Carter came home yesterday and informed me he had to turn a yellow card at school, which means he got a warning. When I dug deeper, he got real quiet. It was literally like pulling teeth to get any information out of him. After spending some time alone thinking about it, he finally shared that he and a friend were arguing about something. “Arguing?” I asked, “Well….er, no, we were just having a conversation about something…” and then when we reviewed the class rules, I read, “#1 I will listen and follow directions…” and without missing a beat he says, “Yep, I’m going to do that tomorrow!” It’s not quite as effective having a stern conversation when you can’t keep a straight face!
Kieferisms
Kiefer, my superhero wanna-be is always prepared for the next adventure. He comes in from playing in the snow and hangs his snow pants up with his boots already in tack, just like the firemen!
And the other day he was telling me, “Mom, I really like guns.”
I quickly said, “I don’t like guns, they can kill.”
To which he replied, “Oh, I don’t like those kinds of guns. I like the fuzzy guns. The ones that tickle.”
When I grow up…
Kiefer has made some vocational choices in the past week or so… he mentioned on the phone to Gigi the other day that when he grows up he wants to be Batman. At school on Monday, he told his teacher the same thing. And again today he informed Gigi. She asked if Batman will need a Grandmother and he plainly said, “No.” Then he continued, “I’ll have to go to Bat school to learn how to fly and jump rocks and stuff.” Then I heard him laugh and say, “I’m only in PRESCHOOL!” He does have this way about him that he bends one arm and knee and gets a running start before he disappears out of a room… maybe that’s his inner superhero coming out? So Carter wants to be a farmer and Kiefer wants to be Batman. These next 20 years should be interesting.
Batman – the saga continues…
Today, Wednesday, at Preschool Kiefer was entertaining his teachers telling everyone, including his music teacher that he was going to be Batman when he grows up. His teacher informed me he asked her, “So, don’t you want to tell your family?” And she said she did, and that she would text her son… then Kiefer asked her what he said… so she really had to text him and her son replied, “oh.” His teacher asked him if he was going to save the world when he was Batman and he said he was going to help God.
Then back at home he was changing out of his school clothes into his Buzz Lightyear costume and he started telling me that he was sad. I inquired as to why and he said, “I’m sad because I”m not going to be able to live here with you forever.” I said, “well, you can live here till you’re about 20, 22 max, then you’re lease is up.” He continued, “I’m sad I won’t get to live in a house because when I’m Batman I’ll have to live in the bat cave.”…
Where is he getting all this? He’s never even seen Batman!
BATMAN RETURNS:
Someone told Kiefer Batman doesn’t exist. (I think it was Carter.) So yesterday, Kiefer said, “Since Batman doesn’t exist, when I grow up I want to be a Nascar Driver. See, I even have my keys!” (A white elephant gift of a bunch of unknown keys including one with the number 8 on it decorated like a Nascar.)
Fine Tuning
I had Mimi’s piano tuned today. I can’t believe it’s been in our house nearly two years. That she’s been gone almost two years. It doesn’t seem possible. She died the day that Griffin was 5 months old. She wouldn’t even recognize him now – he’s running around, talking trying to keep up with his brothers not to mention that we added a whole other brother in that time. Life goes on… though her spirit is all around us. It bring such joy and comfort to be surrounded by so many of her things. Things I never imagined that I would have like her dining room set, her formal living room couch, her curio cabinet, the guest room furniture we always slept in, several chairs, tables…. She literally furnished our whole house for us. But the one thing I knew I was getting was her piano. She had asked me long ago if there was anything of hers that I wanted after she was gone. She had already given Sarah her (second!) piano and Mom already had the Steinway, so I was bold and I asked for it. This was at least ten years before she died. In fact, the first time she came to visit our new house, she was perched on the stairs for a breather and looked over the railing and stated with some satisfaction, “So this is where my piano will be….” but I said I didn’t want it for at least another 10 years and for her to still enjoy it.
But there it sits. Now mine. I still call it “Mimi’s piano” when I refer to it around the boyz. I love that it has scrapes and scratches from her fingers playing the keys. I love that I even have the same lamp that always accompanied her playing.
I’m determined to learn to play it. I took lessons from Pat for a while, but life got busy and I got so tired and nauseous with Fletcher’s pregnancy so I stopped. I want to start again.
It had gotten way out of tune. Mom gave me a tuning for Christmas. Mr. Barry came with his tool bag in hand and fixed her up. The boyz were fascinated and thankfully he was quite patient with them. Even with Kiefer calling him Mr. Farris (the name of Carter’s school principal!)
