Late Night Confessions

A few days ago Ryker came to me with a very serious conversation.

R: Mommy, I've got to tell you something.

C: Ok. What?

R: I've been doing something in my bed at night.

C: Okaaaaay. What?

R: Well, late at night after you tell us to go to sleep I hide under my covers and....read....with my flashlight.

C: (exhaling for the first time since the conversation started) Well......you really do need to get your sleep, but as long as you get up in time in the morning for school you can stay up and read under your covers for a little while.

I am secretly happy that Ryker is so engrossed in his books that he can't put them down. He has always been a good reader, but he never enjoyed reading for long periods of time before.

On vacation this summer his great aunt gave him a series of Charlie Brown books (published comic strips) and he read those, literally, all the way from Kansas City to Colorado Springs. He wanted to read a lot of them out loud to us. It was a constant chorus of, "Hey, listen to this one!" We were both impressed with his voice inflections and animation as he read about poor old Charlie's troubles, but it got to the point where we were sick of them and had to ban The Peanuts out loud.

Then last night I put the boys in bed and told them they could both read for awhile with their flashlights. I came upstairs 15 minutes later and found them both huddled around their little nightlight on the wall squinting to read their books. They couldn't find their flashlights and they couldn't not read before bed so what else were they supposed to do?

I guess if one of my habits is going to rub off on them I'm really glad it is reading. There are a few others I really wouldn't want them to inherit.

Nerd Alert

My husband is commonly called a dork and a nerd.....and not just by me either.

It's an occupational hazard when you are a Physics and Chemistry teacher and a strategy game fanatic.

He does not find these titles offensive in the least and is somewhat proud of his dork status.

Even his co-workers and students have begun to sense his nerdiness. I give you the following examples:

Over the summer Brian got a new clock for his classroom. It's a special Chemistry clock. It doesn't have numbers on it. It only has elements from the periodic table on it. They are in the location on the clock that represents their atomic number. So O (for Oxygen) is in the #8 spot because it's atomic number is 8 and H (for Hydrogen) is in the #1 spot because it's atomic number is 1. See? I told you he was nerdy.

Anyway, he loves this clock and thinks it is so clever. His Chemistry students appreciate it too, but when he had to trade rooms with another teacher for a day her General Science students were extremely frustrated with not knowing what time it was. When they asked, "What's up with that clock?" Mrs. Doll's only possible explanation was, "You know Mr. Grove is a little bit of a nerd." When word got back to Brian and he jokingly confronted her she said, "I lied and said 'a little bit'." Point taken.

The kids that have had him for 2, or sometimes 3, classes in a row (like his AP Bio students) are completely used to his nerdish ways and have come to accept and respect them. In fact when Cainan went in and drew a stick figure like this one on the white board the other day, the students were appalled. They said, "Mr. Grove I can't believe you taught your son how to draw phospholipids."

Ok, he's not THAT nerdy. But I do see the resemblance.

A Weekend in Pictures

October 9-13

More roses from the bushes in the front yard.Lots of family here to visit. (This is only a small sampling.)
My latest Potter Hollow creation back from the kiln.
A trip to the zoo where the 5 baby tigers were being very playful...

and where we got to ride on the train, thanks to Grandpa.

Kinley is Two

I can barely believe it but my baby is two years old now.

We didn't do much for her birthday since she isn't really old enough to know what is going on any way. She celebrated at the same pool party that Cainan did two weeks ago and then we had another pool party on her actual birthday.

She had a cheesecake with two candles in it and even managed to blow one of them out without catching her hair on fire. She loved all of her presents; especially her pink pom-poms, toy pots and pans, and cash register. But her favorite gift of all is the 88 cent generic Magna Doodle that we got at Wal-Mart.

We picked one up for each of the kids after seeing how much they loved playing with the ones that my sister keeps in her car for her girls. Our plan was to keep them in the car to entertain them on trips, but they have all loved them so much that they are begging to bring them in the house and play with them.

Considering that we are on vacation it is good timing that we've found a fun, cheap toy to keep them occupied in the car.

Update

Just because he's proud of himself for mastering a new skill...

Just because he wanted to....

Just because he can...

Just because...

Ryker untied the baseball cleats that have been tied all season and retied them himself just before the game.

(They came untied halfway through the game, but hey, it's a start.)

All Tied Up

It may have been Cainan's birthday but Ryker is the one that reached a milestone this week. He can now tie his shoes all by himself.





Yes, he is 8 1/2 years old and going into 3rd grade. No, he had never tied his own shoe until yesterday.





