And This Boy

Edited to add: Although it looks bad, please be assured Sam never hit Cody with the stick. He might have touched him with it but never hurt him, promise.

Yes, I love this boy. He can make me laugh so. It's been said that he loves to quote books and videos. It's fun to hear what he has exact, what he paraphrases and what words he butchers because of lack of understanding of the vocabulary.

This night he picked up a plastic bag and was having "sack races." Ah yes, it was his favorite book of the month, "Lil' Wolf and the Three Pigs" whose sack races he was imitating.

Sam follows the credentials of everything that is stereotypically male. He loves sticks and prisoners and jail and fights. He loves to chase his siblings around the house with his hands up and his face construed into something scary. Why does he get such pleasure out of freaking them out of their wits?Poor Cody, he has no idea of the allegations but he does know he is not afforded the "innocent until proven guilty."

Lucky for Sam Cody didn't act as though he thought it was much more than a game. Lucky for Sam he didn't try to give Cara the same treatment. I'm sure she would have screeched and demanded lawyers.Despite the size difference, victory still tasted sweet.

Another one of Sam's latest games is space aliens. Like the space helmets? They'll play a good hour before tiring of this. Poor Cam does look rather dour in his helmet but don't worry, he really does enjoy this game.

Sam is a VERY slow supper eater. This is something I want to remember when he's 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. Then I'm sure I will be kicking myself for ever resenting his tiny portions and drawn out pace.

Sam is also a very careful color-er and painter. At least, he's careful about what he puts on his paper. He wasn't as concerned about his clothes. He needed to wipe his fingers on something. I'm sure those pants will never be the same :) Thankfully for Sam, that is one area I do not get stressed about.

Just a few Sam quotes...

When Steve left the table the other night, Jeff and I looked over at his "Take" board. Jeff said he took issue with 'nuace'. In his haste, Steve had indeed skipped an 'n'. Sam, who was listening in announced as Steve came back, "Papa, you've got some explainin' to do!"

When it's Sam's turn to pray The Lord's Prayer at lunch time, he always makes me smile with, "tem-pation."

Last week Friday Leah not so subtly let the boys know at breakfast that they would miss her after school because she was going to go to Gramps and Gramma's for a sleepover. Sam exploded, "Leah, you have all the luck!"

Yes, this boy makes us smile, he's a big, big blessing to Steve and I.

An Overheard Conversation for You Because it would be Selfish NOT to Share It.

Whenever I say, "okay, coats and shoes on," these four make a mad dash for the back door, scramble to find a seat on the stairs and wait their turn to be readied for outside. They're funny that way. Or deprived of many going out opportunities.
Anyway, this morning I wanted to get out the door and they were willing to oblige.

Then I heard Cam tell Sammy that he can't get his shoes on by himself. And Sam replied, "don't worry, you'll probably know how to do your shoes when your 17 or 18."

And that's a direct quote. I know because I left them all sitting there and ran to the computer desk so I could quickly write it down and hide my guffaws.

And Cam? He just trusts his older brother is much wiser than himself and agrees with a sweet, "yah, prob'bly when I'm 17 or 18."

This Girl

You don't see or hear much about her. Some days I resent the school hours (+ bus ride) that separate us during the day. She's growing up at an amazing rate of speed and wish I could treasure every minute.
Truth is, we can really clash.
But on this beautiful sunny afternoon I asked her if she wanted to go to the park with me and take some "grade 1" pictures. I did not order the school ones as they were 1) not that great 2)outrageously expensive. She was delighted to spend a few special moments alone with Mom and she does enjoy getting her picture taken.

This is her I'm-gonna-be-a-lawyer look. And she'll be good. She enjoys an argument, she always wants to have the last word, she's smart as a whip. She's also a very black and white, everything's got to be fair kind of person. I hope that's a help to her. I won't argue if she wants to go in for a greenhouse grower, doctor, teacher, or mommy either. I just hope we can relate to her the vast options she has.

A typical Leah moment. I was reading a story from the children's Bible the other night and she was on my lap. I often paraphrase or substitute words to make it easier or more effective for the kids. But now, on certain nights if I try that I get something like, "it says, 'hastily' NOT 'very fast!'"
She loves reading more and more and still is searching out the library for chapter books about horses. Her reasoning? "That way if I ever get my own horse I'll know how to take care of it from reading about them in the books."

