Strange Dreams

2/6/16
I have been having quite a number of strange dreams lately and thought I would log them.
This is from last night:
Our family was attending an anti-Hillary Clinton rally.  All vehicles were to be partially backed into a pond, around the perimeter.  We backed the Suburban in. Caelin had a llama on a leash in the back seat, which wanted to get out. The lady in the car parked next to us also had a llama. The 2 llamas got in a fight, so I told Caelin to break it up.  He instead stood in the drivers seat and tried poking the lady, who was lying across out hood with her head on the windshield. Every time he poked her, her head and glasses hit the windshield, so in spite of my great fear of being spit upon by a llama, I got out and pushed the llamas apart.

How not to run your household

     As I come upstairs, it is 10pm, and my bed is covered with clean laundry to be folded.  I just finished the dishes, which were backlogged for 2 days, due to lack of dish soap.  Finally this evening, I went grocery shopping and got some.  Today has been basically a comedy of errors, a day that should truly be recorded for my children's benefit, so in the future they will understand why I have such mental problems.
     It started out late and somewhat disorganized, but just the normal amount.  School, laundry, lunch, the usual Monday stuff.  Scott had asked us to move a bunch of junk out of the old chicken coop in the barn, so we could move the rapidly growing chicks out of the school room, which I am highly in favor of, as they begin to stink.  After lunch, I was fading, so the kids played while I lay down for 20 minutes or so.  That must have been what threw everything off.  Upon rising, I got myself a cup of coffee, and assigned some chores to Levi and Tirzah, while Caelin and I worked on his math corrections.  That alone is enough to wreck Caelin's day.  I heard the kitchen faucet running continuously and hollered for Aila to turn it off, as I was sure she was the culprit. A minute later, it was still going, so I dashed out to the kitchen, coffee in hand, to check. As my Crocs hit the now-wet linoleum, I slid not-so-gracefully, coffee sloshing wildly, and crash down hard on my elbow and knee, smashing my right ankle on a chair. Imagine how pleased I was, still having to get up and turn off the water, because of course, there appears to have been a partial rapture of my children.
     Finally the math was done. We had to attend the ball of Prince James and Princess Anna, a.k.a. Levi and Tirzah.  There was dancing to Celtic music, appetizers, and dessert.  The tickets, I was informed, were made with melted jewels.  "OK kids", it's time to get to work on that coop. Except I was on the phone when Caelin showed up, insisting I come move the van so he can jump start the mower, which he wants to use to pull the wagon full of junk.  So, I drive the van over and we successfully jump the mower.  As I back the van up, however, there is a clunk, bump, and a jump. I throw it in drive, alas, it does not move forward.  Quickly I get out only to find that somehow, I cannot firgure out how, I have managed to get a blue plastic 55 gallon drum wedged under the van and the back driver's side tire is a good 6-8 inches off the ground.  Huh.  Horror, then laughter, then anxiety.  I must take a picture and send it to Joni, who appreciates this sort of thing.  I realize we have to somehow jack the van up to get this barrel out, which Caelin and I spent the next hour working on, to no avail.  The frame of the van is so rotted, the jack went through it like hot butter. In the midst of trying to find a jack, a spot on the van that can be jacked, and various pieces of wood to place the jack on, Aila approaches, wailing and covered with mud.  She is wet, cold and sad. I am not at my most motherly, but I take her inside to change her.  Levi and Tirzah appear, also covered in mud.  My cool was not kept.  I was yelling things about stress, clothing, being good for 5 minutes, and they better change and just sit on the couch!  I realized however, what we really needed was prayer, so we paused and asked God to please! Help us!
     Scott arrived as I was trying the jack in yet another spot.  You may imagine his surprise.  After he picked his jaw off the ground, he shook his head, laughed and said wonderingly, "This isn't just normal talent here, this exceptional."  He then proceeded for the next hour to try various things.  In an effort to be helpful, I tried pulling the barrel out while the van was jacked up, causing it to come off the jack.  He was pleased.  Not.  Eventually, we jacked as high as we dared, and dug around the edge of the drum where it was stuck in the ground.  Praise God, it came out!  The van seems to be fine, though the barrel was pushing on the fuel line.
     It was now 6:15, and we were starved. I came inside to whip up something with thawed chicken.  The living room floor was covered with red, pink, and white sprinkles, like some Valentine's donut. The dining room floor, which Tirzah supposedly cleaned, was littered with random objects. Dinner consisted of sauteed chicken, Stove Top stuffing and broccoli.  Not bad.    I stepped in the school room to broken glass.  The microscope was out and the thin slide covers had been left down and were now smashed on the floor and desk.  Yay. Quickly shooing the barefoot girls out, I vacuumed both rooms.
     I then realized it was 7:20.  Aldi closes at 8:00 and I was planning to take the girls and go grocery shopping. I yelled to Scott that I would have to go alone. Changing out of my muddy clothes, I now cannot find my keys.  Running back to the barn where Scott is working on the chicken coop, I get his and head out, alone.  Shopping was peaceful and successful.  Returning home, we tuck the kiddos into bed and I tackle the mountain of dishes with my newly bought detergent.  Which brings me back here.  I have the tragically funniest life.  I just had to get this stuff down before I forget how crazy our existence is, day-to-day.  I'm laughing, I'm yelling, I'm praying, I'm sore, but I am never bored.

