1) Olive is currently only referring to herself in third person...as "Minnie Mouse"
- For example: (both actual quotes
for this week)
"Minnie Mouse
isn't going to eat that". *pointing to green beans
or
"Minnie Mouse
needs daddy to wipe her butt."
2) Before my Nana passed she got really into Facebook. However, it took her awhile to get the hang of it. You see how when you go into type a post it says in light gray "What's on your mind?
Well, I think she thought it was a part of the login process to Facebook because for a month when she first started, I would see this pop up on my newsfeed.
Hahahaha! I liked it everytime! I thought it was the cutest thing ever. After awhile, I went over there and showed her what she was doing and she busted out laughing. :D She was a jewel.
3) Today when I picked Neela up for school and asked how her day went, this was our conversation:
Neela - "Today I made up a worship song called 'My Heart Shines' "
Seth - "Really?! That's beautiful. Will you sing it?"
Neela - "Well, I couldn't finish because I wanted to eat some paper."
4) Recently, I did a mega cleaning/purging of the house. There were a lot of things that were getting worn, broken, or just plain gross. So spend a few days packing my garage full of that stuff to clean out the house. This is what my living room ended up looking like...
I began the search for a new couch, rug, etc. to fill up the living room again. However, I noticed that when the living was somewhat empty, my kids would instinctively start to color, play, ride bikes, build blocks, etc instead of just plopping on the couch and watching a tv show. They didn't really watch a ton of tv anyways, but now it seems like it's hardly ever on. Normally, it's just during a family movie. We'll all just get pillows, lay on the quilt together, and watch it together. Plus it's like a giant playroom with a ton of free space. I know it sounds weird, but I think I'll keep it like this for awhile and see how it goes. For the meantime, I think everyone is enjoying it.
5) Titus has some warts on him. I have walked on him a few times talking to himself about them. "Awww... look at these cute little babies. I love you warts." I keep trying to talk him into letting me remove them; however, I have learned he is extremely protective of his wart friends.
6) My current favorite Bible verse is Ephesians 4:29 :)
7) Animal Updates: Today we met a baby squirrel who hasn't even opened his eyes yet. It was pretty much Neela's dream. She hasn't stopped talking about it. Actually at this very moment, she is building a "squirrel catcher".
My kids were in LOVE!
Here's a little 12 second video :)
Another Animal Update: Tomorrow someone is bringing us this to keep ... hahaha. Neela is going to flip out. Lately, she's been asking for an "real creature, the kind no one else wants" (which means something weird) to take care of.
His name is Pinky
8) I recently added "topics" to the blog so readers can easily locate various posts by topic. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I mention cats in about 1 out of every 4 posts. That junk is hilarious to me.
9) Speaking of cats, I've designed a shirt for the blog and am going to start selling them soon. Just going to sell them for cost. I just don't like the idea of making money off the blog. That's why I never plan placing advertisements or endorsements on my page. Not that there's anything wrong with it. I have considered it (you can make a lot of money from ads on a blog). I kinda view it like my little way to brighten my little corner of the world. Anyways, back to the shirts. Here's what I'm thinking they might look like. I'm going to be giving some away for free once they are final and printed :)
10) The other day I was working at my desk while the kids were just playing around the house. (I do a lot of work from home). Anyways, it works out pretty well. I just keep my door shut and I can kind of listen to them running around and playing. However, this day I heard a looonngg period of silence (never good) followed by extreme laughter and giggles (even worse). So I walk into the girls room find Titus wearing only his underwear and spiderman mask sitting in a toy bin filled with red water. He was spinning in circles in the toy bin, while Neela had the entire 4 lb. bag of sugar and was dumping it over his head. Apparently, this was their method of making Kool-Aid. They filled the tub with water and Kool-Aid powder. Titus was mixing it up while Neela was pouring in the sugar. hahaha.(ps. they got in trouble).
The kids have started to become really interested in the blog. They love to sit and let me read it to them. They just laugh and laugh. However,Stevie was mad that I wrote about poop yesterday. They also love to see how many people are reading it.
Yesterday, each of the kids asked if they could start putting stuff on here. I thought it sounded like a super fun idea. Stevie wanted to name her contributions "Stevie's Section" and wanted to make her first post a video, so here it is:
Stevie designed her own little banner :) She told me exactly how she wanted it.
Hope you are in the mood to learn a little about cats... Meow.
I think a lot of parents get asked how we manage to get the energy to keep up
with children, as well as, work, cleaning, chores, bills, etc. At least a few
times, I week people ask how I avoid being tired. Well, I think everyone has
their own method. I kind of like the Hulk approach. ;)
Seriously though, being a parent is exhausting. And no this
isn’t going to be a rant about how much harder being a single parent is,
because in my opinion it’s about the same.
