Christmas Time is Here....

Gabriel is a full-fledged kid now. And Carys is running after him.

I've been pretty tired and sick and busy lately and am getting a little behind on Christmas decorations. (At least I got their Christmas pictures made, people will think I'm on top of things!) The other day, we put up our Christmas tree. This was basically Carys' idea. They put one up at school and talked about the one's that were up at home...but ours wasn't up. Of course, the tree looks ridiculous. (the same word Gabriel used for the sweater in the Christmas picture) It is so small compared to our big new space. (Note to self: buy a bigger Christmas tree on sale after the holidays.) But it's there. Of course that's about it. No presents bought, no decorations up... On the way home almost every day Gabriel ask why everyone else gets to put decorations up. "We will soon, Gabe. When we have daylight." The other day we took my mom out for her birthday dinner. On the way, Gabriel said, "Mom, I guess I need to write a letter to Santa so it'll get to the North Pole on time since I haven't seen him yet." OK, talk about guilt. We went to see Santa after dinner. Of course Carys whispered to him from about 5 feet away what she wanted. She wasn't trusting a guy dress in a crazy red suit. That same night, Gabriel dug through the Christmas box and found his stocking. He hung it on the doorknob.

I know what he was thinking.

"Poor Mommy, she really doesn't have this mom thing down yet."

I hope my kids don't remember this...

I'm pregnant. We are excited and can't wait to have another child.

But I do not remember feeling this sick with Gabe and Carys. I had morning (all-day-long) sickness with both of them. But I guess it was easier without kids ( or with just one). I could go home and go to bed and sleep it off. To top it off I got a nasty upper respiratory infection. I thought I would die. For the past 4 weekends all I have done is lay on the couch and sleep. Yes, Gabriel has watched way too much spongebob and Carys had cut up, painted on, glued on way too many things she shouldn't have. I was in survival mode.

Usually before Halloween we go to a couple fall festivals, go on a hay ride, pick out costumes, go to the corn maize, carve pumpkins... Not this year. We have now seen every episode of spongebob, I believe. (I think it's on 20 out of 24 hours a day!!!)

Eddie went to Kroger and picked out a couple of costumes. A wizard and a bee. He's also been really good about cooking us Raman noodles and frozen pizzas.

But that's the great thing about kids. They didn't care. They loved sitting around making up their own fun. They don't know what they missed. I heard no complaining about not doing anything. But I did get to see Gabe and Carys dump out a bunch of boxes of clothes in their room and make a train!

And Gabe can quote spongebob better than any other almost 5 year old I know.

Fart, Poop, and other Dirty Words

Eddie and I had an argument last night. About what words our kids should use for their bodily functions.

I don't see a problem in telling it like it is. Pee, Poop, Fart. This is horrible to Eddie. He grew up with Tinkle, "Big Job", and poot. Probably the first time he heard the word "fart" was in second grade, his first year out of a sheltered Christian private school into public school. He probably had no idea what it was and went home to ask his parents, who probably made him pray to get the word out of his head.

I know in 3rd grade, if someone said "tinkle" for the act of peeing, they were made fun of.

It's not like I'm teaching the kids p*ss or sh*t (both in the dictionary with the correct meaning, BTW).

According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

poop - noun
Meaning FECES
bodily waste discharged through the anus

pee - noun
an act of urination

fart -intransitive verb
to expel intestinal gas from the anus

tinkle - noun
1 : a jingling effect in verse or prose
2 : a series of short high ringing or clinking sounds

"Big job" and "poot" are not even in there.

Nobody else can have me

Doesn't it fell good to be loved?

Lately Carys has been very greedy. NOBODY else can call me mom — especially Gabriel. If she hears a child in the store call for his mom, she has to make sure, just in case, that he knows I am not his mommy. Gabriel is very understanding. He knows I'm his mommy no matter who says otherwise.

The other night we were all in the "family" bed (I know, Really bad.) and Carys and Gabriel went to pick out a stuffed animal to sleep with. This is new. Neither one of my kids have ever been attached to anything. Gabriel noticed one of his friends at school gets to sleep with his stuffed animal so he thought he'd give it a try. When they came back, Gabe had a bunny, a teddy bear, and a bigger teddy bear. (Later he told me to move over, his bears needed ROOM.) Carys came back with a plastic doll that her Grandma got her. (Thanks, Mom, by the way). This doll calls for mommy and then proceeded to fall down laughing hysterically. Carys loves it. I have not yet been able to permanently damage her yet — or to turn her off.

Carys was almost asleep when the durn doll decided to tell her she loved her. "I love you Mommy!" "I love you Mommy!"

Without a thought, Carys replied, "Her not your mommy! She's my mommy!"

Even the doll loves me.

The Reasoning of a 4-year-old

We just got back from vacationing in Branson for a week. It was surprisingly fun. The self-proclaimed "Country Music Capital of the World" had a ton of stuff to do (much of it unrelated to country music). I'll write more about that later.

I'm pretty busy today and my computer is broke. I have no idea what is wrong but I am not able to use the internet at home. (My house is cleaner than ever.)

Gabriel is just beginning to use his newly developed skill of reasoning. However, a lot of times it is not a refined skill.

This morning on the way to school:

"Mommy."

"Yes, Gabe."

"When Carys gets to be a grown-up and she has a baby in her belly and it comes out, I'll have a baby brother!"

He was very excited about this. But the fact that he just mentioned my baby girl becoming a woman made me sick to my stomach. Let alone having her own brother! But, I felt like I needed to correct him. We are from Arkansas, known for that sort of thing.

"No, he will be your nephew. Like you are Uncle Frank's nephew. Uncle Frank is my brother and your uncle. You will be Carys' baby's uncle."

That kinda satisfied him. But then Carys chimed in with her latest hobby, disagreeing with everyone.

"Uncle Frank is not my uncle!"

The Questions of a 4-year-old

Gabriel is at an age where he asked a LOT of
questions.

This was our conversation last night... at 10:30... on
a school night.

"Why do angel's live on clouds"

"I guess they can live where ever they want"

"Oh. Mommy, let me see your ring"

"it needs to stay on my finger"

"did papa give it to you?"

"yes"

"in your wedding" (Rolling eyes)

"yes"

"where was I?"

"You weren't born yet"

"I was in your tummy"

"no, you weren't"

"Oh, I know, I was at grandma's. What do those little
green men like gold so much?"

"you mean leprechauns?"

"yeah"

"think about it and ask me again in the morning."

July 3rd

Hello.

This is our first message.

Beth