Memories and empty toilet paper tube!

Last week Kenan came home from preschool with a piece of construction paper that I am supposed to use to put together a collage of pictures of him. They will hang that sheet up because today they were going to be celebrating Kenan's pretend birthday. His birthday is in June, and since she has so many kids to plan birthdays and pretend birthdays, she just randomly plans them. So, on Sunday I got the bright idea to put together a collage of pictures going from infancy to now. That was a great idea right? I take the flash drive out of the fire safe and set it on the computer desk where it sat all day. Finally at 7:45 I sit down to do it, and I can't find the flash drive. I frantically search every where and I started crying. 2 years of pictures were on there! So many memories, that I won't ever get back! My poor hubby comes home and finds me crying, and frantically searching everywhere. I was praying and asking God to please just show me where it is or make it appear or something. I searched the garbage, and recycling inside and outside (ick!) Then Jeff, Hannah and Timmy started helping me look. We looked everywhere, even places where it just wouldn't be. I finally resigned myself to just stop looking for it. I thought, it'll be like everything else - it'll pop up after I finish looking for it. I spent all morning looking for it and this afternoon looking for it. As I walked through the house, I'd scan the rooms I went through. I kept going back to the fact that it was on the computer desk. Timmy even remembered seeing it there. Then I got worried it was lost in the recycling bin that got emptied today. I called Burt's Disposal and asked them if there was any way to find something that got lost, even though I knew she would say no. She did say no. While I was making lunch for the kids, Kenan told me that the toilet was plugged up. Then he said "just kidding! but there's no more toilet paper" So I go in, check the toilet and change the roll. I take the empty card board tube and thought, Timmy can use this for his project. He's making a diorama of a colonial fort. Then it hit me! We were making a diorama last night. Timmy's crayon box was on the desk! Maybe the flash drive got put in there on accident. So I went into Timmy's room, and sure enough, it was sitting in the crayon box! Hallelujah! My heart started beating so fast, I was so happy! Praise God! He jogged my memory with an empty toilet paper tube! I kept praying all night and day when I started worrying about the lost pictures, and I kept telling myself, that I just need to trust God. He'll reveal to me it's whereabouts in his own good time! Why he waited until 12:53 pm to jog my memory, I'll never know, but I found it! We are celebrating with Culvers tonight for dinner!

blood on the books (another scary story by Kenan)

This is the best that I can remember the story that he told me tonight as I was tucking him into bed.

Once upon a time, there were books and the books had blood on them. And there were monsters. There were monsters everywhere! Monsters on mommy's head. Monsters on Kenan's head, on papa's head. There were monsters on Micah's head, Timmy's head, Hannah's head. There were monsters on everyones heads. Then....the monsters eated you! They eated everyone! The monsters eated the houses too! And then the robots came. They're eyeballs came alive and the lightbulbs moved all around. And then...the roofs came alive and the trees came alive, and the earth came alive. Then the Aliens came down into the earth! Hahaha! You're turn, mommy!

Kenan was playing in his room, and all of a sudden he comes running out and told me "mommy mommy! come look! I want to show you a mystery I found!" He takes me by the hand and leads me into his room to show me "the mystery". Now, in his closet he has a night table. It's in there because there really is no room for it anywhere in his room for right now. Kenan points out that behind it, and underneath he found a mystery. He opens the drawer and in it are his pirates and few odds and end toys that he found. He had them all neatly arranged in the drawer, like you would find artifacts from an archaelogical dig. He was so proud of them. I had to tell him how cool his mystery was!

Is it worth it?

I'm trying something new. Well it's not really new, but I feel I haven't been in the habit lately so I want to add something new to my day. I want to ask this question: Is it worth it? When Kenan is drinking juice out of the jug for the umpteenth time, is it worth it to make a huge deal out of it? Wouldn't it be better for him and I if I just told him calmly not to do it, explain why, and then walk away? Now, I know that children should be obedient, and that drinking from the jug is not the best idea, but really....will this matter 10 years from now? Sometimes I think the my kids do things just to see the reaction they get from mom. What will she do this time? And boy, I'm sure I'm pretty hilarious sometimes. When I find little frivolous purchases on our bank statement, how frustrated do I really need to be? I mean, will this matter in 10 years from now? Sure, if we were going into debt over these frivolous purchases, then yes, I would have a reason to be frustrated. But if it's only because my husband was running late, it was freezing cold outside, and not all the downtown sidewalks were cleaned off, then I think he deserves to park a little closer without me getting so easily frustrated.

I know one thing God is in the process of teaching me, is patience. Actually he's been teaching me patience since I've had children. Oh how patient He is with me! I'm learning how to lighten up and laugh at myself. It's amazing how laughter can difuse a bad mood. God has given me a hilarious family to teach me that. I'm also learning about His Grace. He gives me so much grace through all my imperfections and stubborness. How I wish to model that to my family each day. God is so good!

