Lynnie Loofah...

Yesterday, we went to Pizza Hut to claim some Book-Its.  Namely because I hadn't cooked supper.  =O  Anyhow, there are TV's at Pizza Hut.  Playing sports.  And commercials.  Neither of which my children have really watched before for any length of time.  So, there were lots of questions about basketball, and about why the gym on the TV is so much nicer than the one at the school here.  And questions about what the most dangerous sport is (we watched football during Book-It claim last month), and what the least dangerous game is.  Jadelyn asked the latter question to her Daddy.  I don't know what he said, but she came up with her own answer along these lines, "I think duck, duck goose" is the least dangerous.  A new sport is born!!!  =)  On another note, since when do restaurants need TV's blaring?  I thought going to a restaurant was supposed to be a relaxing time with your family enjoying conversation?!?!?!  Anyhow.

Then, they were enjoying some of the commercials, and then a different one came on.  Jadelyn kept watching it.  "Jadelyn, don't watch it!" Isaac exclaimed, "it's WICKED!!!"  And true enough, there were explosions and such.  Glad he knows not to watch things.  Now to teach Lyn. 

Then, last night during the getting ready for bed routine, Jadelyn came out to see me.  "Mama, I want to tell you something.  Thank you for getting me this chewy toy at Wal-Mart."  (Said with the chewy toy in hand.  And maybe partially in mouth.  I don't remember.  =O)  For you see, Jadelyn has always been a beaver.  As an infant/toddler she chewed chunks of wood out of an endtable and my piano bench.  She also shredded her crib all around the top.  She chews on her clothes and, well, on just about anything.  So, last summer, I got her a baby chewy toy.  That way if she feels the urge to chew, she can channel it in an "appropriate" manner.  Not that she does very often, but you know...it was good for the LONG van ride back from KY this summer.  ;)  Anyhow, she appreciates it.  Funny kid.

Anticipaaaatiooonnnn!!!!!

Tomorrow is the big 8th (Yes, EIGHTH!!! =O) birthday for Ruby and Isaac.  Tonight, David made an announcement.  He told the twiniokies that he had a special surprise for them.  This was followed by gasps of anticipation.  Then he told them that he was going to let them wash dishes for the last time as 7 year-olds.  They couldn't believe he was serious.  Note to self: not all David announcements are good ones....;)

His Wife is Going to Sew....

Yesterday afternoon, Isaac sat by me and worked on a puzzle while I did some sewing with the machine.  He asked if that machine could make shirts.  I told him you could sew anything on them, but I'm no good at clothes.  Guess I'll just stick with quilts and curtains!  ;)  Anyhow, he loves watching me sew.  During this time, he informed me that when he grows up he will make airplanes (toys) at his house and sell them to make money, and his wife will sew at home and sell what she makes to make money.  I asked how he could guarantee that his wife would sew.  "I'll ask her", he told me.  So, future Isaac wife, start practicing up those sewing skills!  =)

The Little Things...

Today as I was working outside, Jadelyn came to me with a painting that had a rip in the middle of it, asking if I could fix it.  I told her that I probably could, and asked her to put it on the table for me to get to when I could.  "You're the best Mom EVER!!!" she exclaimed as she went back inside.  Well, thanks, Jadelyn.  I'll tape a picture for you ANYTIME for a compliment like that!  Ha. 

Kiddin' Me?!?!?!

So, almost first thing this morning, a relatively cheerful, fully dressed Isaac informed me that his stomach hurt.  He went and laid down in the bathroom.  Wanted to drink water, so guzzled a bunch of that.  Then I got to thinking - he hardly ate anything at supper last night, and when he does that, often he feels sick.  So, I got him some breakfast.  Said he burped and felt like he was going to throw up and didn't think he could eat the Cheerios and banana I had for him, so I got him applesauce.  He picked at it, but hardly ate any.  To make matters stranger, he was joking and talking and stuff as usual.  An hour after he told me his stomach hurt, he threw up.  Now he's back on the bathroom floor, but for a while, he was yelling to his sisters in the other room and said he felt good.  Said he even felt good when he threw up.  (Enter Pause here as I went back to be with Isaac as he threw up AGAIN.)  What in tarnation is going on?!?!?!  Poor fella.  Thankful everyone stayed well last night so we got some sleep....

