On the subject of animals

I am not a pet kind of person. We had pets when I was growing up - guinea pigs, rabbits, and cats. I even had my own cat, Sabrina. But then I went to college and promptly lost all interest in animals. I have nothing against them -- they are fun to look at and fun to play with. I just didn't want to live with them. So it was fate that I met Josh.

Here's how our first conversation went:
Me: Hi I'm Rachel.
Josh: Hi I'm Josh.
Me: I don't like pets.
Josh: Me neither.
Me: I never, EVER want to have pets . . . especially stinky dogs.
Josh: Me neither.
Me: Want to get married?
Josh: Sure.

For years we lived happy in the knowledge that our house would be animal free. But then we met these guys:
And all they did for YEARS was ask for pets. Thankfully we had perfect responses to their constant badgering. . .
"Why can't we have a dog?" {Because Mom and Sam are allergic to them} Hallelujah!
"Why can't we have a cat?" {Because Dad and Sam are allergic to them} Take that!
"All my friends have animals." {We are not your friends!}

But then came the kicker . . . "I'm not going to ask for anything else for Christmas but a dog." {You've got to be kidding me!}

So Josh and I did what any kind, caring, loving parent would do - we told them we would NEVER get a dog. EVER.

And then we went out and bought this:
Meet Kenai. He's a 11 week old Yorkshire Terrier, which happens to be a hypoallergenic breed of dog. {There goes the allergy argument!} He pees on the carpet occasionally. He cries A.L.L. night long. And the smell of his food makes me want to throw-up every morning. But the kids all love him. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. him. They take him for walks. They make sure he visits the puppy pad every hour. They get him fresh water. They play with him. They fight over who gets to snuggle him when he's tired. Never was there a dog so loved. Never were there kids so happy. And never were there parents so glad they changed their mind.

Reflection contest

Here is Sam's entry for the 2009 Reflections Contest at school. The kid's got an eye for photography. I think he could teach me a thing or two.

Halloween 2009

Late. Late. Late. But here are the kids in all their spooky splendor.

Sam as Mr. Headless Horseman. A creation of his own {although he was in such a hurry to get candy, he couldn't be bothered to find his black pants. At least it was dark.}

Benjamin as Indiana Jones.

Nicholas as a scary dragon

Eliana as a ghost. {Originally, she wanted to be cookie monster. And I made a cute cookie monster costume. But once I added the eyes, she wanted nothing to do with it. So, I scrounged around the house and came up with this ghost costume. Not as cute, but it did the job. She didn't want to take pictures either. She just wanted to get candy! Eliana has already decided that next year she wants to be a mean witch or the big bad wolf. Hopeless.}

Unprepared

As a mother, there are times when I am caught completely off guard. Like Benjamin picking broccoli over french fries. Or Nicholas' ability to climb. But nothing could have prepared me for Eliana this morning. In her cute little voice she said, "Mom, I have pockets in my pants. Pockets can hold things. Where's my weapon? My pockets need a weapon!"

The funniness of Benjamin

Benjamin is a very unusual kid. He is overflowing with book smarts and he's very proud of this. One of the things that makes Benjamin unique is his love of words. He loves to learn new words {sometimes very large words} and use them regularly. For example - Josh and I were having a conversation about the cost of something - maybe taxes. And Benjamin piped in with "I'm not sure I understand all the facts you have been talking about, but I do understand the money issue and I think that is outrageous!" {word for word quote}

The kid is seven.

Benjamin's word of the moment is assume. He uses it so much that I find myself wanting to say "You know what happens when you assume . . ." Instead I pointed out that he uses the word a lot and asked him to cut down. He said, "Mom you have no idea how hard it is to come up with new words to use to impress people."

Today after school, the boys wanted to have friends over. Our rule is there are no friends over until the bedroom is clean. Sam had already cleaned his mess and told Benjamin, who was unloading the dishwasher, that he would clean Benjamin's mess. Then Sam said Benjamin would owe him big time. This, of course, made Benjamin ask me if it was true. I told Sam that Benjamin didn't owe him anything. And Benjamin said, "Yeah Sam. Goodness is it's own reward."

