Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Almost Heaven
Friday we went to the beach (which ar0und here means Lake Erie). It was a perfect day and the beach was almost deserted. There was sunshine with some cloud cover, a gentle breeze, the temperature stayed right around 80 degrees and the water felt great. At one point, I was laying on our blanket holding Benjamin who had just fallen asleep in my arms. I was sleepy in a good way after playing out in the sun and sand. I could see all five of the boys I love best as they played in the water, filled their buckets and hunted for rocks. I closed my eyes and thought, "This is what heaven must be like." I took a picture from where I lay to remind me that Heaven can be found wherever my family is- even in Cleveland, Ohio.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Plumb Crazy
My downstairs bathroom has issues. It's always a risk to use that bathroom anyway since it the bathroom used and abused by the boys. Last week I foolishly decided to use the downstairs toilet instead of hiking upstairs to my own bathroom. I almost screamed when I lifted the lid because a sodden Buzz Lightyear doll along with two plush puppies came flying out. That's just not what you expect to happen. David John apparently decided that several of his brothers' stuffed toys wanted to go swimming. I may never be able to watch Toy Story again without having nightmares about Buzz's evil twin that lurks in my plumbing.
Surprisingly, this is not my main problem with that bathroom. No, the main problem is that the sink is leaking copious amounts of water and the tub and shower are also developing a nasty drip. My water bill is not happy about this arrangement and I've been dealing with this problem for over a month now without it being fixed. So, I did what any rational person would do when faced with a frustrating problem- I wrote a song about it to the tune of "Gilligan's Island". Here is a link to the Gilligan's Island theme song on You Tube so you can sing along.
Surprisingly, this is not my main problem with that bathroom. No, the main problem is that the sink is leaking copious amounts of water and the tub and shower are also developing a nasty drip. My water bill is not happy about this arrangement and I've been dealing with this problem for over a month now without it being fixed. So, I did what any rational person would do when faced with a frustrating problem- I wrote a song about it to the tune of "Gilligan's Island". Here is a link to the Gilligan's Island theme song on You Tube so you can sing along.
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful drip
And what's been done to stop the leak
That would be nada- zip
Our landlord is the nicest kind of guy
But he's been out of town
Vacationing in Michigan
No cell towers around- No cell towers around
By the time we talked about the sink
The drip was a mighty stream
The whole sink would have to be replaced
It was a plumber's dream- It was a plumber's dream
Our plumber, Paul said he would come on Thursday in the e'en
Before Gabriel
Elijah too
The two-year-old David John
Li'l Benjamin
And of course Sarah Jean
All left to drive to Fairborn
Of course the plumber didn't come
And wouldn't for a long, long time
'Cause even when we got back home
We had to wait in line
Each day there was some new excuse
A different emergency
“There's a toilet falling through a roof!
I'll be in tomorrow, maybe.”
In two weeks (at last!) he finally came
But the job still isn't done
The main shut-off valve is broken
And it's the only one
So join us here each week my friends
As we wait for the city crew
To turn off the water to the street
Then we'll get a sink that's new
School Days
Today was the first day of preschool. My two big boys Gabriel and Elijah are definitely growing up. While I'm glad they get to go to school and have great experiences I also feel a little bit sad about them getting older and ceasing to be the tiny babies we brought home almost four years ago. They had a great time and although David John was very sad at first when we dropped them off, he quickly adjusted to having more of Mommy's attention. I think this will be good for everyone.
Not Two Late
to post 2-year-old birthday pics almost a month later, right?
That's right. Our little David John turned 2 on July 30th. For his birthday this year he got all things "Melmo". A pop-up Elmo book with songs, an Elmo doll, Elmo coloring books and stickers, etc. He also got the movie "Tangle" (that's how he says it, I know it's called Tangled) which he adores. We watched it again this evening. When Rapunzel called the horse a "good boy" David John laughed and said, "No! Horse not good boy. I a good boy."
