He Loves Me , , ,

Another Year

Today is my eldest son's eighth birthday. I can't believe how much Paul has changed this past year. The boy who couldn't be bothered when it came to sitting down and eating a meal now has a hollow leg. He has grown taller and has become more responsible and mature. Paul is a sensitive little boy. He's quite aware of others' feelings and he goes out of his way to comfort those who are hurting. Paul is also very contemplative. Sometimes he comes up with a question about the Bible or some other subject that is beyond my capability to answer and I have to say, "Go ask your Daddy."

Paul is definitely "all boy." Anything related to guns, Legos, military history, space, dirt and the like are all passions of Paul. Paul is quick to obey when I ask him to collect laundry or take out the garbage. He almost never complains and it's a very unusual day if Paul doesn't do his work cheerfully. He's a very good example to all of his siblings.

We celebrated Paul's birthday with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Jane on Saturday. Matt and I went to a homeschool conference for most of the day and Grandma and Grandpa took care of the whole brood. They even took all the kids to the park to see the Lewis and Clark reinactors. Paul was definitely in his element and of course he wore a hat befitting the occasion.

I fixed ham, cheesy potato casserole and applesauce for dinner as these were Paul's requests for his birthday. The traditional extra chocolaty chocolate cake was served for dessert. Paul was tickled to receive two new Lego sets that were picked out with love by Auntie Em, Uncle Jake and Grandma and Grandpa.

Several months ago, Paul requested that we all go bowling on his birthday. This afternoon we fulfilled that request. Paul did quite well for a first-time bowler, as did the other kids. Matt whipped us all, though. Joel was too cute. No matter how many (or few) pins were knocked over, he personally hugged and high fived every one of us after our turns were over.

Paul opened his presents from us after dinner tonight. The biggest hit was the bag pipe chanter he received from Daddy. Ever since Paul saw the young teenage boy play "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes at the homeschool conference this past spring, Paul has expressed his desire to learn how to play that quintessential Scottish instrument. Paul began practicing on the chanter as soon as he could get it out of its packaging. I do believe the laddie is well on his way to becoming a Macduff.

Lydia Logic Strikes Again

We have rules about candy at our house. Candy is not to be kept in bedrooms, it must be stored on top of the refrigerator. Candy is not to be eaten without permission from one of the parents in the house. Candy is not allowed before lunch and it's to be eaten in the kitchen only.

The other day, we found Lydia in violation of all of the house candy candy rules. It was 7 a.m. when Lydia walked into our bedroom with a sucker in her mouth (pretty brazen, I thought). I asked, "Why do you have a sucker in your mouth, Lydia?" She replied, "Because I like it."

Wednesday afternoon Paul discovered a little black piglet in our backyard. It was the cutest little thing, but fast. We couldn't catch it. It wouldn't drink out of the water bowl we tried to give it. We asked all the neighbors if they had lost a little piggy and they all said, "no." However, one neighbor didn't speak English, so that evening we decided we should try again. Maybe a child home from school could tell us if they had lost a little black piggy. When Lydia heard us discussing all of this, she ran into the house to grab her shoes.

"I can do it!" she said, "I know Spanish!" Somehow I think the conversation would have come to an abrupt halt after "Hola!" (The little piggy ran into the alfalfa field next door and we couldn't find him. We hope he found his way home again.)

Lydia is really into washing things lately. She takes her dolls and other toys to the bathroom sink to "wash them." When Daddy says "It's time for bed," she says, "I have to wash my so and so first." Today Lydia found a ladybug. A few minutes later she came up to me and said, "Momma, I washed the ladybug and it's still alive!"

Space Station

Last night we saw the International Space Station catapult through space at 17,500 miles per hour. We had a clear view of the space station in the night sky for three minutes until is disappeared behind the earth's shadow. Lydia cried when it disappeared because she wanted a ride. Thanks, Grandpa Tom, for getting us out into our backyard to see something so mind-bogglingly amazing (and for the tutorial over the cell phone).