And lastly . . . no offense is meant by this comment. And I promise {just like the other three examples}, I have no idea where he gets these things. . . So Sam was decorating a pumpkin for a school project. The theme was "Favorite Book Character." Sam choose to decorate his pumpkin like a Bugger from the book Ender's Game. He made a preliminary sketch to follow. Benjamin took one look at the sketch and said, "I'm not sure this is the look you are going for Sam, but your drawing looks like an ant mixed with a Mexican Robber."

You be the judge.

Eliana's dreams

The other night, Eliana woke up crying. She was just terrified of something, so I let her sleep with me. When she woke up, I asked her if she remembered what she was scared of. She said that there were geckos dropping from the sky and crawling all over her back. "Too many geckos got on me!"

The next morning, as I was changing her diaper, she looked at me and asked "Why?" I asked her what she was talking about. She said, "Why were you squishing my poops last night? Poops are gross. We don't play with poops mom."

And the next morning, she woke up and said that she had a dream about hurting her eye at the jumping place. It was so real for her, she had to look at her "owie" in the mirror to be convinced she was fine.

So to sum it up - Eliana's dreams are filled with geckos, poops, and bruises.

Where are the princesses and sunshine and butterflies?

And what does she want to be for Halloween?

A vampire or scary monster.

Lucky me.

{I'm going to make these and shove girly down her throat!}

We raise 'em sassy here

Nicholas hung a "no girl's allowed" sign on his door. I told him Ellie was a girl and asked if she could come in. He said, "No girls allowed." I told him I was a girl and asked if I could come in. He said, "The person that cleans my room can come in when it's messy."

Nicholas and Eliana were fighting over her pony toys. I told him to give the pony back. Nicholas told me, "I don't want to hear any more of your noise in my ears."

Eliana has a disgusting habit of drinking the bathwater. This morning I told her that drinking bathwater would make her tummy sick. She told me, "Oh yeah? Prove it."

At two and almost four years old, how can the innocence be gone? And how am I going to survive their teenage years?

Happy Halloween!

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Round Three

After the older boys were back in school, I started doing a little preschool at home with Nicholas and Eliana. We're just learning a letter a day - trying to keep it simple. We learn the letter and its sound, practice writing it, make a letter craft, then read stories relating to the letter. When we've completed the whole alphabet, we'll move on to numbers and then it's back to letters.

Nicholas and Ellie call it "Mommy Preschool." I call it "I'm sorry that you are almost four and I'm only now beginning to talk with you about the alphabet" school. Thank goodness he doesn't start kindergarten for another two years . . . maybe by then we'll be caught up. At least Ellie will be ahead of the game.

A is for Alligator

E is for Elephant
The multi-colored elephants are because we read this story.

And tomorrow . . . it's G for Gruffalo.

Too cute to miss out on

Holly is giving away a box of adorable cute pumpkins. Go check it out here.

A New Chapter

August 2004

In August of 2004 Sam started pre-k, and after a few weeks decided he liked school. Today was Sam's sixth first day of school. He started fourth grade. It's his last year of elementary school. He is part of the "biggest kids at school" group. Watching him leave for school this morning was hard. How is he growing up so fast and how can I stop it? How do I only have nine years left until he graduates from high school. The past nine years have flown by. How do I make the next nine years slow down?

And Benjamin . . . how did he get to be so wise, so confident, so funny? Just yesterday he was a tiny little boy, and now he's in second grade. Next year he'll be at school all by himself. How is it possible that my little Benjamin is big enough to even be in school?

I'm so excited for the boys. They both have great teachers and they have great friends. They are going to have a fantastic year. Still, I can't help but notice the quiet in the house this afternoon. I don't have to break up any fights or broker any peace treaties, but I also don't have my buddies to hang out with. I don't have Sam to show me what cool things he just invented or Benjamin to share some odd fact he just read. It's the first day of school and I miss them already.

It's going to be a long year.

The Nature of the Beasts

Having Sam and Nicholas together is like having a lion and tiger together. Both frightfully strong willed and stubborn. Both eager to fight and assert dominance. And even though Sam is five and a half years older that Nicholas, we can never really be sure who will win the match. Nicholas got the point this time, and we all got a good laugh.

(Nicholas is the one wielding the water gun and Sam is the one trying to escape.)

