Dinner Conversation

I love our dinner times.  You never know what is going to come up in conversation lately. 

Tonight it was our grandchildren. 

Recently Dan was baking and gave Madelyn a piece of baking chocolate as a joke.  Poor thing.  So, tonight when Dan was asking what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday he mentioned making funny cake which is what he was making that night with the chocolate.

Madelyn starts saying, "Don't trust the chocolate.  Don't trust the chocolate."  We were cracking up.  Dan was telling her that she needs to do that to her children and I was coming out in defense of our poor grandchildren.

All this led to us telling them what to name their children.  Oh my.  Our poor children. 

Madelyn said she doesn't know how many children she wants.  Elijah said he thinks he'll have three.  First he said he wants all boys, but then he said, "I don't really care what they are.  I know it all depends on what God wants your babies to be."  Oh my.  We high fived over that one.  He amazes me with what he comes out with concerning God.  Both of them do.  I love it. 

Dan told Madelyn her girl would be named Rose and her boy would be Daniel.  What?  I didn't see why her girl couldn't be Kate.  Then he tells Elijah his boy is going to be William and his girl would be Rose.  Then when he said he was going to have three children he gave the third a silly name like Ting Tong Tubbs.  The kids were belly laughing.   

So funny.  We laughed a lot.  Elijah then got into the shower and we explained profit and loss to Madelyn with the example of a lemonade stand.  It was cute to see her "get it."  Now she wants to open a lemonade stand next year. 

Our plan of having our children become independently wealthy so they can support us is paying off.  Muhahahahahahaha!

Church Mouse

Yesterday I was waiting for a call back from the pediatrician's office. You see, Madelyn has strep and that is how we started out our beach vacation. So, let's just take a moment and praise the Lord for pharmacies at the beach. CVS to be exact.

Anyway, the nurse calls back. I answer the phone and in this sweet happy voice she says, "Hi! This the the doctor's office calling. Can I speak to Mom?" Um. Last I checked I am the "mom." She was a bit embarrassed when she realized this.

So, apparently I still have a church mouse voice. A lady I called one time told me that. Nice, huh?

It got even stranger when Nick and Todd came home from a walk. Todd came in first and I said, "Hey, where have you guys been? It's been forever." To which Nick said, "Who is that? Madelyn?" Yes. Strike two. The second time in one day I was mistaken for a kid.

Oh well. What can I do? I laughed. It was funny, especially when I told Todd and Nick the story about the nurse and Todd asked me if I then got my mom. ha ha!

Good times :)

Tidbits

I've got a lot swimming around in my brain and when this happens it's best to write some tidbits ...

....

I am excited. We are getting a new (used) bed. Weird. I know. But, this couple works with Dan and they had the best custom made for them, used it for a year and decided it's not working for them.

Compare that story to ours. We have been using a $500 bed for 13 years. We bought it when we first got married. It's getting old. Literally. At this point anything will be better than what we have.

And new beds cost a lot more than what we are paying them.

We went and checked it out last night and a friend is helping us get it tonight. That friend has a truck and will help Dan load it. Such nice friends.

I'm a little (a lot) excited about sleeping on something different. I may not wake up tomorrow.

...

I am a princess. Dan's cousin, who we saw when we went to the wedding, has a 4 year old daughter. She is so stinking cute with her dark eyelashes, hazel eyes, and freckles across her nose that make her picture perfect.

She came up to me at the camp site that we went to after the wedding and told me she had seen me earlier in the day when I was a princess up on the stage :) Oh my. So sweet. I had NO idea what she was talking about, but does it really matter anyway? I mean, if she thinks I'm a princess, let's just let her go with that.

I asked her what I was wearing and she said "black" so she probably thought I was one of the bridesmaids, but that doesn't change the fact that she is now my favorite 4 year old little girl :)

And I may or may not have had the family refer to me as "Princess" for the rest of the weekend. "Your highness" was allowed as well.

...

Who do animals have to be so stressful? I have not been able to consistently get the pill into Simon like I should be.

That being said he does seem a little better, but he has now figured out what I am trying to do so he avoids the bathroom. Then he spits the pill out.

This just makes the fact that I am leaving him for a week that much more stressful, not to mention the poor girl who is going to be looking in on them.

...

Dan is going to the doctor today because his shoulder is really hurting him. It has been for weeks. I know it must be if he actually called the doctor. Plus, Dan isn't really one to complain, but his shoulder gets him.