Prayer: By and For Levi

Friday, Jan. 3, we attended Grace Community Church.  Pastor Rick handed out slips of paper to write down prayer requests for 2014. Levi asked for one, and began writing.  He showed it to me. It read, "that I would be saved"  He went back to his writing position on the floor, pausing to whisper, "How do you spell godly? I have god..."  Me, smiling, "Just add l-y." After a minute more he shyly showed me his work.  "that when I grow up I will have a godly family"  Me- melting.
     This is the kid that gives us more grief than the others combined, yet has more thinking going on upstairs than we realize.  The potential is staggering, both for good and for bad.  This is the kid who keeps my prayer life rather active...Please, God, let him know how much he needs you, and how much you love him!

World politics according to Levi

This is an actual conversation I overheard between Levi and Tirzah.

Levi to Tirzah - Do you know who is in charge of the Communists?
Tirzah- God!
Levi- No, it's the President.  Do you know who that is?  He's a crazy person with curly hair.
Tirzah, thinking a moment- It's Kyle!(Puffer)  He has curly hair!
Levi- No, in the old days, Presidents used to curl their hair around those log things.

Aila's words

     Aila has turned into a little chatterbox as of late.  She has developed quite the vocabulary, including a fair number of words unique to her.  I thought I should record them before they are gone.
Bubba-Caelin
Vi- Levi
Siggy- Tirzah (Sissy?)
Beddy-belly
Kit-clothes
waddy-water or any other drink
kaka- cookie, cake, cracker
Deedee-Greemer, Natasha Longino, and Martha Martin
Pawpaw- powder or pepper
Huh-huh- nursing (at Walmart, she saw a rack of bras and called out, "Mommy, huh-huh, me, Huh-huh!)
Oooh- horse
cuddah- depending on context- color or buckle.  She does a very good job buckling herself into her carseat.

Levi's party pooper

    Quite an eventful day! Made the new curtains for the bathroom, decorated Levi's hunting cake and got ready for his party at 4. Games and food went well, till Japheth cut his foot rather badly doing some sort of jumping off the dresser maneuver, and had to go to the ER. The spirit just wasn't as lively after he left. Poor guy ended up with 7 stitches in his foot.
    On a lighter, but no less naughty note, I came out of the boys bedroom after tucking them in, to find Aila's PJ's and diaper at the top of the stairs. I went down to investigate, and Scott had re-diapered her, reporting she had gone in the bathroom, shut the door, got in the tub, and began to draw herself a bath!  The problem was, she was only running hot water, and standing in, ankle deep, saying, "Hot! Hot!"

