It's the Good Stuff

Just thinking about what a great stage we are at. The other evening, our oldest child had to sit in the car while the rest of us ate at Cafe Rio (isn't parenting fun!). One lady was looking at the car, so I went out to just tell her we were right there and she laughed and said something like, "been there, done that!"

It just reminded me, I am living the dream! I am right in the middle of that stage of life that I will talk and think about for the rest of my life. The time that old people always come up and pat you on the arm and say, "Enjoy it!" And I am, darn it! Right now, I am watching my two oldest draw pictures of bikes and discuss decorating their bikes in the bike parade we are going to tonight. I love listening to them make plans. My baby is on my lap, just looking up and grinning at me. Isn't this wonderful!

Speaking of my kids making plans: I should probably give Kevin, my brother-in-law, the magician, a heads-up. Kyle decided the other day that he was going to ask Santa for magic for Christmas. Yes, this is the same boy who spent all last year discussing what kind of robot he wanted for Chistmas... the one that could clean and make puppies and build a truck to take us to the Himalayas. I told him that Santa couldn't share his magic, because that was what he used to get kids gifts. So Kyle decided he was going to discuss how to get magic with Uncle Kevin.

Ok. To be fair, some of this bliss may be influenced by the fact that my husband and I are going to NYC shortly. Just us. Alone for almost 4 days. And I will NOT be pining for home.

just a few fun activities

Marching with my dad and husband in the Pride Parade.
We got Lagoon passes this year. Unfortunately, we have been too busy to go more than once, but the kids loved it. It was fun to go with just Rob, but it is SO fun to go with kids. Theirs excitement is so contagious. We went with a friend who is pregnant, so she often held the baby while we went on the roller coasters with the kids.

The baby was able to go on one ride. Pretty exciting!

So sad

For one who has a huge grin, most of the time, it's been a sad 24 hours. While making dinner, I looked down to find him just chewing on his little saucer.

Can you say teething?

Why I love Bekah

This girl has more energy than anything. Even the way she moves is full of energy. She's moves fast, kind of jerky, in what my parents called "bull-dozing". Every thing she does is intense. From finding bugs, shaking her brothers rattle to get him to laugh, or mammoth tantrums, it is all done with energy. Even her laugh is full of gusto. So much life!

Bekah has such a great heart. She wants to obey and make you happy. Even this morning, she was helping Kyle pick out his clothes so that he would be dressed in time for Daddy's zuberts. She is always making plans, and they often involve doing something nice for someone. Over Christmas, we spent a couple months making pictures for a book for their dad. But Bekah decided that I needed a special book, too. So she and Kyle would tell me to "go take a nap now" (being pregnant, of course I complied) while the two would color in their coloring books and draw pictures for my own book. I also love hearing her plan out gifts that she wants to give other people. She has taped her hard-earned pennies to homemade cards and delivered it to neighbor kids when she heard they were sick. Does it get better than that?

While she has the girl "drama", I have to say that I'm very lucky. When it comes to physical pain, she is as tough as it gets. Seriously, even when she was little she would run in to walls and furniture all the time and just pop up and keep running. A couple months ago, she hurt her foot (jumping down from 6 or 7th steps up) and had a limp for over a week, yet complained about it maybe 2 or 3 times. My heart would ache just watching her try to run without putting pressure on her heel. Last week we went to Vegas and she spent over half the car ride throwing up in the car. Did she whine or complain? Nope. I gave her a cup, and we would stop after a while to dump it out and give it back to her.

Of course, if her feelings get hurt at all, that's another story. There is definitely fire in her. Did I mention that she is a bossy oldest daughter? Unfortunately, I know where that comes, since I was also a bossy oldest daughter. Ahh well.

And while she loves to ride her bike and climb anything and everything, she is still a princess. Complete with tutu. Hence the outfit in the picture. She wanted to wear her dance costume, but needed to be able to bike to the park quick (and modestly). Today she wore a sparkly shirt with jogging pants (color-wise, they matched) and shoes that have kind of a high heel. Love it.