I couldn’t help thinking that it’s a perfect metaphor for the new year. That it’s that time of year to regroup, re-prioritize, get organized, clean a closet, empty the junk drawer, cinch the belt. A clean slate, a fresh start, a new calendar filled with empty pages yet to be filled.
How will we fill our time this year? How will we pass our days? Minutes add up to hours and hours fill our days. Will I carve out ten minutes a day to attempt to play piano? Will I take the time to sit and read to my kids? Will I get down on my hands and knees to play with them?
I have a list of goals – not resolutions but goals and I’m pleased that I took a stab at this blogging thing last year as it was one of my goals. I want to continue down this path as I’ve enjoyed the process of it and I’m enjoying the trail it’s leaving behind. The thing I enjoy the most is that it’s fluid – like life. This format works for me.
Fine tuning. Finding a rhythm, a routine, a plan that works and working that plan. I want to live my life intentionally. The days are fleeting and lately I’ve been reminded how precious life is.
When Mr. Barry was finished, he played Mimi’s piano…. I mean really played…and beautiful melodic music filled my house. And tears filled my eyes. Some goals are worth pursuing.
Which is more fun – the toy or the box?
The boyz have been enjoying their “big” Christmas present. We put it down in the basement while it’s still new for them to play with down there and then after the snow melted the first time they’ve already played with it outside in the yard and on the driveway. It’s adorable! But the best part is they’re still playing with the box! They won’t let Daddy-O throw it out! They colored it and they’ve made it into a fort- perfect for movie watching! We may not ever part with this gigantic box. Maybe they didn’t need the toy that was inside?!?
Embracing Winter as a Friend
In our family, we’re sorta strange. We love winter. From the first snowfall till the melt off. Ok, well maybe that’s taking it a bit too far. But while others complain about winter, we get out into it and enjoy it. TJ has a magnet on his refrigerator that reads, “Winter doesn’t last nearly as long when you embrace her as a friend.” So we’re trying to instill this love of winter in our children. Kids naturally love snow. It doesn’t take a lot of convincing. It’s edible, it’s slippery, it makes everything look pretty and – did I mention it’s slippery?
We went down to the lake during xmas break and the boyz went sledding down the hill countless times with Daddy-O. It’s hard to tell who was having more fun.
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| Kiefer sliding down the hill – smile as big as they come! |
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| Carter chasing after him |
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| Carter sliding down the hill… Weeeeeeeeee! |
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| Daddy-O towing them back up the hill |
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| Griffin not sure he really wants to participate, but enjoying watching |
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| Kiefer chasing after Carter |
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| Daddy-O rode down countless times… not sure who’s having more fun?! |
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| Here comes Creepy! |
When Uncle Creepy heard we were sledding he suited up in his Carharts and came over pulling the toboggan behind the four wheeler (or “Scrambler” as we call it in our family). He took Carter for a ride but when Carter slid faster than the Scrambler down the hill he wasn’t too thrilled with the thrill ride. Instead, they just went for a Scrambler ride. Carter refrained. 🙂
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| Uncle Creepy and Kiefer on the Four Wheeler |
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| Griffin & Daddy-O |
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| Story Time with Uncle Creepy |
There’s nothing like a story about “Max the Minnow” told by Uncle Creepy!
Anytime Griffin sees Creepy he tries to crawl up in his lap. He puts on a tough guy act, but he always stops what he’s doing to cuddle with Griffin. And Griffin is Creepy’s #1 fan. He’s always talking about “Tractor Creepy” or “Kunkle Creepy”. Now we’re hearing about “Creepy Scrambler” He sleeps with a four wheeler every night! How cute is that?
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| Log Splitting |
Before we left Carter & Kiefer jumped aboard the John Deere with Papa when he was loading firewood into the bucket and before I knew it they were gone. They’d been whisked away on a Papa adventure where they met up with Uncle Creepy in the woods and they helped work the log splitter. They filled two buckets on the tractor with firewood and their job was to stack it in the bucket and then reload it and stack it in the wood shed. Once he returned to school Carter had to write and illustrate a picture highlighting what he did during Christmas break. Of all the things we did – THIS was what he chose to write about. He even drew a picture of the log splitter! (and labeled it so his teacher would know what it was). I’m learning so much having boys!
