Encouragement

Yesterday was not one of my better days. I was down in the dumps. Way down. So down that I couldn't smile. Had nothing to be thankful for at dinner - which is against our household policy. We even have a sign in the kitchen that reminds us "There is always, always, always, something to be thankful for!" Well...there's a first for all things I guess.

This may or may not have been a hormonally induced depression. We won't go there. Let's just say for the sake of the story that mommy was very sad. And this small fact did not go unnoticed by the children that occupy this house with me. They were beside themselves. Chloe was smart and just stayed away.

Gavin kept asking me, "So, Mom, how you doin?" every 30 seconds. This did not help my state of mind. I was not able to form coherent thoughts or sentences. I was exhausted. I felt like crying for no reason at all. How am I supposed to tell a 10 year old how I'm doing every 30 seconds. 'Sad' seemed to sum it all up nicely.

Bennett took it upon himself to cheer me up. If it was the last thing he did all night, he was going to accomplish this goal. He was seemingly inspired by our President's recent speech he gave all the school children. Bennett comes to sit next to his down trodden mother, puts his hand on my lap and looks into my melancholy eyes and says in earnest, "Mom, our President says, 'Don't give up on yourself, because if you do, you'll give up on your country'." It was so heartfelt. It was perfect. He had impeccable timing. I reassured him that I wouldn't give up on my self or my country, he needn't worry.

I guess his little pep talk did the trick. My country would be proud of me today - I was not sad and I did not give up.

Career Day

Lucky for us, the school is having Career Day today. Gavin couldn't wait to show me what he was going to wear to school. He said, "Since dressing up like an acrobat would be too hard, this is what I'm going to wear today:"

Thank God he showed me before he walked out the door and straight into humiliation. We all know about Gavin's ginormous imagination. I'm not sure the school has caught on yet though. I was okay with the whole 'super hero' theme - I've lived with it the past 10 years, I've come to accept it as a relevant vocational occupation for him. But, I just could NOT let him walk into a room full of other 5th graders with a Tigger 'cape' (i.e.- blanket) that he's had since he was like 3 or 4. It has been used in such a manner all these years. It is perfectly normal for him to run thru the halls of Mallott Kingdom donning such attire. It is not perfectly normal, nor I doubt has anyone in his school ever witnessed such a phenomenon, to do so in a public, institutional environment. People will talk. Not like they're not already talking about the whole Super Hero Career he's about to launch into...but I'd rather them talk about that any day. I cannot even express my heartfelt relief that we have no spandex leotards lying around the house - otherwise, he might just have gone as his first option - an acrobat. Thank God, this is what he left the house looking like today:
I have no doubt that he will one day be a genuine super hero - I just don't think the world is ready for him yet. And let it be known, this has absolutely nothing to do with being homeschooled the previous 5 years. It's who he is. Plain and simple. And I just love who he is! No one can teach someone to be like this. Although, I'm sure the school thinks otherwise.

Bennett thought long and hard about his career options as well. There are just so many options: cheetah trainer, falconer (these are still his top two), zoo guy, football player and/or basketball player. He said he chose football player only for today since he had the appropriate clothing. He had no clue what a falconer wore. Thank goodness he didn't decide to go in a long, medieval looking tunic and cloak. He said that he would go as a football player for today, but that doesn't mean he committing to that vocation only. He said he'd play football on Sunday and then on Monday go be a zoologist.
I love how kids have the freedom to dream and opportunities seem endless to them. I'm also thankful that God directs their steps and that we all grow in maturity. I also used to think like my kids...I knew I could do and be anything I wanted. But my heart was always set on being a Mommy. I'm so glad God let me live my dream! I'm so anxious to know the grown-up Gavin and see how God plans to use all his super hero skills.


P.S - I found this picture from Dec. 2004 of Gavin wearing the famed "Tigger Cape". Proof of the long time love affair he's had with this most special possession of his. I know we have at least 20 more such poses. Thankfully, he's not still asking me to draw logos on his chest anymore.

Saving Tears

We were eating out at a restaurant this past weekend. In the short amount of time it took for me to accompany Chloe to the bathroom and back, Bennett apparently got hurt. We were all sitting in a booth. Daddy and the boys used my being absent as an opportunity to horse around. From what I hear, Daddy and Bennett were shoving each other without regard for any and all table manners. They find this activity 'fun', I guess.