I view the whole normal parenting situation vs single parenting
situation, similar to the whole "more money you have, the more you spend". I was probably just
as tired when me and Crissy were together,still best friends, working
both super hard at work and being parents together. When she left, I just had
to really focus on exactly what I needed to do for my kids, work, and personal
life. Really, I just cut out little luxuries for myself. So I probably spend as much time
as all the other parents who take it seriously. I might get a little less sleep
than I did before and had to learn a lot more things, but all in all,
parenting itself is a lot of work if you are doing it right.
My main method for charging myself up is finding joy in
little things. I always try to think of one thing that I’m excited about that
day. Like a little treat to myself that I get to experience with someone else.
For instance, today I was excited about giving my friend’s daughter some
pictures of some tigers. It was her birthday and she needed a few pictures of
tigers for birthday cake ideas. I
guarantee some people reading this were thinking, that’s the most depressing
thing ever… the fact that what I am most excited about today was giving a kid
some printed off pictures of tigers. Maybe there is no one reading who is
thinking that; however, I used to think that way. I really had to train myself to
understand where happiness comes from. It’s all about thinking about others. To me,
it was just a few pictures of some tigers; however to her, it was such an
important event. Do you remember being six? Imagine someone giving you a big book
of pictures of your favorite animal that you get to pick from and have your
birthday cake just like that. I mean come on, when you were six was anything more exciting than your birthday? That’s what I thought about this morning when
I woke up. The look on that little girl’s face when I handed her the little
folder full of tiger pictures with her name on it. That’s how I try to keep up my energy. Just
trying to find at least ONE thing special thing I can do for something else
that will make them smile.
Her little birthday cake Tiger Folder :)
However, there are points in my life where I have pretty much no more to give. Just completely drained. Last Friday was one of those days. I got home from work and picked up the kids. We
were leaving Saturday morning, so I didn’t make any big plans for Friday. Since
I am normally out and about with my kids, they sometimes enjoy a night at the
house with no company or big plans or activities. They just want to play and
veg out as a family. I was perfectly ok with this. Honestly, I was so exhausted
from the week and was hoping to get a somewhat quiet and peaceful night. I
stopped on the way home to get a frozen pizza and milk. The night was set. So
we just hang out and I start baking the pizza. During dinner I keep saying to
these four little sets of eyes staring at me, that dad is going to take a break
tonight. Please don’t ask dad for anything. Please don’t fight. Please don’t
cry or whine. No fits will be pitched tonight because this is “Dad Night”.
Well, let’s recap how “Dad Night” went. I went to my room
and actually was working on a blog post (while the kids were awake ) and in
about 7 minutes I hear the most bloodcurdling scream (It’s not really pain,
just sounds like some sort of rage)… and… I just kind of sit there waiting and
hoping it would simmer down. I hear it again. Should I stand up and go check it
out. Maybe… but it’s dad night. In my head, I’m thinking “they’ll be fine”. So
again just like Samuel from the Bible, I hear the voice a third time. I
pitifully trudge out of my room to see what this commotion was all about. Well,
Olive found some food dye. Apparently, she reassured Titus it would be ok to
play with it. (Side note: Titus is very trusting.) They then proceeded to paint
the floor with these little squirt bottles of food coloring. “Seriously, guys
on Dad Night?, I asked.” Anyways, there were laughing and having a blast ruining
the resale value of my house. Too tired to have a huge discussion, I take away
the food coloring and hand them both a wet rag.
As I am walking back to my room, I hear the scream again.
“Crap,” I think to myself, “It’s the big girls.” So I hang my head and slowly
walk back to their room. I peek in the door to see Stevie and Neela just
staring at each other fiercely. They haven’t seen me yet and I can see they are
just having a disagreement over some toy or something. But I hear my brain
whispering to my ear. “it’s Dad Night
and they haven’t seen you yet. Just quietly back away and sneak to your room.
They won’t kill each other. Besides you just bought a big pack of Neosporin and
bandaids, so you’re covered anyways.” However even though it was dad night, I still
opened the door and walked in between the fiery and silent glare of two rage
induced sisters. I ask what’s wrong and Neela speaks up first “Stevie is the
meanest person ever. I don’t want to play with her anymore.” Stevie never one
to lose an argument, quickly fires back, “I didn’t even start it…” Immediately,
I knew this tactic wasn’t going to get me anywhere. They are beyond mad at each
other, so I needed to really break things down and find out what happened because
I have never seen them this angry. I start to break down the fight. After about
15 minutes of prying information from their little brains, I finally figure out
what happened. Neela was mad that Stevie didn’t laugh at her joke. Stevie was
mad because Neela’s joke was “the dumbest thing I have ever heard”. Hahahaha.
