The Ten Commandments

Every night, we TRY to do devotion together. This consists of:
1) reading a toddler devotion book that relates things in everyday life to God (Tonight's was about a trip to the library and pointed out that the Bible is a book full of stories to read.)
2) reading some story from the Bible related to the toddler devotion book - sometimes we act these out and the kids really have fun with that.
3) reading from a Through the Bible devotion book that tells well known and other not so well known stories from the Bible.
4) Bug recites the books of the Bible. So far she knows up to Ecclesiastes. I love the way she says Leviticus and Deuteronomy:). She wants to do this part all by herself and gets mad if the big kids are mouthing the books with her.
5) The twins and I are trying to memorize the Ten Commandments from the NIV. They've worked on memorizing other longer passages of Scripture, but all the ones that they've worked on so far were ones I already knew. This meant that we could work on it anywhere, anytime, and we didn't have to have the Bible right in front of us. The Ten Commandments is the first things we've tried to work on that I don't have memorized, so it seems to be going a lot slower. Jimmy holds the paper that the Ten Commandments is printed on (from the computer) as we work to add a new verse every couple of nights. I've tried holding it myself, but I didn't seem to be able to memorize it as well when I also held the paper. Bug actually knows a lot of the verses because she's with us while we're working on this.

Tonight was the first night that the twins started acting out the Ten Commandments. Bear actually started it, and Lou Lou quickly joined in. Jimmy and I were laughing our heads off. The next time my church has a talent night or family night supper or something, Jimmy said he thought the twins should do it. I don't think they would get into it the same way in front of a large crowd. Tomorrow night we're going to try to video it and put it on youtube. We were all laughing so hard while we recited the part we knew over and over as they acted it out with their hands. Lou Lou said, "Stop, Bear! You're about to make me pee in my pants!" I would try to explain some of their hilarious hand motions, but it is so much funnier in person (or on video) rather than in words.

Pizza Stains

Last night, Jimmy and I went to Greenville and my sister in law, TT, kept all the kids for us. Jimmy picked up a pizza for them to eat for supper. I told her that the baby girls needed to eat naked because pizza stains didn't usually come out, at least not easily.

When it was pizza time, TT told Lou Lou to help Birdie get her shirt off. Bug took her shirt off by herself. Apparently, the twins wanted to eat shirtless too, so TT said okay. Then Bug said, "TT, are you going to take your shirt off too?" :)

The Original Crazy Face and Kissing

Birdie has started doing the original crazy face. It looks a little like the Incredible Hulk turning into his hulk self. She does it when she wants another bite of whatever she's eating or if she has just handed me something to open. She did it a lot over Christmas whenever she wanted me to help her open presents.

Birdie is everywhere. She's still not walking, but she hangs onto everything as she moves all around the house. She loves these two child-sized rocking chairs we have in the den, and she has no fear as she rocks very hard almost to the point of spilling herself out. She has fallen in love with kissing everybody. If you ask her if she wants to kiss a sibling or other family member, she sticks her chin out, puckers her lips together, and leans her body towards the person she wants to kiss.

A New Plan for 2009

This Christmas was over before I knew it. Ever since my husband went to Chicago and my children were off and on sick, I felt like I was just taking one step at a time, putting one foot in front of another until school got out for the holidays. Since I've been home for awhile, it's been nice to think about how I want things to improve during 2009, in relation to household organization. I have written down some ideas and explained some of them to the twins, the major "helpers" in my new grand plan. We'll see how it works!

Crazy Face

When the twins were around one year old, they started doing this strange thing which we now call the "crazy face". They would hold up their arms, clinch their fists, grit their teeth, and make their body tense until they would shake and their face turned red. It's a little bit like what the Incredible Hulk looks like before he changes from a normal person to his hulk self. It was kind of bizarre and so funny, especially when they did it at the same time. They didn't do it for any particular reason and it wasn't a reaction to much of anything. Most of the time, they would do it when I asked, and they knew we liked it because we laughed and laughed.

The "crazy face" tradition continued. On her own, without being taught by anyone, Bug also began doing the crazy face. The women at the daycare asked me about it, very concerned, and wanted to know if that's what she did when she got mad. Haha! At the table, she would point at us grownups or the twins and want us to do the crazy face. She really liked it when everybody did it.

Birdie has done just a little bit of the crazy face on her own, but she didn't continue it. Last night, I showed her the crazy face and told her to do it. After I said, "Do the crazy face" about three times, she put her hands on her cheeks and said "Ahhhh!", much like Kevin in the Home Alone movie. It was so hilarious! While we were sitting at the table, she would point to people and want them to do her new version of the crazy face, just like Bug. When I was holding her and asked her to do the crazy face, she grabbed my face and yelled!

Home Alone with 4 Kids

Jimmy went to his cousin's wedding in Illinois. He left on Thanksgiving Day and was supposed to return on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Because of weather and delays, he spent Monday night in the Philadelphia airport and came home on Tuesday morning. It was a very stressful time for him because he had school work due on that Tuesday and he had to attend class in Chapel Hill that same night.

It was stressful for me because of the length of time he was gone. I'm typically very independent and I'm fine with doing things on my own. Many times I prefer it that way. However, because I'm used to two when you're used to two grownups being here during the nighttime sleeping hours, I found it tough to get to sleep. I seemed to hear every little noise, and lack of sleep for several days seemed to wear me down. I was already feeling sick myself, and listed the children's daily sicknesses in a previous entry. I think I listed up to Saturday, Nov. 29.

On that Saturday night, it seemed that Lou Lou could not stop coughing, and she'd had the cough for awhile. Typically, on Sundays if there is a child sick, Jimmy takes the child to the doctor while I go to church and play the piano because it's my job. However, since Jimmy was gone, I called and told them I needed to take her myself. When I called them, they asked me if the cough went away with cough medicine. Duh! I had heard some bit on the news a few months ago about not giving small children cough and cold medicine, so I hadn't even considered this for Lou Lou. It was like when I heard that, I immediately and permanently threw that option out of my brain. So...I ended up staying home from church to go to Walmart and buy cough syrup. However, I certainly didn't mind and it gave me a much needed break.

On Monday (Dec. 1), the daycare called and said that Bug wasn't feeling well. She didn't look herself. I think this was the last day of sickness with all the kids, thank God!

Front Tooth

Lou Lou lost her right front top tooth. It completely changed her look and made her look more growny and so cute. She wanted me to help her write a note to the Tooth Fairy. She could have written it herself but it was bedtime and my patience is not usually the greatest at bedtime. I helped her write, "Dear Tooth Fairy, Please do not take my tooth. I want to show my teacher. Love, Lou Lou".

The Tooth Fairy followed directions and left the tooth in the sandwich bag with the note.

A few days later, we were cleaning up her room. I glanced at the note and realized that she had added something to the bottom. She had written, "You can take my tooth now." When I asked her about it, she said that she had shown the tooth to her teacher and no longer needed the tooth. She said, "I don't know why the Tooth Fairy hasn't come back by for this tooth!":)

Party Time

For the twins' seventh birthday, we did a boy/girl thing. The boys all went to All-Stars, this big play place in Goldsboro. The girls stayed at our house and did makeup, nails, and tea party. Then they all came back together with cake and presents. They had fun. Next year, I think we're going to try to do something special with one friend rather than a shindig.

Birthday Memories

This is the first time since the twins were born that I haven't practically mourned on October 26. This is the day that I rode the ambulance to the hospital in preterm labor. I ended up staying at Pitt on bedrest for three weeks. In past years, these few months seem to hold heavy memories for me...
Oct. 23 - bedrest at home
Oct. 26 - from Wayne Women's Clinic, to WMH, to PCMH
Oct. 28 - to a regular room, back to an ICU room
Oct. 30 - back to a regular room - I had a nice big room with a great view of the door where all the new moms left with their new babies.
Nov. 15 - contractions, which had been continuing throughout most of my stay, became more noticeable and closer together
Nov. 16 - they determined that they needed to do a C-section on this day to prevent an emergency C-section the next day - Apparently, Bear's foot was kicking down, and they didn't want his leg hanging out. I only saw pics of the babies on this day, pictures of them hooked up to this and that. I tried to go see them in NICU in a wheelchair but got sick halfway there. They actually started out in the regular baby nursery but got moved to the NICU with breathing issues.
Nov. 17 - I held Lou Lou for the first time. It took several minutes for them to get all her cords straight and tape cords to my gown so that I could hold her. I cried as I held her. She weighed 3 pounds 13 ounces and Bear weighed 4 pounds and 5 ounces. Bear's nurse said he was not doing well and I couldn't hold him that day. Both babies were intubated and could only make crying faces but no crying sounds. This was the hardest part of all for me. Later on this day, Lou Lou's nurse labeled her "feisty" as she had already pulled her intubation cord out. Thus, she graduated to CPAP. Later on, she moved up to the intermediate nursery. I didn't get to visit with her as much because she was always sleeping. They said that sleeping babies are growing babies so I wanted her to sleep as much as possible.

Nov. 18 - Jimmy's birthday - I had been pumping since the 16th and continued to do so. I did get to hold Bear on this day, but he was still intubated. He had a much harder time learning to breathe than Lou Lou did. According to research, white baby boys have it the worst. I didn't cry when I held him, almost like I knew I needed to be strong for him. Later on during their stay, I did kangaroo care with him, at least twice, which was skin on skin contact. His arms outstretched only reached from one bra strap to the other. While Lou Lou was asleep, Bear always seemed to be awake. Because of my lack of sleep/stress/pain from C-section, I always found things humorous by his bedside. Once when my sister and I were there with him, we pushed something on his bed and the top lifted off slowly with a beeping noise. The nurses said it was no problem, but it was hilarious to us.

Nov. 19 - After seeing all the new moms leave with their newborns, I left without mine. I came home long enough to get some clothes and then headed over to the Ronald McDonald house to move in there. From here, I could walk or ride the bus to PCMH to visit the twins. Bear's bed was right by the window, so after going through the 3-minute hand washing procedure, I could peep in at him before visiting Lou Lou in the other room.