I can't believe it's that time again

Last Friday was Eliana's second birthday. It's hard to believe that in two years, our beautiful little princess has grown from this
to this.

Round four of the terrible two's.

Bring. It. On.

Ellie's Birthday Party

We had Ellie's birthday last Friday. It was really simple and she loved it! She had definite ideas of what she wanted at her party . . . some worked, some not so much. We started off with bubbles, which were a big hit - even for the older boys.
Then the girls got their tutus and wands for dancing.

Ellie LOVES to dance. She loves to twirl and prance and all sorts of girly things. However, at her party, she would not dance at all. I even put on her favorite Wiggles song - the Shimmy Shake. But we had no shimmying and no shaking. We had catatonic stares from Ellie and Chole, and crying from Reagan. Thankfully Riley busted a move and made the dancing worthwhile.
Then we had cupcakes and fruit and cookies -- all per Ellie's request. We even had a princess tablecloth that she picked out. The boys were disgusted by the tablecloth and complained about it every time they walked past the table. What do they know?
After cupcakes came presents. Little girl toys are so much fun! She got a little Belle dress-up doll, a my little pony with a movie and stickers, a pink bubble machine, and a pony with its own purse. She was in HEAVEN!
Ellie's last request for her party was stories, but as soon as the presents came out, the stories were forgotten.

{The only picture I was able to get with all four of them in it. Two year olds do NOT hold still for anything!}

It was a fun little party. She loved it! And I'm glad we got to have it before her little friend Reagan moves away. (although there's still time for Reagan's mom and dad to change their minds and realize that Waco is WAY better than Vegas. . .)

{Reagan and Ellie, after Regan had some of my famous drugged cupcakes}

{The only time Reagan wasn't crying . . . I think she's still mad at me because I tricked her into going to nursery at church and then left her to fend for herself}

Thanks for coming girls!

An Almost Birthday

We've always had a party for the kids when they turn two. I'm not exactly sure why because at two, they could really care less about having friends over. And they only kind of get the present idea. Or maybe that's just boys . . .

Eliana's birthday is a few weeks away. We're having a party early because one of her little friends is moving. When I asked Eliana if she wanted a party, she got really excited. Really excited. She said, "I want cookies and cupcakes and juice and fruit." And every time we go to the store, she asks if we're buying things for her party. She is constantly talking about the party - currently, she's added bubbles and dancing to her list of party ideas.

I decided to make tutus for all her guests instead of a goody bag. I started on them when Eliana was napping, to lessen the amount of helping hands. When she woke up and saw the tutu, she was overjoyed. She ran to it and said, "Oh! It's for my party! I'm going to be a princess!" She had to have it on immediately. And then she begain dancing around on her tip toes (it's the honest truth!)

But the best part came after the dancing stopped. She twirled around for the last time and said, "I look so pretty. I'm a princess! I love my party!"

I can only imagine how excited she's going to be at the real party. Who knew girls could be so fun?

Vacation Slide Show

About five hours south of Waco is a tiny little beach town called Port Aransas. Last week, we went there for the first time. It was wonderful! We went to the beach as soon as we got into town - and the kids loved it! Every morning, as soon as they woke up, they would ask when we were going to the beach. Eliana would practically jump out of her carseat as soon as she could see the ocean. It was a fabulous vacation! We're already planning our next trip to the beach.

All of the kids tried body surfing. Some were more successful than others, but here are some highlights.












We were also able to visit the Texas State Aquarium. They have a small dolphin pool where they show you how they train dolphins.

Daddy's Girl

The other night when dinner was over, Josh got up from the table. Eliana, who was still in her high chair, said (without any prompting) "Father, Don't leave me!" We all started laughing, so she started saying it over and over. Josh came back and took Eliana out of her chair and the two spent the evening together.

Eliana is becoming a Daddy's girl. She asks for something and he delivers. Last night, for example, Josh was putting her to bed. She didn't want to go to bed, she wanted to stay up with everyone else. So she started to cry. Josh tried to soothe her by reading books and playing puppet theater with her stuffed animals. That wasn't enough. Eliana didn't want to be left out. Josh finally asked her if she wanted him to stay. She said yes, stopped crying immediately, and Josh spent the next hour in her room.

I'm working on teaching Eliana to say "Father, would you please buy my mother some new clothes."