This is amazing!
http://yesboleh.blogspot.com/2008/05/chinese-policewoman-helps-quake-effort.html
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Growing Up
Well, it seems to be official - Ryan is POTTY-TRAINED! And before I could escort him to some secluded bushes or trees, he even demonstrated his new skills to all the parents, grandparents, and friends cheering on the teams at the tee-ball fields tonight. :-)
Later, when we were wrapping up a great evening together as a family (which had included dinner in the tree-fort for the kids, and lots of hysterical laughter over a game with a soccer ball and the trampoline), Ryan told me that he loved me. I had him repeat it, then tell Dave the same thing. "Did you hear that, Dave?" I asked. "He doesn't wuv us anymore!" We had him say it several more times, until he lapsed into saying, "I wuv you" again, but I know he's gradually conquering those "l" and "r" sounds. Funny how we can worry vaguely about whether or not he'll eventually say them, then when he does, we want the little Ryan back!
Later, when we were wrapping up a great evening together as a family (which had included dinner in the tree-fort for the kids, and lots of hysterical laughter over a game with a soccer ball and the trampoline), Ryan told me that he loved me. I had him repeat it, then tell Dave the same thing. "Did you hear that, Dave?" I asked. "He doesn't wuv us anymore!" We had him say it several more times, until he lapsed into saying, "I wuv you" again, but I know he's gradually conquering those "l" and "r" sounds. Funny how we can worry vaguely about whether or not he'll eventually say them, then when he does, we want the little Ryan back!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
A Scare
I was making dinner last night when I realized I didn't know where Chase was, so I began calling him just to check in (it had only been a few minutes since I had seen him, so don't think me too negligent!). Dave was in the house, and it would often be a safe bet that Chase was with him, but this time he wasn't, and so Dave casuaully began peeking in some of Chase's usual hiding spots, with no result. We have a relatively small house, and so it was only another couple seconds before we both became very alarmed, and with the same thought, we both dashed frantically out the front door - to discover Chase calmly "watering" the shrubs with the hose. The front door doesn't always catch properly, and while I am usually sure to lock it, it seems it was unlocked this time, and Chase had figured out how to hold it open and get out with very little commotion. We thanked God he had been distracted by the hose, because he loves to head full tilt for the road every time we're in the front yard.
It reminds me of the time quite a few years ago when my youngest sister - also the fourth baby - was about Chase's age. We were all outside and my mom had to go in for something. The details are fuzzy, of course, so I don't know if she asked the older ones to watch Erica or if she just assumed we would. I was about 11, I guess, so I probably should have been up to the task however it was given. Anyway, when Mom came back out Erica was missing, and we began searching for her, as my mom, I can only imagine, eyed the very busy road just a couple houses away. After some time, our dog Sparky began trying to get our attention, and in desperation, we followed him. Sure enough, he led us several houses away, to where Erica was sitting placidly on a neighbors' back porch. Sparky was SUCH a great dog! And of course we're thankful, too, that Erica never wandered into harm's way. :-)
It reminds me of the time quite a few years ago when my youngest sister - also the fourth baby - was about Chase's age. We were all outside and my mom had to go in for something. The details are fuzzy, of course, so I don't know if she asked the older ones to watch Erica or if she just assumed we would. I was about 11, I guess, so I probably should have been up to the task however it was given. Anyway, when Mom came back out Erica was missing, and we began searching for her, as my mom, I can only imagine, eyed the very busy road just a couple houses away. After some time, our dog Sparky began trying to get our attention, and in desperation, we followed him. Sure enough, he led us several houses away, to where Erica was sitting placidly on a neighbors' back porch. Sparky was SUCH a great dog! And of course we're thankful, too, that Erica never wandered into harm's way. :-)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
How They've Grown!
