Quotes from today...

So while I'm planting the rest of the tomato plants in the garden, I wonder where the kids are. I'd been hearing something rubbing on the cardboard house that sounded suspiciously like a steak knife. After a quick scan across the yard, I spotted PC in the Little Tykes car (which he was driving while it was tipped on its side "so he could have a side window" or something along those lines).

"PC, where are the other kids?" I called from the back fence.
"They're in the house." he answered without even looking up from what he was doing.
"Both of them?" I asked, wondering if he meant our real house, or the cardboard one on the deck. "Who's in the cardboard house?"
"Emma." PC replied
"What, PC? Emma joined the conversation.
"Emma's in the house with Butler." PC clarified.
"Yeah, Mama, I is in the house with Butler!" Emma called out to me.
"What are you doing? What is that sound?" I asked her.
"Butler and me is coloring the window with our crayons. And he's not crying. He's happy. And he want to throw someting at me, but he didnent. And he didnent pull my hair eider! And I lub you."
"Ok, I'm glad you're being good." I said and went on with my planting.

Then a few seconds later Emma called out to me, "I lub you and I gonna gib you a hug - in just a minute."

I love you too, Emma. :)

My Little Lady

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."
2 Peter 3:18

Dolly is growing up so fast. This was her birthday picture that we had taken almost two weeks after she turned 6 earlier this year. I brought the tulip and as the photographer and I reviewed a posed picture, we looked up to see her just daydreaming into her flower. Quick as a wink, the photographer snapped this picture and it turned out better than all the rest that we tried so hard to make 'look natural'.

She loves to write letters and notes, and every day I find a new one that she's carefully written. I think it's almost time to start introducing spelling rules though. So far everything is phonetic, but pretty soon some of those phonetic spellings might become a habit that will be hard to overcome later. She reads everything she sees now and is only a couple books away from being halfway to our goal of 100 read-aloud books. Since she started going away to school, I've had her read aloud to me so her reading skills stay challenged.

I think what comes most naturally for her do is to nurture. Sometimes it seems like she can't wait for someone else in the family to be sick so she can take care of them. But I can say from experience, that she does a wonderful job - it's such a luxury to have someone wait on you hand and foot. I'm not entirely surprised though, nursing runs in the family. She looks out for her siblings almost to a fault though. Some days all her intervening causes quite the uproar of chaos around here, but her intentions are good.

Dolly is very generous and selfless although she has lost a lot of patience for her siblings since she's been in school. At least some of her reactions to them are far less gracious than they used to be. This has been hard for me to watch, but hopefully it's just a phase she's passing through and everything will be normal again when she's home again in the summer.

She has a tender conscience and is always eager to please. These attributes make her a delight to have as part of the family and I'll always be thankful that I have been blessed to be her mother.

And Someday... I'll miss this.

Saturday (Family Project Day):
11am.
Of course, I try to do what any non-pregnant person would do and after a couple hours, my body is screaming at me to remember that I'm actually six months pregnant and not made to do normal activities for the time being.
1pm.
I finally get lunch made, and everyone called. Sitting down for half an hour causes amnesia to set in, and after lunch we get back to work. Then it's time to start putting kids down for naps. They have to go down in phases or else they keep each other awake all afternoon.
3:30.
All the kids are in bed for naps (they're not all asleep yet). Sir convinces me that I should take a nap too. My body agrees. I know it's no used trying to sleep while some kids are still awake and spend more time keeping myself awake anticipating no nap because of it. Finally, I crash.
5:30.
I wake up. At least I was smart enough to think about dinner at lunch time, and know what I'm going to make. I can't believe the kids are just starting to wake up! It's been ages since I got that good of a nap in. The kids all wake up and I finally get started on dinner.
7pm.
At last! Dinner is served. The kids love it for a change and they take forever to be done in order to stuff at much into their little tummies as possible. But it's Saturday night - they need baths, I need to whiz through the house on a 'tidy mission'.
8:15.
I draw the bath, order them to pick up the worst of the stuff on the floors in their bedrooms, and then plop them all into the tub. They play/fight/splash/etc. while I sweep the kids' bedrooms and the living room. Then I scrub Butler up, dress him for bed, give him his toothbrush and send him to Sir. Clean the bathroom mirror. Scrub PC up and send him out to get ready for bed. Clean the toilet. Scrub Dolly up and send her to get ready for bed. Clean the bathroom counter. Scrub Emma up, send her to get ready for bed. Drain the tub. Oversee the bedtime process.
Late.
The kids are all in bed, and are asleep. The house is presentable. My Sunday school class work is prepared, I know what I'll make for lunch on Sunday. It's been forever quite a while since Sir and I had a 'date' so I leave the next day's lunch for the morning, and I make a spicy shrimp appetizer snack and we stay up another hour watching a video.
Very late.
We go to bed.

