P.S.

I LOVE 'working' from home.

Where else could you stand on a chair and announce that it's time for sugar cookies with pink frosting, valentine sprinkles and chocolate chips and have little people run to your feet with LOVE in their eyes? Then you sit around and eat cookies and laugh with each other.

(Please note - mine must only have 5 chocolate chips...strategically placed, of course.)

I ate two.

What I LOVE.....

As a prelude to Valentine's Day, I'm going to copy several others in the blogging world and devote the next few days to expressing what I LOVE.

Today's choice was easy.

My boys received an easel from Papa and Dee for Christmas this year. It is constantly in use by one brother or another. Lately, it's most frequently visited by a budding artist by the name of Logan. He can draw a few numbers & letters and also likes to draw balloons with very long strings.
Last week he discovered how to create faces - large circle for a head, and two circles for eyes. Nose and mouth are always optional. He usually places them in some sort of upside-down fashion, which I LOVE even more.
His faces have begun to wander from the easel. I have found several on the hardwood floors and many more are gracing our walls with their LOVELINESS.......


TODAY'S LOVE = LOGAN'S FACES

(even if it's permanent marker)

Part Two....Finally.

My brain is fried. Mommy Mush. Part Two of this post was supposed to have been written ages ago. As I stand here today (typing the post that seemed SO funny at the time), it's beginning to pale in comparison to all other events that have recently occurred at our home.


Like having a child cry so hard and hold his breath so long, he passes out.


Or having the same child get a black eye two days later.


And many, many more things that make your heart jump or your eyes tear.


But I promised. So here it is. (funny or not) PART TWO -



As a reward for good behavior, I came home after running errands with one of the all new Toy Story LEGO sets.


Let the record show that I ROCK when it comes to building Lego's. I never used to (As I'm sure Declan will chime in and attest to), but I've come a long way over the last 9 years.


You know those t-shirts urban mom's wear that say things like "Gold digger - and proud of it" "Looking forward to the next mom's night out" and a bunch of other sometimes funny, but mostly trashy sayings? I had a dream that I had one that said, "Bad-Ass Lego Builder"
Anyway.........


I sat with the boys for at least 2 or more hours building their new Lego set. I was enthralled and in the zone. The boys got tired and went upstairs to get jammied. Derek came back 10 minutes later and begged me to stop for the night. I ignored his request and continued to create. And then it happened. I got down to the last 10 pieces and realized one was missing. A tiny little headlight for "RC" (Buzz & Woody's sporty little race car). I searched the table, trash and carpet. Poor RC would have to get through the night with one headlight. Even more troublesome, was the fact that anxiety-ridden me would probably lose sleep over it. Stupid, but true.


I straightened up my mess and went upstairs to kiss my boys. I made my rounds in usual order, ending with Logan. He needs a little extra time when it comes to tucking in. First you have to rub his back, then his tummy, then his leg, then the other leg.....get the picture? As I kissed his forehead, he asked, "Can you pwease get dis out uf my nose?" "Do you have a boogie?" I asked.
"No." he answered. "I haf a wego."


I knew exactly what he meant. I whisked him into my arms and carried him to our bathroom counter where the light from our emergency flashlight confirmed my fears. There it was. RC's headlight was lodged deep inside Bogie's nose. Knowing he isn't great at blowing, and worried about him sniffing it even deeper, I threw on my jeans and we headed to the local urgent care facility. Our home away from home.


(Our experience there would require an entire post of it's own. A receptionist with no people skills, a DR. who has no empathy for children...or for all humankind for that matter.)


After a long wait, and a long lecture from the DR. regarding the fact that my 2 year old cannot yet blow his nose, we were on our way home. Wego-free.


As I tucked Logan back into bed, his brothers had one burning question - "Mom, did you bring the missing Lego back home? "

"No." I answered. "It looked kind of slimy."

I heard them all breathe a sigh of relief. Boogers and Lego's just don't mix.




Many thanks to Dec and Melody. Without you, this story may never have been told..:)

No Explanation Needed.

