The Five

More of Deacon

About 20 times a day I hear, "Mama, I was wondering..."

Deacon is always wondering about something.

Here is some of what has been on his mind:

This afternoon he was carrying Everyn around the kitchen.  He told her that she was "fiesty".  Then he started singing to her "You are a fiesty little baby.  Fiesty, fiesty, fiesty...etc...etc".  This goes on for a few minutes and suddenly he stops and says, "what does fiesty mean, anyway?"

A little bit later Lincoln (being silly- he enjoys asking questions he already knows the answer to) said, "what does 'cup' mean?"  Deacon answered him and then asked me, "what does cup mean EXACTLY?  Is it just something that you drink out of?  Or is there more than that?"  I explained that we drink out of a cup, but reminded him that the word "cup" also stands for the standard measurement of a "cup" that is a specific amount of volume.  He listens to the whole explanation and says, "so what you are saying is that "cup" comes from an old German word?"  WHAT?

"no Deacon, that is not what I said."

"well, I know that a lot of our words come from other languages and there are meanings behind our words".

Maybe I need to speak more clearly?  Or something...

A couple of minutes later he asks, "Mama, I was wondering where do Quesadillas come from?  You know how Pizza comes from France?  Well, I was just wondering about quesadillas."

"Deke, Pizza is Italian.  Quesadillas are from Mexico."

"Oh".

Later on he was babysitting Berean and reading her some books.  After he finished he came and found me and said, "she sure is a hard one to read books to.  She turns all the pages and won't let me do it and then she makes remarks about every page."

Remarks about every page.

Awesome.

I don't Need Much...

My weekend goals:

1. Long run: 8-10 miles
2. Host a gathering in a semi-clean house/yard
3. Plan and execute awesome scavenger hunt for the boys
4. Get everyone to the early service on time
5. Actually keep everyone quiet during church so that I can hear Noah "preach" (he is in charge of the message at the early service at church this week!)
6. Stuff Easter eggs
7. Spend family time reflecting on Easter (if one can reflect with a 8 year olds, 6 year olds, 4 year olds, 2 year olds and  a baby)
8. Softball game!
9. 3 "home date" nights with Noah (we have no babysitters, but home dates are pretty awesome too!)
10. Get a picture of all 5 kids that is frameable
11. Get a picture of Everyn showing off her beautiful smile
12. YMCA x2
13. Return library books on time
14. Hold friend's newborn

It should be a lovely weekend...anyone have any big Easter weekend goals to share?

That is What Girls Like and Other Random Stuff

Life has certainly ramped up to full speed around here.

My 4 day work stretch went well, but now this week I am stuck doing a fatigued catch-up.  Some of it is just because of Easter and some of it is a flurry of yardwork, and some of it is just life stuff that will always be there.

One thing I do know is that we have to stop Lincoln from crawling into our bed about 3am every night.  It is like we have a newborn or something, only the baby is the one that sleeps all night!  Everyn is sleeping from about 8pm until 6:30 to 8:15am ish.  Berean sleeps a solid 12 hours.  Deacon and Roman sleep about 11 hours and Lincoln does too...only he spends half of it in our bed.  I feel bad, but I think it is time for him to spend the whole night in his room, or at least on the floor in our room instead of our bed.

This morning we missed Lincoln's bus.  He was eating his toast and was dressed with shoes on, and I said, "finish up your toast.  We have a few minutes to get you cleaned up before we go out and wait for the bus!"  Lincoln replies, "the bus is here already."  Sure enough, the bus was in front of our house (8 minutes before his pick up time) and by the time I grabbed his backpack and coat it was already gone.

I called the bus company and told them that we had missed the bus, I was driving him to school, but he was going to need a ride home.  I mentioned the fact that the bus was really early.  The lady said, "well, were you aware that his pick up time changed?"  I told her that I had not been informed of that.  Evidently communication of changed pick up time has been a problem, and she apologized for the mix up.

So I packed everyone up and drove him to school.

That is hard.  Next year I will be driving him  to the elementary school for speech, and that is going to be hard too.  Especially since I don't know when his appt is going to be nor do I know how much input I get to have into when it will be scheduled.

Anyway, as we all tromped through the elementary school we were met with a number of "ooohs and ahhs" over the baby from grade school girls.  I smiled at Deacon and said, "Girls like babies.  Remember that."  He gave me a conspiratorial look and responded, "Yep.  Girls like babies, dolls and ponies.  Those are the things that girls like."

Speaking of things that girls like, a friend had posted Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" song on facebook.  I (out of  a vague curiosity) clicked on the link and listened to the song.  Berean was totally into it- all about the Biebs.  Guess we won't be playing anymore of those songs in her presence.

I pulled all the winter coats and stuff today and began the washing process.  I also raked out my garden.  It was made complicated by the fact that my garden rake handle and head separated every other stroke.

One of these days Noah and I have to build a fire and hash some things out- nail down some summer plans. Am I going to join him on a work trip?  Is he going to cut down 3 pine trees or am I (and Deacon) going to have to do it? (joke, joke, Noah. Don't freak out).  How many extracurricular activities are we signing the boys up for this summer?  Where can we put a basketball court?  Strawberries?  Where are we moving the raspberries?  Should we buy another lot?  How about an addition?  Lasik surgery?  Should I dye my hair blond or brown? When is he planning on getting his tattoo?  How dressed up should we make the boys get on Easter? And what in the world should we eat for Easter?

Deep breath.

Can you see we need a fire?  This is some serious stuff we have to talk about.

Berean's New Outfit

And yes...she has started to twirl her hair again...

Everybody Has an Opinion

My Grandpa used to say, "there is more than one way to skin a cat".

Then my mom said it.

And it is true.

So after some experiences lately,

I was going to write a post about it,

but, instead,

I won't.

I am just going to take the phrase to the next generation,

so my kids will also realize that,

there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Everyn