Sweet Boy #2–”We’re never gonna have haircuts at our cabin!”
Boy Quotes
The Hunky Hubby was taking pictures. Sweet Boy #2–”Can you do one with every of our kids Daddy?”
Sweet Boy #2–”The owie is making my foot juicy. There’s juice in your body that helps owies heal.”
Sweet Boy #1–”This is a wheat grinder, The wheat grinders are fighting!” Followed by a good deal of wrestling and um…grinding of flour, I think.
Sweet Boy #2 runs into the room and slides across the floor. “Mommma, watch my uuurch!”
The Harrowing/Heartwarming Parent Moment of the Week
The winner this week…driving the 20 minutes from my lovely sister’s house to the hunky hubby’s room at the conference. In the dark, at bedtime, with three boys, in the rain, with one headlight out, when unbeknownkst to me our exit only allowed entry to traffic coming from the north. It took me 55 minutes and a good deal of prayer, but at least everyone was asleep when we finally arrived and the hunky hubby was standing on the street corner in the rain waiting to flag us down. So although I felt just about ready to light my head on fire and add hair spray, I felt very much loved.
Reading Tai-Bo
This week was weird. I started a book at the lovely sister’s house, got half way through, but it was a library book so I left it there when we came home. Now I’ll have to order it from our library to finish up. It was the story of the polar bear king and his true love in novel form, titled Ice. Lots of fun, but very dramatic. And now I am mostly through Deception, a Christian detective novel that has a wonderful twisty plot. What did I learn from my reading this week. From the polar bear book, that when you read something to yourself it sounds much more plausible then when you read it aloud to a friend. Such as lines like: “No, I will not have your cub, I’m too young to be a mother.” I loved the book, but the high level of drama really reared its head when I attempted to discuss the plot with my lovely sister. And from the detective novel…there is a reason that writing instructors say one must only use one metaphor per page. They begin to sound hilarious if used slightly too much, and infuriating if used more than that. But despite the metaphors the plot is marvelous and at one point you are sure that every one of the characters committed the murder, even the protagonist. Very good. So I guess something else was pounded into my head as well. A writer can be really good at one thing and make some ridiculous mistakes on another area and still tell a good tale.
Breaking News
We met the cousins this week and together ransacked the Portland Zoo. It was wonderful. This is the very first zoo visit where all three of my boys walked the whole time…when I wasn’t carrying them. No room for the stroller in the car you know. My youngest is only two and I forgot his harness but I improvised with a hankie tied to the back of his coat and the older boys each had a zoo buddy. They held hands with a cousin and together they rampaged in joyous abandon.
The animals were quite active and interesting and there wasn’t a crowd. The hairless moles, star-burst tarantula, and African hunting dogs were favorites. Then after two hours, we drug our exhausted brood over to the Children’s Museum where they would have happily been embalmed and left for eternity if my lovely sister and I had allowed it. Just the rubber gravel room alone would have done it, but there was also a shopping center, drama dress-up with real stage, and a water room that was to die for. And then we drove to the cousins house and got to stay over which in my boys mind was just as exciting an occasion. Fun fun fun! But not quiet. Ah well, everything worth experiencing is worth experiencing at 10x the recommended level of noise pollution allowed to band instructors, machinists, and those guys that drive dump trucks whose tires are taller than our house.
Writing Pilates
Bosomella slid her legs beneath one of Miss Borka’s bobby pins and braced her back against a gleaming ivory comb. Fairies were frowned upon at high society gatherings, something about the unfettered rage of the wrongfully enslaved, the normal drivel, but as a hair decoration she was completely invisible. And after giving her solemn oath not to bite anyone or sprinkle any but the blandest of concoctions into the roasted pheasant, even the scowling footman agreed that Miss Borka could use a bit of looking after.
The legs were working marvelously, and as long as her mistress took it slowly and no one stepped on one of the artificial toes they should continue to move her with lilting grace across the cold castle floors and into the prince’s arms. Miss Borka took a sip of honeyed ale and raised her eyes to find the prince himself eyeing the undeniable perfection of her loveliness. Bosomella knotted her fists into her mistresses hair and focused on looking fake and decorative, for prince Andrej and his prized hunting hound Snorf were most assuredly coming their way.
Writing News
Well…The Hunky Hubby had a Christian Camping Conference at Canon Beach and so the whole herd of us tagged along. Got to visit the cousins and had a blast, but Dietrich (my lovely laptop) crashes every time I open Microsoft Word, so I didn’t get much writing done. Back to the grinding stone this week.
Boy Quotes
Sweet Boy #2–”Girls are skinny and tall, boys are fat and short.”
Sweet Boy #1–”If I were a cactus I would be the light light green one with pink thorns.”
The boys were running around talking about a secret weapon for killing monsters when I overheard this little bit of dialogue.
Sweet Boy #2–”Don’t tell it to Momma.”
Sweet Boy #1–”I won’t tell anyone. You can trust me.”
Sweet Boy #1–Puts arm around his little brother’s shoulder. “I won’t trick you like other times.”
The Harrowing/Heartwarming Parent Moment of the Week
So much for heartwarming, we had too much mayhem to ignore. I’m afraid that this week I’ll be mostly documenting the mayhem. Although they are all irreparably sweet of course.
Sweet Boy #2 was going poop, Sweet Boy #1 snuck into the bathroom with him and dumped 1/2 an enormous sized bottle of Gold Bond Medicated Powder all over the bathroom and then Sweet Boy #3 broke into his brother’s new tool set and actually bopped Sweet Boy #2 with a hammer. I could barely breathe when I was giving them their baths because of all the Gold Bond in the air, but I got them and the house pretty much cleaned up before bed…mostly.
Sweet Boy #3 pilfered the syrup bottle and poured it onto the carpet.
Sweet Boy #2 and Sweet Boy #3 dumped a bran new, only used once, tub of Nestles Quick onto our beanbags and living room carpet. Sweet Boy #2 snatched it off the counter and gave it to Sweet Boy #3 who immediately rushed to do the whole dumping thing…Aaaargh!
Sweet Boy #3 broke both arms off of the hunky hubbies glasses and popped out a lense.
But the winner this week.
As often occurs, Sweet Boy #2 had to go poop and needed a little help wiping. A job which takes all of 1.4 minutes. During that time, Sweet Boy #1 constructed a bridge between his top bunk bed and his little brother’s crib, out of a camp bunk bed mattress. And quickly convinced Sweet Boy #3 to crawl across the newly constructed bridge. Which he did…but only part way. Gravity is a cruel mistress.
Reading Tai-Bo
This week I read The Titan’s Curse and The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan. These are marvelous books you guys. Well, let’s see…what did I learn from my reading this week? That just because the book is fast paced and action filled and written primarily for Jr. High/High School boys does not mean that you cannot have depth and poignant moments. There was a touch of confusing romance, some deep father wounds, and deaths. I cried during both books and was vastly entertained as well as deeply moved emotionally. Gotta love those Greek heros.