The International Space Station will be visible in the evenings until October 8. Go here to find the schedule.

Killer Serve

By Matt.
We had the pleasure of watching our niece, Raphaella, give a clinic on volleyball tonight. (Her team won 3-0.)





And she's pretty good player too.

Making Lemonade

Yesterday all the kids were in sour moods. We had all just come off of a long weekend and I was pushing them hard to get school work done. We finished our Bible study homework, but not without some tears. I did preschool with Lydia using a curriculum I'd never used with her before. She just kept saying, "I don't like this preschool. I like the other preschool."

As I was taking a break to put another load in the washer, I heard the kids pecking at each other like a bunch of angry roosters. I finally (after several attempts) was able to get their attention. I told them they must all go outside--immediately. I'm sure they all thought that I would assign some arduous outside chore for their misbehavior, because they all proceeded to go outside with their heads hanging low.

"Line up over their by the pergola," I said. "We're going to play Simon Says," I announced. Upon hearing this, the kids' countenances began to brighten. We then began the game. I went through several "Simon Says" commands before I said, "Put your hands on your eyes." Lydia did it and everyone started laughing. Lydia, the quick thinker and even quicker talker, said, "I was just covering my eyes from the sun," (even though she was standing in the shade). We all got a good laugh from that comment.
We proceeded on with the game, quacking like chickens, marching like soldiers and doing jumping jacks. I then said, "Make a sound like a siren." Grace bit. The lone siren. We all roared.

We finished up the game by Simon saying, "March inside like a penguin, make lunch and bring it outside to eat." We then ate our lunch at the picnic table and enjoyed what I'm sure will be one of the last pleasantly warm days of the Fall.

I once went to a homeschooling conference where the speaker said, "Sometimes when you're having a bad day, you just need to bring everything to a halt and do the Hokey Pokey with your kids." I took that woman's advice yesterday and turned sour lemon day into a lemonade day.

Annual Tradition

We took our annual trek up North this past weekend to partake of all the German delicacies we could lay or hands on (or get our mouths around). Cabbage rolls, kartoffel und gloss, sausage, kuchen, pfeffernuese and apple strudel. We also got to participate in an all-American tradition--watching a small town parade. Jude danced to all the marching bands, Joel was most impressed with the horses and Lydia loved the princesses on the floats. All the kids managed to get a nice little stash of candy, too.

Daddy and the kids took a spin on the go carts after lunch. We went back to my aunt and uncle's house for the family "wipe out" as my sister calls it. It was there that I asked Matt why year after year, am I always so tired on this day? "Could it be the overeating?" he asked me. Maybe.

Well, we gathered up enough energy to head back downtown for dinner, which was bbq, much to Matt's delight. I even hit the last few yard sales as they were packing up for the day. We loaded into the van and headed home. God treated us to a gorgeous sunset in the west and an incredible lightening storm in the east to entertain us as we drove home. He really is something else, isn't He?

Better Mice resolution

This is a bit better quality.

What the Mice Do When the Cats Are Away

(Video by Grace. This one's for you, Grandma Ethel.)

Bye Bye Binki

I've heard of other parents whose babies begin sleeping through the night the first night home from the hospital and those who have their babies potty trained by eighteen months. Not me. Nope, I've never been blessed with that kind of baby. I guess God figured I could use the patience. Having said that, I just recently had my first experience in the otherwise unknown territory of parenting bliss.

A week and a half ago, Joel announced to Matt that he didn't want his binki any more. The kid who couldn't be quieted from a meltdown unless he had his binki, couldn't ride in the car unless he had his binki, couldn't take a nap, sit through church, listen to a book, watch a video or go night night without his binki, said he didn't want his binki any more. We were stunned.

