Dr. Seuss Week

In honour of the role he has played in my and my children's lives, we are celebrating the birthday of Theodore Geisel on Friday, March 2nd, with Seuss Week!
On Monday, we read the very first of Dr. Seuss' children's books, And To Think That I saw it on Mulberry Street. He had to write that story, because he was driving his wife crazy with muttering this rhyme over and over again to himself as they sailed home from Europe in 1937: And that is a story that no one can beat, And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street...
Mr. Geisel had a very hard time getting that dear book published, but we are so glad he did. All 4 of my readers, cut their teeth on Dr. Seuss beginner books, as their father and I did before them. My littlest 2 are well on their way with a love of verse and being read to. Three year old Zed is already asking, "What's this word say?" and reciting these well loved rhymes to himself as he 'reads'. What a blessing to our home!
For the rest of our Monday, we also read Oh the Places You'll Go and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. The kids made lovely pastel drawings of their own crazy things that they saw on our street!


Tuesday was our celebration of The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. I doubt there are many parents out there who couldn't recite both of those books from memory and maybe cringe just a little when their small ones appear with those books in hand. We read the stories, listened to them on the iTouch and even had a special dinner to celebrate these favourites. The Sneetches and Mr. Brown Can Moo also made the list yesterday, our toddlers love Mr. Brown!

Our meal was inspired by this Pinterest post.

22/366

Today was pink and slow.

The kids and Brent are entering the Valentine's day Hair Massacure, to help kids with cancer and their families. The first step in this process was to dye everyone's hair pink. Even Zed did it, we only let Girly do one pink foil though. On the second day of February, they will all have their heads shaved. We are asking friends and family to donate on our page and hopefully the kids will have a bit of empathy with kids who lose their hair due to their treatments.
Unfortunately, I chickened out and am not getting my head shaved this year. And Girly isn't either, but the 4 big boys all pinked their hair and will be bald soon.

9/366

The kids have been playing outside in the front yard because the back is completely covered in ice. Today Dr. J was climbing the tree and throwing down the berries to Girly and Zed.
The preschooler has added wetting his pants to the screaming. Recently, he has gotten in the habit of holding his pee until the last second, where he is running around, screaming like his hair is on fire, before finally consenting to use the bathroom. Today, apparently, he has given up trying to use the toilet and just let it go in his pants. sigh. I took to rewarding him, with the gum he has been screaming for, when he finally peed on the toilet.
We started our schooling back up this week, the big guys did their online stuff last week, but I did math, LA, Bible and History with the younger kids today. It was nice to feel like we accomplished something.
The Boy had guitar lessons today and Brent received his certificate for the adult educator course he took before Christmas. Oh! And it is football registration for Superboy again tonight. phew!

8/366

So warm for January!
Today was a total fail for me. We made it to church, 15 minutes late, and that was the very best part of the day. I have a preschooler who has been whining continually for days and he just keeps yelling the same thing over and over again at me and I am pretty done. I guess I have a new parenting challenge to figure out.

6/366

My gorgeous girl, in her leopard 'skin' coat, with her baby snow leopard. And the too small hat I crocheted. In the gorgeous winter afternoon sun, on this 0 degree day.

5/366

We are forever freaking out because someone has left the bathroom door open and baby Sunshine loves to play in the toilet. Tonight at bedtime, we were racing around looking for him, found the door open and were despairing of the mess we expected to find. That is until we found him sitting in the tub in the dark. Waiting for a bath.

4/366

"My Hockey Shirt!" "Is today a game day, Momma?"
Nana got this jersey for him for Christmas, best reaction ever, he was so excited.

3/366

Baby Sunshine has decided that his favourite breakfast is MiniWheats with milk. The cutest part is when he drinks the milk out of the bowl. (I actually gave him a little portion of seconds so that I could catch him on camera after I saw him do this.)

2/366

My long forgotten Santa's village was brought out this year. I think it may be time to take down the decorations.

1/366

Zed made a cracker man at supper. I thought it was brilliant! We had a lovely day with special friends, visiting to celebrate the new year and Dr. J's birthday. With lots of snacks.

The Real Mighty's

I absolutely can't wait to print the last 5 of these goofy, photobooth canvases I did of our family. I made the kids pose for some silly shots and then put the photos into 8" x 20" rectangular canvases at MamasMemories.ca. When I finally get my hallway painted, these are going on the wall as you go up the stairs. I found the inspiration for these on Pinterest, one of my visual obsessions! These are 3 separate canvases of my middle kids.

Explosions.

Zed has had a language explosion in the last month or two. He has always spoken a lot, but he has had a very hard time making himself understood. I had to try really hard and I only got maybe half of what he was trying to say. I can't imagine how frustrating the last year or two has been for him. He has always been extremely verbal; he could use pronouns correctly before he was two; he could also construct complex sentences.