Anyways, I come back and I notice that Bennett does not look like himself, so I ask, "Bennett, honey, what is wrong? I can tell you've been crying." Gavin, the ever faithful referee in such wrestling matches, informs me that Daddy pushed Bennett into the wall with his foot and Bennett hit his head. I realize that this is coming from Gavin, the kid with the flair for the over dramatic, and that Chuck is in no way beating up our children, but enjoying a little jovial push back and forth with Bennett.

Bennett, mustering up his best pathetic and injured look, including the pouty lip, looks at Daddy and says in a most sincere voice, "See this tear on my cheek? I saved it there so Mommy could tell that I was crying." Who knew I stepped right into his trap. The tear I noticed was a plant, made to incriminate Daddy and make innocent Bennett look like he was just sitting there eating his burger, minding his own business, when big 'ol Daddy up and pushed him into the wall.

Oh, he sure knows how to play the 'victim' well. This is proof. Don't forget 'Saving The Tear Technique' - it works like a charm everytime.

A "Duh" Moment

Most people have "Aha!" moments. Not me. I have many more "duh" moments than I care to admit. Mostly, I just pretend they didn't happen. But the two that happened this past weekend are too idiotic to keep to myself. Maybe thru my "duh" moment, someone could learn something little and not have to suffer the same humiliation as I did.

Chuck and I went to Benihana's this past weekend. It's one of my favorite places to go but we only go like once a year since it's so cost prohibitive (that's our way of saying 'expensive'). I literally dream about this food, the yummy sauces, the delicious fried rice...I love it all, the whole experience, even if we are sitting at a table with total strangers.

So, it comes my turn to order and I ask the host, "May I please have an eggroll?" He looks at me stupefied as I look at him with innocent, dense, questioning eyes. He then tries real hard not to say, "Look lady, this is a Japanese joint - not some little Chinese hole in the wall." Instead, he politely looks at me, smiles (rather condescendingly) and says, "We don't serve those here."

Then it hits me...ooohhhh...Japanese...not Chinese....ahhhh...now I remember...just a tad bit too late though. That was my first "duh" moment.

The second happened because I was trying to be helpful and efficient. I saw a broken coaster and thought I'd super glue it back together in the 3 minutes I had before I had to walk out the door. The super glue tube wasn't opened, so I just found the closest pen, poked a hole in the top and....AAAHHHHHH...my fingers are cementing together faster than I can run to the sink!!! What was I thinking? Super glue only needs a teeny, tiny pin prick of a hole - just in case you weren't up on that. It does NOT need a ball point pen size hole. The avalanche of glue that adhered to my fingers within milliseconds was unreal. Now I have to walk out the door with my fingers stuck together. Nice.

Meanwhile...Chuck's at home, googleling "how to get superglue off skin" for me during his all important work hours. How lucky, all I needed was to bathe my hand in nail polish remover. Too bad for me I didn't have any.

What's another day without another "duh" moment?! Just par for the course for me.

My Little Eager Beaver

Oh, the joys of homeschooling! They're back with a vengeance now that I only have one left at home to teach. What fun! What creativity! What a special time we get to cultivate our relationship! It's finally HER time. For her entire life, school has always been about the boys and all my time seemed devoted to their educational needs. But she was always there...wiggling her way into their schooling, being the major overacheiver that she is, grasping concepts I didn't know she had the capacity to learn. Since she 'did Kindergarten' for the past 3 years it seems, my only goal this year is to have fun with life learning. We're sewing, cross stitching, making latch hook rugs, planting a garden, doing pottery, making mosaics, cooking...you name it...we do it. My lesson plan this year is "have fun getting dirty and learning". Although, I can't stop this little learning machine. She loves workbooks. She LOVES reading. And today, I learned that she loves spelling too. She asked me to ask her some spelling words. Best of all, we get one on one time together - something I've longed for (and I'm sure she has too). But the best perk is that I have a full time hairdresser and make-up artist ready at all times to try new creative looks on me. Life is anything but boring.

