Like many of you, we are trying to instill good habits, behavior and manners in our children. And of course one of the house rules is that we do not lie. Though lying is not the behavior we struggle with most in this house, I do sometimes wonder if our kids hear anything we say regarding behavior. Well, apparently they do, but why does it always have to work against me??! Ok, here's the story...
Next summer, we are planning a large family vacation to Gatlinburg, TN with my whole family. For those of you who do not know, Gatlinburg is right next to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the whole area is supposed to be beautiful and full of family activities. One of these activities is a zip-line through the mountains and I could not be more excited about this! So anyway, we've been talking a lot in our house about our vacation and showing the boys different websites about the various activities. The zip-line website said that you could ride if you were 5 years old or over. At the time of our trip, Colin will be 2 months shy of 5 years old. I very casually said, "Hmm, maybe we could just pretend that Colin is 5 so he can ride the zip-line." Colin stared at me with huge eyes and said, "Mommy, isn't that lying?" Um, well yes, actually it is! So before I could come up with a way to sugarcoat that, both Andy and Colin start telling me how it's wrong to lie and we'll get into trouble for lying and God tells us not to lie, etc etc etc. Meanwhile, Kyle is laughing out loud at me and not trying to rescue me at all. Finally, I had to agree with them and say that yes, lying is wrong, but that wasn't what I really meant. What I meant was that maybe we could tell the zip-line people that Colin is ALMOST 5 and can he please ride anyway! (Yeah sure, that's what I meant! I fully intended to lie about his age, but my children will have none of that!!!)
I suppose I could look at this in a glass half-full kind of way and be happy that our children are actually listening and remembering (sometimes) what we try to teach them. And what strong moral fiber they have to be so opposed to horrible things like lying! But really, isn't it okay to lie occasionally so we can get our way and have a little fun???!! (Don't worry, Kyle has already forbidden me from saying that to them and corrupting them further.) I never knew I would be such a bad influence on my kids. :)
Friday, October 16, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Mysterious Hand
A funny story to share.....
But first, a little background. Colin has a really bad habit of coming into our bed at night. This happens a couple of times a week and is so commonplace that we don't even realize it most nights (I admit, I'm a heavy sleeper). But I evnetually notice him because he likes to snuggle against me, which means I wake up when I am literally laying half on top of him. (Why doesn't he go snuggle with Kyle?!)
So anyway, Kyle was out of town one week and I was getting into bed late. I was in that "a tiny bit awake, but mostly sound asleep" stage when I rolled over in bed. I rolled onto my stomach and put my hands up under the pillow......and found someone else's hand. Just imagine thinking you're in bed alone but feeling a hand under your pillow, and well, you can just imagine how high I jumped out of that bed. It was Colin, trying to wake me up so he could crawl into bed with me. Why he decided to actually wake me up this time, I don't know, and who knows why he tried to wake me up by putting his hands under my pillow. Whatever the reason, it was pretty effective!
But first, a little background. Colin has a really bad habit of coming into our bed at night. This happens a couple of times a week and is so commonplace that we don't even realize it most nights (I admit, I'm a heavy sleeper). But I evnetually notice him because he likes to snuggle against me, which means I wake up when I am literally laying half on top of him. (Why doesn't he go snuggle with Kyle?!)
So anyway, Kyle was out of town one week and I was getting into bed late. I was in that "a tiny bit awake, but mostly sound asleep" stage when I rolled over in bed. I rolled onto my stomach and put my hands up under the pillow......and found someone else's hand. Just imagine thinking you're in bed alone but feeling a hand under your pillow, and well, you can just imagine how high I jumped out of that bed. It was Colin, trying to wake me up so he could crawl into bed with me. Why he decided to actually wake me up this time, I don't know, and who knows why he tried to wake me up by putting his hands under my pillow. Whatever the reason, it was pretty effective!
We're still here!
Though I haven't posted in awhile, we're still alive and kicking. It's been kind of busy of course (when is it not?!), but also, I sometimes get a little lazy about blogging. I've been meaning to post soccer pictures for both Andy & Colin since the first game, but now the season is ending next weekend. The pictures will come eventually!