Lunch and Dinner

     It all started two days before.  Levi had his heart set on having hamburgers for supper, but the meat was still frozen, so I promised we could have them for lunch the next day.  He was most upset, crying and declaring he hated pot pie, which we had instead.  He then proceeded to eat 3 serving of pot pie.
    The following day, Levi, of his own accord, got out the burger and began shaping it into patties, stating he would make lunch.  He did a great job, too, with a bit of advice, frying them up with a sprinkle of seasoning.
     When supper rolled around, Scott was away, so I told Caelin to get the griddle out; we would just have grilled cheese and soup.  Levi got up on the counter.  "I feel like making something." he said.  "Why don't you make the grilled cheese then?" Caelin asked.  "No, I'm going to be a chef!" he responded.  "Well, chefs can make grilled cheese." Caelin answered.  Levi decided he would, claiming, "Chefs have to make everything!"  He went ahead, buttering and assembling, and despite Caelin's protests that the sandwiches were burned on one side and soggy on the other, they were actually not bad at all.  :-)
     During this delightful meal, the boys somehow began discussing how much you could sell a moon rock for.  Levi guessed a thousand dollars.  Caelin, in his superior wisdom, said, "Oh no, much more!"  Levi was shocked.  I mentioned that you can't just get more very easily.  Caelin added, "Oh I bet NASA has a cache of moon rocks."  And I'm thinking, "A cache? How many 10 year-olds know how to use that word?"
   To cap it off, Tirzah just told me she's in the F.P.I., which she doesn't know what that means, except that she can be naughty.  ;-D
   

Levi's notes

   One day, Levi decided to put his improved writing skills to use by writing notes for all sorts of things.  He came out of the schoolroom, slapped a note on the table, and continued on into the bathroom.  The note read:  I have to go pote.  
    Not twenty minutes later, he burst out of the schoolroom again, this time approaching Caelin, and slapped a good hearty crack on his behind.  As Caelin jumped and howled, Levi calmly handed him a note reading: Did that hirt?
    Not to be outdone, I gave him a note that read:  Did you finish your math?  When he realized what it said, he looked very surprised!