Remember those tiny pink rabbit babies I showed you on a recent post? Well, here they are several weeks later:
We had an adventure with the darker gray one yesterday: the kids had been holding it, along with its mother and littermate, and then had assured me they had closed everything up when they were done. A couple hours later, however, they came running inside shouting that there was a baby rabbit on the loose. Sure enough, I went outside to see that every once in awhile, that little bunny was hopping out from under the barn, then dashing back underneath whenever anyone ventured near. I resisted the impulse to tell them that they should have been more careful closing up the cage, and after some patient waiting with a net, I caught the escapee and put him back in his casge, discovering as I did so that he had escaped through the hole made for the feeder - the feeder I had removed and hadn't put back on. Good thing I hadn't blamed the kids!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Tact
Today my mom had a conversation with Drew that must have been about her age (a manners infraction itself that I guess we should work on!) because at one point he said to her encouragingly, "Hey, Grandmama, only [correct double-digit number] until you're 70!"
Thinking about it reminded me of two other instances where more tact could have been in order, one that just happened yesterday as I was having my hair cut. There were several breaches of politeness during the haircut, actually, but the best one was when she finished and said with a sigh, "Well, the back looks good, anyway." She did get a tip, though, for having asked if I was a student. :-)
The other instance happened a few weeks after Chase was born and we were all in the car headed for church. I said half-glumly, half-teasingly to Dave, "Will you still love me if I never get back to a size [what I was previous to...well, Ryan's birth...]?" There was an uncomfortable pause before he replied - was that nervously? - " Don't worry, honey, you'll get back to [said size]." NOT the correct answer!
Thinking about it reminded me of two other instances where more tact could have been in order, one that just happened yesterday as I was having my hair cut. There were several breaches of politeness during the haircut, actually, but the best one was when she finished and said with a sigh, "Well, the back looks good, anyway." She did get a tip, though, for having asked if I was a student. :-)
The other instance happened a few weeks after Chase was born and we were all in the car headed for church. I said half-glumly, half-teasingly to Dave, "Will you still love me if I never get back to a size [what I was previous to...well, Ryan's birth...]?" There was an uncomfortable pause before he replied - was that nervously? - " Don't worry, honey, you'll get back to [said size]." NOT the correct answer!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
An Adventure in Tee-Ball
Well, I was going to fix the "friends and neighbors" post Ryan so thoughtfully finished and published for me, but this is much more interesting:
We have finished the soccer season, now tee-ball has begun. This time only Drew is doing it (in the hopes that we can finally get Aimee going in the horseback riding lessons that have been so ridiculously difficult to procure so far), but they have practices twice a week, so it's just as fun as soccer with two! At any rate, I knew we had practice last night at 5:30, and with the soccer season experience under my belt perhaps I should have been preparing for it all afternoon, but instead I thought an hour's preparation should do it...At 4:20 I gave a fifteen-minute warning to Drew and his friend from next door, who were playing legos on the kitchen table. They looked at me, but it was doubtful that anything actually registered. Then my mom called and we talked for a "few" minutes while I watched the little boys play -i.e., splash in the water table and raid the dog food - in the backyard. At 4:45 I hung up and began a mad dash to make up for lost time (especially since I was definitely not dressed to go anywhere), but the potty-training Ryan immediately informed me that there had been an...um, accident. Hey, no problem, especially since we were outside, and I cleaned him up in short order. I had to use the hose, though, for part of the clean-up (not on him!), and when I was finished, Ryan (mostly naked now), wanted to help. I let him while I gathered up my things to take inside, including the wipes and a couple bags from the clean-up. I had only taken in some books, however - and told Drew and his friend it was definitely time to be done! - when Chase began to cry, both because was wet as well as because he wanted the hose, so I went back outside, turned the hose off, and tried to get both boys inside. At that, Ryan became extremely upset - so mild a term for the storm that is an unhappy Ryan! - and very difficult to handle, but I manuevered him inside, along with a wet and also-crying Chase. I began sorting through a basket of clean clothes in the laundry area to look for some clean clothes for Chase, and Ryan began asking for chocolate milk. He had already had some, and I was really too busy anyway, so I offered some other options, at which he threw his cup at me. Time-out. More clothes searching, and LOTS more crying, from both sides of the room, as Chase continued to