In The Trenches

We've been sick this week. Isn't it weird how in the midst of sickness you feel like you will never come out on the other side? That's where I've been this week - deep, deep in the trenches.

Saturday night I woke up and got sick in the middle of the night. Like 8 times, no joke. I thought I was feeling better Sunday, but then got sick a few more times Sunday evening, and my dear, sweet parents picked up the kids and took them to spend the night so I could get rest, and so the kids, hopefully, wouldn't get sick.

Monday was restful for me. Aside from lots of laundry and cleaning the bathrooms, I mostly took it easy.

I was feeling better by Tuesday morning when my mom called on her way to return my children to say that Arden had just thrown up in the car. My heart sunk and I met them in the driveway with towels and washed Arden down and started more loads of laundry.

I was so afraid Arden had caught what I had, but she immediately started asking for snacks and eating and drinking, and running around and playing. She must be inclined towards some kind of motion sickness, because this is at least the third time (including the rodeo incident, and one Thursday on our way to Bible study) that she has gotten sick in the car. Let me tell you, cleaning vomit out of car seats is not for the weak hearted.

That afternoon I discovered a leak under the pipe in our kitchen sink, so I had to tear everything out, dry it out, throw stuff away, and put a bowl under the leak. My dad stopped by to investigate and give advice, and hopefully it's something Clarke can fix this weekend.

But it was just one more thing on top of a bad week. I was feeling defeated by evening, but grateful that both kids seemed to be feeling well when they went to bed.

Until, that is, Huston woke up in the middle of the night and threw up twice. All over everything. Including the newly cleaned bathroom, sheets, pajamas, carpet... just everything.

More laundry and a sleepless night because I was so worried about him. I am so thankful that my wonderful school managed to find a sub for me, so I could stay home with him today.

Thankfully, Huston woke up and has been fine all day, though he's taking a much needed nap now. The first thing he said when he woke up was, "Mommy! I threw up in the middle of the night!" (Said in a very proud and excited voice).

I am just about over vomit and laundry and cleaning bathrooms.

But, as miserable as this week was at times (ok, most of the time), I am thankful that we seem to be coming out on the other side of all of this. I am praising the Lord for washing machines, healthy kids, wonderful parents, and a husband who will play with the kids the whole weekend I was sick, so they never even missed me.

I'm thankful for this sweet girl, who has been wearing her brother's shin guards (we've just signed him up for soccer, though he might have to miss his first practice today). And yes, she is picking her nose with her toe.

I'm thankful for my boy who loves his "Dinah" and loves building houses and towers lately.

I'm thankful for playtime with both of them today that, for some reason, involved pretending we were holding lots of baby lobsters (who were nice) but trying to run away from big lobsters (who were mean).

I'm thankful for the little things, like how both Huston and Arden have been obsessed with coloring lately - treasure maps, rainbows, guns from Halo. I was going to take a picture and count all of the papers they have used for their creations, but it was really just too much effort. They create many, many pieces of art every day, and I just love it.

And I'm thankful for other silly things, like the way Huston breaks apart every snack he eats - creating piles of crumbs and infuriating me at times, but also making me smile at his quirkiness. (Quirky is a new word he likes to say - learned from Sesame Street).

And I'll end this post with Huston's prayer at lunch time today. I think we can all agree with his words:

"Thank you God for this day. And for our guns and for Halo and guns and our food. Amen."

Scissors and Grace

Ok, so I may never have explicitly told my children not to cut their hair with scissors.

I thought it was understood.

Let this be a lesson to you.

As we were getting ready to run errands this morning, I heard Huston say something about Arden having scissors, but I just hollered at them to put the scissors away and come to the car. When we got to our first stop, I noticed Arden's hair was kind of poking up all crazy from her rubber band (I had pulled part of it back and left the rest down). I went to fix it, and a big chunk of hair came out in my hand. (Thank the Lord, it was not as serious as I first thought. You can't tell at all that any hair is missing and it could have been so much worse.)

I started freaking out and telling Arden, "No, No! We don't cut our hair with scissors!" I gave her quite the lecture and she kept saying "Ok" and looking chastised. Huston helpfully added, "We can just glue it back."

As we're walking into the store, Arden, as though replaying what happened, says, "Huston just cut my hair with scissors."