I was listening to a song on the radio the other day - Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle and part of the chorus goes like this:

At the cross You beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees, and I am
Lost for words, so lost in love,I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrendered

I love the picture of God drawing me gently to my knees. He doesn't just push me down and say do this! or do that! or be like this or that! He beckons me which, to me, suggests that He does it in such a way that makes me want to come to him. The way He beckons me makes me want to change and better myself. Like I said above, He's given me my family to teach me so much. I don't think I could think of a gentler way to draw me to my knees than that!
So, as I go through today, I'm hoping to model His Grace and the love He shows me to those around me.

The stomach flu has hit!

Warning! If you don't like details and you have a weak stomach, read ahead with caution, or feel free to skip this entry.
It all started Thursday night. I had sent Timmy and Hannah to their rooms for the night because they kept fighting with each other. Timmy was really upset about it and right before bed he came out and told me felt dizzy and that he had a headache. There were no other signs pointing to illness so I chalked it up to it being because he was so upset. We go to bed about 10:30 and I have a migraine. I finally fall asleep and Timmy comes down to tell me he threw up. Assuming he went in the toilet, I thanked him for telling me and told him that my head really hurt, so would be please go back to bed. He asked if he could sleep on the couch and I figured, sure why not. After about a minute I had to go check on him. Migraine or not, I can't just let him tuck himself back into bed himself. I come upstairs, and he is in a little ball on the couch with no blanket or pillow. I went into his room to grab a blanket and it smells like puke! Oh poor little guy, and poor mommy too. Out of my sleepiness, I told him, "you could've at least told me you threw up all over your bed." So I began the icky task of cleaning up his room. I'd forgotten I had rubber gloves downstairs so I am very carefully cleaning with one bare hand and holding my other hand to my nose. When I was done I let Timmy know that it was okay, and would he please try to go in the toilet next time. He said he would. I tucked him and told him I loved him. Finally, 11:35 and I'm able to go back to bed and I was able to sleep the rest of the night uniterrupted. Well in the morning we let Timmy know he wasn't going to school and that he was going to miss his VIP ceremony that morning. He didn't even know about it, since it was supposed to be a surprise. He was okay with it. I think mom and dad were more bummed out about not seeing their son accept the award. He began to feel better throughout the day and we thought we were in the clear.
All day Friday went well and Saturday looked like it was going to end the same as Friday. About 9:30 Hannah comes to tell us that Kenan was throwing up. So we go up and clean him up, clean up the sheets and floor and then get Kenan settled in the living room. We prayed for him, and just when we thought it was safe to go downstairs to bed, he throws up everywhere again. So we spend another 45 minutes clean up the living room floor and giving Kenan a bath. He was so pitiful. He would say in his shakiest voice "I hurt" and then he'd point to his tummy. This was the first time we'd gon through this with Kenan and he looked so scared. All I could do was tell him it was okay, and that I knew how he felt. Jeff and I took shifts with him on the couch. We felt it too treacherous to leave him alone. He would need some help. So I made it until 1:30 am, being woke up several times to help Kenan. Finally I went down and asked Jeff to change shifts. He told me he was sick too. He went up and layed on the couch with Kenan so I could get some rest. About 1/2 hour into my sleep, Hannah comes down. She threw up. So I start to cry. I just want to sleep a little bit. So she shows me her room, and I kinda grump at her for not making it to the bathroom. While I'm cleaning it up, I apologized and told her that it was okay. She didn't mean to and I know that, I was just tired and grumpy. The last thing someone who's sick needs is someone to grump at them. Anyway, I get her room cleaned up, determined her bed was still okay to sleep in, left with a bucket. I tucked her in and went to bed. I didn't sleep well at all because everytime I heard someone get up I woke up. Now, it's been awhile since they've thrown up, but it's a rest day for everyone. Timmy says he still feels dizzy, so hopefully he doesn't get round 2. I'm just demanding that all Germs stay away from me! Thanks for getting this far if you did.

Once upon a time....

Tonight Kenan was telling Jeff and I bedtime stories - scary bedtime stories. Here is the one he told me. Imagine him telling these stories in the scariest, spookiest sounding voice.

Once upon a time, mommy was in the kitchen all alone. And the fish in the fishtank upstairs started growing and growing and growing. Then it got legs and arms. (he watches me feign being scared, and then says "yeah, that's it") It was a fire fish! Then it said I'm going to eat you! Then there was blood everywhere and you died.
The End
I wasn't too troubled by that last part because he hugged me and said "I love you mommy."