Waking with Aila

    From the depths of my sleep, I slowly drifted into lighter patterns.  Gradually became conscious of movement beside me.  A tugging, a wiggling.  Then a plaintive whine, "Uh, huh."  Aila has awakened and is thinking a nursey would be just the thing.  I open my sticky eyes.  The first shades of dawn are filtering through the curtains.  The clock glows 6:30.  A urgent need to go to the bathroom comes over me.  "Alright." I murmur.  "Just a minute.  Mama will be right back."  I hurry to do my business and stop at the beds of my other 3 dreaming chickadees to make sure they are tucked in, cozy and warm.
   Back in our bed, Aila is fussing at my delay.  I jump in quickly to the warmth of the covers.  She is quieted and cuddles down expectantly.  She latches on in satisfaction.  The wiggling commences.  Her hand pats, rubs.  She tucks her feet in between my legs, a habit that at best is mildly annoying, but with a sharp toenail becomes intolerable.  The toenail is quite scratchy today, like a small barb.  I try to move her legs away, but she is persistent.  For a moment I think how big, yet small she is.  Recall that Levi and Tirzah both weaned at her age.  Gradually sleep overtakes her and she settles down. I back away in one swift motion, readjusting myself and moments later am asleep again.  Not deep sleep, for the small movements of a small girl dreaming beside me prevent it, but dozing, drifting, for what seems like 10?  20?  30? minutes.
     The wiggling pulls me from my blissful unconscious state again.  I groan inwardly.  It's Saturday.  Doesn't she know it's the day we are supposed to sleep in?  Perhaps if I lie very still, she will go back to sleep.  This actually works sometimes.  But not today.  Full daylight streams in the curtains.  I half-open one eye.  She is staring at me; reaches out and pokes my one shut eye and giggles.  I push her hand away.  She crawls over to my left side and I expect another request to nurse.  But no, she just lies down on my arm and cuddles.
     I feign sleep a while longer, but finally open both eyes.  She is still staring full in my face and her face breaks out in an intense squinty grin.  I chuckle.  Who can be grumpy with this?  So we loll around, her flopping and resting, patting and snuggling.  Me soaking it up.  Noticing her soft, sweet, dimpled hands caressing, then poking.  Enjoying her goofy faces: smiles, squinting, squeezing, pulling her mouth out by the corners, laughing.  Wishing she would always stay this way, and we could go on snuggling forever.
     From the floor, the cat meows.  Aila sits up quickly calling, "Kitty!"  Footsteps go down the stairs, then a click, click, click, click.  "Doggy!" she announces.  "Is that the doggy?" I whisper.  She flops down again, with a beseeching "Uh huh."  The wake-up nursey.  Why not?  So we settle for a few more minutes, delaying the inevitable.  Her dark, round eyes looking up in trust, her small white hands tapping, patting, probing, pulling.  I ponder the moment, think of  the day's events. Considering the fact that Aila will be 2 in just 2 months and won't wake up beside me much longer, I realize that this is a forever moment. But my memory is so poor.  Like a sieve, these precious times slip through and fade into a pleasant blur.  Realize that when children are small, we feel pressured for time and energy.  Taking time to breathe and give thanks and enjoy them can be a discipline.  But not now.  This is unhurried bliss.
     She takes her time, then releases and pulls back in a deliberate way.  "Are you done?" I ask.  She gives me another squinty-eyed grin.  Goofball.  She gets up, and plunges headlong over my legs, sliding down over the end of the bed into the promise of a new day.

What's Levi thinking?

     As I woke the boys this morning, I was giving Caelin an idea of what was on the agenda for the day.  Levi slowly rolled over and groggily said, "I love you Mama."  He paused, then continued, "What do they mean when they say, 'spit tobacco juice'?"  I could only chuckle, wondering where that came from, but I did explain.  :-)
     While working in the kitchen this afternoon, I glanced up to see Levi in the bathroom, pants at his ankles, poking around in the toilet with the toilet brush.  I quickly went and asked what he was doing.  "Nothing." he replied.  Hmm.  I have never needed a toilet brush to do nothing.  "Well, you were doing something." I insisted.  He placed the brush back in its holder, looking up at me a bit ambarrassed.  I look inquiringly into the pot.  Nothing but a bit of T.P.  There was a odor about, so I asked if he had pooped.  He was rather unclear. 
     "Tell me what you were doing." I ordered.  He reluctantly answered, "Well, I heard it hit the water, but now I can't see it."   He was taken back when I burst out laughing.  Another victim of ghost poopy.  HAHA

     Enough about Levi.  Aila is a real character these days herself.  She likes to go in the bathroom drawer, get a stick of deodorant, and professionally reaches down the collar of her shirt, applying it to each armpit in turn. 
     After Aila's bath this evening, I noticed a weird pimple on her temple.  I squeezed and it popped.  Poor Aila yelled, "Kitty did dat!"  She apparently has been scratched enough to associate pain with the cat.  Oh dear.  Maybe she'll learn to let sleeping cat lie.

