Things of Note

I've just got to start this post off with this:



Yesterday when I was in feeding dinner to Emilia, I looked out the window and what did I see? Josiah sweeping the whole porch for me! And when he was done with the porch, he swept the lower part, too! All without me asking! I was in heaven watching him and I gave him an oreo when he was done, even though it was almost dinner time. He said he "noticed" the front porch needed it, too, and he's going to sweep it today. Yipee!



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I had one of those moments the other day where I let my kids do something I wouldn't normally let them do because I was just emotionally exhausted from whatever had happened in the rest of the day. And I knew when I did it that I was setting myself up for a fight later on, and I'm still fully expecting that fight to happen, but was just worn out at the end of this day, and in the process of "choosing my battles" I chose not to choose this one...at least not that day. But I have no intention of making this a regular thing, so I know the fight is coming.

And if you could decipher all that, you're ahead of me today because I just reread it and got a little lost in the middle!

Anyway...so, have I mentioned how much Emilia loves shoes? No, I don't think I've done that post yet. It's one of those filed away in my head to post about, but I haven't gotten to that, yet. But she does love shoes, especially Crocs. She's slept in her crocs lots because she screams when they come off. Well, this day she wanted to take a bath in her crocs. NORMALLY, I wouldn't let that happen. I'd just let her scream. But like I mentioned, I didn't have it in me this night. So, she took a bath with one croc. (I fought for the one to come off and then ran out of steam on the second one) Knowing this wouldn't happen again, and knowing how much she really is attached to these shoes and wanting to capture HOW MUCH she loves these shoes, I busted out the camera for the occasion. So, here she is in all her bathtime glory...with a shoe on.



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Micah must have really had fun at his birthday party because everyday since he's asked if we can have his Superman party again. :) Josiah has been running around calling himself Super Josiah and yesterday he wrote it on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. Micah watched him write it, wanted to write his own and said, "Mommy, you're going to have to help me." I was thinking he meant help him write the letters, so I moved over to him and tried to hold his hand with the chalk. He pulled away and said, "No, mommy. I said you have to HELP me." I said, "That's what I'm trying to do." He said, "No, HELP. I can write an 'S'...." He writes an 's'...all by himself. I said, "Next is a 'u'" HE WROTE THE WHOLE WORD 'SUPER' BY HIMSELF. I didn't even know he could do that!! Clearly, I had to take a picture! (It's hard to see in this little picture, but if you click on it to make it bigger you can see it)

Super Slideshow

**You really need to turn on your speakers for this, to complete the Superman slideshow experience**

Super Micah Man is FOUR!

**You really need to turn on your speakers before reading this one...for the complete, enhanced blog-reading experience**

We had a big birthday celebration here on Sunday. My sweet Micah man turned four. I know I say this at every birthday, but SERIOUSLY--where does the time go?!?? I can't believe that its already been 4 years since I was big as a house, 9 days late, being induced and told that when they broke my water there was a chance the umbilical cord could prolapse because the baby's head wasn't fully engaged (What?! 9 days late and not fully engaged?!?) and we'd have to be rushed the the hospital for an emergency C-section. Well, needless to say, that didn't happen, John kept taking naps during my labor and Micah made his grand entrance sooner than we all expected and then I was holding my new baby boy. That was four years ago already? Yikes.



But what an awesome kid he has become in those 4 years. He is so full of life and adventure and sweetness. He comes to check on Emilia when she cries and comforts her with backrubs and kisses and soothing words. Yes, sometimes those backrubs knock the little girl over because he is very strong and physical, but he doesn't do it on purpose. He loves to laugh and make faces and try new things, except for new food things and his taste buds seems to become less and less adventurous everday! He likes books and puzzles and anything unexpected, like a silly end to a book or someone jumping out from around the corner saying "boo!" He is lovey and makes sure to give everyone hugs and kisses before they leave, and even then a lot of times he'll run to the front windows to throw out some extra kisses and you'd better make sure he sees you catch them, too! He's still attached to his precious be-be, although less and less these days as there are some nights when he forgets to take it to bed with him. He's not a talker like his brother is and when he's mad or sad he likes to be alone and after he calms down a little bit he likes to be held before he starts playing again. He wants so much to be able to do all the things his brother can do and although he knows there's 18 months difference between them I think in his mind there is someway for him to catch up with Josiah. He told one of our neighbors the other day, "I'm going to be 4 tomorrow and then after that I'm going to be 5!" Ahhh, the days when we don't age fast enough! He usually cheers for the underdog, the smaller one and is so happy when they win. His favorite part of "Horton Hears a Who" was that, "The smallest one of all saved the day!" And he's even more excited when he manages to win over his brother! He's just such an awesome kid with a great smile and a wonderful laugh. He's goofy and adventurous and a fighter. He's loving and protective of his family and can't get enough of blue things, chocolate (particularly pudding) and playing with his brother. I love this kid so much, my heart smiles just thinking about him. What a sweet, fun treasure he is to me.