Sickness and Funny Kidisms...

So, on Sabbath, I, Kim, decided that we would skip the kids' naptime and go on the hike with the school.  David was on supervision and would have to go, but I could've taken a nap.  Guess I was feeling out of the ordinary adventurous to suggest skipping naptime, 'eh?  ;)  Yeah, yeah.  They're only almost 8 and 5 1/2, but they still nap almost every day they go down, so naptime (and my quiet time) continues...=O  Anyhow, I announce my spontaneous-like decision very soon before we need to walk out the door, and I'm met by Isaac crying, saying that he has a headache and would rather take a nap.  See, when Isaac gets headaches, it often progresses to nausea and sometimes the real deal throwing up.  So, I reluctantly decided that Isaac and I would stay home (David said he'd still take the girls).  Gave Isaac some good 'ole Tylenol, which sometimes stops the nausea from happening.  Guess his headache started when we got to church, or something, and got worse when he and Jadelyn cracked heads while playing "Red Rover" after lunch.  That game is trouble waiting to happen.  I almost always felt like my wrists were going to get broken playing that game.  But, I digress.  Because Isaac was napping, I laid down on the couch to read, which lasted the approximately 10 minutes that it normally does before I feel very, verrry tired.  So, I took a nap.  Isaac woke up from his nap after only an hour.  He did not come to see me.  That was strange, but I figured he really had to go potty after drinking a cupful of water right before naptime in an effort to get his headache to go away.  I waited around 10 minutes and went to find him.  Fella was sick.  I think he had thrown up by that point.  So, we cuddled in the bathroom for 20 minutes or so.  Long enough for my posterior to become quite sore.  =P  Then, we moved the cuddle session out to the living room.  After a while, little man was fine (as he often is in situations like that.)  We continued with our evening plans as usual with no problems. 

For some reason that nobody knows, David and I forgot how old we are and stayed up 'til midnight on Sabbath.  Finally hit the hay, and shortly after, hear the pitter patter of Isaac's feet running to the bathroom.  Lovely.  He was sick.  Sick, sick, SICK.  Threw up every 30 minutes or so until 3 or 4, and then slowed to about 1 throw up an hour 'til 7.  Oh, and at some point in there it progressed to throwing up AND diarrhea.  Thankfully the worse occurrence of that happened during the hour and a half or so that David was getting up with I-see.  Also thankfully, David is strong-stomached and Isaac didn't want a new pair of jammies and just wanted to just sleep in his undies (first time in his life, I believe).  This made changing easy, since he went through 4-5 pairs of underwear that night.  Only the first time was bad.  After that, it was just a little.  He learned to sit on the potty and heave into the garbage can.  Again, thankfully, I heard him going at it, and ran into the bathroom to find him sitting on the toilet heaving into thin air.  Enter garbage can.  Life saver.  Although I don't think he was really bringing anything up by that point.  Needless to say, I did NOT get much sleep.  But, during one strange episode of sleep, I awoke to a little face at the side of my bed saying that her belly hurt.   Around 5:30am.  Ruby.  Well, it had been about 1 hour before that she woke up to come check on Isaac, who she heard throwing up from her bedroom.  I figured her belly hurt 'cause she was worried, so tried to reassure her that he was fine (for in-between throwing up, he said he felt good and would act totally normal.  Said his belly didn't feel like it normally does when he's "throw-up sick".  Yes, our family has a well-used term.  For throwing up happens around these parts a LOT.  Nobody knows why.  But it does.  =P  Poor little man.).  Anywhos.  Sometimes her belly hurts and if someone pushes on it real well it feels better.  (She's learned this from Isaac, who used to ask Ruby to sit on his belly if it felt bad).  So, I instinctively pushed on her stomach and rubbed it and told her that Isaac was okay.  She said she wasn't worried about Isaac.  And what'dya know.  She started puking soon after.  That lasted until 7am THIS morning.  Yes.  Over 24 hours.  Though really she went from like 8:45 last night 'til 5:30 this morning with no puking.  Strange thing is, she really NEVER brought anything up.  But child wanted to throw up so bad and sometimes would say "help me" as her head swung around in her sickness.  Poor girl.  Every time she'd go an hour without being sick and I'd let her have a tiny sip of water, she'd throw up about 30 minutes later (or maybe that was 30 minutes after the 2 sip time.  =O  Yes, I think that was mostly it.).  So, finally I decided I was going to have to break some rules to hydrate the child, plus I figured that maybe she was throwing up 'cause she was SO HUNGRY by that point.  Gave her ice chips and said she could have as many as she wanted and felt like she could handle.  She had almost an ice-cube tray worth of ice chips.  Then progressed to Gatorade and then broth.  She likes broth.  Couldn't handle jello at lunch time - said she started feeling a little sick when she tried it.  So, broth again.  Then she napped for 3 hours and woke up saying she felt "good" but was tired.  Ate at supper, helped clean up the house, and played hide-n-seek.  I think she's on the mend!!!  =)  This is good.

