VBS: In progress

We are rockin' out Saddle Ridge Ranch VBS this week at Spencer County Campus! There is really no sense in repeating what is already being said, so head on over to the Spencer County Campus Children's Ministry Blog and check out how things are going this week...

Go wash your hands. With soap.

Clair Huxtable is my hero. I would like nothing more than to be a mom just like her. And I'm halfway there. Or at least my kids kinda look like hers.

We were watching an episode of The Cosby Show the other day about her instructing the kids to "Go upstairs, take off your clothes, turn on the water, get UNDER the water..."

If I have learned anything in the last 9 months of parenting, it's that if you want something done, you must be very specific about what you want. But on the other hand, if you are too specific, you lose them in all the words. It's a very delicate balance, giving instructions to a child.

The other day I asked Charlie to go wash his hands and come unload the dishwasher, which is one of his jobs. I expect his future wife to thank me profusely for this one day. He complied and soon returned...crawling on his hands and knees down the hallway, totally undoing the job of the recent handwashing. I sent him back to wash again, explaining why he must wash again since he had just walked down the hall on his hands. He returned in about three and half seconds, hands damp with water.

I questioned him.

"Did you wash your hands??"
"Yes."
"Did you use soap?"
"Ye...No."
"Why did you not use soap to wash your hands?"

A fairly long pause ensued as I stood there looking at my oldest and he looked around the room as if someone else may give him the answer he was looking for.

"Charlie. Why did you not use soap to wash your hands?"
"Mommy no tell me use soap this time," he said in his broken English and cute little accent.

Sigh.

"Does mommy ever tell you to use soap when I tell you to wash your hands?"

Another long pause.

"I don't know."
"Go wash your hands. With soap"

He wandered off muttering. "I wash hands three times. Already. All the time. Washing hands."

The dishes did get unloaded. But I was very specific.

"Open the dishwasher. Take out ALL of the dishes using your hands. Those are the things hanging off the ends of your arms. Put them on the kitchen counter. Don't forget the silverware. And don't forget to dry off the things that may still be wet. That would be that clear liquid material collected on the top of the cups. When you are finished, shut the dishwasher door and walk away."

A memorable day...er, weekend...

I am quite aware that Memorial Day Weekend was several weeks ago, but there were too many pictures not to share. And plus, it's my blog. So, even if I wanted to talk about Groundhog Day 1978, I would. Except I wasn't alive then. So, I won't.

We had quite the weekend with 12 people squished into our 1 bathroom house. Don't worry. They stayed at a hotel. But the bathroom thing is fairly significant since managing 12 hineys and 1 potty, even during the day, ended up to be quite the affair. But sorry. No pictures of that.


We took the family up to Huber Farm in Starlight, Indiana because it's one of our favorite places to go. And they have more than one bathroom. And really good fried chicken. We fed the ducks. Or rather tried to keep the boys from pelting them in the heads with the corn kernels. I'm almost 100% sure no ducks were harmed in the process.


They have these huge industrial sized tricycles...okay, maybe not actually industrial...but big enough to hold those of us above the age of 7 who felt the need to ride. People say my uncle and I act alike. I choose to think we are just really the only ones who truly know how to have fun. And we do act alike. Which if you know my Uncle Kerry, could be a slightly frightening.


They also have this huge tube slide built into the side of a hill. I'm not going to verify that I did or did not slide down it, but let's just say I'm on the lookout for a hill of my own to retrofit with a giant slide! And Gammy rode a plastic pig. I'll pay for that later...


And of course, we had to throw in a few water guns and a slip 'n slide. Things got a little out of hand with the water guns and before we knew it, people who had no intentions of getting wet were soaked. I take no responsibility though, because it was Papa who went and bought the superduper pack of water guns under the guise of them being for the kids. He just forgot to define "kids".


All in all it was a good weekend. We were missing one key component and I have no doubt she would have been on the trikes with me and one of the instigators of the water gun fight.............

Your 9 Month Update...at like, 9.5 months...

Yep. Be shocked with me. It's been 9 months since the boys came home.

