Architects

Thanks for all the extra legos, Papa Louie!  Our living room can barely contain itself with the excitement of them all.

Music class

Thursday morning band

"I will magnify the Lord" is the featured song, along with 

"Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", courtesy of Sam's keyboard.

It's also Isaac's first day of potty training.  No turning back.  He's doing really well so far!

Moses' "If Only"

Today we read the passage in Exodus about Moses' encounter with the LORD and his reluctance to obey.  Several times, after God outlines what He wants Moses to do, Moses responds with basically a "but, Lord!"
In Exodus 4:13, Moses even is so bold as to say, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
This after God just finished telling him that He would be the one telling Moses what to say and that God Himself would be with him.
In verse 14, God's Word tells us that the Lord's anger burned against Moses - yet His grace as well, as He offers Aaron as Moses' "prophet" (Exodus 7:1), to go with him and speak for him.  Because for Moses, it just wasn't enough that God Himself promised to do those very things.
It's interesting that Aaron followed through in front of Pharaoh, but out in the wilderness, it was Aaron who gave Moses so much trouble by building the golden calf for the people to worship in place of the One True God.
Aaron failed to lead the people in Truth.
I wonder, if Moses had obediently accepted what God was telling him to do, would Aaron have entered into the picture in this manner at all?  Was Aaron's disobedience a result of Moses' disobedience?
We see Moses with the Law in his hands, written by the hand of God Himself, coming down the mountain to the scene of adultery against the LORD, and he is filled with righteous anger.  Resulting in him smashing the original Law to bits.

Sin has far-reaching effects.
Praise the Lord for the covering of Jesus' blood, our atonement.

Pregnancy symptom 1,241

It's kind of a joke that anything unusual you experience during pregnancy can be chalked up to said pregnancy.  Runny nose?  Common with pregnancy.  Hair loss or hair abundance?  Yep.  Unusual rash?  That too.  Along with the typical symptoms of tiredness, nausea, increased appetite, increased sense of smell, and muscle pain, feel free to add anything you've never dealt with before that happens along while you're pregnant.

So far this pregnancy, mine have been:
- one extremely swollen gland right below my jaw; thankfully this has resolved.
- inability to control body temperature; I'm freezing, I'm hot, I'm freezing...
- sensitive teeth

But what tops it all, is that my scalp has heartburn.  Normally I get extremely bad heartburn about halfway through the pregnancy, continuing until delivery.  But right now, after eating any and every meal, the very top of my scalp tingles to the point of hurting and lasts for about an hour after the meal is over.

If any of you can shed some light on this, I'd be grateful.  If any of you think this is really weird, don't bother to comment - I already know :)

Guilt of a Monday

Bedtime:

Walking into the boys bedroom, I notice that their clothes are still all over the floor.  I call them to take care of them.  In a few minutes, I come back and sure enough, Caleb has piled his into the laundry basket.

"Caleb, your clothes are not all dirty.  I don't even think your sweater is dirty.  You need to pick them up, fold them nicely, and put them away."

Caleb: "So Mom, I'm pretty sure that sweater is dirty.  I don't know exactly where, but I was wiping my tears all over it today."

Gum, laundry, a rich aunt, and sin

Welcome to states and their capitals review day!

What is the capital of Arkansas?
What can you saw?
I can saw a Little Rock!


How about Virginia?
Who, that rich aunt?
Oh yeah, Richmond!


Tennessee?
(stick with me here...)
Ten you see! (Grin really big)
And what are they doing?
Gnashing!
Nashville!


Alabama:
BAM!
That must've been the big mountain of  gum exploding again.
Montgomery.

Mississippi:
Poor Jackson, he misses his sippy!


Nevada:
I've neve' hadda -  car.
Carson City


Illinois:
That farmer gets so annoyed whenever he looks out the window and sees his chicken springing across his field.
Springfield!


Wisconsin:
(just a tad bit of liberty taken here)
Mad is sin.
Madison!


Washington:
All that wash hanging limply on the line.
Oh limpia!


Kansas:
Every can has a top.
Topeka!


Ohio:
(pronounced along with a broad, exaggerated wave)
Oh!  Hi!  Oh!
Said Columbus excitedly when he spotted land.


Alaska:
I'll ask ya.
J'you know the capital of Alaska?
Juneau!


Michigan:
Oops, I missed again with that lance!
Lansing!


Montana:
The beautiful lady of the mountains.
Named Helena.


Pennsylvania:
Where do you keep a pencil when you're not using it...at least for the sake of remembering this capital?
In your hair!
Harrisburg


Nebraska:
Apparently, Lincoln always wore brass buttons.


Wyoming:
Why, oh, why are you so shy?
Cheyenne.


Kentucky:
Hey, some people like the chicken.
Others prefer the frankfurters.
Frankfort.


Texas:
It's a big state!
Don't get lost in Texas!
Austin.