Anyway, we had a celebration at home on his birthday and then another little party at Grandma's house when we visited earlier this month. At the first party, Gabriel and Elijah were very upset with me because I did not have birthday hats for everyone. Grandma made sure she did not make the same mistake so there were hats at her party. Here are a few birthday pictures. We can't believe how blessed we are to have David John in our family. He is a daily source of joy and hilarity.
That's right. Our little David John turned 2 on July 30th. For his birthday this year he got all things "Melmo". A pop-up Elmo book with songs, an Elmo doll, Elmo coloring books and stickers, etc. He also got the movie "Tangle" (that's how he says it, I know it's called Tangled) which he adores. We watched it again this evening. When Rapunzel called the horse a "good boy" David John laughed and said, "No! Horse not good boy. I a good boy."
Anyway, we had a celebration at home on his birthday and then another little party at Grandma's house when we visited earlier this month. At the first party, Gabriel and Elijah were very upset with me because I did not have birthday hats for everyone. Grandma made sure she did not make the same mistake so there were hats at her party. Here are a few birthday pictures. We can't believe how blessed we are to have David John in our family. He is a daily source of joy and hilarity.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
There Were Three in the Bed
One fateful day in July we checked out a book entitled "Thomas and Friends: The Monster Under the Shed". This book was supposed to teach children that those scary shapes you see and sounds you might hear in the dark are just your imagination and that there is nothing to be afraid of. However, Gabriel latched onto the fact that there are scary shapes and sounds in the dark and decided that he was now very afraid of nighttime.
After a few nights of getting up several times to his shouting or whimpering about the scary tree, scary ghost and scary face he kept seeing in his bedroom we forbade him from reading that book again. He was very upset since he was obsessed with the book and read it to himself several times each day. We also made a plan involving a night light in the shape of a little boy praying. We put the light right next to his bed and told him to look at it when he was scared and pray for help not to be scared. The plan was unsuccessful.
In desperation, we finally agreed to let Gabriel have his brothers sleep in his bed with him so he would not be scared. Crazily enough, it worked! Although, we're not sure how scary shapes and sounds could be less disruptive than two wiggly brothers. Take a look:
This is what they looked like just after they all fell asleep nicely tucked in bed.
Here they are 30 minutes later. Notice how Gabriel does not move, but Elijah and David John seem to be following some sort of migratory instinct.
This is one hour after the previous picture. What are they dreaming about?
The need for three in a bed continued for several nights before Gabe got over his fears. We would frequently check on the boys and find limbs overlapping or body parts over faces. Our toddlers must be very deep sleepers. There were three in the bed, two rolled over, but amazingly none fell out.
After a few nights of getting up several times to his shouting or whimpering about the scary tree, scary ghost and scary face he kept seeing in his bedroom we forbade him from reading that book again. He was very upset since he was obsessed with the book and read it to himself several times each day. We also made a plan involving a night light in the shape of a little boy praying. We put the light right next to his bed and told him to look at it when he was scared and pray for help not to be scared. The plan was unsuccessful.
In desperation, we finally agreed to let Gabriel have his brothers sleep in his bed with him so he would not be scared. Crazily enough, it worked! Although, we're not sure how scary shapes and sounds could be less disruptive than two wiggly brothers. Take a look:
This is what they looked like just after they all fell asleep nicely tucked in bed.
Here they are 30 minutes later. Notice how Gabriel does not move, but Elijah and David John seem to be following some sort of migratory instinct.
This is one hour after the previous picture. What are they dreaming about?
The need for three in a bed continued for several nights before Gabe got over his fears. We would frequently check on the boys and find limbs overlapping or body parts over faces. Our toddlers must be very deep sleepers. There were three in the bed, two rolled over, but amazingly none fell out.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Good Hygiene
I found these pictures Elijah drew that I meant to post last month. The boys draw a lot of pictures of me. Mostly I feel flattered that I am so important in their lives. Occasionally, however, I wish they wouldn't include me in their artistic endeavors. For example, Gabriel made a chalk drawing of me as a moose that was crying. How am supposed to feel about that? Anyway, here is Elijah's picture of me... being eaten by an octopus.