wail at me as well. Drew's friend finally went home, and I directed Drew to get ready for tee-ball. Now if he can make it from one end of our small house to the other without getting distracted, we're doing great, so sending him on a task this size is doubtful, but this time he did mange to change clothes and begin thinking about finding his glove. At the mention of the glove, Ryan, released from time-out, began to "ask" for a glove to take. We do have two, thankfully, and they had been seen together earlier in the day, but no one could remember where, of course, so I instructed Drew to go look as I herded the little boys to the back to get them dressed. I dressed Chase (he and Ryan were both still screaming) then had to grab something from the front of the house, when I glanced at the back door and realized I had forgotten to bring in the bags of dirty things. I went out to get them and saw that Daisy (the dog) had torn up both bags, as well as the bag of wipes, and scattered all contents under the trampoline. I told her in no uncertain terms how I felt about her, as Drew bemoaned to me that he still couldn't find the gloves. I asked him to help me keep an eye on the still-crying Chase while I cleaned up the mess under the trampoline, and after doing so, we all went inside again, found the gloves quite by accident as we passed by them, and went to put some clothes on Ryan. We discovered him, however, asleep on the hope chest in my bedroom - still, of course, naked! I called Dave and asked him if might be home in time to take Drew, but he didn't think he would make it time. I told him what was going on and that we would probably be late, if we could make it at all. He started laughing and I told him I would talk to him later. :-) I calmed Chase down, got dressed, then dressed Ryan, avoiding his kicking feet (he was not thrilled about being roused, as you can imagine). I grabbed the diaper back, the gloves, a ball, and the three boys and got them into the car fairly smoothly, then dashed across the street to fetch Aimee from her friend's house. All secured in the car, we saw we were not too late, and so we made our way to the Y, which is only a couple miles away, fortunately. Unfortunately, it seems most of Lexingon County enrolled kids in tee-ball and baseball, and all the teams practice on the same nights, so we had to park as far away as we possibily could have. I pushed Chase in the stroller and carried Ryan on my back, but had still missed half the practice by the time we made it to the field. That was really a blessing in itself, though, because Aimee was bored (bored, bored, bored, bored, and bored...oh, and hungry, too...), and Ryan and Chase were absolutely determined to go anywhere but the nice green patch of field I had parked us in. We were all hungry and tired as we marched back to the car, but when we got in, Ryan still wanted to push some buttons...He climed in, tucked himself in a corner of the car and refused to get in his seat. In carefully measured tones, I offered a compromise, suggesting he sit in the booster seat we allow him to use for short distances, and he agreed to that. As soon as I started the car, however, he unbuckled, smiling smugly at me. Without a word, I opened the door, picked him before he could escape, and placed him in his usual carseat - buckling quickly! He thrashed and screamed the all the way home, and one of the other kids wondered aloud how I could be so callous to his suffering. Actually I thought being silent was as much empathy as I could muster. :-) Upon making it home I let Dave feed the older kids while I sat and nursed Chase, pretty much fried by that point. But we survived, and I'm sure we'll do it again before the season is over!
We have finished the soccer season, now tee-ball has begun. This time only Drew is doing it (in the hopes that we can finally get Aimee going in the horseback riding lessons that have been so ridiculously difficult to procure so far), but they have practices twice a week, so it's just as fun as soccer with two! At any rate, I knew we had practice last night at 5:30, and with the soccer season experience under my belt perhaps I should have been preparing for it all afternoon, but instead I thought an hour's preparation should do it...At 4:20 I gave a fifteen-minute warning to Drew and his friend from next door, who were playing legos on the kitchen table. They looked at me, but it was doubtful that anything actually registered. Then my mom called and we talked for a "few" minutes while I watched the little boys play -i.e., splash in the water table and raid the dog food - in the backyard. At 4:45 I hung up and began a mad dash to make up for lost time (especially since I was definitely not dressed to go anywhere), but the potty-training Ryan immediately informed me that there had been an...um, accident. Hey, no problem, especially since we were outside, and I cleaned him up in short order. I had to use the hose, though, for part of the clean-up (not on him!), and when I was finished, Ryan (mostly naked now), wanted to help. I let him while I gathered up my things to take inside, including the wipes and a couple bags from the clean-up. I had only taken in some books, however - and told Drew and his friend it was definitely time to be done! - when Chase began to cry, both because was wet as well as because he wanted the hose, so I went back