One of my favorite memories wasn’t captured in pictures but we hiked over to Creepy’s wearing snowshoes pulling Kiefer in the sled at dusk then hiked back under the blanket of stars. It was pitch black but the snow glowed a blueish hue that only snow can do at night. At first the boyz (and their mother!) were intimidated, but we carved away the darkness with song! It was one of those moments I want to store in my memory bank forever… hiking in the dark, all bundled up, towing Griffin on my back, Daddy-O pulling Carter & Kiefer in the sled singing ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Doe a Deer’ and ‘Jesus Loves Me’ at the top of their lungs!
Top 10 Christmas Memories
10. Overhearing Carter say how he loves going to visit all the grandparents on Christmas Day because there are presents at each stop!
9. Going to church on Christmas Eve with Carter just the two of us because the others were sleeping. He wore his nice dress pants and suspenders from the wedding and even wore his cap! He sat on my lap the whole time and as we were leaving there were big huge snowflakes falling from the sky! We were going to have a White Christmas!
8. The kids singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blowing out the candle with Aunt Susie.
7. Dressing the boyz in all the same shirts on Christmas Eve
6. Hearing Chloe, their cousin say “There’s one!” when she was trying to round up the Jay boyz to open presents
5. Hearing the boyz spontaneously say “Thank you!” for presents they were opening.
4. Seeing the magic in their eyes on Christmas Eve as they set up the table with Christmas cookies for Santa and then Carter reminding me that “Santa said I had to go to bed early…”
3. Me going around to each bedside to video once they were all asleep and coming into to Carter & Kiefer’s room right as Kermit was singing “there’s only one more sleep till Christmas….!”
2. Sneaking down to see how Santa left things all perfect right before the boyz woke up!
1. The Magic of Christmas morning! The best morning of the year! They were so excited!
(Christmas Morning Top 10)
10. The blanket barricade. We made them wait till everyone was awake and Jim made a blanket barricade so they couldn’t sneak down without us.
9. Stairs Photo Opp! Seeing all 4 of them waiting on the steps as they posed for pictures.
8. Hearing a genuine, “I wanted that!!!” As they rushed to see what Santa left!
7.That they were just as excited about the goodies in their stockings as the big gift!
6. That Griffin sat in the Gator the whole time sucking on a peppermint stick and didn’t open any of his presents!
5. That Carter could read the gift tags this year!
4. That once they opened everything I laid Fletcher down in a pile of wrapping paper and let him have at it! The highlight of his Christmas was kicking, eating, tearing and slobbering on the paper!
3. That we all sat down to have a Christmas breakfast of waffles, spinach, bacon egg quiche, cinnamon rolls and orange juice on the Christmas china.
2. That we didn’t have to be anywhere till noon… but it was actually not till 12:30! So we gained an extra half hour!
1. That when I tucked Carter in after a very long but wonderful day he said that he said his favorite gift was his Velveteen Rabbit and that he was just kidding about his secret wish and that he really wanted a Gator instead. (smart boy, because that’s what he got!)
0.5 That Kiefer chose to bring his Buzz Lightyear costume as his favorite present that he received and that he changed into it at Mom & TJ’s and wore it most the evening! He really likes it!
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Carter was sooo excited to put out all the crafts he had made for Santa. He’d been begging to put up this table for weeks! Finally, it was Christmas Eve (he put it all up first thing that morning!)
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Chloe and Carter at Christmas Eve dinner, she’s mildly amused with them… mildly
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There’s one!
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There’s another!
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They’re everywhere! And their smiles are beaming!
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Merry Christmas! Griffin claps on the hearth
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The one and only picture of Fletcher… he wore a matching plaid shirt under his Christmas sweater… just taking it all in
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Carter & Kiefer setting out the cookies for Santa (and crafts!) & Reindeer Food that Kiefer told Santa about
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The Reindeer headdress and bag of crafts accompanied the cookies (later there was much disappointment that Santa didn’t keep them)
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Griffin was all about the cookies… even created his own step stool to reach
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Sleeping babies…. Fletcher
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Griffin
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Carter & Ellie (Spelled L-E)
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Kiefer
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The Night Before Christmas…Visions of Sugarplums for sure… what is a sugarplum?
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Stockings overstuffed by the chimney with care
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Sure looks like St. Nicholas was there!
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The meaning of Christmas hopefully shines through
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The Blanket Barricade in action
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Trapped!
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Pleeeeaaassssee!!!! Can we go downstairs yet? (notice it’s still dark outside!)
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Griffin’s eager to go downstairs
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Four boyz in Pj’s eagerly await surprises that wait downstairs
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“Ohhhh!!! I wanted that!!!” Merry Christmas!!!
