St. Patrick's Day Morning

 By Xai

This morning I got out of bed and started getting dressed. 

Then Eli got up (I forgot how Eli and I got in a fight) well anyways Eli started chasing me.

 (sorry that I keep on forgetting but I forgot how Eli and I became friends again) so I was getting dressed when Eli started chasing me but anyways I was walking to my room when Mom asked" Do you want to help me update our job charts " I said "No I'm not wearing any green on.

 Mom forgot it was St. Patrick's Day so she jumped out of the chair super fast and ran into her room to change into green before Dad could pinch her.

 then Penelope woke and rushed into the living room (I think she thought that we were watching TV .such a cutie). At breakfast time Eli and I made green pancakes and boy were they good.

 

  

A Fun-Filled Evening with the Precious Ones

 Last night was a riot.  The older ones had gone to mutual and I had the precious ones.  I love motivating my kiddos with food: the little ones quickly polished off their plates so they could have a cup of ice cream stuffed full. I have come to acknowledge the sacred place that ice cream holds in our family: yesterday I spent almost $70 on just ice cream for our freezer, in different forms and flavors. I must be my grandfather Kendrick’s progeny: If there is no ice cream in the house, there is a famine in the land.  We did get some nasty lactose free stuff for Peanut, Pleh-Pleh (a nickname Quinn is trying to banish), Nellie, Penny, Sweet Pea…Penelope.  She was in heaven, though, being able to enjoy the feast with only minimal discomfort that night.

Elijah happily dished people up for me so I could start making headway on the week’s worth of laundry that had piled up in our laundry room. It was so bad last night Piper told me that she couldn’t get to the garbage on the countertop in that room because of the mountain of laundry in front of it.  True thing.  It doesn’t help that I have been going to a “live in your pee” method for Elijah with potty training…poor chap.  No more pull-ups.  The guy has been dealt an unfortunate genetic card–one full of emotions, sensitivity and weak bladder issues.  We’ve been able to keep it pretty low-key with minimal negativity.  Just clean it up in the morning. Try to get up with him at night when I am already up.

Anyway, Xai started reading to the kiddos after they brushed their teeth.  I love hearing them giggle as he reads to them.  We have some seriously hilarious books. We bought the entire Elephant and Piggie series for Christmas and I think that is hands down the most used present in our house. Cha-ching!  Of course, the laughs would occasionally turn to outrage as Penelope would interlope and turn reading time into some kind of brawl. I managed to convince her that it was more fun to “fold” laundry, taking one for the team.  

Penelope is surprisingly great at knowing whose clothes are whose.  She also put a bunch of rags in the rag basket where they needed to go.  And she’s deliciously adorable.  Aside from that, her help was more in the realm of minimal damage, but with all my years of experience, the folded piles grew faster than she dissembled the pile.  It took a lot of diversion. At one point, she happily ensconced herself in the basket, all cozy and cute.  But it was fun! (Now go back and read that italicized portion again and think “Matt Meese” voice from the fortune telling. Okay.  Now we’re on the same page….moving on.)

I decided to call it “good enough” (laundry never ends) when I heard Xai wrapping up a book.  My turn!  I love having Elijah and Liesl snuggled up beside me at least for a few books each night.  Sure I use Granny MacDuff when I need to, but my favorite is being the story teller. There’s something magical about that moment in the day.  We always say prayers after–me saying one first for each of them and then one with them individually–then a hug, hug, kiss, kiss for Liesl and a nice squishy one for Elijah.  The joy and peace in their bright blue, chocolate brown eyes is one of my favorite things right now.

I tried watching the part of “The Glass Onion” (VidAngeled–so about half the dialogue) that I missed the night of Quinn’s birthday when I went to sleep with Penelope, but only got about 20 minutes into it. I was trying to glue some shoe bottoms back on and Penelope–aforementioned questionable but adorable helper–decided that she needed a drink.  She was pretty independent. She found herself a cup from the drawer and dragged the ⅔ full orange juice jug over to me. I unfortunately had my hands full of quickly drying intense glue, dismantling shoes and rubber bands–trying to listen to a turned down, edited video–when she came up to me loudly saying “please, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!” gradually louder and louder.  Well, I wasn’t super patient and even that slight elevated emotion set her off, little dear.  I quickly calmed down, did the truly simple thing of getting her a drink and settled back again for another five minutes before the gang came home.  (I’ll finish it later, lol.  Maybe.)

I turned off the movie because it was distracting Maia.  A quick dinner help from Hyrum, Piper, Hava and Maia straightened up the kitchen the rest of the way.  Normally we do a type of dinner-time quiz. Tonight, it was first-come, first-serve.  Hyrum drew the final straw in the lottery–a “punishment” for him taking care of animals outside ironically, but when he found out he had been left the 3.2 dishes in the sink for his job, he was pleasantly surprised. 

