Four Years of Beef

Mr. Beef, as Danny and I affectionately refer to our oldest son, got to celebrate his 4th birthday 4 times this past week.

Last Sunday, he opened presents from his grandparents. Thursday, since it was his actual birthday, he got to pick what he wanted for dinner (cheeseburgers on the grill). He also got to choose the day's activities and books; our little dude was loving life.

Friday, we told him he could invite 4 friends over to play for a couple of hours. He chose 2 friends who he's known practically since birth, and 3 friends from church who are also in Cubbies with him on Wednesdays (Since 2 of his friends were twins, we let them both count as one friend!).

Zekers is a HUGE Cars fan, so for months he's been begging me to do a Tow Mater or Lightning McQueen cake. My sister found a Wilton pan for 50% off at a craft store, and I finally realized that the time had come to forge ahead into unexplored territory: I finally ventured into the world of decorating bags and tips. Aaauugghh!

The whole thing had me very intimidated; I've managed to avoid doing anything like this for 5 1/2 years, so I guess it was inevitable. It took me about 4-5 hours by the time I mixed up all 9 frosting colors and figured out that it helps to hold the top of the bag closed. But it turned out OK in the end.

We turned the dining room table into a race track, complete with "spectators", where the partygoers ate their cake and ice cream. They spent most of the time playing with Zekers' new Hot Wheels track, and running around the house yelling at the top of their lungs. I know it sounds crazy, but I really enjoy this age group, and Danny is really good at playing crazy games with them and making them laugh.




The next day we went to my niece Esther's 3rd birthday party, and then drove down to Chuck E. Cheese's. We hadn't been there in quite a while, and figured that if we arrived early enough, things might not be too crazy. Wrong! It was a madhouse, mostly because there were at least 3 birthday parties going on. Three hours and 190 tokens later (at least we had a bunch of coupons for free tokens!), we heaved a giant sigh of relief - everyone had gotten out unharmed. The kiddos watched 101 Dalmations on the way back while Danny and I decided that may have been one of the least intelligent ideas we've had in a long time. I tell you what - it's crazy what parents will put themselves through just to make a few snot-nosed kids happy. *grin*

The really great thing about Zekers is that three days of festivities centered around his birthday doesn't spoil him in the least. He remains our laid-back, unassuming, random little guy with a sunny smile, who gives the best hugs in the world. I'm currently trying to figure out what he means when he keeps saying he has "bottom issues." But that's another story - and probably better left unshared!

Zekers will always occupy a special place in my heart; his big brown eyes and sweet little voice melt me almost daily and somehow I haven't been able to make myself stop hugging him today. All the gifts he's opened this week are nothing compared to the gift God gave us 4 short years ago on March 27th. Ezekiel James Wright, I love you!

Forever Unmoved

Those who trust the LORD are like Mount Zion, which sits unmoved forever (Psalm 125:1 - NCV).


I came down to the computer to post several pictures from the weekend's birthday festivities, but after taking an in-depth look at Psalm 125 for the Bible study I'm participating in (Stepping Up by Beth Moore), everything else just seems kind of . . . silly? pointless? frivolous? I long for these truths to do more than just steep in the recesses of my heart and mind; I want them to flow out of my everyday life!

How much do I trust the LORD? Translated YHWH, this title in particular emphasizes God's role as covenant-maker and -keeper. A covenant is sacred - once made it is set in stone, unbreakable in God's eyes.

So . . . how much do I trust Him? I say I trust Him completely. I want to trust Him completely. But do I? When it comes to taking that first very real step, I feel myself standing on the edge of the high dive, trying desperately to muster the guts to take the plunge. He promises to be faithful . . . He cannot be otherwise. Then why do I continue this lifelong struggle to overcome my unbelief?

I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. . . The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side . . . The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul (Psalm 121:1,2,5,7).

O Lord, increase my faith! For even the faith to trust You comes from YOU.

Avocado, Estrogen and Insults

What do these items have to do with each other? Nothing, really.


I tried to hold him off for as long as possible, but eventually I had to start feeding Malachi "real" food. We started out with avocado, and while he wasn't crazy about it at first, he now gobbles his green goop with gusto. We've moved on to sweet potatoes and several different kinds of cereal. I think I may get really crazy and try giving him banana tonight.

It appears I sang the Halleluia Chorus a bit prematurely last week when he began sleeping until 6:30am. For the past several nights, he has been waking up twice at night, and then again by around 6:30 or 7:00 - and drinking huge amounts of formula and breastmilk every time. The other night, I figured that between the hours of 9pm and 7am he consumed around 25 ounces! I keep telling myself it has to be a growth spurt, as I begin to despair of ever again getting a full night's sleep. Danny has been a huge help with this; since Malachi will drink formula, we alternate getting up with him throughout the night.