So I asked Neela to tell me the joke. Immediately, she starts smiling and can
barely contain herself from laughter when she says, “Why did the peacock be
friends with the pizza?” I ask, “I don’t
know Neela why?”… “PEANUTS!” as she literally falls to the floor laughing and
Stevie starts again with her bloodcurdling scream. I just kind of look at Stevie and say “It’s
Dad night, laugh at your sisters joke,” and shut the door.
Titus and Olive by now are taking a bath. I already ran it
for them right after dinner, so I know everything is fine in there. I hear them
laughing and giggling from my master bathroom. So I just sit down and continue
to work on my blog and some other stuff. About 30 minutes later, I turn around
the find what looks like the Blue Man Group dashing out of my bathroom door and
diving onto my freshly sheeted bed. I just stare at these little blue monsters
rolling, jumping, and staining my sheets in a silent utter amazement. I really
don’t have words to say because I’m still trying to figure out how they are the
same color as Violet Beauregard from Willy Wonka. I walk into the bathroom to
find out that shortly after “cleaning” up the original food coloring mess, Titus
found the mega size bottles of rit-dye and proceeded to dump a few blues in the
tub. (I like to tie dye with the kids a bunch so I always keep a lot on hand). So I drain it and bleach it. Then put my
little two bluebirds back in the bath and get them clean. I am walking the
little two from the tub into the living room to have another pow-wow about “Dad
Night”. Of course, when we get in the living room, Stevie and Neela inform me
that they found a bullfrog outside, brought it inside, and proceeded to accidentally
let it go. Now it’s lost in the house. I pause for a moment and tell them “Good
luck finding the frog,” stick the two little kids in bed, lock the door, and go
to sleep.
This post is about our bearded dragon Alabama. I had already written a "Who is...Alabama" post. It was really funny and talked about his time served working on an oil rig and his hobby of researching and translating Egyptian hieroglyphics; however, I won't be posting that one...
This morning Neela did her daily routine of waking up and immediately going to Alabama's tank and holding him for a minute before she started to get ready for school. However, when I walked out she was holding him like normal, but just sitting on the floor quietly crying and rubbing his head. He was dead. I can't really figure out how it happened. His tank was clean and the right temperature and he was well fed and had water in his bowl. She was and is still very upset.
Alabama usually one of the first family members people met when they came in our door for the first time. Neela was constantly introducing him to our house guests. She loved to eat dinner with him sitting right beside her on the little bench for our dining room table. Neela often enjoyed alone time with him and loved learning about bearded dragons through books and the computer. She also took great pride in finding him his favorite snacks, crickets, from our backyard. It's really sad because she was working so hard to be good at school to be able to bring him for show and tell. Just last week she finally earned up enough "points" to earn a show and tell day and was so excited for her class to meet him. We are burying him today after school at Neela's favorite woods by the park.
Here are some fun videos and pictures of their time together.
Neela seeing Alabama for the first time (video)
Neela and Alabama watching his favorite movie.
"How to train your dragon"
Protecting Alabama from hawks while wearing her favorite "Alabama" shirt :(
(video)
Showing off the crickets she caught to feed him.
Taking Alabama for his first walk (video)
Please pray for Neela today. She is very upset about losing her little best friend.
After writing my post about Stevie, I was busting at the
seams to write about Neela Grace. If you have followed me for a while, you
probably know Neela is the goofy, loveable, and dreamer of the mix. She is pretty much ALWAYS doing something
hilarious.
I mean the moment she was born, she was cracking me up. She
a big ole red stork bites in the middle of her forehead and the way she held her head and
face in a Jabba the Hut fashion. I mean, she was super cute, but the way she
carried herself and her little facial expressions cracked me the heck up.
Neela the Hut
Neela is the kind of person who legitimately makes friends
with any human she comes in contact with. I promise every single time we go out
somewhere, she makes a “best friend” and they just have the best time together.
I can’t tell you how many times, I have to literally stop her from walking up
to her new friend’s mom and inviting herself over to spend the night. That
night.
Everyone that meets Neela instantly loves her. She is such a
little charmer. She is always off in her own little world just daydreaming
about being some “aminal” or that she could jump rope with her hair. One time,
she did something dangerous like run out in the road or something like that. I
remember it was an accident and she wasn’t trying to be bad, so I sat down and
talked to her face to face for like 3 or 4 minutes VERY intently about why we
DO NOT run in the road. I spoke really slowly and made very clear statements
that she would be able to understand; the whole time she was nodding her head
and looking me straight in the eye. I
was really happy with our little talk and thinking it really helped. We were
still locking eyes, so I asked very calmly “Neela, do you understand why you
can’t do that anymore?” She thought for a minute and asked “Daddy, how do
squirrels fit so many acorns in their mouth?” hahahaha. I just died laughing.
