Perspective

You know how you can take something for granted when you have it all the time? I think that is how I used to be with alone time with any of my kiddos. But now that I have a handful of them, those moments of time alone with any one of them are just precious to me.

I've never been the mom to want to drop my kids to run off and do my own thing. Quite the contrary, actually. But I did still take for granted the many wonderful moments I had with them when I only had one or two (or three or four...). I've always wanted a whole passel of children, and more often than not I'm quite happy to just be with all of them enjoying the hustle and bustle of a lively and loving family. And even now there are times when I know I COULD pull just one of them aside - but to be completely honest I choose to just take that moment for just my own quiet alone time. And sometimes I need that alone time. Don't we all?

But today I decided to take the last 30 minutes of my kids' rest/nap time and pull my Goose from his rest early to just have some Mommy-Goose time with him. He is solidly the middle child - one sweet boy in the middle of 5 kids - and he is more often than not happy to do his own thing and fade quietly into the background, just checking in now and then for a happy smile or a goofy comment. His presence is always a joy, but he is often the one to just join the group. When it works for us or the situation he's one of the Big Boys. When it suits us better he's just one of the Littles.

So time alone with Goose is one of those precious things. And today I did make the time to just spend a half hour baking cookies with just my Little Big Man. And it was by far the happiest, most enjoyable chunk of my day. And I had an AWESOME day so that's saying a lot!

We chatted and I got to watch him slowly work his way through measuring and scooping flour. I was able to take the time to teach him a few tricks and we both had a wonderful time.

Now a few children ago that would have just been a nice moment, one of many I'd had and a happy addition to the day. But now - with five of them and those quiet moments much fewer and further between - it was one of those precious memories that may just last me a lifetime (of course my memory is not what it used to be so don't quote me on that...). And it inspires me to make more efforts to take a half hour here or an afternoon moment there to just take aside one of those precious gifts God has given to me and pour into just them alone, and allow them to just have all of me for that time, and to give all of themselves right back to me in return. Yes - I need my alone time. But today I realized that sometimes I actually enjoy the company of my children in those quiet moments more than I do just my own alone self.

Goose Turns Four

It's too late and I'm too tired to write about all the fun times we had last Thursday when my sweet little Goose turned four. I hope to sit down another time and put a little more effort into sharing the fun we had as we celebrated the big day together.

But I did just have to post a couple of pictures of my boy on his big day. Can you guess what theme he chose? He'd been talking for MONTHS about the big Soccer Birthday he wanted. The child has never even played soccer himself, but his Daddy played a ton and he's watched his two big bros play on teams for a few years now.

Sweet, funny Goose. That boy steals our hearts on a daily basis. He's the funniest, cleverest, most amazing four year old I know - Oh how blessed I am that he calls me Mommy.

Just because he's so stinkin' adorable...

My Goose.

Silly Goose

Today while reading My Father's Dragon out loud to my three big boys I held up the book to show them all the picture of the rhinoceros throwing Elmer around by the seat of his pants using its tusk. If you've never read the book it sounds scary, but it's cute and silly in the story, and the picture is intriguing for sure.

When Goose (3 1/2) saw the picture he was captivated.

I asked him what he saw in the picture and his answer cracked me up:

"He's dangerousussin' him!"

I wish I brought my camera!

We had so much fun today!

I took my four kiddos, plus Mary Grace's three oldest and we headed out to a berry farm about 45 minutes from home to pick raspberries.

The kids were so great at picking and happily stayed nearby on our same "lane" so I could keep an eye on all seven kids at once. They especially loved when I would send them as "scouts" down to different lanes of berries to report which was the most promising lane to head down next. MG's three picked for their family and my crew and I picked for ourselves, and both families ended up with +/- 9 pounds of fresh raspberries. I can't believe how effective those little eyes and hands are at finding and picking berries. Even Finny was really, really great!

Goose was less effective, and most definitely ate more than he collected. But he was so cute as he'd come running down the lane to me hollering, "I got one! I got a beewy! Hewe, Mommy." As he dropped one proudly into my collecting box. I'm sure he collected a total of 20 berries throughout the entire afternoon. But he had a great time, and was very proud of each of those 20 berries.

And Girly Pie happily walked up and down the dusty, dirty lane following the procession of poking, picking, hollering, laughing and chatting children. Every once in a while she would find a promising branch of berries and squat down in that cute toddler squat to indulge herself. I loved watching her dirt and berry stained face as she would smile and nod, mouth full of berries, and say, "Mmmmm."

