Patriotic Surprise

Leesie: Mom, when is the 4th of July?

Me: Next week, why?

Leesie: Is it just one day a year?

Me: Yes. Why?

Leesie: Because I don’t want to miss it! But we’ll be on bacation!

Me: We won’t miss it. We’ll celebrate it while we’re on “bacation.”

Leesie: So when is it? What day?

Me: (Not remembering the actual day of the week, answered sarcastically…) It’s on July 4th.

Long pause. She looks at me in amazement…

Leesie: WHAT? Are you kidding me? The FOURTH of JULY is on JULY FOURTH????

Me: Yep.

Leesie: Woah. That’s crazy. I have got to tell Daddy this. (runs off to inform dad of the big news)

 

Floss please

Jacob: Mama, can I have some fwoss, pwease?

Me (knowing he never wants floss to actually floss): What do you want the floss for, bud?

Jacob: To pick my boogers.

Me: Jacob, I think you should use tissue to pick out your boogers.

Jacob: No, I don’t want da tissue in my mouf. Dat’s why I want da fwoss.

Me: So the boogers are in your mouth?

Jacob: Yep. I put ’em dere after I picked my nose.

Me: And now they’re stuck in your teeth?

Jacob: Yah… Can I have da fwoss pwease?

Me: Why did you eat your boogers? That’s so gross, buddy. You need to get a tissue next time.

Jacob: But I was in time out. I was in time out when I picked my nose. So I put da boogers in my mouf and now day are stuck in my teef. Can I have da fwoss now pwease???

Who wants to kiss my adorable (and obedient) boy????

L-O-V-E

I have a wonderful husband. He is so loving and kind. On my last day of work, I found TWO dozen roses in the center of the dining room table. He wanted me to come home to something lovely and peaceful.

Just because he knew it was a rough day.

And just because he knew it was a rough week.

And just because he knew it was a rough year.

What a thoughtful man. I wouldn’t ever dream of poking fun of him or embarrassing him on here for all the world (a.k.a. the 20 of you that read this) to see. Nope. I wouldn’t do that. Instead, I’ll just show you the beautiful bouquet he left just for me, because he loves me. Isn’t he amazing? I love that man…

Ponderings

It’s been a week. Lots on my mind. Most of my thoughts are still swirling around, not ready to form into words or be elaborated on, so this post is full of randomness… a list of just the beginnings of some of these thoughts – the serious, humorous, and disgusting. Consider yourself warned.

1. First and foremost: LIFE IS SHORT… Live slowly. Love deeply. Laugh often…  THIS is my new summer “to-do” list.

2. The more people you care about that enter Heaven, the further away and closer it can seem… all at the same time.

3. When Jacob says, “Mom, can you do me a favor?” don’t say ‘no’ immediately. The next words out of his mouth might be, “I need a hug.” Melt.

4. When Jacob says, “Mom, can you do me a favor?” don’t say ‘yes’ immediately. The next words out of his mouth might be, “I just went poopoo.”

5. It is not helpful, just very frustrating, to discuss problems if you do not also consider solutions.

6. It’s important to teach song lyrics carefully. Otherwise, you may end up with your daughter singing loudly, “Deck the halls of jowls of Holly…”

7. Don’t leave the song-lyric-correcting to the husband. He will only find the new words humorous and make it worse by saying, “It’s not ‘Deck the halls OF jowls of Holly,’ it’s ‘Deck the halls WITH jowls of Holly.'” Lovely. You are oh-so-helpful, my dear husband.

8. If you love someone enough to consider them family, tell them. Here are a few of mine:

  • Pete and Judy. Matt is beginning to think I would replace him with the both of you because every time I come home after seeing one of you, I say, “I know I’ve said it before, but I just love Pete and Judy.” And so I’ve decided to adopt you as aunt and uncle. This is also perfect because I adore your girls so much, and that would make them my cousins. I’ve always loved my cousins and could use a few more. The only problem is, since Judy wants to also adopt my dad as her uncle, our familial relationship has just gotten very complicated because my dad would now be my great uncle as well. And it will get even more confusing as the little ones grow up, because I’m fairly certain – based on their latest display of affection – that Jacob and Eisley are already in love, and I’ve got my eyes on Caleb for Annalise. This could get tricky.
  • Rachel. In the absence of my sisters nearby, you have been a very worthy replacement. I know I can speak my mind and can be myself, and the same goes for my kids. No judgement, no worries, no competition. I am so blessed by you and thankful we reconnected to experience mommy-hood together.
  • Renee. While you really are actually family of some kind (sister-in-law-in-law?) you have truly filled a void for our kids who miss their aunties so very much. Thank you for being an auntie to them and a sister to me, and for loving all of us as we are.

