Sugarpalooza 2011

I'm not crazy about Halloween.  It's not that I care if the kids pretend there are ghosts or vampires.  I don't think that will steer them into demonic practices.  Although they were clowns one year.  (Back off.  Clowns are scary.)  But my yahoos have never really gotten into being or getting scared.  They are more into violence. They typically stick with anything that carries a weapon. The deadlier the better.  


My issue is with the math.

The equation is long.  You might want to grab a pencil.

The amount of work to get the costume(s) and get the child(ren) in said costume(s) + buckling and unbuckling one or more children in and out of car seats 1 kabillion times > the amount of GOOD candy generated.

In the past this equation has been true. Painfully true.

But have I mentioned that I have THE BEST MIL on the planet?  THE ENTIRE PLANET!!!

A couple of years ago I was looking around for costumes for The Yahoos.  Trying to come up with 3 (at the time) costumes is pricey.  So I asked the MIL if she could sew the kids' costumes.  I think they were cowboys/cowgirl.  She did such an incredible job.  The quality was top notch. Here is my absolute favorite picture of Little Middle Yahoo modeling (part) of the costume:

Seriously, who could resist this?

Thus started our little family tradition of me taking total advantage of the grandmother's sewing skills and letting her make the kids' costumes with no cost to myself.  So these days:

When work = 0, then any amount of candy is awesomeness!  

Plus, these days, we typically go to our church's Fall Festival.  This takes care of the whole buckling/unbuckling torture endured by both me and the children.   Of course, we still hit the hot spots where premium candy is distributed.  Anyone want to take a stab at what this household holds in high regard as the best candy in the free world?  Here's a hint:  We named a child after it. 
 

This year the 3 Big Yahoos were channeling The Force:  Annakin, Yoda, and Padme` Amidala.  Sweet Yahoo kept getting ticked off because everyone thought she was a pirate.  Finally she just started saying she was one when people asked her what she was.  It was just easier that way.  She's a little like me in that.

Baby Yahoo was channeling, well, himself.  The tail on the monkey costume I got for him wigged him out.  So I was the cool, go with the flow, experienced mom that let him go as himself.  Let's face it...when you have a face like this, why hide it behind a mask:

 

Here are a few pics of the yahoos enjoy themselves. 

You might notice that Ninja Yahoo is conspicuously absent from some of the latter pix.  At this point I need to point out that in our home we have the 24 Sugarpalooza.   For 24 hours you can eat all the candy you want but at the end of the 24 hours the candy is gone (not gone, of course, just hidden. Hello!).  So in these shots we are going on hour 23.  It's about now that the stomach ache set in.  He opted to cease Trick or Treating at my mom's and instead vegged out on the couch watching cable, something he never gets to do!

Hope all of you enjoy your own little Sugarpalooza 2011!

To everything there is a season...

There is something bittersweet to me about autumn.

The beautiful colors, the relief the cool weather brings to our sunburned skin.  I love it.  It is soothing and lovely.  But I also have this underlying anxiety.  There is something about this time of year that has me hoarding in all the outside time we can get.  I anticipate the coming cold winter.  We are going to have to say our temporary good byes to bike rides, swinging, walking to feed Ginger (the neighbors' horse).  I desperately want to take in all we can.  I desperately want to clear my calendar for the upcoming months of holidays that are bound to be maddening.  And I am wanting to simplify.  I prefer to spring clean in the fall.  To purge the house of the sickening amount of junk and grime that have collected during the busy spring and summer.  I guess I'm preparing.  Preparing for the long months ahead.

Winter is by far my least favorite season.  Being stuck inside the house with 4 energetic yahoos can wear my feeble emotional state thin at times.  And I'm not one of those creative moms that just happen to have everything on hand for the kids to whip out a bird feeder.  I don't have a 'craft box' for the kids to go make some project.  I might have a 1984 shoebox filled with broken crayons with no wrappers. 

This October marks a one year anniversary of a milestone year for me personally.  Starting in October of 2010 I entered into a year that was defined by loss.  We lost both our dogs and several cats this year.  To some people this is nothing, but helping kids grieve is hard.  And I am an animal lover myself.  So this was a tough blow for me.  Then in November of last year my family experienced the beginning of the end for my sweet, beloved Pawpaw.  Those months leading up to his death in February of 2011 were some of the darkest, heaviest I have ever experienced.   Meanwhile changes were happening in my own heart, my family, and my church that stripped away a lot of who I thought I was and who I thought God was. 

