Another Miracle for Jacob

Paul’s parents were here for a visit over this last weekend, and the kids loved having their grandparents here (we enjoyed having them here too). 🙂 Yesterday, after we had fed the kids lunch and sent them off to quiet time, we were sitting at the table chatting over BLTs.

CRASH!!! For a split second no one moved, Paul and I just gaped at each other knowing that nothing good could have come from that big of a crash. Paul bolted from the table charging down the hall way, with me just a little behind. He rounded the corner by the girls room, unsure of where the crash had come from, and then he heard Elizabeth crying, “Oh no! Jacob!” He ran past their room and rushed into Jacob’s room. All he saw was the large cedar dresser laying across the floor and a muffled cry coming from beneath it. “Jacob!” his bellow struck my very core as I raced into Jacob’s room and saw him trying to lift the dresser and pull Jacob out from beneath it. With a cry of alarm I grabbed the dresser and finished heaving it out of the way.

Paul held a screaming boy and tried to comfort him as I inspected him for damage. Girls rushed from their various locations crying and anxious to be sure he was okay. Grandparents came running. I don’t know what I expected, but I knew it couldn’t be good. I took him in my shaking arms and cradled him. All we found as we looked him over was a good sized bump on the back of the head and a small bruise on his forhead. No concussion, no broken bones, no major bruises that we could spot aside from the bump and bruise on his head.

I prayed again and again thanking Heavenly Father for yet another miracle regarding our son. With four children we have never had to worry about one of them toppling a dresser, but then, I suppose he is my first boy. 🙂

Little Things Make Me Happy

It really doesn’t take much to put a smile on my face, and today I am positively glowing, but to really understand I why, I need to start with yesterday.

Yesterday was a really tough day. I got a call from Dot’s teacher because she was sent to the principle’s office for hitting a little boy. When she got home I removed her tv privalege of watching PBS and had her write 3 apology letters, one to the boy she hit, one to her teacher, and one to the principal. She cried and whined through the whole thing. I felt like I had just hit my limmit. I was trying so hard not to get more frustrated as she fought with me through her homework. We finished and I honestly didn’t know how I would make it through the rest of the evening. I went into my room, fell on my knees and pled with Heavenly Father for an abundance of love and patience. Well, I was blessed and I did make it through the day, the evening was considerably better (but still filled with deaf ears, shouting lips, and lots of whinies; I felt so drained.

I think He knew I needed a better day today. The children were cheerful when they awoke, which put a smile on my face, school started an hour later and they slept in, which gave me time to read my scriptures before teaching my morning lesson, the girls cheerfully made their lunches and were anxious to help in the kitchen. I haven’t received any phone calls yet, and I had an awesome day at the grocery store.

I decided to make stromboli tonight for dinner (it is so yummy! I’ll put the recipe over on the recipe exchange blog) and needed to pick up some sausage for it. I just went to the local store here in town, which has inflated prices, but beats driving 20 minutes for just a few things. Their sausage was on sell for $2.50 a pound which was so-so (in my opinion) but I grabbed two packages anyway. I finished my shopping and went to the self check-out stand. I ran the first thing of sausage through and scanned the bar code on the back. The second package had no barcode on the back so I scanned it on the front. As I put it in the bag I looked at the screen and what I saw baffled me. The first sausage said that it was 1 cent! THat can’t be right so I pulled it out, and was thinking about what I should do, when a cashier came up to me and asked if I had both my sausages in the bag. I explained to her what had happened.

“Well, if that’t the price on it, that’s what you get it for!” she exclaimed.

I was elated! It is such a simple little thing, but it just made my day! It might seem funny, but it was almost as if Heavenly Father was telling me, “I’m here, I love you, and here’s a little extra pick me up after such a rough day.”

So, my sausage only cost me $0.75 a pound! 🙂

Senility? Or Just Loosing My Mind . . .

I am always loosing things. I will search the entire house for my keys, only to find them safely swinging in my hand. I will try to divine the secret places that my glasses disappear to, until I realize that the only reason I can see is because they are, in fact, upon my face. Yesterday I hit a new, all time low. 🙂

I stepped out of the shower, after my walk, and began to locate everything I needed to get dressed. That is when I realized that I had lost it. I knew I had placed it right there on the counter. I looked under my clothes, I looked in my drawer, I looked on the bed, under the bed, I even peeked in the cupboard (who knows where things end up when I am distracted), but I just couldn’t find my bra anywhere.

