Month: April 2012

This morning started very calmly.  It’s Friday, it’s April, so we aren’t “up and at ’em” in the schooling department.  Instead, my kids have had breakfast (Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a ziploc bag while watching a movie), and I have enjoyed coffee and my time in The Word quietly and uninterrupted in my room.  Everyone then got ready for the day, I cleaned out more of Mack’s clothes and toys, did some laundry and then decided that it was a good day to travel down to Hobby Lobby to find the plain orange t-shirts my girls need for a choir recital in May.  Oh and since we’ll be out around lunch, we were planning to stop at Wendy’s (only the best nutritional food for my family!).

Enter UNWANTED CAT IN MY GARAGE.  The kids be-bopped out into the garage and then said, “Oh, Mom, there’s a cat in here!”

What happened after this was a bit dramatic–there were tears and some screaming and running.  I am sure it had nothing to do with how I pulled each of them back into the house saying, rather loudly, “GET IN THE HOUSE, CLOSE THE DOOR, GET IN THE HOUSE, CLOSE THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!”

See I have this thing with animals….it’s not just cats, so don’t put me in the “cat-hater” category.  My category is more like, “I don’t hate animals, but I don’t like them or want them–ever.”  There is a difference.

After securing the door and making sure the kids knew that we were going to be ok, I started thinking about HOW I could get this cat out of the garage.  Actually, I kind of assumed the cat ran out once the garage door went up.

I was wrong.

I saw white furriness sitting in between two boxes on the other side of the garage.  I “shewed” at it.  You know–I said, “Shew!  Get out of here.”

It didn’t move.

I threw a notebook in that general direction just to scare it out.

It didn’t move.

I got my broom.  This invoked some more drama.  Ruby said, “NO, Mama.  Don’t go back out there!!!”  Molly got quiet and cried pitifully.  Mack wanted to come with me.

I poked my broom through the boxes to move the cat out.

It didn’t move, y’all!

I elicited some facebook help. Let’s see….I got advice like keeping it as my own (in complete sarcasm from a friend who knows better), water gun, beebee gun, or hand gun, and putting tuna out in driveway for it to be lured out.  I thought about the tuna thing for about a second, but then I realized that in my book food=friend, so the cat might think that way, too….and the cat would be way wrong.

Then, a friend said to tell Mack that “sometimes cowboys have to wrangle cats.  Put him in boots and turn him loose!”

I passed this along to Mack, and you wouldn’t believe the confidence that rose up in him.

“OH, YEAH!  But ‘cept I have on shorts.  I need to go get on jeans and my boots and then I’ll get out there and wrangle that cat…..Besides, I’m brave.”

Ruby, in a panic, says, “Mack, You will not go out there.  You will not wrangle that cat.”

He is steady walking up the stairs saying he can do it because he is a cowboy.

Ruby hollers, “No, Mack.  That is just the dumbest thing.  That cat could kill you.”

His reply?: “That’s ok.”

Ruby then says to me, “Well, if he gets killed, it’s his own fault.”

I am laughing hysterically inside at this point.  I told Mack that maybe he should wait for Dad to get home so that they can be a team.

Mack didn’t really like that idea.  He was ready for action.  He said he could take his rope and swirl it around and wrangle the cat that way….OR….(this is a bit violent…don’t know where he got this from) he said, “I can take a knife and do like this” —-he motioned like he was sticking a knife in the cat and made a noise like “GGKKKSSHHHHH!”

Oh me oh my.

So even though the cat stopped us from our outing and forced us to have lunch at home, we did have some excitement and humor around here.

Josh’s input went something like, “Just go to the store.  The cat won’t do anything more between now and when I get home.”

Men are simple thinkers.  If I could get to my driver’s door without envisioning the furry critter pouncing on me with his claws out then I might consider leaving.

I’m such a wimp.

 

 

 

 

This morning I was helping Mack button his jeans.  I noticed dirty fingernails and toenails and suggested that he start the day off with a shower.  (He was already putting on his favorite shirt and the same jeans from yesterday.)

ME: “Mack, look at your feet, buddy!  I think you need a shower!”

MACK: “But, MOM, this is what cowboys do.  They be dirty.  And I’m gonna have my boots on anyway.”

ME: “Ok, but go put your socks on first!!” (We have stunk up our fair share of shoes by going sockless!  And when I say “we” I’m talking about Mack.)

