My Mister Moo

I know this is a week early - his birthday isn't until October 3rd, but I've discovered a few peaceful hours sandwiched in between 2 weeks of total insanity, so I'm seizing the moment to dedicate a post to my baby boy, who we affectionately refer to as "Mr. Moo."

He's always behaved differently than the other three - maybe God's way of ridding me of the pride that would have inevitably found a place in my heart. I have to admit that in the early months, although I loved him dearly, I didn't always like my little screamer. That's pretty much what he did all day long - and the worst of it always came from about 4-10pm. Poor Danny. Night after night, we sat at the dinner table, helping the kids eat and trying to ignore the horrendous torrent of screams that endlessly drowned out every other sound within a 5-mile radius of us.

The other three all slept through the night by 8 weeks. This, I was convinced, was due to the fairly strict schedule we had them on. Malachi has since taught me the foolishness of attributing these things to good parenting! He couldn't have cared less about what the books had to say - and he gustily proved almost every one of them wrong. I began to wonder if he would always be a crabby, unhappy child. What were we doing wrong? Why was he SO high-maintenance? The amount of attention and care he demanded affected all of the kiddos, who began to "act out" in different ways. Suffice it to say, it was a rough 6 months around our house.

And then, spring wafted in, with its fragrant breezes, beautiful flowers, and . . . miracle of miracles . . . a smiling baby boy! He started sleeping longer stretches around 9 months; and he must have heard somewhere that smiling requires less facial muscles than frowning because almost overnight, he became quite the exuberant little boy. He still has a somewhat tumultuous personality, not to mention a terrifying temper; no one will ever describe him as "laid-back" or "easy"; but oh, he fills my heart with joy on a daily basis.

Never a day goes by that he doesn't send almost everyone in the house into fits of laughter - he's both a clown and a little flirt. He's also a Mamma's boy. He loves to play with other people - especially girls - unless I'm in eyeshot. Which is both endearing and frustrating.

My favorite things about Mr. Moo:

His hugs. He actually wraps his arms around my neck (and Danny's) and squeezes. He also loves to lay his head on my chest and make contented baby noises. How many ways can my heart melt?

His drool. It's actually become such a part of his identity at this point, I can't imagine him without a dark ring around the collar of every shirt.

His walk. He splays his legs out, and rushes around like a drunken sailor.

His smile.

His noise. It can be summed up in just one word: constant.

His fearlessness. He plunges headlong into just about everything - figuratively and literally. Day after day, week after week, I patiently waited to get a good picture of him; waited for one black eye to heal, and then the other. Waited for the egg on his head to disappear. Finally I gave up, realizing that there is almost never a day when he doesn't have a mark of some kind on his head. But does that teach him a lesson about being more careful? Never.

His joie de vivre. He lives life to the fullest, and his joy splashes all over everyone around him. One of my favorite everyday events is getting him out of bed in the morning. He wheezes (I can't describe it any other way!) in excitement as soon as he sees me. I pick him up and take him out to the dining room where the other three are usually eating their breakfast. As they begin a happy chorus of "Malachi!", He smiles and screeches in delight, fairly dancing in my arms. What a great way to start the day. (Then, of course, there are the days that begin with a blowout.)

There are plenty of times when I wonder why we didn't stop at three (or one!). But words cannot even come close to expressing just how grateful I am that God saw fit to bless us with this little bundle, and how much I look forward to the days and years to come. Happy Birthday, Mister Moo - I love you!

Goofing Around

I have a bunch of pictures I've been wanting to post for weeks. So, without further ado, I give you a smattering of pictures that capture life around the Wright house lately (a few even go back to the "pre-headstone" era) . . .

Rachel and her friend Alia in their matching shirts


Some mornings, after Rachel goes to school, Zekers, Kari Bou and I do "schoolwork" or work on Cubbies verses.


Zekers and Kari Bou enjoyed observing cement being poured onto our neighbor's driveway. Karis was far too busy fielding phone calls, however, to notice much of what was going on. Ever since the kids inherited our old cell phones, she likes to walk around, cell phone to her ear, chatting with friends like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.


One of the kiddos' favorite activities is to remove all the cushions from both couches, line them up, and do tumbling exercises on them. What can I say? It allows them to work off some excess energy, so I'm all for it.


The kiddos got to have some friends over who share their love of dressing up!


We've gone to the church parking lot several times so the kids can ride their bikes around.




Malachi dreams of someday being able to ride a tricycle.


Karis was thrilled to be able to hang out with some friends of her own for the morning.

