point.

So when you meet my children, don’t ask them what school they go to.

lets try a different one!

I liked the blog spot I was using earlier, but it had this annoying banner that drove me BATTY! so I decided to find another free hosting site. Lets see how I like this one. If I like it better, I'll put my archived entries over here also.
This is a test, this is only a test... do not try this at home

bad mommy day

Ever just feel like a bad mom? Today I’m having a bad mom day. This is what happened before 9:00 this morning:
Annie found an empty mug and proceeded to lick out the contents. Yuck? My girls have a sixth sense about empty food containers. Even if I think they’re in a safe location, the girls will find them and lick them clean for me. Getting the contents all over their faces in the process. Where did they learn to do that?
Louisa found a box of fibers/ribbons and a box of letter stamps and proceeded to decorate my floor with them. Gee thanks.
I won’t mention the fact that I’ve had a box of paperclips littering my floor for 3 days now. The girls are forever sticking them in their mouths. I’m surprised no one has choked on one yet.

I love this job

I know I have complained about how hard it is to be a SAHM to my crew. But I really do like it. This morning the girls climbed up in bed with me and we all cuddled for a few minutes before I got up to make breakfast.

Love that.

Also this morning alex has been walking around with a bucket on his head. He’s totally cracking me up! Every time he runs into something he apologizes. So I’m washing dishes and I keep hearing “excuse me refrigerator… excuse me chair… I’m sorry door…” Too funny!

Thanks for the laugh munchkin.

Lazy sunday afternoon - I think I deserve it

I can’t concentrate on the pastor’s message when I get there, and yell at my kindergarten class during Sunday school because my patience is wearing thin. What a great example I am.
On a side note, can anyone explain to me why jory takes 45 minutes to shower and dress, while in the same time I have fed/changed/dressed 3 wiggly children, packed the diaper bags, and gotten myself dressed? If I didn’t know better I’d say he’s doing on purpose so he doesn’t have to help.
But the bliss of a Sunday afternoon arrives. The children all nap, and I have time for myself. Watch a movie with Jory, check my messages, write in my journal… anything but be responsible. Hey, it’s a day of rest, right?

A lesson in Human endurance: my trip to West Virginia

Road trip part 1: lets see if we can push her to the breaking point – a lesson in human endurance
Wanna hear about my week? Ok here goes
Early in the week my grandfather passes away, so I have to prepare to take the kids to West Virginia for the funeral – an 8 hour trip. Anyone ever take 3 kids in diapers on an impromptu road trip? Let me break it down for you:
Being away from home for 48 hours means that I’m going to need
About 20 diapers, 2 different sizes – they need to be packed in different bags, so they don’t get confused. About 100 wipes, because I”ll need them if I don’t have them.
5 kids music cd’s (preferably not the annoying kind)
4 outfits apiece
enough food to feed an army – no sugary junk because they’ll bounce off the walls. A whole arsenal of toys.
Oh and I might need some stuff for jory and me. Do you think I could get away with wearing sweats to a funeral. Don’t think it didn’t cross my mind.

Oh wait, I can’t pack until the last minute because as soon as I get the matchbox cars packed, Alex will throw a fit until he gets them back.

So there are lists dictating exactly what will go into the car Wednesday night. When WAMMO! Jory and I both get food poisoning. Not a mild case either. So here I am, Wednesday morning sick as a dog, 3 screaming hungry poopy children, a car that still needs to be packed, packages to the post office, a memorial board for the services, and I can not move. On top of the fact the my grandfather is dead, and I am grieving. What’s a girl to do.
Enter grandma. My life saver! Moms are a wonderful thing. She has the day off, so she comes and takes the kids so I can recuperate from my illness, and work on all the various projects.
Somehow I manage to get everything together.

Road trip chapter 2: a continuation of the study of human endurance

Road trip chapter 2: a continuation of the study of human endurance
Ever taken a preschooler and 2 toddlers on an 8 hour road trip? Oh my goodness.
The highlights:
Annie complains every 5 minutes because she’s bored, she dropped her toy, can’t find her pacifier, you get the idea.
I’m car sick because I have to turn around every 5 minutes to see what she’s crying for. Or maybe it was lingering food poisoning. Regardless, headache and tummy ache for a good portion of the trip
Louisa has a diaper blow out right before we hit the WV state line, but doesn’t complain a bit – she’s such a trooper, but man did it stink
We get to the hotel late, there’s no room for us (yet), but we can change in the lobby bathroom. Ever try to get 5 people dressed up for a funeral visitation in a hotel bathroom?
Louisa throws up on the way to the visitation. Mental note – grapes and windy mountain roads don’t go together. Smart momma made sure the girls clothes were accessible while repacking the van. (room at hotel still not ready).

Road trip chapter 3: a busy momma grieves

Visitation goes off without a hitch, everyone is excited to meet the kids. Alex doesn’t knock granddad over. No major fits were thrown. But alex did manage to sneak away, and find the funeral home’s office (and manager – eek!) while I’m busy tending to my other responsibilities. I find him playing behind the managers desk, don’t know how long he’s been there. The guy’s really nice about it though. Love those small town fellows.



Still too busy to grieve. I have 3 kids to keep track of - has everyone eaten, is anyone poopy, why is annie crying now, did all of alex’s toys get back in his bag?



The funeral is Friday, nursery provided. Hallelujah. Alex and annie play, while Louisa sits quietly in my lap. Ready to give her mom a hug when she needs one. Reality catches up with me, and I finally find time to grieve.

Road trip chapter 4: déjà vu – the trip back

Didn’t I do this yesterday? 8 hours back, this time the kids are drained from lack of sleep. So a good deal of the trip was passed in dreamland. Peace for momma - time to crack open a good book.
Oh wait, I still don’t feel all that great. (When was the last time I had time to think about my own needs?) At least I don’t have to turn around every 5 minutes to check on annie this time.
Dinner is an experience, as usual. Pop quiz: How many fast food restaurants can you think of that provide healthy meals for youngsters (so they won’t bounce off the walls from too much junk) that I don’t have to worry about getting FOOD POISONING from uncooked meat? Let me know when you come up with one. Then find one in NE Ohio. Oh and make sure they have something my picky kids want.
Fortunately my food stash hasn’t run out, so they can eat some of that, while I have a sub. WHICH STILL MANAGES TO MAKE ME AND JORY SICK.

After dinner is enjoyable. Annie cries every 5 minutes for no reason. 2 poopy diapers (no blow outs this time). The kids all get cranky about 8 because it’s past their bed times, and they want to sleep in their own beds tonight. (not their car seats!)
So here’s mom, singing to the kids another round of the wheels on the bus, this verse has Louisa in it, while her arm is bent at an impossible angle so annie can play with her fingers.
Are we having fun yet?