New School

This is a momentous year for our household. Gavin and Bennett are now going to public school for the first time in their lives. And guess what?....all my fears, worries, concerns were for naught. We have an amazing school full of wonderful teachers in our neighborhood. The boys are able to ride their bikes. They even asked me to ride with them in the mornings. It's so much fun; waving to all the kids & parents we know as we ride down the street. I feel as if we accidentally stepped back into 1950.

Upon their return home the first day, Gavin swore the day flew by and Bennett said it felt like 3 days. Our prayers were answered when Gavin told us how someone befriended him and showed him around and pretty much claimed him as his friend. Our hearts soared with joy because this was our prayer for him. Bennett also found a little buddy but was disillusioned that he has to wait until 1pm for lunch. Plus, he's a little peeved that he has such a short time to eat and doesn't have time to sit and shoot the breeze and practice his little comedy routine on his new captive audience.

The first day they both burst through the door exclaiming, "We didn't learn ANYTHING at all today. Just rules." I guess they had high hopes for instantaneous learning. They don't understand that when you have to teach 25 kids all at the same time - rules are VERY important. They've pretty much had a private tutor all their lives and learning has happened all day long at their pace. This is a new concept for them and they're taking it all in stride.

I asked Gavin if he wanted to do something together when he got home and he instantly ran upstairs to get his "Story of the World" chronological history book that we've been reading. We sat and read aloud for a while, basking in our valued time together. The exact same thing happened the next day, except with Bennett. He wanted to read "The American Story" aloud with me. But when friends came calling - he let me down gently by telling me, "Maybe we can do this some more later. It's not that I don't want to read with you mom...".

Gavin's biggest complaint is that he doesn't have enough time to play superheroes anymore or read for multiple hours of the day. I told him he's always welcome to go to bed a half our earlier and get a whole hour of reading in before bed. He was thrilled with the idea, shocked that he didn't think of it himself and declared, "I think I'll do that tonight!" This is a kid who values solitude, yet is thriving in his new environment. He's learning to appreciate the alone time he gets now and make the most of it.

Bennett's biggest issue is not enough play time with all the people in his life. He wants to spend time with each of his cousins who are staying with us. He wants to play with Chloe. He wants to play with the neighbors. He wants to play with Gavin. He wants to play, play, play.

All in all, I'd say this is going to be a good year. We're all going to be learning lots. I'm so thankful for this new journey and thrilled for my kids.

Beauty

This was taken on one of the busiest, craziest days our lives. Too much seemed to be crammed into one day. Yet, on the way home from football practice, we were driving into this gorgeous sunset. What a moment of wonder, peace and serenity it was for me. It brought calmness to my heart in the midst of chaos. It brought my focus back to the One who made this beauty for me to behold and it reminded me how much God loves me. In the midst of our circumstances, God is still there...too often we don't look for him and keep our eyes to fixed on ourselves and miss out on the wonder of life.

Sunset is my absolute favorite time of day. Whether in the mountains, at the beach, or in the heart of Texas, I'm a sucker for sunset. But I'm partial to the ones here...they're so vast because of the prairie. I get caught up in awe. Each one makes me smile. I see each one as a gift that God made just for me because he knows how much I treasure this time of day.

As I mentioned before, I value beauty. To me...this is beautiful. This represents what I love about where I live, the wide open spaces, the gorgeous sunsets, the vast openness of the prairie. God's beauty is everywhere I look...if only I remember to look for it.

p.s....I'm no photographer. This was taken while the car was moving. I only have a point and shoot camera. But I think it captures what my eyes saw, my heart felt and my eyes marveled at perfectly.

Thunderstorms

You know how some dogs can sense a storm coming? We used to have one like that. She would immediately go hide behind all the clothes in the closet or stay glued to my side wearing a worried expression, while panting heavily. Yeah...that's me. I'm just like our old dog. I HATE thunderstorms. As soon as I hear one blowing in, I start to panic. Especially if its at night. I hide my head under the pillow and squeeze my eyes shut to no avail. I run and check on the kids. Why? I have no idea - it just seems like something a concerned mother should do. I run and check the news to make sure there are no tornado warnings and to watch the animated radar like a hawk.

