Archives for 2008

One night a week, Sloan attends the Russian American school here in St. Louis. This is his second year at the school and I am just so proud of how well he is doing. He is by no means fluent in the language, but obviously that’s because he doesn’t hear it every day. I try to speak to him when I can, but my language skills are just not what they used to be. For those who don’t know, I minored in russian in college and have spent a fairly significant amount of time in Russian and Ukraine, both studying and travelling. The semester I studied there I was about 90% fluent. I would now put my flency at about 70%. I’m kind of like a dog. I understand pretty much all that’s said but I can’t speak that well. Anyway, when I found out a school was opening here in St. Louis, I though I’d enroll Sloan. He is doing great. He understands a lot – probably 70-75% of what they say, he can read short three-four letter words (he actually reads better in russian than in English because I work on it with him) and he knows a lot of songs. Tonight was their summer concert called Hello Summer! It was conducted in typical russian form – shove as many people into as tiny of a room you can and for two hours have different kids come up and do their thing. Super cute, but it was hotter than Hades in there so we left a little early. Sloan had a blast – Landon and Tia, not so much. The kids did little skits, recited poems and sang songs. Even Sloan’s teacher said at the end that she was so proud of how well he did. He is the only child in the whole program that doesn’t have at least one russian parent, so he’s at a major disadvantage. Anyway, here’s a couple of pictures. I got some cute video and tried to download it but blogger was being weird. Next week I’ll put it on YouTube and then post it so you can see his awesomeness! I’m off tomorrow to Branson for a girl’s weekend with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. I’m looking forward to some R&R and retail therapy.

The kid beside Sloan was annoyed because Sloan was clapping and apparently it wasn’t a clapping song. He lept shushing Sloan, but Sloan was like whatever man, I feel the rhythm!This is Katya trying hard to entertain herself.

At the end was a puppet show and Sloan was the main character. That’s the video I tried to post. It’s a long story, but they all had a little part to sing and Sloan got to destroy the house at the end. Right up his alley!

And I don’t feel at all different than I did yesterday. My kids are still fighting, my house is still a mess, my hair still needs to be cut and colored, the laundry still needs to be put away…

Huh. I guess I am getting old. Ten years ago I believe I was thinking “WOOOHOOO! Just one more year till I can officially drink,” and “I wonder if Lee will propose to me this year,” and “How many papers do I have to write this week?” Oh, and “Daddy, can I have a little more money?” Hmmmm…Time’s a-changin’.

*ammendment: Ten years ago I had just met Lee and was quite smitten with him. He did not propose until the next year however. Sorry. Apparently when you get old your memory fades…

My sweet Landon is by far the most joyful baby I’ve had. He giggles and grins all the time and has been doing that for months. While Sloan and Tia weren’t unhappy babies, I do not remember them being this smiley or giggly. I just adore Landon’s little laugh. Before I put him to bed we have a little game where he buries his face in my neck and I kiss his cheek over and over and he just laughs and squeals. It’s seriously the greatest thing EVER! So here is a little video I took of Tia making him laugh yesterday. Don’t you just want to eat him up?

On Friday, we went to the park to play with some friends. Two of the little boys there, twins Zach and Kohl, were riding their bikes without training wheels. Sloan was totally in awe and came home determined to take the training wheels off his bike. The second Lee got home, Sloan was all over him and within 10 minutes, the training wheels were off and Lee was running back and forth next to Sloan. I’m so proud of how quickly he got the hang of it. I got some really cute video of him learning, but I can’t figure out how to rotate it so I took another video this morning. It’s short, but you can see what a pro he already is! He only needs help getting started. Once he’s going, he does really well. What a fun milestone to hit, not only for him, but for us as parents. It kind of makes me get a little pang of mommy sadness because it’s just evidence that my baby is growing up! But on the other hand, it’s so fun to see him so determined to do something and stick to it until he get it. Here’s a picture of Sloan first learning, followed by a video clip I took this morning.