I hope I am on the tail end of this so-called 'season of loss.' These days I'm doing a lot of processing and evaluation.  There have been so many songs that have come out in the past few months that have helped me through this.  I could write a whole post exclusively about that.  I don't feel I have a lot of wisdom I have gained from the experiences to pass along.  But I do just keep going back to that well known passage of Scripture:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
  a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
  a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
  a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
  a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
  a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
  a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

          He has made everything beautiful in its time.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 11

I cling to the hope of that.  In HIS time He will make everything beautiful.  I have to.  If I don't have that hope I can't manage.  I can't make sense of the mess that this world throws at me.  I have to believe that He loves me, cares for me.  And that He brings seasons of loss and seasons of joy in our lives to make US beautiful in His time.

On a MUCH lighter note, I thought I'd throw some pix up of The Yahoos and The Honey as we partake of this autumn season and all the awesomeness that it brings our way.  Enjoy!

On a photo shoot for a  possible Christmas card picture

I love how Sweet Yahoo and Little Middle are holding hands.  I'm hating how Baby Yahoo is obviously developing  Pink Eye. :(

Took the fam to the Horse Park for Sweet Yahoo's birthday

Her favorite part!  The Honey has got to buy this child a horse.

Hayride with some crazies that we voluntarily do life with!

Love this group of kiddos.

Bottle feeding the kittens

Superman

He's mastered The Honey's 'Can we get this over?' face

Trailblazing

Fractions, Gratitude and Other Incredibly Hard Things to Learn.

Is it just me or are some years days excruciatingly hard to get through?  If your family is anything like mine you have these seasons in your home that are devoted to teaching and reteaching...and reteaching.  Whether it is tying shoes, or how to load the dishwasher, or fractions. 

This is my attitude toward fractions these days.

During this time there seems to be so little growth.  The drudgery of the day in day out work becomes monotonous and despairing.  I begin to doubt myself.  And when that's not fun anymore I begin to doubt the children ;) 

Right now all the kids are in different stages:  Ninja Yahoo is tackling multiplication tables, Sweet Yahoo is working on subtracting astronomically high numbers, Little Middle is becoming a master reader.  Baby Yahoo, well, is practicing being just like his daddy.

We are doing lots of training now.  But one thing that in my heart I want to kids to be mastering is thankfulness.  Gratitude.  

Gratitude:  noun:  The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

Did you see that?  Readiness!  Not being prodded or guilted into.  Being ready....to return kindness!  I love that.  I desire that.  For me and my family.  I want us to leave a legacy of gratitude. 

Lately is has been apparent to me that my kids have struggled with this character quality.  And for good reason.  

I stink at gratitude.

I am the Yoda of grumbling and complaining.   (In our house Yoda is the master of everything.)

Needless to say the kids haven't had the best model to emulate.  

Now, read this: 

A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.  Luke 6:40

Ouch!  That scares the tuti-fruiti out of me!  When they are fully trained they will be like me!?!?  Heck-o-Peet.

Once again there seems to be a pattern developing.  Before I can parent the children, I must first parent myself.  

So we all keep working.  Plugging away.  Day in day out.  Am I seeing a lot of growth right now?  Honestly, no.  But...

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9

I do believe.  I will not give up.

I wanted to end on what had to be the most encouraging moment from last week for me.  During a short break from school, Sweet Yahoo did a little freestyle writing on the board.  This is what she came up with: 

   

For those of you who don't read 2nd grade I will transcribe:

Dear God:   I hope you will forgive me for my sins.  And I hope if you want me to be a missionary in China or Michigan or even Antarctica I just hope I get to help somebody get to know you.   And I hope I get to be in the Christmas play.  Amen.     Love Caroline Grace Blakeman

Now, please know that I DO NOT put this up to brag about myself.  This is the work of the LORD in this child's life and nothing else.  But reading it did make my heart do a cartwheel.  It motivates me in that whole 'do not grow weary thing' earlier.

Now, time to get back to work! 

 

Under the knife

Well, it was more under the needle.

I had to have a (minor) operation today to unlock my jaw (much to The Honey's objections;))  My jaw has been locked for close to 2 months. *UGH*  I must admit it has been somewhat quiet around these parts since then. But I am most assured these two things do not correlate at all!

All went well and I am already feeling excruciating pain better.  So thankful for drugs modern medicine and the blip on the history timeline in which I live.

