After School

With 2 boys in school, my days run pretty smoothly...until 3:00! I feel like I pay for my enjoyable, productive day with madness and mayhem from 3:00 onward. My calm, quiet house is invaded with ravenous boys who can't get their hands on a snack fast enough. My 4 year old expects instant playmates, and instead finds out his brothers want nothing to do with him. Trying to explain their need to "decompress" for a bit after school is next to impossible. Aaron just doesn't get it. There is whining, hurt feelings, dirty looks, cross words...the list goes on and on. Recently I implemented a new rule to try and help restore order in some small fashion. Backpacks must be emptied by schoolboys, not by me, and they must be emptied right away. I got tired of fishing for lunch boxes (with leftover food in them) homework folders, and planners myself. I'm not the one in school for pete's sake! So far this rule is being followed. I'd say it's been about a month. But now while everyone's duking it out for snacks after school, I'm drowning in papers and old lunches dumped on the counter, along with my wronged 4 year old whining at my side. It's enough to make this mommy insane. With wrappers and crumbs left behind on the table and floor, Braylen and Kaleb grab their Nintendo DS players and zone out on the couch for a while. I let them, but I make them allow Aaron to sit with them and watch. I wearily clean up the kitchen, wade through their papers, and count down the minutes until my husband comes home from work. The timer dings to signal the end of Nintendo time, and if they are still crabby and mean, I go to my room. :)

Blue & Gold Boys

This past Sunday was our annual Blue & Gold banquet for scouts. Our boys earned their merit badges and received awards from the Pinewood Derby race back in January. It was a treat to have Grandma and Grandpa join us this year! Aaron did such a great job of sitting still, except for playing footsie with Grandpa under the table. :) I used to think Aaron would be excited for his turn at things...preschool, Awana, etc. But I've learned over the years that he has more fun anticipating those things, and I think scouts will be no different. Once he gets there, it will be old news for him.

Kaleb, my handsome Tiger Cub

Braylen, my moody Bear Cub. Green pawprint on his cheek is part of the ceremony.

Speaking of Aaron, he woke up Monday morning to a case of strep throat. Happy Monday to us! Thanks to a penicillin injection, all is well for now. I think a shot is the way to go--no messing with 10 days of amoxicillin.

Let's arm wrestle!

Braylen is Camper of the Week at school, so Daddy made a trip to his classroom the other day to talk about his career and eat lunch with our camper. Tomorrow it's my turn to have lunch with him, and we are NOT eating in the school cafeteria. :) Some of the items Braylen brought to class to showcase himself are: Brownie bear (awww!), trading cards, Brazilian money from Great Grandma Muriel, pinewood derby trophy, baby pictures and current pictures. "It's all about me" would be a good title for his week at school, and he's waited all year for that. :) One thing that threw me for a loop was the way he's been bringing home his papers this week. He folds each one into a tiny square and tapes it shut. Yesterday I had 6 papers to cut open and unfold, and today there were more. What is up with that? When I ask him why he's doing this he tells me they fit in his bag better that way. Maybe if he cleaned the clutter out of his bag once in a while there would be more room in there???

While I was making supper tonight, Kaleb made his bed. Then he asked me if he could help me in the kitchen. Then he gave me a tootise roll from his candy stash. I was really suspicious, but I didn't want to insult him if he was simply being kind. It all came together when he brought his Awana book to me and asked me to check it. He'd been trying to fill out the "I Help at Home" chart all in 30 minutes! This chart should take 7 days to fill out! 7 days of making his bed, helping in the kitchen, sharing, and doing something kind... Boy was he bummed! All those good deeds for nothing! Still, it was nice while it lasted. :)

Winter Days

Aaron's little snowman

Winter came back to us last weekend, and our boys were able to enjoy it. They shoveled snow, built forts, went sledding, and made 2 snowmen! Daddy helped them make the snowmen, while I enjoyed staying warm inside. (and being the family photographer of course!) Braylen spent the night at a friend's house, and I think he'd live at this friend's house if he could.

Okay, to interject a little of the "here and now" into this posting, let me say that my 9 year old just came up from the basement in his boxers. I guess he worked up a sweat playing indoor basketball and off came his clothes. Can you see why winter makes me crazy? Or maybe if it was warm enough for him to play basketball outside he'd be stripping out there? That would be worse.

I received a hand-crafted jewelry box from Braylen for Valentine's Day. He's been working on this project at Cub Scouts for a month with Daddy, so I was excited to finally see what the big secret was. He showed me all he did--sanded it, routed it, stained it, nailed it, etc... He called it my "jerily box" :) I love it.