Piper and I had an emotional/feisty interaction that we were able to resolve this morning, gratefully. I know we can just move on, but I am so grateful when people let me resolve things with them, even if we don’t share the same conclusion.  I was pretty done with being a parent at that point.  

Penelope happily followed me into my bedroom, knowing books, a binki, and her blanket were waiting in her little corner “crib” we made out of two benches, the two walls, a book shelf and a crib mattress next to our bed.  This way she technically sleeps with us but doesn’t. 

(Our queen is a little snug for two adults and a cross-wise, head-ramming baby.   She has a basket of books that she cycles through, sometimes “reading” out loud.   She reached over and tapped on my tummy for “Dum Ditty Dum Ditty Dum Dum Dum” from “Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb” and barked with each page for the “Doggie” Sandra Boynton book…until she got to the howling page, which she did on cue.  So cute!  I addressed all the messages, posts and texts I had faithfully ignored the last half of the day in the joyful chaos of:

 playing almost 2 hours of Among Us with Tova for her birthday, walking the baby and dog to the neighbors’ houses with two dozen eggs to share and coming back with four pounds of ground beef from a local cow (not loco cow, fortunately), and then whipping together a late but delicious dinner of elbow stew and veggies.

I was excited to get to bed not only to rest but also because Quinn and I are reading a book called “The Inheritance Games” which is a fun inheritance puzzle/mystery type book. Kind of a combo between “Knives Out” and “Chasing Vermeer.”  He reads aloud and I try to stay awake until we get to a stopping point. Fortunately this book is very engaging so I managed to stay awake until 1.2 minutes after he reached the end of the chapter.

Penelope the Flopper

 Penelope loves to roam back and forth across the floor, staggering, weaving and grinning.  She'll come over to people and head snuggle or fold in half over the side of the couch, flopping limply over.  She is SOOOOO adorable!!  Her little toothy grin and crinkled nose are just the sweetest thing ever!

I agree with Dickens: "I love these little children.  And it is not small thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us."

The Walk, The Game, The Yell, and Taupe

 Today Liesl, Penelope and I walked over to Oma's and Opa's (I love that they are close enough to do that).  We braved the onslaught of the most current ladybug invasion--apparently they come here to die by the thousands.  I foolishly took our two seater stroller and put Liesl in the front.  Boy, was the hill up to my parent's a doozy!

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I also "played" Ticket to Ride with Liesl today.  "Played" in the loosest sense of the word.  We were there at the table and all the pieces for Ticket to Ride were out. However, I am quite sure they have never been used the way we used them.   When I first got there, Liesl had arranged the numerous colored train cards by color.  And decided which she was using.  And which I was using.  

I could tell from the beginning this was not going to be our ordinary game.

I asked her from the outset, "Do you want to play your way or the way the 'map' tells us to play?"  ("Map" is her word for "instructions.")

"The map," came the first, second, third, fourth and fifth response. 

However, by the time I had been sternly corrected for playing the wrong way that many times and more and I had asked my clarifying question again and again, the sixth answer was much more of a relief."

"My way," Liesl finally decided.  Whew.

Her way apparently meant playing "the most beautiful ones."  And collecting as many train color cards as she could and arranging them into pretty piles.  And not playing a single train.

I happily played route after route. However, seeing that the train color cards were not going to be replaced due to my hoarding little four year old playing buddy, I wisely asked, "When is the game over?"

After a thoughtful pause.  A very short thoughtful pause. "When I win."

Easy.

"You win!" I cheered.

With big blue eyes wide with wonder and delight, Liesl replied, "I did???"

Pause.

"How?"

Shoot.

"Because yours is the most beautiful."

Sweet.

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It was much less pleasant later.

Penelope was overtired and wouldn't settle down.

Liesl and Eli were both raging over me not being in there to snuggle with them (after being in there for 30 minutes before that reading books).

And Maia and Piper had agreed to play Splendor with me.

Well, I was already on at least two children's least favorite list no matter what I did. 

When that happens, I get angry, which my therapist said is a manifestation of sorrow and fear.  Looking back, I can see that I was super sorry that I couldn't meet the needs of all of my children.  Physically impossible.  So I was sad.  And I yelled.  Not the best choice.

I played the game.  Quinn put Penelope to sleep, and Liesl and Eli went to sleep with varying degrees of discontent. (I promised Eli I would snuggle more in the morning.)  Sigh.  Working on reconditioning my responses.

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I did play a really quick, fun game of Scattergories with Quinn, Lily and Drew after that, in which we learned that "taupe" can be any one of a number of different colors.  We've decided to put down "taupe" as our eye color on our driver's licenses.  When the police officers refute it, we can have them Google "taupe" and be enlightened as we were tonight as to the very generic meaning of that color word.

It felt good to laugh.

Tova and Zoe

Fun with Penelope outside

A quick visit to the Columbus Zoo

What you don't see is Quinn standing behind Penelope, holding her on :D