Shrugging Along

So I picked up a copy of Atlas Shrugged at my library this week. Holy Cow! This is a huge book! (And the cover bothers my husband. He saw it and said, "What's this book with a naked man on the cover?" I'm so tired these days, I hadn't even noticed that there was a naked man on the cover...lol) But if Granny says it is a worthwhile read, I will give it a go. My one problem is that my main times to read are while nursing and while eating breakfast. This book is so thick that it is hard to hold while nursing and doesn't lay flat to lay on the table to read it while eating. Oh, and the print is so small that I feel like I need to get some reading glasses!

I also got another book at my favorite book store tonight. Andrew has resisted all my tried and true methods for sleep training, and he is still not taking any nap during the day that is longer than 20 minutes! For the last three weeks, he has averaged five hours of crying a day, and only put himself to sleep for a nap in his crib twice. Both times it was after over an hour of crying. (Which explains why I've had so little posted here lately...) I think it is time to consider a new method. I'll let you know how it goes!

Lily

Not to be out-done, Lily stuck around for four questions.

1. What is something mom always says to you? "pink"
2. What makes your mom happy? points to self (she's right, she does make me happy)
3. What makes mom sad? pink
4. How does your mom make you laugh? walk juice

She then turned around and ran away laughing maniacally.

Lily tried to burn the house down today. I should have taken pictures of the fire truck and the firemen that came to see if the wall was going to suddenly burst into flames. Unfortunately I was more concerned about the fact that three strangers were in my house, in the girls' room and the beds were not made and there was junk all over the floor. ACK! Darn.

Anyway...

I had put the little bugger down for a nap. About 20 minutes later we hear her crying from her room. We were just across the hall in the sewing room. Ella goes in to see why Lily is crying and Lily is standing at the socket where the night light is. The socket and night light are black and there is a bracelet broken and burned on the floor. There are a few black marks on Lily's finger. Don't worry, it was just surface. She did get a shock but the black soot just wiped off her finger. She's fine.

What happened was that the night light was not stuck all the way in the wall. It is very possible that Lily herself pulled it out and then tried to put it back in or something like that. Lily goes into Ella's "treasure box" and gets out her bracelet and then drapes the bracelet over the exposed prongs of the night light. The prongs are hot and create and arch..arc?...of electricity, scaring the living daylights out of Lily and shocking her some. The firemen said that the bracelet acted sort of like a circuit breaker or fuse and that's why the circuit breaker itself didn't go off...or whatever circuit breakers do to break the circuit.

The funny thing is that this isn't the first time that Lily has been playing with the light socket and gotten a shock. No more night lights in the kids' room.

Lily, Lily, Lily. When will you learn your lesson?

Rachel

Rachel the lion we call her, because of her lion's mane of a head of hair. When we say "Rachel the Lion" she says "RROOOOOAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!"

I know this just looks like a blur but that's actually Rachel twirling. You can see her blue skirt and redandwhite shirt.

Rachel's are a bit less wordy, but I think she did a pretty good job. She answered well on the ones that count. Like on #4, I make her laugh when I tackle her on the couch and tickle her and rub my head on her belly and blow zerberts and generally act crazy. It was a good answer, very all-encompassing.

1. What is something mom always says to you? "don't touch" (maybe I should emphasize the "obey" part more)
2. What makes your mom happy? food
3. What makes mom sad? monsters
4. How does your mom make you laugh? crazy
5. What was your mom like as a child? mother
6. How old is your mom? 5
7. How tall is your mom? this tall (reaching up above her cute little curly head)
8. What is her favorite thing to do? clean up
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? washing the floor
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? a mother (aahhhhhhh, only for you little Ray)
11. What is your mom really good at? flowers
12. What is your mom not good at? curtains (hmmm...)
13. What does your mom do for a job? digging (she's probably talking about all the gardening we've been doing lately)
14. What is your mom's favorite food? green soup (when I make it for some reason it has a green hue to it. It's good, but once again, not my favorite. Yeah what's with the lack of chocolate answers. They could have at least said coffee or something reasonable like that)
15. What makes you proud of your mom? a ladybug (don't ask, because I don't know)
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? a cardinal (see above comment)
17. What do you and your mom do together? sing
18. How are you and your mom the same? pretty eyelashes
19. How are you and your mom different? pink-pink (uh...okay)
20. How do you know your mom loves you? she gives me a hug (Rachel is the huggingest, snugglingest kid I know. It's fabulous)
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? going to work
22. Where is Mom's favorite place to go? to a store

