Zander’s Zany Comebacks

I really think that there is something in Sam’s Club that causes my rather boisterous , “all-boy”, young man to loose all his inhibitions. This was his first trip back since the “last incident” in Sam’s club.

We had gone to the party store to buy goodie bag stuffings and paper goods for Saturday’s birthday bash. We ordered a cake. We picked up stuff for tonight’s birthday dinner…..I had Stacia and Zander in a cart and Arielle and Nolan were pushing a cart with food.

A sweet lady ran into me (literally!) and said, “I’m sorry, I was just watching your beautiful children”. I smiled. Zander said, “Are you NUTS?” UGH.



This so reminded me of Jamin’s question to grandpa when he was this age. Dad asked him if he wanted to take a nap and with the same intonation he said, “Grandpa, are you CRAZY?”


I can only pray that Zander matures past this into the man that Jamin has become.

Happy Birthday to Nolan!

Nolan turns seven years old today. Seven – doesn’t that seem like a milestone? To me it seems like he is leaving the “early childhood” phase. He’s very excited about this birthday. I’m praying to be able to make it a special transition for him.

Nolan is working so hard to conquer his speech problems. We are almost at a place where he CAN say most sounds….it’s a matter of slowing down now and saying them in routine speech. This is HUGE. When we left Alaska we were still at about 50% as far as “understandability”. He is also working very hard on his phonics. We’d been told to delay reading for him and we did. Now they are saying that the think his reading program is the big factor in his learning the sounds…because it is forcing him to slow down and concentrate on individual sounds….who knows?

We usually don’t have “friend parties”. It’s been our experience that each child has requested a “friend party” once or twice. For the most part they discover they would rather have a “family party”. We’ve got the “family party” routine well-honed. Everything came together this year for Nolan to have a “friend party”. 1. We have friends. Friends are not something we take for granted as a military family. In any given year you may be the new kid on the block or your best buddy may move the week before your birthday. You never know…so on a year when you have friends; it’s best to go for it. 2. Mike is insanely busy this week – the week before the ORI and so our typical “family party” – a whole day of celebrations will be “off” anyway. 3. Zander’s birthday falls on Saturday and so the boys can easily have a big combo party. 4. Narnia fever is big in our house and we are dying for a Narnia Party – what a great opportunity to have a birthday party as well. {g}

I’ve taken time to prepare him that since he is having a party this will be different than other years. We had planned to do family gifts today but I’m not sure if Mike will be home in time. We will have some decorations (thanks BreAnne), we’ll sing, we’ll have ice-cream and have our blessing circle….but the cake and such will be on Saturday. I think he’s prepared for this.

Children’s birthday’s are always a time of reflection for me. I can remember clearly being told that it was highly unlikely I’d carry babies to term….and here I am the mother of many. I remember clearly the day I told God he was “enough” and I’d make a choice to be content with no children….and soon after BreAnne entered our life….Nolan - our 4th son….7th child….turns 7 today. Yippee!

Tuesday – Night –

Health Update! Thanks for your prayers. Nolan seems fine, though he does have a hoarse sounding voice. Zander is fine as near as I can tell. Josiah sounds very froggy but insists he feels “pretty good”. I feel better…just a lingering head ache. Please add BreAnne to your prayer list. She and Krista are on “Feb Tour” with Master’s Commission. In addition to the typical prayers we’d ask for, I talked with Bre’s host mom and she said that Bre was coming down with a cold when she left. Yuck!

After speech today, Jamin, Jared, Arielle, Stacia and I went out to take care of birthday business. We have three birthdays this week and an anniversary next week. We bought lots of gifts….chuckled when the cashier said it looked like Christmas all over. I explained that it was for 3 boys’ birthdays and that we spend very little at Christmas – choosing to celebrate Jesus at Christmas and the children on their birthday.

We stopped by “The Reproduction Center” – I kid you not – THAT’S the name! I took in a chart called “Our Family's 24 Ways”, 3 big Narnia posters and 4 little Narnia posters to be laminated. They turned out great; thanks for the posters, Mom. I’ll use them to decorate for the party on Saturday and then do something else with them. Tomorrow I need to go buy “things” for the party.

Hmmm…what else did we do today…school. OH – Bible Study. Stacia and I stopped and went to dinner with Mike and another chaplain. We’re not seeing Mike this week and probably won’t next week either. BUT ORI will come and go….

That’s it for today. What a great set of young men I have around here. I came home after Bible study and the young ones were in their beds. The house was quiet, and clean, the mountain of laundry I left on the couch folded. What a delight to be their Mom. Stacia topped the night off by being QUIET at Bible Study. Arielle cracked me up when I went to put Stacia in bed. She is listening to the story tape the girls made her before they left home and reading a Little House book. Yippee!!!! ONE of my girls seems to be hooked! I figure visiting a few Laura Ingalls sites this summer would clinch it….No pictures to post today…I’ll have to be sure to take some photos tomorrow.