MACK: “Cowboys don’t wear socks, MOM.  They don’t.”

ME:  “Oh yes they do.” (because I know so much about cowboys, let me tell you…..)

OK.  He later was told to go brush his teeth.

“But, MOM, cowboys don’t need to brush their teeth.”

I told him that Oh Yes Cowboys do need to brush their teeth.  Horses don’t let Cowboys ride on them if they haven’t brushed their teeth. (Again, I know about cowboy stuff…..)

Mack asked me if this was true.

I said, “Of course…I mean, if I were a horse I sure wouldn’t let you ride on my back with nasty teeth.”

So my little Cowboy Mack brushed his teeth, but his fingernails and toenails are still gross.  And I didn’t watch him put socks on his feet, so I am not sure that under those boots there aren’t bare feet marinating in little boy sweaty-ness.

Shooo-weee.

BAD NEWS: Ruby and Mack wet the bed last night.

GOOD NEWS: They were sleeping in the same bed last night.

As I was sharing this bad news/good news business with Josh and saying, “At least I only have one set of sheets to wash this morning!,” he decided to capitalize on my “half glass full” mentality.

CONFESSION (from Josh): “I guess this would be a good time to tell you that I took them to Dairy Queen last night.”

Really?  See, I met at friend at about 7:00PM for coffee.  I came home around 8:50PM and found everyone together happily watching a movie in the dark. (translation: everyone was up/awake/not in bed and the house was dark which is gross to me…I don’t know why exactly, but I like lamps ON if I am awake.)

And when asked, “How did the night go?”  and later asked “Did the kids do ok for you?”— it didn’t occur to ANY ONE of the four stinkers to say, “We got an ice cream tonight!!!!,” which now that I am thinking about it is just plain weird….and makes me think that MAYBE, just maybe they had a little talk about “let’s not mention this to mom when she gets home, ok kids?”

Interesting.

So, there you have it.  A little bad news, good news, and a confession on this beautiful Tuesday morning.

Anything you need to confess?  They say it’s good for the soul.

I don’t know if I’m the only one, but Monday mornings are ROUGH around here.  Sundays are usually full and fun and late.  And then there’s the laundry that multiplies over the weekend.  And the car that has more stuff in it than…than..um, I don’t know.  It’s a lot of stuff.  And the kitchen.  Let’s not even talk about the kitchen.  Home schooling doesn’t get started til 10ish on Mondays and usually involves an extended recess so that I can get said laundry and kitchen under some kind of control.

There’s this other “issue.”  His name is Mack.  He seems to be really confused about what it means when I am teaching the girls.  To him SCHOOLING THE GIRLS=ENDLESS Wii AND NETFLIX.  He gets upset when I let him know that this won’t be happening (except it totally did today…I just didn’t have it in me).  So while today he wasn’t met with much resistance when it came to screen time, he was met with resistance when the girls where finished with their work and they wanted a say in what was on the screen. He started with whining about Molly, who happens to be feeling bad today…just some sniffles.  She evidently asked him to get her something and he went off about how “Molly is doing nothing and I am doing everything and she just always needs something and I am trying to do something (watch BackYardigans).”  I explained to him that I was concerned with his heart because his mouth was saying some unkind things.  I reminded him how Molly is a wonderful little nurse to him and to Ruby whenever they don’t feel well.  He got quiet and went back to his show.

I noticed him getting irate about something involving Ruby.  He may or may not have been yelling at the top of his lungs when I intervened.

“MACK.  That is ENOUGH.  You are tired and out of control and you will be going to bed right now.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!  I AM NOT TIRED AT ALL.  NOT AT ALL.  NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

I just smiled at him and lay him on his bed, hugged him and told him not to get up.

He kicked and kicked and cried and hollered about not being tired.

Within five minutes he was fast asleep.  Two hours later I went in to check on him, and he woke up and said, “I don’t need a nap.”

Sure.

Here’s to hoping Tuesday is a bit more productive in the schooling department and that Mack gets a better night’s sleep!

 

Tonight on the way to dinner at a friend’s house Mack was jabbering and jabbering and making endless, unnecessary noises.  After two warnings to stop, Josh told him he would be going to bed earlier than the girls tonight.  This brought on fake tears and whimpering until I turned around to acknowledge his pitiful face.

Fast forward to our drive home…

Mack:  “What are we doing when we get home?”

