Liesel's Song

Liesel wrote me this letter /song on Sunday and it made me cry.

We have made it through one week of Ben being gone. Nathaniel and Liesel have been so responsible and have been such a great help to me. Nathaniel has been giving me lots of thanks and hugs of support! Evenings are hard! Especially at dinnertime. James never wants to sit in his high chair. He gets right out of the buckle and stands up constantly. Tonight he stood up and began to teeter and I had a cup of milk in my hand. So what did I do? My reflexes threw that milk all over the kitchen as I went to quickly grab my boy to prevent him from falling! He wants me to hold him and when I put him down he starts pulling apart cupboards. Then he cries to be held. Elora usually feels pretty worn out by this time also and decides she will join in with the crying.

I washed sheets today and never got the sheets back on Liesel's bed and after I got the three little ones to bed I went into her room not knowing what I would see. There she was asleep in her bed with sheets and blankets. She had made it up all by herself and put herself to bed!

James is missing his rough and tumble play from Daddy so I had to fill in tonight. After dinner I sat down exhausted on the couch and James looked at me and started running away laughing and screaming. Translation for those of you who don't know this means: " I want you to chase me and grab me and tickle me and wrestle. And then do it again and again and again until I get out all my sillies. " So I mustered all the energy I could and the girls and I had fun with baby James. So lest you all think that being a parent is just too much work....sure it is work but it is the most rewarding work in the world!

Funny things the kids said today:

Annika: "When is Dad coming home from his vacation?"

Elora: "How will Dad get off the airplane?" (All she knows of airplanes is that they are flying up in the sky!)

Elora

James

I sure love this boy! He has such a fun personality. He can be tough and growl and hold up a toy sword like he is ready for battle. Othertimes he is so sweet and gives the best little hugs always with a smile on his face. He can also tease his sisters and his mom, just like Ben and Nathaniel do! But when he is mad...watch out!...He gets that from Ben too I guess! I never get mad! ; )

Ben is out of town right now and I have to let him know what he's been missing out on. It's too hard to talk in the evening since the kids are so noisy and needy! And since he's two hours ahead right now he's asleep by the time I have the kids in bed!
We set up the Christmas tree yesterday and James loves it!! He has already managed to break an ornament! Oops! I forgot to make sure all the fragile ones were up high! That was next on my list after I got the mess from setting up Christmas decorations cleaned up! But we had to get the kids from school and when we got back it was time for piano lessons. Since our teacher was running a little late I decided to sit with Liesel and have her run through her songs since we hadn't practice for a week since we were in AZ for Thanksgiving. It only took James a minute while I was distracted to find a fragile ornament hanging on the tree, carry it over to me and throw it on the floor next to the piano! A piece broke off and Liesel and I picked it up and lamented over the loss and then continued practicing. James was being whining and complaining and insisting on being held. I figured he must be hungry so I carried him into the kitchen, walked into the pantry and with one hand got down a giant Costco box of Cheerios and promptly lost my grip and somehow the box tipped over and as I caught it upside down all the cereal from the one freshly opened bag was dumped all over the floor in the pantry. Uggh! I walked away thinking maybe if I imagine that didn't happen hard enough it will not have happened. It didn't work so I went to get a broom. As I walked across the floor I crunched on something very hard! The Christmas ornament! How did that get there?! After that he had a stinky diaper and did NOT want his diaper changed! He cried and threw and fit and managed to get poo poo everywhere! Ohhh will I survive?! I put him to bed a couple hours ago and I hear him waking up now! Thank goodness for those sweet hugs and smiles!