Wednesday, March 31, 2010

It Really Does Matter!

What we're teaching our children...it really does matter. The little ears are hearing us, the little eyes are watching. I found a new movie on Netflix for yesterday's rainy afternoon - it was called "The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus" and all four of my children were mesmerized.
NCH, age 8, kept saying, "Oh yeah, I know this one...they lower their friend through the roof and Jesus heals him!" or "Don't worry - they think the daughter dies, but watch what Jesus does!"
When Jesus went out fishing with Peter, James and John, CAH, age 5 1/2, declared, "Jesus is going to make their nets full of fish - watch!"
KBH, age 4, hollered, "Mama, Jesus is up there - on that wooden stick!" and when I asked if that made her sad, she replied, "Why? He's alive again, don't you know that??!"
Although the movie was animated, I worried that it might be too scary/sad for them, but they all seemed fine - confident that Jesus is alive today and they will meet Him one day! I don't know a lesson more important to teach my little ones.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Beautiful

Today, KBH was supposed to be napping...I could hear her out of bed, so I went in to check on her. I found she had changed her clothes - the outfit she had been wearing was folded neatly in a pile, and she was now sporting an interesting assembly of items. I said to her, "Honey, what's with the outfit?"
She responded, "I just want to be beautiful! Am I a rock star?"

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Toilet Trouble


Little N flushed a bath toy down the toilet in the kids' bathroom last night. Today, someone went #2 in that toilet and yes, you guessed it, the toilet was plugged. Hubby began to try to fix the problem and a family discussion ensued:
Me: Never put ANYTHING in the toilet except toilet paper!
CAH: And piddles.
KBH: And poop.
CAH: And throw up.
KBH: And diarrhea.
I thought it was over, until NCH added: And dead fish.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Blog, Interrupted

I keep blogging in my head, but I rarely get the chance to sit and write! I know, I am on facebook all the time, so why can't I blog? It's simple - with facebook, I pop on and check something, update my status and move on. With blogging, I have to be able to focus for more than five minutes to at least attempt a connected thought (and that doesn't happen often with my busy herd calling "Mama!" every few seconds!!)
So what did I want to say? More rambling thoughts, I guess...
- last week, there was sickness in the house, but this week, the herd is healthy and full of energy, enjoying the amazing weather!
- yesterday, I had a friend over that I haven't seen in ages...it was great to catch up, and NJH now refers to two of her children as "the cute girls" - too funny!
- last night, we fired up the grill for the first time this season...a thinly sliced sirloin, with broccoli, red potatoes and mushrooms (mushroom sauteed in a little butter with sherry, salt, pepper and thyme - YUM!)
- CAH read "Hop on Pop" at bedtime last night, the entire book, with just a few helps...her skills are growing leaps and bounds!


And I'm back (6 hours later!)...I was mid-blog when I heard shrieking from not one, not two, but three kiddos all at once! Wasn't I just saying something about not being able to complete a thought?!
Anyway, other thoughts jumping around in my head:
- the kids finished their month with the "bad word bowl" - they ended up with many more than the 20 marbles required to earn a make-your-own sundae night! KBH thinks we should do it again, and she LOVES to tattle on the others when words like "stupid" and "dumb-dumb head" are used!
- NJH has been enjoying a book about wild animals. He will now tell you that a baby kangaroo is called a joey, pandas eat bamboo, tigers eat meat, elephants use their trunks to drink water, and giraffes eat candy...yes, candy! (I guess the giraffe's tongue in the book looks like a candy cane.)
- NCH's musical is coming up in just over a week. He has really enjoyed the experience so far, and I hope he does ok when performance nights arrive!
- CAH, who is usually the peace-making lovey-dovey helper, has been a bit of a rascal lately...sneaking food, including gum, which got stuck in her hair, which she cut out, which I discovered when I went to use the scissors and found her hair! *sigh* My consequence for her is no gum until she turns 6!
- KBH continues to do well with gymnastics. She has done a self-drill and practice, doing 15-20 cartwheels in a row, trying to perfect her form! Her bridge is fantastic, and she is trying to will herself into a "real" split. She is one determined girl!
- the kids have been FILTHY the past few days, playing outside and enjoying the sunshine, but getting so dirty...I am trying to be patient, but when they take their shoes off (in March), I get frustrated. I need to find a new system for cleaning them off at the door as they come inside.
- NCH tried to teach CAH to ride her bike without training wheels the other day; hilarious sight! I just wish I had grabbed the video camera: wiry NCH, struggling with all his might to hold his low-toned sister up, calling out, "Pedal! You have to actually pedal the bike! And STOP LEANING, you have to BALANCE yourself!" I literally doubled over laughing!!!!
- today was fun, I took NJH and KBH on a few errands, library, UPS Store and our first successful trip to Aldi's! The kids did great, and we found some terrific buys. I will admit, I have always been creeped out by that store...clothes next to bananas seems all wrong...but the bananas were 39 cents a pound! I remembered to bring a quarter for the cart, and my re-usable bags are always in the van now. Of course, NJH was obsessed with trying to get the key off and asked no less than fifty times, "What's that?" while pointing to the quarter slot!!! On the way home, we stopped at Stewart's for fifty-cent ice cream cones and the kids were thrilled!




