Confession #3

I bribed my 2nd grader to read to my Kindergartner. 

Anna was absolutely positive that the Book-It program was also a contest to see who could turn in their sheet first.  I couldn't convince her she actually had a month to turn it in.  She wanted to win.  Over the weekend she wanted me to read her 20 books so she could "win."  I read her two books. 

And over a few days, Sophia read her the other 18.  For the final 7, Sophia earned a marble in her jar for every book she read to her sister.  Once the jar is filled up (marbles earned for good behavior, chores, etc.) then they get to go on a date with Mom or Dad.  In my head, I rationalize that it is good reading time for Sophia, good sister time, a good lesson on working towards an end goal, and a really good deal for me.

Am I a bit lazy?  Um, yeah.  But, with four kids, sometimes you have to make choices and you can't do it all.  So, for now, I'm loving that I have another reader in the house!

Confession #2

This summer we were blessed to be able to buy Chris' grandmother's van from her.  Our old van was on it's last leg and her van was nice.  By nice, I mean "special edition" nice.  That means all the features that a mother of four young kids doesn't deserve and probably shouldn't have.  Built in DVD player, stow-in-go seating, leather seats, key less doors.  The list is long. But I am currently addicted to one of the features I never knew I was missing. 

Heated seats.  Seriously.  I had never tried these before.  Last week one night we got in the van and it was pretty chilly outside.  I pushed the button and fell in love!  Now when I get in the car -- and yes, it's been 80 outside -- I put the AC on and the heated seats on.  I make excuses.  My back is a little sore.  Or my legs, or whatever.  Really, I just love how relaxing it is.  I was worn out the other night and sore from exercising and I told Chris what I really wanted to do was just go sit in the van with my heated seats.  I didn't.  But it did cross my mind!  It's something I never knew I was missing, and now hope I don't have to live without.

Life's littlest luxeries are sometimes the best!

Fall Festival

For our family, fall officially begins with Valley Center's Fall Festival.  I'm certain there is nothing that could possibly distinguish this fall festival from one of the thousands of others taking place in all of small town America.  But for one weekend, our town comes alive!  It is so much fun to walk down the street and everywhere you look you know someone.  You take time to talk - really talk to each other.  And it's sad to realize that some of the people you haven't talked to since last year's fall festival live less than a mile away. 


But this weekend they do.  They come outside lured by funnel cakes, parades, and the lights on the ferris wheel.  While there are activities on Friday night, for us, the fall festival starts with the parade Saturday morning.  And for the last two years, it's started a few weeks earlier as we've designed and built the float for our church.  We're starting to get it figured out and hopefully next year's will be bigger and better.  We had a "Valley of Oz" theme this year so we did ours as "There's no place like home in Christ!"  We were thinking over-the-top silly with giant 8 ft. by 4 ft. sparkling ruby slippers. 

After the parade we head downtown to look at all the vendors, eat lunch, and try to convince the kids they will, in fact, survive if they have to wait until after nap time to ride the rides.  Because in the evening is when everything seems more exciting.  All the rides are lit up, and it seems like the whole town is out ready to have fun.  Four young kids and overpriced tickets don't go well together.  So we got the "family pack" which was only 10 tickets for $25.  Ouch.  Each of the girls got to choose three rides, and Sam got to ride one. 

Sophia is a pretty serious kid at times, and then has this completely other side to her where she shows pure, uninhibited, delirious joy.  The contagious kind of joy.  The kind I wish I could still show!  She LOVES the rides and you can tell with her face and with her legs kicking in excitement.  Watching her is more fun than riding a ride. 

Anna and Isabella are much more cautious.  They picked their rides more carefully and were a little apprehensive at first, but then quickly smiled and enjoyed their rides. 

This was Sam's first year to ride anything.  He got to drive a jeep around in a circle.  Sounds thrilling!  He loved it.  And when it was time for me to unbuckle him.  He scooted over to drive the other steering wheel.  Too bad it doesn't work that way!  I grabbed him, put him back in his stroller and he just cried and pointed at the jeep.  Guess we should have bought more tickets. 

There are more activities on Sunday, but between church, naps and church we just ran out of time and energy.  We watched the fireworks from our backyard and avoided crowds and traffic.  It was a great way to end the weekend and a great way to start Fall.  I'm hoping your town has something similar to kick off this great season! 

