Easter Dog

Chip got lucky today. When we took the Easter pictures outside, we actually remembered him! The other night, I was down by her bed and I began to pray for Erica and the things she requested. Chip, of course, was laying on the bed curled up at her feet exactly where he always wants to be; at her feet. When I was praying, I was thinking about how Chip's loyalty, faithfulness and unconditional love he has for each one of us is so similar to how God feels about us, too. As I was praying, I began to relate that similarity to God and His relationship to us. Sometimes it helps me to see something tangible and be able to relate it to our relationship with Him. And as we prayed, I was hoping Erica would understand a little more of that same thing. So we are having this amazing time praying together and sharing with the Lord our praise and our petitions and I begin to cry. So Erica is rubbing my arm as I'm blubbering and then she begins to pat my back with a little "it's okay, Mom, you can stop now" kind of pat and then Chip is up under my hair licking my tears from my face and he stops as I push him away. And I continue to pray and Scott comes in and kneels down and listens and here comes Chip again to lick my tears away. And I was thinking "oh Chip, you are so sweet and concerned ..." and Erica starts giggling.... And I am thinking to myself, "what is she giggling about? I'm blubbering and we are having this amazing time praying to our Lord and she is giggling." And Chip is still trying to lick my tears and then I end our prayer and look at her and ask, "What in the world are you laughing at!", as I begin to laugh and Scott is laughing. And she looks at me laughing and says, "Chip was licking your tears the second time and he had just licked his pee pee!!!" You know, I think there are times that God really is on the thrown and His head is thrown back and He is laughing with me!! And everytime I think to myself, "Now this is a picture of life, this is tender, this is GOOD", oh quickly I am reminded of God's sovereign truth and how He has the picture, not us. The valuable lesson of the day (I'm sure there were more): note to self: do not let the dog lick your face when you are crying and your eyes are closed.

A NEW Light to Replace the Old

Remember the ceiling fan that fell all on its own for no reason at all? By the way, I did pull Jack aside the next day to verify the story ... he did the same story all over again so we are guessing they are telling the truth (read A Cool Shirtless Night for further story!). Anyway, Scott put up a new light - without a fan! Thanks honey for handling that and picking it all out --- you're the best! :)

"I Was WRONG!"

Do you ever have one of those moments you wish you could take back and realize you can't -- all you can do is admit you're wrong? I had one of those this week only it wasn't with Scott because I'm NEVER wrong when it comes with him (LOL)!! This was with Spencer --- it had been one of those days and nights actually. We got home and Chip, the dog, had found a peach fruit cup and a granola bar to which he had great fun tearing into, eating and leaving sticky peach juice all over the tile floor. So I had to clean it up. In the midst, Jack was very, very, VERY slowly eating his snack and I told Spencer to clean up the playroom. Well, I turn around and find him playing multiple times. It was 8:30pm and I was DONE. You know those moments you have. Admit it .. you have them. I told him to brush his teeth, get to bed and no gamecube the next day. He fell apart .... and I would NOT listen to him. I was not reasoning with him nor was I going to be manipulated in this situation. Scott puts a crying son to bed and Spencer is trying to convince him that I'm WRONG!! Can you believe it? After I finished mopping the kitchen and laundry room, I peeked my head in the play room just to prove how Spencer did not listen. Yep. The playroom had been picked up EXACTLY like I had told Spencer to do it. Which meant I WAS WRONG!!! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I ended up climbing up into Spencer's bunk bed -- he was having NOTHING to do with me. He is just like Scott -- don't listen to them and it is like the wrath of God or something to the liking. So I got up there, convinced Spencer to look at me and said, "Spencer, I was wrong......" and proceeded to tell him I was sorry for not listening, I was preoccupied, I was wrong and apologized and asked him to forgive me for being so hard on him. To which he says as usual, "Mom, I forgive you." And at that very moment, all was well. Right up until he opened his mouth a second later and said, "So .... what does this mean?" Which I knew exactly what he was fishing for ---- Mom was wrong, she admitted it and she has to give me back gamecube tomorrow -- but of course, she has to! I absolutely looked at him and I could not stop laughing! He and I laughed on the top of the bunkbed I bet for at least 5 minutes. I just could not stop laughing and neither could he!!! God, don't you just love those moments?? I love it ... I love laughing with them and I love their forgiveness and I love their quickness!!! What would we do without them .......

Happy 6th Birthday, Jack!!