- I actually passed on the ice cream, as I am on day 3 of ANOTHER round of South Beach. Yup, it was time. Sadly, during my run today, Kristina's Running Body was hating Kristina's South Beach Day 3 Body!! My legs felt like lead, but I stuck with it for the 2.5 miles and I was glad I got out and ran. The scale is going in the proper direction now, and with bathing suit season around the corner, I am motivated to stick with it.
- speaking of bathing suit season, last night, hubby helped me pick out a bathing suit from the Chadwick's catalog...he was too cute giving advice! I kept reminding him, "I won't look like that though!" Hahaha!
- I made hubby a list of "several items that need to be completed before we start anything new" and he's already working on one of the items - re-tiling the downstairs bathroom floor. I feel bad for him, as he just did the floor in August 2007, but the grout never looked quite right, and some of the grout dried on the tile itself and always looked dirty. The old tile is up and I think he's planning to lay the new tile tomorrow already!
- speaking of hubby, we're continuing on a great path...another date night last Friday, just dinner out at TGIFridays and a little Lowe's browsing...we need time like that! Things are going well - I think we're communicating better, and everything else feels right when we're on the same page.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Quickie...Pandora

This post is sure to show my age, closer to 40 than to 30 now, but I have to say it: I just discovered Pandora internet radio (actually my hubby had it playing and I took notice!) How many times have I been in the car, listening to the radio, a song comes on, I like it, but the DJ doesn't tell me the song or the artist information? I try to remember the song so I can google it later, but usually by the time I get to the computer, the song is long gone out of my head. Sometimes I can remember a snippet of the lyrics, which I google, sometimes with success, sometimes not. With Pandora playing, I can see the song title, album and artist (as well as the previous songs.) I know there is a lot more to Pandora than just this, but as a newbie, I am loving the Toby Mac "station"" my hubby has playing right now! (And who knew I liked Superchick so much?!)

Friday, March 5, 2010

Date Night

Hubby and I were completely spoiled on Wednesday night...first, my parents came to babysit the herd, including taking them to dinner at the "99" (my dad and the herd's favorite!) Hubby and I drove off into the sunset (literally!) and sat down to a lovely dinner at Cornell's in Schenectady. We started with yummy bread and butter, and I even splurged and ordered a Malibu and Coke! We shared a scrumptious calamari appetizer (with the most tender calamari ever!) The salads were delicious, and then the entrees...hubby ordered the veal chop special (which was presented beautifully!), and I ordered Frutti di Mare ala Salvin (tender clams, shrimp and calamari in zesty marinara, with black olives, over linguine.) We were stuffed (and my doggie bag would be enough for lunch AND dinner the next day!) and for the first time ever, we didn't order dessert! We did enjoy some strong coffee as we lingered and soaked up the peace and quiet. Before we knew it, we were off to Proctor's for the Celtic Woman show (my birthday gift from my parents). I had seen Celtic Woman two years at Radio City, so I knew it would be an amazing show! I was not disappointed...the beautiful harmonies, the thundering drums, that adorable skipping violinist, even a world-famous bagpiper!! I had goosebumps from the first note to the last...every song was tremendous, the most moving for me being "Goodnight My Angel", "Danny Boy", "You Raise Me Up" and "Amazing Grace." I had to exercise considerable self-restraint to not get up and dance during "Spanish Lady" and "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)"! (*side note: I wrote three blogs in my head while enjoying the music...one is about living in a different time period, one is about babies and lullabies, and the other is about music lessons...stay tuned as I get them typed some time in the future!) There were several encores before the show ended. On our way out, the bagpiper played for the crowd in the Proctor's hallway area - how the sound carried - breathtaking! As we headed onto I-890, we realized Applebee's would still be open (and appetizers would be half-price!) so we stopped in for a snack and some more conversation. By the time we got home, the house was dark and quiet...I knew morning would be a little rough as hubby and I were sure to be a bit sleepy, but what a wonderful night we had!! Thank you, Mom and Dad!