I am sure it is cancer, but I am trying to not think that way. I tend to think everything is cancer. Yes. I am fatalistic like that.

...

One of the best things in my life right now is the fact that my children still hold my hand when we are out. I absolutely love walking hand in hand with my little dumplings. Sometimes Madelyn will take my hand and then hold Elijah's hand with her other hand. Or, they will each have one of my hands.

Part of it is that Elijah just does not pay attention in parking lots. He tends to be in his own little world anyway, and parking lots do not phase him. So, he HAS to hold my hand. But, most times they just want to and it makes my heart melt because I know they are only going to be this small for a little longer.

I caught our shadow the other day too when we were all holding hands and I wanted to take a picture. I consider myself blessed that Madelyn is still so sweet and loving. She is showing signs here and there of the upcoming tween phase, what with the huffing and/or eye rolling, but mostly she is still super sweet. And, I remind her how miserable life will be if she chooses to have an attitude ;)

...

Our dishwasher is done. That means I am washing dishes starting today. Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhh. I just had to get that out. I am sure we will buy a new dishwasher soon, but with vacation coming up, etc. I just don't know when. We have one picked out that is on clearance, but we'll see. We found out that if you get one with a stainless steel interior it helps fight again the mineral build up on your dishes and interior of the dishwasher so that's what we will be going for. Our water here is terrible because of all the minerals.

...

And that's all for now. I can't put off this sink full of dishes much longer. Unfortunately.

Performing and Performing with ADD

What a fun beautiful day!

We spent the whole day outside. Instead of a Spring Program TKA does an outdoor concert/festival kind of thing. It's nice.

They have fun stuff for kids, food, and performances going on all day long.

Both kids had a performance. Madelyn was a little farmer during their Jack and the Beanstalk medley, and was super cute. She did a great job. Performing is not what she loves to do, but she does it and she does it well. Elijah had 3 or 4 songs that were sung with the K4/K5 class. He too was super cute.

I was also able to help at the food stand. It was fun. You get to see all kinds of people and chat for a few minutes. That's a good time for me.

So, all in all, a great day. Just getting the fresh air made it all worth while.

Let's back up to the performances though, Elijah's particularly. Watching him perform makes me feel like I am watching myself. His mind is in all kinds of different directions. If he's not waving, he might be singing, or he is looking at his hand that is painted like spidermans to match his spiderman face paint, or maybe he is dancing to the music, or he is striking some kind of pose, maybe some more focused singing ...

You see, I sang in Chapel Choir in college. College. Our job was to sing during chapel on occasion. We would practice once a week to prepare for those chapel days. Well, that day came. We all gathered at the front of the room, started singing, I looked up, got distracted by the people and completely stopped singing. I was then looking around at all the people. Yes. Did I mention I was in college?

When I looked back at my page I could NOT figure out where we were. I can't read music so the fact that I was singing in any kind of choir is a little strange, but it wasn't the first time my friends talked me into something. Insert high school cheerleading here. Ugh.

Anyway, so I pretty much flubbed that performance due to my lack of focus. My mom mentioned a program I was in as a kid when I was young where I was putting my hands on my face making it look like goggles and I was showing my friends next to me.

However, I am not a total failure when it comes to public performances. I did perform in Barnum for a high school play where I had to juggle rings on stage, front and center. Whew! I am still amazed I didn't drop any of them during any of the 3 performances we did, not to mention the singing and dancing parts. That was fun.

So, I think the moral of this story is, Elijah and I need tasks to do while singing (ie. dancing, juggling). Otherwise, we WILL be distracted.

Can I get an amen?

Some things ...

Dan was making a list tonight of what he needed to pack for France and Elijah said, "Don't forget a washcloth, 2 spoons, and some jam." ... Yup. He just came up with that.

........

Yesterday Madelyn asked for an apple and she wanted it cut. So, I promptly sat down and peeled an apple for her. When I was done peeling it I realized what I had done and I said to her, "You wanted it cut didn't you, not peeled?" We both just kind of giggled and then she said, "You are very tired." :) It made me laugh that she said that. The funny thing is neither of my kids eat their apples peeled so I don't know why I did that.

..........

any time dan is away i stay up waaaayyyyy too late. i am already tired so this is not a good thing because i really should get up and get the kids to school even though i am REALLY ready for a break and just want to be done with the school schedule already.

how's that for a run-on sentence?

