Saturday, we spent the day at Oil Ranch Farm and it was lovely! Hot and humid, but lovely. The kids got sunburned quickly – I remembered to pack a cooler of ice water but forgot the sunscreen – doh! There’s surely some kind of mother award for that maneuver. Anyway, the kids each had favorite things: Ben’s was riding the ponies, Jack’s was the waterslide, Gabe’s was riding the train and Cole’s was the free food, drinks & snow cones.
Introducing Pepper, the pound puppy. We adopted her last Saturday on a whim. We have been wanting a puppy for awhile – mastiff, rottweiler or german shepherd but when we saw this brindle boxer / black lab mix at the pound she was so sweet and we couldn’t leave her behind. She’s just shy of 5 months old and it’s taken a week but she’s starting to come out of her shell. Welcome to our home, Pepper!
The big news for me is this past Sunday I got released from serving the women in our ward. Whew. I am so excited – my schedule just got MUCH more clear! I feel like I finally have time to clean up the house and finish moving in. We never really settled since I received that calling about 8 weeks after moving in. So, what have I done with the past 3 days? The kids started swim team and even though nobody has had even a lesson, they are doing fantastic and adjusting and, most importantly, enjoying themselves. Here’s to a glimpse of summer!
My baby is 4. And he’s not a baby (hasn’t been for awhile but I’ve been blissfully ignorant). He has taken THE. LONGEST. TIME. to potty train. All of my other boys were trained before 3 or at least right when they turned 3. I know boys take longer but aaaaaaaah! He’s finally got it…almost. We’re still working on #2 but he is doing so very good at staying dry in skivvies all day. He picked out a dragon birthday cupcake-cake and we all had green frosting everywhere for the evening. Bennie is such a joy. I just love to kiss his freckled face and squeeze him for hugs. He is a delight. I’m so glad he’s mine.
The bed so generously given to us by a good friend – thanks, Becky! Pre-surgery but anticipating his new accommodations in Mom & Dad’s room!
It’s been so long and I haven’t been able to write out the details. So, you’ve been spared, dear reader. However, things went perfectly well. The cyst was about a half an inch long when it came out and the surgeon said it looked like a calcified cyst. A normal overgrowth of cells that most likely is not cancerous or anything dangerous or recurring, though they did send it off for tests but told us that we probably wouldn’t be hearing anything (which, knock on wood, we have not!). He still has the tape on them but the incision and stitches look good – they will dissolve, eventually. He is a trooper!
When Gabe said he wanted to make a Duracell battery, I thought…well, okay, if that’s what you really want. I should have known better than to second guess this creative kid. It is adorable and a very cool looking car! He came in 2nd and 3rd in most races – and I think Gabe had a really fun night. Great job to all the boys involved: Don, Cole & Gabe! They all had fun making the Duracell car. I think we’ve started a new tradition because next year they want to do a Coke can, then a bag of Lay’s chips, then a Kleenex box. I sense a recurring theme here…
Polyphemous Moth.
Luna Moth.
The kids are on a moth kick ever since the huge polyphemous moth we found coming home from dropping Cole off at youth conference. This is a dead and quite dry luna moth that Don found for them. So pretty for a moth! That cute, chubby hand holding it belongs to Ben.
Gabe turned 9 today. I did not spend the day in tears like I did when Cole turned 10. Maybe next year. I am sad, however, that the time flies so very quickly. I remember the day he was born as if it were yesterday. He was such a chubby baby! 9 lb 1 oz. As they carried him across the surgery room, his chubby arm flopped over the towel and it looked like I had a toddler! I was nervous because he did not cry. Just opened his eyes and looked around. They laid him near my face so I could see him – even though my arms were strapped down so I could not hold him — and he just laid there and looked at me for the longest time. I think I got to hold him in the surgery room for more time than any of the other boys.
Today, he is still an observant yet quiet kid – until you push him too far. He’s the one who can ride in the car without too many arguments with his brothers (except he is our carsick-easy kid). I love this about him. He can be engrossed in just being outside, or a book, or a movie and is completely content.
Some of my favorite things about Gabe:
1: He lounges. The pic above was at Hermann Park. Everybody else was climbing, running, getting hurt and Gabe was lounging. The arms behind the head is a sure sign of Gabe’s favorite position. He is a laid-back kind of guy. I love this!
2: He loves cold things: ice cream, popsicles. This is my kind of kid. Ayurvedics call this vata, I think (or is it pitta?)…whatever. It’s his area of expertise. He can devour cold things like nobody’s business.
3: He is kind. When I offered to take him alone to see “How to Train Your Dragon” the first words out of his mouth were a soft but surprised, “But I don’t want to go without my brothers.”
