Carpool

Last year my oldest son, Isaac, started preschool two days a week. Our church is starting a classical Christian School and we have wanted to be a part of it. Since we live soooo far away from just about everything, some of my friends, who are also neighbors, and I decided to carpool so that we weren't driving all the time and dragging the little ones all around the county. First of all, you must understand that I am a homebody. I do not like to be out all that much. It's just simpler being home and I like it that way. So last year, when I thought about having to get my son to school and the hour round trip it'd be both ways, I felt defeated before I even started. I also was 37 weeks pregnant with Joshua at the start of school as well, so when I say I felt defeated, I really felt defeated. The thought of carpooling was the ONLY way I felt like I could handle the year and the drive so I jumped on board pretty quickly. I didn't want to live a frantic life and so carpooling seemed like a good solution. What I didn't anticipate was the absolute hilarity, joy and fun I would have driving all of those boys to school.

First of all, I have the perfect carpool car--a Honda Pilot. Thank God for that car because really, it's His provision that we even have it. But anyway, it seats 8 comfortably and has shoulder straps for every seat. These are things to consider since all of the boys are small and car seats, booster seats and the like are all part of the equation. So in my Pilot, at least once a week, I was transporting five boys all under the age of five. And boy has it been a ride....literally. This makes for very good material. Take today for instance. We listen to a cd of kids' music that is a compilation of hymns. I want our children to know hymns because the theology in them is so rock solid so, we listen to them in the car and sing them at home too. Anyhow, right in the middle of Crown Him with Many Crowns, all of the boys were belting out "Brownie" instead of "Crown Him!" My oldest is very studious and particular and he had been corrected by his Dad earlier in the week and so he proceeded to try and correct everyone in the car about the wording, including his little brother. However, since the car is loud and large, nobody could hear him and his meticulous corrections were falling on deaf ears. Brownie it was!

Another habit we have gotten into is telling stories on the way to school, which means I'm the principal storyteller. This started last year because many times I had to nurse Joshua in the car and keep all of them contained at the same time. I pondered how to pull this off not just decently, but well since a loud car of little boys could easily take me over if they tried, so I had to have a plan. They all love trains so I started telling stories about Thomas the Train. Most of the stories had morals to them like obeying parents, being kind, loving God, sharing and being humble. Poor James (the train) he most often was the proud train. But the stories seemed to work beautifully. And of course, I got to remind them again that they needed to listen to their parents in a sly, sneaky kind of way. Ha! Anyhow, Joshua got fed, they were all happy in their seats and then I was able to send them off to school without any major catastrophes.

It never ceases to amaze me how I am able to pile all of them into the car and make it all the way home in one piece. But it works every time. And then I wonder to myself, where did the time go? How am I a carpool mom already? I swear I still feel 18 at times wearing cute skirts and adorning my hair with ribbons to get that handsome guy's attention in English class at Cal Poly. That's how I really snagged my husband you know. He asks me sometimes what happened to the skirts and ribbons. And then he laughs and says that they got replaced by an apron and bobby pins, and that he'd take me the way I am now any day. Phew...good thing. I'm not really a skirt type girl (I wish I was but I'm just not) so, that brief period of dressing up was really, well brief and strategic. But seriously, time has flown and continues to fly. And I better cherish it. Even though it's a bit insane, carpool reminds me that I better soak up all of the chattering voices, the laughs and stories floating through my car as the miles fly by. The next time I turn around to notice, they'll be grown, and I'll be wishing I could go back to Thomas the Train, nursing my baby in the front seat and hearing about their day at school. Someday they won't want to talk about it much. They'll have few words...which just means that they'll have turned into little men and that I will have grown even older. So I'll take the craziness, brownie and all. What a blessing it is!!

Confession

Well, I have to admit it to the world. In my spare time during the day, which isn't much lately, one thing I love to do is read cookbooks. I have an absolute addiction to reading cookbooks. Now let me explain what I mean. I don't mean perusing cookbooks. I don't mean glancing through cookbooks or even scouring the index to find a recipe and then looking it up. I mean, from start to finish reading cookbooks. And I don't just read them once, I go over them time and time again. To be honest, I mostly learned to cook and bake from reading cookbooks over and over again. It isn't even what I'd call a hobby but more of an obsession. I know, I'm strange. I'm sure there are more people out there like me-- they just might not want to admit it!!