For a frustrated moment I wondered if Jacob had absconded with it and was wearing it as some crazy hat, but realized that he was safe in his room (an attempt to keep him out of trouble and give me a moment’s peace where I can shower). In horror I thought maybe Emily had filched it and was parading it around the house. Thankfully it dawned on me that nothing would tear her away from Sesame Street. So that left me with the crazy question of where had my bra disappeared to?

With one last exasperated look around the room I went to my dresser to fetch another, and that is when I realized . . .

I had been wearing it the whole time!

Oh The Irony . . .

. . . or should I be scared?

I took each of the girls on a mommy daughter date today. Most of my conversations with kids were typical little kid stuff, but not Dorothy. We had a fun filled talk about what the appropriate age for dating is (one of her 1st grader friends apparantly has a boyfriend). Oh the horror! To talk to your 6 year old about boyfriends and such.

Apparantly, after she was home and I was out with the next daughter, she grilled dad. “When will I know I’m in love?” “How did you know you loved mommy?” And so on.

Upon arriving home from our date just now, I showed Paul the photo I posted today for the scavenger hunt of Dorothy sitting in the steering wheel of the car, with the title of “Dreaming”. He gave a chuckle, “Oh! That reminds me of something else she asked me about.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“She asked, ‘Daddy, when will I be old enough to drive?'”

Am I ready for this?

Dreaming

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Dreaming of the things to come,
Enjoying them as they are.

This is little Dorothy helping Daddy drive (of course we are parked at this time).

Grrrr

I am sitting with Emily watching Sesame street. We have reached a sad point in society where Sesame Street has to parent America’s children by having Cookie Monster teach them about the importance of fruit. They had a whole little skit with Cookie Monster being interviewed because he ate a bowl of fruit rather than a cookie. Of course, he did eat the cookie in the end for dessert. I wondered why this whole thing bugged me, and then I realized what bugged me was it feels like people need a scape goat for the obesity problem and Cookie Monster and other things are it.

Can’t you hear it now, “I’m sueing cookie monster because all he ever ate were cookies, and that’s all I eat now!” Ok, maybe that won’t actually happen, but it seems to me that rather than blaming everyone and everything else for their problems people just need to take a good look at themselves. If my children are overweight because they are overeating or eating only junk food, it’s not anyone’s fault but mine. My kids love Cookie Monster, and they don’t eat 200 cookies in one sitting because we TEACH them.

Ok, I’ll quit rambling (venting, or whatever), 🙂 I just miss the good ol’ Cookie Monster . . . I guess to me it’s the same as trying to turn Christmas into the nameless holiday, and producing Candy Corn in weird colors for every other holiday (see Sariah’s post), their messing with tradition.

I’m waiting for a character to be created name ‘Nobody’ than we can just keep blaming everything on him . . . heh 🙂

Of Brains and Such

First off – no Saturday Photo Hunt photo for me today, things have been so busy (and fun)! I will write about what we have been up to in a bit, and be back online with the photo hunt next week. 🙂

Now, for the reason for this post:

Dorothy: Dad, what color are brains?

Dad: I don’t know. Why?

Dorothy: Beacuase every time I stick my finger in my ear it comes out a yellowish green.

(Dad did explain to her later that it was earwax and not brains on her finger, but I think it took him a few moments to regain his composure)

Batten Down the Hatches . . . We’re in For a Rough One!

I drug my sleeping body out of bed, ran a brush through my unkempt hair, and threw on my exercise clothes. The mound of laudry that had appeared in two days from overnight accidents was enough to send into a grouchy mood. I shuffled out to the kitched, fighting off the grouchies, and worked on breakfast and dishes while the kids got dressed for school.

“Mommy, I feel sick,” Emmy’s nearly inaudible voice crossed the counter to my ears.
“You okay honey? ”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to eat.”
I hand her a bowl for just in case and sent her off to the couch. 10 minutes later she proclaimed herself better and came back to eat. She was full again after two bites. I debated about whether I should go walking. “Are you sure you are up to riding in the cart while I walk?” I asked for what seemed to both of us the millionth time. “I’m sure mommy. I don’t even feel sick anymore.”

In the end she convinced me. After a 10 minute search for my keys (which I remembered had been carted into my bedroom and found underneath a sock on my dresser) we were on our way. I had maybe gone half a mile when I had the thought to check on her. I pulled an earphone out (it wasn’t very loud, but she talks pretty soft sometimes) and leaned my head around so I could see in.

