Slip Sliding Away

I am just going to forewarn you right now: this entire post might just be the hormones talkin. They are a-raging tonight. But whether that is the case or not does not matter, I just feel the need to DO something about the fact that my chilrens are growing up ridiculously fast and I am forgetting more than I ever thought I could about their precious growing up years!! The little details, the little stories, the sweet moments are slipping away never to be retrieved. So to stave off the tears I ran to the blog.

I think I will not even do things in chronological order. I think if I can make myself follow through I will just record whatever cute things I remember about the different kids comes to mind over the next few days. Like Adon just discovering that throwing things off of anything is super fun (folded clothes off the sofa, food or cups off the high chair tray, miscellaneous items out of a drawer, whatever.) And then I walk through the house and find the most random piles of things next to teh previous home they had occupied. Or like Allie drawing the same pictures over and over, and the other day it was princesses with clothes on but with what looked like their bra outside their clothes. When I asked her what that was all about she said they were indeed their "bras." What did she mean I asked. She says "You know Mom, like these," and she points to my bosoms, "You know how they kind of show on you and so and so and so and so." So she calls bosoms bras and she thinks she needs to depict them on every girls she draws now?!

And I remember Ryah when she was just talking, 18 months or so, appearing in a room dressed up, throwing out her arms, and saying "da-da!" for Ta-da, regularly. It was always adorable. And then how she and Allie, when they were like 18 months and 3, always saying "awww!" when they saw pictures of themselves. And Allie telling me, or anyone else she was filled up with appreciation for at the moment, when she was 3 or so, "You're the BEST, Mom!" She has alwys had a noteably grateful spirit, though sometimes it can fade in a bad way and she can have a little chip on her shoulder, but she almost always makes up for it. She just LOVES Adon, really most any baby, and desperately tries to take good care of him.

Ryah singing just like her preschool teacher Miss Leah the "Five little monkeys swingin in a tree, teasin mist-ah alligata Can't catch me! Along comes the alligator, quiet as can be, aaaaaaaaaand SNAP that monkey right outta that tree! (Hands on hips, sidelong glance, then palms turned up, out to the sides) Now what do we have left? Two little..."

Kharis's dead-on impersonations. From the Herbie movie with Lindsey Lohan, "Her-bie,... Is a Car." Praying tonight "God, thank you for changing our hearts." Seriously. Thank you God you have done it entirely despite my bad efforts. Taking the extra swing for the playset after we put up the baby swing and hanging it perfectly INSIDE the fort part. So creative and resourceful.

Allie telling Stacey Simeone she definitely did NOT want her lovie to become an idol.

Ryah always pulling up the inside joke with JD, like saying the refrigerator that passed gas when there was noone else around to blame it on with her and JD (a running joke the whole family finds uproariously funny, except me.)

Oh, there are probably thousands more. But for now, I will close. Say a little prayer I come back tomorrow, or don't. I will at least;)

What "These People" Like to Do These Days

So here I am again, more for posterity's sake than actually having a clear idea I want to communicate. As I sit and post this, Adon is busily unloading the dishwasher, which he considers a veritable smorgasbord of entertainment, as did his sister Ryah before him, as did her sister Allie before her. I pretty much let him do whatever he wants with it, since it keeps him happy, which is harder with him than it was with either of his two immediate predecessors. Don't worry, I remove the knives first at least. Oh wait, give me a minute...
Yikes.
I want my people to know how much I really liked them when they ever read this, bc sometimes I struggle with feeling like I don't let them know that like they should. Kind of one of the places the name of the blog came from. In my mind, my children are the most delightful things, but in reality, sometimes they are difficult (as any child is occassionally), and I can let that be what I communicate to them. Kharis is the most creative, resourceful thing, and regularly makes elaborate projects out of the things in my recycle bin. Just yesterday I found like a little tomato container type thing on her bed. It was labeled "Coconut's Dream House" (Coconut is her American Girl doll dog) on the side in frilly writing and then inside it had a little bone she had made in it and a blanket (made out of papertowels) and one other thing I can't remember now. She hadn't even shown it to me, it was something she just did on her own. The more of a "project" something artsy is the more into it Kharis will be (she got that from me huh honey?;)) It is exactly the opposite for Allie. The longer something is likely to take the less interested she is. She does like art though, just centering around butterflies and princesses:)