Maybe he was angry with me when he drew this? That pacman-like thing is the octopus. If you look closely you can see all 8 legs crammed in on the bottom. His mouth is open and there I am, limbs flailing and I have dropped my umbrella which disappearing into the creature's maw. It's awesome.
The second picture did make me feel a little bit better. Here it is:
In this one, the octopus is brushing his teeth. At least the octopus is practicing good hygiene. If I am going to be spending some quality time inside a sea creature I would prefer that it had fresh breath. I'm glad I've taught my children something even if they do subconsciously hate me.
Maybe he was angry with me when he drew this? That pacman-like thing is the octopus. If you look closely you can see all 8 legs crammed in on the bottom. His mouth is open and there I am, limbs flailing and I have dropped my umbrella which disappearing into the creature's maw. It's awesome.
The second picture did make me feel a little bit better. Here it is:
In this one, the octopus is brushing his teeth. At least the octopus is practicing good hygiene. If I am going to be spending some quality time inside a sea creature I would prefer that it had fresh breath. I'm glad I've taught my children something even if they do subconsciously hate me.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Too Cute
not to post. Here are some recent favorite pictures of the munchkins:
The boys put this bucket on Benjamin's head which he thought was pretty funny. We are loving our little four-month-old with his copious smiles, babbling and grabby hands. He is very interested in pulling on toys and hair. His special talents right now include blowing spit bubbles and raspberries. Really, we're not sure how he produces the amount of saliva that comes out of his mouth everyday. We call him "slimer". Are there people with dysfunctional salivary glands that need saliva donors? Benjamin would like to volunteer his services.
Here is David John wearing his "Ba-Bob Builder" hat and doing what he calls his silly trick. It really is pretty complicated. First, he puts the hat on the couch and then he has to carefully aim in order to get his head to land in it appropriately when he slides backwards off the arm rest. The angle of his neck doesn't look particularly comfortable, but we're starting to think maybe David John doesn't have any bones, so it's not a problem.
Elijah is a pro at these "Where's Waldo" books. It really is amazing how often he can find that tiny hidden figure. Sometimes, however, even he gets stumped. He was looking at this Hollywood "Where's Waldo" when he asked for my help finding Waldo on a particularly hard page. I sat next to him and started looking. After a while he asked, "Mom, do you know where Waldo is?" "No," I said, "I can't find him." "Oh." There was a brief pause. "I think Waldo went to the bathroom." Of course! If we can't find Waldo he must be taking a bathroom break. Eventually Waldo must have come back from the bathroom because we found him near the bottom of the left page.
Gabriel loves to climb anything and everything but lately he is especially interested in climbing trees. In this picture he is perched in my mom's mimosa tree. His interest in trees is so great, that he even offered free "tree lessons" to anyone who would listen. He would only take one student at a time since they were held in the tree house in my mom's backyard. During the lesson Gabe would hold a piece of scrap wood about the same length and width as a yardstick which he alternately used to point to trees, slap his palm like he was about to deliver some corporeal punishment or place behind his back like a drill sergeant doing an inspection. The lesson consisted of the following information: 1. Trees have branches, sticks, leaves and sometimes nuts. 2. Branches, sticks, leaves and nuts can come off during a storm. 3. Big people and little people like to play with branches. 4. Little people should not use branches to poke other people.
Later, Gabe also used his yardstick like a machete to hack down my poor mother's surprise lilies. Surprise! Your lilies are gone! At first Gabe was proud of his destructive handiwork, but after a time out and talking to Grandma he realized it was not a good choice. While picking up the pieces of stalks and petals to put in the compost pile he said, "I really am sorry, Grandma. I didn't know you didn't want your flowers cut down."
