I like to move it, move it

After seeing Kung Fu Panda at the movies this summer, Joel and James have been singing "I like to move it, move it". I didn't see the movie with them and didn't know that the song was in the movie. Then about two weeks after seeing it, Joel breaks out singing "I like to MOVE it, MOVE it", just like a pro.

Daddy in the dust...

So I was reading my sister's blog. I miss her so much.....yes, I'm crying right now! Does that mean I'm sensitive? I feel like I get left in the dust sometimes. My job is to be out making a living. That's my job. I go and dutifully "bring home the bacon", and I miss everything. That means one of two things or a combination of the two. I feel the sorrow and longing that comes from missing those special moments in the life of my young little family, and I get in trouble for not knowing what is really going on and "just making things harder" by trying to insert myself into the family life when I come home from bringing home the afore-mentioned bacon. Yeah, I can see the knot growing in the manly stomachs reading this right now; and I hear your unspoken words. "What is he doing?!?! Nobody was supposed to talk about that!" or maybe "I would have never said it, I'm sure glad someone got it out in the open."
Ladies, I'm sorry for this sudden window into the fatherly male mind. You have your own deep struggles.(We do appreciate them. We just have no idea how to help you with them. It just keeps changing.......constantly!!) Men have struggles too. Oh yeah, those meat-headed guys that seemingly should have no problems. "All they have to do is leave us ladies with all the responsibility of house and home and raising children, go to their "work", come home late and collapse on the couch. Do they have any idea how hard it was while they were gone? Do they even begin to comprehend the stress I've been under all day?" No. We do not understand it all. I think I can safely speak for all of us. But we do appreciate it. God bless you!! That's why we married you. That's why we love you. You are amazing!! Can I get an "AMEN"? Can I get a "HALLELUJAH"?!?!
I feel like I'm left in the dust. Ferdinand learned to read 2 new words today. Flitterwallet is swinging all by himself in the big rope swing and goes potty all by himself. Fancy Pants can crawl across the room and he cut a new tooth today. Who knows whether I will see his first step or not. Now what do I do? Everything happened while I was gone. The only thing I have to offer is bacon. Bacon seems a poor payment for everything that happened while I was gone. Reading my sister's blog brought that to the front of my mind. Some of the crazy things that happen at her house with her 3 kids and the things that happen at my house with my 3 kids are quite simply priceless. What I would give too see them or be a part of them!! I never will. They are already gone....
It's hard to miss it all and read about it later on an Internet blog. I miss my mother and my father and my sister and her husband and precious children and my brother and his lovely new bride and my wife and my own 3 beautiful treasures. It's hard to miss it all. Keep blogging ladies. It's good to read about it. You are doing a great job.

~King Arthur~

Perfection vs. Excellence

My epiphany of the week:

I may not be capable of acquiring perfection, but I may acquire excellence in what I do.

And the Glory, the Glory of the Lord...

... is the song in the background. I think this may be as close as I'll get to capturing James' dramatic singing face. It's not nearly as animated as when he is when he's not on camera.

I'll do what I can

There really are so many things to write and record that it is overwhelming. Lots of things are not appropriate to post, some are essential to post, and there is a large area in between. But what it comes down to is posting what I remember when I remember it. It is not the most precise science. I really hate it, but it is the nature of life as I know it right now. Jason says that if I do my best, it is good enough. The question is: am I doing my best? Sometimes I do; I hope it is most times. But I know that I do not always do my best. I have a quote by Mary Anne Radmacher that is magnetized to my refrigerator. It was a gift from Queen Shenayay. It says, "Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow'". For me, occasionally, it is in the morning saying, "I will try again today". Sometimes there is very little courage in me, and on those days I feel like a failure. "Does the road wind uphill all the way?" asks Christina Rosetti's poem, and the answer is, "Yes, to the very end." Or as GG says, "Life's hard, and then you die". It's true.

...BUT...

I'll do what I can. What I can do is my best. What I can do is try again tomorrow. What I can do is choose to be happy even though I haven't had a shower in three days, and my teeth haven't been brushed since ...?..., and even though I don't want to cook supper, and even though I am sick and tired of all my clothes, and even though Jason has the car today and I could really just stand to get out of the house, and the floor is dirty and the ironing is piling up. I CAN choose to be happy. Because God has given me so much. A wonderful husband, three great kids who are beautiful and healthy. And countless other things. I'll do what I can because I must - and I want to! "To whom much is given, much shall be required". I might as well do what I can because it will be required of me whether I like it or not.