I'm such a bad mom. He always wanted velcro shoes (because he didn't know how to tie lace up shoes, as it turns out) and I was happy not to have to waste time tying his shoes all the time. Even his baseball cleets we tied once and then he just slips them on and off. I was just plain lazy.





Then yesterday we were at a yard sale and there were some really nice Eddie Bauer shoes on sale for $1. Ryker goes through 3 pair of shoes a school year, so the more cheapie pairs I can get the better. They were the right size and the right price but Ryker didn't want them. He instead picked up a pair of velcro shoes that were still nice but a little more worn. I asked him why he didn't like the nicer ones and he admitted that he liked them a lot but that he couldn't tie shoes so he wouldn't be able to wear them.





I felt like an idiot. So I bought both pairs of shoes and promised him that I would teach him to tie with no problem. He said he had tried before but that it was too hard. I don't know who tried to teach him, a friend probably, but they must not have done a very good job.



A few hours later we were in the car and I took the opportunity to teach him how to tie his new shoes. I tied one as a demonstration while he copied my every move on the other shoe. It took all of five minutes and he had it down. He then mastered the art of double knotting the laces about 30 seconds later and that was it. He was so proud of himself and so excited.



I never even knew he cared. He never acted like it bothered him at all that he didn't know how to tie his shoes. But when I went in to kiss him good night later that night he said, "I'm so glad I can tie now." Then he continued, "I didn't think I could do it because it was so hard the first time I tried it when Daddy tried to teach me. I guess you are just a better teacher."



Ah, hah! Now the truth comes out!!

Cainan is Five

Yesterday Cainan had his 5th birthday. When Daddy measured him he had grown a full 2 inches since last year.

We celebrated with a pool party at Uncle Greg's house (since it was also a party for Blair and Kinley). He had a great time swimming and horsing around with his cousins and friends.

Of course he wanted an Indiana Jones themed party so we made a cake with a giant Rice Krispie boulder rolling down on top of the fleeing Indy. He loved it!

He was thrilled with all of his presents (mostly Indiana Jones things), especially his whip. Overall it was a long, but really fun day.

Happy Birthday Cainan!

B**r

On the way in to town last night we spotted a doe deer with twin fawns standing along the side of our road examining some trash that had been thrown in the ditch by some careless passerby.


After all of us commented on how cute the little spotted babies were Ryker chimed in with, "Yeah and did you see that? They wanted some Bud Light." *chuckle chuckle*

Well, I guess it was inevitable. If you watch enough TV, especially St. Louis Cardinal's baseball, you're going to find out about Bud Light. As I was mentally formulating my age appropriate anti-alcoholic beverages speech, I heard some further explanation coming from the back seat.

"You know, those Bud Light sodas. Like on TV. They wanted to drink some soda." *chuckle, chuckle*

Crisis averted...for now.

Conversations on the Way Home From Church

Mom: So, what was your lesson about today, Ryker?

Ryker: Well, we actually talked a little bit at the beginning about Transformers.

Mom: Why did you talk about Transformers?

Ryker: Because our lesson was about how God can transform us.

Cainan: (in awe and wonder) How does God transform us??!!

Mom: (realizing that Cainan is picturing God ripping us limb from limb as he twists us into new robotic creatures) Transform just means change. God can change people's hearts.

Ryker: Yeah. Like he makes us want to be good and obey him.

Cainan: (slightly disappointed) Oh.

Ryker: Now do you understand?

Cainan: Yeah, most of it. I understand all about the Transformer part I just don't understand about the God part.

Patriotic Pestering

Here is the Fourth of July version of harassing your older brother.

Rykie Doodle

(Sung very sarcastically to the tune of Yankee Doodle)

Rykie Doodle went to town

riding on a pony

Kissed a girl on the lips

then ate a pepperoni

Abe and George

Costumes.

Most of our discussions around here have something to do with costumes.

It's always....

Cainan: "Where is my black cape, not the long one, the one that goes with blue Batman?

Ryker: "I can't find the Spiderman mask. I can only find black suit. I want the red one so I can be Peter and then turn into Spiderman."

Ryker: "Can I wear my suit jacket too? I want to be Maxwell Smart just like Cainan."

Cainan: "How do you make metal? Can you make me an Ironman costume?

Cainan: "I want to have an Indiana Jones birthday party. Can I have a brown leather jacket to wear for it?"

Mom: "Hurry up! We've got to get your costumes on so you won't be late for your ballgames."

