It never fails...

...that just when I'm up to my elbows kneading homemade pizza dough, one kid needs help wiping her pooh, and another is wee-weeing on the bathroom floor.

One of those gazillions of thoughts you never envision crossing your mind till you have kids.

Spending time apart

Naptimes are still hard, in case you were wondering. For the past week I've had to separate the girls almost every day. I want them to nap together, in their own room, so that the rest of the house can be available to those of us who are still awake. After 15 minutes of craziness and jumping and talking and generally driving me insane, if they're not showing signs of settling down, they get separated. Generally someone goes to my bed and, if necessary, someone goes to Jake's room. Interestingly, the one who often screams longest about this change up is whichever little girls is left alone in her own bedroom. It's the "alone" part that drives them all crazy. "Don't leave me here all by myself!" As though this isn't the same room she's just spent an hour playing in alone while the other girls were downstairs or whatever the case may be.

Since Elizabeth is in school now and no longer napping every day, and since we're trying hard to make 8pm the real bedtime and not just the bedtime in theory or the time we start getting ready for bed, I've altered my tactic a little of late. The deal is, everyone needs to spend an hour in bed, lying down, quiet. You can imagine, I'm sure, how much easier that is to say than do. The first couple days I described it this way, both Marianne and Elizabeth did great for about 45 minutes then the last fifteen would become a battle. Now we're back to every day being a battle. But on the upside, I have a clearly defined timeline for nap, and if I'm getting tired of it, I know I can basically send each of them to their own spaces, and sit in the middle listening to the cacophony of crying, while the clock ticks. Did I mention the computer desk is neatly centered between all the beds used for napping? You may start benefiting from that. At the end of the hour (or slightly more if they've been bad enough that I reset some portion of the timer), I let them up. If Marianne or Elizabeth has fallen asleep, I'll let them sleep for up to an hour total before letting them know it's time to get up, then another 20 minutes or so before forcing them up. More than that, and I know bedtime will be a nightmare. Ruth still gets to sleep basically as long as she wants because, hey! she's only two.

I wish I didn't have to separate them so often to make this work, but today it worked like a charm. Within five minutes of moving Ruth to my bed, leaving Marianne alone upstairs since Elizabeth is at school, both were snoring.

*****

On the way to drop Elizabeth off in her classroom, the girls saw Sara coming out for her post-lunch recess. They said hello, but due to a fall on the asphalt by Marianne that resulted in crying and tears, I quickly ushered them inside. As I left the building with Ruth and Marianne, both took off at a dead run for home, completely oblivious to the cries of "Wait? Wait! We wanted to talk to you!" I looked around to see a group of seven or eight junior high girls running across the playground toward us. I barely managed to get the girls to stop (this is a problem of late - them running headlong away from me when I want them to slow down and stay close) by hollering at them that they could come say hello to Sara. The older girls all huddled on the edge of the school's grounds, like there was some invisible electric fence penning them in, and waited for Marianne and Ruth to make their way back, the little girls acting suddenly shy.

It was so sweet, watching them all play with Marianne and Ruth and just watching Sara in this group of new friends. Most of them were girls I'd met previously - a couple kids of Nathaniel's cousins, a few girls from our block. I'm very happy to see Sara hanging out with them. I hope school is going well for her, and I'll stop talking about her now, because how embarrassing for her should a friend come across her aunt's site and see this whole thing, right? That would be SO not cool. But it felt good to see.

Revisited

I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal again today! Okay, she was just checking some facts because she's returned to the story I was interviewed for previously, but it still cracks me up. All because of the blog. Sweet.

Pink is the new white

Sadly, none of the little girls ate enough of their dinners last night to warrant cake for dessert. That's always especially disappointing when the cake was intended to celebrate one of the girls' achievements, but what's a parent to do? I will say that we've made huge progress with Elizabeth on this issue. The first time she was denied dessert, she threw a screaming, crying tantrum the likes of which I've seldom seen. It was an excellent chocolate cake, but not worth that much drama. It ended with Jake sneaking a bite to the still sobbing Elizabeth, who was hiding under the table, and then Elizabeth throwing up her whole dinner when she couldn't stop crying to process the food now in her mouth. I may have told that story before. It's sort of a legend around our house now, and an oft used example of why it's not good to go against what Nathaniel or I have said, even if you think you're doing it to help someone, thank you very much Jacob.