2:36am.
"Mama!" I struggle to consciousness and follow the summons. It's PC.
PC: Mama, Butler was calling you.
He was? I didn't hear anything. And I know the monitor is on. I check on Butler. He'd lost his soother. I tuck him in, and tuck PC in too. I go back to bed.
3am.
"Mama!" It's PC again.
Me: What's wrong, PC?
PC: I'm scared. I need my promise.
I go find an old car key, loop a ribbon through it and give it to him since I'm not about to go looking for his other key at this time of night. Then I tuck him in, re-tuck Butler and stagger back to bed.
3:38am.
"Mama!" Again - PC. I stay in bed hoping he'll settle down on his own. Instead, 50 seconds later, he's standing next to my bed tapping my shoulder.
PC: Mommy, I's scared.
Me: You're scared of what, PC?
PC: I don't know.
I'm about to lose all semblance of sanity. The spicy appetizer is not agreeing with my getting up and down so many times and I'm considering the whole bottle of Tums as an option.
Me: PC. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong!
He starts to cry. Sir realizes I'm past the 'I need some help' stage, and takes over.
Sir: What's wrong, PC?
PC: I'm scared.
Sir: Of what?
PC: I don't know. And my mouth hurts... a lot.
At this point I realize he probably has a sore throat. I'd been battling one for the last couple days. I mention it to Sir as they head back to the boys room. Sir tucks the boys into bed again and comes back to bed. I'm so tired that I'm in tears. I don't believe we've seen the end of our nocturnal visitors.
4am.
Emma stands at my bedside, taps my shoulder and cheerfully asks, "Mommy, can I get up?!
Me: No. Go back to bed, it's still night time.
She bursts into tears and I follow her back to the girls room. As she crawls back into bed, PC pops his head out of the boys room.
Me: Why are you out of bed again?
PC: I heard somebody was up.
Me: Nobody's staying up. Go back to bed.
I tuck Emma in and head to the boys room to re-tuck PC. Butler is standing up in his crib as if he expects to get up for the day too. I tuck the boys into bed and go back to bed nearly sobbing because there's only a little over 3 hours left until the alarm goes off. Sir spends the next 20 minutes calming me down.
4:30ish.
I looked at the clock one last time. If the kids called after that, I never heard them. At least none of them came tapping on my shoulder that I know of.

Epilogue:
It's hard to believe that someday I could miss nights like this. Maybe I won't remember them. Right now, I'm just going to go to sleep. Only Butler took a good nap today, so hopefully the kids will be too tired themselves, to come visiting tonight!

THE END

The Loyal, the Contrary and the Whimsical

Well, one thing is certain - my children are growing up properly Canadianized. At least when it comes to the national a very popular sport around here. (Apparently, it is La Cross and not Hockey that takes the title of Canada's 'national' sport).

You see, Sir watches some of the NHL games, that the local team plays, on his laptop, and occasionally our little people get to join him on the couch. Usually that's if the evening has progressed in a timely fashion, and there's some time to watch a game after dinner and before bed. The kids rarely get to stay up for a whole game, but they love every minute of what they do get to stay up for. I think it's a combination of special time with Daddy and a genuine love of the game.

Anyway, last night they watched part of the latest game that the Canucks played. By the time all the kids were settled in bed, we'd come to the conclusion that we had three types of hockey fans:
- There's Dolly, who fits squarely into the 'loyal fan' category. She cheers the home team on, and hopes fervently for them to win. Should they happen to lose, she is disappointed, but is sure they'll do better the next time.
- Next there's PC, who falls into the 'contrary fan' category. He cheers for the team playing against the home team. I think he loves the feel of living dangerously (as in sitting amongst loyal fans who vehemently decree that the home team should win). Should the opposing team win, PC parades around like a little peacock with the most contageous grin on his face more so because his sister is unhappy with the result than anything else.
- Finally there's Emma. She falls into the 'whimsical fan' category which means that she cheers for whichever team catches her fancy by the mere sound of their name. Kings vs. Canucks? That's easy - it sounds much better to be a 'king', so she'll be cheering against the local team. Canucks vs. Senators? Since she has no idea what a senator is, she chooses the Canucks.

Last night, Vancouver played the Detroit Red Wings. Dolly rooted for the home team while PC and Emma cheered on the opposition. When PC and Dolly came to say good night to me, Dolly excitedly announced, "Mommy, we got to watch two periods!" "Really?!" I said as I gave her a goodnight hug, "who was winning?" PC, who was standing at my elbow waiting his turn to say goodnight answered, "Nobody!" at the same time that Dolly declared the Canucks to be in the lead. Of course, that had to be clarified, and so we double checked the score just to be sure.