So....on to the birthday...



The day started with the usual funny face pancakes, always a good start to a day! Micah insisted that his had to have a 4 on the top, so one of his eyes was a 4. Emilia even had some pancakes this time around and she was sure a big fan! Could have something to do with the chocolate chips in them... :)



After breakfast Micah got to open his first present--Incredible Hulk underwear, picked out by Micah himself and said to be "the only thing I really want for my birthday."



He was SOOOOOOOO excited when he got them! So excited, in fact, that everyone in his class at church got to see the undies he wore that day! Leave it to my kids to walk into Sunday School and drop their drawers for everyone to admire their underwear! At least I know he really liked them!



Micah's Superman party was that afternoon and it was FUN!



All of the Super Heroes had to pass the Super Hero Strength Training Course so they could battle Lex Luthor and save Metropolis. Micah was the first one to run the training course and as he ran to the start line, he tripped on a stick/chipmunk hole and fell. He tried to brush it off, but when I asked if he was ok he said, "yeah...Noooooooo!" We got a bandaid and then he was good to go.



The kids had a good time on the obstacle course and ran through it several times before we played Lex Luthor on the Loose (aka Tag) and Kryptonite Keep-Away (aka Hot Potato). Then....Cake time!!



Mmmmmm...yummy cake, complete with Superman Ice cream! The day ended with dinner with Gramma and Grampa. Micah had requested hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill with homemade mac-n-cheese and I talked him into having salad because we needed some kind of veggie. But you know what? When it came time to eat, he didn't even remember that he was the one who chose what we were having! We were eating and he said, "Mommy, I like all of this dinner we're having." I said, "That's good. You chose all of it." Micah: "No, I didn't." I told him about my asking him last week, talking about needed a vegetable, deciding on salad, deciding on homemade over boxed mac-n-cheese...finally he said, "Oh, right." Well, weather he remembered or not, he was happy with it. That's all that matters!



It was a fun party, a good day and the next day Micah said he wanted to have his party again so he could do the "thing where we crawled under the board and ran around the cone with our finger on it, because I want to crawl through the tunnel again. That was fun!"

Outfits

The boys both dressed themselves this morning. It's not an unusual thing, but today both of their outfits are notable and post-worthy.

First and foremost, my fabulous four-year old:


You may notice that he has on two different socks. This is not uncommon for him. He is really, really bad about just taking his socks off and letting them land where they may. That means only (at best) half of his socks get washed which means his sock basket is a bunch of loose, unmatched socks and no one really knows where the other halves are. BUT, he loves those character socks, so he'll choose two of his favorites and wear them. Who cares if they match, right? Now, the other fun part about this outfit, other than that his zipper is undone, is that underneath those shorts he has on a new pair of underwear...backwards. Well, of course backwards! Don't you know they make all those kid underwears with the fun stuff on the back?? We can't have that. Micah wanted to be able to see it himself, so he's got his undies on backwards today, on purpose and he plans on keeping them that way "all the day."

I've seen him pickin' a wedgie more times than I can count already, so do you think he'll really stick with it all day?

And now, for Mr. Josiah:

Hmmm...looking good, don't you think? :) Well, of course I'm all Vol so naturally I think so! But you know what Josiah said after he got dressed? He ran out here saying, "I'm camoflauged today!"

Huh?

I mean, we do live in East Tennesee and all, but I don't think that bright orange counts as camoflauge ANYWHERE unless you're in a stadium or arena while the Vols are playing. But he insists...today he is camoflauged. Whatever, dude.

Two Tidbits

Another "kid-ism:"

helpfee- Josiah's word. healthy. "Mommy, you should eat something 'helpfee' after all that junk you just ate."