Mother's Talent

Today at church I was able to get Jack to fall asleep. Yea! I walked back (up, actually) to our pew to sit down with everyone else. Now, if we had a family of girls, everyone would scoot down and whisper to each other to "make room". But we have a family of boys. Plus, cousin JL was sitting with us. They look up at me, then look down, down, down the pew and pat and point at a place right smack dab in the middle of the pew. So I climbed over our two big boys, Jason and JL in my heels with a sleeping baby and he actually stayed alseep and I actually didn't make a fool of myself, either. I actually got a compliment on my success.

No Pressure

To some of you this blogging thing is new. Once you have been blogging for two years, like I have, it will just become something else on your to-do list. So please be patient with me until I get around to entertaining you with my posts.

Okay, that was just a little too nasty to leave unended. You must know it was all in good fun. But in this case the scripture has been fulfilled, "Pride cometh before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall". I have been do-gooding and been working like mad to finish James' baby book. I have been pouring over all my old posts of when he was little, when his teeth came in, his first words, what foods he liked, &c. Do you notice something missing? Well it's a pretty big thing. Weight. Height. No where do I find the smallest inkling of it. So where I left off in his baby book at 17 lbs at 3 mos is the last thing I have until 27 lbs at 22 mos. I am absolutely sick and feel like I could throw up. Barf, barf, barf.

Humorous Bits

Today James made two funnies. The first was his realization and relief that the hiccups he had had all day long were finally gone. He said that he, "ate them all up". Later on when I was singing a song to Jack just before his bedtime, James thought that I was singing the wrong words and started shouting, "SINNERS!! SINNERS!!!"

A little game I play with Jack is raising my eyebrows up and down. He thinks it's hilarious and just laughs and laughs. When he looks at me, he almost always looks at my eyebrows first, and if nothing happens he will look in my eyes. My glasses are a little bit of a problem because he wants to touch my eyebrows when they are moving, but my glasses are there and he gets them along with the eyebrows. So the game ends up not being as fun in the end. I need to get contacts so that my kids can see what I actually look like without glasses on. Oh yeah, and play with my eyebrows. ???

Sketch Tuesday 3

This week's assignment: something that comes from an egg. Joel drew a yolk (all by itself), a chick, a turtle, and an alligator. See all the other submissions at Harmony Art Mom's blog.

Stand up, sit down

Jack has begun standing himself up, and sitting himself down. About a week ago he started standing himself up in his crib. Then, of course, he started pulling himself up on all sorts of things as he crawls around. He is so proud of himself when he does it, too. He absolutely shrieks with delight when he stands himself up in his crib. Yesterday he started sitting himself up without any help.

Romanticising Mountains of Laundry

Whenever it is time to change *bed linens* (which happens ne'er too often since our third child was born), James and Joel get very excited. They love to play in the dirty sheets - dirty laundry of any sort, but sheets and pillow cases are best - and have all sorts of adventures. First they pretend it's nighttime, then they build a house or a tent, then it's another imaginary dwelling. Finally laundry is being thrown everywhere, then ending the laundry adventures for that day. But, while they playing amongst the piles I always think of the following poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. The boys may never have the experience of playing in real piles of hay, but dirty laundry will do for now. No, it doesn't smell sweetly, but mice don't dwell in it, either.

The Hayloft

Through all the pleasant meadow-side
The grass grew shoulder-high,
Till the shining scythes went far and wide
And cut it down to dry.

Those green and sweetly smelling crops
They led in waggons home;
And they piled them here in mountain tops
For mountaineers to roam.

Here is Mount Clear, Mount Rusty-Nail,
Mount Eagle and Mount High; -
The mice that in these mountains dwell,
No happier are than I!

Oh, what a joy to clamber there,
Oh, what a place for play,
With the sweet, the dim, the dusty air,
The happy hills of hay!

Sketch Tuesday 2

See Joel's Sketch Tuesday submission here and at Harmony Art Mom's blog! He drew a centipede, a mosquito, a potato, and a flower.