By the time we were finally loading up in the car, every single pair of feet was completely covered in fine dirt, and every pair of hands was coated a sticky brown, highlighted of course with berry juice. Goose and Girly Pie had completely brown and red faces. Girly Pie even had some chunks of berry in her hair.

It was great.

So home we drove, with seven happy little people all buckled in and chatting away the 45 minute ride home. Girly Pie and Goose fell asleep quickly and slept through more laughing and jostling than one can imagine. The sleep of exhausted, happy babies with berry-filled bellies.

14 filthy hands. 14 socks encrusted with dirt and most likely beyond saving. 7 smiling brown faces. 18 pounds of raspberries. 1 filthy car. An uncountable number of smiles.

And one happy momma and friend.

It was well worth the $36 for the berries. Today was a day I will not soon forget. I just love days like this.

And I can't BELIEVE I didn't bring my camera. I guess I'll just have to keep those mental snapshots and hope they last forever. Somehow, I think they will.

Goose's Bulldozer Cake

Oh my. It does seem hard to find the time to sit down at the computer for much of anything these days.

But I have finally managed to get here to put up the pictures of Goose's cake. I do hope to write a nice post about how wonderful his birthday was and get some pictures of our happy little three year old man up for everyone to enjoy. But for the moment, here is the little how-to on our favorite family bull-duh-zoder cake... uh, I mean bulldozer cake. ;o)

First, prepare one box of your favorite flavor cake mix. We prefer white cake around here, but for the actual bulldozer, you can get whatever you want. Divide the batter up into two mini loaf pans and one regular size bread loaf pan. If you don't have those handy, you can just use a 9x13 and do some creative cutting later.

And while you're in the cake making stage, you should prepare ahead one 9x13 chocolate cake and one box of chocolate pudding. You'll use these later.

Once the loaves are baked and cooled, cut the rounded tops off of all the loaves. I then put the big loaf upside down on my tray for the main dozer, and use one mini loaf for the cab, and one mini loaf for the scoop - that scoop one I like to cut at a bit of an angle to make it look scoop-like.

Voila!

The next step is to decorate the dozer. We like to make yellow frosting, use chocolate donut wheels and licorice tracks. I get a little tube of black decorating icing for the details.

Now it's time to get out that chocolate cake and chocolate pudding, for the "mud." I used about half of the cake, and maybe 2/3 of the pudding, though you can use as much as you want to make as much mud as you want. Personally, I think the mud is the tastiest part of the cake! Toss some chunks of the cake into a bowl, and spoon globs of the pudding on top. Then mix it all up until you are happy with the consistency (and taste!) of your mud.

Then start putting the mud around your decorated dozer. Have fun and make it look good. Dirt is always a good thing. ;o)

And that's about it. Now you should have a cute little bulldozer in a nice bed of muddy goo. We stick a few plastic construction figures around and add some finishing touches like the age and name of the birthday boy...

And the final result is one very happy three year old boy! The cake was by far the highlight of Goose's entire birthday. He was so stinking cute about it!

And just as a suggestion, we found that taking bites of the chocolate mud at the same time with bites of our favorite raspberry sorbet was REALLY good. Gourmet good. But that was just our grown up preference. The kids were happy to slop bites of all and every little bit in their mouths without differentiating between flavors.

So there you go. Bulldozer cake. It's a good thing.

Goose

Oh, and by the way... Goose is totally over strep now. He started the antibiotics last Wednesday, and the last time he measured a fever was sometime Friday. By Saturday he was much more himself, and he was totally fine by Sunday.

So Goose is healthy. And we're happy.

And praise the Lord that no one else in the family (so far...) has had even the slightest hint of a fever or sore throat...

Update on Goose

So with a fever that keeps hitting 104 +/- whenever the ibuprofen wears off, plus the nasty looking white patches on each of little Goose's tonsils... I thought it best to bring the little man into the walk-in clinic at our local doctor's office (the regular docs didn't have any openings today)...

And he has strep throat. It's the first time anyone in our family has ever, ever had it. Neither my husband or I had ever even had it as kids.

But I am thankful to God for a kind on-call doctor who was more than happy to prescribe a full Z-pack for my boy without even putting him through the pain of the throat swab... I guess when you look into an almost-three-year-old's throat and see nasty white patches on his tonsils and measure 104.1 degree fever in the doc's office, you just get the poor kid on some drugs as quickly as possible.