I also want to give a big shout out to my two big boys (The Honey and Ninja Yahoo) for taking such great care of me today.  After I got to feeling better this evening Ninja Yahoo said to me "Mom, I'm so glad you're feeling better.  I just can't stand to see you cry."  Ain't that darling?

The Honey said my crying didn't bother him. He's use to my boo-hooing :)

Losing my mind one child at a time.

First, I want to say that I stole the title of this post from another blog.  A very very funny blog.  But the title is just too fitting.  That's justifiable, right?

If you have known me any length of time you are already aware of my being a wee bit absent minded.  But with each kid I have mentally gone down hill.  I used to think it was just old age.  But after you read this post it will be confirmed for everyone that it is all the children's fault.

It was Monday.  I had worked all weekend planning new, creative, fun things to do for school.  But the kids didn't buy it.  They were distracting and distracted.   

So I decided to take a break and let the yahoos play.  But they started arguing and WOULD. NOT. STOP.  I sent everyone outside (including Baby Yahoo).  My first mistake was assuming that the older 3 would keep an eye on the 2 year old.

Fail.

As I walked around the house to check on them I looked down toward the road and saw Baby Yahoo walking back up the driveway!!!  He had gone to the mailbox, gotten the mail and was bringing it back up to me.

Isn't he helpful?

And for those that have never been to my house, you must know that the journey to the mailbox is not for the faint of heart.  My heart stopped for a few minutes after that.  So needless to say I am now somewhat hysterical upset.  I begin to go after the other yahoos, more mad at myself than them, when Little Middle Yahoo begins screaming.  He's at the barn.

I don't run.  Running is for new moms.  I am old enough now to discern that this cry is of the 'I have been wronged' kind, which requires no running at all (except maybe in the opposite direction).

I come to find that Sweet Yahoo has hit him in the face.  That's it.  I have had ENOUGH!  I banish them all to their rooms indefinitely.

I carry Baby Yahoo in.  Throw some pizzas in the oven, mumbling incoherent ramblings under my breath (something about their father and me being underpaid).  I serve the children their lunches in their room.  A small twinge of pity swells up in me as I watch Ninja Yahoo eat alone.  I swallow that down real fast.  After Baby Yahoo eats I put him down for his nap.  Thirty minutes later he opens the door and announces to me that he has pooped.  But no worries, because when I get upstairs I find that he has attempted to change himself ! His dirty diaper AND pants are in the trash, used wipes are everywhere. And apparantly during the cleanup he accidentally stepped in his diaper and now I have brown footprints all over my carpeted floor.


Here is an artist's rendition of me at this moment:

 I like how he gave me a trimmer figure;)

The next hour after that is a bit blurry (probably from the lack of oxygen from burying my head in my pillow for too long) but I apparantly did collect myself enough to call for everyone to come downstairs.  We managed to finish our day working together to clean a little house, go to some ballgames, sit around the dinner table as a family of 6, give goodnight hugs and kisses and sleep in some heavenly peace.



All in all I would call it a pretty normal day.

And for this I am truly blessed.

Trivial Pursuits

As a parent, one thing I try to do is to provide several (but not all) opportunities for my kids so they can discover what their interests are. It's important to me that they explore all the beautiful things this world has to offer and find ways to serve and praise Jesus in those things.

And then I had a thought.


Why don't I do that?  Why don't I keep exploring all the possible interests that God may have blessed me with that I don't even know about?  You know, try new stuff.  Get out of the proverbial comfort zone.  So here are some things I am in the process of learning:

1. blog writing (sure to be a slow, painful learn)
2. changing a toilet seat (mastered it! Oooh-rah!)  I was so proud of this one that I took the time to snap a pic.  Aint' she pretty?

         3.  cake decorating
         4.  driving a tractor

I know all of those seem pretty arbitrary, but they are things that I can fit into my daily life right now.  And let me tell you, my daily life is crazy busy lately.  But that's for another post.
 
There are other things that I REALLY want to be doing, but just can't seem to find the time (i.e. guitar lessons, sew, etc.) .  But baby steps, right?

Anyway, I was encouraged to take on these new endeavors after reading Proverbs 31.  Most of us are familiar with that passage. I often refer to it as the Stepford Wife Chapter.  ;)  But when you read it you have to admit that this lady is pretty well rounded. And I have been feeling, well, less than well rounded lately.

Pigeon holed.

Bored.

I've never been one to like a challenge.  I've learned to embrace the ease that comes with having very low expectations of yourself.  But I hate the feeling of being stuck in a rut.  And nothing unsticks a good rut like introducing something (or someone) new in your life. 