Over the holiday Ryah Layne took to calling me very adamantly "MOM-MY GREEAR!" It really is the funniest thing, though it does seem vaguely disrespectful, and I try really hard not to let her see me laugh about it, but I could not figure out where it had come from. Then, it hit me. She was saying it one day when I wasn't paying her enough attention, and I heard it: the exact same intonation with which I say "AL-LIE GREEAR!" and "RY-AH GREEAR!" and every once in a while "KHA-RIS GREEAR!" Can you hear it in your head? She was imitating me when I about to come down on them-ha!! How creative is that?!

Adon played actual peek-a-boo with me the other day, and again today. As in he put the blanket over his own face, and then jerked it away, and put it back again, all by himself. It was so cute I could hardly stand it. And he thought he was awesome, cackling up a storm. He likes to do sort of a peek a boo with reflections too, and that deep sort of "heh heh heh" he has makes me laugh every time. He loves for his sister Ryah to play a version of peek a boo with the hole in the back of his high chair too, and man can they get loud shrieking with joy over that game. In other news, if left unattended for any amount of time, he will either cry or make a beeline for the toilet. I am not sure which is worse. I can distract him well with the pantry though. If the door is left cracked just a hair, he feels like he is discovering some hidden cave and LOVES to go in and play with whatever he can drum up in there.

I guess that's all for today. I have more I could record, but I need to get some things done that I have been putting off (receipts!). So see you back here when I can!

More Sweet Pieces of My Life

So there is more I want to remember. If I wait to be creative in how I post these, we both know (we? who am I talking about here exactly?!) that I will never post anything at all. Which would be slightly worse than what I do now, which is to hardly post anything at all:) Slight but important difference.

Anyway. Since we have not one but TWO delightful December birthdays, one of which is ON CHRISTMAS, this year I just decided to entirely bail on celebrating them in December and do a party of some sort in January. But on the 16th, Ryah's actual birthday, we sang to her and made blueberry muffins with a candle just to commemorate the occassion. Allie was so sweet to her! She disappeared for a little bit first thing in the morning and then came out with a crown for Ryah to wear that she had drawn and colored for her. When Ryah wouldn't wear it, she disappeared again and brought her a dress up tiara, and tried to put it on her while singing Happy Birthday. When Ryah rudely refused even this, she disappeared a third time and came down with money from her bank for her! Talk about loving! Allie really is the most easily, consistently affectionate one of the four.

Ryah and Adon are really pals, at least as much as they possibly can be at this age. Ryah tries very hard to help whenever and however she can, though he doesn't always appreciate her efforts. If he cries, she gets his paci, even if it is upstairs in his bed. If he cries in the car, she tries to reach over to him and pet him, and will try and sing to him. If she sees him still wearing his bib around the house, she will run over to him immediately and take it off him. She is always laying around on the floor with him, and semi-tackling him. Sometimes she tries to feed him things, though I try to keep this from happening. If she feels he is in danger, she tells him "No NO Adon" furiously and will even drag him away from things, or just holler for me mercilessly. But for this I am thankful.

JD and I have heard that at 7 years old, it is a zero sum game for children; ie, whatever they "take out" of you they "contribute" in help. Kharis is 7 right now and I have to heartily agree! She is SUCH a help to us, I can hardly describe. And she hardly ever complains. I try very hard not to take advantage of it. But she cleans, picks up, organizes, helps her brothers and sisters, on and on. Here is hoping in a year and a half I feel the same about Allie:)

Well, there is oh so much more, but I think that is all this underachiever can handle for now. Possibly more to come in the next few days, but I wouldn't hold your breath:) And just because I can and one day may want to see them, I added a picture. It was our family at the aquarium in Chatanooga where we all went to join JD while he spoke at the C.O. conference. Maybe I will blog about that next time!