But yesterday, yesterday...I got a much anticipated and desired addition to my cookbook collection: The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. Oh how I love thee! I have wanted to buy this cookbook for probably a year and really it's not that expensive. It's only $35 but I just couldn't justify spending the money for awhile, especially since they have all of their recipes online. However, there is just something about cracking open that cookbook, your own cookbook, and getting to know the pages like getting acquainted with a new friend. Before much time has passed, the recipes become dusted with flour, painted with oil and sprinkled with love and notes are all over the place!! You can't replace that with online recipes. Give me the old fashioned way please!

So I knew I had to buy the cookbook sometime but I did wait and bide my time. After many months of spending my extra precious cash on other essentials, I finally came up with enough money to purchase the cookbook with no guilt attached. And now, I get to savor every little page and boy am I loving it! If you haven't checked out King Arthur Flour and you love to bake, you must do so now!! And thanks Brittany for turning me on to their website in the first place. Well, I better go. I have much reading to do. When my husband gets home, I'm sure he will find me tonight just like I was last night, asleep with the King Arthur Flour catalog on one side (another weakness) and the cookbook laying snugly on my chest. And in my dreams, I'll be fantasizing about new ideas for yeast doughs, cinnamon rolls and bread puddings.

Turned a Corner

So this is our second born son...Caleb, Caleby or as we lovingly call him sometimes The Sinister Minister. I won't go into all the details as to where the nickname came from, however, you must trust me-- it fits this child to a tee. He is as sinister as they come and he's only two and a half. I don't even want to know what kind of tricks this kid is going to pull when he's older. Our only prayer is to reign him in now before it's too late!! We always talk about how we can adequately shape his will and teach him boundaries and to obey, without breaking his spirit. It's going to be a tough task. He's just got such a lively little personality. In so many ways it's wonderful. He's so fun and playful. He's always doing something. And he's got a fight in him that you just can't train or teach. He's also very passionate, mostly about weapons at this stage of the game, and his passion is always in high gear whether it's good or bad. If he's happy, you'll know it because he'll be loud about it. If he's upset, you'll definitely know. He just lives large. Now we love all of that about him but, at times, his exuberance can be a bit trying.

One area that we have continually hit our heads against the wall with him on has been food. I think a lot of parents struggle in this area especially in our country where we have so much wealth which leads to an abundance of food and choices. I swore I'd never let my kids be picky eaters but, it's so hard to train in this area when they have a bent toward pickiness and a good dose of stubbornness does not help either. Isaac was a bit picky but soon outgrew it as we forced him to try different things. Forcing one bite worked for him and he would obey and just get the food down. Now he eats most things just fine.



In comes second child. Parent tries first tactic with second child that worked with first child. Utter failure. Isn't it always? Parent tries second tactic that he/she heard from a friend. Utter failure. Surprise. Surprise. Parent tries third tactic that he/she read about. Utter failure. Why are we trying? Oh yeah because we care about his soul and he must learn to obey. And on and on it went with this poor child. I really should say poor us because we had to deal with the screaming at dinner. It got to the point that we could get a bite of whatever it was he had to "try" into his mouth but once that bite was in there, he.would.not.chew.it! He'd just scream, drool and scream some more. Pretty much anything he had to try was the main dish at dinner. Nearly every night for awhile he didn't like any of it and sometimes it was even kid friendly stuff like mac n cheese. And vegetables, you can forget about it. No amount of anything, and I mean anything could get him to eat that bite. It'd just sit there collecting dust as the rest of us waited for him to eat it. Then we got smart and just let him sit there for forever, and ever, and he still wouldn't eat it. Sometimes it would take an hour for it to finally break down and dissolve. And then he'd triumphantly get down and go play as if to say, "See, I didn't really eat it! It just dissolved!!"

Now this left us scratching our heads like you wouldn't believe. We NEVER dealt with this much stubborn perseverance with our oldest child. And the logic of it...well there was no logic. Usually when you don't like something, you don't want to keep it in your mouth for an hour. You want to just wolf it down and get it over with. Well, not our little sinister minister. Remember, he's a fighter. In an effort to come alongside of him and show him that we were for him, I'd try to make sure there was something he'd like at dinner. He's pretty good at fruit, bread, and most meats. It's just vegetables and prepared food like casseroles, spaghetti (I know! He finally eats that now) and other dinner stuff he simply didn't like. We'd remind him constantly that once he ate his obligatory bite, he'd get to have something else offered at dinner that he likes, like a roll for instance, with butter, or sweet potato fries or something like that.