Ps. An side note for all of you still in the clutches of winter. This picture IS from last Thursday and NO it was not a bad mom moment to take her picture in her short sleeved t-shirt. It really is just that beautiful here.

As long as you have a sweater close by.

Special Sunday Moment for your Monday Morning

It wasn't so long ago I wrote about my delight of having twins. Yesterday was one of the most precious moments to date.
Cara was not feeling great yesterday and we stayed home from church. She was, in fact, feeling so under the weather that by 9:45 I thought she really just needed to go back to bed. (These babies have never been great sleepers and I'm usually happy if I can have them in bed and sleeping by 12:00) I laid her in bed and shut the door to her unhappy wails. Cody did not like it one bit. He stood by their door wimpering stretching up on his tiptoes trying to figure out how to work the door nob. So, not one to argue much, :) , I picked him up and laid him in his bed next to Cara.
And there he stayed. Her wails stopped. He quietly laid there until she fell asleep. Soon I heard him talking and then the talking turned to whining. I went to check. He was ready to come out. He did not need a nap, he only wanted to keep her company, to let her know she wasn't alone.
So, I took him out and gave him some extra squeezes. I pray they will always share such a deep bond. What an extra special blessing to go through childhood with such a dear friend!

I should maybe mention that Cara might not have done the same for Cody. Is is not indicitave of character that her first words were juice and teeth and his was "ow". As in owie. He is a softie. I love that about him.

For Tonight: This Boy

Enjoyed scootering in the beautiful sunshine. "One boot on" he told me as he cheerfully pushed off.

But he also had a few troubles with slipping off. And in the nature of all things human, my little boy muttered, "dumb thcooter" as if his inexperience had no part in it.

And since this post is about Cam, here are a few moments I want to remember again some day.

While making breakfast, Cam puts his slice of bread in the toaster and flips it up every 10 seconds until the time that piece of bread finally pops up with, "toast on it." The ratio is about 5% toasted/browned bread:95% warm/still soft bread BUT it has "toast on it" so please spread on some honey.

It's getting a little familiar to hear (especially on a rainy day), "there's nothing can me do" in a slightly whiny tone.

Loving to color like big bro and sis.

Home MakeOver: Special Edition

I have this friend named Steph

she really is the best

she started this craze

back a few days

when she gave me a "new house" gift.

Some of you may remember

these four letters from back in September

when I opened the gift

my heart did a shift

because HOME was a perfect fit.

I asked her for some assistance

she gave me no resistance

so we got together

two birds of a feather

and set out to decorate.

Sorry, the prose is going from bad to worse. I'm switching. Anyway, Steph encouraged me to paint these shelves and I'm so glad I did. They look much warmer and the few special items pop out between my (heartily enjoyed) baskets. The mugs are from my "old Oma" (great grandma) and someday I'm going to try and find out more about them. The block calendar also came from Steph when she was my not-so-secret secret pal. (I still feel bad about that)

She gave me confidence to display the star and pointed out the little crock at BFM. (Which by the way brings up a small point. Besides the special items I bought at Creekside (a local country-ish knick knack store) with a gift certificate and my baskets, everything I have put up was bought for $3 or less at different thrift stores.


She helped me finally hang this most special of gifts (with a screwdriver and hammer to make holes for the dry wall plugs) :) Somewhere I have a picture of a screwdriver sticking out of the wall. Anyway, some of you may remember this old window that Steve rescued from our Young Rd. shed and converted into a picture frame. I have changed the black and white photos to sepia and the gray mats to brown and it looks beautiful on the chocolate wall. He was going to fill the remaining pane with a poem or a saying or something but hasn't got around to it yet. I will post another picture if it ever gets done. A precious gift, Steve, and I'm so glad I can look at it everyday.

Steph also spotted this candle holder at BFM. It was originally a gorgeous or not so gorgeous torquoise and looks fantastic painted black, don't you think?


Too bad this picture is so far away. The little shadow box was also painted brown because of her encouragement. Then Steph placed the gorgeous little bird on top of an ultra cool Holland-Danske Dictionary I picked up, filled in the empty space with some yellowish pit berry pokes she donated to my cause and hung the cast iron star she had painted cream for me.
As for the oh so cool sewing machine. Guess who pointed it out on our walk through BFM? The table is a little beat up but the sewing machine works and it delights me to have this little piece of history in our living room for $40!