Sarah

1. What is something mom always says to you? "get dressed" (LOL, that's a good one)
2. What makes your mom happy? clean rooms
3. What makes mom sad? when the flowers are dying
4. How does your mom make you laugh? tickling
5. What was your mom like as a child? she had a mom and dad
6. How old is your mom? ummm...how old are you?
7. How tall is your mom? taller than my sister Anna (well, thanks a lot!)
8. What is her favorite thing to do? work on the computer (doh! she caught me)
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? put away dishes
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? selling money (huh?)
11. What is your mom really good at? sewing
12. What is your mom not good at? making messes (ha ha ha, ho ho ho, hee hee hee)
13. What does your mom do for a job? sew
14. What is your mom's favorite food? meat
15. What makes you proud of your mom? saying "yes" to playing on the computer
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Jerry (you know, the mouse)
17. What do you and your mom do together? plant flowers
18. How are you and your mom the same? same hair
19. How are you and your mom different? your peach, I'm tan (she looks just like her daddy)
20. How do you know your mom loves you? by giving me hugs and kisses when its night time
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? he doesn't have a beard (very true, very true)
22. Where is Mom's favorite place to go? Joann's (WOOHOO!)

Ella's Interview

Ella made this for our front yard. In case you can't read it, it says "He died for us." Isn't she cool. My kids rock. I'm waiting for the HOA to tell us to remove it because it's not allowed.

I interviewed the kids. Their answers were bizarre. I don't think they think. I mean, Aaron's answers were so cognizant but my girls' answers are...weird. Do they live with me every day? I mean...sheesh. Maybe I should have Del ask them the same questions. Maybe they thought I'd yell at them if they "got the answer wrong." I tried to tell them there was no wrong answer.

Without further adieu, Ella's responses:

1. What is something mom always says to you? “wait a while” (LOL, that’s a good one and so true)
2. What makes your mom happy? when Anna smiles
3. What makes mom sad? teaching Sarah to read (oh, how sad is that. I’m an awful mommy)
4. How does your mom make you laugh? when she tickles me
5. What was your mom like as a child? I don't really know because I wasn’t there.
6. How old is your mom? 32
7. How tall is your mom? don’t know
8. What is her favorite thing to do? sew
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? mop the floor
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? sewing
11. What is your mom really good at? making bread
12. What is your mom not good at? drawing toads
13. What does your mom do for a job? takes care of five kids
14. What is your mom's favorite food? bibimbap (this is not true, I like bread way better, but bibimbap is really good)
15. What makes you proud of your mom? the things she makes (sews)
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? a clown (WHAT?! That’s it, kid; you’re out of the will)
17. What do you and your mom do together? bake stuff
18. How are you and your mom the same? same eyes
19. How are you and your mom different? feet (this girl has got some long, slender feet with bad arches. She can almost wear my shoes already and she’s only 7. My feet are teeny, chubby and have fantastic arches)
20. How do you know your mom loves you? she gives me kisses every night
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? he’s brown (I admit that Del’s lovely brown skin makes my stomach turn happy flips, but there are other things that I like about him, too. Like his…oh, yeah, this is a family blog…his excellent mind)
22. Where is Mom's favorite place to go? The craft room

Interviewing Aaron

It's Aaron's turn!! He understood the questions a little bit better, so his answers make a little more sense than Ethan's did! After reading Ethan's, if you still had a bit of doubt as to how much we emphasize obeying in our house, it should be erased after reading this!! I am glad that we are getting that across to our kids!

1. What is something mom always says to you? to obey

2. What makes your mom happy? me obeying

3. What makes mom sad? when I disobey

4. How does your mom make you laugh? tickling me

5. What was your mom like as a child? I don't know

6. How old is your mom? 31

7. How tall is your mom? really tall (lol!)

8. What is her favorite thing to do? get chores done and do school and clean the kitchen

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? do exercises and, uh, go shopping

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? cleaning (do they have contests for that now?)

11. What is your mom really good at? sewing

12. What is your mom not good at? doing legos

13. What does your mom do for a job? takes care of us

14. What is your mom's favorite food? casserole (huh?)

15. What makes you proud of your mom? playing with me

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Scott on the Imagination Movers

17. What do you and your mom do together? go shopping and buy Ethan a birthday present

18. How are you and your mom the same? same eyes

19. How are you and your mom different? lots of things, you have long hair and I have short hair

20. How do you know your mom loves you? she takes care of me and doesn't go to work

21. What does your mom like most about your dad? when he spends time with you talking

22. Where is Mom's favorite place to go? Joann's - I hate that store!!

I had so much fun doing this. It was great to see how my children see me! I was impressed that Aaron saw me staying home with him as a sign of love. It is, but I had no idea he felt that way already! And what's up with my kids idea of my favorite foods? Apples and casserole? Do they not know what chocolate is??? I also realized while putting this together that I need more pictures of Aaron. The recent ones I have of him are not good!

The Time Has Come

I didn't realize it would be quite that fat. I've read bigger books before, but not with five kids all running around and trying to school and stuff like that. But, I finished P&P this morning and now the fun begins.

Look at my sweet baby girl with her grandpa. Isn't she cute. Everybody all at once, ready? "AAAHHHHHHHHH!!" Thank you.