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| Griffin with his peppermint stick sitting in the Gator |
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| Kiefer |
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| Carter opening a tractor |
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| Carter’s new books |
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| Fletcher’s one an only present – a baby calendar like his brother’s |
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| Griffin never left the Gator… they piled his presents in the back |
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| Fletcher had a blast with the wrapping paper |
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| Kiefer in his Buzz Lightyear costume |
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| All Six of us |
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| All the grandkids with Papa & Creepy |
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| Griffin fell asleep in “Kunkel Creepy’s” arms and when he woke up later while driving home he asked for him by name! |
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| Merry Christmas! We posed with the only boy who would stay still! |
THE List
I added two to the list today so I decided it was time to make a public record of this list.
The absurd things I’ve said as a mother I never thought I’d say…
- Don’t spike the football off your brother’s head (12/20/10)
- We don’t drag our brother down the stairs (12/20/10 -good day, huh?)
- Don’t lick the doorknob (Carter was 2)
- Don’t drink that puddle (When Carter was 2 @ our old house)
- Don’t wipe your nose on the couch (Thanksgiving 2009)
- Don’t spit at your grandmother (Carter)
- We don’t open umbrellas in the car (Kiefer)
- “Hey! We don’t say hey!” (silly Mommy!)
- Don’t squish your brother in the refrigerator! (Dec. 2010)
- We don’t throw bricks at our brother (the cardboard kind, but it sounds good!) (Dec 2010)
- “We don’t eat off the floor like a dog.” (Griffin, Fall 2010)
- “We don’t use scissors to cut our brother’s hair!” (Carter cut Kiefer’s hair in our old house fall 2008) (I knew they were up to no good when they were playing quietly in the basement too long)
- “Don’t hit your brother on the head with a tractor!” (Kiefer slammed Carter in the head, there was even bloodshed) Fall 2010
- “Don’t jump out the window!” (I said to Carter when he was outside the sunroom and I was inside! Summer 2010)
- Don’t slam your brother’s head in the car door! (Dec. 2010)
- Don’t dust your brother (Jan 2011)
“Mom, I broke this!”
The fix it shop has been quite busy lately mending broken ornaments and the like. Yesterday I nearly superglued my fingers together fixing the slew of broken items. I think it’s a causality of Christmas. We can’t hang all these pretty, shiny, miniature toy-like things at eye level and not expect a few causalities. But the one that got me the other day was when Carter came to me with the kid-friendly Joseph in his hand and sheepishly confessed, “Mom, I broke this.” I sang out with my forgiving, “Oh, that’s ok. We can fix it.” but then I inquired, “How did you break it?” Looooonnnng pause… “I hammered on it.” “HAMMERED on it!?!” “go to your room!” Which is where I send him when I need a time out. Hammered on it? I’ve long since hidden or disposed of all the toy hammers after we have hammer marks on the wall and a few pieces of furniture. But just like all boys will make guns out of sticks or wrapping paper tubes or even their hands if left alone too long so too, they seem to make hammers out of nothingness. This one was cleverly crafted from wooden nuts and bolts from a toy workbench set. Just one more thing I need to hide. Joseph is now repaired and accompanying Mary in the cardboard manger where he now has a superglue scar across his forehead. I had to remind Carter and myself that I love him more than things and that I appreciate his honesty but that he needs to learn to take care of our things. We’ll see what gets broken today. 6 More days till Christmas. Is it too soon to take down the tree Christmas day? 🙂
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| Joseph and the technicolored hammer -oops, wrong Joseph! 🙂 |
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| The fix it shop |
Kiefer’s prayers
Kiefer has been giving the most adorable prayers lately… here’s a sampling:
“Dear God, thank you for Mommy & Daddy and thank you that they didn’t get attacked by crocodiles.”
“Thank you for the snow plow guy.”
At a playdate at Graham’s house… “Dear God, we love Mommy, and Griffin, and Fletcher and Graham and Graham’s mommy.”
“Thank you for all the children in the world.”
And the other day while driving to Peggy’s/Nana’s house for an early xmas dinner, I was in the backseat tending to Fletcher and was unbuckled while Jim was driving on the snow covered roads. Not the wisest thing to do, but necessity won out. While Jim was passing another car I delicately reminded him that I was unbuckled back there and then I felt this brave little elbow reach across me shaking with all his might to hold me in case of calamity. My sweet Kiefer boy was being my knight in shining armor!