Dad: "They're called 'uniforms', not costumes."

And on and on and on. They spend months planning what they will dress up as for Halloween and for their birthday parties. See, Ryker's birthday is the day after Halloween so we've always themed the party to go along with his Halloween costume for the year. So of course Cainan, even though his birthday is in the middle of July and nowhere close to Halloween, now thinks that all of his parties should involve elaborate costumes. Remember the pirate ensemble last year?

So it should come as no surprise that I overheard this conversation earlier this week.

Cainan: "I know. I'll be Abraham Lincoln for Halloween and you can be George Washington."

Ryker: "Well, then you'd have to have a beard."

Cainan: "So. You'd have to have hair on your ears."

I guess he does have hair on his ears. I never noticed that before.

I think I'd rather make a stove pipe hat than try my hand at forging metal so I think I'll encourage the Abraham Lincoln idea.

Another Milestone

And this one is a biggie.

Kinley now (ocasionally) plays by herself!!!!

On her own initiative she'll head upstairs to the toy room and entertain herself for a while. I never thought this day would come. Yippee!

I first discovered her new found independence a few days ago when I noticed she wasn't hanging around my legs, but instead giggling hysterically upstairs. I crept up and peeked in the toy room to see which of the boys was playing with her and eliciting such happy sounds. Instead I found Kinley all alone holding the toy battery powered drill to her stomach tickling herself. She kept that up for probably 5 minutes.

The next day I didn't hear anything from her for a while and went to investigate once again. This time I found her sitting on the top step completely under her blankie drinking from a Gatorade bottle of water she had found in the boys' room. Since it was just water I let her enjoy her forbidden fruit for as long as it would last.

Of course, as I type this she is sitting on my lap throwing a screaming fit and trying to push the "alt" key, so it isn't a full time thing....yet.

Nothing But the "Tooth"

Ryker and a friend were having a discussion about how many teeth they had each lost. Ryker has lost 6 or 7 and his friend had lost almost as many.

Cainan couldn't join in on the conversation since he has yet to lose any teeth at all. Feeling left out he decided to chime in with his own tooth anecdote.

"We have a grandpa that is so old that all of his teeth were lost. He had to get fake ones. Then he got so old that he died and went to heaven....and lived happily ever after."

April Showers Bring...May Showers

Rain, rain go away.
My little ballplayers need to play.
Or at least practice for goodness sake!

We are starting to get depressed. The endless rain has spoiled all of our plans recently. All of Cainan's t-ball practices have been cancelled so far and Ryker has only had 1 of the 6 practices he had scheduled. The trip to the water park was off and so was a picnic at school. The garden is soup and the dog is so muddy he hasnt' been inside in days...poor thing.

Well, at least it is sunny today...so far.

As Cainan observed this morning, "Hey, one nice sunny day in a row."

Prom Night 2008

Cainan was the page at the prom this year. He was so excited about getting dressed up. He wore his suit jacket and his little clip-on tie all over town for 2 days. (With a t-shirt and shorts of course.)

He enjoyed the whole experience...except for the dancing. I have to admit it would be hard to dance with a girl for the first time in the middle of a empty gym floor while 7 people with cameras circle you. Now he knows how celebrities feel.

The next day he asked if he could "do Prom" next week too. We told him he'd have to wait about 12 years before he could go to Prom again. He seemed to be OK with that.

One Big Garden

Cainan loves the pharse, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news.” He looks for any excuse to use it in his conversations with me. Here is what he came up with this morning.

C: I’ve got some good news and some bad news about spring.

Mom: OK

C: Which one do you want first? (This is a rhetorical question because he usually just gives me whichever one he wants first regardless of what I say.)

Mom: The good news.

C: The bad news is we have all of these storms. (See what I mean)

Mom: What’s the good news?

C: It’s gardening season!

Mom: Do you like gardening with Daddy? (I personally am not fond of it. I don’t like all of the kneeling and bending over in the 90 degree heat all summer. Love the food though.)

C: Yeah. And I like gardening with Grandad too.

Mom: (Grandad has like 3 tomato plants. What gardening?) You garden with Grandad?

C: Yeah, like when I ride on the tractor with him.

Mom: Oh, farming.

C: Is Grandad a farmer?

Mom: Yes! (Well, duh.)

C: Huh. Never knew that. (pause for little wheels to start turning) He doesn’t have any animals though.

Mom: No. He isn’t that kind of farmer. He just works on the land…not with animals.

C: Then he’s a gardener.