Finally, we can understand most of what he is saying. Sometimes it takes a little guessing, but he is doing so much better. And the things he has to say are pretty insightful and incredible. "Mama, what 'be careful' mean?" "Okay, I see..." he says when he gets his answers. So cute.

The one sad spot for me in his newfound verbal growth is that he has started calling me, "Mo-ee," (mommy) instead of my beloved, "Mama." Mama is by far, my favourite name.

Zed is also showing great interest in the written word. He knows a number of letters and what words or sounds they stand for. P is for Papa was his favourite. Then E is for Eppy, which is what he calls himself.
He now points to words that he finds and asks me, "Mama, what this word say?" and then I have to read it to him. He will sit with me and a book and point to the words and 'read' them. Or I will read and point and he will read along out loud, pointing as he goes. I have a feeling that he will be another early reader.

Baby Sunshine is also having a language explosion. He, at 1, already has a lot of words. He has names for all of us, plus he says 'brother'. He says hi and ball, up, asks 'what dat?', says wah wah (water), bo-uh (for cup or water bottle), and lots of other things that escape me at the moment. Apparently, he is continuing his trend of trying to keep up with his older siblings; sort of like when he walked by nine months. His favourite word is Be-uh, which is what he calls his big sister. She is the highlight of his life, the apple of his eye. She is his little momma and plays with him and caretakes him.

This week, we had a rash of tooth loss. Teeth were popping out all over the place. Dr. J is officially toothless. He has one giant front tooth and 4 missing around it. I do not know how he eats! Girly also lost 2 teeth. Our hapless and inept tooth fairy is officially broke. (inept because she is continually missing appointments and leaving teeth behind...)


Life with 6 children is full of explosions. Excitement and noise and messes and is often so fast-paced that you can get lost in the hectic pace and forget to be still in the eye of the hurricane and record, remember, have gratitude, be present and enjoy. Over the Christmas season, I want to be really deliberate in these things and let go of expectations and shoulds so that I can count it joy with my family. Part of that journey this year is celebrating Advent and doing a Jesse tree with my kids. This is the study we are using, it is technically missing a few days as advent is at its longest this year, but it will work for us.

Hope you are enjoying this time of preparation as we await the celebration of our most precious gift.

This week with the MMM's

Today is good. We are on the uphill after a wobbly week. My four little people started getting sick ten days ago, but they are finally getting better. I only have one humidifier going tonight and I didn't have to give any meds at bedtime!

Poor baby Sunshine ended up in the hospital very early Monday morning after a night of not sleeping and labouring to breathe. He had a particularily nasty case of croup, but after 3 treatments of inhaled epinephrine, two steroids and getting his oxygen sats up to 95% he was ready to go home. He was breathing much easier, though he still had some stridor until Tuesday.

None of us did much sleeping in the last week and a half, but after two straight nights of everyone sleeping all night, we are doing much better.

In other, more positive news, my two teenaged sons were involved in a youth drama production at our Church on Sunday. They have been working very hard for the past month and they did an excellent job. I was a little shocked at the powerful message portrayed in the play and how well the group did it. I cried like a baby during the first show. And laughed a lot too. The boys had told us some of the goofy scenes they were in, but until watching, the real message hadn't really sunk in. In one scene, one of the boys gives up his life for the other. Hard for momma to watch. But really good. When it is up on the Church website, I will post the link.

It finally snowed here on Monday, the roads were nutty, but things have settled now. My lovely husband went and got groceries and diapers for us, so I wouldn't have to.

Oh! and Zed started potty learning this week. He was doing fantastic, including doing all his number 2's on the toilet until tonight, when he did 2 of them in his underwear. Not sure what happened there, but tomorrow is a new day. He has actually been taking himself to the potty since January or so, but every time we would put underwear on him, he would piddle. And his siblings were not comfortable with him running bare bum all day!  So I just left it, until he was ready, which he seems to be now.

Finally and happily, my husband is working on my kitchen this week. I full expect to have an entire wall of pantry and my wall oven/microwave combo completed this week. They the difficult stuff starts, the ripping out of the entire old kitchen and install of the new. I am hoping for my kitchen to be done by Christmas... I guess we will see. I think this whole thing started in 2007, maybe even 2006!

Lots going on in our family at any given time. I am so thankful that we are all together and that we have so many awesome opportunities.

