The Wednesday Milestones

Today....
.....was Rob's last day working a split shift. His hours still vary over the next week and a half, but at least he only goes to work once a day.
.....was Rob's last class of undergrad work ever (we hope....as long as he passes Pauline Epistles). I found it humorous that the prof he had for his last class of undergrad is the president of the seminary.
.....was the last night of Tiny Trackers this year. Matthew earned a medal for finishing his book. Ben got a participation ribbon since he's only been coming for two months. We had 33 kids tonight. Rob has been asked to head up the preschool program for the summertime on Wednesdays. Thankfully, the kindergarteners move up next week, so that brings down the numbers some.

Rob has his Pauline Epistles final on Friday. Please pray that he does well on it. His Ethics final is on Monday and then he's done! PTL!!!

Coffee, Juice, and Artichokes

This morning, Rob and I shot upstairs to get dressed after breakfast and left Anna finishing her breakfast in her booster seat with the tray in tact. Rob came back downstairs to find Anna in the middle of the table sitting in a pool of juice and coffee that she had spilt. She was happily helping herself to the remains of the boys' breakfasts. Crazy baby! Apparently, Rob had forgotten to strap her in before snapping her tray on. Won't make that mistake again!

One of our favorite treats when we were in California was fresh artichokes from Watsonville, the Artichoke capital. Today we treated the boys to two big ones and ushered them into the way of eating this strange plant. They actually scrapped off the leaves bare, but Rob and I like dipping them in a little mayo. Anna kept begging for some, but it's a little hard to scrape off the leaves to give to a baby. We did give her some of the heart, which she ignored because she wanted the leaf! The boys loved it and so did we.

Gas Leak V

In every place we've lived, we have had to call about a gas leak. We are now fully aware that all of the windows must remain open and that we are not to light anything. But this is the first time we've detected a gas leak outside. We walked over to the library today and upon returning, Rob pointed out that he smelled gas along our side street. It was pretty bad, so he decided to call the gas company to report it. He also requested that they call him with what they found. We left after that to go out for supper and upon our return were surprised to find two gas trucks and a back hoe on our street!! They were just about to dig up the side street. Turns out that we detected an underground gas leak. Not good!! In fact, they are still out there as I type. We did get a message on our machine and Rob spoke with one of the guys out there about it. Glad we called!

Anna got to walk to the library with Rob today. Matthew and I set out ahead of the pack and Rob decided it was Anna's time to start walking w/o the stroller. Our house is approximately two blocks from the library, pretty far for a 13-month-old. Matthew and I were finished by the time they made it there :) I was rather surprised to see her walking, but she had a ball. Daddies are so funny sometimes about what they push their kids to do, I think. Mommy will continue to use the stroller....

Rob is finished with all of his paperwork stuff. He has a final on Friday and one on Monday. That's why we went out to celebrate tonight. I think we're going to have many mini-celebrations in the next two weeks...Wednesday is the last day of class, Monday the last final, Friday the 8th is graduation....etc., etc.....

We're Finished!!!

Matthew has officially finished his reading lesson book. Praise the Lord!!! It was such a struggle at the start and we almost gave up, but I'm so glad that we persevered. He finished his last two lessons today since he was so close to the end. Reading actually clicked for him somewhere in the 80's lessons and he now believes he can read. I was so excited for him today. And me, really, because that book along with our other pre-school material was our homeschooling tester. I love teaching him now!!

We have also completed our first week of Sonlight Core 4/5. On the advice of a friend, I ordered the preschool core to start him off with Sonlight. We also use some other workbooks for the math and language portion. He just loves it and begged to do some Sonlight today as well. I figured why schelch his desire to learn. We're going to continue with the core into the summer and the early part of his kindergarten year. Since we only school about 45 minutes to an hour per day, I know he doesn't really need a summer break. He will also take swim lessons this summer.