.........

my cat is dying. it is terribly sad. i just keep trying to love on him as much as possible. he has lost a ton of weight and i think he has cancer. he doesn't have a definitive diagnosis, but the things mentioned by the vet gave me some ideas to research and it seems pretty obvious.

i got my cats the year dan and i got engaged. they were 8 weeks old. brothers. my sister is the one who convinced me to get two so they would have company when i was in classes all day. it was a good decision. they are nice cats. friendly. only now that they are older have they had issues with puking and what not. blech.

one thing in simon's favor right now is dan is away and the animals get to sleep on his side of the bed. shhhhh ... don't tell dan. but, that's what happens when you leave the country ;)

.........


i was just talking to madelyn and sometimes i am so struck by how little and cute and still so small she is. other days i am struck by how grown up she seems.

she is coughing though. boo. i hate it. she has a hard time getting to sleep as it is. add coughing to the mix and forget about it. i can't sedate the poor girl though. it's tough.

meanwhile, elijah is sacked out flat on his back sideways across the bed. his switch turns off at 9 pm. coughing or not.

i love my kids.

............

tonight the kids were so excited because we bought frozen pizzaria uno pizza and played uno while we ate it. when we bought the pizza at sam's the kids came up with that idea and were excited when i said we could do it :) it was fun.

elijah spreads all of his cards out next to him on the chair because he can't hold them all in his hand. poor madelyn had some rough hands, but she handled it well and was cracking jokes about it. she is pretty funny these days. i love her sense of humor.

meanwhile, they were so psyched anyway because last night i bought a wii game that is a bunch of old school games from way back, including pacman, and some new improved games. i think i am their favorite person right now :)

...........

i bought adele's cd today, 21. it's fun. i love my ipod. i don't know what i did without it because i rarely ever bought cds after i had kids. itunes is so great though. and, the cd was on sale at target. perfect.

elijah is my dancing buddy. he's like me. he has a hard time not moving to the music when it's on. i'll see him playing or doing whatever and if there is music on he's moving to the beat. it is sooooo cute :)

.........

this post was written over the course of a few days. i don't know why i couldn't get it done. so these are some tidbits from what's been going lately.

Not the Best Day Ever ...

We were heading to see Grandma Elva. All of us, including Vern & Lois.

Being the award winning mom that I am I had completely forgotten to feed my son before we left. I have an excuse though. He and Dan went for haircuts at 8:30 a.m. Since they had to leave early I quick gave Elijah a cup of milk and some Honey Combs in a baggie to snack on.

Once they were back I was too busy fussing over cute haircuts and getting Madelyn ready to go that I completely forgot to give Elijah a real breakfast.

All that to say that it wasn't until we were on the road, stopped for gas, Dan got a breakfast sandwich and Elijah says, "Hey, I never ate breakfast!" Madelyn of course wanted a snack then too so I quick ran into Sheetz to grab some breakfast. What do I pick? Powdered mini donuts of course! The breakfast of champions right?

My justification: Elijah LOVES them. Madelyn wanted a snack too, and it was something we could all snack on since we had a long day ahead. We were going to visit Grandma Elva and then go swimming with Dan's aunt and her grandsons.

Oh, that is until a car decided to pull out in front of us!!!

I had just turned around to give Elijah "just one more" donut, and while I was leaning over the side of my seat to close the box I heard a loud bang. It's amazing the number of thoughts that go through your mind in just a few seconds.

So this is what I saw and thought after I heard the bang ...

Whoa!! What the ... Oh, a tire must have blown, wait those are air bags, ugh the smoke, my throat is burning ... wait, we hit someone!? Dan asked his dad if he was okay, Vern said, "Yeah, I'm okay." (He was in a lot of pain) Then I heard the kids crying so I started saying, "We're all okay! We're all okay!" Madelyn then said, "That was really scary!! I hit my mouth!!" There was no blood and I just kept saying, "I know, but we are all okay!!" Elijah had a mouth full of powdered donuts and his mouth was wide open as he was crying. Dan later told me he thought he was foaming at the mouth. He did say to me, "Look at Elijah! Look at his mouth!!" I said, "He's fine! I know! He is eating powdered donuts!!"

It was so nuts. Finally the smoke and powder from the air bags was just too much so I started to get out of the car. I told the kids to get unbuckled and got Elijah. Vern got Madelyn. We were on the side of the road and there were trees. We were being poked by dead branches as we tried to work our way past the back of our car. Thankfully there was a driveway nearby so we all kind of stood there and talked to cops, and other people who had come to help.