Then over time it slowly, slowly, slowly got better. But it was never, EVER good. Not even close. The better is just relative to how it was before--really, really bad. Then this last week, all of the sudden, a light bulb has switched on in his head. All of us have noticed that our little sinister minister has decided on his own terms that it's just not worth fighting about anymore. I'm hoping it's not just a phase but that it sticks around. He's been eating his food, chewing his obligatory bite of vegetable and only taking five minutes or so to get that bite down (I know, pathetic but much better than before) and he's been getting blessed with bread and butter, or cornbread, or whatever else is good like fruit at the end of eating the rest of his dinner. And we've been going over the same thing again that is repeated endlessly in our house...When we obey, we get blessings! Not that we obey to get blessings but a lot of times, blessings are a byproduct of our obedience. For example some blessings could be praise from parents, an actual physical reward (we try not to do that too much) or an extra activity or something when it's applicable. But he really has turned a corner. And believe me, my husband and I are wondering what happened in his little brain that it finally all made sense to him. We're not sure but we'll take it. I think we saw too that sticking it out with him has finally produced our desired results- a child who will cheerfully eat at dinner...when we obey we get blessings. I'm sure we'll have many more run-ins with all of our children in the future. However, for now in this area, we've finally seen the fruit of our labor and there is a bit of peace. Thank God!

Odds and Ends

So I haven't posted much in the last week because I've just had a lot of little things going on. And there haven't been too many juicy stories or hilarious happenings. Just plain life I guess. But that's not too bad now is it?! Isaac had his first day of preschool for the new school year.



We went to visit my grandma in Pleasanton before she was moved to Assisted Living this last labor day. It's hard for me to see her now because she doesn't know who I am. She has Alzheimer's and has recently really gone down-hill. However, I need to remember that it's not about me. I just need to see her to honor her.




And we still haven't gotten the dryer fixed so....the clothesline has been working like a champ. I've had a few snafus like it falling down with a whole load of laundry attached. By the way, it's not that easy to hang it back up when it's full...it's extremely heavy. That time I had to unload it and then re-hang everything. No wonder our grandmothers were in such great shape! They did everything by hand! However, I was determined not to let that clothesline get the best of me!! Anyway though, I also discovered that if the clothes are left on the line a bit too long (like overnight...I accidentally fell asleep) then the color of the rope I used for the line (ummm...red) can come off on the clothes. Luckily the stains came out. However, other than these little set-backs, it's still been churning out the dry clothes right and left. In the next couple of weeks, we'll go pick up my grandma's washer and dryer since she no longer needs them. But until then, it's me and the clothesline.

I just couldn't resist either. I'm saving this one for the wedding slide show. I know I said no bras and no underwear but....what're the little ones to know huh?! Saving the best for last!

Old Fashioned Invention

So I started out my week like any other, with many, many piles of laundry. It never ceases to amaze me how many dirty clothes get racked up during the week and I still run the washing machine a few times over the weekend after my initial laundry overhaul is done on Monday and Tuesday. Nevertheless, I haven't quite gotten to the point where I have to wash every day so I can be thankful. However, back to the story, I got halfway through my laundry mania and noticed that a load didn't get dry. I thought I'd forgotten to turn the dryer on. I hate it when I do that because then the clothes in the washer sit and have to wait for the dryer and I lose precious time. So, inwardly, I chastised myself for forgetting to turn on the dryer and turned the dryer on. Done. On to the next thing. I checked it later, and it still wasn't dry--at all! Oh no! I quickly came to the conclusion that the dryer must be broken.

When Steve came home, he took a look at it. He's pretty savvy with fixing things but dryers are a bit out of his league. By the way, you can ask his mom about a hair dryer he tried to fix when he was younger and how all of that turned out. But I'm digressing. He checked a few basic things and the dryer still didn't work so he told me to call the repair man. Meanwhile, I'm dreaming of getting a new washer and dryer. We always said that once these old ones gave out we'd buy front loaders. I was picking out the colors in my mind and everything when I suddenly realized that new washer and dryer or not, I still had two very wet loads that needed to get dried and they needed to get dried now before they got all moldy. What to do?