Homework

Isabella:  "Mom, can I just pretend to do homework too?"  "Umm, I guess if you really want to."  Though I'm not really sure why you'd want to start that early.  Today Sophia was working on one of her math assignments.  She's in 2nd grade.  Here's an actual sentence from the directions.  "Advanced students can begin to understand how experimental probability compares to theoretical probability."  Yikes.  I had to reread that one.  I'm dreading when they get to high school and I know I'll struggle to be able to help.  Let's be honest -- it will probably hit earlier than that! 

To stay at home...

I've said before that I'm a doer.  I don't sit still.  I get super involved in lots of different things and lots of different organizations.  I run lots of errands.  And I stay busy.  But today, I stayed home.  I stayed in my jammies most of the day - and I didn't run any errands.  I didn't drag my kids to any stores.   Nothing.  We didn't leave the house.  They just played all day long.  And look how cute they are?  Just sitting on the couch reading.  Guess we all need a day at home. 

Chris and I are making a plan to take Sundays as the Sabbath they're supposed to be. We'll go to church. Come home and rest. We'll teach Kids Club at night, but we're not going to spend the day doing chores, working on things, or running errands. We're going to take a cue from our kids and just relax.  Maybe soon you'll see a picture of Chris and I on the couch resting.  I sure hope so!!

Who's the best? VHS.

Last week the girls participated in the annual right of passage for all small town girls.  Cheerleader Kiddie Camp.  We look forward to it all year long.  An entire week practicing cheers with high schoolers followed by a memorable performance at a football game.  And I mean memorable.  This year, all three girls were old enough to participate (and totally bust my entertainment budget).  $90 later, a few tears, many carpools, and complete and total chaos at pick-up time, I (I mean, they) survived.  It was time for the game.  The girls got their special 80's theme shirts based on the song "Too legit to quit."  And, for anyone keeping track, that really came out in 1991.  But, for the high school girls, that was close enough I guess.   They did a cheer and a routine to the song. 

I was so excited.  We dropped Sam off with the grandparents and I naively envisioned an entire half of a football game just sitting with Chris actually enjoying the game.  The girls got to sit with the cheerleaders for the first half.  About 4 minutes in I had to pick up Isabella as she was desperately crying.   So, instead of peacefully enjoying the game I spent my time getting up and down out of the bleachers since they performed twice rather than just lumping it all together.  I saw a few of the game plays.  A few.  Isabella was a little nervous, but in the end they all did well.  Sophia did plenty of attempts at kicks and jumps and had a ton of fun.  Anna liked feeling "big" and Isabella survived the first performance and actually enjoyed the second.  She might have been threatened once that if she didn't smile and perform then she couldn't go to the second annual right of passage -- that being the dance team's clinic during basketball season. 

Adventures in Motherhood

Some days I think I've got things figured out.  Then I prove myself completely wrong in an instant.  Our dog was overdue for her yearly shots.  She's a 9 year-old golden retriever who thinks she's still a puppy.  She's amazing with our kids, but she gets incredibly excited to see new people.  Think lots of jumping up and licking!  I really needed to get her in to the vet so I looked at my schedule.  If I waited for a free Saturday when Chris could take her in....well it would probably be another few months.  So, I figured today would be great.  Sophia and Anna were in school, Isabella was at preschool, and it was just me and Sam.  We loaded up in the van and went to the vet.  This was a good idea.  It would have been hard to take more kids with me in the tiny room at the vet's.  I was really smart planning it this way. 

About 10 seconds in to the vet visit I realized that this was not a good idea.  I'm not sure who was more difficult to control -- the 80 (actually 75lb now!!) dog or the 2 year-old boy who loves doors and thinks all dogs love him.  I was trying to calm Sadie down, keep her from jumping on everyone and still keep track of Sam.  We went in the tiny waiting room with doors on either side.  Great.  He couldn't keep his hands off them.  I had to try to convince him to stay in the room and at the same time hold Sadie's face different ways so the vet could check out her ears and teeth.  Then I had to help her stay still for shots. Luckily she didn't even notice them.  But I was still completely out of my league.   Then it was time to leave and pay.  We went out to the front desk where I was supposed to contain my dog, sign my credit card slip, and keep both Sam and Sadie away from the other two playful large dogs. 

I came home exhausted.  I was covered in dog hair, had a full-blown allergy attack from the cats at the vet and could hardly believe I had thought that was a good idea.  What was I thinking?  I still can't figure out which was more difficult to contain, the overgrown puppy or the 2-year old boy.  Good thing they're both so cute!