Singing Video

Here are Joel and James and Jason singing "In the Highways" from the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Jack-man

Jack had accomplished much in the last few weeks. He has begun crawling. He does a wonderful camo-style crawling, with occasional on-all-fours spurts. He's everywhere, all the time! I have to now be on the keep-the-floors-clean-and-clear-of-possible-choking-objects campaign. Joel and James have jumped on the band wagon and have been quite cooperative in making sure that Jack doesn't have something he shouldn't. His crawling has allowed him to pull up on things, and sit himself up after he's pulled himself up on his knees. So he isn't just sitting himself up all by himself, but he's getting there. Jack has also started saying "mama", and makes a very impressive motorboat sound. He makes raspberries like nobody's business.

Since our trip to NYC for Aunt Jeana's graduation, where he got spoiled by having two of his favorite things all the time - being outside and people-watching - he wants to be outside all the time. If we walk to the door to lock it or to look outside, or if we're headed outside and I realize I've forgotten something and we turn away from going out the door, he becomes very upset. (In other words, he throws a fit, an 8-month-old fit). He wants to get out in the open.

Sketch Tuesday

Joel is participating in Sketch Tuesday, hosted by Harmony Art Mom. He was supposed to draw something to serve at a picnic. He drew a grilled cheese sandwich. His sketch will be posted on HamonyArt Mom's blog tomorrow, and each week that he participates. Here is his sketch....

They're growing up...

The boys understand why they can't go to the ladies' meeting, but why can't they go to the men's meeting??? "When you grow up, you will get to go," I tell them.... Jason swooped James up to say goodbye and go to the men's meeting this month. He held him way up in the air. James exclaimed, "OH, I GROWED UP!!!!!!!!!"

Music Buffet

James and I were sitting on the bench swing in the front yard the other day, taking a rest from play. The tejano music across the street was blaring as usual. Upon the start of each song, James would nod his head and say, "Yea, that's a good one!" I chuckled and was glad that at least someone in our household could enjoy it.

His apparent taste for tejano music has probably developed as a result of listening to it so much during the last five months. I think it is wonderful that children can develop appreciation for different types of music just by exposing them to it. The boys like everything from baroque and classical music, to country and bluegrass, to tejano music and Michael Jackson. They have absolutely fallen in love with MJ's "Beat It". Weird Al's parady "Eat It" is greatly loved as well. They like it all because we listen to it all, over and over and over again.

I am going to try to get a picture of James "singing" "And the Glory of the Lord" from Handel's Messiah. He lip-syncs and has the most hilarious look on his face. The trick will be to get him to do it for the camera. I have high hopes for all the boys being musical in their own special ways.

Liz

I can't believe I didn't take a picture, but I didn't. Around the beginning of spring Joel caught his first lizard. It was about 5" long, and was green then brown and back and forth quite a bit. He looked like this. Joel actually caught it twice because "Liz", as Joel donned him, got away once. I got a jar (after much begging to please let us keep him) and we held Liz in captivity for the rest of the day. Then Joel decided Liz was probably hungry and he let him go. Ever since, though, he has been on the hunt to catch another lizard.

A lizard exactly like Liz made its way into our house and has been living among us for a few days now. I am really on a mission to catch him and get him out. It's nice to have such an avid hunter around.

Calling all Beatrix Potter Fans

My mother-in-law found this ... and I get to enjoy it with my kids!

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/32581/beatrix-potter-collection-the-world-of-peter-rabbit-and-friends-the/

Shopping

I have never been much of a shopper. Most people who know me very well know this; Jason is quite proud of the things that he has shopped for because I didn't care to or was unable to. Since having children, I do enjoy shopping more than I used to because it is a nice outing. But I still am not what you would call "dedicated". However, one thing I enjoy tremendously is online shopping. In fact, today I found countless beautiful things that I wanted to buy. All on one website. Yea, me. Do YOU think they're pretty? Jason does not care for the painting. At all. He says it looks like something Joel would've done. Maybe that's why I like it so much. I am not revealing all that I found, as I hope to buy some as presents at some point. Don't worry. I won't buy anything that screams "JAMIE". Unless it screams your name, too.