Oklahoma:
OK!  This one's easy!
Oklahoma City!


Just a few of our quirky examples.  Believe it or not, it really works!  They remember it all, no matter how far-fetched the story or memory clue is - as long as it's memorable!

Shopping at malls with boys

Do you know the boys were actually excited to take a trip to the mall today?  I needed maternity clothes.  That's right, I interrupted our homeschooling day today to take all five boys out with me to shop for maternity clothes!

Boys at the mall do not shyly stay by the double stroller taking everything in with big eyes.  They dash ahead, chase each other around the kiosks, nearly knock sweet little old ladies with their walkers over, and yell to each other not to fall and die when they're looking over the rails to the bottom floors.

Boys at the mall beg to ride the escalator.  Just once, I'll come right back up.  I'll carry one end of the stroller and you can carry the other, Mom.  Boys at the mall are never content just to ride the elevator, but if they must, they must always fight over who gets to push the button, and then little fingers reach out and push all the other buttons too.  Just not that great big red one!  Thank you.  They must also always jump up and down as the elevator is moving to get the ultimate ride experience.  And they must always be first to get on and first to get off.  Sometimes they must apologize to others.

Boys at the mall apparently love to go clothes shopping for themselves.  Because Mom, I need something really awesome to wear when I fight Darth Vader when we play Light Sabers.  Please, Mom.  Apparently, Tom and Jerry shirts work for this.  As well as an actual Darth Vader shirt.  Because everyone knows the secret to mastering your enemy is to wear a picture of him.

Boys at the mall absolutely dread going into women's clothing stores, and the ultimate agony is a maternity store.  Boys in this situation, when instructed to sit down and play quietly with their lego guys they brought along for just such an emergency will find the smallest corner of the store to squeeze into.  The great benefit of this is that they can then be seen both inside and outside the store.  When told to come out of smallest corner and stay out of the clothing racks, they will find the empty dressing rooms.  They will think that the strap-on pregnancy belly is interesting and wear it as a hat.  After vacating the rooms, they will poke pregnant mannequins in the stomach and compare the size with animals.

Boys at the mall will love stopping at the play area, even if two of them are too tall to play and are made to sit and watch.  The little boys will climb on everything.  They will even climb on the stuff that's actually designed for climbing on.  They will also climb on each other, sit on each other, and hoist each other up tall objects.  Sometimes they will accidentally do these things to other children.  Boys at the mall will also tend to shout things from the top of tallest play things like, "Look at that fat woman over there!"  And when informed that their words are impolite they will declare that the woman's not real, she's one of the fake people.  Then that woman will move and Mom will instill into them the message that things that are unkind to say are unkind to say about anyone.  Fake or real.

Boys at the mall will always beg for food.  They will delight in the fact that their mother can't say no because she is starving.  They will beg to play mini golf and video games as they head to selected eating spot.  They will also all gather around in the family restroom to watch each other pee into the tiny toilet.  When commanded to sit still and don't move while mom orders the food 5 feet away, boys tend to dismantle things.  Like the entire back of the booth they're sitting on.  And a mixture of horror and delight will cross their faces as they hold said back of the booth in their very own hands.  Much fist pounding will go into its replacement.  They will eat everything placed in front of them, even the extra containers of ketchup, and then moan about how hungry they still are.

 Five boys at the mall will receive all kinds of looks.  Endearing looks.  Disgusted looks.  Annoyed looks.  Patient looks.  Amazed looks. Curious looks.

A mother of five boys at the mall will receive those same looks.

I am so thankful my boys are not like those boys.  My boys just tend to shyly stay by the double stroller taking everything in with big eyes.  Whoever owns those boys obviously needs some lessons in parenting.

Force Full

Monday's Graces

Today we started up school again after a 3-week break.  This is hard.  Good to get the boys on the routine again, hard to break through the thick vacation fog.  So it helps to look for the blessings in such a day.

* Caleb and Noah were extremely excited to be going to their yearly checkup at the doctor's office this afternoon.  Seriously, Noah thanked me for making the appointment.
* At that appointment, Noah received three shots.  He made no sound even though the nurse told him he could scream as loud as he wanted.
* At lunch, Isaac was assuring his brothers that his sandwich was very cold.  His classic "Mmhmmm" was followed by, "I smelled it and it was cold!"
* We're back to regular chores, which means that I didn't have to empty the dishwasher, sweep, or do the lunch dishes today.  And I got help folding the laundry.
* I did 7 loads of laundry today and only have 1 small one left to finish.  They're not all folded, but they're all clean!
* No toilets were clogged in this house today.
* We're all currently healthy!
* We found babysitters for next weekend!
* I got to pray individually with the boys tonight, which goes a long way in making an emotional connection with them, especially for my oldest.
* I plan on doing nothing tonight.
* Except eat ice cream.

First thing that comes to your mind?