Josh:  “It’s 9:45 so everybody is going straight to bed.” (clearly not even remembering the pre-dinner consequence he had delivered to Mack about an early bed time)

Mack: “Oh, so it’s late and everybody is going to bed together??”

Josh: “Yep.”

Molly:  “He was supposed to go to bed earlier!”

Josh: “Well, it’s too late to do that, so everybody goes to bed and we’ll have Mack go to bed early tomorrow night.”

Mack:  “What if you forget?”

Josh:  “Then you won’t have to do it.”

Molly: (said in a very serious tone) “I’ll remind you.  I’ll write it down.”

Mack:  “Then I’ll scribble scrabble through it.”

Molly: “I”ll write it somewhere you can’t see.”

Mack:  “I’ll follow you.”

Gracious.  Those two are a pair.

Of course upon arriving home Molly went straight to her room to lock her door and write it down.

Mack beat on her door and demanded justice.

We laughed at them.

I wish someone would send me to bed earlier than everyone else in my house.

Today Gran would have been 65 years old!  It’s been such a strange year and a few months without her.  As the kids grow up I realize that I miss her more and more.  She  would love to see how they are learning and maturing…and how they challenge us!   I know she would have loved having them down at her house for a week or so each summer…and boy how I know I would have loved that!  We miss her.  Things are not the same without her.  In the same breath, we know she is in Heaven and that we will see her again.

Just yesterday the kids and I were singing a song in the car—it’s a good one that really puts things in perspective!  (Building 429)  This is NOT OUR HOME.

Ruby looks a lot like her…and acts like her, too!  We love how Ruby has some strong personality traits that remind us of Gran–loyalty, a love for books, and a healthy lack of concern of her outward appearance.

I don’t always know what I am going to write about when I sit down at the computer, so titles are sometimes difficult.  I have no idea where I am going with this post, but I felt the desire to write something.

We had a good weekend.  Soccer, errands, new ferns for the front stoop, and a full Sunday.  We had our Sunday School class and then I took the girls to a class to go through the specifics of salvation and then steps of obedience.  Josh had the privilege of nursery duty.  We met back up after that and went to eat Mexican.  I have a love/hate relationship with Mexican food.  I love it when I am hungry and then I hate it when I am full of it….I always feel like a big burrito when I leave, and I always tell Josh to never take me there again!  Not to mention that I had already cooked ahead of time and was ready to come home for Sunday lunch.  Josh, however, has this addiction to eating out, so he usually wins because he has a back row of kids cheering him on to go out to eat.  We went back to church for a meeting and then for the service.    I was thrilled when it was time to lay my head on my pillow.

I spent this morning doing laundry, teaching school to the girls, more laundry and more cleaning.  I’m always amazed at how much junk is under the girls’ beds.  I regularly have them clean out from under their bed, so I am just really unsure of how it happens.  And Mack…oh Mack…that boy is too much.  He would let himself play wii all. day. long. if I would let him.  It is ridiculous.  I don’t even know or care how to work the wii.  I despise the beeps and noise and music that comes from it.

I also spent time planning out the rest of the school year.  Looks like we can stop with all official work at the end of May.  I was thinking I might want to keep going through the month of June, but I have decided otherwise.  We’ll have a three step check list to complete before we go to the pool every day….#1 Read a chapter of the Bible/devotion, #2 Math Flashcards and #3 Do morning chores.  I have a few other workbooks I can pull out if I find it is needed.  Otherwise, we’ll be enjoying our break.

I suppose I could leave you with some pics from south GA…seeing how what I have to say today is quite bland.

We spent several days in South GA and enjoyed the time with Irv, GG and Papa Mac very much.  The kids swam in freezing water, but they did not mind one bit.  We also went fishing one morning.  Friends of The Dorminy’s welcomed us into their cabin, showed us around, let the kids shoot bb guns, swing and drive the golf cart around.  They loved every second of it!  It happened to be quite cold that morning, and we weren’t prepared–thankfully, Mrs. Penny was prepared and shared her sweatshirts with us.  The kids went and played putt-putt one afternoon with PawPaw.  They swam some more, and then we had a great Easter service on Sunday at PawPaw’s church.

Mack (5), Molly (6), Ruby (7)

Thankful for the Celebration of our Risen Savior!

We had a blast in South Georgia this past week….more pictures to come!