This next story is the one he told Jeff:

Once upon a time daddy was in the living room all by himself and there was blood coming out of the chimney. Then the blood monster came. And then a little mouse came (Kenan even imitated the squeaky mouse voice) saying "I ate all the cheese!"
The End

The other day Kenan brought home his class picture. He was looking at it and telling me all about his friends in his class. Each kid gets their own class picture with their portrait in the center and it's the biggest. Only I don't think each kid knows this because the only class picture they is the one they bring home. Well, as Kenan was pointing out he kid to me, he looked at me very proudly and said "mommy my picture is the biggest!"

Micah has learned a new trick as well. He can "show his muscles" He shrugs his shoulders and scrunches his face up so hard his little body shakes. Hopefully tomorrow I can get a picture of him and post it on here.

Let's see, what else is new with the kids? Oh, yes! Timmy was awarded the VIP award for his class yesterday. We got a call on Thursday night from his teacher, Mrs. Day letting us know this and to keep it a secret from Timmy. We were all excited for that. About 11 pm Timmy woke us up letting us know he threw up. :( Poor kid. He didn't go to school, and needless to say we didn't get to see our son get awarded his VIP certificate. His teacher accepted it for him though, which was really sweet. The award is for being assertive and taking responsibility for his learning by asking questions, and for remembering what kind of sentence ends in a question mark. Way to go Timmy! We are so very proud of him!

Hannah worked very hard on two cell projects for her core knowledge science project. She was to make a model of a plant cell and a model of an animal cell. She then had to label each part and give an explanation of what each part of the cell did. She learned alot, not only about cells, but about responsibility and not waiting until the last minute to get things done. She got 9 out of 12 on the project which is very good. Hannah said she was very nervous in front of the class while giving her presentation, so the teacher gave her a 2 on that portion. I don't blame her for being nervous. Tomorrow I wll post a picture of the plant cell that she made. We never did get a picture of the animal cell, but it looked pretty much the same.

Since I am boasting about each child, I might as well boast about my husband, the love of my life too. He is so wonderful and I am so proud of him for all his hard work. He is finishing up his 5th year of apprenticeship school and he graduates on April 29th!!!! He had a big final 2 weeks ago in one of his classes and he got 94 out of 97 on a test that he was so nervous about. It was a great boost of confidence for him, as this test was a precurser to the test he takes this Tuesday. This next test is for a license and if he doesn't pass this test he doesn't graduate! Way to put the pressure on right? I know he can do it! I'm so proud of all he's accomplished and sacrificed these past few years. Way to go honey! I love you!

A proud mommy moment!

Just a few minutes ago, a former neighbor stopped by to tell me that my son Timmy stood up for his daughter at school when she was getting picked on. Timmy has been getting teased at school lately so it was cool to see that he acted out of compassion for this girl. I have tears in my eyes right now, I'm so proud of him! I wish I could go give him a big hug! He's at school now, and he doesn't even know yet! Why didn't he tell us about that? I did email his teacher to let her know, and to ask her if she would let Timmy know that we are very proud of him! I'm sure she will. Way to go son! I'm so proud of you.

Mr. Moon

Last night we went over to my in-laws to watch the super bowl. We left to come in during the 3rd quarter. Our 4 year old gets super excited each night when he sees the moon. Mr. Moon is his name, and Kenan will shout, "there's Mr. Moon!" to anyone who will listen. Last night was no exception. He saw the moon and, I think, a planet next to it. Anyway, as we turned the corner, Kenan could no longer see the moon, and he says, "oh no! We lost the moon!" I tell him that when we get home I bet he will find it. He then tells me, "I think it's in the trunk."

An update on my migraines...
I think I'm beginning to get to the bottom of it. I think my b/c pill is to blame for some of them. Now I just need to figure out, the best treatment for me. I see a neurologist on the 17th. I have been taking amitriptyline every night and that seems to help, though I don't know if it's lessened the frequency by much.

I started watching my niece Lucy today full time again. Lucy was adjusting, but she did so well. She is such a sweet heart and I'm so blessed to be able to be part of her life each day. Thank you Sarah, if you're reading this. Today was a blast! I was busy, the day was structured, and it went very smoothly for the most part. Micah loves having a little playmate his age, who babbles the same language. They were sitting at the table today at snack time and lunch time and one would say ah yah yah! The other would repeat it back! Very cute! Kenan loves to be the bigger boy who's my helper, and he really took that seriously, albeit in his pajamas all day. He is seriously the greatest joy for me, and at the same time, my biggest challenge. I've learned so much from him!

On the other hand, Timmy has been being teased at school again, because of his new (RED) glasses. They are so spiffy looking on him! I'll post a picture of him wearing them. Why are kids so mean to each other? Timmy says he doesn't care what people think of him, but still that has to hurt to hear mean things said about you. We will nip this in bud tomorrow, but for now I will go hug my kids and enjoy my time with them.