We've just been enjoying the usual routine of life lately. Kyle's parents were in town for a few weeks so we had fun visiting with them. They had been on a 4-month European vacation all summer, so it was nice to finally catch up with them and for the kids to enjoy their grandparents again. Now, my mom is on a 4-week European vacation. So needless to say, we're getting a little jealous of all the travelling everyone else seems to be doing!!! :) Ah, reasons to look forward to retirement.
So here's the recap for everyone:
Kyle - has been working at ExxonMobil in Houston for several weeks now. We're a little afraid that may come to an end by the end of this month, but we're enjoying it while we can. The kids and I love having him home in the evenings!
Andy - loves first grade way more than kindergarten because of all the new fun stuff. And his teacher is a huge science fan, so they get to do science experiments all the time. He loves that kind of stuff. Still tempermental - but I'm guessing that won't ever change! Really enjoys soccer, but is still obsessed with baseball. He wants baseball at all times - either playing in the living room, throwing a ball against the wall, watching it on TV, or playing it on the computer. He's still trying to teach me the proper way to throw a ball and the roster of the Houston Astros - I don't think I'm a very good student though.
Colin - having lots of fun in his pre-K class and at Bible study each week. He's still our sweet, cuddly little boy, but is getting more of an attitude. I think once kids turn 4, they develop a little attitude and feel the need to test the boundaries a little more. Maybe it's just our house. But he still cracks us up because he's really funny and personable. He's enjoying soccer too, but he spends a good bit of game time spinning circles with his arms outstretched in the middle of the field and we're pretty sure he has no idea where his team's goal is. You gotta love him, though.
Elizabeth - currently has several large bumps on her head and looks pitiful. She fell at school the other day and banged the side of her forehead on a bookshelf. Yesterday, she fell backwards out of a chair in the living room and cut her head on the corner of the windowsill. Now there's a large bloody goose egg on the back of her head. We're wondering how many times the poor child has to hit her head before permanent damage is done! But she's really enjoying Mother's Day Out and no longer cries at drop-off. She's still the loudest kid in the house, even with Andy's baseballs constantly flying across the living room. But she's sweet and girly too. A friend of ours has a 2-month old little girl and Elizabeth LOVES holding and kissing her.
Ryan - still the sweet baby of the family, but getting more independent each day. He insists on climbing in the car by himself and doing part of his seatbelt by himself (his world falls apart if you do it for him). He doesn't cry at school any more either, so I think they're both really liking it. Ryan does his best everyday to keep up with his big brothers and it's so funny to watch. He loves to follow them into the bathroom and tries to take his diaper off so he can go too. This behavior is both really cute and really annoying for me! :)
Me - well, I pretty much take care of the kids and house constantly. Allergies and a cold have been going on for awhile now, but THANKFULLY no one else has been sick and the flu has yet to hit our house! A lot of our friends at church are having babies around this time, so I've been busy with many baby showers.
And that pretty much covers our life lately! Hope yours is going well and your family is healthy!
We've just been enjoying the usual routine of life lately. Kyle's parents were in town for a few weeks so we had fun visiting with them. They had been on a 4-month European vacation all summer, so it was nice to finally catch up with them and for the kids to enjoy their grandparents again. Now, my mom is on a 4-week European vacation. So needless to say, we're getting a little jealous of all the travelling everyone else seems to be doing!!! :) Ah, reasons to look forward to retirement.
So here's the recap for everyone:
Kyle - has been working at ExxonMobil in Houston for several weeks now. We're a little afraid that may come to an end by the end of this month, but we're enjoying it while we can. The kids and I love having him home in the evenings!
Andy - loves first grade way more than kindergarten because of all the new fun stuff. And his teacher is a huge science fan, so they get to do science experiments all the time. He loves that kind of stuff. Still tempermental - but I'm guessing that won't ever change! Really enjoys soccer, but is still obsessed with baseball. He wants baseball at all times - either playing in the living room, throwing a ball against the wall, watching it on TV, or playing it on the computer. He's still trying to teach me the proper way to throw a ball and the roster of the Houston Astros - I don't think I'm a very good student though.
