It's all fun and games until someone gets shot in the eye

2:30 pm... It's calm.  Too calm.  Eerily calm.  The house is clean, everybody is happy and I feel relaxed.  I imagine Charlie and Isaac coming home from school.  I'll hug them, ask them about their day and they will find something quiet but fun to do while I do the daily crossword puzzle....

I'm awake! I'm awake!  My two oldest children barrel through the door from school.  I manage a hug and ask them about their day.  They reply, "Good, Mark's coming over to play!".  I normally have all the kids play outside but it just so happens that it is freezing out there and who am I to deny my kids their play time.  I think, "Okay, one extra child will be fine".  

Before Mark gets here, Andy rings the doorbell and asks if the kids can play.  He's brought along a video game.  I agree and tell the boys that they can have one friend in to play since it's so cold outside.

Enter Tony and his little brother, Garrett.  They want to know if they can come in.  I explain the rule that only one person can come in to play at a time.  Tony looks at me with sad eyes and asks if it's okay if he just sits and watches Andy play his video game.  I agree. 

After a short time,  playing a video game is no longer fun.  I was calmly trying to do my crossword puzzle when a game of hide and seek breaks out. 

The doorbell rings.  It's Mark, the original person who was coming over.  I let him in to enjoy the fun.  I now have seven boys and a 2 year old girl in my house.  They all get Nerf guns out.  I begin to prepare dinner.  The noise level grows.  I round up all the kids and tell them that if it gets too crazy, everyone will have to go outside.  I might as well have said that they couldn't breathe because boys are made to be loud and crazy.  

I think to myself that it's great that they are all having fun and what a blessing it is for my kids to have a group of friends.  I can deal with a little bit of crazy, right?  If I couldn't, I surely got into the wrong business. Squeals and happiness and excitement fill my house.

Then, a different sound.  A yell, followed by a cry.  I run in and ask what happened.  Charlie shot Issac in the eye with a Nerf gun.  I resist the urge to utter the dreaded phrase that is the title of this blog.  

Party's over.  It's time for everyone to go home.  Dinner is ready.  I'm feeling a little less calm.  My house is a little more messy.  But my children are smiling, even Isaac who got shot in the eye.  I think it came out even.

Boys will be boys

Do little boys ever learn?  Yesterday,  Max very sheepishly came to me with his hand behind his back.  I asked him to show me his hand and he showed me that a lightsaber piece from his Play Doh set was stuck on his finger.  His middle finger, at that.  The middle finger that he waved at me to show me what had happened.  I laughed at the sight and wondered how do boys get themselves into these predicaments?  Was he thinking he could hide his hand behind his back for the rest of his life and I'd never know?

Anyway, that lightsaber was stuck.  I immediately called for an expert, my husband.  He gets called for splinters, infected fingernails, cuts, ticks, basically anything that might cause pain to fix.  I don't like to do it because if Max as much as winced in pain, I would likely just tell him it's not that bad to have a lightsaber on his finger and he could just live with it.  My brave husband managed to remove the object from Max's finger along with some skin. A band-aid made it all better.

So, what do you think a 3 year old boy would learn from this?  Not to stick things on your finger? Nah, too broad.  Not to stick a lightsaber piece on your finger?  You'd think.  

This afternoon, Max waltzes into my bedroom with his hand behind his back.  I can see the hand with the band-aid still on it but the other is hidden from my view.  I look at his sheepish little face and tell him to show me what is behind his back.  He once again produces his hand and I see a middle finger pointed in my face with a lightsaber piece stuck right on it.  I had to laugh.  What else can a mother do in this situation but laugh?

All about me

Okay, so I made my page look pretty in my favorite color and font.  Now what?  I started this blog to have a place to write about all the cute and funny things that happen in my life but I am compelled to start it with a boring bio about me.  I can't just start in the middle, right?  Well, here goes it: 

I'm a wife to my husband who adores me as much as I adore him, which I think is the perfect amount. :)  I'm a mom to three sons, currently ages 9, 7 and 3 and a daughter who will be 2 in less than a week.  I'm unsure whether I should mention their names or refer to them by age and sex.  The internet is tricky business.  One on hand, I'm not sure anyone will really read this.  On the other hand, some creepo out there might find my love for all things housewife-y appealing and stalk me.  You never know....