The Benefit of a Good Party

I am doing a dismal job keeping up with things lately . . . so this post is mostly pictures of some fun things the kiddos have gotten to take part in the past couple of weekends, including 2 benefits, a birthday party/reunion, and a car show.

Last Saturday we went to a benefit hosted by Caleb & Jackie Threewits at Caleb's parents' farm. Featuring a pond with a large dock and 2 diving boards; a huge tree house; turkeys, cows, pigs, kittens and horses; it was a kids' paradise and then some. All of the kiddos have been looking forward to riding Jackie's horses, so this was a real treat for them.

Way too cool


The swingset was handmade and perfect for giving underdogs


Too bad we didn't bring swimming suits!


About 5 minutes after this picture was taken, Malachi took a dive trying to grab the 2 fish in the water.








Karis was scared to death to even get on the horse, but after riding with Caleb for a while, she became so courageous as to insist she ride by herself.


Saturday night, we went to the classic car show, and the kiddos had a great time playing in the fountain while Danny admired boxy 80's station wagons and I admired Model A's.








Sunday we had lunch at Danny's parents' house with his grandparents from Florida; his aunt & uncle, Sandy & Brian; his aunt and her 2 daughters, Hillary and Hannah; and his sister's family - Robyn, John, Quinn & Ian. It turned out to be a beautiful day and the kids all came up with some bizarre games, which kept them happily occupied for most of the afternoon.



I was quite proud of the cake . . . until Rachel sat on it when we stopped at the church to pick up Danny on the way up to the party. Oh well, you can't really mess up chocolate cake.







This weekend we attended a benefit hosted by Tammy and Jeff Dietrich, which included a kiddie tractor pull (Zekers came in third in his age bracket and won a trophy - yippee); relay races; a corn hole tourney (we could have won a trophy for "longest match in the history of corn hole"); and a spaghetti dinner. Unfortunately, I discovered when I tried to take a picture of Kari Bou on the tractor, that my camera batteries were dead. But a good time was had by all - especially after we took the kids home for a nap and came back for dinner!

In other news . . . Rachel just started playing soccer this week. Since 81 kids signed up in the 5-6 age group, they split them up into 12 teams, and Danny will be coaching Rachel's team. Hopefully this will be a fun venture for both of them.

From Bulldozer to Toe Truck

Last week was a full, but very good, week, with a few unexpected twists and turns. Wednesday morning we had our "Grace Moms" kickoff; It was really encouraging to see so many new faces - and so many from last year. One of our mentoring moms shared about how to make the most of our time - being more productive and keeping God our #1 priority in the midst of everyday craziness. I'm just praying that God will help me to apply some of it now. It's easy to smile and nod in agreement; not so easy to actually do what I know He's asking me to do.

Wednesday night we took the kiddos to an area church where they participate in the AWANA program. Kari Bou was especially excited to go to Cubbies for the first time. The evening began with a wiener roast for parents and kids, and was supposed to end with a time for registration, meeting the teachers, and buying books & vests. For us, it ended with a broken toe and 8 stitches.

Watchful parents that we are, Danny and I turned from talking with someone to see Karis in the midst of a "no-breathe" cry. She was sitting by one of the headstones in a small graveyard on the church's property - where the kids were not supposed to be (I'm guessing). I sprinted over to her and saw that her back was pretty scraped up; at the same time I noticed part of a headstone lying near her on the ground. "You're ok, sweetie, I reassured my little girl, who had definitely found her breath by this time, as I helped her to her feet.

As soon as she stood up, I noticed her blood-filled sandal and knew there was more to this than a few back abrasions. Upon removing her shoe, we saw that her big toe was sticking out at a bit of a funny angle, and her second toe had already turned purple. Apparently, instead of just doing the normal thing and playing soccer with the other kids, Zekers and Kari Bou decided to wander off and play "Push the Headstone Onto the Foot."

Fortunately, the AWANA commander works for the fire department and knew what to look for. He pretty much told us it looked like her big toe was broken, and the second toe, which was lacerated to the bone all the way across on the underneath, would need stitches.

Unfortunately, he showed me the bone in her toe a few too many times - pulling the skin back (it was still bleeding pretty badly) and examining the wound, which, of course, made her scream louder and bleed more. I handed her to Danny, put my head between my legs, and passed out. Not exactly one of the more dignified moments of my life. I remember begging, "Please, God, don't let me pass out - not now. Please . . . and then waking up with a bag of ice on my head and numerous people staring down at me. I guess He decided the humiliation would do me good. I found out later that both Rachel and Zekers thought I had died.

