Messy, messy

April 28, 2015April 28, 2015 ~ alliehowell9 ~ Leave a comment

I know I have not written in a while. I have not forgot, I have just been busy. The mundane, not fun type of busy. But here I am to share a couple of cute things.

First of all, we went to the Randol’s church on Sunday to see Shauna get baptized. While we were there, Cory asked me, “What are we doing here again?” I told him we were going to watch Shauna get baptized. He thought about that and said, “Oh, J’onn’s girlfriend?” “Yeah, that’s the one,” although Adrian might have something to say about that, I thought. While we were there, our friends La Rae and Rhino (Russ, he’s just as big as a rhino) were sitting behind us (their son, Adrian’s friend, Ethan, was also baptized that morning). He gave the boys knuckles then pretended it hurt because they are so strong. Cory turned and whispered to me, “It’s because I used my super strength.”

Today, Papa & Gramma are taking Cory birthday shopping. The timing is great because the new Avengers movie comes out on Friday, so they toy selection is right up Cory’s alley. He came into my room at 6 this morning and said, “Mom, I’m dressed!” I smiled and patted the bed next to me. He came in and lay down. It’s been 2 1/2 hours now and he’s still asleep. Regarding Cory having lay down:

Lay vs. Lie Chart

Infinitive Definition Present Past Past Participle Present Participle

to lay to put or place lay(s) laid laid laying
something down

to lie to rest or recline lie(s) lay lain lying

– See more at: http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/lay-vs-lie#sthash.D38eu3Pf.dpuf

This always messes me up.

So to the messy part of this post. Eva is so cute. I know, I’m biased. But she is a ball of sunshine most of the time and so much fun. She also learned to say “Mess, mess.” a few months ago. But now, she enjoys it. Yesterday she took a water spray bottle and while spraying said “Mess, mess.” Today, she knocked books off a shelf, all while saying “Mess, mess.” She took a pile of her folded laundry and started putting it ALL on her head (but the pants didn’t work so she just threw those). While she was having this enormously good time, she was chanting, “Mess. mess.” Which I guess is better than the other phrase she picked up on: “Bad no-no.”

We have “No-no’s, the more serious “That is a NO,” then we have the ouchie causing, breakable, or gigantic mess “Bad No-no”s. Eva prefers to say the last one with a growl. She will come in the room and growl “Bad No-no.” It is at that point I have to get up and go find out what she got into.

So while it is a game right now, I think I prefer Mess, mess to Bad No-no!

“The Idiot Box”

April 4, 2015April 28, 2015 ~ alliehowell9 ~ Leave a comment

So my kids were never allowed to watch SpongeBob Squarepants until Tristan was sick. Sometimes, while in the hospital, there was just nothing on TV, and Tristan started enjoying SpongeBob. Since then, all my kids (and I) have continued to enjoy SpongeBob. Yes, I know it’s supposed to make you dumber, but we are just as dumb now as we were prior to life with a little SpongeBob (I know that will be hard for some people to swallow!). Anyway, the episode I would like to discuss is called Idiot Box. In this episode SpongeBob and Patrick are playing in a large box. Using their imaginations, they are having a great time. Squidward, the Negative Nancy that he is, cannot figure out how they are making this box work. He doesn’t believe it is powered by their imagination. It kills him. With that said, Hailey, Adrian & Tristan are my SpongeBobs and Patricks, and Clara, Presley, J’onn & Cory are my Squidwards. The oldest three were always outside playing made up games. They used props, but they could catch fish in the sand or play pirates for hours. My younger set of children? Well, this is what they do when we “make” them play outside:

Yup. They take turns at the door. They’ll knock, kick, or just stand and stare. It is amazing. They don’t even understand the idea behind “using your imagination.” For example, on the way to Gramma’s house to dye Easter eggs today, as Hailey and I were discussing their similarities to Idiot Box, Clara said she’d use her imagination to dye eggs while dying them. I offered to let her stay in the van and use her imagination to dye them while we went inside to actually dye them. “Ohhhh.” I think she got it. Since it is a beautiful spring day, I have kicked the boys outside. The only reprieve the girls have is that they have to finish their chores first. Maybe I should get them a big box. Then they could all stand around outside of it wondering how it works. At least they wouldn’t be kicking the door.