Maybe I'll make up fake names the kids.  That would be fun.  Then the people who actually know me in person would call and ask, "Which one is Horace again?".  Or I could come up with names that match a characteristic of theirs. I'll try that. 

My 9 year old boy is very sweet and loving.  He thinks and feels very deeply.  He can talk your ear off and has a hard time paying attention when something doesn't interest him but he is very bright.  He has a wonderful sense of humor and makes me laugh daily.  When he grows up, he wants to be an artist...or a professional video game player.  Because of his humor, I will refer to him as Charlie, after Charlie Chaplin.

My 7 year old boy is more quiet and reserved.  He just sort of glides through life, making good grades and behaving well in school.  He has a great sense of humor in a quiet sort of way.  At night, I'll tell him I love him and he'll reply, "Okay".  Then he laughs and his face tells me that he loves me back.  He wants to be a scientist when he grows up.  I will call him Isaac, as in Isaac Newton. 

My 3 year old boy is 3 going on 25.  He was recently introduced to his new favorite drink, coffee (decaf of course).  No one in this house drinks coffee except for him.  Also, he will quietly stand beside me and wait for me to ask if he wants a sip of my Coke Zero or wait beside my husband for a sip of iced tea.  His trademark move is a thumbs up.  He may be too shy to say hello but he gives his approval with his thumb.  If you are really lucky, you'll get double thumbs up.  Because of his love for coffee, he will be referred to as Maxwell, or Max for short.

My 2 year old daughter gives the boys a run for their money.  People ask me if she can hold her own with all the boys and I reply that she not only holds her own, she puts the boys on the defense.  She's a firecracker in a tutu, a princess with food on her face.  She is a little mommy, helping me clean and dragging her baby doll everywhere.  He favorite baby doll never wears clothes and at times has random limbs missing.  Recently, she lost an eye.  Just like a mother, she still loves her baby doll, despite the fact that she's looking quite scary these days.  My little girl will be referred to as Princess Penelope, or Penny for short.

Hmmm...this post has become all about my kids, instead of all about me, as titled.  Here is me in a nutshell.  Above all things, I love God.  I strive to live my life in a way that mirrors His love.  I don't like to be preachy or pushy.  I believe that I have found so much happiness in living this way and that in itself is a reflection of God's love.  Believe what I do or don't.  Everyone is on their own path and I am not the judge of anyone but myself.

I am a fairly traditional person who was born in a wrong decade.  While I consider myself modern in style and dress as well as a love for modern technology, I am traditional in thought.  I strive to make a welcoming and loving home for my family.  I enjoy taking care of them.  I take pride in preparing a good meal and keeping things running smoothly.  I have become a bit obsessive-compulsive in this though.  When things are messy, I cannot relax.  When things are in order, my life feels in order.  I try to let things go sometimes but it's hard.  I thought I might have a panic attack on Christmas morning, with wrapping paper strewn all about, but I managed.

This "About Me" segment would not be complete without mentioning my other half, my husband.  Where do I even start?  We are so in love with each other.  After 10 years of marriage, we are more in love than we ever thought we could be.  We still enjoy waking up next to each other and spending as much time together as possible. Every two weeks or so, we go out on a date.  We complete each others sentences and laugh at jokes that no one else gets.  We get each other.

I could talk all day and not begin to express my gratitude towards my husband.  Monday through Friday, he gets up and commutes an hour and a half to work so we could live in a better place to raise kids.  He comes home tired but still makes time to give each of us his attention.  We make the very best of the weekends, often spending the whole time doing things together as a family.  He is also very grateful for everything I do for our family. He reminds me of that daily.  Neither of us truly exists without the other.   

Okay, that's enough of the sappy stuff.  I hope you enjoy reading about me and my family as we journey through this thing called life.