Jun. 14, 2009 - Miss Mouth
Sophia. Give me those Leggos! Oh my goodness. How did you fit all those in your mouth?
Give me ALL the Leggos. Yes. That last one.
She wanted to keep the Leggos. She's not happy with me. Awwww, Sophia. Give me a smile.
There. That's sort of a smile. :-) I'm forgiven.
Now who left the Leggos out????!!!!!!
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Nov. 30, 2008 - Housekeeping
We got a new dishwasher yesterday. Our old one up and died about a month ago. We knew it was on the way out, but wanted to use every bit of life the poor thing had left. We suceeded!
Every time my Mom fills or empties her dishwasher (or ours, or anyone else's) she thanks God for it. Growing up without one, she knows what it's like to have to wash every little fork, plate and spoon. Now the Darin Beard family understands her thankfulness. A family of seven can generate quite a few dishes.
Back when we first had to do without our dishwasher, every single one of us approached it as a challenge. We were no wimps. We could wash our own dishes! Well, we did wash our own dishes, but we were not happy about it after the first few days.By the time Darin got home with the dishwasher yesterday, we seriously had to debate whether to install the dishwasher first, or put up the Christmas tree first. That's a big deal considering our kids start harassing us about putting up the tree once November hits.
Even though it's nice having a new dishwasher, I balk at the new thing in the house. For one, it's a different color and doesn't look the same sitting among our cabinets as the old one did.
On another housekeeping note, last week for school, Lydia had to write a short little thing trying to persuade me to let her do something I would "never - ever" let her do. I was very interested in what she would write about. Being the freaky, over-protective parents we are, there are a lot of things Lydia, who is 10, is not allowed to do. Just which one of those things would she choose to beg me to allow her to do? Here's what she wrote:
Please, please, let me iron, Mama. I wish I could so much. I'll work on ironing while you rest! Please.
God bless us, every one.
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Aug. 28, 2008 - Stay Out Till Dark Night
With five kids, Darinand I have found we can't be as spontaneous as we used to be, so this summer we have worked at adding in some regular fun with the kids.
The first thing we added to our schedule is Stay Out Till Dark Night. This is every Tuesday night. Darin brings home ChickFilA for dinner and we eat as quickly as we can, throw away the trash and head outside till dark! This is how I learned that I had gotten old. The kids were playing tag with the neighbor kids and I decided I wanted to jump in and play, too. Very quickly, all the kids figured out that if they chased me, they could easily catch me and I would be It. And then of course I could only catch the little kids. HA! Now I just watch the kids play tag. It's funny....Stay Out Till Dark Night has become a neighborhood event. All the neighborhood kids try to be home on Tuesday nights so they can stay out with us. On another note, isn't it weird how we have to plan a night like this? When I was a kid, we pretty much stayed out till dark every night of the summer.
Other events we have slowly added in are game nights. This is two times a month on Fridays. We usually play a card game since board games usually only allow for four people and those that allow for more usually take soooooooo long. ;-) Scrapbooking Night is once a month on Friday. Darin is teaching the kids Art on the other Friday nights. We also have a weekly movie night with the kids. Lydia and I run errands on Wednesday nights as well as grocery shopping on Sunday afternoons. Darin usually works with the boys on some sort of home improvement project on the weekends - we've got plenty of those opportunities!
We're just tryin' to live "on purpose" with our kids. It's so easy to let the dirty kitchen and the bedtime routine become the focus of our evenings. Especially for Darin and me. We are task-oriented people all the way! It would be easy to let the bigger size of our family and the extra work that brings rule our days and nights. The work will always be here but the kids will not. Our biggest reminder of that is this one.....our first teenager!
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Aug. 13, 2008 - Return of the Fungi
A new gift awaited me when I came downstairs this morning.
Now I have TWO gigantic mushrooms! Are they totally gross, or what? ;-) Sally, I really, really hope and pray that girl is out there for my boy! You give me hope!
On another note, my mushroom boy has discovered Google Earth. It is so neat! If you don't have it on your computer, it's a free download. We traveled all over the world this afternoon. I grew up in Cheektowaga, NY, so we put in my old address and flew there! Not only did we see the roof of my old abode, but we were able to zoom in for a "street view" and it's like we were there. We saw my old house as if we were standing right in front of it. SO cool and so neat. My kids were able to see where I spent many of my growing up years! We also visited the church that my Dad started in Cheektowaga. Amazing. We've wanted to take a road trip up that way, but until we actually do, it was fun to go on a virtual trip to my old stomping grounds.