Mom: I guess so. (Wow, that’s one big garden!)

Long Distance, Please

Kinley's attitude of late has been well documented here. However, if there were still any doubt I offer the following anecdote.

Kinley loves to play with the phone...not the three old phones that don't work anymore that are in her toy box...the real phone, of course.

She has discovered the "speaker" button and loves to press it and listen to the dial tone blasting from the cordless phone. Luckily, I can also hear that dial tone from anywhere in the house, so I can come running and turn it off before she dials China or something.

A few days ago I heard the tell-tale signs of Kinley on the phone and ran to get it from her. She was already starting to dial by the time I got there. What number was she calling you may ask?

666

How appropriate.

I rest my case.

If You Give a One Year Old a Chore*

If you give a one year old a chore then you’ll have to make sure that she does it.

She’ll cry and scream “no” several times so you’ll have to give her some swats and show her what to do over and over again.

She’ll cry and scream “no” some more, but when she finally gives up and puts the magnets back onto the fridge you will have to give her some hugs.

Then you’ll have to get a paper towel to dry up the puddle of tears and snot on the kitchen floor so that you can sweep it.

As you are mopping up the floor her you will notice how horribly nasty the baseboards are in your kitchen.

So you’ll stand up to go get a rag to clean them and you’ll notice you’ve had the wrong burner on on top of the stove and your chicken isn’t really cooking at all.

After you turn on the correct burner you’ll have to go get that rag. As you are crawling around on the floor scrubbing baseboards you’ll notice just how nasty your cabinet doors are too. You’ll have to go get the Magic Eraser for that job.

When you get the Magic Eraser out of the cabinet you’ll find out that it is the last one you have. So then you’ll go to your grocery list and add "Magic Eraser".

While you are making your grocery list you will notice that your calendar says “Picture Day” in big bold letters on today’s square.

You will run to the cell phone and text your husband to find out what your son was wearing today when he left for school and if his hair was combed, because you know that he went to bed with it wet last night.

While you are waiting for the return text you’ll start working on those cabinets and then all of the sudden it is lunch time and you will serve micro-waved hotdogs because your chicken is still basically raw.

After the very nutritious lunch, and before nap time, you will blog about the morning’s events because they are just so typical.

But while you are blogging, your one year old will come out of the bathroom carrying a dripping plunger and you’ll have to tell her to take it back thus starting the crying and screaming “no” all over again.

*Also titled “If You Don’t Want to See the Dust Bunnies, Don’t Look Under the Bed”

Reflections

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Wow! 13 years. It hardly seems possible. I don’t feel any older, at least mentally, than I was 13 years ago, but I hope that I am a better wife than I was back then.

We’ve had a lot of fun together over these 13 years. We’ve camped and explored all over the U.S. together. We’ve biked through Cape Cod and gone swimming off the shores of Nantucket. We’ve hiked through Yellowstone and snorkeled in the Bahamas.

We’ve learned a lot in the last 13 years too. We’ve learned how to communicate, how to deal with in-laws, how to live together and how to change diapers without getting wet.

We’ve gotten a mortgage. We’ve gotten some dogs. We’ve gotten a few cars and big yard. We’ve gotten degrees and given up careers. We’ve gotten fat and gone on diets.

We’ve worked together over the years too. We’ve built 3 houses and grown a big garden. We’ve led church programs and started new classes at school. We’ve studied and passed and studied and failed. And we’re working as hard as we can together to raise three great kids.

Which brings me to the three best moments of the last 13 years. We always stay in the hospital for 2 whole days after our kids are born. Those are always the best days! The baby just sleeps and looks cute and we have nothing better to do than lay around in bed and talk. Someone brings us our meals, and our baby for that matter. We are far away from home so we get a few visitors but most of the time it is just the three of us loving each other.

I remember after Kinley was born especially. It was so sudden and shocking and PAINFUL. We were both in shock for several hours, I think. We couldn’t believe how it had all happened so quickly. We barely had time to take it in. We talked and talked until we finally collapsed from exhaustion that night. Then we both woke up in the middle of the night and just talked some more about the whole experience and how crazy it was. Parents of babies that are less than a day old should not be waking up in the middle of the night unless the baby herself is responsible for it…but when you’ve been through a harrowing and thrilling experience together there is a lot to say. We both realized how peaceful (well after the first couple of hours) and wonderful and fleeting those two days were and we cherished every second.

I wouldn’t want to spend 13 minutes, let alone 13 years, with anyone else.

I love you, sweetie.