That's when I had a blast from the past and remembered something that most woman used to use all of the time to get their clothes dry before the conventional dryer--the clothesline. With fierce determination, I searched through my husband's tools and found some sturdy rope and his trusty hammer. When the hammer came out, my boys instinctively ran for their tools and then looked at me quizzically like "Mom, you're going to fix something?" I assured them that this fix-it job was very feminine and that mom was going to make herself a clothesline. Reassured, off to the backyard they trekked to help find the perfect spot to hang it. The clothesline was up in a flash and my clothes were hung up before I knew it. And you know what, it felt good. The sun beat down on me as I hung them up, and it really, truly felt good, comfy and homey. I wondered if this was how my grandmother felt when she hung out her family's clothes to dry--just plain simple but in a cleansing sort of way! (I know, I know, I'm really a romantic) And not only did it feel good but it worked great as well. Within twenty minutes, they were all dry (although a bit crunchy) and I thought, I really could get used to this.

Since we're the cheapest people ever, frugal is a nice euphemism to describe us, we'll probably just get our old dryer fixed, especially since the washer still works. Although someday I'm sure to get those amazing front loaders. Good thing the repair man said it wouldn't cost too much. But until it's fixed, I think I'll be just fine. I've got my clothesline, the hot sun, some clothespins and a dose of good old fashioned invention to get me through. The only thing I have to remember is that our house is located right next to the senior parking lot....so that means, if I love my husband and don't want to make him the talk of the school, I must remember...no bras, and no underwear!

Longing

More and more I've been finding my littlest one, Joshua, so content just watching his big brothers while they're playing outside. I can tell that he wants to be a part of what they're doing so badly. I take him out to crawl around for bits of time here and there but he just puts everything in his mouth so he can't be out there for too too long. Soon enough he'll be running around the yard...but until then, he gets a front row seat to see what's unfolding on the front lawn. For me, I just love watching him watch them. So precious.

The Birthdays

So as all of you now know, my best friend and hubby, Steve and our oldest child Isaac, share a birthday. This year was Steve's 30th so of course we had to throw him a big party. And since Isaac is still small and birthdays are important to him, he had to have a party as well. So as you can see, I had some work to do.

On the big day, we had our normal birthday routine of streamers upon waking, cinnamon rolls and the opening of presents.


Everyone had a great time especially Joshua. In just a few short weeks it'll be his first birthday!!



That night we had a few neighbors come over for cake and ice cream. The kids ran around in the backyard and played in the playroom inside. It was a really simple birthday but everyone had fun. Isaac wanted a Thomas cake so I attempted the train cake. It turned out all right. Good thing I have many years to practice this cake decorating thing before they really get old enough to care!!


So that was Isaac's birthday.

Steve's 30th Party was a lot more hoopla. Since I was already very busy that week with everything else (hence my last post) I decided to try and keep things as simple as possible. The evening started out with a friendly game of Ultimate Frisbee at the school and then the hungry players came back to our house for a BBQ. We had friends come from far away like Fresno and San Luis Obispo, and then we had family, a few friends from church and neighbors attend. It truly was a special time of honoring my amazing husband. And we feasted in his honor!

Steve's Dad and brother gave him a toast to being 30 and that was wonderful. And then one of his longtime best friends from Cal Poly gave him the sweetest, most meaningful tribute. It was really special and meant a lot to Steve. Thanks Andy! Of course there was tons of food, tons of cake and tons of fun. A few highlights include a bounce house borrowed from our neighbors to provide fun for the 20+ kids who attended, the toasts, catching up with friends who live far away and seeing my husband be so blessed by his friends and family. It was a truly blessed time. After all of the festivities died down, the guys planted themselves in the back for some guy time around the chimenia. A great end to a great evening.

I also just had to mention that I couldn't have pulled the night off without all of the help given to me by my dear friends. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law helped with food. My parents and in-laws helped police my children that day so that I could work. My dear friend Monica helped keep my watermelons cold in her fridge and picked up the cake. And then Steph and her little posse helped pull off all of the last minute details when they arrived an hour before the party. Seriously, without all of that help, I would've fallen over and just died. Thank you! I have great friends and family!

Steph, was my right-hand woman all night and most of the evening we had babies strapped to our backs!! I love the ERGO! And Steph, you're a trooper! Love you!

And there's the lady who brought my wonderful husband into the world! She even let him have his birthday on her anniversary (although I think she was just glad he was out because he was over two weeks late!!) Thanks Mom for raising such a great son. Now our family gets to enjoy and benefit from all of the hard work you and Dad sowed into him. I really am grateful! I pray we can be so diligent with our sons.

The birthday season in our family will come to a close at the end of September but for now it's died-down quite a bit. I had a ton of fun but am grateful to get a few weeks off until our little Joshy turns 1.

Until next time...