Huston's eyes shoot up to me with a startled look and he tries denying it, but I can tell from his face that he was indeed the culprit. I should have known with his obsession last weekend for pretending to give us haircuts. He finally admitted it after I reminded him of the seriousness of lying.

I couldn't believe he had just stood there and let Arden take all the blame.

Throughout the course of the morning, Huston had several other incidents that left me feeling frustrated, including pushing a little boy down the slide on the playground and making him cry, and not obeying me when I asked him to stand by me. I was reminding him of the importance of obedience and kindness in all of these areas as I was buckling him into his car seat after playing at the church playground.

As we drove off, he said in a trembling voice, "Mommy, I'm sorry for all the bad things I did today."

Of course my heart softened, and I felt the Lord nudge me to give him grace. I told him that of course I forgave him and that we all do bad things, even Mommy and Daddy, and that the Bible calls that Sin. But the good news of the Bible is that Jesus died on the cross for all the bad things we do, to forgive us of our sin.

I don't know that he understood everything, but I pray that one day soon he will.

And I pray that God will help me use times like these not just to discipline my children, but to point them to the cross and to give them grace, as He gave us.

Tangled, The Dentist, and Valentine's Day

We had such a relaxed, ordinary weekend at our house this past weekend. We had absolutely no plans, and no events, parties or birthdays to attend - just nothing to do and it was so great. Saturday morning the kids colored and then played all kinds of games with Daddy. Huston got to play Halo in the morning - a rare treat for him since he usually plays it at night after Clarke comes home from work. They played catch and "Hut" and I can't even remember what else. Huston walked around all afternoon with his comb, and a toy light saber that was broken in half and pretended to give us hair cuts. In the evening we had a family movie night and watched Tangled.

For dinner during our movie, I fed the kids peanut butter and jelly (on almost, but not quite, stale bread), popcorn, the last remaining bits of broken pretzels and some raisins (because there was no fruit in the house, but that's close, right?). I should win mom of the year for that dinner. Or maybe not. We all really liked the movie, but I was glad we were watching it at home, because Huston asked loud questions every 5 minutes, and Arden started running around the living room as soon as her food was gone.

On Monday morning I took the kids to the dentist for their first dental checkup. I was feeling mom guilt for not having taken Huston before, and I was afraid they would find a bunch of cavities and chastise me for being a bad mom. But everything turned out fine - Huston had a minor anxiety attack and wouldn't let them take x-rays of his teeth, but he did get in the chair and let the dentist count his teeth, and so did Arden. And neither one of them had anything wrong, so I'll call it a success. I desperately wanted to take pictures of them in the dentist chair, but it didn't seem right at the moment, so I settled for this picture of them in the waiting room. They were playing Tangled, of all things, and the kids were so happy to recognize it and watch it.

On Tuesday I made the kids pink heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. But I didn't take pictures of them, because they weren't very impressive. In fact, they were not impressive at all. But Huston did laugh with delight, so it was worth it. Then we met Clarke at Chick Fil A for a little family Valentine's lunch date.

After lunch, the kids and I headed to a random Cracker Barrel to meet a lady that I was selling something to on Craigslist. While we were waiting, I took their picture in a Cracker Barrel rocking chair. These pictures crack me up.

Then a guy walking by offered to take my picture with them, which is what I always want people to do, but I don't really like the picture. Here it is anyway.

For dinner we had baked spaghetti and breadsticks, and I lit candles and Clarke put on some nice music. The kids got a big kick out of the candlelight and Huston wanted to blow all of the candles out after we ate. It was fun to celebrate Valentine's Day as a family. Huston even got to play Halo with Daddy after dinner (yes, this is almost a daily occurrence now), because, as Clarke said, "Nothing says Valentine's Day like blowing up aliens."

Isn't she lovely?

There's no point to this post, other than to show you pictures of my little girl.

Because she's so lovely and growing up so fast.

Making Valentines

Pinterest tempts me with zillions of cute ideas for homemade Valentine's to bake and make. But the truth is, I don't really want to spend much time or money on this middle of February holiday. So, here's a rundown of how to make Valentine's treats to pass out to your kid's class with virtually no effort. No homemade Valentine's whoopie pies or heart shaped melted crayons from this chick. At least not this year.