Nov. 20 - My sister and I went nursing-bra shopping. My milk arrived for the first time in the Greenville Wal-mart. I was so relieved!

On Thanksgiving, Nov. 22, I cried and told Jimmy that I wanted to have another baby. My desire to have a house full started right then. His comment was, "Let's get these out of the hospital first!":)

Sometime during their stay, one of Bear's nurses, named Cheri, helped him get off CPAP. I was so excited!

Nov. 29 - The doctors gave Lou Lou the okay to try to breastfeed. Because she was tube-fed, they filled her stomach while she was "hanging out" beginning to learn how to breastfeed. I thought this was pretty smart. She attemped nursing twice that day. I needed a lot of the nurse's help because of all the cords, although Lou Lou had less cords than Bear. The second time she nursed, Lou Lou had a male nurse named Steve. I had to have help and felt that my modesty was less important than my child's learning to eat, so I called Jimmy that night and told him about the "other Steve":).

Nov. 30 - Finally we moved to WMH. Things were a lot more independent there. The only tubes and wires were a heart monitor and a feeding tube. I tried to go in three times a day, feed, pump, etc.

December 18 - The twins came home! This was the best day ever! I remember telling Jimmy to drive real slow all the way home.

Once they got home, it was just exhaustion, exhaustion, exhaustion. The doctors didn't feel that they were breastfeeding well enough to only give them their nourishment there. I woke up Lou Lou first because she was more vigorous, let her practice breastfeeding, fed her a small bottle, woke up Bear, let him practice breastfeeding, fed him a small bottle, laid them both back in bed, and then pumped. Doing this whole procedure every three hours was tough. We kept going in for weight checks until we got the go ahead that they could try on breastfeeding alone. That was a happy day for tired old me!

I still had such a depressed feeling (common with preemie moms especially) and somehow knew that it would stay around until their due date. Once I got to their due date, January 10, I felt like they were "supposed" to be here then, so it was okay. However, every year except this year, I've had a sort of blue feeling from Oct. 26-Jan. 10. Jan. 10 is like my "let myself off the hook" date. I know that's crazy!

This year, Oct. 26 slipped right past me. No sense of blue surrounding the holidays this time around I hope. This is an unintentional but welcome step forward.

Another Wedding

We attended the wedding of one of the teachers at the daycare where the baby girls go. Ms. Shamane was actually the twins' teacher for two years, and we loved her as if she was a member of our own family. Lou Lou and Bug went with me to the wedding. As Ms. Shamane walked in, Bug said, "Can I go love Ms. Shamane?" I, of course, said no. When she asked why, I told her that Ms. Shamane was getting married. All through the ceremony, she asked me, "Is Ms. Shamane married yet?" Finally, at the end of the ceremony, when the groom kissed the bride, Bug asked, "Why is that man kissing on Ms. Shamane?":)

New Money

During school, the twins' teacher talked with them a lot about the election. Here are some of the funny presidential comments they made around that time...

Lou Lou said, "Mama, the bad thing about voting for a President is this...If you don't get the one you like, you have to deal with it for four years.":)

After Barack Obama won the election, the twins talked a lot about him moving into the White House. They were excited for his girls that they got to live in the White House and that they were going to get a new puppy. Lou Lou asked me, "Mama, if Daddy were the president, would we get to move in the White House and live there?" When I said yes, she said, "Well, can we ask Daddy if he can try for President next time?" Before I was able to answer, Bear said, "I already asked him. He said he wasn't interested."

Last Sunday, I was getting some money ready for the children to give during Sunday School. The twins said to me, "We need to get some money with Barack Obama's picture on it. He's the new president now!"

Sickness

For the last month, someone in our family has had some kind of illness. It started with Bear and bronchitis. Next was Birdie with an ear infection. As her ear infection went out the door, an unusual stomach bug came in the window. She threw up, but only at nighttime an hour or so after suppertime. During the day, she was fine. On her last night of sickness, it transitioned to poop, smeared all over everywhere she had been crawling for the last few minutes. Meanwhile, Lou Lou began developing a bad cough and sore throat. I still haven't taken her to the doctor with it, because she seems to manage fine with it for now. Anytime I've taken a child to the doctor "too soon" to try and get ahead of the illness, they've always told me that they can't do anything at this point until more symptoms appear. However, a week of bad cough and sore throat seems awhile.

On Thanksgiving Day, Bear got his hand shut in the crack of a bedroom door, and we thought we were going to have to visit the doctor for that. We waited it out, and it turned out to be only a sore finger and not a broken one.

On Friday night, we went to visit MaJe and Papa J. That night, Bug woke up with an upset stomach and began throwing up. This morning, she had bad diarrhea.

Through all of this, I don't feel well myself. It sort of feels like I have the beginning of bronchitis, but I don't take the time to go to the doctor myself because I don't feel that it is severe enough to warrant that. Also, I think I feel more worn down than usual because of the massive amounts of laundry that sick children create. Our laundry is piled piled piled up in my closet. During one of Birdie's throwing up spells, we decided to have her sleep in the pack and play, also in our closet. Jimmy closed the door so that we wouldn't disturb her as we got ready the next morning. Apparently, after he shut the door, some of the laundry fell and I had to push and shove a bit to get in the closet. This situation made me laugh, which is exactly the medicine I needed...Laundry piled up so high that parents can't get to their child. The laundry hadn't fallen on her, but had barricaded the doorway just a bit. It only took a small shove and I was in, but the thoughts of what more laundry could have done was humorous, probably because everything's funnier when I'm tired.

Angel Baby

Birdie is such an observant baby. She is still not walking, which really concerns me none, but does concern others around us. She cruises around, holding onto things, but has no interest in letting go at this point. She has her mind on other things, I suppose.

At the daycare the other day, the director said that Birdie was whining and she wasn't sure why. She decided to undo her onesie so Birdie could touch her belly button rather than pushing it through her clothes. She said that she immediately stopped whining and began sucking her thumb and pushing her belly button in and out:)

Last weekend, Lou Lou decided to teach my mom (MaJe) some of her new ballet exercies. In turn, MaJe taught Lou Lou some of her Wellness Center exercises. I took part in all of these lessons, and Birdie sat and watched. After a few minutes of observation, Birdie got down on her stomach, put her hands down in front of her as if to begin doing a push up, and made grunting noises as if she was really giving herself a workout:).

On Wednesday night, we decided to do our devotion and prayer early because I had choir practice that night, and that usually means they're in bed before I get back home. After reading out of both devotion books (Joey's preschool one and the twins' more in-depth Bible story book), we all got on our knees to pray, everyone but Birdie. During devotion time, she typically sits around, looks at us, plays with her toys, and puts things in her mouth. I prayed, then Jimmy prayed, and then he asked the children if they wanted to pray. For some reason, they each said no, so then he looked at Birdie and said, "Birdie, do you want to pray?". She immediately got down on her stomach with her hands under her face and said, "Ah goo gah." Then she lifted her head back up, went back to a sitting position, and smiled a big grin at us as if to say, "Thought you'd never ask!".

Birdie is also very into praying before a meal. On Thanksgiving, when I set her plate down on the highchair at MaMa's house, I would have thought that she would have immediately begun eating. Instead, she held out her hand to me, so I held her hand and started to pray. What an angel baby!

Funny stories

So I haven't gotten on here lately and recorded all our funny stories from the past month. I'm going to try to catch up, but probably not tonight. Currently, Jimmy is gone to Chicago to his cousin's wedding. He comes home on Monday, so it's just me and the four children until his return. I've not been feeling the greatest for about the last week and a half, and there's more to do around here with just one grownup in charge. The tag-teaming thing works really well for Jimmy and I, and when he's not around, I usually do okay going solo. However, when I'm already not feeling great, and the work around me is piling up, and the lists in my brain are getting longer and longer, it's easy to become frustrated.

Right now, everyone except me is lying down, but only Birdie is asleep. I may try to add a story or two each time I come to the computer rather than catching up all at once.

Wedding and Dancing

Last weekend our family was so blessed to be a part of my friend Tracy's wedding. Lou Lou was the flower girl, Bear was the ring bearer, Jimmy videoed, and I played the piano. Mama C stayed home with the baby girls, but they came with us to the reception. It was a jam-packed weekend. On Saturday when they got dressed, Lou Lou was of course in love with all of her outfit, from head (beautiful flower hairpiece) to toe (new white dress-up shoes). Bear was not in love with his black tuxedo. He complained mostly about the neck. I told him we could keep it really loose until time for pictures and ceremony. After we had been there awhile, he began getting a headache and someone went out and got him some medicine. It worked for awhile but he didn't stay at the reception very long. I was so proud of him for actually walking down the aisle even though he felt so bad. Tracy's mom told him that he could sit down once Tracy had come in, but he stood up there the whole time. Once he did look at Mikie (Tracy's sister Tia's fiancee and my first cousin) and say, "I want to sit down," but he ended up standing up there. He stayed home from church the next day with a headache and fever. (Lou Lou loved being the flower girl and did a knockout job:).)

At the reception, Bug, Lou Lou, and I had so much fun. Once Bug started dancing, she never wanted to quit. We'd go take a water break and she would say, "Can I go dance again?". Once when Anthony (the groom) came up to us just to say Hi, Bug said, "I want to dance with Anthony." She had never seen or talked to Anthony before this night, so it was strange that she said this. I called Anthony back over and told him what she had said. There was a slow song playing, so he picked her up and she immediately put her head on his shoulder. Later this week, I asked her why she wanted to dance with Anthony and she said, "Because I love him." Lou Lou, Bug, and I had fun especially dancing to the "Cha Cha" and the "Chicken Dance".