Aren't you glad you just read so much about puke?  =O

Oh, and in that puke story I forgot the cuteness.  Ruby, after throwing up and asking me to pray for her, then prayed for herself.  And for Isaac - that he wouldn't get sick again.  And Isaac reported that he prayed for Ruby when he heard her puking in the other bathroom.  Seriously, I had one kid camped out in one bathroom, and one in the other bathroom.  There were times I would be talking to one of them after they were done being sick, and I'd have to cut it short 'cause I'd hear the other one at it in the other bathroom.  And during this my belly started not feeling great and I had one end of the sickness (=P).  I was thinking we might really regret not having the 3rd bathroom completed, but all worked out.  =P  Oh, and then David took Jadelyn to work with him on Sunday morning for a few hours so I could get some sleep and such, and when he brought her back, she just quietly colored in the living room, looked at a book or so in her room and then colored on a dry erase board in Isaac's room.  Was all great 'til I found 4 different places this morning that dry erase marker made it on to Isaac's carpet.  =P  That's still a work in process to get it out - any suggestions?  =P  OH!  And at one point, I came out and gave Jadelyn a run-down on her siblings situation.  "I don't care" she told me, "I just like to color."  Ai yai yai.  =P

We got our first hard frost last night, so Isaac and I went out and picked all the tomatoes and tomatillas we wanted to salvage.  4 of our 5 kitchen window sills are now full of tomatoes at different stage of ripening.  When Jadelyn saw all those tomatoes, she said that there were so many tomatoes, "I can't believe my eyes -- I'm about to hit my eyes!"  Okay, then!!!

Another time, something was so funny that Jadelyn exclaimed, "I'm about to laugh my feet off!!!"  Versus "head off", I'm guessing.  ;)

And then she said that Isaac "cracked me up so much I'm about to die!"

There was another good one that Ruby and I overheard from the living room, but I don't remember it.  It gave us a good smile, though.  That Lynnie.

At lunch today, I was telling the kids how Thanksgiving is coming soon and telling them what's on the menu.  Jadelyn didn't want me to "ruin our surprise", but I did anyways.  Isaac was reminiscing to 3 years ago when we had the relish tray on the table and how he wants to do that again.  Funny guy.  I was telling them how I use Gram's recipe for dip, but mine is never as good as hers.  Isaac then said that maybe Gram has a sprayer machine that is a little cone with a hole in the end.  Once she mixes up the ingredients it sprays in a little something extra to make it so delicious.  Must be!!!  My dip never tastes like hers!!!

And tonight, when I was tucking Isaac in to bed, he told me, "I have to talk to you."  He often talks at bedtime.  And talks and talks and talks, even as we shut the door.  So, I figured he was just buying time before he had to be quiet for the night and go to sleep.  But nope.  He really had something on his heart.  So, back to the story.  "I have to talk to you", he says.  I asked what about?  "My brain".  Period.  Pause.  Oh...hmmmm...this could be interesting.  Then, he tells me that his brain tells him things and he thinks and thinks about it.  Then he plays and forgets, but then he stops playing and remembers.  And he needs to tell me.  His brain tells him to pray a lot 'cause Jesus is coming soon.  And he wants to go to heaven.  And he needs to tell this to Jadelyn, and Ruby, and me, and Daddy, 'cause he wants us to pray a lot and go to heaven, too.  Sweet man.  I asked him if his brain tells him that he should stop aggravating his sisters.  Nope, his brain hasn't sent that message yet.  ;)