I remember when the boys were babies and we had been home a week. Scott would sit in the recliner with Spencer and give him a bottle and I would sit on the couch with Jack and give him a bottle before bed. And as we sat there each basically holding babies, we would say "oh, what will it be like when they are 3 and 2? 5 and 4? Oh, when they are 7 and 6, it will be sooo much easier!" And then we blinked and it is here ... and it is fun chaos and wild chaos and chaos like this morning with bagels and peanut butter and cereal and lunch boxes and shoes and a dog to trip over!! My last one is growing up and I am sad and happy at the same time. He amazes me with his humor and his sensitivity. He is so bright and eager to learn. Today, we are off for our last kindergarten field trip to the zoo. Can you believe it? MY LAST kindergarten field trip......I feel the need to get another dog or something it is soooooooo sad ..... I will not experience kindergarten again until I have grandchildren. Oh, I hope we have LOTS OF THEM!!!!!! Happy Birthday, Jack! You continue to be a complete gift from God!

A Cool Shirtless Evening Gone Bad

Aren't they so cute? Almost angelic in their Easter outfits, huh? I started looking at this closely and the way they are dressed really does define their personalities. Spencer is very conscience of how he looks, his clothes, his hair, etc. Jack is ALL about comfort. As long as his hair is brushed FORWARD, not sideways, and he can wear his shirt OUT preferably with flip flops, he is happy. But that wasn't my point ... I have another story.
Last night, Scott, Erica and I were hanging out on our bed right before she was heading off to sleep and the boys were already in bed BUT not asleep yet. Spencer had gotten up for the third time because he thought of something else he wanted to tell us. So we are talking with Erica and suddenly, we hear this boom/crash in the boy's room. Scott proceeded to get up and go check it out. Well, he turned the light on and it didn't come on. He turned the hall light on and in the middle of the room is the ceiling fan with broken bulbs and globes all over the floor! He looked at them - Spencer was hanging on the one step of his ladder and Jack had this OH MY GOSH look on his face. And the story is like this: "Dad, we wanted to take our pajama shirts off and sleep without them. I threw mine over and the shirt landed on the blade but then it fell off the blade and as soon as it hit the floor, the ceiling fan fell out of the ceiling." Scott turns to Jack to ask what happened and Spencer cuts Jack off before he gets a word out, REPEATS the whole story again but adds "that's what happened Dad, isn't that right, Jack?" And Jack responds with, "Yep." So we stand there trying really hard not to laugh - clean up the glass, vacuum the floor and off to sleep they go. And we wonder what really happened .... but even today, they are sticking to the story -- the same story -- and Jack even repeated it the same way when I pulled him aside thinking it would be a "little" different. I will say I was really proud of Scott's response .. he laughed. And I think it was a great lesson for the boys -- that ceiling fans DO FALL OUT OF THE CEILINGS and may even fall for no reason at all!!!! I don't think they'll be hanging on any of them any time soon! Can you say "New Light Kit Only" please???

Happy Easter!

Well, at least this time for a special holiday, I didn't forget to add Chip to the picture! I sent all my Christmas cards out and forgot to put Chip in them! I felt horrible so I had to make up for it! This year, I got on the pendelum swing once again and decided I was anti-Easter. I DID NOT say I was anti-Christ. I was simply over the whole bunny basket Easter tradition that our culture has created. This year, I really wanted to do something more meaningful with the kids as a way of remembering and celebrating our Savior. So what did we do? We took the kids to see a special musical on Good Friday. You know I had a picture right? We would have dinner, we would get the children showered and dressed and we would see this meaningful Good Friday celebration of the Lord's Supper, etc. Well, we got seated in a very, very dark auditorium that was decorated. We sang for worship and when I went to sit down, I sat on Jack because he was laying down in the pew. Strike 1. Spencer kept kicking the bottom of the pew in this sanctuary that you could hear a pin drop and Jack would not stop kicking the pew in front of us. Strike 2. THE final blow of the evening after I had REPEATEDLY asked Jack to stop fidgeting, giggling and kicking was when I looked over at him and he had removed his flip flops (don't ask me why he was wearing them for a nice evening out - it's too long) but he had kicked them off and was biting his toenails. Strike 3. At that moment, I really wanted the floor to open up and suck me into it forever. I really did think I was going to die at that moment. It was just a moment. And I proceeded to squeeze his little leg and really wanted to squeeze it until it turned purple but I refrained. And in his favor, the words to the song after was about grace and all I could think of was I didn't deserve grace but I received it. So I didn't squeeze Jack. But he did go to bed early for his naughtiness. I don't think he cared. He was just happy to have the hangnail off his toe :) As my friend Cami says, "expectations are our enemies!"