Finally, here are all four boys at Young's Dairy. We had a good time petting and feeding the goats, eating and playing miniature golf. The boys, as it turns out, are still a little young to get the golfing concept. David John always got a hole in one by walking up to the hole and dropping his ball in. He seemed to think the rest of us were crazy for doing things the hard way and trying to hit it in with our putters. Elijah was the best, although he too would give up after a while and just drop it in. Gabe would take no advice so he used his putter backwards the entire time resulting in erratic swings that frequently missed the ball entirely. Gabe kept asking "When do we get to swim in the blue water?" (There were fountains and ponds on the course.) He was not happy that the answer was "never".
The boys put this bucket on Benjamin's head which he thought was pretty funny. We are loving our little four-month-old with his copious smiles, babbling and grabby hands. He is very interested in pulling on toys and hair. His special talents right now include blowing spit bubbles and raspberries. Really, we're not sure how he produces the amount of saliva that comes out of his mouth everyday. We call him "slimer". Are there people with dysfunctional salivary glands that need saliva donors? Benjamin would like to volunteer his services.
Here is David John wearing his "Ba-Bob Builder" hat and doing what he calls his silly trick. It really is pretty complicated. First, he puts the hat on the couch and then he has to carefully aim in order to get his head to land in it appropriately when he slides backwards off the arm rest. The angle of his neck doesn't look particularly comfortable, but we're starting to think maybe David John doesn't have any bones, so it's not a problem.
Elijah is a pro at these "Where's Waldo" books. It really is amazing how often he can find that tiny hidden figure. Sometimes, however, even he gets stumped. He was looking at this Hollywood "Where's Waldo" when he asked for my help finding Waldo on a particularly hard page. I sat next to him and started looking. After a while he asked, "Mom, do you know where Waldo is?" "No," I said, "I can't find him." "Oh." There was a brief pause. "I think Waldo went to the bathroom." Of course! If we can't find Waldo he must be taking a bathroom break. Eventually Waldo must have come back from the bathroom because we found him near the bottom of the left page.
Gabriel loves to climb anything and everything but lately he is especially interested in climbing trees. In this picture he is perched in my mom's mimosa tree. His interest in trees is so great, that he even offered free "tree lessons" to anyone who would listen. He would only take one student at a time since they were held in the tree house in my mom's backyard. During the lesson Gabe would hold a piece of scrap wood about the same length and width as a yardstick which he alternately used to point to trees, slap his palm like he was about to deliver some corporeal punishment or place behind his back like a drill sergeant doing an inspection. The lesson consisted of the following information: 1. Trees have branches, sticks, leaves and sometimes nuts. 2. Branches, sticks, leaves and nuts can come off during a storm. 3. Big people and little people like to play with branches. 4. Little people should not use branches to poke other people.
Later, Gabe also used his yardstick like a machete to hack down my poor mother's surprise lilies. Surprise! Your lilies are gone! At first Gabe was proud of his destructive handiwork, but after a time out and talking to Grandma he realized it was not a good choice. While picking up the pieces of stalks and petals to put in the compost pile he said, "I really am sorry, Grandma. I didn't know you didn't want your flowers cut down."
Finally, here are all four boys at Young's Dairy. We had a good time petting and feeding the goats, eating and playing miniature golf. The boys, as it turns out, are still a little young to get the golfing concept. David John always got a hole in one by walking up to the hole and dropping his ball in. He seemed to think the rest of us were crazy for doing things the hard way and trying to hit it in with our putters. Elijah was the best, although he too would give up after a while and just drop it in. Gabe would take no advice so he used his putter backwards the entire time resulting in erratic swings that frequently missed the ball entirely. Gabe kept asking "When do we get to swim in the blue water?" (There were fountains and ponds on the course.) He was not happy that the answer was "never".
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