Last night there was simply a little whining about how much she didn't want to eat the zucchini or the butter-drenched fish fillet, to which Nathaniel and I responded once (and only once, rather than turning it into an all-dinner discussion like it has frequently become in the past) that she certainly did not have to eat them, but she knew she wouldn't get dessert unless she did. After a little soft whimpering, she announced she was done with her dinner and was allowed to get down and wash up. I'm hopeful that tonight they'll be more willing to eat a good dinner, as there's still plenty of the cake to go around. Either way, last night felt like a disciplinary success, if not a culinary one.

*****

Our house has the plague.

Okay, so that's a little dramatic, but still, there are germs here. Last weekend Marianne started showing signs of goopy eyes, and it's been downhill since. I took her to the doctor a week ago Monday to have her checked for pink eye and he gave us some drops for conjunctivitis. I actually left the office and called Nathaniel to give him the good news that she did not, in fact, have pink eye! As the words came out of my mouth I remembered that those two things are one and the same, and I got sad again. We washed hands all week long to try and keep it from spreading. Marianne was a champ about the drops. She'd lean her head back into my lap and hold a tissue at the ready to wipe her eye once I'd pried it open and dropped in the medicine, but she never once cried about it. Not like me as a kid (or, sadly, still as an adult). Do you remember that episode of Friends where they had to SIT on Rachelle to get drops in her eyes? Or was it Phoebe? Whoever it was, that's me.

I digress.

Since that doctor's visit, Nathaniel has come down with a nasty sickness mainly consisting of congestion and Ruth developed her own cough. Then last night, the inevitable - Ruth's eyes started gooping up. This morning they were undeniably crusty, so I called the doctor again. Thankfully, he was willing to call in the prescription without seeing her. I was glad when the nurse told me simply because it would save me the time and effort of hauling three little girls to the doctor, and then in the mail today I received the bill for the office visit for Marianne, and now I'm even happier. It seems we have deductibles for these things so are being charged for the whole office visit... I learn something new every day!

I'm very blessed that none of the school kids have come down with the dreaded pink eye yet, but I'm bummed that the eye drops and the constant hand scrubbing isn't over with the 7 day dose of Marianne's medicine. {sigh} Could be worse. It's seemed fairly mild for both of them, and their other symptoms have been very light. I know with school kids in the house now, there's much worse to come. Maybe this was just God's way of training us on the hand-washing we'll need to do continuously if we have any hope of avoiding the worse sicknesses coming this winter.

First day, take 2

Today we had another first, and this one was a true first day of school. Well, in the sense that it was Elizabeth's first day going to a real school. But it's for preschool, not Kindergarten, so some people may consider that more of a pre-first day of school... Whatever you call it, she strapped on her shiny new backpack, filled with fresh crayons and clean bottles of glue, and Marianne, Ruth and I walked her to school.
Elizabeth will be at preschool three days a week for half days. She is thrilled about the whole things. Her classroom full of toys, the other kids, the teacher, the playground, and most of all, I think, the fact that Sara and Jake are there in the same school as her and will be walking her home each day.
I'm off to bake a cake so we can celebrate in style at dinner tonight. How very Donna Reed, eh?

Bizarre

Jacob is big into quoting things that he's seen or read. Recounting stories makes up probably 75% of his conversation. When he first arrived this summer, it was mostly commercials from television, or skits from Homestar Runner. After he checked out a couple Calvin and Hobbes books from the library, those became the most often quoted. That was an improvement for me since, though I'm far from a C&H expert, I have spent a good portion of my life reading them and know the basic premise (I'm sure my high school friends remember the very common signature on the bottom of notes from a certain guy friend - "DQB BOD HFAM"). Snippets from the Harry Potter books are frequently retold, as well, and I can definitely get into those.

A couple weeks ago, Jake came across a book of comic strips on our shelves called "Four Food Groups of the Apocalypse". It was a daily comic in the ND newspaper early in my college career, and seriously hilarious. If you were a college kid. At ND. To the majority of non-Irish readers, and especially to a 10 year old kid, I find it hard to believe that any of the jokes make sense. However, Jake has taken to quoting the comics word for word, or reading them aloud to me and telling me which parts he thinks are the funniest. (There's one in particular about having to hock everything you own, including your mother, to afford a single copy of Moby Dick at the bookstore - that one kills him. He can't get enough of it).