Candy, candy, and more candy

Last night, we went to a fall festival at church. I'm not into Halloween but I know children like to dress up. It seems wasteful to spend money on a one-time outfit. We have a dress-up box in the baby girls' room with old Halloween outfits, leotards, etc. so the baby girls should be set for awhile with Halloween costumes. TT took the children out two weeks ago to buy new Halloween costumes because she loves Halloween. Anyway, for various reasons, we currently only have a new outfit for Lou Lou. I explained all this to Bear yesterday afternoon on the way home from school, and he handled it so wonderfully. I suggested that he dress as a farmer, since he has some overalls. He loved the idea and he looked great. I told him that my PaPa was a farmer, and he said, "If PaPa Blinson could see me now, he would say, 'That is one cute farmer!'". He had overalls, a thermal shirt, a hat, a garden rake, and his precious cow.

Lou Lou was dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I braided her hair and she looked so beautiful. We've had no luck in finding ruby red slippers in her size so she wore her black church shoes. She was adorable. Bug was dressed as a giraffe. She mainly wore a pullover sleeveless giraffe outfit that only went down to her waist. It is such a cute outfit and I think TT got it for us years ago. She also had a big bright orange bow in her hair and she loved her outfit. Birdie was dressed as a pumpkin, which is the same outfit that the twins wore on their first Halloween. She was precious!

Since Lou Lou was dressed as Dorothy, we thought that Bear could be dressed as Auntie Em's husband, but we couldn't think of his name. If anyone knows his name that reads this, email me back.

Another reason I don't like Halloween is because of the excess candy. So much candy! To deal with the bulk of candy in the past, I usually tell the children to select 3 or 4 of their favorite pieces of candy. They put these in sandwich bags with their names on them and then they throw the rest of the candy away. Next, I either let them have one piece everyday or every other day until it's gone, or I let them go ahead and eat all of the candy in their bag at one time. I figure go ahead and get all the sugar, then we can brush your teeth immediately afterward really good one time. It's easier for me to remember this way, plus I don't have to hear, "Can I have a piece of candy?" 800 times. I don't want to veto any candy because it's a part of the real world, but I also don't want to say anything goes with all the candy during this time of year. Also, when the twins were smaller, I could go through their candy myself and throw it away, or hide it until they forgot about it. Jimmy also is a great help in getting rid of their candy. That works out great because he's big enough to take care of his own teeth:).

Birdie Flips a Switch

So, we took Birdie to the doctor on Oct. 13 and she had a double ear infection. We stayed home with her the next two days because she was running a fever and throwing up. Right around the time when she went back to school, when the penicillin had really started to kick in, it was like she flipped a switch. The "spunk" really started coming out. She is always so laid back and anything goes, but suddenly she has "found her voice". Because of her increased talking, it makes me wonder how long her ears were messed up and if that impacted her talking, hearing, activity. Anyway, I'm glad she's better now, and it's interesting to see a bit of feisty coming out in her. Yesterday at the daycare, her teacher said that she was being a little more aggressive than she had been. When I asked what she had been doing specifically, she said that as some of the other kids are cruising by her (while she sits on the floor as the only non-walker in the room), she will pull them down on the floor. I asked her teacher if she listens when they talk to her, she said that she definitely knows when she's done something wrong and typically stops misbehavior when they tell her to. Jimmy said she was a baby bully:). It's interesting that some parts of personality are there from birth and others evolve over a lifetime.

Bug Turns Three!

Well, we've been busy celebrating Bug's third birthday. Last weekend, we went to Sunshine's (my niece) 3rd birthday party at The Little Gym. That was the coolest birthday party I've every been to. All the children were entertained and active with all the gym equipment. I like things that get kids active. The employees even helped with the refreshments and presents.

The next day (Sunday) we had Bug's birthday. I had the brainstorm of painting tiny pumpkins, so Mama C brought her paints, and it worked out great. Bug got a few clothes and some Dora dolls and Barbie dolls. This was the first birthday she's had that she can really get into it. She actually turned 3 on Monday. On Wednesday morning, she asked me, "Mama, am I 2 or 3?".

The next story is not funny at all unless you know my Daddy's side of the family...I'm writing it down anyway because I don't want to forget it and it will always be funny to me. Bug was brushing Birdie's hair with a babydoll hairbrush. As she did it, she said, "Easy, easy." Then, immediately, as if it just occurred to her out of the blue, she said, "Mama, you know when we go to the Waffle Kitchen with Jaybird?" When I told her that I remembered this, she said, "Jaybird said 'Easy!'". Jaybird is my first cousin, and he and his Daddy (Ronny) and my Daddy always say, "Easy" and hold up the peace sign whenever they see each other. Who knows why, but that was so interesting that Bug picked up on that.

Bear tries out Tae Kwon Do for the first time tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

This week, the clean up the house strategy was this: Thursday - clean up the downstairs, Saturday - clean up the upstairs. I use the term "clean up" very loosely. I really should say, "Keep picking up and putting things back in the right place until you can see MORE of the carpet."

Fair in the Fall

Our house has gone from pretty okay/straight/livable to a disaster zone in which you have to be careful of what you might step on. It's harder for me to fit in everyday pickup during the school year. Thus, I have less time to update my blog because I'm always trying to do another load of laundry, straighten up things that young children have brought into other rooms and abandoned (spoons in the bathroom, shoes in the kitchen, etc.).

Last year, Lou Lou's artwork was entered into the county fair art contest by her art teacher. She won for her grade level, which was wonderful. She had drawn and painted a picture of a clown. This year when the buzz of the fair began, Bear expressed interest in winning a ribbon since his sister had one. We got a paper in his homework folder about entering the fair talent competition. He said he wanted to so we began to get ready for the audition. He was going to sing "Jesus Loves Me" in 3/4 time with me accompanying him. He sang this at church and did a remarkable job. He was so comfortable doing this.

When time for the audition came, he stood up in front of 30-40 other auditioning children and their parents. This was a new place to sing, not near as familiar as the front of our church. He sang it fine, but not with the confidence that he had at church. Later the next week, the school secretary announced the students who would represent our school at the fair. Bear's name was not announced. I didn't like the way they did this, because all the children who didn't make it got the not-so-great news at the beginning of a school day, without the supportive words and hugs of their parents. I would prefer that they call the parents and let them tell their children. Anyway, Bear didn't mention it to me, so I didn't mention it to him.

Earlier this week, Lou Lou began asking me (in the car in front of Bear) when Bear was going to the fair to sing. Oops! I should have brought it up with him in private, and I'll do that next time. When I said that the music teacher had chosen some other students this time, he seemed sad but didn't cry. This was on the way to school. When we got to school, they announced over the intercom during the morning announcements that Lou Lou's artwork had once again been chosen to represent at our school at the fair. They also said one of Bear's friend's names as well as that friend's sister. Earlier this week, they had announced Lou Lou and this same friend as winners of the 1st grade fair coloring contest. All this information in one week is a lot for a six-year old. I called his wonderful teacher just to check on him, and she said he was going to be the very first Star of the Week. She has twins of her own so she understands the dynamics that go along with twins. She made such a big deal about him being the Star of the Week, and she told me she wanted him to feel that everybody had a place to shine.

I worked very hard, maybe too hard, when the twins were younger to make everything fair for them. They completely understand fair but have a hard time understanding when things aren't fair. I"m so excited for Lou Lou because art stuff comes so natural to her. I feel bad for Bear, but I guess maybe it's good for him to experience firsthand that everything's not fair.

This morning, during the announcements, my students were wide open, so I didn't hear what the announcements were about. However, I did hear something about "art" and they once again called Lou Lou's name. Way to go, Lou Lou! Hang in there, Bear!

Boys Actually Do Lose Teeth!

So the Bear finally lost his first tooth. I remember last summer after the twins' first trip to the dentist, Bear wanted me to constantly check his teeth to see if his were actually loose. The dentist had told us that both twins had loose teeth, but Lou Lou's teeth were much looser than Bear's. In fact, I could hardly move any of Bear's teeth at all. In early spring of 2008, Lou Lou lost her first tooth and her second followed shortly. Bear was discouraged, and wondered if his teeth would ever even feel loose.

Last week, it finally happened. On one of my recent checks, I told him that both bottom front center teeth did seem much looser. I offered to pull them when they were ready, but he didn't commit. On Monday of last week, he walked in my room with a zipped up sandwich bag containing his first lost tooth. He said that he kept wiggling it with his tongue all during the school day until it just fell out.

My memories of losing my own teeth mostly surround my PaPa, who would offer me $5.00 if I let him pull my teeth. I said yes every time. I also remember my first grade teacher's assistant pulling a few of my teeth.

Bear's other front bottom center tooth is loose now, so loose that it sits crooked in his mouth, just waiting to be wiggled enough to fall out.

Catching up...Apparently, finding time to update is more difficult during the school year. The twins' school year has gotten off to a great start. They've had just a smidge of reading homework, enough to give them something to do without feeling overwhelmed. They both seem to enjoy reading. This past week, while reading over his story, Bear seemed to get frustrated and not want to do it because it was "too hard". I knew that the story wasn't too difficult for him. Instead, he was just plain tired and didn't want to do it. I suggested to him that he read with different voices. For example, he read one page like a grandma, one page like a monster, one page like his Daddy, etc. This gave him the spark he needed to get the reading done. He's read like that every night since.

My oldest niece, Necie, started kindergarten this year, and just finished her first full week. I haven't actually talked to her because she's always asleep by the time I'm able to call, but she loves school according to her mother, YaYa. I can't wait to talk to her in person about "big school".

This year, Lou Lou started taking dance again. She took when she was four but didn't seem to enjoy it. Now she's taking at a different place. Her teacher is a Christian woman who started a dance ministry called Dance for Christ. Lou Lou seems to have so much fun, and for the past two weeks, they've been participating in some kind of Noah's Ark dance. I'm glad to have Lou Lou with a teacher who has a love for Christ.

Bug has of late fallen madly in love with both of her sisters. She absolutely adores Lou Lou, and has been so sweet with Birdie. Lou Lou has done a good job of including Bug and making her feel special, rather than just being annoyed with her. They're taking showers together, and Lou Lou does most of the work with bathing Bug, which makes Bug feel so big and important.