This is Texas after all. When a storm rolls onto these plains, the wind blows stronger, the lightening seems brighter and tornadoes can pop up at any second. Admittedly, I've never been in a tornado. But I've hidden in our 'storm closet' too numerous times to count. That's my safe place when a storm hits. I know that tucked in the closet under the stairs with Chuck's iPhone (so I can watch the animated radar), my purse, shoes for everyone and a flash light...all my immediate fears melt away. But it doesn't stop my heart from pounding, my head from aching or my eyes from being big as saucers.

And let's not even get into the physiological aspects of what a storm does to me. I'm one of the lucky few who is so sensitive that whenever the barometric pressure changes fast for any reason, my head decides to warn me with a migraine. So now...not only am I in panic, raised heart rate mode...but add to that the migraine. I'm a walking idiot.

Try comforting scared children in this state of mind. Try playing down the fear and talking about how "God is just watering the flowers, trees and grass, honey. It's okay. Don't worry." Why does he have to use lightening and loud, loud thunder though too? I'm really a child in an adult costume.

One night, when Chuck was out of town, the siren in our neighborhood went off around 3am. I take those sirens literally. If someone is taking the time to blow a siren...I am taking the time to get out of the way of a possible tornado...no questions asked. So, with heart pumping out of my chest, I run upstairs to carry each sleeping child down to the closet. This was only this past spring people - my children are not light. Gavin can carry me for goodness sakes. I was running on pure adrenaline. After a good 10 minutes and lots of huffing and puffing, we are in mommy's safe place. I calmly inform the children not to panic, but we're just going to hang out in mommy's closet for a little while in the middle of the night. The natural thing to do is to include Chuck in the fun. So I call him in the middle of the night and ask him to check the radar for us. Pathetic.

I have a problem. I know. I have many other equally pathetic problems. This was what makes me unique. Most people like to claim certain skill sets that set them apart from others such as speaking a different language, being a great artist, playing an instrument. I prefer to use my patheticness as my differential factor.

Fun Crafting

Normally I'm intimidated by all the creative projects Family Fun magazine has to offer. Either that, or I just don't want to put the time and effort into the massive amount of detail that some of them have. (I am so not a details person - efficient, yes; detailed, no). So, amaziningly enough, I found a project that I knew the kids would love and we would also have fun making.

Funny story though...a project that should have only taken an hour, ended up taking us 3 days to complete. The first day I ran out and got a Sunday paper thinking that would be enough paper for us to complete this little project. Maybe it would have helped if I read the instructions prior to running out and hastily buying 1 paper. All those silly little details again. But that didn't stop us, we rolled out as many sheets of paper as we could and came to an abrupt stopping point. I didn't feel like driving a whole 2 minutes up to the store to get more papers. End of project day for day one.

Day two. Daddy was going to run errands at lunch and offered to run and pick us up some more papers. He dropped them off at home and went out again. We turned into efficient little paper folders. We cranked out even more 'paper logs'. But we ended up 5 logs short. We put in a quick call to Daddy to pick up two more papers. That should do the job. In case you're wondering and would like to do this fun little project without multiple trips to the store, it takes 1 Sunday paper and 5 regular papers. We finished rolling out the rest of the papers once Daddy got home the second time, but were being called by the pool and had no more patience to stay inside doing anything fun.

Day three. We finally finished our creation. What a huge sense of accomplishment. We all worked hard together and got it done. Not surprisingly, only 10 minutes later, this fancy little geodsic dome turned into the "Hieroglyph Ship" and all manor of forts were perched around it.

"The world is but a canvas to the imagination" - Henry David Thoreau.

Super Powers Update

I know it's a been a while since we've updated everyone on the state of superherodom around here. Today is your lucky day. Now you can get caught up on all our family has to offer this poor, powerless, human world.

Last night at dinner, Bennett asked what everyone's super power was. I guess he just wanted to compartmentalize all of us in his brain and organize his little world. He told us, we couldn't have the power of "all powers in the world" - that definitely does not count as a legitimate power. The other rule is, our powers can't overlap. How inefficient would that be if we had two shape shifters in the same family. That just won't work. This was almost as important a conversation as the big Mallott Family Fantasy Football League draft.

So...I will keep you in suspense no longer. Here we are in all our glory:

Do not be confused. We are only posing as regular citizens here. We are attempting to blend into our human surroundings. We are at the circus in this picture. But don't let that fool you. It takes only seconds to morph into our alter-egos.