“Oh, honey, why didn’t you tell me you threw up.”
She whispered something inaudible.
“Are you okay?” I asked
“No,” she said, looking pale and miserable. Luckily we were only a 1/2 mile from home and we made it back quickly. After she was showered and glad in fuzzy toed pajamas we watched “Curious George” from under mounds of balnkets. (poor kid)

A couple hours passed and she proclaimed that she was hungry. I suddenly realized that no one had been sick in a while and that we were completely out of ‘sick food’. “Are you up to going to the store?”

“Yes mom.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes mom.”
“Are you really sure?”
“Yes. See mom,” she holds up her shiney clean bowl, “I haven’t thrown up!”

I got the kids in the car and went to grab my keys. Ummm . . . where were my keys?
“Not again,” I groaned. “This can’t possibly happen twice in one day.” I looked everywhere, under couches, in couches, behind couches, in the bathroom, in the trash can, in the toilet, and still no keys were found. “I have to find my keys! Aaahh!” I cried in frustration while chomping on the side of my tongue.

I picked up the phone and called Paul to see if he knew where my spare was. “I cand fine my key.”
“What?”
“I ost my key agin, cand fine my pare, we need ick foo, an I it my ongue.”
Midst numerous chuckles I finally get an answer, “The last I saw your spare it was hanging in the key spot.”
“It ot ere! I-” I stepped outside to look at the cart. “Oh.”
“What?” he continued laughing.
“I et em on op of e cart en I was etting Em aken are of.”
He then bursts out laughing, and I realize that I have now wasted another 20 minutes hunting down keys and such. I finally make it out the door, get to the store, buy the sick food I am in need of (and I stock up on it, if one kid is sick, the others are sure to follow), go to the bank and make it home with out any major (or minor) catastrophe.

So here I am, no school for the kids for the next three days and I feel like I am getting down in the trenches as the onslaught of tummy bug settles in for a long battle. But I am armed at least and prepared . . . well, maybe not quite . . .

maybe I should stratigically place some more clean shiny bowls around the house . . . just in case. 🙂

(Oh, and the swelling on my tongue has finally gone down so I’m not talking funny anymore) heh.

Random Monday

I wasn’t around much on Friday, and I have a bit to talk about. 🙂

Elizabeth has been my super awesome helper. She has finally reached the stage where she can do dishes easily, both unloading and loading the dishwasher, she can make school lunches, and a number of other things. The other day I asked everyone to pick up the family room. “Mom, can I do the dishes instead? Because I don’t want to clean.” Please, no one spill the beans about the fact that doing the dishes IS cleaning. 🙂 I want to enjoy it for as long as it may last. 🙂

*****

I went on a retreat this weekend. Just me. No kids. We were at a house on the beach owned by one of the ladies in our ward (congregation) and we had a nice relaxing women’s retreat. It was heavenly. No schedule, no obligations. I walked on the beach and kicked my feet through the water. I went shopping. I climbed up the cape head and enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous view of the sunset. And I talked all I want to intelligible adults, with out saying the words “potty” and “diaper” and “poopie” once! Are you jealous? 🙂 (And I didn’t even embarass or hurt myself, what is this world coming to?)

*****

I finally got our pictures developed, so for those of you wanting to take a gander they are posted on flickr. (If you can’t see them, let me know. I will invite you and make you a friend so you can). I will go back and add pictures to the Lion Heart Festival post, and the Toddler Days post. I am so slow with getting my film developed, I really wish I had a digital camera sometimes. 🙂

*****

Something that made my retreat even more of a reatreat: I came home to a clean house! My hubby is soooo awesome. 🙂 He and the kids cleaned the kitchen and organized and cleaned a whole bunch of stuff. It was so nice to come home to a happy cleaned home. I am so blessed to have such a thoughtful, incredible husband.

That is all for now, the family is breaking down my door 🙂 So I will leave it at that, and write about some things (like the glorious retreat) in more detail at a later time. 🙂

Sleeping

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I am off to a women’s retreat, yippee!!! So, I am posting the pic now. I’m short of time and my scanneris not hooked up. THis is the only sleeping photo that I currently have on my computer. It is of Jacob, taken his first night home from the hospital (after heart surgery) in April of 2005.