Miss Anna is following in Matthew's footsteps for sure now. While we were working on school stuff this morning, I heard the clink of a glass in the dining room. I yelled out for Rob to check and see if she had tipped over a glass since she can reach things on the table. He yelled back for me to get in there. She had climbed up on top of the table and was sitting in the middle. And yes, she had tipped over a glass. The biggest difference between Matthew at that age and Anna is that Matthew would have laughed at himself b/c he KNEW what he had done. Anna just looked at us like climbing onto the table was the most natural thing in the world. Rob's mom was on the phone with him at the time and said that I had my hands full. I replied that I had my hands full with Matthew. NOW I'm in over my head!!! (Thankfully, Ben's natural fear of heights kept him off the table at that age.)

And I would like to point out that in less that two weeks, Rob will be an official college graduate. Three days left of class which includes one presentation and one paper, then two finals and he's done!! He finishes his work on May 4th and then graduates on May 8th. We plan to celebrate as a family, but we're not sure where or when yet.

My Boo-Boo

Boo-Boo is one of Anna's little nicknames. Moms will understand that sometimes these crazy nicknames just come out of our mouths and stick with the kids. Or maybe it's just me :) Anyway, Boo-Boo has been doing some rather funny things recently. One of them would be calling her own baby dolls Boo-Boo. My mother-in-law taught her how to hug the baby and so we play that little game, where we hug the baby and pass it on to be hugged. I added one little twist and starting saying "mine!" when I hugged the dolly, so she started that as well. She's a little too good at it, so I curbed the phrase...

We have moved the baby gate from the bottom of the stairs to the landing. She has been so determined to get up them that I figured I'd better just give her practice in a safer way. She can go up the three steps to the landing. It's kept her very occupied the past few days. She has figured out how to walk down the stairs holding the railing and has claimed the landing as her own little clubhouse, dragging her toys and drinks up the stairs.

As for drinks, she has decided to follow doctor's orders and start drinking from the sippy. She had a bottle this morning, then used sippys for the rest of the day. Go figure! This child has thrown cups at me repeatedly, had her own version of sit-down-strikes, and played with them more than drinking from them for the past few months. Next time I need her to transistion from something, I guess I'll just get the pediatrician on the phone with her! Who knew???

She is now saying "ma-ma" at times other than when she's cranky. She has picked up "no" and answers that to every question we ask her. She has her own form of "thank you" and says "no my" when she is around something she's not supposed to touch. She walks all the time now, which is a blessing. Her other funny habit is picking up paper and bringing it to us. Glad she's no longer trying to eat paper!!

And lastly, she is very sensitive. Anytime we have to say "no" to her to reprimand behavior, she cries buckets of tears. Her little lip quivers, tears start rolling, and then she wails. Rob says that he will never be able to discipline her. I don't know, she melts my heart too!!

The Doctor's Visit

Today Ben and Anna had check-ups. When I set up these appointments three months ago, Rob's work schedule was different and Anna's nap schedule was different. A 1:30pm appointment was feasible. As of now, it was not looking too pretty. However, God is good, and all went well.

I decided against finding a place for Matthew to go and just took him along with us. We talked alot about expected behavior and what would happen there. We took Rob to work and then went on over for their appointments. Thinking ahead each step of the way and telling the boys exactly what to do really helped. As we walked inside, I told them to hang up their jackets and then go play with the toys while I checked in. No problem. They even had a bunch of new toys that kept them well-occupied. Then I told them we would wait for our names. Matthew kept checking with me to see if we had been called :) I had already told them that Ben and Anna would be weighed and measured, so they knew exactly where to go and what to do. Matthew insisted on doing both as well, but repeatedly informed the nurse that he didn't need a check-up, he just wanted to know his weight and height (which is funny when you think about the fact that the numbers mean nothing to him.) Height measurements: MJ--41 inches, BJ--37 1/2 inches, AJ--31 inches. Weight: MJ--40 lbs, BJ--34 lbs, AJ--23 lbs. I expected Anna to be heavier, but she is deceptively chubby in the gut and the thigh. Ben is still growing in the 50th percentile for weight and height. Anna is in the 70's for weight and 80's for height.