And...Josiah F-I-N-A-L-L-Y found his bike helmet. You should have seen him. He was so excited. He said, "It was just right there!" I said, "Yup. And it's been 'right there' this whole time." He stared at me with his mouth gaping open, as if he couldn't believe it had been there and he'd missed it. I still can't believe it either, but I'm sure glad he found it. He and his bike had a happy reunion. :)

What's "Missing"

I'm beginning to question our pediatrician's judgement. She SAYS that Josiah and Micah's ears and eyeballs are working fine. She SAYS they've passed all the tests. I'm thinking she's wrong. I can be right next to them and say something and they dont hear me. They can step on a toy or a book and then say they didn't know it was there, or they didn't see it. Does that sound like they're ears and eyes work?? I'd say they have very selective sight and hearing.

Case in point: Josiah's bike helmet. It's been "missing" for almost a week now. I am beyond tired of the whining and tears and DRAMA of them searching for something that is in plain sight. So, when Josiah broke down about not knowing where his helmet was and not being able to ride his bike because he couldn't find it and I knew he had "looked" for it at least 2 times, for at least 20 minutes each time but then found it laying on the bathroom floor IN PLAIN SIGHT, I could no longer be an enabler to their eye/ear malfunctions. I told Josiah to keep looking. I have since narrowed it down for him in that I told him it's inside. And, oh, is he MAD at me for knowing where it is and not telling him. He's tried getting me to play hot/cold with him to lead him to his helmet. He's cried, screamed, stomped, yelled, "MY EYEBALLS ARE OPEN OR ELSE I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SEE YOU!"

And tonight, after brushing his teeth he TRIPPED OVER HIS HELMET AND STILL DIDN'T SEE IT.

Are you kidding me???

Some Days are Like This...Even in Australia

So far today I have...

*cleaned up a flooded bathroom because someone forgot to turn off the faucet

*messed up TWO recipes I was trying to make for a friend

*spilled a pot of soil all over the floor in the house

*been told I'm a bad mommy by one of my kids (a first)

*killed at least one, possibly more, of my sprouting vegetable plants


How's your Monday going?

SAN DIEGO PICTURES!!

Well, That One Didn't Quite Work Out...

Yesterday we went to the library to pick up some books I had on hold (anyone want to learn to make homemade cheese with me?). Now, to be honest, I had every intention of making this a quick trip...driving the one mile to the library and possibly even not letting the kids look around. I mean, it was already after 1 o'clock when we left, Emilia was going to need a nap soon and the boys are always tired at this time of day. My kids had other plans, though. We got outside and Micah started dancing around in the driveway singing, "We're walking to the library! We're walking to the library!" I said, "Oh. You want to walk? I was planning on just driving (hint-hint)" because quite frankly, I wasn't really up for a walk to the library. Josiah said, "Oh no, let's walk!" Oooookay...change of plans, gather water bottles, get the stroller, make sure I have gum because though you may not realize it gum is a VERY important part of walking to the library. I'm thinking this isn't all bad. My kids are clearly absorbing some shreds of what I want them to learn, since they would rather walk than drive. Plus, then I won't be driving, meaning won't be using gas, won't be putting whatever I put into the environment when I do drive, and my kids are realizing that we don't HAVE to drive everywhere. Bring on the walk.

Fast forward 2 hours. We are turning up the last road into our 'subdivision' (I use that term loosely). The kids are tired. I'm tired. Micah has already fallen about 15 times and forced me to enforce a "No Running" rule. Josiah is walking sooooooo slooooooowly, I keep calling to him to please walk a little faster and keep up with us, because we weren't walking THAT fast. And then Micah says, "OH NO! Molly lost one of her shoes!"

Argh. Really???

I make us turn around and walk back around the corner, but I don't see it and if we continue the walk back we have to cross the sort-of busy corner intersection again and I don't feel like doing that AGAIN. Plus, I'm also running the risk that her shoe is actually back at the library and we're going to end up walking all the way back and then still have to walk home again and I don't think that ANY of us have the energy for that. So, instead we truck on back home and all pile in the car and drive the roads to the library as I had planned on doing in the first place, only this time Josiah is hanging out of the window like a dog because he's checking the ground for her shoe.

We did find it, by the way. And it wasn't all the way back at the library. Just half-way there. And thank goodness we found it because Emilia is QUITE attached to these shoes. She's slept in them since I gave them to her 2 days ago. She SCREAMS when I take them off to put her jammies on.

Oh well!