It's more than a little bizarre, having him crack jokes about Irishopoly, or ND game weekends or whatever it happens to be that minute. But hey, at least I get the jokes, and it's something new. If I have to hear a word for word rendition of one more StrongBad email, I think I'll lose it.

First day

All dressed up and on their way to an un-air conditioned school on a 95 degree day. Lucky for them, they get out at noon today.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a new game I just invented called "Cinderella before she was a princess". They're all singing "Sing Sweet Nightingale" as they scrub my floor. Brilliant!

Keeping the dream alive

Around 11pm tonight, as I sat on the family room floor folding laundry and watching television, Jake came in in his jammies.

Jake: Oh, hey, um, it's just... what are you watching?

Me: Gilmore Girls.

Jake: Oh, from Blockbuster?

Me (more than a little baffled, since he knows this is the series I'm watching and it's well past his bedtime): Right.

Jake: Okay. Cause, it's just, I was thinking... well, I heard something from upstairs and it sounded like... I thought maybe you really HAD cable, and you just weren't telling us.

Oh, the cruel and unusual punishment he thinks us capable of!

Kansas, Vegas and back

The trips are nearly over! I'm at my parents' house now, relaxing for a day post-Vegas before I drive the five kids back to our home in Nebraska. Nathaniel stayed in Colorado to work this week, so I'll be on my own for the next few days. I'm looking forward to getting home anyway.

The visit to Kansas was fun for everyone. The older kids spent time with their old school friends, and we had a chance to visit with my grandparents, aunts and uncles. We went to an amusement park for kids, a church swim party, and a water park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Unfortunately the water park trip ended in a little too much excitement when the minivan overheated on the drive home. It was Monday evening, temperatures topping 100 degrees, and we were planning to head home Tuesday morning. When the air conditioner stopped working cooling, it didn't immediately register to myself or Nathaniel what the problem was. Then my grandmother, who was riding with us, asked if we'd checked the temperature gauge on the car. Oops. We were red-lining, so we pulled over. Thankfully we were caravanning with a second car full of family members, so my cousin shuttled the kids and Grandma to an air-conditioned convenience store a couple miles away while we waited for help to arrive. First it was my uncle with a new radiator cap (as ours was mysteriously missing) and coolant. When that failed to solve the problem, we waited longer for AAA to tow away our car.

After a simple fix, a day's delay and a bonus trip to Tulsa to pick up the car, we headed home. On Wednesday morning. With plans to be back in Kansas City on Thursday evening in order to catch our Friday morning flight to Vegas. Sweet. I spent Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning doing laundry and repacking the kids. Oh, and Thursday afternoon at the Kia dealership in Lincoln because my "check engine" light was mysteriously lit. They concluded that I made the whole thing up, because when I arrived and they hooked the car up to the computer, the light was not on and the car's computer had no record of an error. Sara saw it too, though. I did NOT make it up.

We arrived in KC on Thursday night as planned, and left Friday morning with little fanfare. I was surprised the girls were awake to wish us farewell, given how late they'd gone to bed, but I'm sure it was for the best. I'd hated the thought of leaving them for a four days without a goodbye hug. Plus, I wasn't the one who was going to have to deal with their lack of sleep for that weekend!

A few hours in planes and at airports later and we were at our hotel in Las Vegas. It was hot, but we'd learned that much from the brochures so were prepared. The hotel was beautiful; the pools were packed with people but extensive and fun; the food was ridiculously expensive but tasty; and the strip was sleazy and crowded but sparkly. We beat the odds and came out ahead by $10 on the nickle slots (plus a couple rounds of free drinks). We spent a lot of time lounging by the pool, in and out of the water every 10 minutes to keep from frying in the desert sun.

I'm now officially relaxed and ready for the school year to start. Maybe. Up first, a roadtrip with five kids, an ice cream social, and, well, the first day of school. Yikes.

(Through all the excitement we took exactly ZERO pictures. Party foul, I know. But we were too busy enjoying our selves to be bothered with the camera.)

So it begins...