We had two nurses join us, one for each of the kids getting the check-up. The male nurse kept asking questions about Ben that Matthew would answer, so I just turned the answering over to him :) Anna wouldn't sit still for her temp to be taken underarm, so the nurse did her ear. That's all I ever do at home, but we need a math equation to figure it out. Ben got the thermometor stuck on celcius and I can't figure out how to get it back! Anyway, at the end of that part, Ben had to go potty. The nurses realized we were in the wrong exam room, so they moved the other two across the hall while I took Ben potty. And then we waited for the doctor. The nurses put an extra toy in our room so the kids had plenty to play with. They also explored the exam table and the stool on wheels. My kids are usually more curious than naughty and they were all three VERY BUSY in that little room. Our pediatrician came in shortly and Matthew began chattering to him. I gave him the "be quiet" look and he obeyed, but that little guy has a hard time keeping quiet! There were no real concerns with the kids, other than I think Ben may have a slight vision problem (no real need to see an eye doctor just yet, though) and Anna is drinking too much milk. That means I have to push the sippy cups with her. Yeah. This is going to be LOADS of fun!

And then it was time for the poking. Anna had a lead and iron test done, so they had to squeeze blood out of her little finger. She screamed and wouldn't stop bleeding afterwards. She yanked off the band-aid, so I resorted to putting pressure on her finger with paper towel after paper towel. She quit bleeding right as the nurses came in to give her four shots. Poor baby was very upset! Matthew and Ben cowered in the corner with their ears covered. And then they kissed their baby sister and we went out, them to the toys and me to schedule her 15-month appointment and Matthew's yearly check-up.

We had an hour to kill before picking Rob up from work, so we went to Applebee's for dessert. Matthew placed the order for us and took his brother potty for me. He's getting to be so big! I think they put some "silly" in Anna's shots because she was goofy the entire time. The kids behaved very well and enjoyed some cheese sticks and huge sundaes. I thought I was going to have to pop their eyes back into their heads when the ice cream arrived. I told them, "You guys are getting really spoiled today." Matthew said, "Yep. And you are too, Mommy." I asked him how I was getting spoiled. He said, "We're letting you have a treat, too!"

God is good. Rob and I both prayed about today with me taking out the kids solo. We have two active, curious boys and it can be a chore to keep track of them sometimes. They were so good, and it can only be God that caused it to happen. I'm so thankful we serve a God who cares about the seemingly small details in our lives. I am pretty tired after all of that, but it was fun.

Children's Fair

Today was the Watertown Children's Fair. We had planned to take the kids, but then last night I started having some sciatica pain. Haven't had that since I was pregnant! It was pretty bad but subsided by morning, so we could proceed with our plans. The boys were very excited about going. Ben doesn't remember last year, but Matthew does and talked about his favorite things to do. Thankfully, it was pretty much the same :)

I did solve a mystery when we checked in at the front. A few months ago, I received a letter inviting me to do some preschool screening with Matthew. Since we're homeschooling, I want as little to do with the public school system as possible. I know that in Wisconsin I do not have to have him tested but the letters are worded to sound like it's the law. What IS the law is that the school system must provide screening, not that every child gets screened. Anyway, as I signed in the kids, I saw the words "Preschool screening form" at the top. I immediately stopped and informed the woman that since I am homeschooling, my children will not be involved in this. She claimed it was really just a registration form, and as an aside added that it WAS used for screening. I stopped arguing, but convieniently "forgot" to add the year of birth to the children's birthdates. Score one for me.

We had a great time purusing all of the booths. Every single one of them had a craft and it would have been impossible to do everything, so we directed the boys towards areas with activities, like the giant slide, puzzles, and other things that you can't take home. They did plant pansies, make a tooth, and make bouncy balls...things that are really cool and useful :) The FFA had a petting zoo back in their area of the high school (did I mention this was at the high school?) and the kids loved it. The boys got to hold baby chicks, pet a variety of farm animals, and feed dandelions to a horse. I was watching the kids while they were petting the cow and Matthew ran up to me and said, "The cow licked me!" Then a rather disgruntled Ben (who had his hand under the cow's mouth for a long time) said, "The cow would not lick me!!" He promptly returned to the cow and waited until he got licked :) Anna wasn't too sure about any of the animals, but Rob did have her try to pet the cow and a baby chick. Anna had WAY more fun when I let her loose near the inflatible slide. I thought she was having fun watching kids go down the slide until she took off toward the rear. Turns out, she was trying to figure out how to get ON the slide!! It's a stretch for Ben to climb up the thing, let alone Anna. Silly baby!