Unfortunately, we have yet to perfect our costumes. Sadly, there will be no pictures of us in our all our regalia. But I can give you colors so you can let your imagination give life to the endless possibilities of colors and styles that we could be seen in.

Daddy's Powers: 1. flying (not at the speed of a sparrow, but fast) 2. telekinesis color: gray

Mommy's Powers: 1. invisibility 2. fluent in all languages (this would qualify me as highly coveted 'hero support') colors: black & white with pink accents

Gavin's Powers: 1. super strength 2. mind control colors: camo

Bennett's Powers: 1. speed 2. shape shifting colors: black and bright blue

Chloe's Powers: 1. good eyesight 2. seeing into the future colors: pink and purple

Read into it what you like. I've spent years trying to understand this myself. I thought we would be out of this 'phase' years ago. Seems as though we're still in deep. The best thing to do, we've found, is to just play along. It makes life much more interesting!

Parental Failure

It always seems to work out that the week Chuck is out of town, is the same week everything goes wrong at home. I'm not at the peak of my game when Chuck is gone. Today is a good example.

We were actually having a very fun day together. Then on the way home from a movie, Bennett and Chloe get into a little fight in the back seat causing me to silence them and send them immediately to their rooms once we get home. I told them I would call them down once I had dinner ready.

About 30 minutes transpires and I call Chloe and Bennett down for dinner. Chloe comes, but Bennett does not. I figured he was just pouting or fuming in his room to get back at me for what he felt was an unfair punishment (this wouldn't be the first time). So, I send Chloe back up to retrieve her brother. However, she comes back down saying that she looked everywhere and couldn't find him.

First anger set in, How dare he try to get back at me like this...ignoring me and hiding. I thought he was just having a pity party and I was going to have none of that. So I run up stairs and start calling out for him with my excitable voice, shall we say. Still, no Bennett. Then panic sets in. What has he done? How could he be this mad at me? Did he try to run away? Now I'm looking under beds, in closets, everywhere. He is nowhere to be found. I'm hollering at the top of my lungs. How could this silly little tiff end up so blown out of proportion?

I even run back out to the garage to see if he's still sitting in the car. Not there either. I'm not the one with the most reason between my husband and me. He's not here. Bennett's not here and I'm panicking. I'm on my way to find my phone to call the police. I can't believe this. Before I pick it up, I stand at the base of the staircase and give one last holler...and I mean loud!!

Suddenly, Bennett appears at the top of the stairs, "Ya, Mom?"

"Uh, hello!! Did you not hear me yelling for you for the past 10 minutes?"

"No."

"You've got to be kidding. Why are you lying to me, Bennett?"

"I'm not. I was on my bed (the top bunk - the one place I didn't look) thinking."

"Good excuse. But I know you're lying. Get back in your room and when you're ready to tell the truth you can come out."

There. I put an end to that! I call Chuck, relay all the details and ask, "What the heck am I supposed to do?!" He talks to Bennett and gets the exact same likely story. Except for now, Bennett's mad cuz I'm mad. Chuck explains this to me and says, "Good luck."

Gavin, Chloe and I sit down to a silent dinner. Nobody wants to say a word cuz nobody knows how mommy will react. Man I hate it when it gets to that point! As I sit there, calming down, avoiding eye contact with the kids, lost in my thoughts, Gavin says, "Mom, did you ask Bennett what happened?"

"Um, I'm not sure if you just witnessed that little charade a moment ago...but yes, I know exactly what happened. Bennett was mad and decided to lay low until the last possible second."

"But Mom, what if he really didn't hear you like he said?"

"Well then...why don't you go talk to him and get his side of the story."

I can't believe Gavin is now being the mediator. I also can't believe his sudden and most uncommon outburst of empathy. This doesn't usually happen.

He's upstairs talking to Bennett for a good 10 minutes. My emotions have finally calmed down enough for my heart to hear that 'still small voice', the one my yelling kind of drowned out earlier. I started thinking about the latest parenting book we read, "Loving Our Kids On Purpose". There was nothing in that book about this situation. If there was, we were missing a few chapters. Then I started feeling a bit convicted. Anger never changed anybody, even if it was justly deserved. How would I want someone to treat me if I felt unjustly blamed? What if Bennett really was telling the truth?