Broken Wing

Last year, my second son, Superboy, discovered football. More importantly, he discovered that football is his passion and that it allowed him to grow more into who he is. I love my boy as a footballer, he is just so much happier and content. Even when they were losing, he was just jazzed to be a part of it all.
Yesterday was probably the hardest day in his football career. All was excitement as they got on the bus for their trip to the first game of the season. Dad is coaching this year, so he was there too. Their team then won a decisive victory against their rivals. 5 touchdowns! The first one of the game, with a huge run, was scored by Superboy's backup.
Remember, Superboy broke his arm 2 weeks ago in practice. He couldn't play. He couldn't help his team to victory. He couldn't have his taste of that delicious pie.
Now don't get me wrong. That kid has been at every practice, helping his team with his great understanding and eye for the game. He sat on the sidelines, being eyes for his coaches during this game. Being his teams biggest cheerleader. Encouraging his teammates, patting their backs after a tough play and screaming at the top of his lungs at the great ones. No one was happier to see their team win than my boy.
But he truly felt the sting of not being part of it all. Not running that touchdown in himself. Who wouldn't want to be that guy?
He had a pretty rough rest of his day. I saw the tears welling in his eyes more than once. My heart broke for him, I ached to trade him my good arm for his broken wing. I am worried about him, about depression setting in. I just pray that he turns to God to sustain him and that God heals him quickly so that he can get back to his love. I love my footballer, but I am so very proud of my boy who can't play. That team couldn't ask for a better support than him. He has really shown the kind of man that he is. And I couldn't be more proud.

What a Week!

Well, first off, The Boy is home safe from his mission's trip. More on that tomorrow.

My original plan for the past week was to have previously got everyone ready to move out for a couple weeks, to have organized and decluttered the house and garage and to have packed up my kitchen. Then the littles and I would leave for Grande Prairie after dropping The Boy off at the airport.
The actuality was that I didn't get anything on my list done except packing The Boy up and a lot of laundry done. When I got home from my 4 am drop-off at the airport and dropped dead asleep in my bed for a bit. I tried to pretend to stay asleep as the kids crawled on my head and asked me repeatedly when we could go to GP.
Then we got up, did some laundry, I packed and loaded the van, buckled the kids and I fed them. I think it was about 2pm by the time we finally left town.
The kids travelled really well, after only 2 stops and under 6 hours, we were in GP and at Nana's house, visiting with my sister and niece. The best friends/cousins were so happy to be together finally! The next day we packed up again and were on the road first thing in the morning to go to our hometown in Northern BC for my Dad's 60th birthday party. Only a 2.5 hour drive each way...
We had a fantastic time there, visiting with my 3 sisters, our extended family, meeting new cousins, eating and remembering. I just wished we had planned on staying there longer, like maybe overnight. There was so much that I wanted to show my kids, the places we used to hang out when we were young and I felt like I barely got to see my Dad at all. Next time we will have to do that.
Tuesday we spent at my Mom's, mostly just us, but my sister did come by and spend the evening with us and my Mom. That evening I got a phone call that I thought was a joke.
My husband was on the phone, it was after football practice and I expected to hear from him then. I could hear Superboy in the background and he was making a fair amout of noise, I assumed he and his Dad were fooling around. Then Brent tells me that Superboy broke his arm. "Whatever", I said, "Don't joke around like that!" Superboy's strange sounds are louder now. I realize he is moaning and hear some choked back sobs. So I waver. Normally, my Superboy doesn't have much reaction to pain, he had a very high tolerance for it. I was sure that he was putting on a show to reinforce his Dad's tale. But maybe, just maybe he really was in a lot of pain.
So then I was trying not to cry, my Mom caught my eye, so I quickly reassured her that Superboy broke his arm and not that something bad has happened to my older son in Mexico.
My husband reassured me, he was taking Superboy to the hospital, they will take good care of him. And they did. His arm was visibly broken. They got him in right away, did x-rays, set his arm, casted and x-rayed again. He was on his way home again within 2 hours. I was so sad to not be there holding his hand. Especially when they drugged him and set his arm. My husband insisted on explaining to me how the nurses held his shoulder and the doctor hung off the bed on the end of Superboy's arm.
To be honest, I am glad that I wasn't there for that. It is so awful that they give the kids an amnesia drug so they don't remember the pain that was so intense it woke my boy from his sedation. I hated hearing about the drugs' effects on my boy too. He was confused and my heart hurt for him.
So, when I went to GP, I was supposed to be there for a week or two and work was supposed to be done on my kitchen. I had cut my time away to one week, because it was evident, because of my husband's job, that the kitchen was not getting demo-ed. After the broken arm, I felt that I should be home with my hurt boy, but my husband and I decided that he would take the next day off and I would stay and rest in GP for a day before driving again. The kids and I were all sick of being on the highway!
Thursday came and we were back home, after almost 18 hours of driving in 5 days, the littles bugging their big brother and happy to be home. And though I love being with my family, I was glad to be home too, much easier to take care of 2 toddlers when you are in your own space. Especially now that they are all sick. And so am I. But it is okay, we are all home and safe. Together.