Saturday I got a really special treat. I thought I was meeting my friends Jodi and Isabel for coffee in the morning, and when I got there, discovered that they had invited some other dear friends to join us, in celebration of my birthday. It's so much fun to spend a couple of hours with girlfriends every once in a while; we all sat there sipping tea and coffee, eating muffins and scones and laughing. These times are like gold for me - rare and precious.

Sunday the kiddos were all involved in a little Resurrection Sunday program. Zekers and Kari Bou sang and did the motions to a number of songs: Praise Him, Praise Him, All You Little Children; Jesus Loves the Little Children and Jesus Loves Me, among others. This was Karis' big debut; she's never sung in front of an audience larger than 5 before, so I had no idea what to expect. But she absolutely loved it - she did all the motions (usually a little late!), and clapped for herself after every song. I just love watching the 2's and 3's age group - they're all so cute.

Then Rachel sang several songs with the older kids - they even signed one of them and sang the last one as a prayer. It would have been such a precious moment (I zoomed in with the cam corder hoping to really capture her sweetness as she closed her eyes and sang to Jesus), if she hadn't been chomping on a huge piece of gum the whole time. It kind of ruined the effect - but at least she was able to chew and do motions at the same time.



Afterward, they got to spend some quality time with grandparents; both Danny's and my parents watched the "show" and then came over for dinner. Zekers got to open some of his birthday presents - he'll turn 4 on Thursday. Malachi was loving all the attention. I haven't been able to get him to sit yet without falling over, but he loves to play on his stomach, and to stand up. What can I say? He's been different from the get-go. . . .

Since the kiddos have been slinging around some bizarre statements this week, so I thought I'd share a few with you:

Rachel pointed out to me the other day while I was feeding Malachi, "Mommy, Malachi is the milker and you're the cow!"

Zekers has been going around all week pretending to be "Captain Bad" and calling Karis "Baby Bad". Why? "Because we're pirates." (duh)

I was in the process of flipping out over something yesterday while driving the kiddos around in the van, when Karis said to me, "Mama, get a gwip!"

I guess I should take my cue from her, eh?

A Long Boring Update With an Even More Boring Title

Wow - hard to believe our "snowman picture" was taken just over a week ago. Two days later - last Thursday - it was nearly 60 degrees and I cleaned out the garage because I just had to do some kind of outdoor project! As the winter drags on, the walls of our house seem to be closing in on us and it is wonderful to be able to work outside a little. Today is another beautiful day - a little windy but warmer and sunny. Zekers, Kari Bou and I spent most of the afternoon hauling dead branches and twigs from the backyard out to the street, while Malachi observed from his stroller. From the looks of things, the ice storm of several weeks ago left its mark on just about everyone's property; our street is littered with piles of branches from one end to the other.

Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday Danny attended a training seminar for a program he's excited about implementing in our church. At least it was close enough (about an hour south of here) that he could come home to sleep at night. Still, it was a long few days for both of us! Lets just say that by the end of Friday, after dragging all four kiddos to Pizza Hut for dinner in a moment of complete idiocy, I once again felt like the infamous "Provers 32 Woman" (evil twin of the Proverbs 31 Woman). And poor Danny was suffering from intense brain overload after cramming 5 days' worth of classes into 3!

But Saturday finally came, and the kiddos and I packed up and drove to join Danny at the end of his last class. We got to eat dinner together at Friday's, where our unkind waiter announced my age to the whole restaurant (unmoved by many threats, Rachel told him it was my birthday); then we spent the night in a nearby hotel. Before we got there, I had a craving for Tazo bottled green tea, which I've only seen at Starbucks. Since we couldn't seem to find a Starbucks (why is it that the only time you ever actually find a Sarbucks is when you're not looking for one?), we stopped at Panera Bread, where I paid the outlandish price of $2.50 for maybe the worst bottle of green tea I've ever consumed. I'm guessing this is why I'm familiar with Jones' soda but had never heard of Jones' iced tea.

The really cool thing was, the hotel had overbooked their suites, so we got two rooms, right next to each other, at no extra charge. Malachi and I slept in one, and Danny and the other three kiddos slept in the other. (Hey, we realized before we left that by taking all the kiddos we were pretty much abandoning all expectation of a romantic getaway!)

We both really missed attending church, but it was SO nice to get out of town for a bit. We did some mall shopping (where I made one purchase), and I had a chance to visit one of my favorite thrift stores (where I purchased about 50 clothing items for the kids, Danny and myself)! The highlight of the trip for the kiddos was getting to swim in the hotel pool. I didn't get any pictures, unfortunately, because the pool was overrun with screaming, pre-adolescent girls (at least 20 of them), and therefore was deafeningly loud. The noise proved to be a little too much for Malachi, who just started shaking in my arms, too frightened even to cry. So I took him back up to our room for a bath, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

We never did get any good pictures; I guess the weekend, while pretty exciting to us, didn't make for any cool "Kodak moments." And while the details of it have probably bored you to sleep by now, we had a lot of fun just hanging out together. Times like these are a nice gift every once in a while.

