My husband and Bed Time

I have been married for over ten years and my husband never goes to bed early. He always says he is going to start going to bed early so that he can finish his work day earlier. About every six months John comes to me and asks me if I will let him go to bed early. That just makes me laugh!!!! In the whole of the ten years we have been married if I go to bed before midnight John will surely stay up until two or three am. If I go to better at midnight or later John will go to bed with me. Oft times I have stayed up until midnight, no matter how pregnant and tired I am, just to make sure John doesn't sleep through half the next day. Well this came up again yesterday. John accused me of keeping him up late by reading. But, because I know I will be in trouble, I have always had my lights out by 12:15 no matter how much I wanted to keep reading. It has always been John that has asked to read a little more. So I just explained that this could not possibly be due to me. John did go to bed at 11:30 last night. I wonder how many days that will last.

One more thing, John never slept as a child either. I know that his parents were very frustrated when he was two and they still couldn't get him to go to bed at a normal time. I believe his parents just eventually just shut him in his room, and when they woke up he would be sleeping in front of his door.

Of Doggies, Spiders, Scorpions, Dragons, Foxes, Horses, Cats and Mice

Having a house full of kids is quite an adventure and one of the funnest parts is listening to what they have to say and even better what they have to say to each other. So here is a little blog on the topic of animals. Adam is generally afraid of animals except our cat Meg who he likes to lie in the grass with or carry into the house to torture. He loves that she knows how to say meow. When Meg was born Adam picked her up, rubbed her against his cheek and said, "my wuv you". But all summer Adam was afraid of "doggies". If something frightened him he would tell you there was a doggie somewhere. If he was afraid to go downstairs alone he would say "There's a doggie in mommy's basement." We also found this fun to tease him. On occasion we would say with some urgency, "Adam, there's a doggie!" Adam's eyes would grow real big and he would cower a bit. Well, he is not afraid of doggies anymore. Adam has found a new fear-- spiders. If Adam is afraid to be alone he will tell you there is a spider there. But the funny thing is if Adam doesn't feel well he will say there is a spider in that part of his body. Recently he got an eyelash in his eye and was wiping his watery eye saying, "a spider is in my eye."

On another animal note it is awfully cute how different boys and girls are about animals. Boys are fascinated with scary animals, while girls only like cute furry or beautiful animals. Yesterday day Johnny declared, "Foxes are my favorite and then scorpions are next. I like snakes too but they are never my favorite." Then as an after thought Johnny said, "If Dragons were real they would definitely be my favorite animal!" Ruth on the other hand loves horses and cute little furry creatures. Kate loves cute little furry creatures too and likes to save them. A few weeks ago Kate noticed that the cat had a little brown mouse. She tried to save the mouse from the cat and cried when we told her the mouse was nearly dead already. Johnny just liked the sport of it all.

BOB THE BUILDER

Adam has discovered Bob the Builder. He likes the tv show, song, website etc. Well now he likes to build a house out of duplo legos and have the little man that comes with it fix the house. Of course the little man has officially become Bob the Builder. The other day I sang, "Adam Isaac can we fix it?" Adam said, "No!!! Only Bob the Builder." I asked, "Can Daddy fix it?" Adam said, "NO!!!! Only Bob the Builder can." Bob was fixing his house at the time and continued on. Later that day I sang, "Bob the Builder can we fix it?" Adam said, "NO!!! Only me fix it!!!" I asked Adam if that meant Dadddy can fix it after all to which Adam replied, "NO!!!! Only me can fix it!"

Well I guess that is good because Adam Isaac usually breaks it. :)

Family Home Disagreement

Actually it is supposed to be Family Home Evening, but in our family it is definitely Family Home DISAGREEMENT. Family Home Evening is supposed to be a nice jolly time when you teach your children the gospel, play a fun game and eat a good snack. Everyone is supposed to be happy and excited for it. Everyone is supposed to feel good and happy and get along and be eager to learn and play together. Well, that is a beautiful picture but not the picture in our home.

Let me paint a picture for you of our FHD. When we get together, that is we have to seek out the reluctant people who cry or explain why they are too busy to come. Then we play the couch switching game-- jumping from couch to couch or hiding behind the couch pillows or jumping on top of the person next you because you want their spot or just want to bounce on everyone else. Then we fight over what song to sing and who chose last, but we actually do manage to sing. We may have people dancing in a rather knock other people over way, but singing does happen. During the lesson Adam jumps on everyone and roars loudly. Mom and Dad threaten and shout out the lesson. The older kids wrestle on the couch and yell that someone is touching them. Rachel just runs away and plays, that is if Adam isn't already attacking her. When Mom and Dad finally give up on gospel instruction and Dad declares (as he does every Monday) "This was the worst they have ever behaved!!", we fight over what game to play. We usually end up playing some sort of throw stuffed animals at each other game where at least one person cries and several people declare some else to be a cheater. When enough people are crying and Pregnant Mom has leaked enough urine to need a full bath we declare the game over and head upstairs for snack. Now this is the part we are all good at. Dad, Mom, Ruth, Kate, Johnny, Adam, and Rachel can sit at the table together and pleasantly and kindly eat junk food together. We do have an occasional spill. But sugar and chocolate improves our moods substantially and we can go to bed as a happy family.

Balloons

Johnny was trying to punch a helium balloon with his eyes closed. He asked me to watch him "practice his skills with his eyes closed". Then Johnny asked how I thought that he did. I first asked him how he thought he was doing and he said that he was good but not great. It was rather amusing to watch a little boy miss punching a balloon again and again with his eyes closed while making karate noises. However, he did seem to improve his skills with his eyes closed after he had worked on it for a few minutes and of course whenever he peeked.

Uncle Seth

Today we were discussing with our children some of the events for this upcoming week. I told them that Aunt Monika and Uncle Seth should be coming sometime late Thursday night and leaving Saturday. Ruth cheered and said, "We haven't seen Uncle Seth for a really long time." Kate said, "The last time we saw Seth he was just a dumb teenager." Ruth then stated that Seth must not like people very well because he never visits them. I then laughed and corrected Kate by saying, "Actually, Seth was a returned missionary before you were even born. In fact, Seth is 30. He is only two years younger than me." Then with a little bit of awe Ruth and Kate both said, "You are 32!!!" I said, "Well, yes in three weeks." Then Ruth firmly stated, "Seth should get married soon!" Well I think we all agree with that.