(I'm jumping around a bit. I need to find the time to write part two of the last post. Trust me, you do need to read about what Logan did. I just can't seem to find more than 32 seconds these days. I'll post it....soon. Promise)

Luke begged me to make sugar cookies today. He didn't ask early this morning, he waited until an hour before school. It wasn't something I had planned on doing, and it certainly wasn't something I thought we would have time to complete. So we hustled. We gathered, measured, mixed, rolled and baked. And guess what? We even had time to decorate and EAT!

As Luke shoved the last morsel of his crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, dripping with frosting that is melting from the fresh-from-the-oven cookie into his mouth, he muttered this:

"MNNPFFF MOOKKY MMMASSTTESS MWWWWIKE MMMEESUS"

Translation-

"This cookie tastes just like Jesus. Jesus is SO very, very good, right Mom?"

My boys have taught me that the best things in life happen without an agenda.

You rock, Luke.

Pictures say a thousand words.

If you've wondered how my week has been going, think no more. If I wanted to, I could easily omit all text within this post and just show you pictures. In it, you would find that things have been quite normal with the Gang Of Seven.

But writing calms my nerves, so you get text, too. Where shall I begin...?

Let's start with this scenario. I'm running behind my daily schedule (imagine that) and have less than 20 minutes to coax the boys indoors, feed them lunch and get Luke off to school. Let me add that coaxing them in will prove to be next to impossible as it is the first time it's been warm enough to play outside for more than one week.

Lucky for me, they all came the first time I called to them. I can smell trouble from a mile away.

As they approach the back door, I hear a soft, little voice through the open kitchen window...

"Mom, don't be mad. It was an accident."

I open the door and see this:

As the culprit sits tight for further interrogation, he adds....

"You should really be mad at Jack, mom. When I threw the mud on him, he ate it."

But that was nothing compared to what our little angel, Logan, did two nights ago.

No, it wasn't that he colored on the wall and all over our light switch. (That is a daily occurrence.)

Stay tuned. Part two continues tomorrow.

Not For The Squeamish.

It began just like any other day.

5 boys awake before the sun had finished rising.

5 grumpy, sleepy boys heading downstairs. Some in their pj's, some dressed in clothes. Some sporting diapers that sagged to their knees.

5 hungry boys begging for 5 different things for breakfast.

One mom doing her best to please.

And the morning led it's way to early afternoon just like that. Then the boys asked for popcorn. Another daily ritual. One that ends with the usual popcorn fight or the brotherly battle of who can toss popcorn into the sky and catch it in their mouth. My floor proudly displays the truth...no one can! I pulled out the vacuum and began to clean the battlefield that was once known as my family room floor.

Then I heard it. The blood-curdling scream that unmistakably means a child is injured.

I leaped up the stairs and met Jack halfway.

Dangling from his finger was Robin, our pet gerbil. Robin had clamped so hard onto Jack's finger, that his teeth were actually stuck. That's right. Those yellowy, curvy, nasty, rodent teeth were embedded in my child's tiny, adorable, little digit.

Blood was dripping and Jack was screaming. No time to stop and asess. No time to think. I sprang into action and did what any adrenaline-charged mother would do. I squeezed and pulled and finally freed my son. After a call to the pediatrician, we were able to stop the bleeding. No shots and no stitches. All things considered, it ended nicely.

Robin would tell you differently. If only he could.

2009. Reflections and lessons learned.

In 2010, I promise to.....

Eat more milkshakes.


Feed more ducks.

Do more lineups. (Much faster than individual interrogation.)

Buy more tubs of worms. Best way to spend $2.00.

Catch more butterflies.

Make my boys wear ties to church more often.

Try harder not to laugh when my children are crying for me through a glass window.

Explore more.

Chase more bubbles.

Do my best not to cry when things get covered in chocolate.

Try to regain use of my countertops and cookie sheets.

Take more naps in the sun.

Build more forts.

Belly laugh more often.

Read more.

Follow the footprints and kiss the culprits.

HAPPY 2010!