We spent about two hours there and then came home. I picked up loads of good info on some area events, Ben got a bike helmet and pads, and we all had a good time. Rob went to the play this afternoon with his former college roommate. Scott had offered to babysit instead, but I knew with this sciatica pain there was no way I could sit in a folding chair for two hours. The kids and I went to Aldi's instead and then played "Mommy would you get me" for awhile after we got back home. It's every mom's favorite game, where she gets three times as many requests for things as she has children. I finally told them I was cleaning off the table and would ignore all requests until I was good and ready to acknowledge them. And then I took my time cleaning off the table :)

In the Words of General McAuliffe....

....nuts. We missed out on our date tonight because I was sick. I woke up early this morning feeling rather icky and it just got progressively worse today. Rob came home from work at 7:30 preparing to get to class, but he just dropped off a paper that was due and stayed home instead. Then while we was at work (round 2) I got to feeling even worse than before with shakes, cold chills, and then the sweats. I called him home around noon. And then HE came down with it! Thankfully, he is not as bad off as I was, but it's a good thing we did cancel our date. Unfortunately, because the event is a Maranatha required event, he still has to try to go to another performance. It's the spring play, and we like plays and musicals, but it's the Music Man, which neither of us care for. So he'll be trying to get into the Saturday afternoon performance without me. **sigh** I'll be so thankful when he's a seminary student next year and all this stuff isn't required.

In more fun news, Miss Anna has become quite the little exhibitionist. She has figured out what makes us laugh and performs her antics repeatedly. They involve climbing onto the couch and falling onto cushions, standing and laughing as heartily as possible, and falling down and saying a version of "Ka-boom!" when she hits the ground. She and Matthew also "chase" each other around and laugh. She's trying to run now, but with very little success.

Matthew got one of those sticky frog things with his Easter bag from his Sunday school teacher. He didn't know it was sticky until he threw it onto the ceiling. We now have a green frog suspended from our 11-foot ceiling. Rob could get it down, but it's pretty funny seeing a green frog up there so we'll leave it for now. Reading has clicked for Matthew now and he's reading everything he can. It's so fun to see him excited about new books.

Ben started in Tiny Trackers with us a few weeks ago and it's been fun to see him interact with the other 3's. I've been particullarly impressed with his abilities in gametime. He's probably one of the best one's on the team and the other kids have been there all year! He may be our little athelete.

Time to go back to the couch....

A Hoppy Easter Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend, starting on Friday with a visit from the B family. Their daughter, Kaitlyn, is Matthew's future wife, according to him. They had a great time romping around the house (including a water fight in the bathroom with Ben as the poor, helpless victim and roughhousing upstairs with Ben as the poor, helpless, profusely bleeding victim.) Kaitlyn's sister is the same age as Anna, so the two of them toddled around together playing with baby toys. Fun was had by all (although Ben might not have had as much fun as his siblings....and the bleeding did subside quickly.) In the afternoon, the repairman came and fixed our oven (woo-hoo!) And after these opening acts, the main event rolled in around 4pm---Grandma and Grandpa Litwiller.

I'm sure that prior to visiting our home, both sets of grandparents have to undergo tough physical and mental training. Our boys can keep a set of grandparents hopping for hours on end with no break in sight. They will pull out as many games and books as can be fit into a short visit. Rob and I have to periodically say, "Let's let Grandma have a break. Here, watch a movie." We went out to supper that evening to Applebee's, which Ben loves. I think he just likes the grilled cheese :) Then the kids received Easter presents from both their grandparents and their great-grandma. Left to his own devices, Ben would have already consumed every last bit of chocolate! Both boys got new pajama sets and have only taken them off to go out of the house. Anna loves her animal crackers and "devoured" the handle of her new book.

The kids did settle down for bedtime, but woke up ready to roll again the next morning. We colored Easter eggs for the first time with them. The boys would have been ready last year, but I was a little preoccupied with a newborn :) We had fun and even did a little color mixing at the end. We went out for lunch to Upper Krust. The boys were too wired to sit still for long and never really did settle down until bedtime. In between that, their grandparents left, everyone but the boys napped, and we went out to do some last-minute Easter shopping. After getting the kids to bed, Rob and I went into cooking mode. We had to prepare an egg casserole for our Sunday school brunch the next morning and get our Easter lunch ready. I baked a potato casserole, Rob got green beans into the crock pot to cook overnight, and then the next morning replaced the green beans with a ham. It was yummy!!