So, all in all, I'm excited!  I'm looking forward to enriching my life with the fine art of bushhogging and fondant rolling;)  I hope you'll be excited with me. And I'm hoping to use these new 'talents', if you will, for good rather than evil;)  To genuinely use them to serve Jesus and my family.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.   Colossians 3:17

Baby Yahoo

This is Baby Yahoo.

He is a 'Carpe Diem' kind of guy.

He is full throttle ALL. DAY. LONG!

The name Jonas has two different Hebrew meanings:  peaceful dove and destroyer.  Hmmm

These are the things he loves:

1. Tractors
2. Dora, Thomas, Curious George, Little Bear
3. Chocolate
4. His passy
5. More tractors

These are the things he does NOT love:

1. Any time someone messes with the things he loves;)

Jonas turned 2 this summer and he has provided our family lots of entertainment.  Some of the best memories I have of him over the past year have been the times he put my pots in the toilet.....

or the cat in the toilet (didn't have time to snap a picture of that one). 

I love watching as he interacts with his brothers and sister.  Baby Yahoo is SO independent and usually prefers to play alone.  For good reason.  The older yahoos typically sabatoge any plans he might have.  But he is starting to show signs of acclimating to their style of play.  He loves picking up his toy pistol and shooting anyone he can find.  He loves wrestling with his daddy and jumping on the bed with the others.  This summer one of his favorite things was to have one of the kiddos driving him around on the gator.

I have a love/hate relationship with 2 year old child development.  I mean the way they talk and their little hands patting your face just about makes me burst.  But their constant climbing and moving and climbing and moving sometimes sends me over the edge.

This kid is really picking up the words.  I love how he says 'huh' after you say anything to him, how he calls chicken 'bak bak' and how any type of meat you eat is 'bak bak.'  I love how he finally took to swimming this summer after detesting it last year.  I love how he stands on the step ladder next to me as I do dishes.  I love how when someone is crying he goes over to them and asks 'What's wrong?'  I love how he plays this game where he goes and hides and then runs to find me yelling 'Ma, I home I home!' and wraps his little arms around me.

And when I say little I mean little.  This guy doesn't even hit the growth chart.  He is whopping 23 lbs.  But his small frame is made up for in big attitude and heart;)

I can't tell you how much I love my little man.  My peaceful demolition man.  My baby.

Insulation

I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it. I encourage you to play it over and over again. Is there a particular verse that resonates with you?

I have a confession. Well, it's probably not so much a confession as an admission because anyone who has known me longer than 5 seconds has picked up on it. Anyway, here it is: I am a little insecure when it comes to how God feels about me. I constantly have to be reminded of His love for me. I'm kind of high maintenance that way. Anybody else struggle with that?

Anyone?

But when the chorus tells me that I'm 'dearly bought' and 'highly esteemed' it helps insulate this fragile heart.

These days I feel like I need lots of insulation.   So much in my life is fragile (emotions, spirit, relationships).   But when I begin feeling overwhelmed, scrambling to secure the precious cargo of hope, joy an peace that seems inevitable to shatter, I am reminded of this:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Isaiah 43:2

Don't you just melt when you read that? Melt right into His arms of love.

The Big Kill

With so much testosterone in our home, it is no surprise hunting ranks right up there as one of our family's favorite activities.  And in our home, it is a rite of passage.

You see, our "rule" is that you can't go hunting with Daddy until your 5.  Well, sweet Little Middle Yahoo turned 5 earlier this year, but we never got a chance to take him on his trip until this weekend.  I can't tell you how excited he was!  The night before he laid out his clothes and gave me the run down of how everything was going to go.  And (this blessed my heart) he chose to have his brother and sister go along with him.  With this being Little Middle's inaugural hunting trip, he had the privilege of going alone with Daddy (Daddy time is very rare and valuable these days).  But Little Middle desperately loves his siblings and there was no way he would not take them.  I love that!

So this morning they set out.....

 into the great unknown...

And a few hours later they brought their trophy home to Mama!

I sure do love this motley crew!!

This Is Me

A wife of 1

Mom of 4

Daughter

Sister

Granddaughter

Friend

I do not sew, scrapbook, sing, coupon, shop at Whole Foods, sale anything on Etsy, or Zumba. And I only smoke when I'm drinking ;)

But I stood out enough in my Maker's eye that He chose to hunt me down and tear me apart with His Love. This blog is about the Tapestry of Grace He is weaving in my life.