Brilliant in Blue (aka: 2011 - Family Picture)

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus."
Hebrews 6:19-20


"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever."
Deuteronomy 29:29

"Almost Big" - Emma

Blogging slumps... so easy to fall into and so very hard to get out of! My last post was a month ago and it's not like I haven't had anything to blog about. Sir reminds me often of my ghost posts that haunt my draft folder. But that's what happens when you have to write a 'perfect post'. It doesn't get written and then it's too late to write it, and then you can't remember what you were going to say and it gets left for ever and ever and ever after.

But that's not what I was going to write about today, and if I don't get my act together I'm going to miss getting even one post up in January!

Back in September, on the 22nd, Emma turned 3. I took forever getting her pictures scheduled, and then she went and split her chin open one fine October Sunday (I think it was the 24th), and ended up getting stitches. After another couple weeks for her chin to heal, I finally got her pictures scheduled (for November 20th I believe it was..) and then it snowed all day long the day before her appointment so I cancelled it. By the time I'd rescheduled and we got her pictures taken, it was the very last weekend of November - two whole months later than the ideal plan. But we got them taken and she was not bruised, scratched, cut, or any combination of those possibilities at the time! At times, I am convinced that child is set on destroying herself!

Anyway, Emma wants to be as big as Dolly, and so she's "Almost Big". Whenever another child tells her she can't do something because she's too little, she gets all upset and after finding me, makes sure I still believe that she's 'almost big' despite what other kids say. Being 'almost big' is very important to her.

For her last picture I went with the portrait shot for the package choice. It's the first time I've done that, and I'm not too sure I like it all that much. It just seemed that all the full body shots that were taken that day, just weren't as good if you wanted to get a good look at her face. The day we got her pictures taken, Sir and I hauled a van load of wood that had been posted on Craigslist the night before, and the whole day seemed rushed because of it. I didn't put very much thought into Emma's outfit for getting her pictures taken, and instead of requesting we keep taking full body pictures, I settled for the first one we got that I thought might work. In the end, one of the 'other poses' turned out to capture more of her personality. Below is the package picture. I did get a single full body picture as well, but you have to know her more to see her character from a profile point of view.

"Then said Jesus, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."
John 10:9

Of course, being unorganized and all, I didn't have a verse picked out that sort of summed her up or that I'd like for her to become more like, so I chose a verse she'd learned for Sunday school earlier in the year. This was the first verse she learned well. Well enough to recite all the way through without any help. She was (and still is) very proud of this accomplishment. Many times since, when she's asked to recite or practice the current memory verse, she'll try getting away with rattling this verse off instead.

Emma is still just as complicated as she ever has been. She loves that her hair is finally starting to grow. When she's self conscious, or trying to charm someone, she'll bounce her curls and tip her head without realizing what she's doing. Not too long ago, Sir told me about part of a conversation he had with her one morning after dropping Dolling off at school. It started out a bit like this:
Emma: Daddy,
Sir: Yes,
Emma: A long time ago, when I was a boy... (she paused, probably because that didn't sound quite right that way)
Sir: When was this?
Emma: A long time ago, when I didn't have long hair... um... (and I never did find out what she was trying to tell Sir, because I was too busy trying to memorize that part of her conversation to blog later.)

She's probably the most bossy of our children, and she has the most opinions (or at least the most outspoken ones). Emma loves to play with Butler, and is very good at keeping the games at a level he can enjoy. She loves to sing, dearly loves to color and she's probably the one I hear "I love you, Mommy" from the most. At least I seem to always be saying, "I love you too." back to her more than the rest. One of these days I'll manage to say it first. Most of her days at home are spent in complete dress up attire, and when she can't be in dress up, she's usually negotiating with me about when she can be. "Mommy, when we get home, can I put dress up on me?" Don't worry, she does wear regular clothes too, because dress up is not allowed at the table at mealtimes.

In her own way, Emma is also the most challenging of my children. She always has her own agenda, and is happy to fit what I've told her to do into it, but usually when she feels it most convenient for herself. We're working on that. She often tell me, "Mommy, I like your baby in your tummy." This has been ever since I took her with me to a prenatal visit and she got to hear the baby's heartbeat. Actually she was terrified at the time and told me later that she thought there was a lion in my tummy and she was scared it was going to eat the baby. And the smile she beams is priceless when you surprise her with a hug or give her an unexpected smile.

Well, it's getting late again, (ok, it's been late for a while) and I need to be getting to bed. Someday I'll actually wake up and want to get up - that still happens doesn't it? Besides, this post is getting more and more sporadic the more I get written.

Below is the full body version of Emma's 3 year old picture. She was trying so hard to be good for her pictures that day... you can see her curled toes where she was concentrating hard in order to stand 'just like the lady told her to'.

I love you, Emma!