Eeek!

So I've heard the "cranching" in the middle of the night, in the direction of the kitchen, enough here lately to know that we have a little visitor at night. One of the small, gray, furry kind that probably only measures 3 - 4 inches from nose to rump. So why in the world does this little creature's "cranch cranch cranch" that I hear in the middle of the night scare the life out of me?? I will actually awaken from a dream thinking I hear the little thing under my bed! Or even worse - ON my bed!! My heart will race out of my chest like I'm having a flippin' heart attack! It really is quite ridiculous.

So anyway, this morning while feeding the two youngest their breakfast, I got up from my chair in the dining room to head across the kitchen floor to see the little guy scamper across the kitchen from behind the fridge to under the stove! Of course I let out a ridiculously loud scream. My blood was pumping so fast. Again - quite ridiculous. Then I turn around to see my 3-yr old daughter and 1-yr old son staring at me like "What in the world just happened to Mommy?". So I put on a smile and look at Mia and say "Well, there he goes, under the stove" "it was 'Mousey'". "He made Mommy scream because I was surprised to see him". Here comes the best part. After cracking up with laughter so that she could barely breathe (Silas actually joined in the laughter as well) she jumped up from her chair and bounded into the kitchen. She lays down on the floor with her face as close to under the stove as she can get looking for 'Mousey'! I'm dying inside! But as to not breed any fear in her that she shouldn't have I just watch her. She giggles and says, "Mousey's playing peek-a-boo with me!". I have no idea if this mouse is still under the stove and looking at her. If he is I'm a bit freaked out by it. But either way. Mia was so not scared of it but wanted to be it's friend. I wish I were that relaxed around the little creature that I know is going to be looking for my 1-yr old's fallen Cheerio's when I go to bed tonight. Ugh!

Then tonight when we put Mia to bed, hubby and I were carrying on about something and got a little loud and Mia is saying from her room "Be quiet, be quiet". I go back there thinking maybe she thought we were fussing at each other when really we were just carrying on. No. That wasn't it at all. We were being too loud for 'Mousey'. She didn't want us carrying on at such a level that would scare him. There you have it. We have to quiet down for 'Mousey'. We even had to include him in our bedtime prayers tonight. I had to pray over this creature that's looking to give me a heart attack in the middle of the night! Somebody better be saying prayers for ME!!

My Birthday

So it came around like it does every year. Another birthday. I don't want to say which one because by now I just can't believe how these numbers keep going up. I mean, I honestly say to myself, "Really?? That can't be the right number!" I shake my head in disbelief. Because when I was much younger I knew when I hit this age that I'd be, well, OLD! I don't feel old. In fact, I must say that I feel, about myself, the best I have in my life. I mean I finally feel that I'm living and doing what I want to do. Of course I wish I had more time, more money, more time, more money... but hey, we can't have it all, right? So Friday night, my actual birthday night we went to my Mom's for my annual Chicken and Dumplings dinner. That's right. Every year my mom makes me my Chicken and Dumplings dinner. Everyone in my household waits for this night all year long. Because most years this is the only time we get this for dinner. My mother keeps telling me every time she makes them that I really need to learn to make them so that "when she's gone" I'll know how to do it. Who is she kidding? For one, I'm in no hurry for her to "go" and learning to make them would be like I'm acutally expecting that to happen. And secondly - I'll never make them the way she does - ever! So I'll stick to the things I know.

So after dinner, hubby took the two older boys out to shop for me. Yeah, of course he waited until the last minute. That's what men do. What's even funnier is that him taking the two boys at the last minute is just teaching them to wait until the last minute... Anyway... he took them shopping. And they came home grinning like the Cheshire Cat they were so happy with their choices. Luke is 12 years old and feels he has it all together. Noah is 8 and doesn't care if he has it together or not as long as someone is telling him what to do and when. So they come in with their bags grinning ear to ear and exclaim how excited they are about what they are about to give me. It was a pink long-sleeved hoodie from Hollister and "comfy" draw string pants and last but not least a little button to put on, well to put on whatever, that reads "I'm with the Band". Funny, huh? I'm worrying about my age and my kids keep me young with gifts from Hollister and a pin that reads "I'm with the Band". They were incredibly satisfied with their purchases and so was I. I couldn't be happier really. I mean these two boys go out and buy "cool" gifts for mom and bubble over with excitement while presenting them to me. I couldn't help but be giddy myself. :) It was a nice time. We finished off the night with everyone bringing in their blankets and pillows into the living room for a "family friendly" movie, "Love Comes Softly". OMG - have you all seen this movie? So I cried through the whole thing and that was the end of my birthday day. Oh, VERY IMPORTANT side note. The "Love Comes Softly" DVD was a birthday gift from hubby. Guess what else?! "Sixteen Candles" and "Breakfast Club" on DVD! How cool is my hubby? How nice was that? He, of course, would not have purchased these for himself. These were definately for me. My 80's movies. He struck gold gifting these! So yes, it was a beautiful birthday all in all. Here's to another year!