Colin - having lots of fun in his pre-K class and at Bible study each week. He's still our sweet, cuddly little boy, but is getting more of an attitude. I think once kids turn 4, they develop a little attitude and feel the need to test the boundaries a little more. Maybe it's just our house. But he still cracks us up because he's really funny and personable. He's enjoying soccer too, but he spends a good bit of game time spinning circles with his arms outstretched in the middle of the field and we're pretty sure he has no idea where his team's goal is. You gotta love him, though.
Elizabeth - currently has several large bumps on her head and looks pitiful. She fell at school the other day and banged the side of her forehead on a bookshelf. Yesterday, she fell backwards out of a chair in the living room and cut her head on the corner of the windowsill. Now there's a large bloody goose egg on the back of her head. We're wondering how many times the poor child has to hit her head before permanent damage is done! But she's really enjoying Mother's Day Out and no longer cries at drop-off. She's still the loudest kid in the house, even with Andy's baseballs constantly flying across the living room. But she's sweet and girly too. A friend of ours has a 2-month old little girl and Elizabeth LOVES holding and kissing her.
Ryan - still the sweet baby of the family, but getting more independent each day. He insists on climbing in the car by himself and doing part of his seatbelt by himself (his world falls apart if you do it for him). He doesn't cry at school any more either, so I think they're both really liking it. Ryan does his best everyday to keep up with his big brothers and it's so funny to watch. He loves to follow them into the bathroom and tries to take his diaper off so he can go too. This behavior is both really cute and really annoying for me! :)
Me - well, I pretty much take care of the kids and house constantly. Allergies and a cold have been going on for awhile now, but THANKFULLY no one else has been sick and the flu has yet to hit our house! A lot of our friends at church are having babies around this time, so I've been busy with many baby showers.
And that pretty much covers our life lately! Hope yours is going well and your family is healthy!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Andy's big news!
We've hit a new milestone in our house! Andy lost his first tooth today! We just discovered it was loose a few days ago (or he just told us about it). Soon after he started eating lunch today, he came to me with a slightly bloody mouth and no tooth. We have no idea what happened to the tooth, but I'm guessing he swallowed it. He was very excited about it and said it didn't hurt a bit. The tooth fairy will be visiting our house for the first time tonight!
While we're very excited about this latest milestone, we're a little sad also. He looks so much older with a missing tooth! When did our first little baby get to be so old and big?!
Here's a picture of the missing tooth. Notice the new tooth already growing in the space. Sorry for the close-up, Andy wanted to take the picture himself.
While we're very excited about this latest milestone, we're a little sad also. He looks so much older with a missing tooth! When did our first little baby get to be so old and big?!
Here's a picture of the missing tooth. Notice the new tooth already growing in the space. Sorry for the close-up, Andy wanted to take the picture himself.
Twins
A few cute moments with Elizabeth and Ryan.... Holding hands 
Playing on the ottoman together 
Using the ottoman as a trampoline. Notice they say "cheese" and pose when they see the camera. Such little hams!
Playing on the ottoman together 
Using the ottoman as a trampoline. Notice they say "cheese" and pose when they see the camera. Such little hams!Thursday, September 10, 2009
Why me?
You know those people that always seem to have funky weird things happen to them? Well, I'm one of those people. In the interest of time, I'll give just one example. My senior year of college, I was running an errand before swim practice one day. After I left the store and got back into my car, it started honking, all by itself. And it honked...and honked...and honked....all the way back to school. Imagine how much fun that was at red lights!!! Even after I parked it and was walking away, it was still honking. I guess it finally quit because it was quiet when I returned to it after practice.