9. Last and least, but still on my mind ALL THE TIME, the disgusting…

I am obsessed. Witnessing a fly lay eggs in my recently cooked pork tenderloin fajitas has caused me to examine food ridiculously closely and Google things I never really wanted to know. Although I am relieved to learn that fly eggs can not hatch in your stomach, I am less than thrilled to know that the FDA allows eggs and maggots to exist in uncomfortable quantities of tomato products. And really, even just one little egg or maggot is an uncomfortable quantity in my food. Am I right? (If you didn’t already know the story, here is the summary: Made massive batch of fajitas while kids played outside with back door open. Left food on burner on “warm” while we sat down to eat. Got up from table to stir fajitas and scrape leftovers into container. Noticed slow moving fly. Noticed chunk of garlic. Remembered I didn’t chop garlic into fajitas. Realized garlic was actually fly eggs. Slow fly was not being cooked, but was just a little too busy to move. Decided to never again leave food uncovered, never again leave door open, and never again eat at a buffet or anywhere where food sits out. Except that all 3 have happened in the last week.

Just another Saturday…

Please tell me I’m not the only mother who lets her children run around in just their undies and diaper on a Saturday while trashing the living room with every toy and kitchen utensil imaginable and waving at strangers from the window with the blinds wide open. Because the nice Jehovah’s Witness lady and little girl that came to the door today seemed a bit uncomfortable. I’m pretty sure she was reconsidering giving me the invitation to their event, but felt bad because we already knew they were already there witnessing the chaos of our home, so she gave it anyway. Her discomfort may have had less to do with the nearly naked children with their faces smashed to the window and more to do with the frazzled mother, still in her PJs with messy hair, standing on toys because no floor was in sight… at 11:30 in the “morning.”

Normally, I wouldn’t answer the door at 11:30 when I am still in my pajamas and a tornado has run through my house, but the naked children in the window waving at the lady and hollering, “MOM! SOMEONE IS AT THE DOOR!!!!!!” was a bit of a giveaway that I was home.

In any case, I think the nice lady realized (to her relief, I’m sure) that we probably wouldn’t attend the event they invited us to, because as she was making a (quick) escape, Jacob loudly informed her, “HEY! MY Past-oh Phil has an owie on his neck. Only it’s not on da outside, so we can’t put a band-age on it. Dat’s why I’m pwayin’ foh Jesus to put a band-age on da inside. We pwayin’ foh him.”

Translation and Summary: Our pastor had some odd symptoms last week that led to an MRI that showed he had a dissection in his carotid artery. He is taking medication and cutting out strenuous physical activity and should be fine in 3 months. But Jacob was highly concerned when he heard me reading Matt an email that was sent out to our church explaining what happened. He asked all sorts of questions and finally suggested we put a bandage on it. I told him we couldn’t, because it was on the inside of his neck. So he said he would pray for Jesus to put a bandage on the inside. And he has.  Every day. “Dank you, Jesus, foh Past-oh Phil’s owie to be all better. You gonna put a bandage on da inside. Dank you.”  And he tells lots of people about it, too. Our door visitor this morning wasn’t the first person he’s told, and she wasn’t the last person he told today. Jacob also informed Mrs. Burkhart at Doris Jean’s Donuts in Lynden. Mrs. Burkhart knew exactly what he was talking about and told Jacob she’s praying for him, too.

Later that sweet boy sat at the dinner table eating his apples. When he put his hand in the air and said, “Momma. I got dirt on my fingers,” I didn’t think much of it. He said it a few more times before it hit me… he hadn’t been outside playing in the dirt since last night, and he had a bath afterward. Panic set in as I saw the “dirt” covered finger heading towards his face. “STOP! DON’T. TOUCH. ANYTHING!!!!” He lifted his other hand. It, too, was covered.

Turns out his entire diaper was FULL of “dirt.”

After a thorough washing, we headed back to the table, where Jacob continued to refuse to eat his dinner but had no problem eating his boogers and telling us about it. Matt thought it would be humorous to point out the irony and said, “You can’t feel too good about your cooking when he’ll eat his boogers and ate a bunch of dirt last night, but he won’t touch dinner.”

Thank you, Husband. I look forward to eating the wonderful meals you’ll be preparing from now on.

In other news, I have decided to post a weekly self-pity story like my last post – even if I have to make one up. Because all you ladies that ignored me and commented anyway sure know how to make a girl feel good. Your kind words were good for my soul. Loves.