Last night, we celebrated my own little milestone…turning the big 3-0. Actually, my birthday isn’t until Wednesday, but Lee had a party for me last night. It was so much fun. What a blessing to be able to celebrate with people who mean so much to me. The weather was perfect and the kids did awesome. That’s another thing…a 30th birthday, when you have kids, is almost like a 5th birthday. There were toys everywhere, a coloring and play-doh table – I even debated getting a pinata for them, but decided that I didn’t want to clean up that kind of mess after my own birthday party. My mom got tons and tons of food and it was all so awesome and delicious – just FYI, Dierbergs makes a killer birthday cake! Thanks mom for all the work you put into it!

Turning 30 is not that big of a deal to me. My dad always says that the older to get, the younger old looks. Boy is that true. When I was in high school, and even college, I thought 30 seemed soooooooooo old. Like, ancient. But I don’t feel old. Of course, I do still have two days to go. Maybe I’ll feel old on Wednesday. I’ll let you know. But when you have three kids, turning 30 is just not that big of a deal. It’s actually kind of nice because now I won’t get those looks of pity when people ask how old I am and see me with a baby on my hip and two more hanging on my legs. I had my first at 25 – that’s not exactly colonial. So, in two days, I will officially be able to say I’m a grown up. I’ll finish this post with a picture from last night. It shows the extreme fun the kids were having. I think I counted 34 for of them! That’s a lot of kids. But they all did awesome! Thanks to those of you who came. It was ver special for me to have that time with all of you. I am blessed indeed. Oh, and Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Becke, who turns 31 today! Thanks for paving the way for me! Love you. Sorry this post has been so scattered. Tia is running around like a little hellion getting into everything. I need to get off the computer now before the house is destroyed.

By 5:00 every day, I am usually so thrilled to see Lee’s car turn into the driveway. Mostly because by about 3:30, my kids are tired of trying to entertain themselves and usually want me to play with them. So when daddy comes home, I leap for joy because the playmate is back and I can get a break (or semi-break since I usually have to start dinner then). Here are a few pictures of what happens when daddy comes home.

It all starts with a little tennis. Daddy and Sloan see how many times they can hit the ball back and forth.Next we move to the monkey bars where Sloan shows us how fast he can cross them all.by.him.self!Then we move to basketball where Sloan tries hard to keep up with daddy…We finish up with a little golf. Depending on the day, soccer or baseball can also be thrown into he mix…Generally Tia goes from looking like this before daddy comes home…To this because she is a huge daddy’s girl. She generally wanders around and plays intermittently with the boys. And Landon is usually taking his evening cat nap, which is why there are no pictures of him.

Sorry for all the black and white. I’m experimenting with my camera (thanks for the tips Becke’!) and I can’t seem to get away from the B&W. I need to branch out. Anyway, I’ve had a nice couple of days. Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement. Landon is finally doing better at night. As in he’s sleeping all night long, which is glorious. Sloan and Tia re doing better sharing a room. It still takes forever for them to fall asleep, but they end up sleeping a little later in the morning, which is nice. So all in all I think we are turning a corner!

My minivan has a kickin’ feature (anytime I can use the words “kickin'” and “minivan in the same sentence I try to ’cause it makes me giggle) that allows you to see how many miles you have left before you run out of gas. I hit it tonight and watched the miles tick down until a little star appeared at the 5 mile mark. I was kind of curious to see if I would really sputter out and stop after 5 more miles, but then realized my cell phone battery was dead and it’s 57 degrees outside and thought better of it. I quickly pulled into the nearest Shell station and put a little gas in the van. My car seemed happy about that.

As I drove on, I got to thinking about that little DTE button. I wish I had one of those. I wish I had a meter that told me exactly how much longer I had before I was completely empty. Instead, I’m like a clunky old VW with a screwy odometer and definately no DTE. I go, go, go until I suddenly seem to spit, sputter and came to a shuddering stop (how’s that for a little alliteration?). That happened to me today. I hit empty and I hit it hard. Unfortunately, the people who suffer most when I hit empty are my family. I’m just tired. And that’s not their fault. It’s mine. And now I’m tired and I’ve got a big old heap of mommy guilt to go on top of it. I was not a good mommy today. I was bad mommy. The kind of mommy that kids write books about when they get older. The Mommy Dearest kind of mommy (shudder). Maybe I wasn’t that bad. I didn’t beat anyone. I didn’t use a single four letter word…at least not out loud. But the tone of my voice was scary and the volume was louder than it needed to be. It’s not that they were being impossible, they were just being kids…and a husband. I hit empty. And when you’re on empty, there’s no jump starting the car to dodge the oncoming traffic. You sit there and wait for it to hit you. And my kids stink at dodging. Again, not because they’re little terrors, but because they’re kids. They seem to hit me while I’m down every time. A little trivia for you: Did you know that a car, though completely lifeless and empty, will still explode when hit at the right angle? I have no idea if that’s a fact or not, but it works well with my allegory. Most days I handle their little shenanigans well – but those are the days when I’m full, or at least have a little to keep me going.