On the bright side though, he has been an absolute angel. He's been cheerful and mellow, watching lots of movies but happy to play, too. He's not complained or fussed about anything. In fact, I'd almost go so far as to say he's been more pleasant during his illness than he has been as a general rule these past few weeks. ;o) So at least he's not acting miserable or clearly knocked out or feeling horrible. I'm so glad he's been so good through it all. I'd be so sad if he were clearly miserable.

So that's the scoop. He already got his first dose of zythromax this evening and will be noncontagious by tomorrow evening. So here's praying it stays with him and doesn't spread around to all the rest of the house. Strep can be a nasty, nasty bug if it festers too long... ain't that right, Mary Grace? ;o)

Goose's zoo day

Poor Goose.

We went to the zoo today. We were all thrilled and excited to head out the door. So when Goose said he was cold and I measured his temperature at 100.3, I didn't think it was worth all their disappointment to stay home. 100.3, after all, is in the territory for us of just a minor cold setting in. Besides, he was acting fine and perfectly happy. So I dosed him with some ibuprofen, just in case, and we went anyway.

To the zoo. Over an hour away. On an 85 degree day.

Sigh.

Well, he was totally fine the whole time. I gave him full priority in the stroller and he rode the whole day, but he was pleasant and happy. He had a great time and really enjoyed seeing the lions, penguins and gorillas. Oh, and the jaguar (Because what 2-ish year old boy doesn't love Baby Jaguar from Diego!?). Honestly I pretty well forgot he had even measured a temperature at all this morning.

Then we got home... and as I removed him from the carseat and carried him across the driveway in the 90 degree heat (our town is always hotter than the city) I noticed he felt much warmer than he should after sitting in the air conditioned car for an hour.

Yeah. That would be because he had a 103.7 degree fever... which kept going up until it hit 104.2 at its peak. Now with fresh ibuprofen he's down in the high 102's.

My poor baby! I feel so bad. I have no idea how long his fever has been that high. He really did seem fine at the zoo. Seriously. But the poor guy is just burning up!

Well, anyway my little man is now parked on the couch watching any and every movie he wants until dinner and bed tonight. He's happy and seems perfectly comfortable.

So I'd say that pretty much blows my chances of the Mother of the Year Award. ;o) I can't believe I took a not-quite-three-year-old to the zoo with a 104 degree fever.

OK. Off I go to snuggle with my guy and hope he's feeling better soon. He's such a little trooper.

So much for my plans for the day...

Don’t you hate it when the baby – who has been awake since 4:30 in the morning – gets woken up less than an hour into her much needed nap by the toddler big brother when he clicks her bedroom door open and shut several times by hanging on the knob?

Apparently he was waiting for Mommy to come out – though Mommy was actually in the master bedroom as she told him she would be.

Sigh. No more school. No more big boy game time with Mommy. I guess we’re just in for a very cranky day with Sweet Miss Girly Pie. Poor girl.

And I KNOW that was shaping up to be at least a two hour nap!

Ah well. Such is life. ;o) No use crying over spilled milk (or lost naps, either...).

Lovely, lovely life

It feels like I’ve hardly taken the time to post lately, but I’m really OK over here. Things are going very well, actually.

Last weekend I went to a really amazing Christian homeschool conference with Mary Grace. It was such a wonderful opportunity to really be fed on scripture and encouragement. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the many uninterrupted conversations we were able to have with two days of childless car rides and conference time, but I was taken aback by the encouragement I felt being in such a place. There were so many good speakers covering such topics as raising daughters to be helpmeets, encouraging courtship rather than modern dating, biblical protection of daughters, biblical support for homeschooling, and tons more. I know there were some other topics specifically geared towards the more educational aspects of homeschooling, but we were both drawn more to the spiritually encouraging messages. I walked away from the conference with so very much to think and pray over. It’s so easy to see God’s work in the world when you go to such a place, surrounded by people who for the most part are making great efforts to daily devote themselves to Him and are giving everything they have to raise up a generation of children devoted to serving and glorifying Him. I admit it was a little bit sad to leave after two full days and walk back into the “real world” where so many people are so blinded by the false riches this world has to offer. But that is what we are surrounded by in this world. So at least I can be thankful to have been filled up for those two days so I feel better prepared to walk along this path God has made for me.