Don't we look alike in this picture? Just what every son wants--to look like mom!

Aaron gave me some more funny words this week. Pixie stick is "rusty buck." I have no idea how he came up with that. Mini-wheats are "wini-meats." While he was humming a song in the van, I told him I liked his song. He told me, "Mom, it's not a song, it's a NOISE!" Kaleb taught it to him and he was mortified that I called it music. Oooookay!

I can hardly tell where Derek ends and Aaron begins

I love this picture because of that.

So this is the end of my fragmented post. I guess that's what I get for trying to blog at this time of day!

They Have My Heart

Once upon a time there was a girl. She grew up in a wonderful family who loved her very much. She and her brother were 2 peas in a pod. Still, she wished for a sister. She wished for a girl cousin close to her age. She wished she had girls to play with in her neighborhood. She wished she had girls to be friends with at church--girls in her grade. She wished and she wished and she wished. Those wishes were never granted, and all she had were the boys. Then she grew up and married her college sweetheart and best friend. Together they became the parents of three sons. Suddenly, she realized she had been raised with boys for a very good reason. And on this Valentine's Day, she is blessed to be surrounded by her 4 favorite valentines. Not 1, but 4! With her husband, she gets to play a part in raising up 3 men-in-training. To teach them what a girl wants, and what a girl needs. To be able to influence the way they grow up to treat women. She realizes she's doing her part for 3 young ladies-to-be, and their families that follow. What more could this girl (me) ask for?

Moving on...I promised I would write about my boys if they did something unusually loving and kind during this Valentine week. (Aaron's actions spurred this on; see previous blog entry for more.) Braylen's act of loving kindness happened on Thursday. With no school that day, my boys had to come with me to the preschool parent-teacher conference. Thrilled, they were not! When we arrived, Braylen saw his aunt's minivan pull up. He asked me if he could go help her. He carried her 2 large diaper bags and library book, freeing her up to push her baby's stroller and corral her 2 year old. (My 2 year old niece is a feisty one and needs to be corralled--I love her so much!) Auntie was SO thankful for Braylen's help. During the conference, he assumed responsibility for my youngest niece who has yet to turn 1. Braylen played with her and carried her...he was such a gentleman that morning. I thought to myself, "Here's my oldest son's servant heart shining through!" Way to go Buddy.

My 9 year old gentleman

That leaves me to talk about my Kaleb. hmmmmmmmm. Let's just say Kaleb must have been loving and kind at school, because I didn't see it at home. He was grounded for 2 days for beating on his little brother...enough said? ;) Next time he receives a helium mylar balloon at school on Valentine's Day, I will remember this: When the minivan's automatic door opens to let Braylen climb in, the wind likes to suck Kaleb's balloon right out of the van. And when I leave the van to go chase a balloon across traffic, Kaleb just might blame little Aaron and get physical with him. Never mind the fact I recovered the balloon--the damage was done!

Kaleb and the runaway balloon

Don't want to leave Aaron out!

To sum up my valentine post, I'd like to thank my husband for the gift of his time today. He took our family out this morning to run several errands I was hoping to run. I loved being chauffered around town instead of doing the driving myself. :) He made one surprise stop at a local spa for my valentine gift. I now have a gift certificate to use with a very special friend of mine when she comes to town this spring! Our husbands conspired together to buy their wives a spa package, and I was able to pick out what kind of services my friend and I would like to receive. Ahhhh, I have something to look forward to! To top the morning off, Derek treated me to my favorite coffee place and our whole family enjoyed a pancake brunch. Happy Valentine's Day!

My Youngest Sweetheart

Have you ever had a moment when your child really "wow-ed" you? When he did something so unexpected, so unbelieveably generous, that you had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren't dreaming? I had one of those moments today with my youngest son. Aaron's actions have inspired me to look at this week in a different light. Here we are, anticipating Valentine's Day just 5 days from now. A highly commercialized holiday that finds me crafting 3 Valentines boxes for 3 classrooms, and enduring complaints like, "Why does he get to pass out pixie stix? I don't want to pass out tootsie pops!" And I say things like, "Yes, you have to write out 25 valentines for your classmates plus 10 more for your teacher and prinicipal and lunch lady and librarian and secretary and janitor and gym teacher and art teacher and music teacher and counselor for crying out loud!!!!" Can you see why I need to see this week in a different light? :)

So back to Aaron and his amazing act of kindness today. One of his favorite things to do is to be like his older brothers. He wants to like what they like, and do what they do. Braylen and Kaleb love collecting NFL trading cards. Therefore, Aaron loves to collect them too. Since receiving his own album at Christmas, he looks at Walmart as the card store, not just the place where Mommy drags him around to buy groceries. He counts his coins from his piggy bank and brings them to Walmart in hopes of purchasing some new cards. Sometimes they don't have any football cards. Sometimes I tell him "Not today, Aaron." Since it had been awhile since he'd tried to buy some, I thought I'd let him try today. He brought $2.10 in change from his bank, and scored the LAST 2 packages of NFL trading cards. Yay!!!