Poor Vern, his chest was killing him. Lois had a nasty contusion on her leg. Dan's leg got bruised. At first just Vern & Lois were going to go to the hospital, but then the firefighter encouraged us to get the kids checked out just to be safe.

We all road in the ambulance to get to the hospital in Reading. I was glad because then we were a bit closer to home rather than stuck in Pottstown on the side of the road, or at the diner as the cop told me they could get us there. Craziness.

Everyone got a good report from the doctor. Although Elijah kept pointing to a scab that was about 2 weeks old saying it hurt. So funny. I do think he hit his foot on the side though during the accident. He had a bit of a bruise, but it was so funny that he kept pointing to this healing scab area.

Now that it is going on a few weeks later Vern and Lois are still healing. Actually, Dan is too. His leg got busted up by the air bag that was by his feet. Lois may have to have her leg drained. A lot of blood collected under the skin and it hasn't gone away completely.

Life can change in an instant. It freaks you out. We still need a new car. I hate car shopping. But, thank the Lord we are all okay.

Kids ...

Say the Darndest Things ...

Hayes calls Elijah "Cha-Cha" and me Dick. Aunt Dick at times even. You gotta love it right? So, there was one day when Hayes was eating a snack and I was at the table with him when he says, "Dick, Cha-Cha up?" And, I knew exactly what he was saying ... "Kate, Elijah is upstairs?"

The other day on the phone Shannon asked Hayes what Elijah's mommy's name is and he said, "Cha-Cha mom dick." That's right. I'm Dick. I love that he calls Elijah Cha-Cha.

The one day Addie told my mom that she didn't want a little brother. She wants a sister, and if she can't have a sister she wants a chihuahua. She and Molly really bonded during their time together. It was really cute. Molly is definitely my dog and she takes a bit to warm up to people, but Addie was all over her. She would carry her around, bounce her like a baby, and snuggle up with her while watching tv. I don't think Molly would admit it, but I think she really liked the attention. If I could, I would definitely loan Addie Molly for a while. They were so cute together Shannon even started to feel like she needed a chihuahua.

Hayes is a tough kid. Elijah is well ... not. So, many times Hayes was beating up on Elijah a bit. Elijah finally asked me one day why God made two year olds where they hit people.

Hello Blog ...

It's been a while. So sad that I never post on here anymore. The days just slip past and all these funny, cute, amazing, brilliant, poetic, majestic, marvelous, intelligent ... (should I go on?) things that my children say don't get posted here.

Why?

I'll tell you why. I am a P. A Perceiver. Ever do the MeyersBriggs Personality Test? I completely fit the P profile. I am a little bit of a J, but mostly a P. I get bored easily. Start projects that never get finished, etc. Hence, the state of my blog.

But, while I am here I'll update a few things ...

Right now my girl is suffering from asthma. She hacks and hacks and hacks and hacks ......... Every time she goes through an attack like this I come so close to having one foot in the asylum. I do believe I may live there one day. But, that's another story. It's just not easy lying in bed in the middle of the night listening to your child hack in her sleep ALL NIGHT LONG.

She is getting better though. Praise God.

My boy is suffering from sinus congestion (as usual). He is supposed to get his adenoids out on Friday. Friday. So, why couldn't he stay healthy through Friday? Argh. So, one last round of antibiotics before the big day. Boo. I don't like the fact he has to have surgery, but the fact he has been on an antibiotic 9 times this year is no good either. The poor boy. I don't even think he realizes how miserable he feels half the time since he's always congested.

Both kids are loving school (when they can get there). They just had their Christmas concert. Elijah sang his little heart out with a few yawns here and there. I love 4 year olds.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!! EEEEEK!! I am so excited. I can't wait to give the kids their toys, etc. I love the whole thing. I am doing my best to not buy them anything else, knowing they will get things from others as well. This is why it's best if I don't get my shopping done early.

Oh, remember how I said I wanted to write about our experience with Dan and what he went through with his health? I changed my mind. I may write about things here and there I just don't want to revisit those places just yet. Things are too nice right now. Although I will say this ...

There are days when I will just be driving down the road and enjoy the peacefulness of our lives right now. Sure we still have issues, but it's not constant. We are not running to appointments constantly, or making emergency trips to appointments on a regular basis, stressing about what will happen next, will the meds work this time, are we doing the right thing? All that is gone right now, and boy do we know it and appreciate that fact.