Still Waiting

Still no pics from San Diego, they're coming--I promise! Not that I'm surprised or anything, but knocking on wood last week did me no good and Emilia and Josiah both got sick...on Easter morning. Josiah seems to be back to normal, but my little girl is still recovering. That and apparently viruses can transfer from humans to computers. Did you know that?? Ha. Well, ok, so not really, but our computer did also get some sort of nasty virus and it is also on the mend thanks to the computer guys at John's work, but I still don't have those pics on here, so we'll just have to let the anticipation build for a few more days.

I've been thinking recently about how quickly kids grow up. I know people say it all the time, and I know I've said it to others more times than I can count, but also I know I'm going to turn around tomorrow and my kids will be graduating and going off to college...at least it's going to seem like tomorrow. My kids are still relatively young, but this is all going by so fast and there's no way to make it stop! If only a year as a mom would last as long as year lasted when I was a kid. I wish I could switch that time flow somehow, because although some days seem to last forever around here, the years are FLYING by and when I was little the days went by fast, but a year was an eternity of waiting. Strike that. Reverse it. Give me more time to treasure these little people while they're growing and learning and being oh-so silly.

Josiah is to blame for this recent train of thought. The boy is getting so big! I can't pick him up and hold him for very long. He's all arms and legs, there's appendages hanging everywhere and it's just gotten a bit awkward. Doesn't stop me from picking him up 'cause I'm trying to hold on to my little boy just a bit longer, but when I look at him, I know. My baby's gone. My little boy has grown up into...

A KID.

Before I cry about that again....
So, I've been noticing some of the childish things my kids still do. One that I've been particularly enjoying the last few days are the words they still don't pronounce correctly. They make me smile. I've been tucking them away in my heart to treasure for all time. A sweet memory of the fleeting days with my babies.

constructions: Micah's word. the instructions for a game

die-nag-ally: Josiah's word. diagonally.

bleh-shoo: Micah's word. A sneeze. Correct use: Mommy, I just blehshooed.

"watching an eye on you": Micah's phrase. Same as "keeping an eye on you."

am-blee-ance: Josiah's word. ambulance.

rawd egg: Josiah's word. raw egg, but much more vicious sounding.

laugh-o-dills: Micah's word. daffodils. Josiah gave him a thorough enough speech lesson on this that it only lasted a day or two.

suspectin': Micah's word. expecting, as in, "Mommy's suspectin' a package."

There's more, I know. I'm going to have to write them down, though because just sitting here I can't remember them. How sad is that? If I can't remember it now how am I going to be able to remember the sweetness of these days when I'm 60, 70 or 80???

I don't know how many of you listen to the music that I have set to play with our blog, but the song I usually have as the first song is my "mommy song." Every time I hear it, I'm reminded...time falls away, but I'll always have these little wonders to remember how sweet it feels to be a mom.

"In the end,
we will only just remember how it feels.

Our lives are made
in these small hours.
These little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate.
Time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours still remain."

Stay Tuned

I know that some of you are waiting for the post with pictures about our trip to San Diego, and I will get there, I promise, but not today. Since we've been home, John and I have both been sick with some yucky stomach thing and while it seems we are on the mend and that the kids have avoided getting sick (knock on wood) I'm not up to doing a big post right now. So, this is just a little note to let you all know we're here and getting better and you'll get to hear about our California fun another time! For now, I leave you with this picture. I took this pic of the boys one day last month. :)

Getting There

Josiah informed me yesterday that he can blow snot bubbles out of his nose. You never knew I had such talented kids, did ya?? :)

Bright and early tomorrow morning we leave for John's cousin's wedding in California. We are all very excited about going! Josiah and Micah have asked almost every day for the last week if today is the day we leave for Holly's wedding. And Josiah has been practicing his dancing, so watch out!

Now the thing about this trip that I'm not particularly excited about is the "getting there" thing. Picture it...Knoxville Airport...two adults, three kids...not 1, not 2, but THREE car seats...one stroller...one diaper bag...enough actvities to keep a 4 and 5 year old entertained for several hours (Yay LEAPSTER!)...and I haven't even gotten to the real travel stuff yet--clothes, toiletries, etc!! Due to all of the additional charges airlines have added for baggage, John's parents are taking one of our bags with them (they don't have to pay to check bags) but we'll have at least one more to haul through the airport. Now, doesn't that sound fun?? Plus we have to keep track of the kids while we're carrying all of this. Maybe those leash things aren't such a bad idea afterall....JUST KIDDING! Well, we'll make it somehow, but if you happen to be at the airport in the morning you can look for us, or rather look for our STUFF because you probably won't be able to see us underneath it all!