On our way home from the store, with both packages in his grip, he tells me he'd like to give one package to Braylen and Kaleb. I was shocked. This boy has had to hold on to his belongings so tightly his entire life, because chances are, his big brothers will snatch what they can when the opportunity arises. The word "mine" took on a new meaning when our third child started to use it. And here he was, willing to give up something that he bought with his own money... I wrestled with that. I didn't want him to do it. I wanted him to enjoy it for himself. How twisted is that? Aren't I supposed to encourage him to share and think of others? I saw the light when Aaron said to me from the back of the minivan, "But I LOVE them Mommy, and that is why I want them to have this." So when Braylen and Kaleb came home from school, Aaron excitedly gave them their gift. I tell you what, I made sure they saw the generousity of Aaron's gift! Aaron counted out the cards for Braylen and the cards for Kaleb, and I counted my blessings.

So in honor of Aaron's giving spirit, I'm going to look for an unusual act of lovingkindness from my other 2 boys this Valentines week. If I see anything, I'll blog it. Maybe I'll look for it in myself as well, since today's circumstances showed me how selfish I can be. There really is truth in the saying, "A little child shall lead us..."

One more thing before I sign off. Since the letter of the week in preschool is "V," Aaron and I tried to think of some V words. His first one was, "I know Mommy! Vini-man!!!" Just another word switcharoo to smile at. :)

What Did He Say?

This weekend brought us lots of family time. Nothing on the calendar, no projects to tackle. Just laid back times together. I am a very laid back type of person, so I really like times like this! The weather was even nice enough for the kids to play outside. In fact, Aaron and I walked to school on Thursday and Friday to pick up the boys. Walking there in February? Yay! I spent about an hour on Saturday cutting little boys' hair. I'm not too happy with myself though. I learned that I should not cut their hair in the wind. Some pieces got snipped that shouldn't have, so I had to buzz it short like a summer 'do. Live and learn!

Last night at Grandma's house, the kids were watching Grandma use her new juicer. They made juice from grapes, strawberries, oranges, and pineapple. Yummy! My sister-in-law and I laughed and laughed at what happened next. (We only heard what happened, didn't see it, which made it even funnier.) Kaleb picked up a carrot, and pretending to be the carrot, said "Cut me so I can get drunk!" Over and over. Now the big joke is that Kaleb goes to Grandma's house and asks to get drunk. :)

Planning for a Puppy

Most people get married and get a dog. Then a few years later, they have kids. We skipped the dog part and went straight to the kids. As our boys grew, they asked and asked us for a dog. I always told them when Aaron was 5, we'd look into it. Aaron turns 5 this spring, so ta-da! Time to think about getting a dog!!!

As we look at all the details that need to come together, I'm a bit overwhelmed. This dog will be an outdoor dog, so that adds a whole new dimension to our planning. Yep, that is a requirement. Derek will let us have a dog, but it has to live outside. (This idea has taken me YEARS to get used to, by the way. I grew up with a dog in the house.) So--do we housetrain the puppy, even though she will live outside? I say yes, because when she needs to come in, for whatever reason (like a tornado), then she will know what to do. We need some type of fence--underground or privacy fence? And where do we put her when we go on vacation? It's not like a baby that goes wherever we go. Auuuggghhhh! We are putting more planning into this than we did with ANY of our children! How can this be? CrAzY! Speaking of children, I can potty train a little boy. I don't know how to potty train a dog!

Thankfully, we are not planning on bringing our new puppy home until late spring/early summer. That way the kids aren't in school and I can "raise" our newest addition without the stresses of schools and schedules. She will be an 8 week old German Shepherd, and we will fall in love with her at first sight. Like raising our boys, I guess we will take things one step at a time. And even though the boys promise me they'll take care of her, this mom is wise to their ways. I know she will become MY dog, because like Kaleb's parakeet, I'm the one who will keep her fed and watered. But as payback for diapering those 3 boys for years and years, they will be the ones in charge of the pooper-scooper. Hah! :)