outside, turned the hose off, and tried to get both boys inside. At that, Ryan became extremely upset - so mild a term for the storm that is an unhappy Ryan! - and very difficult to handle, but I manuevered him inside, along with a wet and also-crying Chase. I began sorting through a basket of clean clothes in the laundry area to look for some clean clothes for Chase, and Ryan began asking for chocolate milk. He had already had some, and I was really too busy anyway, so I offered some other options, at which he threw his cup at me. Time-out. More clothes searching, and LOTS more crying, from both sides of the room, as Chase continued to wail at me as well. Drew's friend finally went home, and I directed Drew to get ready for tee-ball. Now if he can make it from one end of our small house to the other without getting distracted, we're doing great, so sending him on a task this size is doubtful, but this time he did mange to change clothes and begin thinking about finding his glove. At the mention of the glove, Ryan, released from time-out, began to "ask" for a glove to take. We do have two, thankfully, and they had been seen together earlier in the day, but no one could remember where, of course, so I instructed Drew to go look as I herded the little boys to the back to get them dressed. I dressed Chase (he and Ryan were both still screaming) then had to grab something from the front of the house, when I glanced at the back door and realized I had forgotten to bring in the bags of dirty things. I went out to get them and saw that Daisy (the dog) had torn up both bags, as well as the bag of wipes, and scattered all contents under the trampoline. I told her in no uncertain terms how I felt about her, as Drew bemoaned to me that he still couldn't find the gloves. I asked him to help me keep an eye on the still-crying Chase while I cleaned up the mess under the trampoline, and after doing so, we all went inside again, found the gloves quite by accident as we passed by them, and went to put some clothes on Ryan. We discovered him, however, asleep on the hope chest in my bedroom - still, of course, naked! I called Dave and asked him if might be home in time to take Drew, but he didn't think he would make it time. I told him what was going on and that we would probably be late, if we could make it at all. He started laughing and I told him I would talk to him later. :-) I calmed Chase down, got dressed, then dressed Ryan, avoiding his kicking feet (he was not thrilled about being roused, as you can imagine). I grabbed the diaper back, the gloves, a ball, and the three boys and got them into the car fairly smoothly, then dashed across the street to fetch Aimee from her friend's house. All secured in the car, we saw we were not too late, and so we made our way to the Y, which is only a couple miles away, fortunately. Unfortunately, it seems most of Lexingon County enrolled kids in tee-ball and baseball, and all the teams practice on the same nights, so we had to park as far away as we possibily could have. I pushed Chase in the stroller and carried Ryan on my back, but had still missed half the practice by the time we made it to the field. That was really a blessing in itself, though, because Aimee was bored (bored, bored, bored, bored, and bored...oh, and hungry, too...), and Ryan and Chase were absolutely determined to go anywhere but the nice green patch of field I had parked us in. We were all hungry and tired as we marched back to the car, but when we got in, Ryan still wanted to push some buttons...He climed in, tucked himself in a corner of the car and refused to get in his seat. In carefully measured tones, I offered a compromise, suggesting he sit in the booster seat we allow him to use for short distances, and he agreed to that. As soon as I started the car, however, he unbuckled, smiling smugly at me. Without a word, I opened the door, picked him before he could escape, and placed him in his usual carseat - buckling quickly! He thrashed and screamed the all the way home, and one of the other kids wondered aloud how I could be so callous to his suffering. Actually I thought being silent was as much empathy as I could muster. :-) Upon making it home I let Dave feed the older kids while I sat and nursed Chase, pretty much fried by that point. But we survived, and I'm sure we'll do it again before the season is over!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Friends and Neighbors
I haven't been able to post very frequently for a variety of reasons, two of which are that I haven't had much time for it and that my laptop - which freed me a little by virtue of its relative mobility - is waiting for a new battery and is out of commission in the meantime. But I've been wanting to post on this topic for some time now, and hopefully I have a few minutes now.
Since moving here, we have enjoyed living in a neighborhood, being closer to friends in general, and just being more a part of a community, but iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiihhgfr4xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Since moving here, we have enjoyed living in a neighborhood, being closer to friends in general, and just being more a part of a community, but iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiihhgfr4xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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