The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

I have to start this post with a little insider info - my kids do not like going to the movies. Kendall Joy thinks it is too loud, Bennett is easily scared, and Camden gets antsy. That being said, today Matt & I took all 3 kids to see Wall-E. We had shown them clips online to make sure they knew what the movie was about, which I think really helped them all. Camden was already in love with Wall-E and managed to sit through the whole movie - shocker! Kendall really wanted to see it, and only had her hands on her ears for the first 1o minutes or so, which is pretty much a new record for her. Bennett took his Indiana Jones Lego Guy so that he would help him be brave, and I think it actually worked! And as I am sitting there towards the end of the movie (which was great, you should see it!) in shock and disbelief that we had a successful trip, I notice tears slowly running down Bennett's cheek. I don't want to give away the ending for those of you who haven't seen it, but it is pretty emotional at the end. I sat there watching Bennett, his eyes glued to the screen with hope in his face that everything would turn out okay, and I realized that he is just like me. (When I was little I soaked my dress with tears when I saw E.T. for the first time) Which is probably why he drives me crazy sometimes. He wears his heart on his sleeve, which makes him somewhat over emotional, very sensitive, and incredibly compassionate. I know that many people would look at him and say he needs to toughen up, act more like a boy, etc., but how can I fault him for being tender hearted? It is who God created him to be, right? So, when others inevitably tease him for his "soft" personality, the only consolation I will be able to give him is that I know that his future wife will be thankful for some of those traits later in life.

When Daddy's Away...

Let me start by saying that Matty is out of town this weekend. I think that when he is gone the kids get together and figure out ways to challenge me, so that they can help me grow as a mom and an individual and gain new strength as a parent. Yeah, that's it.

So, take note of the above picture. This is a model of a truck that Bennett built a few months ago and decided to play with it last night. By play, I mean he decided to see if he could stick his middle finger in the window hole and stretch it all the way across to the other side. While I appreciated his creativity, the ten minutes he spent screaming while my mom and I tried to get his finger out was not so much appreciated. And as I sat there, slowly watching his finger turn a lovely shade of eggplant, I can't help but think that poor Matty was missing out on all the fun. Thankfully we avoided a trip to the emergency room, I guess we will just save that until the next time Matt goes out of town (which is in August - pray for us!).

As a side note - Happy Birthday Julia!!!! Hope you have a great day :)

VBS Finale

Today was the final day of VBS, and we ended on a high note with a celebration tonight at church. The kids had a great time, and I have no doubt that for the next few weeks they will continue to talk about the mentos and diet coke explosion, the bowling ball that broke the aquarium, the dry ice bubbles, and - oh yeah - the bible stories they learned. This year it was kind of like science camp met Sunday school and they ate it up. I have lasting memories as well, including a new repertoire of kids songs that constantly run through my head. And while I understand that most kid music only has a limited number of words so that the repetition promotes easy learning for the kids, I would kill for a second verse once and a while! Seriously, I think it will be Christmas when the broken record effect of VBS music is finally replaced with an ongoing chorus of Jingle Bells. Am I the only one that has continuous music running through my head? And you wonder why I can't speak in clear sentences. I am assuming that my kids also constantly have music running through their brain, which is probably why they never seem to hear me when I am talking to them.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Surfer Girl

Okay, so a couple of months ago Matt & I had a talk about what we thought our kids would be when they grow up. It was fun to think about their personalities and interests and imagine what their future could hold. After a serious debate, we decided that Kendall Joy was destined to be a rock star. However, going through the pictures from this past weekend, I may have to change my vote to pro surfer. What do you think?

Mommy Did Go To College...Really!

Okay, so I get the feeling that my kids don't think I am very smart. This week is VBS for our kids, and they are so excited about it. The theme is Power Lab and they have been listening to the cd non-stop for the past few days. The other day in the car Kendall says "Jesus is powerful, and Power Lab - get it mommy? They are both power!" I affirmed her for her brilliant observation, but didn't admit to her that I actually hadn't really made that connection yet. Then I realized that she probably already realized it, which is why she added the "get it mommy?". I think that she has already deduced that mommy is not too bright. It reminded me of one of Bennett's winning comments a few weeks ago. We were sitting at the dinner table and he asked me if I was good at playing video games when I was his age. I told him that mommy didn't have video games like the ones he plays when I was little, and then he proceeded to lean over to Kendall Joy and whisper,"they didn't have much electricity back then when mommy and daddy were little". So my daughter thinks I am not too bright and my son thinks I am old. Don't you just love kids? Do you want to borrow mine - they are great for your self esteem!
My favorite comment of this week came from KJ and Addie yesterday. We went to lunch with the Tuttles and when I asked the girls what they wanted they both said they wanted chicken. Being the ever entertaining mommy that I am, I started making chicken noises. Addie looked at me and said, "no, not THAT kind of chicken". And KJ, wanting to back up her friend, said "no mommy, not the kind with feathers, you know, the nugget kind." Okay, so maybe I do know a few more things than my kids, I just choose not to share them. Why break their sweet little hearts? I have plenty of time to do that in the future :)
And my brilliant son, do you know what he asked today in the car? I think our conversation went something like this:
Bennett: "Is the salt in the ocean the same as our salt we use?"
Me: "umm..(flashbacks of high school chemistry and the periodic table)..yeah, kind of"
Bennett: "What about metal?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Bennett: "How do you make metal?"
Me: "umm, well it is kind of hard to explain, maybe we could get a book from the library"
Bennett: "But do you know how?"
Me: "Yes (little half white lie), it is just complicated. And it depends on what kind of metal you want to make"
Bennett: "okay"
Whatever happened to questions like where do babies come from and what is the meaning of life? Those I can answer! I think I am being punished for not paying more attention in high school. So now I need to spend my days with my kids and spend my nights taking refresher courses online to brush up on science and math and MAYBE by the time Camden is old enough to start asking questions I will be better prepared for them. And maybe in the process I will find the cure for cancer and solve all the world's problems.

