A Place For Everything

We painted my bedroom yesterday (YAHOO!!!) Normally we keep the Game Cube in my bedroom, but we moved it into the living room for the night. This morning John found the games to the Game Cube lying on the living room floor. This is dangerous in our house because Rachel loves discs and seems to watch for a chance to get DVD's , CD's, and Game discs. Of course when she gets them they get dirty and scratched so we attempt to keep them out of her reach. After church today Johnny said, "I can't find the games we like. They are not where I put them." John said, "I found them on the floor." Johnny replied, "That's the best I could do."

Experiment

As usual we were late and rushing to get Ruth and Kate ready for the bus on time. I had poured every one's cereals and milk. About 30 seconds later Johnny spilled his bowl of cereal all over his lap, the table, and the floor. I was VERY UNHAPPY!!!!! (Fortunately I refrained from yelling) I did however say, "Johnny why did you do that? Get into the bath IMMEDIATELY!" Johnny replied, "It was only an accident." So I said, "That may be, but it only spilled because you laid your arms on the table. Go to the bathtub and get cleaned up." Johnny looked longly at his spilled bowl of cereal that I was mopping up and then dripped milk all the way to the bathroom.

I got the mess cleaned up and the girls onto the bus. I then placed a bowl of dry cereal and a cup of milk onto the table for Johnny when he finished his bath. I did not wait for him because I did not want to forget to give him breakfast. After a while Johnny came out washed and dressed. He sat down at the table and looked forlornly at his dry bowl of cereal. He then flopped his arms on the table the same way he had earlier and spilled his dry bowl of cereal all over himself. Rather surprised he exclaimed, "Oh!!!" I informed him that this mess was his to clean up. But while Johnny did not say anything I got the impression that he was testing to see if his arms on the table was the true cause of the spill. I think he decided that they were and he has been a little (I stress the word little) more careful since then.

Rewarded

When I went to the store with my daughters and no sons I was able to talk to my girls a lot. It was nice to hear what they had to say and they were eager for my listening ear. Kate started talking about how a lot of the kids in school get to watch a lot more television than they do. Ruth agreed and said that most kids watch Cartoon Network for two hours everyday after school. (WOW!!!) Kate said that her friend Kalli gets to go home and watch TV even before she has to do her homework. I said, "Well it's too bad that you guys got stuck with this mean old mom," (I was just playing with them.) Then out of curiosity I asked if they would like to watch TV everyday after school. To my utter surprise they both said absolutely no. Then they said that I was a good mom and that they liked the way our family is. Kate even said that she does not mind doing her homework right after school. The both expressed wishes for more playtime, though.

On the way home from this same shopping trip Ruth and Kate started talking about how everyone is crazy about K-State football. They each had a lot to say about how people watch football. I then offered to watch the University of Michigan football games with them next foot ball season because that is what I watched when I was a kid and the University of Michigan is the school we have in common with many relatives. They both said no thank you. They like the way our family does things and they don't want to change it. I am just shocked at how sweet and kind Ruth and Kate were, and I am also very pleased that at the ages of 8 and 10 they do not have a serious interest in following the crowd.

Some Things

I have been a negligent mother today. Adam has a very bad cough so I have set him in front of the TV all day. The most I have done for Rachel is take her potty, give her meals, a bath, and buy her candy at the store to make up for me being too lazy to take her on a walk and read her stories. It is 7:15 and I have no idea what to do for the kids for dinner. John and I are ordering out for a date so I don't feel too rushed to feed myself. Now I am writing a blog bouncing the baby with my foot instead of holding her. After i have done this I think I will go and play Mario Cart with Ruth, Kate, and Johnny to make up for my neglect. Them I will have to spend about an hour cleaning up Rachel's mess because I have neglected her too much. I guess dinner will be around 9pm. Ain't I a good Mom!!!!

Here is what I really want to blog:
1. Rachel said, "I mum nannnie" Translation: I Love Candy; and "I wan war" Translation: I want water. What she actually meant was that she wanted to play in the rain. i think she is just darling!!!

2.While at the store Kate said to Ruth, "When I passed gas I said, 'excuse me', and that is having good manners." Ruth replied, "I farted and said, 'Pardon me' instead." Kate smiled and said, "I never say, 'Pardon me' when I fart." (I love listening on the girls conversations. They are SOOOO FUNNYYYY!!!!

Stupid, Yet Blessed

Well, this is rather embarrassing to admit, but John and I were overdrawn this last paycheck, because we had gotten out of the habit of entering our expenses and checking our account. So we were broke until today. There were a few expenditures we had to make, however. The first blessing was when I had to take Rachel and Esther to the doctors for eye infections. This usually would cost $40 in copays. When I went to pay we had a $17 credit and so the visit only cost us $23. Second, we needed hand soap. John went to Wal-mart for the hand soap. The store announced half off on some deli chicken while he was there so he decided to get some since we were low on food too. The cashier and the assistant manager could not figure out how to ring the chicken up at half price, so they gave it to him for free in exchange for his wasted time. The third blessing, happened the next day. I have been promising Johnny that I would take him and his two best friends to Pump It Up (a indoor inflatable bounce place, with slide and obstacle course) since September. Well, I finally invited his friends on Sunday, before we realized how poor we were. I thought it would be best to just go ahead and and take them since I promised 6 months ago. The cost would be $6 a child plus 4 happy meals afterwards. Well, we went. When we got there the lady informed me that Pump It Up was free that day because their computer broke down and they had no way to charge anyone. Amazing!!!!!! So a $45 outing for Johnny cost only $15. I now this was the Hand of The Lord. He certainly takes care of us even when we do very stupid things.

Rachel Talking

Rachel is talking a lot more now. Here are two funny things that she has said.

1. She saw a picture of herself on the computer and very happily said, "I daw a baby!!"

1. She picked up an old peice of sandwich not wiped off the table after lunch and said, "Yuck, dat is poop."

One more really good thing about Rachel is that she is potty trained. Rachel, in four days basically potty trained herself. She now tells us every time she needs to go to the bathroom and sometimes when she doesn't just for attention. Potty training, to my surprise, actually did work for keeping her out of the toilet. Since she started, Rachel has not played in the toilet. Congratulations to our little Rachel making her our fifth little Robertson person to enter the civilized world.

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