In other news, the weather has finally shown some consistency with sunshine and warmth. Don’t get me wrong – there are still plenty of chilly, gray and wet days. But there are often a couple of days of real spring like weather in between the gray spells. So I’m happy enough with that. ;o)

Girly Pie, my sweet baby girl is turning ONE YEAR OLD a week from today. Wow. Sigh. I think that will be a whole other blog post next week. There are so very many emotions that go along with that milestone in my heart! But she is still just about the cutest little thing in the whole wide world, and we couldn’t be any more in love with that darling little girl. And she’s walking – a lot. But still crawling, too. In the next week or two she’ll make that jump to full blown walker, I predict.

Goose has been struggling with some toileting issues. I’ve not mentioned them much, because, well really, it’s just not something you mention. But somehow after a whole year of being fully potty trained, he just started being terrified to poop. So he just stopped doing it. And if you know anything about the human digestive system, that just doesn’t go over well. But, after much worry, prayer and even a few tears, we found some resources that got us down the road to recovery from what was a very unhappy place for a little boy and his family to be. So now for the most part he’s back on track and does not seem to have any more issues with fear there. Thank you Lord for answered prayers and some really great kids books on the topic! Other than that he’s still just a complete crack up. If he’s this funny at a couple months shy of three, I can’t even imagine the stuff that kid will say when he’s a little bigger. That boy is just bursting with personality!

Finny had been doing really well with his occupational therapy schedule and exercises. But due to no fault of his own, we got a little off track for a few weeks and now are in the process of picking up the pieces and trying to get back into the activity schedule. It’s just a place where I am weak, that whole schedule and structure thing. But when I look at how great he does and how happy he is when I am diligent, versus how helpless and frustrated he is when I find myself slacking off with him, it is very convicting and I know that it’s just something I need to buck up and just do to the very best of my ability.

Punky is just a delight and such an encouragement. He’s the perfect oldest brother to our family. He’s responsible, hard working and always has a super positive attitude. I just love that boy. Seven is really an amazing age. He’s so aware of so much that you would think is beyond him – but then there are times when it’s so clear that he’s just a kid. A plain old “dumb” kid (that is, of course, said with full love and in the nice, happy sort of way… I’m not calling my son dumb!). And I love that. I’m so glad he doesn’t have to be fully mature and grown up all the time. It’s so great to see him just be a goof.

So we’re in birthday mode here. Lots to plan, lots to prepare. I’m very excited for Girly Pie’s flower themed first birthday party. I hope she enjoys it. ;o) Hubby is scheduled to have her birthday off of work, so I think we’ll just find a nice way to spend it all together as a family. He’s so sweet to always schedule our kids’ birthdays off of work. Granted he makes his own schedule, so it’s not hard – but he doesn’t get paid for it. So it’s still a sacrifice. And it’s one that I love him all the more for!

And I’m still pondering ideas for school next year. Two kids at a somewhat schoolish age. Hmmm… the possibilities are endless. And our garden is almost done! As of this weekend we’re hoping to have the dirt in, so we can plant whenever we want after that! Yay!

And that’s about it. Happy stuff. So many blessings. God is so very good. ;o)

One of my favorite things...

...about spring is when one of my beautiful little boys comes running up to me with a smile lighting up his whole face as he hands me a dandelion (or a handful of them, depending on which boy). "Here Mommy. This is for you!"

It's hard to think of anything else that can make me feel as loved as those proud gifts from such loving sons.

Even little 2 1/2 year old Goose today said: "Mommy, I got a pwize (surprise) for you. Wook. I got a fwowuh (flower) for you." I guess he's learned how to be so sweet from his brothers. And they all learned it from their sweet, sweet Daddy (who brings me random flowers on random days, just because he loves me).

But I believe there is no prettier flower than that bright, happy yellow weed when it is given with such love and devotion.

I will never again in all my life look at a patch of dandelions with scorn. I will only think of the years of happy, smiling boys so in love with me and so eager to bring a smile to my face.

Thank you Lord, for this season of life when I have a window sill full of weed-laden mini-vases, and so many dirty little hands and smiling little faces to wash each spring evening.

My cup runneth over.

Too cute for words...

Have you ever heard a two year old sing Peter, Paul and Mary's Leaving on a Jet Plane?

Well. If you haven't, I highly reccomend it as a very entertaining past time. There isn't much that I can think of at the moment that rivals that one for cuteness.

Just imagine the first few parts of the song sung in the cutest little husky mini-man voice. Try to read all the random typos as the cute toddlerisms that they are meant to be.