Birdie is pulling up a lot more lately, and has discovered that she can climb up the stairs. She only says "MaMa" and "Hey". It's amazing how much little babies notice and learn...Whenever Birdie picks up a hairbrush, telephone, headband, etc., she knows exactly what to do with it. She loves all the big kids, and Bear works extra hard at playing with her and trying to make her laugh.

Bear is doing a little better at not aggravating the girls so much. However, last night, he was teasing Bug by pretending to put her baby doll in all the different parts of her play kitchen rather than the baby bed. Of course, Bug screamed "No" and then Bear so innocently said, "Oh, I thought that was the baby bed" with a grin across his face.

Good Problems

This week we started school. Something crazy happened every single night to fill up our time, to keep us out of routine, to keep my children away from their much needed rest, and to keep our house looking crazy.

Monday...After school, I went to the dentist because my mouth had been hurting for like two weeks. The dentist said I had TMJ. I'm still not sure exactly what it means and haven't had time to look it up myself online, but practically it means that I have to deal with it with Ibuprofen and not chew a lot of ice, gum, or peanuts (which I don't do anyway). We left the dentist's office and headed to the pediatrician's office, because Bear had been complaining of a sore throat since Monday morning. Jimmy met us there and stayed with Bear while the doctor determined that Bear had strep throat. After a trip to get his meds., I took him and met Papa J halfway since he could not go to school the next day. Needless to say, both twins felt that staying with grandparents was a great way to deal with sickness.

Tuesday...After school, I went with all three girls to pick up Bear. We ate supper and later Lou Lou wanted some lemonade. The jug was completely full, and as she walked into the dining room with it, it spilled all over EVERYWHERE. Lou Lou loves cleaning floors, so she jumped right in to help me clean up. We tried some spray stuff, but it seemed to make everything even stickier, so we switched to just plain water and a mop to at least make a dent in the mess.

As we continued to clean, Bug came to me with her cup in her hand and said, "Can I please have more lemonade?" I said, "You've already got some." She said, "No, I don't," as she turned her glass upside down and the last big drops at the bottom of her cup fell to the floor.

A few minutes later, Bear asked me for a cup of lemonade, while we were STILL cleaning. Maybe the floor of MaJe's house is not level because the lemonade seemed to stretch from wall to wall. I took a break from cleaning to pour some lemonade into the glass he was holding. When I had poured as much as he wanted, he said, "That's good," and walked away with his cup while I was still pouring. More lemonade on the floor!

We wisely chose NOT to give Birdie any lemonade:)

Wednesday...I took the baby girls to church with me while Jim took the twins back to see the doctor. This time Lou Lou was complaining of an earache. She had tubes put in her ears when she was a little over a year old. Apparently, these tubes were clogged and the doctor took them out. The doctor said this may have been impacting her hearing, which I hadn't noticed as being a problem lately but Jimmy and his Mom had. Lou Lou said that she felt like her ears were giant open holes on the sides of her head, so I know her ears felt better.

Thursday...When I went out to my car with the twins after school, it would not start. Click...click...click. I called Jimmy first to no avail and then tried Mama C (Jimmy's mom). A friend from school took Lou Lou to dance for me, and Bear and I waited for a response from SOMEONE. Finally, Mama C called back and said she was on her way. She picked us up and then drove by the dance place to get Lou Lou. We all went to her apartment, and I took her car and picked up the baby girls. I had called them to let them know I would be later than usual, and Birdie's teacher said she had been crying since 4:30, my normal time of arrival. It's amazing how even very young children get into a routine and notice when things aren't the same. I drove the baby girls by to pick up something quick to eat from Burger King - yuck! I'm more anti-fast food every day, but because of my circumstances (low energy, no car of my own), I went ahead with something quick and easy. They did eat the apples with their kid's meals and weren't aware of the caramel dipping sauce that BK provided.

I kept calling Jimmy and couldn't imagine where he could be. When things aren't right, I start thinking crazy things, and by 7:00 I began thinking about wrecks on the side of the road and missing person reports. Finally, a little after 7:00, he called me. He had had car trouble at the same time, and didn't have his cell phone with him. We went and bought a new battery for my car, which worked. Yay! He got his car worked on Friday, and it was something minor. Another Yay!

Friday..Nothing happened of interest on Friday. What a boring end to our eventful week! After school, we went to MaJe's for Lou Lou's piano lesson and supper.

Saturday...Bug woke up at 2:45 this morning and I still haven't been able to go back to sleep. I don't know why. Sometimes my mind races over what's happened this past week and what's coming up, what I'm planning for school for the coming week, what I need to do to get our house back in order, how I can make our routine run more smoothly. When I stay up all night, it impacts everybody's routine. My choices now are try to get some sleep, or take a shower and begin looking online for some nearby yard sales, or make a meal and grocery plan for this week, or begin writing lesson plans for next week. The good news is, no matter which I choose, I have an extra day this weekend to catch up on sleep and all the rest of the above.

Throughout the week, I kept thinking what good problems we had. There could have been other diagnoses, more expensive problems with the cars, noone to keep Bear during our first week of school when we feel that we definitely have to be there. We thank God for the blessings of four wonderful children and all the ways that they make our lives more interesting!

School Begins Again

I haven't been able to write lately because of the crazy pace of my life. It seems so fast paced, but when the first week is behind me, I hope it will be better. I haven't been doing that great on only eating a vegetarian diet because it takes more planning ahead than I have time at this point in the year. I do eat less meat than I used to, so I think cutting back is better than nothing.

The twins' first day went good. On the second day, Bear was staying with MaJe and Papa J with strep throat while I took all the rest to school. He was feeling fine except for a sore throat, so he and Lou Lou ended up feeling like his sickness was wonderful since he was able to spend the night with grandparents while his twin went to school.

Healthy Hot Dog Night

Last night, we ate hot dogs - healthy style. Actually, everyone but me ate beef hot dogs and I ate protein dogs (or whatever they were called). I can't remember the exact name of them. Anyway, they were vegetarian. We also had vegetarian baked beans, Annie's mac and cheese (Annie's is a name brand of more natural foods and sometimes organic foods), organic chili, organic ketchup, whole wheat buns, and ice water. The only thing we ate that wasn't "healthy" per se was mustard.

I had never tried vegetarian hot dogs before, but of course I kind of expected the worst, so I loaded up my hot dog with lots of ketchup. It was a little more chewy than I was used to, but I had forgotten about it by the fourth bite.

Eating vegetarian is challenging, and it makes the regular "meat" things I used to eat seem so much more delicious since I'm not having them. I eat a lot more macaroni and cheese. It seems that I'm cooking up one Annie's box everyday. I hope when school starts back, I can dig into my recipe books and find some good stuff to cook up.

Last Saturday, we had Birdie's 1 year old birthday party. We had it in the morning so we could have breakfast food. She dove into her cupcake with vanilla icing. I considered making her a more healthy birthday cake, but ran out of time and energy before I could follow through with that idea. For her birthday, she got cloth diapers for home, disposable diapers for daycare, cute clothes, a sweet baby doll named Ika, and a huge poster sized picture of her at one of Bear's ballgames.

I saved the best news of all for last...My mother defrosted her deep freezer the other day. She discovered some MaMa original apple jacks. These were one of my very favorite things that MaMa used to fix. They were not dated, and my mother said she didn't know how old they were, so they were "Eat at Your Own Risk". Because I so love to live on the dangerous side (haha), I ate one the other time, warm from the microwave. As you can see (or read), I'm still alive and kicking today. A little taste of MaMa's sugar was worth the wait!

PSI - Poopy Scene Investigation

For an entire week, I was without the twins and Jimmy. They were in Florida visiting Jimmy's sister, and although it did seem calmer dealing with only two children, I missed them from almost the moment they left. I didn't sleep well while they were gone, and by this past Sunday, my overtiredness took over. Everyone was taking a nap, except Bear. I just asked the twins to have a little quiet time in their rooms, and Lou Lou fell asleep but not Bear. Anyway, I woke up as Bug came down the stairs. She climbed in my lap and snuggled up for a few minutes.

Suddenly, I noticed a brown stain all over both her legs. I immediately asked her if she had pooped in her pants and she said yes, but that she had changed underwear and tried to clean it up herself. Although I was so proud of her for being so independent (which is so characteristic of both her and me), I was dismayed to see the damage. Walking up the stairs, into the bathroom, down the hall, and into her room was like trying to piece together a puzzle to determine exactly what happened. There will small brown pieces of evidence throughout her bedroom and the hall. There were two pairs of "yuck" underwear in the bathroom. In her independence, she didn't realize that she had made the mess worse, way worse.

I called for Jimmy to awaken from his afternoon slumber and deal with the poopy carpet while I dealt with the poopy child. It took him a lot longer than it took me, but cleaning is his niche and it's always going to take him longer because when he's done, the carpet is like better than new.

Birdie Can't Talk

I've enjoyed spending a little more one-on-one time with Bug and Birdie, although I'm anxious for the other half of our family to return. This morning, Bug said, "Mama, let's go to Florida and see Daddy.":)

Birdie has really come out of her shell in the last two days. She is typically the most laidback, non-crying baby in the world. In any upsetting situation, she easily calms herself with her thumb and belly button. Last night at Target, I had a box of mac and cheese. Birdie kept sticking it in her mouth (no big surprise there) and knawing at the cardboard. When I told her to stop, she screamed out loud and for awhile, a lot longer than her typical 2-3 second cries.

Tonight she got upset. I guess she was tired and I had given her a plate of a few carrots, mistakenly thinking that she was hungry. She flung her plate onto the floor, causing small carrot parts to fly everywhere. I looked at her in the face and in a serious voice said, "That's not what we do. Don't throw your plate on the floor anymore." Out comes a loud wail that continued even after I had picked her up and gone up a few stairs. It's fun to see her personality come out a bit. We'll see if she (like Bug) is extra-sensitive to being corrected or if it just makes her mad.