So, I catch myself thanking God on a regular basis for the simplicity of our lives right now, and I don't think I would do that so much had we not gone through what we went through. Whew! It was a long road, and you do emerge from it feeling somewhat wounded. But, if the woundedness draws me closer to my Savior then so be it. Closer to Him is where I long to be.

Ahhh, hello beach ... we definitely need to get together more often

We are here. Our house is great. We are just a few houses away from the beach and the tail end of the boardwalk which in my opinion is the best location. You don't get the noise, but you are within walking distance of the fun of the boardwalk.

We have a house sitter. So far my newest dog Molly is not taking to her. She is earning her money this week. Poor girl.

Elijah and I were up at 4 on Saturday morning, not the best start to our week. I realized he had only eaten a banana on Friday night for dinner. With all the kids and family it's easy to overlook these things I guess. I know I don't win a mother of the year award with that one. Let's move on.

We were thrilled when the realtor had food available for us so we had lunch there before getting to our house to unpack. So yummy too!

We hit the beach after unpacking. I actually fell asleep on the beach. I NEVER do that, but I had been up since 4. I even missed the excitement of our umbrella blowing away down the beach into the ocean. Oh, and did I mention it was wall to wall people? The crowds were nuts on the beach and boardwalk. We saw the fireworks on the beach. That's the best. So relaxing.

Sunday came and my stomach was sick so I spent the morning in the bathroom. Ugh. There should be some kind of law against getting sick while at the ocean. The good news is that I got to take a 3 hour nap. We also got to see Dottie's (my stepsister) mansion at the beach. Okay, it's not a mansion, but it is HUGE.

Last night we went out for ice cream. Elijah can't eat ice cream, but we thought he should be able to do sherbet right? Wrong. He threw up this morning. Hence still being at the house and not at the beach at 10 a.m. Poor little guy. I knew something was up when he was still sleeping at 8:30. Then he just could not wake up. He still feels a little funky. It's so sad because he's my morning person, full of energy right away and to see him all sad and icky feeling is awful. This is partly how I knew he had issues with milk as a baby. Any time I gave him dairy he would end up throwing up. His body just rejects any kind of milk product. It's definitely an allergy though and not just an intolerance. It's crazy, and makes feeding him super hard.

So, here we are. I think I need to live at a beach one day. Dan and I both feel this way. Knowing the big vast ocean is just minutes away brings peace to my soul. There's just nothing like it.

Hayes is super cute with his little 21 mos ways about him. He doesn't talk. He makes noises, but he gets so excited and words pop out like Elijah and ribs. He was running through the house looking for Elijah and was saying his name. He wanted more ribs last night and yelled, "Rib!" But, when you ask him later on to say words he just mumbles, grunts, etc. He is such a little show off. He is so adorable. Addie and Madelyn are "like sisters" they keep saying. They are cute. They have a couple matching pairs of pjs and outfits and they love it. Elijah goes between the girls and Hayes. He got confused at first and asked for his matching night gown as well. He also wanted pony tails. I think he gets it now though that he's not a girl.

Cousins are the best.

I think that's all for now. Stay tuned for more stomach issue stories ...

Things I want to Remember

Yesterday was cloudy, 61 degrees, and rainy. When Madelyn got home from school and the kids were playing outside Elijah insisted he needed his jacket and gloves. He was thrilled too when he found his winter hat. He put it all on and then ran outside in his barefeet.

The best part was when he brought all his clothes to me to help him put it on and then said, "Oh, will you excuse me for a minute please?" He ran back to the office and got his milk. He came back and said, "I just needed to get my milk." It was polite and grown up sounding. There is hope for my boy yet.

............................

Madelyn is so tender-hearted, always has been. Elijah has been sick this week (as has Madelyn), but as Madelyn was getting better Elijah was getting worse. She has been feeling his head, stroking his hair, trying to tell me what she thinks he needs, asking if she can take his temperature. She will be a good mommy one day. I could just hug her all day long.

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We are going away this weekend to the beach. My mom will be here with the kids. I know that they will be in good hands, but it's always a bit hard to leave my kids behind. I actually was planning on taking them with us, but Dan thought it would be a good anniversary getaway for us. I agree, but it is still hard to leave them. So, this morning the kids and I were hugging and taking turns with knock knock jokes. Mine always ended up being something about hugging the kids. Madelyn said she was going to hug me forever and ever. I always tell her when I hug her that I could just stay like that forever. She giggles and tells me all the things she needs to do that she can't quite do with her mother attached to her. Then I remembered I had to get her to school! Oops.