I love that she will tell me everything. Although the non-stop dialogue can get tiring, I really love the fact that she doesn't keep secrets from me (other than presents, which she loves to hint about). She will tell me if her feelings got hurt or if she did something wonderful. And while I don't think that sometimes she is listening, I am often surprised to see that in reality, she did, and she wants to obey.

While she is so bold physically, she can be timid emotionally. Like knocking on neighbors doors to see if a friend could play made her feel shy and scared. Afraid of rejection. I have to say, that I am grateful to see her vulnerabilities, because she is so bold and fearless so much of the time, it reminds me that she is still just a little girl. And while she is growing up so fast, I am so glad that for now, she is just that: a little girl. MY little girl.

Cooking

I made gnocchi tonight from scratch! However, I didn't have time to cook it, and had already made some orange chicken for dinner, so we will actually have it for dinner Sunday. Hope it's good.

So here is my food dilemma. I dislike cooking the same thing over and over. Meaning, I don't like cooking the same thing twice within 3 months, or even 6 months. We may have the same lunch and breakfast every day, but dinner... nope. I don't really like cooking anyway, so making different stuff at least makes it more interesting to cook A rotating calendar would not work for me. I will make a list of several meals I can make and then have the food on hand so when the urge for that hits me, I can make it.

Because the "what's for dinner?" seems to always be the question, I have a couple blogs that I have used a bunch.

www.meatlessmealsformeateaters.blogspot.com
lemonglaze.blogspot.com

And of course, there is the google search for recipes.

What I really need, though, much more than recipes, is a chef. Yes. That would definitely solve my dinnertime woes. And a revolved table that could flip over and the table could be set perfectly, like my daughter's barbie table. But at least a chef.

My fashion tip that lead to much, much more

I just spent a wonderful 4 days in Vegas. We never actually went near the strip, but I did my annual visit to Rob's cousin. Every year, I try to go down with the kids and stay with their family for as long as possible. It is wonderful! I feel bad that Rob can never go. Ann Marie and I end up staying up late talking every night... about life, what we've learned, education (she home schools her kids), parenting, money, and this time we even talked about fashion. She had me read this book that talks about what type of person you are (there are 4 types) and then what you should wear.

I thought I was another type of person, but as I read one of the types, I laughed out loud. The author had my personality nailed. Even to the part of the book where she stated, "you probably skipped a lot of the book to see what the point was at the end." And I had just done that. Yes, I am a get-her-done kind of girl.

So I may not be fashionably fashionable... I'm hoping that this experience will help me branch out from the solid-color t-shirts that have been my staple for the last 5 years. But if I have learned nothing else, it will be completely worth it! Here is why: As I skimmed through the other types, I realized what type my daughter is. There may be a remote possibility that I will be able to help her find what looks good for her as she enters that socially-awkward preteen stage, but chances are slim - her Aunt Mary or Celeste will probably do that. But as I learned about her, I learned how better to communicate with her. While all I need is a list to cross off to motivate me (I am very task-driven), she is fun-driven.
And here is the pay-off: today I asked the kids to empty the dishwasher. Again, and again. They were just getting so distracted doing it. By about my sixth time, as I was about to make some kind of threat, I remembered what I had just learned. "I need you to hurry and empty the dishwasher before it explodes! It is a space ship that will explode and everything will go all over if it isn't done quick!"

Done.

"All your laundry has to be put away so it is packed away in your space ship so it will take off."

Done.

"If you have to run through your space ship (room), you might trip over anything on the floor and not save the ship in time. So make sure there is nothing on the ship floor."

Done.

When seconds matter

When it comes to getting things done, I sometimes tease Rob. He works meticulously, making sure each step is done correctly. This is great when installing a new garbage disposal (a task to be done tomorrow), but kind of exasperating when it involves something needed fast.

But when it really counts, he sure comes through! Like at 5 this morning, when a little voice piped through the darkness, "I fink I'm gonna frow up." Wow, before you could say, "Not on the carpet!" he was up and had the child in the bathroom over the toilet, just in time.

Rob, you are a rock star!