Now off to bed to read a few chapters of one book or another.

Boys are Loosing Faith

My boys are loosing faith with Amazon.com

Last Monday they ordered season 2 of Hogan's Heroes. It was to be delivered between 2 - 4 Feb. It did NOT arrive in time for Family pizza/movie night.

The site shows it hitting Waco on Friday....and it's been scanned twice in OUR TOWN but they still have not delivered them!

Will the make it for NEXT Pizza/movie night? Time will tell...stay tuned....

CHINA HUTCH REVISITED

I finally found the time this evening to get the China down from the top of the closet and place it in my new hutch. Wow…where did I get so much? I’m the lady who maintains “there is no purpose in having dishes you can’t EAT off of”…and yet I have the top part of the hutch full.

Hmmm….on the way to Alaska I drank my first cup of real tea. This led to Heather, my lovely sister-in-law, buying me my first tea pot…which was antique and very pretty but still USEFUL. While in Alaska others gave me tea pots and tea cups. I fell in with a crowd of “foofy types” {smirk} and they contaminated my practical soul. Then I made zillions of tea services for the first Mother/Daughter tea…which led to several new styles of tea pots migrating to my home. I was also introduced to Polish Pottery in Alaska…and the kids gave me several pieces.

I began to dream of finding a set of 8 matching salad plates and tea cups for little gatherings of new friends. I’m cheap…incredibly cheap. I scoured second hand stores and dreamed. I never expected to buy a whole set of China. We arrived in West Texas. Who would GUESS that this is some sort of haven for antique dealers? Really…seriously…Corinna, I think you need to stop by here on your way to wherever your next assignment turns out to be. I found a set of Rosenthal China….an estate sale. The dear lady had brought her china over from Germany – pre War. Pretty. Expensive…or so I thought…but a set of 10 plates and 12 of EVERYTHING else, platters, tea service etc. I did an internet search. The whole thing was being sold for less than two pieces were worth. I put it on lay away. It came home in boxes and I’ve not looked at it…I was still saving for a China Hutch. The box said “78 piece Rosenthal China”. Mike wondered if I’d inventoried it when I brought it home. Nah – who would cheat ME? Tonight I put it all out on the table and there are 90 matching pieces!

I am SURE there is an ART to displaying such pretties. I need Jill to come over and HELP ME! BUT …it’s all IN the hutch. That is how I who maintain that “nothing in this house is as important as the toddler” and “there is no purpose in having dishes you can’t EAT off of” have a hutch full of said dishes…..

Monday – AGAIN with the MONDAY THING????

It comes every week, doesn’t it?

Today I woke up encouraged that Nolan didn’t have a fever, had NO VOICE but wasn't complaining of any pain. I took that as a double blessing….feeling better and silent.

Then Zander threw up. If he is truly sick he is the most energetic sick person I’ve ever seen. He has run non-stop all day. I finally let him outside this afternoon. He has no fever, hasn’t gotten ill again, and isn’t complaining of any aches or pains. Thanks for the prayers, ya’ all.

We were invited to the park this afternoon but I wanted to keep the boys home…I thought maybe Josiah could take Arielle and Jared over to visit with their friends. Josiah mentioned that he had a headache and felt nauseated – as do I; we all stayed home.

We are studying the Crimean War and Florence Nightingale this week. The older boys are reading Tom Sawyer and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. When I make it to the library Jared will be reading The Slave Dancer. The younger ones asked me to “please, please, PLEASE mother dearest” (yes – girls THEY DID! {G}) read them the next Little House book. We are reading On the Banks of Plum Creek. (So it hasn't got a thing to do with the Crimean War (this week) or the Civil War (next three weeks) but it fit into the Western Expansion and we sort of got stuck. We'll stay stuck there until our OR trail trip, I think, and progress ahead as well. I had found some great picture book type biographies of Laura Ingalls Wilder at the library to read to them too. Of course, we’re now thinking when we drive the OR trail we’ll need to stop off and briefly trace the Ingalls migration, as well as the Pony Express route, and maybe the Santa Fe Trail….maybe we could drive down through the north – go visit the CA Gold Rush camps and drive back through the southern trail…we’ll see.

Mike came home, ate dinner, ironed a fresh uniform and went back to work. The ORI is coming, the ORI is coming…..

I plan to finish up this week’s Bible study, read another chapter in my “serious” book and then several more chapters in the next Penn Dutch Inn book. Tomorrow is bound to be a more energetic day around here….except, dare I admit, I was hoping that being sick might slow Zander down a day or two.

Prayer Update!

Nolan is out of bed. His fever is down, he says he feels "ok". His voice is still gone.

Zander just threw up.

I'm doing wash, school and trying to figure out how to get birthday shopping and prep done.