I have just pushed too hard, for way too long. I’m tired physically. Just really, really tired. I feel like I’ll never be not tired again. I’m tired emotionally. Not because there’s anything super emotional happening in my life but because I’m so frustrated with myself and that makes me emotional. I can’t help it. I’m a girl. And, perhaps most importantly, I’m tired spiritually. I miss God. It’s not Him who left me – I’ve drifted from Him. Thus the big fat E staring me in the face right now. I’m tired. I so, so tired. And so I’ve decided to take the day tomorrow and fill up my tank. I need to be filled with the Spirit. I need to pour scripture into my weary body and allow Him to recharge me. I also need to fill up my kids’ love tanks. I’ve not loved them well these last few days. I need to speak grace into my husband who has been oh so patient with me these last few months. I will probably not post tomorrow. I need a day away from the computer, away from the television, away from everything that I substitute for the one thing that truly fills me up. I need a day to be filled. I’m posting something I wrote a couple of years ago when I reached a similar place in my life. I was pregnant with Tia and had terrible insomnia. I slept 2-3 hours/night and was not handling that well. These are the words the Lord spilled through my fingers into my journal. I sing them softly to myself tonight. I do not share this to beg for encouragement, though I always welcome that. I share it because it’s a way of holding myself accountable. And now, off I go to sleep and recharge my physical batteries.

This weekend at Six Flags, Sloan was very concerned about the roller coasters. Our conversation went something like this:
Sloan: “That roller coaster is really high and goes super fast.”
Me: “Yep. That’s what roller coaster’s do.”
Sloan: “Is it scary?”
Me: “No, roller coasters are really fun.”
Sloan (eyebrows raised): “Then why is everyone screaming?”
Me: “Uhhh…Those are happy screams because they’re having so much fun.”
I don’t think he believed me…

I took the kids – all three of them – to Six Flags today…by myself. Along with 8 bajillion other people, 90% of them between the ages of 12 and 15. No, I’m not really that much of a glutton for punishment. I had a reason for going and did not plan on spending as much time there as we did, but whatever because I’m a ROCKSTAR! My brother and sister-in-law are coming to town this weekend and we told them that because we had season passes to Six Flags (which were given to us as a gift) we could get three of them in for free with our coupons. Ummm…I didn’t know that you had to actually enter the bowels of the park to get your season pass processed. I figured we could just get it done Sunday morning when we all got there, then we planned to use the Mother’s Day free friend passes because Six Flags is allowing us to use them since Mother’s Day was so nasty here. But, we had to actually get our passes and coupon books before Sunday, thus my reason for taking the kids this morning. I got there right when the park opened hoping to get the passes and get out quick, only to find out they didn’t start processing passes until noon. Nooooooo!!! So, we headed off to ride the kiddie rides. Except Tia was being a complete pill and wouldn’t try anything and just kept whining and crying. But, being the rockstar that I am, I did not lose my temper. I was cool and calm and kept it together. Even when we had to wait in line for forty minutes to get our passes. By the time we were ready to leave, Landon had had it and I was beginning to fade myself. Here is a picture of the kids as we were leaving the park – notice sweet Landon’s face:

So now we are all very excited about going to Six Flags again on Sunday, and this time I will have three other sets of hands to help, not like I need them or anything though because I’m a ROCKSTAR, yeah!

Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman lost his 5 year old daughter in a tragic accident yesterday when his son accidentally struck her with his car in their driveway. Please be praying for this family as I cannot imagine the grief they are experiencing – especially their son. That is a heavy load for someone so young to bear. If you want to read more, click here.