Later on we were reading a book. Birdie was sitting in my lap, and Bug was standing beside my chair. I pointed to the ball in the picture and said to Birdie, "See the ball? Say ball." Without a moment's hesitation, Bug grabbed my arm and said, "Mama, Birdie can't talk. She only says Mama and Dada!". Bug said this in such a "Let me fill you in" kind of way, as if I wasn't aware of Birdie's progress and development. In Bug's mind, why am I wasting my time asking Birdie to say something that she clearly can't say at this point? This was the sweetest thing to me.

Bug is the lovingest little two year old lately. All through the day, she'll say, "I love you, Mama." Sometimes she'll say "I love you so much" or "I love you so sweet" or "I love you so tight" and every once in awhile, she'll throw in a deep voice "baby" at the end of her sentence. This time together with both baby girls makes going back to school a lot tougher, so I guess it's best not to think about it right now. I can get weepy at night sometimes, so I better go to bed rather than dreading the start of my 15th school year.

Prayer Meeting Dress Online

Here's a picture of a true MaMa Zip and Dash. MaMa also called it a prayer meeting dress. The dresses I bought have buttons rather than a zipper which makes them look a little classier. The dress in this picture looks JUST like MaMa. I googled Zip and Dash to get this picture. These dresses cost about $20.00 but all the different prints that this dress comes in seem a little Grandma-ish and not me. I'll have to keep looking!

A New Day

So the twins and Jimmy are STILL in Florida with Mama C visiting TT. I'm eager for their return, but want to make the most of my time with only two children. My workload per day is much easier simply because there are only two children. No matter which two kids are away, the two that are left are inevitably going to be easier to deal with because they have more of my attention.

This past weekend we visited at MaJe's and Papa J's house. On Saturday I went yardsaling with my aunt. It was a great day to yardsale. I found another Zip and Dash dress which I fell in love with. It was white with a black floral print which looked similar to a toile print. The cut of the dress, especially the sleeves, look like what Alice, Flo, and Vera wore working at Mel's Diner. I found a few other clothes, two dresses for Lou Lou, binoculars for Bear, and two upholstered chairs (one for the living room, one for my bedroom). One of the chairs has a cream floral print and the other one is a bit bigger with a soft solid khaki look. The chairs are still in my mama's house because I couldn't fit both the chairs and the children, and I chose the children:). I also bought 4 pairs of shoes for $1.00. It was a great day to yardsale!

On Friday night, we visited with my aunt and uncle and their grown children. My aunt was showing Bug all of her outdoor statues. She had a little boy, a little girl, a saint (old man), and several rabbits. Recently, Bug is very into assigning roles to people. For example, when we read a book, she points out which character she is, which character I am, etc. When she came back to me after a tour of the yard statues, she told me, "Bear is the little boy. I am the little girl. That man right there is my daddy." She paused for a few seconds, and then said, "Mama, I don't know where you are. You'll have to be the bunny rabbits!"

My time off is growing shorter and shorter. I have so many more things I want to do. I'm going to try to at least knock something off my list each day.

Today I'm going to try to eat only a vegetarian diet. I've thought about this for more than a year now. I've sort of had this in the back of my mind, floating through each day considering it as a "someday soon" happening. If I don't decide to commit to it, even if only for one day, then it's not going to happen. However, today I'm visiting a friend of mine that I taught with in Johnston County. She's fixing lunch, so if she fixes something special for me, I don't want to be rude and not eat it. She of course is unaware of my "this is the day" decision. We'll see how it goes!

Last night I looked online for more Zip and Dash style dresses as well as intro. to vegetarian websites. Unfortunately, many of the recipes I found were things that sounded very unappealing. Anything Mexican is less than inviting to my tastebuds. For today, I'm looking forward to vegetables, pasta, and peanut butter toast. I've NEVER been sick of peanut butter, so this should work for awhile.

The Zip and Dash is Back!

All four kids plus me went to the beach this past week to visit with family. YaYa's crowd and my crowd stayed with one of my cousins in her beach house. Another set of cousins stayed at a beach house nearby. We had a pretty good time. Jimmy was unable to go because of teaching summer school. It would have been easier and more enjoyable if he had been there. Having the option to split up the kids and responsibilities is always nice. I had fun staying up late and laughing and talking with YaYa. The children loved the beach, and it was Bug's first time there. She became more and more comfortable around the water the longer we stayed, which is very typical for her with most new experiences. Bear loved spending time with some boy cousins, Parker and Dema. He stayed with them, spending the night and everything, most of the time. I was so glad that he was able to do this, and our cousins were so welcoming and willing to take him in for long periods of time. Next time we do this, I hope that Jimmy will be able to go so that I can have some more grownup talk and catch up time.

Now I'm at MaJe and Papa J's house with the baby girls. Jimmy left yesterday with his mom (Mama C) and the twins to go to Florida to visit his sister, TT. I miss having all my children (and my husband) here, but I'm trying to relax and enjoy this little break.

Birdie, MaJe, and I went shopping today while Bug and Papa J took a nap. As we shopped, I came upon a dress. I held it up for MaJe to see and said, "Look! It's a high-dollar Zip and Dash!" I tried it on just for fun, but immediately fell completely in love with it. I'm so excited, just typing these words in, that I want to stop typing and run to look at it. I wasn't sure about purchasing it because I already had the mindset that this dress was a Zip and Dash style, a dress that my grandmother would have cooked in as well as worn to Wednesday night prayer meeting. I loved the style and color and feel of the dress, but I just had MaMa on my mind, and didn't want to spend money on a dress that I wouldn't wear out of the house. While I had it on in the dressing room, all MaJe and I could do was laugh.

For those who didn't get to see MaMa in a Zip and Dash, it is a dress that goes just a little past the knee. It has buttons from about your navel to just about shoulder-level. A Zip and Dash typically has some kind of thin belt that goes through small hoops around the waist. It's usually made out of cotton, sometimes stripes or plaid.

I couldn't decide whether to get it or not. I decided that I would really regret it if I didn't get it, even if I did only wear it around the house. I bought it and MaJe and I laughed about it all the way home. When we got home, I tried it on for Papa J and he said he liked it. When he asked me why I had considered not getting it, I asked him if it reminded him of MaMa. He said, "Well, I was going to say that it looks like a prayer meeting dress, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings." I drove down to show my aunt (Yard Sale Guru), and she said it looked very retro and she would definitely wear it to teach school in. Now I'm completely in love with it and on the look-out for more dresses in this style.

Dresses and Flowers

Yesterday, Lou Lou, Birdie, and I went with my teacher friend Tracy and her mom Lynnette to Greenville. We went to find a flower girl dress for Lou Lou to wear in Tracy's wedding. We found a white one pretty quick, and it was affordable. She loved trying on the dresses and twirling around in them. Afterwards, we got something to eat at Cracker Barrel. Lou Lou was so growny acting. Being mature comes along with being the first child, I think.

Bear was with MaJe and Papa J. They went to their local gym and swam. Then they played racquetball, which is now Bear's new love.

Bug spent time with Jimmy. He told me that she said, "I love you Daddy. Can you give me some of your sugar?":)

Last night, all the girls and I went out to eat with MaJe and Papa J. We ate at a table right by a window, and there were some thornbushes outside the window. Bug pointed to the bushes and said, "Look, MaJe. Those are some sharp flowers!". We laughed our heads off. I couldn't help thinking of MaMa and PaPa. They would have used this same "sharp flowers" term as they pointed out some nice flower arrangement at a party or at someone's house. Bug always keeps us smiling and laughing!

Birdie is almost one. We're only three days away from her first birthday. She is crawling around like crazy and putting everything in her mouth, including Elmer's glue from Bear's picture the other day. She is pulling up a little bit. She can get up on her knees pretty good, especially at the bottom of our stairs or in her crib. She is waving a lot now. She especially likes to stick out her arm and wave to strangers as they come our direction at Wal-mart or anywhere else out in public. She does this on her own without any prompting from us. She'll also wave at family members around the house without prompting. This is so sweet, because I love thinking about what goes on in her head to make her decide, "I think I'll wave at that person." I can't wait to see what Birdie will be like as a bigger kid, because she is such a laid back, good-natured baby. Almost nothing, except food, is worth crying over for her.

Moving In

We've been working on FINALLY moving in the last of the boxes from the garage. In the last two weeks, we've been able to park the van in the garage. Moving in the boxes and going through them has been fun. It's fun to go through old stuff, and of course we love finding "gifts" for the Salvation Army. Also, it's nice to have the garage relatively cleaned out. Now, all that's in the garage is bikes, balls, bats, bubbles, and other outside toys along with tools, cleaning supplies, paper towels, and toilet paper.

However, because we've been moving more stuff inside, the stuff that was already inside has felt neglected at best. Each day, as I choose what task to tackle next, I leave several other tasks "waiting" for my attention. The big job of keeping everything running seems impossible at times. I've done pretty good this week at not getting frustrated and overwhelmed and totally stressed. It's a good thing that we're doing the cleaning out and final moving in stuff in the summertime, because when I felt this overwhelmed feeling during the school year, it was a lot tougher for me.

I've been trying to make sure at least one twin learns how to do a cleaning job each time I'm doing something (putting away the towels, washing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, etc.). They are both very good with the vacuum cleaner, and we take turns with vacuuming up crumbs after we eat if there's a big mess. The "new" has almost worn off of the fun, vacuuming job. I always want to get a chore list together, so that it's written down what each twin will do to help out around the house for each day of the week. I can't seem to get this done because there are so many things to do and I don't know which chore will be most pressing for each day. I think once school starts, I may try to figure out some generic chores that will always need doing no matter what day of the week it is.

Picture Progress...We did get a few pictures hung up, which makes it feel more like our home. We got all the peach pictures hung in the kitchen. We also got our big "It's A Wonderful Life" board hung and the pictures hung all around it. I went all through our mess of mixed-up snapshot pictures and tried to organize them. I'm going to try to put them into albums next week.