Tidbits

Yesterday I was running late for church so I did my makeup in the car. I requested the windows up so my hair wasn't flying all around while I tried to put on makeup. Elijah then said, "Oh Mommy, you are going to be SO beautiful with your makeup on." He is such a charmer. Oh how I pray for that child.

So, we get to church and Elijah asks me if I have my makeup on and he wants to see me. Sure enough he then says, "Mommy, you look so beautiful." Ah, it cracked me up. He says a lot of things are beautiful, like my mom's camera for instance.

......................

So, my girl is sick. I hate when my babes are sick, but she just has a low fever and her belly is upset. I will take these kinds of sicknesses over the hacking coughing any day. I hope she feels better soon, but I also love having her home. She's so snuggly and sweet, and I think she's thrilled to be plopped in front of the tv watching pbs kids.

.....................

My boy turns 4 this week on Wednesday and I'm already hyperventilating.

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Happiness Factor:

Warm weather makes me feel like a new person. I love it.

I have a fabulous family who loves me and supports me.

I am extremely blessed with many great friends. I love each and every one of them and don't know what I would do without them.

God's word never ceases to amaze me.

John the Baptist said that all that we have came from heaven, or we would have nothing if it didn't come from heaven (I'm paraphrasing). I think of this often and it has made me look heavenward with a heart of thanksgiving that much more. What a great guy John was, always focused on Christ with a humble heart.

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A friend at church yesterday told me I look like a chocolate bar. I was wearing a brown swirly top with black bottoms. It made me laugh so hard. I don't think I have ever been told that before.

............................

I found a stool on Elijah's bed this morning and when I asked him why it was there he said because he was trying to turn the light (his ceiling fan light) on. The ceiling fan was on and the stool was very near the edge of his bed. Boys.

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My Mom-mom just turned 86 on Saturday. I hope I look as good as her and am as healthy as she is if I live that long. Love that lady.

Kid-isms

Dan took the kids to the Library the other day. The library is near the river so at one point the road dead ends with a yellow fence just after where you need to turn right to go to the library. One of the kids asked what would happen if they drove through the yellow fence. Dan said, "We'd end up in the river." To which Madelyn replied, "Yeah, and none of us can swim!" ha ha ... it's true. Dan can't swim either.

I do think though if they survived the crash over the bank into the river that Dan could stand at that part of the river, but either way I don't want my family crashing into the river by any means. Of course, we did have this conversation though. We also realized that at that point the river was quite high because we got a lot of rain the day before. Isn't it funny how a joke can turn into a real discussion of just what would happen if ...


................................


The kids and I were home the other day. Madelyn and I were in the living room and Elijah was upstairs. Next thing I hear Elijah yelling to someone out the window about coming over. Now, knowing my son and how social he is, I wouldn't be surprised if he saw the neighbor girl or even a stranger and invited them over.

So, I yell up to him and ask him who he is talking to. He said, "The robin! ... Hi robin! Are you coming to my house today?" It was so cute. Madelyn and I cracked up.

Later I heard him say, "Robin, did you go somewhere?" He couldn't see the robin anymore. This was the same day we saw the beautiful rainbow.

The weather had been so crazy that day. We had a ton of rain all morning where it was so dark you felt like it was evening. Then by the time I picked Madelyn up from school the sun was out again and it was quite warm out. They played outside for a bit and then more rain and wind. Then more sun! Then the beautiful rainbow which made it all worth it.

A friend of mine mentioned on FB that it was like a disney movie with the rainbow and the bunnies. It cracked me up. She asked if we broke out into song :) I told her if the birds and the bunnies let me pet them I would have because then I would have known that I really was snow white.

And so it continues ...

My dad (who is still recovering from major surgery and could use prayer for ease of pain so he can sleep and he needs his appetite back) sent me an e-mail yesterday. He loves to send forwards. Well, this one said something about a computer crashing or something crashed the computer, and here it's a picture of a little kitten sleeping on its back on the keyboard of the computer. I wanted to just pick it up and snuggle and love on it!

I used to never consider getting a kitten because we have 2 cats and I just thought there was no way we could do another cat until my 2 are in heaven (prove to me our animals don't go to heaven then I'll stop saying that). hee hee ...