So anyway, this morning was another one of those days for me. I arrived at the kids' preschool this morning and immediately heard very loud meowing noises coming from my car. I looked under, in front, and all around the car, but no cat. It was pretty obvious that the noise was coming from under the hood. Great. I took all three kids inside because I was a little afraid that I would find a half-charred cat under the hood and didn't really want them to see that. Very fortunately for me, there was another mom near my car when I came back outside and she heard the noise too, but she actually liked animals. (Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike animals, I just dislike animals anywhere near me. As long as they don't jump on me, come too close to me, and I don't have to touch them, then we're great.) I very sweetly talked her into opening my hood, because there was no way I was sticking my hand under the dark hood to unlock it when I just knew that cat was waiting to bite or scratch me. Sure enough, right on top of the engine was a half-grown cat, not moving, but very much alive. He didn't look burned, but he had a bloody nose and his hair was sticking straight up everywhere. And judging from how fast he was panting and how crazy his eyes looked, I'm thinking he was well on his way to a heart attack. Now, you'd think that he would have just jumped out when we opened the hood, but it couldn't be that easy. So my new mom friend offered to pick him up but she wanted gloves first. We go traipsing back into the preschool to explain the situation and beg for gloves. But I was really thinking that the cat would just jump out when we left it alone and it would be long gone when we got back. Oh no, it had now crawled farther up into the engine, like up under the dashboard. Every time this girl would try to reach it, it would crawl farther back. (By the way, I was not being totally useless while she was climbing in my engine. I did hold her baby while she was doing all this!) :) Finally, we had to call animal control for this stupid cat. Thankfully they arrived quickly and rescued me from the crazy, suicidal cat. The cat was not happy to be placed in a cage and kept running around banging into the walls and making the most horrible noises ever. I did actually feel kind of bad for the crazy cat and whoever lost him, but not bad enough to take the thing home and search for its owner(let's not get any crazy ideas here!). Whatever happens to the cat, I'm guessing he won't hide in car engines anymore.
So anyway, this morning was another one of those days for me. I arrived at the kids' preschool this morning and immediately heard very loud meowing noises coming from my car. I looked under, in front, and all around the car, but no cat. It was pretty obvious that the noise was coming from under the hood. Great. I took all three kids inside because I was a little afraid that I would find a half-charred cat under the hood and didn't really want them to see that. Very fortunately for me, there was another mom near my car when I came back outside and she heard the noise too, but she actually liked animals. (Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike animals, I just dislike animals anywhere near me. As long as they don't jump on me, come too close to me, and I don't have to touch them, then we're great.) I very sweetly talked her into opening my hood, because there was no way I was sticking my hand under the dark hood to unlock it when I just knew that cat was waiting to bite or scratch me. Sure enough, right on top of the engine was a half-grown cat, not moving, but very much alive. He didn't look burned, but he had a bloody nose and his hair was sticking straight up everywhere. And judging from how fast he was panting and how crazy his eyes looked, I'm thinking he was well on his way to a heart attack. Now, you'd think that he would have just jumped out when we opened the hood, but it couldn't be that easy. So my new mom friend offered to pick him up but she wanted gloves first. We go traipsing back into the preschool to explain the situation and beg for gloves. But I was really thinking that the cat would just jump out when we left it alone and it would be long gone when we got back. Oh no, it had now crawled farther up into the engine, like up under the dashboard. Every time this girl would try to reach it, it would crawl farther back. (By the way, I was not being totally useless while she was climbing in my engine. I did hold her baby while she was doing all this!) :) Finally, we had to call animal control for this stupid cat. Thankfully they arrived quickly and rescued me from the crazy, suicidal cat. The cat was not happy to be placed in a cage and kept running around banging into the walls and making the most horrible noises ever. I did actually feel kind of bad for the crazy cat and whoever lost him, but not bad enough to take the thing home and search for its owner(let's not get any crazy ideas here!). Whatever happens to the cat, I'm guessing he won't hide in car engines anymore.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The reason I don't go to bed early at night
Lest you people think I do nothing else besides take care of my kids, I thought I'd share my thoughts about the book I just finished. I love to read, mainly just novels, because intellectual stuff would probably make me think too hard. :) But I love books by Jodi Picoult and just finished another one - Change of Heart. It was about a man on death row who wanted to donate his heart to his victim's younger sister, who was of course dying of heart disease. I like this author because she really makes you think about both sides of a conflict and makes you sympathize with each side. Anyway, the book was pretty good. Not one of my favorite's of hers, but still good.
The problem with reading is that I do not like to stop once I get going. Consequently, I've gone to bed at 1am the past 2 nights and been awake before 6am. This makes for a really long day and I am now exhausted (but quite happy I finished the book last night!). So even though it's still early tonight, I think I'll go to bed! Hope you have a great evening!
The problem with reading is that I do not like to stop once I get going. Consequently, I've gone to bed at 1am the past 2 nights and been awake before 6am. This makes for a really long day and I am now exhausted (but quite happy I finished the book last night!). So even though it's still early tonight, I think I'll go to bed! Hope you have a great evening!
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