4: Gabe is smart. He was his 2nd grade teacher’s favorite student. He continues to do very well in school. He is so imaginative that he has to work on concentrating but watch out when he applies himself, the sky is the limit.
5: He is funny. He has an amazing sense of humor – better than most adults that I know. Gabe has been making us laugh since before he was born. He tried to grab the amnioscentesis needle TWICE as the doctor reinserted it in different pockets of fluid. He could sense a disturbance in the force. It’s no wonder he’s a Star Wars fan. He’s a seriously funny kid – even at 2 weeks old. I was singing in the temple choir for Winter Quarters and had to buy a nice dress (2 weeks post baby!) for the dedication and we were in a nice department store and Don was holding Gabe outside the dressing rooms. He tooted so loud and so often that it sounded – no joke – like an adult. EVERY single woman there thought it was Don and he was trying to pass the blame to Gabe – a 2 week old baby (yeah, right!)…but it really was Gabe. We used to say “Gabriel won’t you blow your horn?” when he was so very tiny. Thankfully he grew out of this stage very quickly.
Gabe is many more things – I could never cover them all – but today, he’s 9. One more year we’ve been lucky to have him in our lives. We love you, kiddo. Love, Mom & Dad
Two quick things:
1) At the dinner table, Cole wanted to go to bed early. I said FINE because his biological clock is changing (puberty and all) and Jackson piped up, “Mom! All the clocks in this house are different!!” Apparently it bothers him that Don puts the bedroom clocks ahead about 15 minutes to stay on time in the mornings, but his timing was impeccable!
2) Benjamin was in our bed going to sleep last night and Don started to doze before the rest of us. He was just starting to snore and Ben sat up and proclaimed, “Dad’s sleeping grouchy!” I had to tell him it was called snoring.
So the boys have piano lessons from a family member that lives near a school park. Whenever the boys go to piano, we go to the park in her backyard. I was trying to be such a cool mom so I invited some friends and picked them up on the way. I love invitations that involve a park because it doesn’t involve messing up the house. Anyway…this park is also a school playground. Our time there often overlaps with the after-school-daycare kids (i.e. a bunch of 2nd and 3rd graders, usually). This mix has never posed a problem but today it certainly created an interesting experience for me.
Whenever I take Daisy, I am hands-down the most popular woman at school. Boys AND girls come up and hang out next to me just to pet her — like a good 85% of the kids that are there. While they were petting Daisy, Ben came up and said, “I’m flea (three)!” I continued to converse on their level by asking how old they were. Ben ran away and somehow one of the kids noticed he’s still in a diaper. I told them that yes, we’re working on potty training and told them Ben was a little scared of the potty seat. Then, I proceeded to ask one of the craziest questions ever, “Were you ever afraid of the potty seat or have trouble learning?” Encircled by the wisdom of a very diverse group of 7, 8 and 9 year old kids – BOY did I get a lesson! One said that he wasn’t afraid of the potty seat but his brother was and that he got to pee outside. Another said that his mom put toys in the toilet for him to pee on. A little girl piped up that she wasn’t afraid of the potty but when she was 3, she ate a cockroach. Oh, man, these kids were cute! They were so adult about the whole thing – giving me advice and telling me that it would all work out and being totally supportive of Ben and not making fun of him one bit. I think kid wisdom is underestimated. I didn’t see any of these kids go and tease him behind my back or anything!!
We had a great day today! It felt like it was the first day in 8 months (since we moved here) where we could just get in the car and explore. We met some old Nebraska friends at George Bush Park in Katy and then we headed to Bass Pro at Katy Mills to get Cole some things for his scouting adventure this week. We wandered home on the back roads with happy hour Sonic drinks and had a wonderful day. It was so good to see the amazing women from back home. Love ya, Lorelei, Julia & Becki — you’re part of who I am. I have the fondest memories of growing up together. xoxo Lizabeth
I was making one but I wanted a backup. I had two backups. Gabe and I decorated THREE cakes and he liked them all so much he wanted to take them all, which was kind of embarrassing (I am a recovering overachiever), but I let him and it was fine. If you click on any of the pics, it will take you to our flickr account so you can see all of the photos. The ganache seeped into the hurry-up chocolate cake and it was divine. The sponge cake was also very good. I don’t think I can pick, myself! Which one is your favorite?
Last Friday was Texas Day…or something like that. I have videos to upload but meanwhile, check out the pics on our Flickr account.
It’s a little gnome army. Cute, huh?!?
Jack’s showing off his candy sweetheart ipod box. Both ideas are from Family Fun online, except I modified the gnomes by sewing the hats instead of gluing them with fabric glue.