Our time is drawing nigh as August 18, our first teacher workday, seems to be rapidly approaching. If it doesn't get done prior to August 18, it being anything that needs doing around here, it may not get done until Christmas or even next June. Here's what we're doing with the rest of our time. Today after church and naps, we're leaving for the beach. We're visiting with our cousins there. I'm excited about going, but the packing task overwhelms me. We'll come home on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, Jimmy and the twins will leave with Mama C (JR's mother) on a trip to Florida to visit Jimmy's sister, TT. They'll be gone until the following Thursday. During that time, I'm going to visit with some old teacher-friends, spend time with MaJe and Papa J, and watch The Cosby Show every weekday from 12:00 to 1:00. This is one of my favorite TV shows, but I've only watched it twice this summer because I'm usually busy doing something with the children. The baby girls may be asleep and I may have a bit of old-fashioned TV time. I love the Cosby show because it makes me laugh. When the rest of the family gets back from Florida, we are going to have a birthday party for Birdie, who turns one year old this coming Wednesday.

That following week, we may send the children to daycare so that we can tie up loose ends around here and get things "livable" for the coming school year. I always go back and forth about sending them to daycare when I'm not technically back to work yet, but I really feel that getting the house to a more manageable place will make the whole school year smoother. Also, it seems impossible to make lasting headway on any project here while they're all four around all day long. When they're here, I want to do fun stuff with them rather than fold clothes, organize pictures, organize music, plan church music, etc. Oh well, feeling guilty about my decision certainly doesn't help anybody. Even the children like it better when everything's straight, so I guess it's worth it for them to spend a few extra days at the daycare. By the way, the daycare's a wonderful place. It's just not home with me. Anybody else would say, "Don't worry about it! You deserve a break!", but I'd rather take a break WITH my children.

MaMa

I'm mainly doing this blog so that my children will be able to read back at all the crazy stuff we did. I don't like forgetting all the good stuff. However, this is just as good a place for me to record memories of other people so they can know about them too.

My grandmother passed away on Friday, December 21, 2007 in her home in her bedroom. It wasn't in her bed because she was in a hospital bed. That day, a home health nurse had come by and said that it wouldn't be much longer for her. She had been dealing with skin cancer since 2006. The cancer started in her left hand and then spread to other places. In "dealing" with this cancer, she had a skin graft from her arm, had her pointer finger removed, and then had her hand and wrist removed in an effort to get rid of the cancer. By the way, she was 95 years old when she died. My grandmother had a very good sense of humor, and through all the surgeries, her comment was, "Well, I'm going away from here little by little."

I want to write other funny and good memories of MaMa (and PaPa), but I'm starting tonight with the day she died. I want to go ahead and get this one over with. It's not that I mind thinking about it, but it's still tough to realize that I can't go and see her. After my mom got the word about the nurse's comment that morning, she called me. We had scheduled our fourth annual Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus Party for that night. I called around and told people that it was cancelled. Then Birdie and I headed to Clayton. Birdie was almost five months old at the time. When I walked in, I walked right into her room. She did not make eye contact with me, and her eyes were sort of glazed over. It seemed so sad to see her like that that I felt like it was time for her to go. She was such an active woman all her life that I thought this was especially sad for her. Being "helpless" definitely was not her cup of tea throughout her battle with cancer. Seeing her so helpless made it seem like it was not her.

Anyway, I sat down beside her and grabbed her left arm. Her face was sort of turned towards the other side, but my mom was on the other side in the chair. I sometimes think about how it would have been different if I had gone over to the side where she was looking. Although she was still breathing, it didn't seem like she was really there with us anyway, so me going over to the other side wouldn' t have changed anything probably.

When I got there it was about 4:30. I stayed in the room with her, and I think my aunt must have had Birdie most of the time. Her breathing was very labored, and my uncle said that he had given her some medicine to help with that. While I sat there, I read a quick book that Hospice had given the family. My mom got up and was on the phone with her sister at about 5:25. I was in the room with MaMa and began noticing that her breathing was slowing down and not quite so labored. Then I noticed that it kept taking longer and longer for each breath to come. In the hospice book I had read, it said that patients might breathe very slow for periods of time and that was normal. This came to mind as I watched and listened to her breathe. Then the next breath didn't come. I kept waiting, still wondering if this was just normal. After a few seconds, I called for my mom to come in there, and she called her brother as soon as she got in there. None of us were very emotional because it was like we were just figuring out what had happened. My aunt came in with a mirror to check if she was breathing. In the middle of all this, I remember thinking, "How smart and how CSI to use a mirror!" :)

We called the home health nurse and she came and declared her dead at 6:30 p.m. She had to give her a bath before the funeral home people came. I stayed in there with her while she gave MaMa a bath. I wanted to be in there with MaMa as long as I could. I would have thought it would have been difficult to see the funeral home men carry MaMa out of there. I think it was better because I saw it. Sometimes fear of the unknown is worse than actually going through it. They asked us if we wanted her face covered up with a sheet or not, and I spoke up and said no. I know I probably should have left that up to her actual children, but I wanted her to still seem like herself one more time.

Before the home health nurse got there, the youth from MaMa's church came to sing Christmas carols to her. It was so sad and strange to have to turn them away because MaMa wasn't with us anymore.

That night, Birdie and I spent the night at MaMa's house. My mom and I stayed up so late and read MaMa's entire 2006 journal. We laughed and cried at all the funny things and sad things that she wrote. So many times throughout her journal, she wrote at the end of the day, "So this was just another day, but a good day." We decided that that would be the title of the 2006 journal:)

I dealt with MaMa's death so much better because I was able to be there with her. I thank God so much for answering this prayer for me.

Maybe the children will do something extra funny tomorrow so that my next post can make me laugh instead of cry.

Patient Kids and Poop

These days, we get up and go to swimming lessons each morning. We used to go in the afternoons, and I felt like I got more done during the day. I like going in the mornings because it's cooler. It's an indoor pool, so if you're not getting in the pool, it gets very warm. However, just the act of getting everyone there, packing and carrying all the stuff, and getting back home wears me completely out. I have less energy and motivation throughout the day to get stuff done around here. Today is their last day of lessons for awhile. Bear loves, loves, loves the lessons, but Lou Lou is scared to jump in the deep water. She's done it several times, but still isn't sure of herself. Right now they're in the Guppy Class. While we're there, the baby girls and I all get in, or just Bug gets in. Bug is happy either way. Birdie absolutely loves getting in and happily lunges towards me into my arms in the water whenever I sit her on the side of the pool. I don't put her face in, but she shuts her eyes every time she comes in as if she's going under. It is just so cute when she does this, and she would "jump" in a million times if I kept doing it.

We played a game with a pile of odds and ends yesterday while the baby girls were asleep. We had about 15 small items. We studied the pile, and then one of us (me, Bear, or Lou Lou) would pick up an item and hide it while the other two were out of the room. Then we came back and tried to figure out which object was missing. This kind of game is not the funnest in the world to me, but they really enjoyed it.

I thought they would enjoy a cruise through Target before church. We have not many groceries and I need to go shopping desperately, but my time and energy never meet up. When I have the time to go grocery shopping, I don't have the energy. When I have the energy to go, I don't have the time. Anyway, I needed to pick up something for Birdie to eat at church so we took off to Target. I also wanted to look at some of their soaps. They have some more natural-brand soaps, shampoos, etc. now which really interests me. I bought a lavender bar soap already as well as some Method laundry detergent, Method hand soap, and 7th Generation dish soap.

When we got to Target, I got out and opened the door to get Birdie out. She was being her usual jolly self and smiling up at me, but I discovered by smell and sight that she was sitting in poop as I picked her up out of the car seat. Once I had in her in my hands, I had to hold her out away from me so it didn't get on me. We definitely didn't have time for me to go home and change my clothes. I immediately began praying that I hadn't forgotten my wipes. Lou Lou got up and laid out a swimming lesson towel. (I guess there are times when it pays to not clean out the car each time you go home:)) I kept my hands on Birdie while Lou Lou and Bear looked for wipes. When we couldn't find any, I began praying that we would quickly see someone we knew in the parking lot. After a minute or so, I saw the wipes. Thank goodness, the pack was almost full.

I began wiping her off and had to throw the yuck diaper, yuck outfit, and yuck wipes onto the ground by the car. The whole wiping process took at least five minutes or what seemed like five minutes. After awhile, I could tell that these wipes could not accomplish the job, but soap, water, or grownup help was unavailable for the moment. Meanwhile, Bug had gotten out of her car seat. Come to think of it, I know I didn't unbuckle her, so who did? I guess she asked Bear to in all the commotion. She moved herself up to the driver's seat and began pushing and pulling and sliding any button she could get her hands on. The car was turned off, so we didn't experience the fruits of her labor until I turned the car back on after we went in Target. A car pulled in to park beside us, and the Dad saw the mess on the ground. I heard him tell his daughter to not get out on that side and that her Mom would get her from the other side...Smart move! The mom and daughter went in and the dad stayed in the car in the passenger seat (close to the pile).

After I got Birdie moderately clean, I wrapped the poopy clothes, toys, etc. in another swimming lesson towel and tried to wipe off the car seat. While doing this, Bug starts beeping the horn. The man in the car beside us looked at us and gave us a half smile, like this wasn't really cute but rather annoying. Anyway, I told everyone to get out of the car. I knew we were going to be late for church, but had no choice because I still had to get Birdie some food. When the rest of the kids got out of the car, Bug started trying to open our neighbor's car door. Again, he gave a half smile.

Our trip in Target was less eventful, although they all did so good about not asking me to buy this or that. I guess the twins knew I was frazzled. They were all so patient through the whole thing. Maybe they were entertained. I don't think they'll forget this adventure.

Girl Scout Update

I decided to look on the Internet for more information about the Girl Scouts. I found a pile of information. Of course, it was split right down the middle. Half of what I found was writers appalled at the asterisk and several other things I read about. The other half thinks the first half is crazy. Here's one website: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=40508.

