the innocence of youth...?

the other day we went to a yard sale that some friends of ours were hosting. harper has become quite a fan of yard sales and i have seen a side of her that has surprised me. it does not surprise me that she has a desire to acquire stuff and hoard stuff...but it does surprise me that she is such a little swindler. at the yard sale i mentioned earlier harper made a bee line for an old barbie and the rockers tour bus. this thing must have been awesome in its hay day in the 80s. the exterior is a bright pink with flourescent splatter puffy paint and it even hosts a removable tape deck with a microphone so that a young girl can rock out to 80's hits like john cusack in say anything. it brought back an obvious aire of nostalgia and i was entertained by the idea that harper would enjoy many hours of innocent fun playing with a toy that brought my own generation the same sort of fun...



so imagine my surprise when i walked out to help kyle with some burgers he was grilling and this was the sight i found...







all that is missing is bret michaels, some empty beer cans, and a seperate bus full of disappointed dads.

politically, socially, and in every other way incorrect....

as we left the eye doctor this past monday a nice man decided to help us open the door so that the circus that we are could leave with little antics...however, just as this nice man opened the door calvary says, " THAT'S A FAT GUY!" and then he chuckles. as if i, and every other hearing being in the world, didn't hear it the first time, he begins to repeat himself. at this point i turn to shush him with such intensity that if the man didn't for some reason know that calvary was talking about him he would now know without any doubt. i lowered my head in embarrassment and hurried off to my car---and soundproof the world against any other verbal attacks from my cherub faced offenders....once i got everyone in the car i started the lecture on how it is not really very nice to call people fat. calvary generally likes to point out the obvious about people by saying things like, "that's a strong guy." they are not always offensive. so i told him we need to focus on the positive things about people. i said, "we could have said 'that was nice of that man to hold the door for us'".

and calvary, being quick to show me that he has learned from his mistake, said, "or we could say 'that guy likes a lot of food' or 'that guy has a dirty car'."

all i can still do is simply shake my head and start working out.

the newest self-feeder in the house...

oliver jack has joined the ranks as another member of our family that LOVES to eat. they get it honest. i remember being told to slow down as a engulfed everything edible in my way. i have also been told that as a small child i would eat until i literally made myself sick. i still love to eat as evidenced by my ever increasing waist line and ever decreasing wearable wardrobe. so, just like his mother, oliver jack likes to eat.

i have recently bought some baby mum mum crackers from the store and they are the best. we had some of the earth's best teething cookies but the mess they make are undesirable to say the least....but, the mum mum's are perfect because they dissolve in his mouth before they can make a big mess...or, if you are one of those concerned for your child's saftey types, before they can choke.

once i introduced oliver jack to the world of solid foods, i could tell from his face there was no going back...

rainy days in the summer...

are way too fun to spend indoors...

oliver jack is 6 months old...

oliver jack rolls.

he rolls everywhere.

i do not think he will ever crawl or walk. he will just roll.

not to mention that he has rolls everywhere.

he wants to be a part of everything and get into everything. rolling has made it easy for him to accomplish both. harper and calvary were much more content with just laying there looking at the sky. oliver jack actually plays with toys...and anything else he can get in his hands. when he is in my arms he is constantly leaning towards the ground looking from some evidence of fun to be had. harper and calvary are genuinely in the down direction as well as all of their mess so i guess that is why he has taken to this little trick.

i still cannot believe that oliver jack is 6 months old. there are times when i look at him and i think that it is not possible that half a year has already passed! we had his visit with the doctor and everyone commented on how happy is. i have noticed that he has become a bit spoiled in the past month and he wants me to hold him quite a bit more. it has been far too easy for me to spoil him because he is so sweet, but i obviously cannot hold him all day so we are working through the beginning frustrations of learning that we cannot always get what we want.

i have called oliver jack "chins and grins" and "cheeks and squeaks" since very early on, so i was remarkably shocked to learn that his weight was only in the 60th percentile at 18lbs. i guess he seems huge to me because harper weighed 19lbs well into her second year of life.

it is also funny to me that harper was walking at this height of 27 inches....but oliver just rolls. he is in the 75th percentile for his height and the 100th percentile for his joy.

at our most recent beach trip i learned that oliver jack adores the ocean and sand. i even took him out in the ocean up to my chest and he just squealed and laughed the entire time. he's going to be so much fun when we take our family trip in july. the whole time i was there i just kept thinking that i could not wait for kyle to see how much he loves it.

he is healthy and happy and i could not ask for any more...well, except that they know jesus. outside of that, i am content with happy and healthy.

this is jack's new scrunched up face...he makes it quite a bit....

donde estan los padres?

i have decided that the best way to use my spanish degree is to use it to feign ambivalence when my children misbehave in public...people will look at my children and i will simply act as if they do not belong to me and say, "donde estan los padres?" sure it might throw a casual passerby off that these children that i keep speaking spanish to when they obviously speak english keep calling me mommy...but hopefully they will not investigate too deeply and the anachronistic elements of my plan will become non important.
i am not sure if my children are actually getting louder or if they just seem louder because we expect them to be quiet more often now because of the precious sleep of an infant. we are taking great steps in accomodating the ever increasing volume of the two older children...the baby sleeps in harper's room or, gasp, the laundry room in a pack'n'play, we have completely over hauled the garage and what used to be the storage area to millions of bags of stuff is now a play area for the kids complete with a huge cozy area rug, and we have stopped taking them to places...well, we still take them places but i have thought about not taking them places but this would be counter productive it seems because they would completely lose the ability to control their volume.
this is why i have devised my aforementioned plan. it seems quite perfect really; i get to brush off responsibility while at the same time brushing up on my spanish.
maybe i will try out the plan tomorrow at the pool where i will undoubtedly have another opportunity of volume control issues to deal with...i have had to leave early the past two times because the return of calvary's tantrums. harper's control issues are normally dormant in public, but calvary's boldness has brought about a gusto for attention from harper that i would rather not have to deal with. who would have thought that a silly pink elmo float would have that much worth to two kids who have never watched seasame street?
anyway, i have given up on all conventional parental methodology. i am now going into exploratory parenting realms...timeouts; i've used them. taking precious items; i've stolen it all. early nap; you bet. they just get louder and louder.
we'll see how this new plan works...

i like you because...

"we greatly overestimate what we can accomplish in one year. but we greatly underestimate what we can accomplish in five years." peter ferdinand drucker

in five years we have witnessed a presidential change...

in five years we have watched the economy slowly decline...

in five years we have watched two different sets of world games...

in five years we have watched natural disasters ravage the earth...

in five years we have watched as people become more and more earth friendly...

in five years we have watched several of our loved ones fight sickness. some of those battles were lost and others were won...

in five years we have watched as several members of our own family serve and enlist to serve our country...

in five years we have watched many of our friends marry...

in five years we have also watched as some of those friends were also divorced...

in five years we have rejoiced in the addition to children in our lives. some of those children were our own and others were children that we also love dearly...

in five years we have developed friendships with others that are dear to our hearts...

in five years we have developed a respect and love for each other's family...

in five years my love for you has grown in remarkable ways...

when i watch how much the world we live in has changed in the past five years i am amazed to look back and see how constant you have been. no matter how much our life has changed, you have been the same. you truly are my rock.

life with three kids can be insane on days, but we make a great team. many people say that the first 5 years of marriage are the most difficult, but i often say that what we lived through to make it to our wedding day was 5 years worth of stress and turmoil. i am so happy to be your wife. these 5 years have been the best of my life and i look forward to what the future holds for us...

"...i found him whom my soul loves..."

song of solomon 3:4