How to Build a Ship in the Backyard

Star Trek has nothing on us.

Pile up all wheeled objects and hang on!

More than a head bucket

Conversation from yesterday:

LP: I need a new helmet, Mama.

Mama: Oh, yeah?  What's wrong with yours?

LP:  It's just not cool. It's silly. I don't like silly stuff.

Laughing ducks? Sitting on chairs? Get real!

Mama:  Oh. What's so silly about it?

LP:  It's just...it has all kinds of ducks and chickens. I don't like them.  And they're laughing and sitting on chairs. Chairs are not funny...they're boring. That's too silly. I want something cool.

Mama: So what would make a cool helmet?

LP: Something blue. Or maybe blue and red. Like a America* flag. Maybe some characters on it. Yeah...blue and red like a flag with characters. That would be cool.

Mama:  So who do you think should get you this helmet?

LP:  Papa. Because he likes helmets. He's good at bike stuff.

NO MORE SILLY HELMETS!

*This was not a typo - Benjamin still says "a America flag" despite my best efforts to teach him better grammar.

My Easter Week

This photo is one you never saw. It is from last Easter - a holy day that came and went shortly before we opened our home to two more children. Shortly before I had no time for anything other than children and family and keeping up with all the needs. This poor blog was sacrificed for nourishing the family.

This year, this Easter week, I am resting. We are a couple days into spring break which means there is no rush out the door for preschool, no afternoon pick-ups to interrupt nap time. It also means that our two foster children are with their dad for the entire week. He has been doing very well, and it seems that reunification will occur by the end of May.

Right now Benjamin and Sadie are playing in Benjamin's room. They are playing so nicely - something that never happens when Maks is around. That's the nature of kids...two play delightfully, but when a third enters the room, someone gets excluded. Both being five-year-old boys, Benjamin and Maks naturally get together and Sadie gets chased and poked with play swords. (The upside is, such antics are part of her warrior training. In fact, for her birthday we got her a play sword so that she would be able to fight back.) Our household is not actually all that violent, but anyone with boys knows that be it a rock, a stick, or a toy sword...it will get used assertively.

Back to the now. This week has given me time to work in the yard. We are planting strawberries and tomatoes in those Topsy-Turvy hanging containers. I am so excited to try this. The gophers have ravaged our garden and no matter how hard we try to curb them, we are losing. I am going to have to convince my neighbor (from whose yard they emigrate) to join us in hiring a service. Wish me luck on that.  In the meantime, I planted a bunch of flowers that the gophers reportedly don't like, and I am hanging our food from the beams.

I have also decided to tackle our front doors. I hate our front doors - they look like they were primered white and never painted. They have an oval leaded glass cutout that looks pretentious. But to replace the doors now is out of the budget. So I am going to paint them. Boldly. Turquoise. Oh yes, and the thought of that bright door with bright flowers around and butterflies in the air just makes me feel all tickly and happy inside. I have always wanted a whimsical home with bright colors and surprise pieces of art in random places. Such a transformation in a house this large takes time and money, and probably more than any of that, a gigantic amount of inspiration. I find that I stall out for months and then I will be hit with an idea for some room or corner. This is my current one.

One last thing for this week - we get to go camping and climbing in Joshua Tree for a few days. I haven't climbed in years and I will surely be weak and terrible, but the surge of joy I feel to be able to go out and camp and attempt a climb with dear friends more than makes up for it. I want my children to know and love the outdoors; this stuff is important.

So there is my rambling, off-the-top-of-my-head update. May you have a blessed Easter!

Halloween 2012

Halloween. The thing is, Benjamin needs a lot of forewarning if something out of the ordinary is going to occur. While I knew this, I did not do a very good job of juggling his nap with my costume preparation. I forgot to show him Day of the Dead photos to prepare him for my make-up. Papa just got him (and the other kids) into the van, and then I showed up in all my glory.

Benjamin:   Aaaaaah!!!  Ahhhhhh!  Aahhaahhhhhhhhhhhh!
Mama:  Benj, it's me, Mama.
Benjamin: (with terror in his eyes) Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!
Mama: Benj, I'm wearing make-up to look like a skeleton. It's OK, it's still just Mama.
Benjamin:  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!
Sadie: (breaking out in a wide grin) Hi, Mama!

I think we have establish which child has Mexican blood. Seriously, though, I felt awful traumatizing my boy like that. Once he calmed down, we had a really fun night.

Other than Sadie, who got the cutest little hand-me-down lion outfit, the kids picked their own costumes. Tati was a hippie. Maks chose to be Spiderman for the second year in a row. And Benjamin started out as a knight (with camo pants) and ended up with a bit of riot gear as well. We'll just call him our all-purpose defender.

Oh, Sadie. Cutest. Lion. Ever.

These photos only show about 70% of the kids who crammed into our friends' house. There were many more.

Brent always has to silently steal the spotlight. He was sitting like that just waiting for people to notice him and laugh.

And lastly, here are the mamas who help me stay sane. You might not know it from the looks of us, but we do a fair job of managing all our kiddos.

October 2012

I won't go into the reasons for the lag in keeping up with the blog - while it's disappointing to everyone (myself included), I just couldn't be Supermom of four kids and be Superblogger at the same time. In the end, I decided the kids were more important.

So let's get back to business.

October was a full month of festivities. First there was the Harvest Hoedown at Benjamin's preschool. I dressed as a cowgirl and helped supervise. Benjamin and Maks had a great time with all the farmy animals that they brought in. Sadie even got to tag along. She was most fascinated with some chickens in a coop. Benjamin loved trying to touch these tiny chicks.

Then there was cousin JJ's birthday party.

Cousin JJ and his cake. Benjamin is behind the gift bag.

Every year my cousin hosts her kids' birthday parties at this lovely park and we each way too much pizza and knock over a pinata. The kids love it. JJ is about three months older than Benjamin, so they team up at family gatherings.

In line for the pinata.

In preparation for Halloween, we carved pumpkins. This year Benjamin could design his pumpkin's face on his own, though Papa still wielded the sharp tools.

 

More Halloween pictures will make it into a separate post.

Lastly, we took the family to see a San Pasqual High School football game (Mama's alma mater). It was great fun...until it wasn't...and then we packed up our tired boys and headed home. We will definitely make these games a family tradition.

Hang in there. I am working on a few more posts. Love from our crazy house to yours!