Cookies and Popcorn

The Girl Scout Promise: On my honor, I will try: To serve God* and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
The Girl Scout Law: I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do,and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.
* The word "God" can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on one's spiritual beliefs. When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word "God" with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate.
from http://www.nccoastalpines.org/home/about.aspx

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

Scout Oath
On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

Scout Law
A Scout is:
Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent.
from http://www.scouting.org/media/mission.aspx

We've been talking with the twins about joining the Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts. They haven't been overly excited about it because they don't know much about these organizations. As I looked online early this morning for more information about joining in this area, I stumbled upon the dreaded asterisk (above). The asterisk shocked me so much. I can't support something and have my child participate in an organization that openly says there could be another God. After I found it, I searched around to see if there was any question about God in the Boy Scout oath. Thankfully, there was not.

I talked to Jimmy about it and he agreed, although he said he didn't feel as strongly as I do about this. Lately, I've been getting fired up about things. Jimmy did say that possibly the same argument could hold true for public schools, because as a teacher you can't talk about God in the classroom. Maybe there is something to what he's saying. At this point, I don't feel God calling me and my children away from public schools. I also don't feel God calling me to sign Lou Lou up or to purchase Girl Scout apparel or cookies. To me, taking a stand for what we believe takes priority over adopting a tolerance for all things that is so popular in our culture.

When I was in second grade, I wanted to be in Brownies SO BAD. It didn't happen because the Brownie group met on Wednesday nights, and my parents felt that church attendance was more important. At the time, I thought that we went to church enough already, even if I cut out Wednesday night attendance. I didn't harbor a big grudge, but always wanted a little brown outfit.

When MaJe (my mom) was in high school, she wanted to join the basketball team at her very small high school. Her parents said no because the team practiced and/or had games on church nights. MaJe had to be at church to play the piano.

I investigated some alternatives for Lou Lou since Bear is still going to participate in Boy Scouts at this point. We talked about how good it would be for him to be with boys for a change, considering our family makeup. GAs (Girls in Action) is a mission organization just for young girls. This is what I was doing most Wednesday nights as a child when I was missing Brownie meetings. I'm going to look into this further. Lou Lou will be upset at not joining Girl Scouts, but will be excited to do something (GAs) here with me. I'm going to pray that God would bless and grow our GA club. (I guess we'll call it a club. Little girls, and boys I assume, love to feel a part of a "club".)

Jimmy and I did discuss that actually eating a Girl Scout cookie that someone bought was okay. After all, the cookie didn't say there was more than one God. When I started talking about this (at about 2:30 this morning), Jimmy laughed. Maybe I'm a Froot Loop or just crazy. I have to do what I think is right for Lou Lou.

Early Reading and Late Waving

Bug is keeping us all entertained this summer. She's always saying something crazy and funny. The twins are getting old enough to "get" that she doesn't "get" some things. Lately, she's been really into noticing the alphabet. She doesn't know names or sounds for letters but she does know "who" goes with each letter. For example, she knows her letter, Teency's letter, Bear's letter, etc. When she sees any letters, she points them out to me and says, "Mama, here's some ABCDs." Sometimes she tries to read what it says.

At Vacation Bible School, they had pudding cups. The top said something like Jello Vanilla Pudding. After Bug pulled off the top, she asked me if I wanted her to read it. I told her I did, and she said as she pointed to each word, "I am pudding!"

While the twins are in swimming lessons, the baby girls and I sometimes get in the pool. The first time we ever got in this year, Bug walked over to the depth marker that said "2 Ft". She again asked me if I wanted her to read it to me. When I said yes, she said, again pointing and emphasizing each part, "Get Wet!"

Birdie has been a solid thumbsucker since maybe four months. As of the last two months, she has started pulling on her ear with one hand while she sucks her thumb on the other hand. In the last week, she has discovered her belly button. She has a herniated belly button which juts out a bit. While sucking her thumb, she pushes her belly button in and out.

I've noticed that she doesn't wave bye-bye often at all. The ladies at the daycare said that she did wave there from time to time. I really don't worry about it much, because she seems developmentally fine. This week, I thought to myself, "No wonder she doesn't wave bye-bye more often. She has no free hand to wave with, what with the thumb, the ear, and the belly button duties!"

Birdie is all over the place. She still does the army man crawl, but has started pulling up to her knees at the bottom of the stairs and in her crib. She, unlike the older three children, puts everything in her mouth. Last week she ate a piece of paper that I could never seem to get out of her mouth once she got it in there. She is still very happy, and mostly eats fruit, yogurt, bagels, Cheerio's, sweet potatoes, and mac and cheese. I keep offering vegetables, but no such luck yet.

Birdie and Bug are both easygoing and laid back. The terrible twos for Bug are not all that terrible. After going through the true terrible twos with the twins, just doing it with one two year old who has such a laid back personality is less exhausting for me.

I try to get a lot of work done in the morning before any children get up. For the first part of the summer, each time Bug would get up, she would come find me and say, "Mama, I wake Birdie up for you!" with this beaming "I'm so proud of myself" look on her face. After talking to her about this, she has snuck out the last three days without waking up Birdie. Yay!

Last week, my sister YaYa came with her three girls. The children had a large time. We did all sorts of things...ate spaghetti, played in the sprinkler, went to a cool new park, went to BK for some greasy nasty food, watched YaYa play her trumpet, and took turns holding the Karate Kid. It was fun and good times for the kids!

Time with Lou Lou and Bear

We have had a pretty calm summer so far. This is the first summer I've had that I thought staying home with the children is just as hard as teaching school during the year. Prior to this summer, I've always considered the summertime as a break for me. It's not that Birdie herself is a particular challenge, but just that there are four children who can all be challenges in their own ways from time to time.

The twins have been taking swimming lessons, which gives us something to do each day, but sometimes wipes me out for the rest of the day. Jimmy is teaching summer school Mon.-Thurs., and his absence around the house sometimes leaves me feeling wiped out. Sometimes the energy level needed and my own current energy level are so drastically different that I'm left feeling unmotivated and ready to turn on PBS Kids for awhile.

Today Lou Lou and I went to see the new American Girl movie. This was the first movie we have been to see since Curious George was on the bigscreen. It was a great movie, and we had fun together. I had to whisper to her throughout to explain what "foreclosure" meant, which was the real crook, and how Kit figured it out. She knows how I am with movies, and kept asking me, "Are you crying?". She is a very sensitive child, but doesn't cry at movies (not yet anyway). However, once when she was three, she did cry during a movie. We borrowed Dumbo from the public library. When we got to the part where Dumbo was separated from his mother through the jail cell bars, I looked over at Lou Lou and her eyes were filled with water. I asked her if she wanted to stop watching it and she said yes. When I got the video out of the VCR, she grabbed it and said very seriously to me, "I want you to throw this tape in the trashcan." She felt so strongly about this movie that she never wanted to see it again. Lou Lou craves time alone with me, but I've figured out that sometimes the more she gets, the more she wants. I try to sneak in some quiet time for us as often as possible during each day.

Bear had a Perfect Attendance certificate for Logan's so we took Birdie along with us. He enjoyed our time together I think. Time alone with Bear involves answering lots and lots of questions about all kinds of things, which is fine but sometimes a bit exhausting. I try to keep my "answering" endurance up. Here is a sampling of tonight's questions...How big is a tarantula? Is a tarantula as big as a dinner plate (an idea from a book we read)? Which plate is a dinner plate? Do spiders only live in bushes and plants? Is that man drinking beer or root beer? How do you make beer? How do you make honey mustard? Can Birdie eat peanuts yet? Are there people in this world who don't believe in God? Why don't they believe in God? The questions and conversation continued, following no particular path except the trail he was following in his head, bouncing from one idea to the next. When we got home, the rest of our crew had taken off to get something "different" to eat. Lou Lou had said that she was tired of eating the same old mess. Since everyone else was gone, Bear, Birdie, and I went on a walk. Birdie rode in the double jogging stroller while Bear rode along on his bike. It was a good night with the Brother Bear!

Stuff, stuff, and more stuff

When I read about the 100 Thing Challenge (having 100 or less possessions), I was curious. Later, on Christian radio I heard someone preaching about human's inability to take material possessions with us when we die. This was not news to me, but the timing of this message on the heels of my interest in the 100 Thing Challenge really got me thinking. I don't think I could go down to owning only 100 things, and don't care about what number I have right now. Instead, I particularly felt challenged to give away some of my stuff.

My husband and I are Salvation Army crazy. He makes a trip to the Salvation Army every 1-2 weeks to drop off whatever we've decided that we no longer need. This 100 Thing Challenge is the perfect opportunity for me to increase my donations to the Salvation Army. In other words, we already are in the mindset of "give it away if you don't use it", but I just feel like cranking this up a notch now. If I'm not using it and someone else can use it, then why should I hold on to it? It's like I'm looking at everything around my house through a new, critical lens.

Yard Sales #2

Jimmy went on a church youth trip this past weekend. We went to my hometown for most of the time he was gone. The good thing about going to my Mama's house is that there are more grownups to help, to laugh at all the crazy stuff that goes on, and to think of and sometimes prepare what we will eat next. We had a good time, and we gave my Mama and Daddy plenty to laugh about.

On Saturday morning, I got up early and went yard saling again. I found a play kitchen and play food to stay at MaJe's house. I also found a sturdy tricycle for Bug to ride. I bought a few clothes and puzzles, but the real steal of the day was a double jogging stroller for only two dollars. I'm so excited about this purchase, because we have no way to go out on the road with all four children at the same speed. For example, if I stroll Birdie and Lou Lou strolls Bug, Bear prefers to ride on his bike and he goes way ahead of us, so most of the walk involves hollering for him to wait, which of course makes his day:). The other option is for the twins to ride bikes, I still stroll Birdie, and Bug walks along at a two-year old's pace behiind me. We're left with the same problem of mostly walking, hurrying, and hollering. The double jogging stroller will alleviate these concerns, I hope. We haven't tried it out yet, but we'll see how it goes tomorrow morning.

Lou Lou sang "Amazing Grace" on Sunday. She was very nervous earlier that morning when we practiced and she started crying. However, when it was time to sing, she stood close to me and looked at me basically the whole time. After it was over, she hugged me forever while the congregation clapped, and I think she teared up a bit then. Later that day, she told me that she did not want to do that again.