Step 1. Buy Hershey's kisses on clearance after Christmas (40 cents a bag after clearance and coupon. That's the way I roll. I bought 12 bags. That's also the way I roll. But I only used 5 bags for this project - more for me to eat.)

Step 2. Separate the red and silver wrappers (aka Valentine's colors) from the green wrappers (save them for Saint Patrick's Day? Or a Baylor game party?). Ideally, your cushions should be off of your couch for this step, but if not, you may proceed as you see fit.

Step 3. Bribe your cute 4 year old with a snack to get him out of his bad mood and willing to participate in your fun activity.

Step 4. Get said cute 4 year old to put 5 red kisses and 5 silver kisses in each Ziploc snack size baggie. Take a picture of him (another one).

Step 5. Print off a cute free printable from online (mine is from Living Locurto). Hopefully your printer will be almost out of ink, so the black will show up as gray. This is a plus, because you know you're getting every last drop out of that ink cartridge (and you are cheap - see step 1).

Step 6. Get your 4 year old to sign his name to the back of each one. Take breaks and bribe with candy as necessary.

Step 7. Take pictures of the way he signs his name, because it's so darn cute.

That's it! Valentine's treats for hardly any money!

Snapshot of a Two Year Old

Today Arden was screaming at me because she wanted something and I said, "Arden, would you please just be patient?"

She replied, "No! I not be patient! I just fussy girl!"

Oh the joys of having a two year old.

The Night We Almost Went to the Rodeo

So...we almost went to the rodeo tonight. But here's what happened instead.

The day started out normal for me, but trouble was already brewing with Clarke's parents, who were going to come with us (along with his sister and her husband).

Clarke's dad left their house at 4:30 this morning to go to Denton for a photography job. His mom discovered while she was getting ready for work that all of the water had stopped working at their house. Then, on her way to work, she got a flat tire.

I took the kids to my Bible study today and had a normal morning and afternoon, except for the fact that Arden didn't take a nap. I knew she was going to be so tired and cranky, but there was nothing I could do.

We were supposed to all meet at a restaurant at 5:30, and as I was getting the kids ready to leave, I decided it would be a good idea to have Huston wear his cowboy hat for a picture.

He hates pictures and hats. I don't know why I though I could reason with him. There was much screaming and crying that could have been avoided if I hadn't insisted on a picture.

(This was his best attempt at a smile)

I was all worked up by the time I left the house with the kids at 5 (mostly mad at myself for the picture taking fiasco). Then I ran into bad rush hour traffic, which got much, much worse when I got to this dumb construction zone on a bridge that is the bane of my existence. After waiting for forever, I had to turn around and go another way, and what should have been a 20 minute trip ended up taking an hour. While we're in traffic, Arden is crying in the back, "I'm tired! I'm not tired!" She finally fell asleep for the last ten minutes. I called Clarke to say I was running late, and he was also running late, as was his mom (from the same traffic). To top it off, his dad was still in Denton on his job, and he had our tickets to the rodeo with him.

We finally all got to the restaurant at 6 (minus his dad), managed to find a table and eat, and then we left to go to the stock show and see the animals while we waited for his dad who thought he'd be able to make it in time for the rodeo at 7:30. On our way over to the stock show, Melinda got a call on her cell phone that her dear friend's granddaughter has RSV.

We got to the entrance, and I handed the guy the voucher I printed off online, which, in conjunction with our museum membership card, was supposed to get us into the stock show for free. The guy starts giving me a hard time because the back of my membership card shows an expiration date of 12/31/11, even though my parents got us a renewal for Christmas, and I renewed it at the museum and they told me I would maybe get a new card in the mail, but I could just keep using my old card because they put it in the computer. He doesn't seem to believe me, and I'm about to lose my temper because I cannot believe all the things that have gone wrong.

That's when Arden starts throwing up.

And I catch it in my hand.

And then she throws up some more in the grass.

And we decide we're not going to stay for the rodeo, and when Huston hears this he starts to fall to pieces.

Thankfully, he is appeased when we tell him he can play Halo with Daddy when he gets home (that is a story for another day).

Now Arden is resting and seems okay, and Huston and Clarke have played Halo and Clarke is getting Huston ready for bed (which, for some reason, always involves lots of tickling and giggling and takes far longer than when I do it, but sounds like much more fun for Huston).

And that...is why we didn't make it to the rodeo.

There's always next year.