Date night with Noah.

Tonight I had the special opportunity to take Noah out on a one on one date. A while back he read the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and he's been counting down the days until the movie came out. So this afternoon I took him to the movie. He said he thought it was quite a bit different from the book in the details, but he really liked the movie, too. After the movie we stopped at the Gamestop store so he could download some kind of a (free) Pokemon character for his Pokemon DS game. Then we stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, ending our time together with a detour through the McDonald's drive-thru so he could get his favorite: a Butterfinger McFlurry. He was so happy the entire evening and kept telling me how much fun he was having. I just love any individual time I get with each of my kids because it is then that I can really appreciate and enjoy what special little people they are! So, even though I'm fighting a nasty head cold right now and the pressure in my head is ridiculous, I'm so glad I was able to enjoy a fun time with my precious boy. Now I get to look forward to a date tomorrow with another of the main men in my life - my husband!

Small blessings.

Once in a while there are moments when things feel "just right". Today during church was one of those moments for me, which is why I knew I'd better blog about it before the euphoria wears off. ;)

Right now Chris' work schedule is such that he works on the weekends, which means a dreaded thing for me: taking all four kids to church by myself. Normally those 3 hours consist of A LOT of fidgeting, fighting, whining, arguing, occasionally crying. It's bad enough when Chris and I tackle this together, when we're only outnumbered 2:1. When I have them by myself I can usually count on having a headache by the end of the day, and I definitely know I won't get much (spiritually) out of the church meetings.

Today, though, was a bit different. Things were looking good about the time Noah came out of his room dressed and ready to go, and he was even wearing a tie - without me having to tell him! Then, about five minutes into the first meeting, Nicolas fell asleep on my lap. It was then, as I sat there with my little boy sleeping soundly cuddled up into my chest, my little girl leaning her head on my left shoulder, Sam leaning up against my right shoulder, and Noah sitting next to him, and all three sitting there quietly and reverently, that I felt so peaceful. Thank you, kids, for being so good today - I needed it! And one last twist in the scenario, a little family of a mom, dad and little boy (about two years old) came in and sat next to us on Noah's side a few minutes into the meeting. Let's just say that this little boy wasn't exactly giving his mom the same gift. I kept glancing over and seeing Noah subtly ignoring the little boy when he was bumping him, sticking stickers on him, twirling around and falling into him. When we came home this afternoon Noah said to me: "That kid was annoying, mom." That's when I explained to him that that is the exact reason I always get after them when they're not behaving up to par: it annoys the people around us. I hope the lesson sticks with him, though I'm not holding my breath.

On another note, the other day I was working out to a new Belly Dance DVD I got to try to change up my work-out routine a bit. Sophie came in and was watching me for a few minutes, her nose wrinkled up and her eyes rolling around in her head. Then she said: "Uh, mom? Do you realize that those girl dancers are dressed REALLY naughty?" Well, at least I know she's learned modesty.

Happy Birthday, Nicolas!

Yesterday was Nick's 4th birthday. He asked for a Batman cake, but he gladly settled for the cupcakes I made and put in these cute Batman holders. He's really into Diego right now, and I was excited to have found this baby jaguar (like in the show) made by Ty Beanie Babies at the Hallmark store for 75% off, so it was like $2! He is definitely the heart of our home, with his sweet, tender nature, he has all of us (the other kids especially) wrapped around his little finger.

Mommy's helper.

Today Nicolas helped me make rice krispy treats for the kids' after school snack:

This is how I found him not 10 minutes after I made the video clip. Apparently all the stirring wore him out! I love this kid so much!

Earth rules.

Another moment of amusement with my Sophie today:

"Mom, do you know why I cancelled my play date with Suzie*?"
Me: "I didn't know you had a play date with Suzie*."
Her: "Well, I'm saying I wouldn't even think of asking her after today. Know why? 'Cause she litters! I saw her with my own two eyes throw her drink box on the playground. I told her to pick it up and she said 'no'! Can you believe it? Apparently she doesn't know about the Earth Rules. If you litter, the Earth will die! If the Earth dies, we all fall off and die, too!"

Sometimes I can't believe she's only 7. She has wisdom and compassion way beyond her years.

(*Name changed for privacy.)

Bathroom makeover.

In December of 2008, Chris had put his name in the hat for a transfer to the other side of the state to fill a resident trooper position that would have put us located near his hometown, and near to his dad and many of his siblings' families. We made a trip over there at Christmas time that year(about 4 hours away), checked out some houses, and got a feel for the area and made the decision it would be a good move for us. So in January of '09 we put our house on the market, knowing it might take some time to sell, while we waited for Chris to get a final confirmation on the transfer. He was also in school at ISU at the time, and since he graduated in May, we figured that would set us up with the perfect amount of time to get everything done. Well, as each month went by, the traffic of potential home buyers was sporadic at best, but we weren't too worried, since the state was doing budget cuts and the resident trooper position Chris was vying for was one of the ones on hold. We continued to wait it out, until we got the final word last summer that they would not be filling that position currently. With the job transfer out of the picture, we decided to fulfill our contract with our realtor (1 year of having the house on the market), with the idea that if we were able to sell the house, we would stay in our same school district, but look for a better home. Well, our contract just ran out and we didn't get a single offer on our home, so we've taken it off the market for the time being. I was feeling a little blah for a few days surrounding the culmination of all these events and the final day of deciding what to do. It was a long year of uncertainty, inconvenience and stress, having to show the home on a moment's notice, the constant barrage of questions from our friends and neighbors about our situation - were we moving, were we not moving? etc., etc.

So this week I've come to terms with the fact that it's in our best interest to take the house off the market rather than lower the price too much just to make a sale when relocation is not a necessity. We're going to just continue to make gradual improvements to the house, as it was our first home purchase, I was feeling excited at the prospect of buying our second home with more knowledge and experience under our belts. Since that won't be happening for a while and we're going to have to deal with some of the issues our house has (let's face it, our home needs Holmes!!), I've started doing a few small, budget friendly projects to help me fall back in love with our house and remember why I picked it 5 years ago. So, long story longer, here are the before and after pics of the 2nd floor bathroom. Okay, I was so excited to have a bathroom just for the kids in our first home that I went a little overboard with the Ducky theme, and decided it was time for an update. I really like how it turned out, with just a new paint job, fixtures and a few accessories!

Before...

After...

Vacation over.

Wow. That went by fast! We didn't do much, just spent a lot of time at home together, and outside in the snow. Tomorrow the kids head back to school and the post-holidays doldrums set in.Here's Sophie after our girl's day together, complete with a haircut, new outfit and hat, that she picked out! That night as I was tucking her in she informed me it was "the BEST Monday-after-Christmas-girls-day-out EVER!" Funny girl.
Here is Sam proudly enjoying his Lego house. He actually had it finished (with a little help from his daddy) by Christmas night, and has spent at least a few hours everyday since then playing with it.
Noah and Sam had a lot of fun sledding down this section of hill. Our property is very rocky and has a lot of shrubs and trees, not very conduscive to safe snow sledding!

On this morning last week, I had intended to go grocery shopping, but after looking out the window and seeing this mess, I decided to stay home instead.Chris is such a great dad. He spent much of his time on his days off the past two weeks playing with the kids, with their new Christmas toys, gadgets and video games, and out in the snow helping them build snowmen, make paths and find spots to slide.