The Birthday Dinner That Almost Wasn't

So Hubby is a great cook. He's been pondering and searching the internet for ideas to make me the perfect birthday dinner unbeknownst to me. He had a plan. Which I must say is highly unusual. Everyone who knows us knows that I'm the planner and Hubby is more the fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy. I always grit on him for waiting until the last minute for absolutely everything. In fact, most details, if not handled by me, are not handled at all. That's just how it is in our family. So for him to go to great lengths to plan something makes for a unique occasion. So inside I was really tickled that he had gone to so much trouble to plan for a nice birthday dinner for me. So my birthday is today, as it is now after midnight. But he was planning for my birthday dinner for last night (or several hours ago).

Its been raining for two days. It is part of a hurricane system or something of the sort that is coming up the coast. Well the bad weather made for bad driving conditions. Due to these conditions there was a traffic accident nearby that caused a power and cable outage for us. This outage occurred while Hubby was in the middle of the dinner preparations in the kitchen. YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! So, FINALLY he makes quite the effort to plan a dinner and has even been making little preparations for the last couple of days - shopping for ingredients, chopping vegetables, etc. - and there's going to be a power outage right in the middle of the actual dinner preparations?! Yup - there you have it. I just have to shake my head in disbelief.

We have the two youngest at home with us - the two older boys are with their dad tonight. So Mia is a little scared. It isn't dark outside yet but she's a bit freaked out that the electricity is off. She keeps talking about being scared. Little Silas, well he's just taking it all in as he often does. Of course when this kind of thing happens you assume that it will be taken care of pretty quickly and the electricity will be back on in no time and life will continue as planned. So you do creative little things to pass time that you think will entertain the little ones. We read a story by flashlight - Mia thought this was cool. We play games with the flashlight. We look out the front door and talk about the rain. All the while time is passing and we're starting to think, "Hmm, maybe this isn't going to be a quick fix after all". So now, its dark outside and still no electricity.

We've all been camped out in the Living Room this entire time. And currently I am listening to Hubby recap an earlier event of the day. And then I hear it. It sounds like a splash of some sort coming from the kitchen. I immediately look at Hubby and utter, "What was that?!". We both turn our heads and realize that Mia had left the Living Room and was obviously in the kitchen and was the culprit behind the splash sound we just heard. So Hubby goes to investigate. I hear, "Oh NO! Oh NO!" and some lamenting and more "Oh NO!"s Come to find out, Hubby had a large bowl on the counter full of thinly sliced potatoes that he wanted to use for part of the meal and that bowl full of water and potatoes is what "splashed" onto the floor. So now not only had the electricity gone off in the middle of Hubby preparing my birthday dinner, now part of what was to be my birthday dinner was splashed all over the kitchen floor - IN THE DARK! Hubby was cleaning water and potatoes from all over the floor and under the appliances by flashlight!

When he was done cleaning up the potatoes from every inch of the kitchen we were still in the dark and by now the children were antsy and none of the little creative things we were doing were much fun anymore. So I told Hubby we may as well load them up in the van and take a ride. So we did. And while we were out we hit up McDonald's for a few dollar menu items as we thought dinner was probably a wash.

It was pretty late by the time the electricity came back on. But I told Hubby if he still wanted to make dinner a go I would be up for it. We finished just a little bit ago. And it was AMAZING! (See Picture above). He made me a Mediterranean Swordfish dish. Swordfish is my favorite fish. And this meal was delectible. I was exhausted (and looked it). I yawned throughout the dinner. But his planning and preparation was so sweet that even though we shared it incredibly late, I will always remember it fondly as the Birthday Dinner that almost wasn't!