Cold house, warm heart

     When I went in to tuck the boys in, there was a bunch of clothes on the floor, so like any good mother, I launched without delay into my "what-happened-in-here" speech.  I hadn't even gotten warmed up when I looked over at the boys' bed.  What I saw stopped me mid-sentence.  Caelin was kneeling on the floor, head bowed, hands folded on the bed, while Levi was face down on the bed.  Taken back, I waited respectfully.  After a minute Levi said, "I already prayed. I prayed for our family, that our house wouldn't burn down, for my friends, their moms and dads, that they won't get sick, and that's all."
     In spite of the 5 below outside, my heart was warmed to the depths.  "Sweetheart, I just pray God will make you into a godly man."  I kissed him and went around to Caelin's side and kissed him.  "I sure love to see you praying; there's nothing I love more than seeing my boys serve God."  ♥  

A (not-so) relaxing evening

   After a busy day, we came home and quickly made dinner.  We all sat down and enjoyed boneless ribs, macaroni and cheese, and peas, followed by family devotions.  I decided to make some cookies, while Scott was playing handyman and fixing a couple dining chairs.  All seemed to be going smoothly.  Tirzah helped make the cookie dough, then I washed dishes while it chilled. 
    At this point, Levi asked if he could do a job to earn one more sticker to fill his chart.  "Yes, you can clean out the pack n play." I answered.  So he begins that, dumping coats and jackets.  "Done!" he announces, and adds the final sticker.  Running to get the prize bag, he decides on a pack of bath fizzies.  And, of course, if you have bath fizzies, you need to take a bath.  "In a little while you may." I promise. 
    Meanwhile, the dough is ready to shape and roll in cinnamon sugar, so Tirzah and Levi decide to help me.  Scott has gone upstairs to try installing a hunting game on the PC.  He hollers for me, but I have my hands covered in cookie dough, so I tell him to wait. He calls, "Jacqueline, what is this new folder bar at the top of the screen?"  "I don't know.  It just appeared there, and I can't make it go away." I yell back.  "Well, it must be a virus!" he cried.  "So, what am I supposed to do about it?" I holler.  Finally I get the cookies in the oven and go see what's up.  Caelin is sitting beside Scott attempting to make helpful comments; Scott finally is convinced it's just an empty folder and deletes it.  Whew!  Crisis averted!  The game, however, will not work properly on the PC, so they scrap the whole thing.
     Scott declares he is going out to the workshop to do a few things.  I tell Levi he may get in the tub; Caelin thinks he will go in, too.   "You guys are too old to bathe together anymore." I say, much to their dissapointment.  "Can we go in together if we wear our shorts?" Caelin asks.  Fine.  Whatever. 
    My mother calls to visit.   Aila has taken advantage of the moment and pulled the Uno game off the hutch and strewn the cards all over the  dining room  floor.  At this point, Tirzah declares she has to go potty.  Rolling my eyes, I pull the shower curtain closed and tell her to go ahead.  Of course, it's a number two, and a lengthy one.  I go check the cookies, which I have been keeping up with.  When I come back, Aila is soaked.  "Why is Aila all wet?" I ask.  "She was playing in the bath water." replied Caelin.  Great.  I take off her jumper and shirt then run back to get the cookies.  From my kitchen, you can see straight into the bathroom, so I glance up to see Aila, tights at half mast, shoes still on, diaper removed, waddling out toward me, saying, "Potty!"   Yikes!
    I take her back in the bathroom; there has apparently been an epic hurricane, due to the amount of water all over the place.  I throw down a towel, telling Tirzah to move it so Aila can go.  I have to wipe Tirzah, the whole while hoping I don't drop my phone in the toilet, because I am still talking to Mom.  As soon I put Aila on her potty seat, she gives me a look of confusion, like "What am I doing here?"  Forget it, I decide, and put a fresh diaper on her. 
    Returning to the kitchen I attempt to roll more cookies; Tirzah and Aila are helping.  Aila picks up the balls of dough and throws them onto the cookie sheet with gusto;  nevermind that they din't get rolled in the sugar. I put them in the oven just as the smoke alarm goes off.  I am yelling into the phone, "Hold on!"  Climbing onto a chair, I press and hold the shut-off button.  My ears are ringing and my mother is laughing.  She is such a supportive person.  "We'll talk later." she says.  I roll still more cookies, removing Aila, and questioning my intelligence for making a double batch of snickerdoodles.
    Scott came back in and pulls out the lap top; the hunting game should work on it, if he can only figure it out.  Aila comes round the corner sans diaper again.  I put it back on, again.  Cookies out of the oven, again.  Finally, last batch is out and am I glad. 
     Levi really wants to show Scott an old game on the upatairs computer, so to satisfy Levi, I go up to help him.  While we wait, Tirzah is going to show me a Curious Geaorge game she can play.  Sitting on my lap, she works the mouse pretty well.  Scott comes up to see.  Moments later, Caelin appears at the bottom of the stairs holding a diaper.  "Mom, Aila took her diaper off and it has load in it."  I am speechless. Luckily, Scott is equal to the occasion, going down and cleaning her up, threatening all manner of action to keep her diaper on.  I decide a sleeper might be the best option, and put one on her. 
     It is now 9:00.  Scott has the hunting game working and is working the bugs out amid unsolicitedadvice from the boys.  "Let's get to bed, please!" I announce.  I am rather tired out from the relaxing evening at home.