By this point Gavin came out of Bennett's room and said, "I believe him, Mom." Great. Now what? I've already overblown this whole thing...over-reacted, over-yelled, and over-assumed. Maybe it was time I took Gavin's advice and talked to Bennett and listened to his side of the story. So I did.

In my calm voice I asked him if we could talk. He was still sitting on his top bunk, crying. And then I asked him what happened. He said, "Mom, I really didn't hear you. Last thing I remember I was just laying here thinking."

"What were you thinking about, Honey?"

"I was thinking about 2 deers running in the forest."

At this point, I was attacked by a huge laughing spell. I didn't want to laugh, but I couldn't hold it in. I instantly knew he was telling me the truth. He didn't understand why I was laughing, so I told him, "Honey, people don't sit on their beds thinking about 2 deers running in a forest...that's something they might dream about though. Honey, you were asleep and didn't know it." At this, a look of huge relief crossed his tear stained face.

I explained how I became so nervous and was yelling out of fear that I might have lost him. I told him my world would come crashing down if I ever lost him. At this he started crying and we hugged and made up. I apologized for accusing him of lying. He apologized for the earlier incident in the car.

Poor kid...bad timing in taking an unexpected nap caused a huge meltdown in mommy and yet another hard lesson learned - for me. How 'bout I try listening first.

Reminds me of a Bible verse that I failed to remember until it was too late, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger." Thank God His mercies are new every morning and my children's love is unconditional - oh how I wish it didn't take failure to see that so clearly now....

Just Another Day in Paradise

These crazy kids!!! There is no activity or space that is safe from their imagination. A pool is not just a pool and a place to swim. To these people, it is a vast world with innumerable options of activities to do. They are not just jumping into the pool - they are in another world, far, far away from here (reality), only I get the pleasure of listening to their narrative form of play since they're talking at the top of their lungs to each other, uninterrupted by all the other onlookers.

Today at the pool, the boys were using those long, skinny pool floaties and walking around the perimeter of the pool singing something about how they were fishing. Of course, this fishing involved hitting the water with the tube in order to make the most obnoxious sound and splash possible. They are singing songs about fishing, talking about fishing and what types of fish they might encounter. Each are talking at the same time, pretending that the other is just as interested in what they're saying. Neither of these silly people have ever held a real fishing pole or fished in real life. However, we did just read a book about a boy who went fishing in a river yesterday....maybe that's where this is all coming from. Hmmmm.

Then, they take it up a notch. Bennett decides that he is now fishing for the government. Oooooooo...nice segway into a new narrative play topic. The options are ripe with possibilities now. Gavin decides that he likes the sound of fishing for the government, so he joins forces with Bennett. Chloe, who was previously sitting outside of the pool with me, doesn't want to be left out of government work and runs over to the boys exclaiming, "Hey boys!! Hey boys!! I am the government!!" at the top of her lungs. If there is a way she can be in charge and lord it over the boys, she will take every and any opportunity. Upon entering the water, she asks Bennett, "How do you be the government anyways?" Oh, those deep life questions that come up, even at the pool. Doesn't she know that the people working in the government now are still asking that question?

She decides she knows what to do. She rips their goggles off their heads and hides them behind her back and yells at them that they didn't see her do that. Then, she suddenly changes personalities and out comes soft talking, nice voice, "Boys, I am now going to give you something for doing such a good job on your fishing. Here you go." And she presents them with the goggles that were already theirs to begin with. I think she knows more about this government work than she's letting on.

The boys are thrilled to have their goggles back and to be given such high praise that it seems the perfect time to segway into yet another fish type category of work....a cook in a fish restaurant. Now I get to hear them describe all the ingredients they are using to create fish masterpieces. Gavin is using the most eclectic combination of spices he's either seen me use or seen in our cupboard. Yet, his idea of going over the top with his ingredients is adding a whole bowl of sugar instead of just 1 cup. Bennett, of course, is adding such lovely delicacies as raccoon feet, stop signs, and shards of glass. Chloe realizes that she (the government) can no longer control such unruly, creative subjects and decides to join in the cooking fun.

Just another day at the pool. Tomorrow will be totally different (thank God!).

Mental note: No more watching the Food Network with the kids.