One Boy

Normally, pretty much always, my blogs are about my own children. But today is different. Today is about a boy that is not one of my three sons. It is about a boy that I don't know but he touched my heart this morning. As many of you may or may not know today is national "See You at the Pole" day. It is a day where students from schools all over the country join together at their flag pole to pray before school starts. And whether or not you believe in prayer or the power of prayer you should read on about this boy.

I was driving my two oldest boys to school this morning and the local radio station that we were listening to was taking calls from people calling in from the various schools in our area giving reports of how many students showed up for "See You at the Pole". There were some pretty impressive numbers out there. I was hearing numbers like 34, 17, 52, 102 and so on. But the one that took my breath away was the caller that said "There was one boy that showed up this morning at Seaford Middle School". That was it. One boy. This boy in front of all his peers and without the support of them said "I will stand and I will pray". This boy stood alone. I feel this boy had the courage of a soldier. I couldn't get it off of my mind. How this boy must've felt as he looked around and saw the cars pulling into his school wondering if anyone else would come stand with him. And even though there were no others this boy stood. He stood for something. He stood for something he believed in and it didn't matter to him that he stood alone. In middle school where peer pressure can be overwhelming to do the wrong thing and what your friends think of you seems so important. This boy stood. What he stood for was more important to him than whether or not he did it by himself or what people thought of him. I've not been able to get this boy off of my mind all morning. I'm so impressed with his courage. I closed my eyes and I said a prayer and asked that God would not only hear whatever prayer he spoke this morning but that he would somehow be blessed for the courage it took to do what he did this morning.

Mmmm - how hard is that?

So my youngest son, Silas, turned a year old on the 5th of this month. He does his cute little baby babbles. Of course what we all wait to hear is the ever-meaningful sweet sound of "MaMa". My first three children, I drilled them - yes, shameful to admit this, but drilled them from the very beginning of their baby babbles by being in their faces smiling and saying "mamamamama". Over and over again. "mamamamamama". And to my heart's glee each of their first words were "MaMa". Chalk it up to a good teacher? No, chalk it up to this crazy woman in their face all day every day drilling the same sound over and over again. What else would they say? Each time though, I have to say, I was so proud of them (and myself!). Especially because all you hear and read about babies and their first words is that it is almost always "DaDa". Well, over my dead body! I'm up all night. I'm changing the MAJORITY of the diapers. I'm nursing until my boobs feel like they are going to fall off. These kids are gonna say MaMa - first and foremost! They all did and as stated earlier, I was incredibly proud. Welllllll, then we have the last child. My sweet fourth child. The sweet baby that because of his really nasty heart problems in the beginning of his life had me holding him 24 hours a day for the first 3 months of his life until he had corrective surgery. I was everything for this sweet little boy of mine. Everything! My sweet Silas K. Well, wouldn't ya know it... Does HE say MaMa first? Nope! Nope! He says DaDa! And very proudly! He didn't just say it first, he knew what it meant. Hubby would walk in the room and Silas would light up with "DaDa, DaDa, DaDa". Ohhh, my hubby was so pleased. What's worse is that months later, he can pronounce Noah's name - which my three-year-old daughter, Mia, JUST LEARNED to pronounce correctly, he can say bye-bye, no no, stop, uh-oh, and tries to sing e-i-e-i-o when I'm singing him Old MacDonald Had a Farm! And guess what - still no MaMa! Are you kidding me?! I try to convince myself that when he makes this babble of nananana - that he's really saying MaMa. But he isn't. He isn't. I think it's this really cruel joke. Maybe its Karma biting me in the butt for drilling my other three children with "MaMaMaMa" in their faces 'til they had no choice but repeat it to get a minute of peace. Ugh! Unbelieveable. So I wait. I'm waiting every so (in)patiently for the time when my sweet Silas will look up with that darn cute cheesy grin of his and say "MaMa".

So She Says

Anyone who takes any time to get to know me will inevitably hear stories about my silly and incredibly entertaining precocious three-year-old daughter, Mia. We find ourselves consumed with laughter daily because of the funny things that she comes up with to say. Some of which we have no idea of their origin, other things are quite obvious. Nonetheless here are the funny things she’s said in the last 24-hours that have had us laughing.