P.S. Here is my list of my favorite SpongeBob Episodes:

Krusty Towers (with cheese-my all time favorite- I LOVE IT!)

Shanghaied (Keep going, you’re good, you’re good! Don’t worry, Captian, we’ll buff out those scratches!)

The Camping Episode (Good thing we’re all wearing our anti-sea-rhinoceros undergarments!)

The Algae’s Always Greener (Goodbye everyone, I’ll remember you all in therapy!)

20,000 Patties Under the Sea (Hey, you can’t talk to my grandson like that. Someone oughta put you in a mental hospital. [Plankton] Someone should put you in a box floating down the river, Grandma! You’re probably right. – Ok, it is really funny in context!)

Dying for Pie (Sunsets always remind me of bowls of fruit. What do they make you think of, Squidward? Explosions… I mean, erosion.)

Krusty Krab Training Video (Probably due to all my years at McDonald’s)

F.U.N. ~~(F is for friends who do stuff together, U~~ ~~is for you & me, N is for~~ ~~anywhere, any time at all, down here in the~~ ~~deep blue sea~~. F is for fire that burns down the whole town! U is for uranium- bomb! N is for no survivors…!)

Single Cell Anniversary (Oh my Karen, Oh my Karen. Oh my computer wife Karen.)

Your Shoe’s Untied (Like bunny ears or a Christmas bow, lace ’em up and you’re ready to go!)

Have You Seen This Snail? ( Gary, I’m sorry I neglected you. Oh, I never expected you to run away and leave me feeling this empty. Your meow right now would sound like music to me!) To be fair, I have not seen many of the newer ones, I bet there are some good ones out there!

P.P.S.- Again, for the anti-SpongeBob crowd, J’onn loves SpongeBob the most AND he has the most active imagination of the youngest ones (he just doesn’t like to play outside) so I can’t blame Spongebob for sucking their imaginations out!!!

Happy Birthday, Clara!

April 4, 2015June 11, 2015 ~ alliehowell9 ~ Leave a comment

Well, today is Passover- thank you Jesus for being our Passover Lamb! This year it is also Clara’s 12th birthday! She’s at her friend, Hannah’s birthday party though. She’s having a French themed party next weekend. This will include the transformation of our living room into a French Cafe, watching Sabrina, eating a French meal, and learning a mime drama with her friends to show the parents in the morning. I am ready for that to be over.

Emma and Zoe came over for a few hours today (they are easy to have over, they are both 4 months older than Clara & Presley). During this time, J’onn made a mess of his toys in his room. I asked him why he piled a bunch of toys up in his doorway, and he replied: “Adrian doesn’t like it when the girls go in his room so I made a barricade!”

I thought that was very sweet, since Adrian has been gone a week now at ALERT. I was so relieved to find a couple of pictures of him online on Tuesday, finally knowing he actually made it all the way there. They also posted the Prayer Calendar for Unit 53 (Adrian is in Alpha 1st Squad). Here is the link so you can see all 50 young men in this Unit, and you can pray for them:

http://www.alertacademy.com/alert/pdf/prayercalendars/unit-53-prayer-booklet.pdf

I am super proud of him and so glad he is there. I know it will be so great for him and he will thrive, but my Mommy Heart is so sad! He’s been on vacation longer than this and I never missed him like I do now! In my emails and letters to him I have to be careful. I want to write all the Mommy things down: Are you brushing your teeth? Taking your meds? Doing laundry? Do you click with anybody yet? How is your Squad?… But I have refrained. Him going is partly about the separation he needs to take all those things on himself. And I am realizing that if he was here I’d probably never let him take them all on.

I’m just glad they’ll make him write home once a week. Both Hailey and I have written and told him we need details! I can see it now- “Hi family. Doing great. Food sucks. Tired. Gotta go. Love, Adrian.” Not gonna fly!!!!

In the wake of Adrian leaving, we’ve had to rearrange all the chores. Hailey has very few- just once a week type stuff. But in order to pick up the slack, Clara, Presley, J’onn, Cory & I have all added things to our daily routines. This is going…well it’s just going. Hopefully the kids get used to it soon, and I find the extra energy daily for the tasks I have taken up in Adrian’s stead.

Well, it is 7:17 pm and I am going to take a nap until 10 when I have to go pick Clara up. Twelve years old. Hard to believe. As in, hard to believe I’m that old!

Birthday girl!