For the next two weeks, I'm going to be in a whirlwind of packing, traveling, laundering, repacking, traveling more, etc. First we're off (just minutes from now when Nathaniel gets home from work) to Kansas to visit my family and bring home the three kids who've been away for the past week or two. I'm very blessed to have all my grandparents living, and even better to have them all living near one another so we can visit everyone in one fell swoop.

We'll come home on Tuesday so Nathaniel can work for a couple days and I can wash all our clothes. Then Thursday it's back in the car to drive to KC where my parents live. We'll ditch the kids there, and hop on a plane on Friday to Vegas! I can't wait!

I'll be back in KC on Monday night while Nathaniel stays over in Denver to work for the week. I figure since I'm in no rush to get home, I can hang out in KC long enough to visit some high school friends who live there before heading home on Wednesday.

That Saturday is our ice cream social, and school starts for the kids on the following Wednesday. Then begins my new life as a mother to school aged kids. I'm not sure I'm ready for all the homework and after school activities, but ready or not, here I come!

All the travel could somehow result in more frequent short posts, but probably you shouldn't hold your breath. I'll check in as I'm able. Bon voyage!

Good reads, updated (no spoilers)

I just noticed there's something on my sidebar entitled "A Good Read" and it hasn't been updated in months. It's not that I haven't been reading, though it's true that my pace has been slower than usual.

I've added a few books and wanted to comment on each so that no one picks one up without understanding my recommendation...

The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory, was recommended to me last time I gave a plea for assistance in finding new reading material, and I really enjoyed it. There's definitely some adult content, though nothing too graphic. I wouldn't recommend it for a read-aloud option, just to be safe. Philippa Gregory has a lot of similar historical fiction novels out, and I'm looking forward to trying out a few more of them when time allows.

The Sisters Grimm, by Michael Buckley, is a young adult series about sisters who discover they're related to the Brothers Grimm (of fairy tale fame) and that all those fairy tale characters they learned about as kids actually exist. They then become detectives, working to solve mysteries in the world of the "Ever Afters", the term for immortal fairy tale personalities like Mayor Charming and Sheriff Hamstead (a.k.a. Prince Charming and one of the three little pigs, respectively). I picked this book up because Sara loves it and has read it easily three or four times this summer, along with books 2 and 3 in the series. I'm part way through the second now, and so far both books have been cute and creative and they keep me excited about what will happen next. If you know a young lady looking for a fun read, definitely point these out to her. For kid books, they're very well done. Which is a nice segue into the third and final book recommendation for today.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling, was AMAZING. I think it was the most thrilling of the whole series and I could barely put it down. I was reading at the table while feeding the girls, reading at the playground while the kids ran around, reading into the night when I should have been sleeping. I don't part easily with the chance to sleep! I won't give any specific comments yet, as I know some people are still reading (Nathaniel included, as he started late on re-reading the prior couple books in preparation for Book 7, so hasn't started this one yet), but it was fantastic. Really. I'll be reading it again very soon.

Kid-isms

Marianne: I'm so ________ I can't even wait!

Most often used when she's in need of a drink ("thirsty"), but she's also been known to use it to indicate high levels of hunger ("starving"), tiredness ("sleepy"), and heat ("sweaty", but who knows what she's waiting for...). Always said with a serious whine.

*****

Marianne: The third Glorious Mystery, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apossables.

I think "The Incredibles" have met their match in this new band of super heroes.

*****

Marianne: Mommy, I can't walk. My legs are totally out of gas.

As an excuse to get her out of everything from walking to the table for meals to cleaning her room.

*****

Ruth: What's that, Daddy?

We somehow missed this inquisitive phase with Marianne, but Nathaniel pointed out the trend in Ruth's conversation a couple weeks ago. I'd better read up on my "Why is the sky blue"-type factoids.

*****

Ruth: Marianne did it. Lizbeth did it.

This kid is taking none of the blame on herself, no matter how red her hands.

*****

Marianne: Mommy, I didn't drink your coffee.

Ruth: Didn'. Dink. Tottee.

Marianne: Really. It was just on the counter...

Ruth: Jus. Counter.

Marianne: ...and I looked at it...

Ruth: Looked. It.

Marianne: ...but I didn't drink any of it.

Ruth: Didn'. Any.

All this while I try to squeeze in a word edgewise. It's like Marianne is standing on the edge of a canyon listening to an echo of only her key words. I dread the official open of the copycat-game season.