Anyway, we took her to Children's Hospital, while some good friends and Grandma Wright took care of the other kids (Poor Grandma - she had to give up her appointment for directory pictures). Our little Bou got her foot X-rayed. She kept saying, "smile, foot - smile for the camera!" She also received 3 stickers, of which she was very proud. When each new doctor or nurse asked what happened, she would nonchalantly reply: "Zekey pushed a headstone onto my foot."

The funny thing was, she cried about halfway to the hospital, but once she calmed down, she seemed to be having the time of her life. She talked and laughed and carried on at the hospital like I've rarely heard her around here. Then it hit me - for possibly the first time in her life, she had Mommy AND Daddy all to herself - not to mention the attention from numerous hospital staff - and she was loving it. She got 8 stitches, a couple of bandages, and a super-cool blue shoe to wear, to keep her from bending her toes when she walks.

She spent Thursday on the couch, and I spent half the day on the phone (on hold), trying to set up her follow-up appointment for next week. Now, she's walking and running around in her new shoe like nothing ever happened, and was even able to spend the night with Rachel and Grandma Miller on Friday. It was strange, but a lot of fun, just having the 2 boys for 24 hours. The pictures of her foot are from Saturday night, when I finally had the courage to bathe her and redo her bandaging.

So although the week took an unexpected turn, I find myself so grateful . . . grateful that she wasn't hurt any worse than she was . . . grateful for each one of our kiddos and their unique personalities . . . grateful that I have a husband who can keep his cool in intense situations (unlike his wife) . . . grateful for family and friends who are there to help out . . . and most of all, grateful for God's goodness. He gave His Son to suffer so much to take my sins and clothe me with His righteousness. Thank You, Jesus! Thank you for undeserved blessings.

Party On!

We did lots of partying this weekend . . .

Saturday night my sisters and I threw a surprise 60th birthday party for our mom. We invited several close friends, and some relatives, most of whom are from the Columbus area, to meet us at Tumbleweed Southwest Grill. Our youngest sister, Sarah, her husband Anthony and their little girl Adeline even came up from Lexington, Ky.

Mom thought my sister Hannah and her husband Kenneth were meeting them there for dinner - which was partly true. The guests all arrived by 5:15, and Mom and Dad came around 5:30. I never thought we'd actually pull it off, but judging by the look on Mom's face, I'd say we did a pretty good job of keeping things a secret!

Now, you have to understand something about our family - we're all a little camera happy. As soon as a kodak moment presents itself, at least 5 different people jump out of their seats, cameras and cam-corders in hand, to record the moment. Which means you pretty much have to hold each pose for about 10 minutes, as camera after camera flashes in your face. Then we all rush home and email our identical pictures to each other. I was actually worried, at the party, that when Mom & Dad walked in, we'd all be so busy flashing our cameras at them that no one would be able to yell "SURPRISE". Fortunately, we are all pretty good multi-taskers.

The other thing we laugh about is that every time our family gets together, someone (sometimes one of us) says, "You know, it's been a while since we've gotten a snapshot of the three girls together." So, we have about 300 shots of us at different family functions! We laugh about it every time, but we still go ahead and pose for the picture (and email copies to each other afterward).

Anyway, after we'd eaten dinner and Mom opened gifts, we headed to Mom & Dad's house for ice cream cake. (Mom said later, "I wondered why your Dad made 2 huge birthday cakes", but then, we're talking about the man who made a 5-layer cake for his own birthday once, just for the fun of it.)


Yesterday, we had a mermaid-themed family party for the girls. Both sets of grandparents came, a well as Hannah and her family, and Danny's sister Robyn and her family. Rachel wanted an Arial cake, but since I discovered we were out of red food coloring, she had to settle for a generic blonde mermaid instead (We told her it was Arial's sister).

I believe this cake may be one of the larger cakes ever made - and definitely the largest cake I've made. The thing was monstrous - it took 2.5 9x13 cakes and 12 cupcakes, with 8 cups of frosting and a boatload of Necco wafers. But thanks to the family fun website, we ended up with a mermaid cake nearly as big as Karis. What it lacked in quality, it certainly made up for in quantity.


Rach & Kari Bou in their restored battery-powered Jeep from Grandpa & Grandma Wright. After a few rides, Kari Bou started putting her hands up in the air; Rachel's driving must have reminded her of the Dragon Wagon!

And now, I have to go dig through some boxes in the attic to try and find a shirt for Malachi so our entire family can "match" for our church directory pictures tomorrow. I'm trying to find colors that go well with drool and/or spit-up . . .