White Shirts

Okay, so yesterday morning the following occurred to me; but it was so stinking hot that I didn't get around to posting it - sorry!
As I was trying to figure out what to wear to church, I had a weird realization. First of all, I realized that I spend way too much time worrying about what to wear to church, it is not like I am the fashion guru of Santa Barbara that people look to see what the latest fashion trends are. Second, and more important, I realized that I only have 1 white shirt. Which is weird, because I used to have like 20.
We used to have a golden retriever, who quickly helped me to purge all black clothing from my closet, since any time I wore something black I was like a walking billboard for a lint brush. But now I have like 10 black shirts and only 1 white one. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except that it seems like just yesterday I was rummaging through my closet trying to find a clean white shirt. I went through the usual - this one's too big, this one's too small, the bra I have to wear with that one is dirty, that one makes me look gross - and please don't tell me if I am the only one to have these conversations with myself! I ended up with like 23 white shirts spread all over my bed, and as I looked closer I also noticed that they all had some sort of stain on them. Sad, right? And yes, I do own bleach. But the ironic thing about all those stains was that looking at all those shirts with smudges and stains was like looking at a scrapbook. I could easily tell which ones were left from cheesy cheeto fingers pulling on my shirt to get attention, which ones were left from gooey chocolate hugs around my neck, the ones on the shoulders left behind from drips of blood from crying kids who had hurt themselves (it is amazing how much the human mouth bleeds when it gets cut!), and sadly which ones I did all on my own because I still have not learned the art of eating Italian food without spilling something on myself. I remember thinking to myself, hey - I should just take a picture of all these shirts lying on the bed and my scrapbooks would be a lot easier to keep up to date! And now, somehow, those shirts have all found their way into the garbage or thrift store box, and I had only one left. And amazingly, it was still white! So I wore it to church, and ended up helping in the nursery. Now I can add it to the scrapbook collection.

Potty Training 101

So, you would think after successfully potty training 2 kids the third would be a piece of cake, right? Not in my family. I must admit I was slightly spoiled by KJ. She decided just before she turned 2 that she wanted to be potty trained like her friend Addie, and the next thing you know the diapers were gone and quickly replaced with pretty pink princess panties. And then came Camden.
On Camden's 2nd birthday in February we got him underwear, just to have on hand. Turns out it is one of the cutest pictures from the party, Cam tightly gripping 2 packs of underoos with the biggest cheesiest grin possible. You would think it was a sign of good things to come, right? However, as soon as we uttered the words "do you want to sit on the potty" we were greeted with screams of protest and a flash of naked buns running down the hallway. So we decided to wait, as the "experts" say, until he was ready. Mommy decided he was ready when a couple of weeks ago he came into the living room, stuck his hands down the back of his diaper, pulled out a lovely mush of poo, and loudly proclaimed "Mama I poopy!". Okay, do you know how hard it is to get poop out from underneath a toddler's fingernails?
Anyways...that started the lengthy process that has now encompassed my every thought and decision. Every time I think about heading out I have to weigh the decision carefully, based on whether or not there will be potties where we are going, how long we will need to be gone, and how many changes of extra clothes I will need to bring. And to top it all off, my wonderfully dedicated husband who was trying to be incredibly helpful started the potty training and in order to keep Camden on the potty sang him the itsy bitsy spider song. He had no idea the Pandora's box he was opening when he started that lovely habit. Now every time Camden sits on the potty he insists on singing the itsy bitsy spider. Three different versions. Every time. I am so sick of that song! I hate potty training. I miss diapers. Those wonderfully absorbent genius creations that you can put on your kid in the morning and leave on until it looks like a soggy sack of potatoes between your child's legs has appeared 8 hours later and you think, maybe I should change that. Not that I have ever done that. So seriously though, is it really that bad if I keep him in diapers until high school?

Day One

Okay, so I am crazy and have submitted to the wild world of the web. I am still not sure what I am doing, but I figure half of the other bloggers out there don't know either, right? So to my wonderful family and friends who will visit, I hope that you enjoy brief insights and pictures of our lives. Our household may seem crazy but we have a lot of love!