"uh bags uh pack. Uh weddy to go. I standin' he-uh, owside uh door. I hate uh wake you up uh say GOODBYE! But a don is bwakin, is ully mone. A taxi's waitin', he's bwowin' his hown. Weddy I so woooo I uh cwyyyy. So kiss me, smile fow me. Tell me at you wait uh me. hold like uh.. uh.. wet me GOOOOOO! I uh weevin' on a jet pwane. I dunno when i'w be back again. Oh babe I hate uh goooooo...."

Man. That Goose just cracks me up!

Silly Goose

Well Goose has been at it again. That little man is about the funniest thing on the planet right now.

Two year olds. Ya gotta love 'em.

Last night at dinner he was super tired from a busy week and several skipped naps and/or late nights. But instead of being his usual I-missed-my-nap-so-I'll-be-loud-and-miserable tired self, he was in an uncharacteristically subdued mood.

So as Hubby and I quizzed Punky and Finny with math facts (a common dinner practice for us... not sure why, just the way we work) Goose sat quietly at his place eating his dinner.

It made us all giggle when we looked over and noticed he had taken two pieces of crust from his homemade bread slice and had crossed them to make an airplane... and he was zooming his crust-plane all through the air around him making little airplane zooming noises. It was pretty cute.

A couple of minutes later, he delighted us all again with yet another creative use of bread crusts.

With one crust scrap in his right hand and one in his left, we all looked over just in time to hear, "Marks. Get set. GO!!!" And they were off, those two crust pieces, racing for the all their worth.

I think I can safely say that is the first time I have ever watched a bread-crust race across a dinner plate.

So there is your two year old moment for the day. That kid just cracks me up.

Silly Goose...

Have you ever seen a two year old try to cross his eyes? It's pretty darn hilarious. Goose, just a bit shy of two and a half, has been doing it quite a bit for the past week or two - just to be plain old silly. We got a shot of him recently and I couldn't resist posting it. He's just so darn CUTE!!

Goose is in one of those delightful toddler stages where you just can't get enough of him. He's happy as can be about 95% of the time. When you ask him to do something, or gently correct him if he's done something wrong, he mimics what he hears the big brothers say with a completely pleasant demeanor... "Yes Ma'am." But somehow it's just a little bit cuter coming out of a two year old's mouth with that little lisp and the slight toddler accent that he still has. He recently started praying, which is also precious. "Deaw Foddow. Tink oo uh Piglet. Tink oo uh Pooh. Tink oo uh Mommy. Tink oo uhhhh, Piglet. Tink oo uh hot dogs. (etc...)" And he'll go on and on and on until you add in your own "Amen." at which point he happily shouts "AMEN!" and prayer is done. He's also shown a renewed interest in Girly Pie, which is so sweet. He's always so excited to see her and kiss her and make her laugh with Peek-a-boo or silly faces. And if someone is hurt he is so concerned... "You OK, Mommy? I kiss it. You better now?" It's especially sweet when he's the one inflicting the pain. He'll step on my toe with all 35 pounds of muscular chunky toddler strength and I'll say something along the lines of, "Ouch. Careful Honey, that was Mommy's toe." It's said gently and I don't think much of it, until he's checking in on my well being and bending down to kiss my foot and asking me if I feel better now. It's just so funny.

And the eye crossing. It seems as though he often does it when he's eating something, and he really wants to see what's going in his mouth as he takes his bites. It's just so hard not to laugh when you look over during dinner and he's sitting there all cross-eyed and staring hard at his apple slice. He's just such a goof.

And the little sense of imagination kicking in is just a riot right now. He likes to play trains on the train table, and more than the bigger boys ever were he is infatuated with Thomas and friends. It's so fun to look over during my morning kitchen cleaning time and hear him chatting away with his trains. "No Thomas. You no do dat. Wook Percy. I Thomas. I Drivin'. Wook out, Percy." Or when he's running around mostly naked, but with a backwards plastic knight's shield draped over his shoulder and a hard hat on his head. And maybe a pair of cowboy boots, depending on his mood.

So anyway. Each age has it's own special magic. Goose is just in one of those particularly magical phases where my husband and I could just eat him up. Considering the fits the kid can throw when he's not in a "Happy Place," we'll gladly soak up the cuteness now. Maybe we can bottle some of it to open up on a rainy day sometime in the next few months when he's pushing three and working hard to reassert his toddler independence. ;o)