In the morning, the boys woke up and found their Easter baskets in the dining room, emptied them, then hunted for the eggs in the living room. We got them both a book, a chocolate bunny, and a mushroom thingy that grows snap dragons. Anna received some Easter Little People and a cookie that we ended up throwing out b/c it was hard and nasty.

We had fun dolling up Anna for her first Easter at church. I even got a little bow to clip in her curls. The boys had matching polos. I wanted to find them Hawaiian shirts but they ones I saw were just goofy looking. We had a nice time at the services, then came home for lunch. The boys played egg hunt for over an hour, which pretty much destroyed the eggs :)

We had a nice Easter weekend and are looking forward to the next big event: Rob's graduation.

Chocolate Jesus

Tonight we went out to get Easter shirts for the boys and I needed to run into Wal-Mart before coming home. Rob kept the kids in the car and played music for them. Ben kept requesting the song "Chocolate Jesus." Rob couldn't figure out what on earth he wanted and kind of listened to a few of the songs. The CD was "O Veggie, Where Art Thou?" and has lots of old time gospel songs on it. Finally, Rob figured out that Ben wanted "Just a Little Talk with Jesus." I guess it does sound like "Just a little Chocolate Jesus" to a three-year-old. That song has officially been ruined for me forever, along with "A Mighty Fortress" (A Mighty Tortoise, thank you Dr. McGoldrick) and "O Come Now King Eternal" and I won't even mention how Rob distorted that one. Oh, and "Fill My Cup, Lord" parodied by my sister as "Fill 'Er Up, Lord." Is nothing sacred??? :)

Break through

A couple of nights ago, Ben and I went to my room for a little discipline over his running away issue. We sat on my bed and we talked for awhile, then I asked him, "Ben, why should you stay with Mommy?" He said, "Because I might get hit by a car." And then I asked him, "What would happen if you got hit by a car?" I really didn't think he understood the severity of getting hit by a car, but then he said, "I might die!" and he got very teary-eyed, lip quivering, then burst into tears. Wow! He actually understood that dying meant he wasn't with Mommy anymore. I didn't have to explain a thing. I took him onto my lap and cried with him. (If you've ever looked into my big-eyed, red-haired little guy's face when he's seriously crying, you'd cry right with him!) Then we prayed and asked Jesus to help Ben remember to stay with Mommy and Daddy so that he could be safe. He's been doing pretty good since.

In other news, Anna is walking about 80% of the time now. She just loves it. She laughs and claps for herself quite a bit. She will grab onto objects to steady herself as she passes them, like the piano bench, but she's doing well. My next step is to nix the bottle and get her onto sippy cups. She hates them overall and threw one at me the other day. I think she needs a softer tip to the cup and we only have one that fits the bill, so I may need to get a few more. She drained her juice out of it today so I know she'll drink from it. She still takes a pacifier at bedtime and naptime (but spits them out in her sleep) and I think we'll just let her have them for a bit longer. Neither Rob nor I are ready to give them up yet!!!

Matthew funny

Last night, Matthew was trying to read his Bible while Rob was in the bathroom. Rob kept hearing the most bizarre verses coming from the child. For example: For whom the Lord loveth he coretion of a father, and attend to know recteth, even as a father the son in understanding. whom he delighteth.

Rob was trying to figure out what was going on, when he realized that Matthew was reading straight across the page instead of by columns. Rob explained to him that each column was like a page. Mind you, he wasn't reading as well as what I typed..he skipped big words and ones he didn't know, but he did pretty good overall! I'm just impressed that he picked up a KJV Bible and read a portion of it.

Fun Family Time

Last night we decided to get a couple of movies from Family Video and have a movie night. We usually just grab something from the library for free, but we wanted to see WALL-E and were pretty sure it wouldn't be on the shelf. We also grabbed Fireproof for a later movie after the kids were in bed. Matthew and I went into the video store and I'm wondering how much longer I can take him in there before he starts noticing all of the movies with pictures of scantily clad women on the covers.