OH!!!  And on Sabbath night, I taught Ruby how to add and subtract up to 4 places with borrowing and carrying and all that, and she thinks it's so fun she wrote some of her own problems to work.  I love planting messages like, "Math is fun!!!"  Yeah, I think I totally told her that.  ;)

We were supposed to claim their Book-It Pizzas tonight, but with the sickness I thought we'd better hold off.  Hopefully soon.  We're partying this week.  More on that on Thursday, maybe...;)

Oh, yes!!!  The other day, we were running late for story time and I was tired out.  I told Ruby that the other day, Isaac read to me, but I didn't read to him, and I read to her that day, so on this day, she was going to read to me, but I wasn't going to read to her.  She left the room to get her book.  "You broke her heart!!!" Isaac exclaimed.  Sure enough, Ruby re-entered the room with the saddest face and quiet tears.  Then Isaac, my sweet fella, pipes up something like, "Ruby, you can have my story and I just won't have mine."  This is a big deal, for Isaac has been working his way through a library book about elephants and really treasures his story time.  It was the sweetest cheer-up message.  I told Ruby she should give him a hug, so she got down of the chair, went over, and hugged and kissed her favorite twin brother.  Then, Jadelyn pipes in something like, "Isaac, I'll pick the elephant story so you can hear it."  So, Isaac went and hugged his little sister and everyone was happy.  Until I didn't read the elephant book to them because they weren't present when they were supposed to be.  But that would ruin the happy feel-good story, yes?  ;P

OH!!!!  (Again...=O)  Tonight, we played hide-n-seek.  When I was "it" the second time, I walked around singing about where my lost children were and I needed to find 'em.  And then, Isaac was "it" next and he started by walking around singing the same song, except for his song was about his lost "girls" and where is his Mommy.  =)  Funny guy.  And after I shut the door on him when saying goodnight tonight, he sang a quick "Goodnight, little Mommy, goodnight" to the closed door.  Earlier he was singing his own composition that I really need to get on video, "1, you know I'm coooomiiinnng!!!  2, you know I'm cooommming!!!  3, you know I'm coooomingg!!!" and on and on.  About the second coming, of course.  Maybe his brain was thinking about what it's been thinking about lately.  Jesus loves you, my I-see.  He wants to be your very best friend.  Keep using that brain. 

Paper and Conversational Gems. Courtesy of my Daughters.

Found a little slip of paper laying around the other day.  That is not out of the ordinary.  With these three kiddos in the house, there are OFTEN little pieces of paper laying around.  I picked up the piece of paper and read it.  It was kinda funny.  I showed it to David.  He told me that Ruby had given the paper to a student who had been at our house earlier that day.  See, Ruby likes to give "love tokens" and has since she was 5 or so.  Used to be little tiny pieces of paper that she had colored and cut out.  Now they are often a full paper with a picture drawn on it and "I love you so much" written on the back.  But this time, Ruby had chosen to write down the first few sentences from a book and hand it to a poor unsuspecting student.  Can you imagine what he thought when he read his "love token"?  It read, "Has your head been itching all day?  You may have head lice.  Lots of children get head lice."  HA!!!  Ruby, you CRACK ME UP!!!  =)

Yesterday was my birthday.  I was greeted first thing by Ruby telling me "Happy Birthday!" and shoving my very own "love token" at me.  Well, she later informed me it was a card.  Anyways, there was a picture on the front.  She told me what it was.  Alpine (our kitty), a male lion, Hickory (our dog), a sad Ruby because the octopus died, and an octopus.  What a random card!  She had a sweet message written on the back, too: "Happy birthday Mommyyyyyyyy!!  Love, Ruby.  I love you."  She then told me that she wrote so many "y's" because she didn't know what else to write to fill up the space.  Funny monkey. 

Ruby and Jadelyn were having a conversation the other day when Jadelyn busted out with this statement: "Mommy loves me the best 'cause I'm the youngest".  Oh, really?  Hadn't heard that one before.  Well, I'm glad to know that she feels loved.  Who knew the youngest sibling birth-order-thing started so young?!?!?!

Okay, MUST MAKE LUNCH!!!