Neela absolutely LOVES Jesus. Her favorite song is Jesus
paid it all and she loves to read the Bible. Sometimes I feel bad, because
after Bible/dinner time, she wants to just keep reading and reading, but I have
to say no and that we need to get ready for bed because we have school in the
morning. Telling your kid that you can’t read her anymore Bible stories makes
me feel so bad :/ One of my favorite Neela stories was that she came home one
day from school and was just sitting down on the couch thinking quietly. When
we asked her what was wrong, she said that someone in her class didn’t love
Jesus. We said “Well, you should tell him about Jesus.” She said, “Yep, I was going
to do that, because once you know about Jesus you just love Him.” :D
My Neela (or as Stevie would say Neena, or Olive would say Weewa, or Titus would say “Neewa”)
is such a little giver and sacrificer. If we have three of something, she is
mostly always the one to volunteer to go without. I think I said before, but
she has literally given the shirt to some “best friend” she made at the playground
because they liked it. When we were picking out birthday presents, she picked
out something. I said “Josie (her friend) would love this.” She responded “Yeah,
I know, if I get it I’m going to give it to her.”
However, some people can’t handle her little personality.
She is VERY excitable!! :D Her major excitement and natural blondness kind of
takes over and she can have a very hard time paying attention or concentrating.
Actually, last year she struggled in Kindergarten a little. I know she’s smart
and when I talked to her teacher, she said so too. When I approached Neela
about why she wasn’t excited about school work or staying focused, she simply
replied, “When I grow up, I’m going to be a zoologist in Africa. So I need to
go to a school that only teaches me about aminals.”
I made her a zoologist kit and outfit for her birthday.
She was in heaven!
Needless to say, Neela Grace LOVES being outside and
everything nature, hence the nickname “Nature Neela.” The thing I love about Neela is she loves isn’t
the kind of kid that just loves puppies, kitties, or ponies. I mean, yes, she
loves them too. But she loves every single creature on earth. She got mad
because I wouldn’t let her have a pet wasp. :D On Easter morning when all of
the kids were hunting candy eggs, I found Neela deep in some shrubbery and
sticks digging around for slugs. When everyone brought in their eggs to let my
Mimi (my grandma) what they had found, Neela opened up a plastic egg full of
these snotty looking slugs right in her face. Let’s just say, Mimi clearly was
not happy to have slugs on her table during Easter lunch. She spent the rest of
Easter lunch letting her slugs crawl all over her since they were not allowed
on the table. That’s the thing about Neela; she just really assumes everyone
loves her critters just as much as her. She is currently begging me to buy her
a chinchilla for an inside pet and a peacock for her outside pet.
Easter Slugs.
Seriously though, there's alot higher probability there was slugs
in that empty tomb rather than eggs.
Neela's Critter Friends
One other thing I LOVE about her is Neela is Neela. She knows
she’s special and different, and just embraces it. I have heard some many
adults tell her why she shouldn’t be a vegetarian, but she just does what she
feels is right in her own heart. The other day I was picking all the kids up
for school and Neela and I had this little conversation.
Yeah, she know she's cool. :)
She absolutely loves to dance. In fact for her birthday she
wanted an animal dance party. So we made costumes, a stage, found music, and
gave her dream party. Big shout out to my best bud April. She was a big help
with this party. She’s the moth in the video ;) However, Neela does things that
crack me up. I mean she has zero fear of meeting new people or striking up
conversations with complete strangers about how the color of their shoes will
probably attract bees and asks them if they can trade shoes, because she wants
to start selling honey at school to make money to buy ice cream. Hahaha.
Anyways, we did all that prep work and she suddenly developed stage fright. Its
funny how Neela can make best friends with anyone in a one on one setting, but
is paralyzed with fear on stage, while Stevie is the exact opposite.
I feel like I have special bond with Neela in the simple
fact of her birth order. Stevie’s the oldest, Titus is the only boy, and Olive
is the youngest. I’m the same thing in my family. Not that I ever felt like a
middle child or anything; neither does she I believe. Mostly, it’s just a
special little connection that I can relate with her about.
Here’s one funny story about Neela. She always says she has
a “boyfriend” in her class. Every time, I explain that we don’t have boyfriends
until we are a grown up. And then I ask, “Neela, why do you think this boy is
your boyfriend.” Every.single.time., she responds “Oh, because he has money! He buys me ice
cream.” Hahahaha. For some reason that just cracks me up.
Ok last thing. Neela LOVES to go frog hunting. She is a
night owl like me, so at night once all of the other kids are asleep, she loves
to walk around the front and back yard looking for critters. We have been frog
hunting together for years, I think that when she grows up, she is really going
to cherish those little frog hunting memories.
41 frogs! That was a record setting night :D
Well, that's my sweet little Neela Grace. And as always, remember to...