Last night as her oldest brother, Luke was leaving the room she says: “Come here ya big lug!”

This morning as I walk back to her room with her to get her dressed for the day, we enter the room and apparently she smells her baby brother’s diaper from earlier and says: “What’s that smell like?” I return the question with “What?” and she says “That P.U. fing (thing)”

I was in the shower this morning and decided to play a little joke on her and yelled for her to come into the bathroom. She did. At that moment I opened the door, aimed the hand-held shower nozzle at her and sprayed her. First of course she’s like “stop, stop!” But then she’s all giggles when she realizes mommy is making one of those big messes that I forbid her to make when she’s in the bathtub. I get out of the shower and as I’m drying off she stands up on the toilet seat (lid was down of course) and leans over into the sink and says, “Now I need to wash off” – referring to washing off the water that was already on her. I’m really amused as common sense would tell you that she’s just getting more wet as she stands there dipping her little fingers into the water and performing what looks like my grandmother’s nighttime washing the face and hands routine as she kept insisting she was washing off.

Later in the morning my husband and I took the two youngest, Mia and Silas, to Barnes and Noble. Of course we hit the café first. I love chai tea whether hot or cold – I love it! I’ve passed this love to Mia as she sees a Starbuck’s sign and says “They have chai tea there”. So as we stood in line I mentioned to my hubby that they are now offering one of their seasonal flavors, Pumpkin Spice. I said, “oooo, Honey, they have a Pumpkin Spice Frap”. And Mia looked at him and said “What’s spice crap?”

And last but not least for the day: when taking her in to change her diaper (yes, she just turned 3 and is not yet potty trained) and her new question with each poopy diaper change is: “Did I make brown poops or yellow poops?”. This coming from the sweetest looking little girl. I just shake my head. But she won’t let it go until you answer her. You made brown poops, Sweetie.

Back to School Blues (for Mommy!)

My sons Luke and Noah have both started back to school within the last few weeks. This year back to school came with a surprise. The surprise was the sadness I felt when the boys went back to school. Mind you, I still have Mia (3 years) and Silas (1 year) at home so it's not like I won't have children around of which to share my time.

But this Summer was great! Really great! This past year that I took off to have a baby, adjust to baby life yet again, etc. etc. was a longer break than I had originally anticipated. See the "plan" was to give birth to Silas and go back to work outside of my home in the fashion industry that I so loved. HOWEVER; as life does, mine took a turn.

Silas was born with a some congenital heart problems and to make a long story short all of my "plans" had to be reconfigured. It's funny how when life throws you a curve it can be the best thing that ever happened to you.

Silas just turned a year old on the 5th of this month and is feeling much better. And I've had the opportunity to be home with him this whole year. I've started my own business in Baby Planning. I pick the kids up from school every day. I start dinner early. My house is a wreck - oh wait a minute, that's another blog for another day! Anyway, I'm doing a lot of those WAHM things that I wished I could've done when I was in the workforce full time. I've never loved domestic life more.

It really is ironic how something can happen in your life that throws you for a loop but then somehow wraps it's arms around you as a big blessing.

So what does that have to do with Back to School you say? Well, this was the first summer since my 8-year-old son Noah was a baby that I've not worked outside of the home. So I determined to do all those things with my four children that I would long to do when I was working outside of the home and never was afforded the opportunity to do. I took them to the "free" movies at the local theater every Tuesday or Wednesday, we'd go to my best friend's pool once a week, we went to the zoo multiple times, we had picnic lunches, we hit the beach, we went to story time, and we sat in our pajamas longer than we needed to on the dreary days.

We didn't take a vacation anywhere but we took a vacation from the routine that was our life before summer hit. It was crazy. It was fun. It was everything I said I would do in the summer if I was given the chance. That is why I was dreading the calendar turning and school going back in session. I know the "norm" is for mothers to count down, with excitement, the days until school is back in session but I was filled with sadness.

I'm not sure what next summer will hold for us. Plans don't always find their way to fruition. But one thing I can say with certainty: I would never trade this crazy, busy, fun-loving, messy, joyful, often loud, sometimes exhausting summer for anything in this world!