Today a friend of mine that is finishing up grad. school in education came to interview my children for a case study. She actually only had to use one child from ages 2-6 but to be fair she interviewed everyone. She had to ask them some questions about clouds, plants, waves, etc. She would use their responses to determine if they give "adult" answers, repeating what they've heard, or if they come up with their own ideas. Anyway, when she interviewed Bug, I was finishing up the kitchen and then heading upstairs so I didn't hear the whole interview. I did hear one funny part. My friend asked Bug, "Where does the rain come from?", and Bug replied, "God!" with a bit of a "Didn't you know that?" tone. It was so funny!

Our house was such a disaster zone today that I declared it Clean Up Day. Normally, the children help as needed in between playing times. I told them right away this morning that we would be straightening and cleaning all day, so don't complain. It worked out pretty good. We got almost all of the upstairs done. I'm supposed to be downstairs finishing up, but instead I wanted to catch up here for awhile. One thing is for sure...there's always somewhere to catch up.

Birdie has turned out to be quite the fruit lover. She likes peaches, kiwi, nectarines, plums, and bananas. She doesn't love vegetables, but does try more of them if she picks them up herself rather than me feeding them to her with a spoon. Today I bought some YoBaby plain yogurt. When I think plain, I think vanilla, but I realized when I opened the pack that I was wrong. After just one bite, she held her hand up in a "Stop in the Name of Love" fashion and kept it up as I tried to offer her a second bite. I ended up mixing it up with some applesauce and then she was more accepting.

One more funny thing that happened this weekend...Papa J is part of the Gideons and he was going to the prison for a monthly Gideon ministry there on Friday night. First, we went out to Joyce's Kitchen (all day breakfast) but Papa J drove separately. He walked in, all dressed up in a suit and tie. Lou Lou asked MaJe why he was so dressed up. MaJe did her best to explain where he was going and why. Lou Lou commented back, "Well, if the people in the prison need to know about Jesus, their preacher should go and Papa J should stay with us!"

Hatch Hair

Today I got my hair cut...again! Just three weeks ago, I had a haircut but I didn't get enough cut off. When I was young, I had straight blonde hair. I had very little Hatch hair. Hatch hair is very coarse and more wavy than curly. My hair stayed straight and mostly blonde and very thick throughout high school. I had some unfortunate haircuts but for the most part my hair did about what I wanted it to. My hair was so straight that when I was in 7th grade and wanted a perm, I had to get two a few days apart because the first perm didn't take.

That was then and this is now. Apparently your hair changes during pregnancy. My current hairdo guru said that your hair gets thicker during pregnancy and then you shed hair in the months after giving birth. Well, my hair definitely got thicker but I don't think I've ever shed more than two hairs at a time. After having the twins, Hatch hair begin to claim its territory, starting at the back of my neck. Apparently, Hatch hair is very bossy and possessive, as it has gradually taken over almost my whole head since the births of Bug and Birdie. I once asked a hairdresser, "Does thick hair mean that you have more individual strands of hair or that each piece of hair is thick?" She replied, "It could mean either, but for you it means both". When I say I put up a ponytail, I mean it literally. My hair is thick like horse hair and seems to grow east and west. Hatch hair is also anti-gravitational.

So today, I got it cut short so that I can forgo the 2nd grade hairclip for awhile. My hair is not the most important thing to me, but when it gets in my way and makes me feel crazy, then it's time to get it cut versus pull it out:).

Bug and Lou Lou also got trims, just to even things out and get rid of dead ends. I told Bear that he could start going with his Daddy, which made his day. By the way, Bug and Lou Lou have very little Hatch hair currently but it is there. It's just a bit of a wave, but it's not coarse...not yet and not ever I hope. Bear has absolutely no Hatch hair and Birdie has absolutely no hair. Well, she does have a little peach fuzz, which is so precious.

Tonight we have swimming lessons, then children's choir, and then a church supper. Off to pack our bags!

Six Months and Counting...

I just realized this today! A-ha! How dumb can I be? I've been thinking all this time (this time being 6 and a half years since the twins were born) that if you as a parent were doing your parenting job the right way, it would be easy. If everything wasn't going along easily, then you haven't figured out the right way to do things yet. What a dumb idea! Of course it's not going to be easy. Of course there will be bumps, sometimes gigantic bumps, in the road. If your personality is like mine, then you have a need to do the right thing. Find the right thing and do it. So of course, if what I do doesn't work, I take it personally and decide that I didn't choose the right thing. No matter how I choose to react or what plan I choose to implement, I'm dealing with 4 little people with their own ideas, personalities, strong wills, etc. who are completely out of my control. In society, if your kid is acting up, it seems the attitude is that "that kid is out of their parents' control". I feel like standing up, raising my hand, and shouting, "Yes! You're right. I have absolutely no control over these people. They may look like me, but they definitely do their own thing."

In writing this, I make it sound like my children are a bunch of hooligans. Definitely they're not. I just get frustrated because I'm such a "do the right thing" person that it makes me frustrated when I don't feel that my efforts towards helping my children make good choices about their behavior are working.

Anyway, when Lou Lou was younger (from mid-two to five), she was tough. When I say tough, I mean behavior-wise. She was a handful with a feisty attitude. I have several stories to catch up on about her. She has mellowed a lot in the last year and a half, thankfully.

Meanwhile, the Bear was very mild-mannered and willing to do as asked most of the time. Not a complete angel, but close. Well, in the last two months, his strong will has caught up with his sister's. We've been working on it and talking about it. Yesterday he had a pretty good day, but messed up right at the end. He said, "Well, there's no reason for me to look forward to Christmas, but the way I've been acting, I won't get anything from Santa Claus." He was not crying but disappointed when he was saying this, but I still thought it was so sweet and cute. I don't really push the Santa Claus bit about being good so that you'll get something. Santa Claus comes because it's Christmas, not because of good behavior. However, the twins have picked up on the being good idea from society.

Oh well, I guess I need to tell him that he has six months to turn this boat around:).

Questions

Right around Easter time, Bear asked a very interesting question. He said, "When Judas died, did the disciples go from 13 to 12 or 12 to 11?" This question blew me away because I had never thought about this before.

Bear loves our devotion reading time at night before bed. We have a new devotion book that we just bought the children for Easter. Before getting this one, we had been using a devotional book called God and Me which seems geared for children 3 years old and up. Bug uses this one now which means we have two different devotions to fit in each night. I'm not complaining but the nighttime jobs are tough on my patience sometimes. I'm usually tired and hungry and sometimes I feel like they want just a little more, just a little more, just a little more of me than I have left to give at 9:00 at night. I told Lou Lou that the spot on the floor right in the middle of her door must be a magic spot, because every time I step on it on my way to somewhere else, she says, "Mama." We laughed so hard about that, and I would try to "leap" out of her room to see if I could avoid the spot, but somehow she knew just when to say "Mama" and get me back in there for one more question, request, hug, or kiss. Again, it's not that I mind, but I'm just exhausted and not as patient as I want to be sometimes.

Anyway, the new devotion book is 365 Bible stories. It goes more in-depth into a variety of Bible stories, rather than just sticking to the traditional Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, baby Jesus, etc. It has no life application section, which leaves this part open for discussion. Bear is very much into it and we usually read about 3-4 days every night because it is just so interesting to him, Lou Lou, and me.

Tonight's devotion was about King Solomon worshipping other gods and how the 12 tribes of Israel were split into 10 and 2 under Jeroboam and Rehoboam. If you're reading this and you feel lost, so would I had I not been reading along in this wonderful kid's devotion book. Anyway, what I got out of tonight's devotion was that Rehoboam did not consult with God before making a decision and things did not go so well for him. I pointed this out to the twins and told them that God can see the big picture and we need to talk to Him about all of our decisions. Bear immediately said, "But how do you know what God's answer is if you can't hear Him talk?" Again, I was struck by his question. Jimmy and I both started trying to talk to him about this. Bear said, "So whatever you're feeling is what God wants you to do." We said not necessarily. It was difficult to answer his question and wonderful that he was concerned about such things. I said, "Prayer is our way to communicate with God. By reading His Word, he communicates back with us." We finished our devotion with our prayer time, and Jimmy and I both prayed for guidance on answering tough questions like these and others that will come up.

After all of this reading and discussion and prayer (and many yawns by me), we say, "Amen" and then Bear says, "Mama, we've got to read our Bible story out of my Bible." We got the twins new Bibles recently. These are the NIrV, which stands for New International Reader's Version. This is the NIV on a third grade reading level. Bear's latest passion is Moses. He wants to know everything there is to know about Moses. The daycare director mentioned this to me the other day. Bear had drawn a picture of Moses that had caught her eye. His picture had Moses with a staff in his hand and several small faces in the background showing the Israelite people following him out of Egypt. Anyway, because it was way past our normal bedtime, I would have told Bear no on almost anything else, such as a library book, a nighttime snack, etc., but I don't feel good about saying no to more Bible. It's like Bear has an unquenchable thirst for learning about God and His people. Tonight, as Bear was asking questions, the Holy Spirit was with us and in us. His excitement about things of God makes me want to commit to daily renew myself in God's Word.

On a lighter note, Lou Lou has strep throat. Thankfully, her throat and rash looked a certain way enough so that the doctor didn't have to give her the strep test. The good thing about her being sick is that our trip to the doctor and Target for medicine gave us a chance to spend time alone together. We laughed and talked and had the best time.

While I was on the phone tonight with BeBe (a friend from church), Bug kept calling my name. She didn't sound frantic so I kept talking, figuring she'd come get me soon. When I hung up the phone, I walked up to her room. She was bundled up in her Pooh Bear blanket and was fluttering her eyes as if she was trying to keep them shut. She definitely did not know I was in the room. I leaned over to kiss her and she rolled over. She said, "Mama, I want to show you sometihng. This book is about Jesus." It was a Jesus Loves Me book which we've read numerous times. I told her I liked her book and then she laid back down. She looked up at me and said, "Mama, you woke me up." I thought this was the cutest thing coming from a 2-year old. I said I was sorry, kissed her again, and left her room.