Matt asked Joel if he was quite sure he wanted to get rid of his binkis. "Do you want me to throw them in the garbage?" Matt asked. "Ep (yep)," Joel replied. I had been mentally girding myself for a major binki battle for a couple of months. Every time I'd think, "I've got to get Joel off the binki," I would shove the idea to my mental back burner. I remember all too well our experience with trying to get Lydia to give up her binki. We talked and negotiated with her, read the Miss Piggy book "Bye, Bye Binki" over and over, took the binki away from her, regretted it after major crying fits ensued and then gave the binki back to her again. In desperation, I finally took all of her binkis and put them in a little gift bag for her to give to her pediatrician. We told him he could give the binkis to the little babies who needed them. Talk about withdrawal. Matt and I had to sleep with her to help her get through those first few nights sans bink.

Instead of throwing the binkis in the garbage, as Joel advised, we put them high up in the cupboard (without his knowledge), just in case. I hid one binki in my purse and took it in the car and to church all last week in the event an emergency should arise. Joel did look in the garbage once last week. "My binki, Momma," he said with the most pitiful little voice. I just said, "Oh, you don't need that anymore" and then diverted his attention elsewhere. Joel did have a hard time settling down to sleep at nap time and night time last week, but he was quite satisfied to look at animal picture books as a substitute for his binki and he seems to have relearned how to put himself to sleep without it. He even took the long car ride to grandma's without any complaints. Amazing!

I had hoped to potty train Joel this summer when he could easily run around the house in underwear, but he's shown absolutely no signs of readiness and I've learned from (hard/bad) experience that's it's just not worth it to push training before the child is really ready. I'd rather clean a mess in a diaper than a mess off the floor. I'm sure I'd have plenty of people disagree with me on that one, including my very beloved grandma who is now in Heaven. I can hear her now, "I had your mother potty trained by the time she was eighteen months old."

Off the Radar

I feel like I've fallen off the blog radar lately. Canning, returning to the Fall schedule and all my other momma duties have kept me well-occupied as of late. I did take the kids to see my grandma last Friday. She stayed with my mom for a few days last week as my mom is recuperating from shoulder replacement surgery and my dad was taking a well-deserved mini-vacation fishing in Alaska. Grandma took us out to lunch and then we went to the park and the kids played while Grandma and I visited. We drove back to my parents' house and ate dinner together. I don't get to see my Grandma very often, so it was nice to be able to spend the day with her. Here's some pictures of all the fun:

Weekend of Celebrations

This past weekend we celebrated five birthdays and two fortieth wedding anniversaries. Saturday evening we had all of the Macduff clan here to celebrate the birthdays of family members who were born in either August or September. We also added the fortieth wedding anniversary of Matt's parents to the evening's festivities.

Sunday we had my family here to celebrate Grace's fourteenth birthday and my parents' fortieth wedding anniversary. My parents and Matt's parents were married one week apart back in 1969. Pretty wild. Two couples who didn't even know each other forty years ago would someday be woven into the same family fabric when their two eldest children would marry. Only God could have imagined it.

We only remembered to get the camera out on Sunday. Here's a picture of Lydia and Joel helping Grace blow out her birthday candles.
This is why Joel is wearing his cowboy hat: The exciting event of the evening occurred when five cows escaped their pasture and ran loose in our neighborhood. Paul got on his bike in an attempt to round them up, the rest of the kids (and adults) went outside to watch all the fun and Joel ran inside to grab his cowboy hat. After all, how is one to round up stray cows unless he's wearing a cowboy hat?

Family Resemblance

We fed Jude some home canned peaches last week and he gobbled them up. Last night I tried to feed Jude his Gerber turkey and rice dinner while this year's bounty of freshly canned peaches sat on the table to cool. Jude refused to eat his food. Instead, he started patting the (cooled) jars with his hand and letting me know verbally that he REALLY WANTED PEACHES!

I do believe Jude may have a stronger family resemblance to his Great Uncle Keith than I had originally thought.