Frosty and Crazy Hair

The big snowfall from last weekend (which one news station dubbed "Blizzard '08" before the NWS declared that it met absolutely none of the criteria for a blizzard) turned out to be short-lived. So Tuesday, as the sun began to melt the mounds of white in our yard, Kari Bou, Zekers and I decided to seize the moment and make a snowman for the first (and hopefully last!) time this winter.

We were quite proud of our creation. The kiddos, of course, named him "Frosty"; Zekers insisted he needed a top hat but in the end settled for sunglasses. He lived a short but fulfilling life, and 24 hours later became a small heap of snow with a scarf, carrot, black olives and raisins lying beside it.

The 3 munchkins were heartbroken - even Rachel had gotten quite attached to Frosty in the 12 hours that she knew him. But their pain was somewhat soothed by "Crazy Hair Night" at AWANA. Rach has been looking forward to this night for a very long time. She still remembers that last year all we did was to brush her hair out into a 'fro. This year it took a bit more work. Zekers had decided to wear his clown wig, and when I tried to take their picture, Kari Bou was so sad at being left out that I agreed to let her wear Rach's old Cubbies vest and pose with them. Don't ask me what Rachel's face is all about.

I just can't let another post go by without more pictures of our little meat biscuit. He's eating cereal now like nobody's business and loving life. For the past 2 nights, he's slept until around 5:30, which has worked out great. I just get up and feed him and then get showered before the other kiddos wake up. Of course, three nights ago he woke up three different times, so there's no telling . . .



One last thing: Danny gets the award for "Most Dedicated Floor Cleaner", as he spent 4 hours scrubbing the linoleum in the kitchen, followed by another 4 hours scrubbing the dining room floor. The picture doesn't show it that well, but we have a textured floor, which tends to collect dirt in the little creases, and sad to say, it's been maybe a year or two since we've really scrubbed it. My favorite part was that he used a fingernail brush Karis received for Christmas! (Don't tell her)

Brag Session

I just have to take a few minutes to brag on my oldest daughter.

A few weeks ago, it occurred to me that I am actually doing my children a disservice by not expecting more from them. So I've gradually started incorporating more responsibilities into their daily routine (if it can be called that!), such as making their beds when they wake up; putting their pj's away in the morning and their dirty clothes in the hamper at night; picking up all of their toys before they start something else; and helping with small chores around the house. I know, I know . . . I should have been having them do all of this for quite some time, but hey - better late than not at all.

They are loving it! I sometimes have to get on Zekers a little to make his bed, but they all enjoy helping out, especially Rachel. She loves to help me dust the furniture and empty the trash cans. The other day she begged me to let her run the dust mop over the floors after I swept them, and she did a really great job. Last week, I told her that maybe soon I'll let her start washing the dishes sometimes, and she said, "Well, why couldn't I start now?" Good question! So I let her tackle the sink full of dirty breakfast dishes. It took her about 10 times longer than it would've taken Danny or me, but she also did it about 10 times more cheerfully than either of us usually do!

She changes Malachi's diapers, too - except for the poopy ones, which she takes off and then leaves on the floor, along with the wriggling Malachi while she holds her nose and grosses out. We've cleaning the carpet a lot lately.

The challenging thing is: it takes a lot longer and requires more effort for me to train them to take responsibility, but I know that later it will pay off - for them and for me. Rachel looked at me the other day and said oh-so-seriously (the way she does when she's been putting a lot of thought into something), "Mom, I want to be just like you." I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it. And I realized that while I've tried my best to train her spiritually and work with her academically, I don't often take advantage of opportunities to develop her in the day-to-day of being a good wife and mother. Why not capitalize on this time when she actually thinks it's fun to clean the house? (I got her on video begging me to let her clean the bathroom, and am planning to use it against her when she's about 14.)

One more thing: tomorrow she gets to go shopping and pick out a Polly Pocket doll, because she's gone 3 weeks without sucking her thumb! At first we taped mittens to her hands at night; then we put some kind of nasty nail-biting polish on her thumbnail, then she went cold turkey. Now all that's left is to wean her from the pathetic mess of pink thread that she calls her blankie. I haven't washed it in months, fearing that it will just disintegrate in the washing machine. But it's been her constant companion ever since she was able to sit up in her crib, and she's nothing if not loyal.

Rachel Nicole, I love you!