The boys went to doctor for well-child checks last week. Since August, Charlie has gained 10 pounds and grown 2.5 inches. Think that's a lot? Well, Sam gained 9 pounds and grew 4.5 inches! Yes, I said FOUR and a half inches! In less than 9 months. No wonder the 2T's don't fit him anymore (we've already made our way to 4 and 5T). This basically puts both of them over the 97% in height and weight. I'm just gearing myself up to always be the shortest in this family. I don't stand a chance with these two around.

Charlie took the Stanford Achievement Test a couple of weeks ago for kids who have completed kindergarten (which he hasn't) and scored between 87-95% on all sections. I don't want to brag, but appears that we might have a genius on our hands! And this comes on the heels of us finding out that English is probably the THIRD language this kid has had to learn in the past couple of years! Be impressed. I am. He is starting school in the fall, although currently there is some discrepancy as to whether we are going the 1st grade or 2nd grade route. We had geared ourselves up for 1st grade, but he did so well, the principal has asked us about considering 2nd. I'll keep you updated on that progress. But don't ask him about it. He is NOT pumped about it. Mommy, on the other hand, thinks that he will LOVE it...the kid asks a million questions a day about a million different things. I just hope he gets a very patient teacher.


Charlie continues to love art or building anything he can get his hands on. He draws all the time, mostly super heros or Curious George. He is still semi-attached to his Curious George stuffed animal. I'm really not sure where the fascination began, but on the way home from the zoo the other day, he told me, "I miss monkey." (Monkey had stayed at home this particular day.) I wanted to know if he missed mommy when she was gone as much as he misses his monkey. "I always miss Mommy!!" ........Okay. You can miss your monkey then.

The kid continues to eat more than I do. Explains the 10 pounds in 9 months. And everything has to have crushed red pepper or some kind of habenero sauce on it. He eats habenero sauce like ketchup. And with nothing to drink. Makes my eyes water just thinking about it.


Sam is perpetually in his own little Sam world. Oh, he will play with other kids and loves his daddy more than life itself, but seems much more content to push his truck around in circles all by himself. Between the faces he gives and the fact that he can't run in a straight line to save his life, he is pretty much the funniest kid this side of the Atlantic. He keeps us rolling and some days it's just hard to discipline a kid who makes me laugh while I'm trying to make a point! He can't eat anything without being covered from head to toe in it. But if he goes outside and happens to get a speck of dirt on his shirt, he feels the need for a complete wardrobe change. Still haven't figured that one out...

You may also notice a small gap in our teeth. Sam had an intimate meeting with the concrete of Gammy & Papa's driveway when we were in Alabama last month. The results were the loss of a tooth along with a very scraped up face and nose, since he literally caught himself on the concrete with his upper lip. (He was running. And the driveway is fairly steep. You do the math...) I assumed we would just have a hole there for several years, but wouldn't you know, he has a tooth coming in!! I know, I know...3-year-olds don't get permanent teeth, but let's just associate it with poor nutrition and move on. It does look awful funny on such a small little body.


I'm pretty certain he has a significant speech delay, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt since he has only been exposed to English for 9 months. He talks all the time, just not sentences like a 3-year-old should have. He says new words everyday, which just adds to the hilarity when he tells me something he has overheard Charlie say. He will be joining me as I teach Mother's Day Out in the Fall and I'm hoping the constant exposure to the language will help out in that area. For now, just leave him to his trucks, bicycle and water guns. He is ALL boy. And the portrait of a 3-year-old. Complete with the attitude and the attention span of a gnat.

I have no idea where he gets that from...Hey! Did you see that squirrel run by??

Here. Present & accounted for...

I'm not going to say I'm moving on. That's gonna take way more time than I think I might have. Or may ever have.

But before I have to deal with a revolt from the grandparents for lack of video and pictures of the Kentucky-based grandsons, I will resume posting for their own pleasure. I've had no threats to date, but I'm pretty sure they are coming. Plus, if I'm on the road to my non-normal normal, then I must do things that I normally do. Normal is such a funny word. Especially if you say it lots of times really, really fast. Do it. You know you want to.

We'll recommence with a few pictures that are the essence of summer. Being covered with grass clippings while flying down a slip 'n slide is really what summer is all about...




And oh, yeah...I hate sunscreen. It's so sticky and goopy and yucky. And goopy. And yes, just because the children are brown, doesn't mean we forgo the SPF. I like their toasted brown little bodies. Just not burnt.