The Late Night Ramblings of a Mom Who Should be Working

My Life

My life is little LEGO people littering the floor

Mystery stains and monster messes - who could ask for more?

A kitchen never clean and laundry never done

Dare to use my bathroom if you have a sense of fun!

My life is loud and stinky boys who never seem to rest

Fun friends and busy days – we're often on a quest

My life is constant motion and oftentimes it’s stressed

But even with the chaos, I know that I am blessed.

My life is chubby, sticky arms encircling my neck

Snuggle bugs and smelly hugs – my cheek will get a peck

I don’t know how it happened, but I’m grateful for my fate

This life of love and blessings, my life, is great

Spring Program - Dylan's Pictures

Dylan took a few pictures of Nate at Nate's program

Nate's Spring Program

The children file in and are positioned properly on the stage. That is when the scanning starts. This is the moment when Nate's scanning paid off, and he found Chase in the crowd. I love the look that comes over his face when he finds his family. Relief first, then happiness. He smiles and gives a quick wave. Now he is ready to perform. Chase brought the camera up close so that he could take some pictures. At one point, Chase returned to sit with us. Nate started the nervous scanning again, so I sent Chase back up close. Chase was soon rewarded with the relieved and happy face.



All the children are praising God, except for Nate who is picking his nose :(

After the program, we went to Nate's room for his open house. Here is a some of Nate's work. He just wants to play with guns.
..and Nate's friend just wants to feed people. We joked that Nate is the republican, and his friend is the democrat :) With Mark as their father, my boys have no chance of not liking guns.

Nate truly adores Chase. Here he is having Chase carry him around. He was so proud to show off his work to Chase.

Granddad

No words are necessary.

Nate on the Moon

This is the project that Nate brought home from museum school when they talked about outer space. It was too big to keep, but I loved it so I took a picture. I love how he drew a spacesuit on himself (complete with helmet). I also love the huge grin on his face.

Life with Nate - Hair Care

Crazy rushing around trying but never quite succeeding at getting out of the house on time. In other words, a typical morning. It was time to leave 10 minutes ago. Nate is finally dressed, with his hair sticking up like he is a troll doll. This morning, the hair battle must be fought.

"Nate, come here quick. I need to comb your hair."
"Okay...but don't use the water."
"Why not?"
"Because it hurts me."
"The water hurts you? It's just water."
I run my hand under the water and put a few drops on the worst hair offenders.
"Ow. Ow. OW!" He raises his shoulders and pulls down his head like a turtle trying to go back into his shell. That doesn't stop me from putting more water on his head and combing his hair with my fingers.
"There. Much better."
Feet stomp loudly into the kitchen where I hear a drawer open. Nate pulls out a towel. His weapon of choice against the offensive water. He rubs the towel over his face and hair. He once again looks like a troll doll. We load up in the car and head off to preschool, 15 minutes late. Can we call the battle a draw?

Museum Fun

Nate and I were finally able to make a trip to the museum. A little friend joined us for the fun.




Such a cheeseball!




No more shots! The memory of his 4-year-old shots is still fresh in his mind.

Dinosaur footprint.

Nate Quote of the Day

We both saw the cute little baby girl with the big, bright blue, flower headband. I pointed out to Nate the cuteness of the baby girl.

"Nate, wouldn't you like a baby sister?" I fully admit to trying to plant a seed.

"No, I would not."

"What about a baby brother?" No intention of that ever happening - I have my fill of boys ;)

"No, no babies."

"Why not?"

With his already perfected eye roll, "Because babies are adorable."

I am thinking that he is protecting his turf!

When I Said You Needed a Bath...

this is not what I meant.

What a Group!

It's Not the Message; It's the Delivery

Dylan was around 10 months or so. He had a stuffy, runny, nasty nose. Let me be clear that he did not have a fever. It was a sinus infection, but I had no experience with sinus infections, and I was a young and clueless mom. I was not one of those moms who took their kids to the doctor with each little sniffle. I was more the mom who believed that antibiotics are overused and that a little bit of sickness built up kids' immunities (still am that mom). On this particular day, I went to Ladies' Bible Class (not at my church) and left Dylan in the nursery. When I came back, the director of the child care area was holding Dylan outside of the classroom. I will never forget what happened next. She admonished this clueless mom for bringing such an obviously sick little boy. She let me know how irresponsible I was for not obtaining medical care for him, because he obviously had a sinus infection. Well, it was not obvious to this inexperienced mom. I cried and left that encounter feeling like the worst mom ever. I took him to the doctor, antibiotics were administered, and all was well on that front. I can say that I never felt comfortable around that woman again. I always felt that she believed that I was a bad mom. It was 10 years ago, but it is something that I have never forgotten. Thinking about it now, I feel like a neglectful mom all over again. Let me be clear, I needed the message, but it would have been so much nicer if it had gone something like this, "Jenna, what a sweet little boy you have. His nose seems to be really stopped up. My son's nose looked like this once and it ended up being a sinus infection. I was so glad that I took him to the doctor." The end result would have been the same, but I would not have felt like a neglectful, terrible mother, and I would not have felt uncomfortable around that woman in the future. That experience was not fun, but I did learn an important lesson. It's not the message; it's the delivery. I try to remember that when I need to get an important point across to my kids or to a client. Oh, and if my kid has a stuffy nose for a while, then I take them to the doctor.

Visit from Friends

Some of our very good friends had the audacity to move to Brownsville which is far, far away. They are one of those families who are a great fit for ours. Mark and the husband are good friends. I am good friends with the wife. Cade loves their oldest son, and Nate loves their youngest son. We really miss them, so we were thrilled when they were able to come and visit for a few hours. Now if we could just get them to move back :)

Snow Day

No, I have not caught up on my work, but if I don't start posting, then my blog will be so far behind that I may never catch up. Besides, blogging is more important than work - right?

Here are some pictures from the crazy, wonderful snow that we were able to play in during February. The boys had such a great time. I don't have a lot of pictures of Chase and Dylan because they were off playing with their neighborhood friends.

Cade and Nate had a great time playing outside. I wasn't sure how Nate would do. The last time he experienced snow, he hated it. This time, he loved, loved, loved it! He stayed outside playing for hours.

We actually had even more snow after this picture.
Ready to play, and play, and play.
Nate, Cade, and I building a snowman.






Maggie loved the snow too.
Daddy made a lot of fun of our little snowman, so he helped Nate make a big one.


See our pathetic snowman?
Snowman Chase



Nate was having so much fun playing and rolling around in the snow.





Nate's feet were bright red when he came in :)