The Zaccheus you never knew

    For devotions tonight, Scott read the story of Zaccheus, which I though my children were pretty familiar with.  Wrong.  After the reading from our wonderful children's Bible, he asked a few questons, directed mainly at Levi and Tirzah.  First: Was Zaccheus a big man?  Levi says no, Tirzah says yes. 
    Second, "How did Zaccheus get to see Jesus, Tirzah?"  Blank look.  I rephrase the question.  "How did Zaccheus get high up enough to see Jesus?"  Her eyes lit up, and pointing to the sky, she cries, "A plane! He went up in the sky!" 
     Levi scornfully responds, "No, he climbed a tree!"  "Good, Levi.  What kind of tree?" continued Scott.  "A sperm tree!" he answers.  I nearly fell off my chair. Good thing my mouth wasn't full, I laughd so hard.  He tried again, "An oak tree?" 
     Seeing things were not going so smoothly, Scott turned to Caelin, who this entire time had been fixing himself some dessert and to all appearances was not paying any attention. He proceeded to answer everything, about quoting the story verbatim.  Seeing some reinforcement would be good, we closed with a couple renditions of "Zaccheus was a Wee Little Man."

What Tirzah hears

     Tirzah has taken to telling stories.  This morning she was telling me that she had heard snow falling.  Impressive.  A bit later I was telling the kids that we have to keep food picked up better because of mice.  Tirzah commences describing how she heard mice downstairs at night when she was in her bed.  Claimed they were tiptoeing across the table and she could hear their little teeny feet. 

Hazardous Chemicals

    Chemicals can be hazardous in more ways than one.  Tonight as I did the dishes, I heard a suspicious noise behind me.  Turning, I saw Aila with the can of apple-cinnamon air freshener, set on the floor in front of her, using both her thumbs to press the button.  Thankfully, it is drenching the floor in front of her instead of spraying in her face.  I dropped the dishcloth and ran over to grab the can, putting well out of reach, then went back for some paper towels.  Unfortunately, I hadn't reckoned on the floor being so slick.  Almost in slow motion, I slid sideways, landing on my left hip in apple-cinnamon slime.  If  I had to fall, at least I will smell like fall. 
    I would also like to record for posterity that today Aila has dumped the basket of markers, a couple glasses of water, food from her plate, a bunch of stuff from the camping equipment bin, a substantial amount of cat litter, and an entire container of BB's.  On a lighter note, she has started saying "Vi" for Levi which is very cute.  Her vocabulary includes: Mommy, Daddy (her favorite word), shoe, which sounds more like she, and is tied for favorite word, owie, wa for water, doggy, baby, go-gee for gentle (as she strokes my face) uggy for yucky, ah for hot, and a little sing-song routine when she wants to nurse.  She pulls at the neck of my shirt, rocks side to side, and sings, "Uh huh, uh huh"  The uh being a higher note and the huh being a lower note.  It's working for her so far. 