Anyway, we headed home for supper and then put in the kids' movie. Rob and I laughed ourselves silly through the whole thing and Matthew enjoyed it alot as well. Ben watched it off and on and Anna gave us many reasons to put the caption on :) We had popcorn half-way through and a good time was had by all. Rob and I really enjoyed Fireproof as well. Thankfully, we don't have a marriage suffering from the problems that couple did, but I did tell him he could do the Love Dare just so I can get flowers and such :) I started to cry toward the end and Rob asked me if I was crying. When I told him I was, he said, "Oh, good. I can cry, too!" He's such a big, sensitive teddy bear!

This morning we got some straightening done in our dining room closet (we have eight closets in this 2 bedroom duplex!) and I finally got all of the children's clothing sorted into it's respecitive places. (i.e.--garage sale, give-away, save for next year, etc...) Then I went over to the library to put a list of movies on reserve. They changed their system so I have a hard time using my home computer for that purpose. I also checked out "The DaVinci Code." I'm in the mode for something like that and it intrigues me. Rob and the kids picked me up (we live one block away) and we went to a furniture close-out sale. We didn't find anything in our price range so we went over to Farm and Fleet, where I found some clothes on my list and Matthew FINALLY spent a dollar I had given him that was burning a hole in his pocket. I actually found some khaki pants in my size. I'm a plus-size and I'm short, so I need petite, but that's hard to come by. Farm and Fleet is the place, I guess, in my price range. I have to laugh at my size because it makes me feel like those ballerina hippos in Fantasia. Large, yet dainty. (And don't get all appalled that I'm making fun of my weight--it's better than crying about it all the time!!)

After F and F, we went to a Family Fun Day sponsored by the FLOOD society at MBBC. The kids played all kinds of games, jumped on inflatibles, ate food, and had a ball. And it was all free! It was a community outreach thing. Rob and I won prizes by answering trivia questions. I also tried a brat for the first time ever. Being a very German area of the country, brats are everywhere around here. I have always considered them "boy food", but I actually liked it. Good thing, too, because I've been tasting it all day.

And now, it's time for a nap. The boys are raking the yard, Anna is napping, and I think I'll join her.

ARGH!!!

So today we had our monthly mom's group at church. The kids and I arrived a little late b/c we had to take Rob to work, but we were still there before it really began. I got my three cherubs settled into their respective nurseries then had loads of fun with the other moms for about two hours. And then I went to pick up the children.

I always take a stroller for Anna b/c she's just to heavy to carry, so I got her settled in. By the time I was done with that, lining up a sitter for the night of the MBBC play, and talking to another mom, the boys had taken off. This is not unusual because they love to visit our church secretary and the assistant pastor. I took off after them and saw Matthew go into her office, but Ben decided to run outside. And keep going. I chose to go after Ben, thinking that Matthew would be just fine in the office. Well. Ben kept on running to our car, not heeding any warnings (and in spite of the fact that another mom nearly hit him with her van when we arrived!!) I decided to just chuck him into his carseat, thus containing the wanderer. I strapped Anna in as well and was just getting in the car to drive back to the door when I saw another mom pop out looking for me.

Apparently, Matthew had left the office in search of me and was aided by 3 ladies in a search for his illusive mother. One of his biggest fears is being left behind by mommy, so he started weeping. He then saw me driving up and wanted to come outside to me, but was restrained by another lady, so he cried harder. By the time I got him, he was sobbing uncontrolably. I kissed and cuddled him and put him into his seat. I calmed him down and explained why I left the church and that I would NEVER leave him anywhere. I then pointed to Ben and said, "Look at your brother. You made him cry b/c you couldn't obey Mommy and stay with me." Ben apologized and actually looked sorry. We're trying to make Ben understand that when he runs away from us, bad things can happen to him or others. I hope the lesson sunk in this time!

We usually grab food from a drive-thru for lunch after Mom's group, so I let Matthew choose this time. Culver's it was and I was glad to buy it for him, poor little guy. He seems okay now. We're just going to have to work harder on staying with Mommy!!