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Aug. 12, 2008 - Fungus Alert
Today my son brought me a gift.
He put it in the water for me, too. God bless him. I need to have a chat with him before he starts thinking seriously about girls.....
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Jul. 31, 2008 - Kitchen Fun
I made the mistake of calling my parents while I was fixing dinner tonight. Fixing dinner around here is not a quiet affair. I was in charge of the quiche, and my daughter was in charge of the biscuits. Our 2 year old was interested in the biscuit making, and our 7 month old usually just wants to be wherever most of us are, so I spent half the time on my phone with my parents saying, "What did you say?" Or "Henry! Put down the egg and walk away!" Or "I'm sorry, Mom. Hold on a second....." ugh. ;-) My Dad said he was trying to picture all of us in the kitchen trying to work around all the commotion, so I took pictures....
Here is our stylish biscuit maker in her Starbucks apron and what she called her chef's hat.
After awhile, we finally diverted our biscuit apprentice to some water in the sink with a dinosaur and Goliath.
Here's Lydia cutting out her biscuits. Me, being the control freak I am, I HAD to ask her why she just didn't cut out the biscuits in circles, like *I* do. HA! The Christmas cookie cutters are so much more fun. ;-)
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May. 6, 2008 - Yarn! Glorious Yarn!
The hardest thing about my Husband's Grandmother's death was all the stuff that was left behind. It seemed so wrong to be divvying it all up and seeing it go to the four corners in a heartbeat. The whole thing seems so odd to me. Death comes so quickly. Grandma was walking into the Senior Citizen Center for lunch with a friend. Her friend dropped her off at the door and while she was walking in, she had a heart attack and died before she hit the ground. BAM! Just like that. The doctor said she probably never even knew she was gone - well, until she got to the Pearly Gates! :-) I tell ya, I don't know how people can live without the Hope that Christ has given. He is so good, and our family is able to rejoice, thinking of her meeting Jesus face to face and visiting with other family members who are there. My Husband's grandparents have become like my own grandparents since mine were all dead before I was born. I wonder if she ran into my grandparents and said, "hey....I knew this girl.....she married my grandson....." Silly. ;-)
Anywho.....the picture above is Grandma's yarn. She knitted 10-12 afgans each year and gave them away to fundraisers, or to my Husband's aunt, who is a realtor. She gave an afghan to each of her customers that bought a house through her. She knitted them for her family. We have two or three of them. As you can see from the amount of yarn, she had big plans for a lot of afghans! :-) And so now the yarn is mine, and the only thing I knit is dishrags! Our family and extended family will never be without a homemade dishrag from now on.
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Mar. 21, 2008 - Happy Birthday, Henry!
Today is Third Son's birthday. He is TWO! :-)
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Mar. 12, 2008 - My Baby
I was so tired this afternoon. After I finished nursing Second Daughter, I put her in her little Papasan chair at my feet while I dozed in my own comfy chair. You know how a snooze in a chair goes - I wasn't totally out, and for the most part could hear what was going on around me. I did hear her talking and making raspberry noises. When I finally opened my eyes to take a peek at her, this was what she looked like. I had to get a picture of that. It tops the "sitting in the high chair with cake batter all over their faces" pictures any day. ;-)
Here's another picture of her looking a little more pretty.
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Feb. 2, 2008 - I Am a Human Napkin
I am a human napkin. Second Son sits next to me on a bench at the dinner table. There are always a few times during a meal that he will slide over to cuddle with me and wipe his mouth on my arm while he's there. First Daughter has been known to give me a hug and wipe her nose on my shirt front while she's at it.
I assumed that I became their human napkin because of laziness or something, but I'm beginning to think it's something that is innate because the other day, Third Son, who is only 22 months old, was washing his hands at the kitchen sink. I was standing there with him and after he finished rinsing the soap bubbles down the drain he reached over to me and said, "Dry hands, Mama" and proceeded to grab my shirt to do the job. While he was at it he gave me a big hug.
I am a human napkin, and I am loved. ;-)
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