Steph was also the one who spotted the cool star and little birdies that matched our new duvet cover so nicely. The little candle holder went from brass to black under her capable hands. On a side note, I am still happy with the duvet cover but it ALWAYS looks wrinkly. Oh well. I had to hang up the shelf for now, Steph, because I wanted those things up and displayed.

And here is my wonderful, could have been bought at Creekside, frame that Martin and Wieska gave me at Christmas. It looks as great as I thought it would on the chocolate and now I just have to make a plan for filling it up. (See the little finger loop on that candle stick holder?!)

And if for some reason you're thinking, "that girl went over the top with all the time and stuff she's added to their house", you ain't seen nothing yet. I found this frame at a thrift store for $3. It was my most extravagant purchase besides the two pieces of furniture. Steph had a great idea for it. You see, she had started a painting the night before that wasn't going to be able to go where she thought it was. SO, she spent an entire afternoon finishing the painting so she could bring it to our house still that night so it could get hung up! Isn't it beautiful? If you are familiar with the style of decor at all I'm sure you will agree with me that this could sit in Creekside and probably sell for a huge amount of money. But she brought it over to our house and hung it on our wall.

She's just that kind of friend, full of love and kindness.

Aren't I blessed?

MakeOver Part I

Last night I had some lovely ladies come over and visit for a Close to my Heart Party I had "won". :) Christina came up with a lovely way to cover up some ugly tins I had picked up and we ended up with this pretty result. She's good. Thanks, Christina!

Top: don't look at my poor job of covering the tin edges with brown staz on ink. One would think I was in a hurry. (With this discovery one might also rethink her slight impatience with daughter's same bent to just get things done without worring so much about how it looks, ie. coloring. This type of revelation is not always comfortable!)


Just so you can get the idea of the depth.
A huge thank you to every single one of you sweethearts who gave me one night of your week. We're all busy and I thoroughly enjoyed having you create, yap and laugh in my living room...and kitchen...and even back hall for some of you. (Yes, you know who you are.) Let's just say it's a good thing our kids are used to noise. They slept through everything and it was alot. :)

And did you hear me say I loved it? A great big {hug} for every single one of you. Even the ones whose babies spit on the floor. Or how about the cup of water? Did I mention to you the flooring is linoleum :) and cleans super easy when I get around to cleaning it? Consider yourselvles lucky, I mopped it for YOU yesterday.

In summary, the only thing that could have made it a better night was if I had had a chance to have a 1/2 hour visit with each one of you singularily. Maybe I'll start getting out more and stop in to visit each of you...maybe... next year.

On to one more topic for the night. The babies bedroom is almost done. Only a few brown touch ups to do. That doesn't mean the job is perfect. The blue and green were VERY hard to cover and I just did not have the patience, time or desire to do a third coat of white on the molding and doors.

See paragraph two.

Ouch.

Maybe I should just pull out the brush and bucket again.

Well, this is the before shot. Notice I have the cribs kitty corner to each other.

The half done shot. It was sitting like this for probably a week and looking at the green against the brown nearly made me physically ill. (See the cribs side by side in the middle of the room? This is the reason for the twins' increase in pre and post sleep activities)

Aah. Like I said it's not perfect but it does look much better does it not?

See that basket on the floor? Mom O, I think you would enjoy that little basket. It is one handled, I found it at the thrift store for $2, but despite it's slight handicap, it has made a huge difference in our morning and evening routine and the living room landscape. You see, ever since moving to Young Rd. I have lazily thrown the kids' pj's somewhere in the living room upon their getting dressed in the morning. I figured no sense bringing them upstairs (or now downstairs in the new house) for the day only to have to climb the stairs again at night to go get them. (I know, probably 30 seconds max per trip but those 60 seconds seemed to require a lot of the day's energy.) So, tra la la la la, I am pleased to introduce you to the "jammie basket". The kids know they have to put their jammies there in the morning and go find them there again in the evening. Missy Cara thinks it's a wonderful game! Having a habit like this so early in her life makes me wonder if at 27, should she be blessed with a child or two of her own, if she'll have a "jammie basket" of her own.

But that's a story for another day.

Thanks for hanging on with me to the end here. Thanks for reading through my blathering!

Please stay tuned for the MakeOver Part ll: Special Edition. I hope I can have it up sometime in the next couple days.