Well, Dan's sister Susan and her hubby came to visit and brought their new kitten. Me oh my. He was cute. Dan even caught him and snuggled him for a while (another reason I love my husband so much. he just couldn't resist.)

So, that showed me it would not be impossible to get a kitten at this point. The kids loved the kitten too. His name is Bauer. Elijah was a little confused though because Susan is pregnant. He knows she is having a baby and was calling the kitten the baby kitten. He also asked Susan at one point if she still had a baby in her belly, etc. This is all new to him. His webkinz skunk (Potty) is now a baby skunk though.

Anyway, so all it took was this picture in a fwd to get me thinking of all those little kittens in shelters just needing a good home ... until last night.

I laid down to go to sleep. Everyone else was sleeping and then I hear Madelyn coughing (shudder) and coughing (another shudder). I go up and she needs the nebulizer. It turns into this whole ordeal because the neb decides to stop plugging into the contraption properly so I almost have a panic attach realizing I may not be able to give her the treatment if we can't get this straightened out. Well, I do and she does it, and we are both wide awake now at 12:30 a.m.

I stayed up with Madely in her room (which she LOVES) in case she had another fit.

A while later we drift off to sleep and Samson comes strolling in. He has always been my ornery cat, but he NEVER bothers me at night when I am in my own bed. He only bothers me when I sleep upstairs with the kids. On normal nights he snuggles with one of the kids after they go to sleep. Last night, a whole different story.

He comes in, jumps on the bed, meows and starts biting at my hair! Why?? Why are cats so weird at times?? I push him off the bed. He meows, jump back up and does it again. Argh!!!

I put him in the hallway and shut the door. That usually does it thankfully. Well, then Elijah wakes up a little after six, opens the door, wants to join me, Madelyn, and Daisy in bed, but I tell him to go sleep with Papa who has a queen size bed to himself! He does, but who sticks around? Samson. Again, meowing, biting at my hair, etc. I throw him out again.

As I lie there trying to go back to sleep I think to myself, "And, why would I want a kitten?"

So, for today I may be okay with not adopting a homeless animal, but may the Lord help me if one comes wandering up to my house or something. Or, like Kerry, she had a man approach her outside of PetSmart with a box of kittens. Get thee behind me Satan!!

So, I am realizing how much of an influence Dan has had on my animals because he doesn't tolerate any of the madness which is probably why Samson stays away from me at night when I am in bed with Dan. Daisy NEVER gets on our bed ... when Dan's around. That's why she sneaks onto the kids bed at night when she thinks of it and sacks out. I would be a stickler with them too if they weren't so darn cute and snuggly ... (sigh) ... again, my problem. Just keep the prayers coming ...

Opposites

I have my boy (extrovert) and my girl (introvert). They love each other so much. It's amazing how two completely different children can come from the same gene pool.

Here is yet another example of how they are different.

If someone is on the phone and wants to talk to Madelyn, she needs to know why they want to talk to her, and basically be convinced it will be a good thing to spend those moments on the phone with that person. Once on the phone she will stand in one place, say what she needs to say and then she's done.

Elijah on the other hand is always up for a conversation over the phone. This is an example of a conversation that he had with my mom the other night while he wandered throughout the house as he talked ...

Hi. What's your name? ... I'm Elijah. I am at my house. I will be coming to see you tomorrow (not true). I have my sister back because she lives at school all the time (M's been home all week sick). My Mommy's nice. What are you doing today? We have 2 cats, Samson and Simon. So, um, that's Simon ... So we ... I don't know where Simon is. Samson is on the piano. I love my mom. I have a baby skunk because it's a Webkinz. Skunks smell. They always spray sometimes ...

Finally, I think my mom cut him off. So, I'm hearing his side of it and thinking, "Wow, he really has the gift of conversation. Good for him for thinking of all those things to talk about."

Well, it turns out my mom was trying to ask her quesions on the other end and he wouldn't even consider them. He was too busy meandering through the house speaking whatever came to his brain.

I should say though that Madelyn will definitely talk if she has something to say. For instance, when she lost her tooth, she couldn't wait to call Mom-mom and tell her.

But, one time they had a school project where they needed to call classmates and speak in spanish to them. Meanwhile, I didn't realize they had this project until her friend called and next thing I hear Madelyn speaking in spanish to her in the other room. So funny.

Well, after the 3rd friend called her to go through the same drill she was done. She wasn't interested in talking on the phone anymore that day. Hopefully she will stay this way through her teen years.