Levi's soup recipe

Levi made some soup yesterday.  By himself.  It was very yellow, but the children said it was yummy.  He came to me and handed me a piece of paper, announcing that it was his soup recipe.  It read as follows:
 ptatos anb peprs anb beens anb sethnins.
Which translated means: potatoes and peppers and beans and seasonings.
He pointed to the counter and said, "Those are the seasonings I used,"  There was garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt.  Hmm, not bad, I thought.  Besides the vegggies in his recipe, he had put in slices of tomato.  All of the vegetables were freshly picked from our garden.  He had simply boiled tham all in some water.  The yellow color, well, it wasn't natural, and it wasn't in the recipe, so I can't say for sure, but I did find an empty bottle of yellow food coloring in the pantry that afternoon.  :-)

     This afternoon, Levi came to me and announced when he grew up he was going to be a "plane conductor", and that when he was flying the plane to California, I could go for only one dollar.  "Wow!" I said, "That's really great!"  "Yeah, and anybody else in my family can go for two dollars.  For all the other people it costs 30 dollars, no, 100 dollars."  I told him he was sure to have a lot of business!

How she really feels

After we picked the kids up at Justin and Trish's, where they had spent the evening, I asked if they had had fun.  Tirzah replied, "It was fun when you were gone, but not when you got back!"

9/13/12  The girls and I went to Malone this evening to get the groceries for our Maine trip.  On the way home, Tirzah prattled on and on in the dark, asking all manner of questions and chatting about everything under the sun.  At one point she said, "When I grow up, I'm going to work at..." and paused.  I fully expected her to say "Chinese", which is her and Levi's standard answer for what they want to do when they grow up.  Instead, she finished, "at your house.  When I grow up, I want to live with you!"  So I told her OK, that would be great.  :-)
     She kept asking where we were and how long it would be till we got home.  She had asked about 5 times in a row, with me aswering, "North Bangor, 15 minutes" every time.  Finally I told her the next town was Brushton.  "Oh, the it's only six shots till we're home."  "Six shots?" I asked.  "What are six shots?"  Giggles.  "Um, they're six turns." 

9/27/12  While we were on vacation in Maine, we were eating supper at a Wendy's.  It was a bit late and Tirzah wasn't doing so well.  She was crying about her burger, "My sandwich is all crambly!"  OK.  She muddled through enough to get her Frosty, which she was happily sharing with Aila, then suddenly decided didn't suit her any more, crying, "Mine is getting lippy!"  Nobody knows.  Crabby four-year olds.  Who can figure them out?

Aila's First Words

     Aila has just really started saying a few words.  She says mama or mommy regularly.  She calls most any animal a doggy.  Owie is new this week.  Baby is also said frequently, as she gets a doll, wraps in it any cloth she finds, and will sit and rock back and forth, singing, "Baby, baby..." 
    One of the cutest things she does is imitate a gesture I do to her regularly.  When she is too rough, I take her hand and stroke my face with it, saying, "Gentle, gentle."  She will brush my face with her hand and say, "Gogee, gogee."  So sweet!

Summer Sayings

Here are some of this weeks gems: 

Scott told Levi to drink the milk out of his cereal bowl.  Levi complained he doesn't like milk, then added, "The only milk I like is frsh from the udder of a goat!"

In the gas station bathroom, Tirzah announced, "I poopeded a banana!"

Aila has been calling most any animal a woof.  Sunday she had a Carl book; I told her to look for the doggy.  She started saying over and over, "Doggy, woof, doggy, woof!" and actually pointing to the dogs.

How things work by Levi Ramsay

    While we were camping last week, Scott was going step by step through the story of David and Goliath, which Levi claimed was his favorite Bible story. Scott was asking him questions as they went. "David had a sling. What is a sling used for?" he asked. Levi promptly replied, "To carry babies." 

    At supper last night, the boys went to remove what were supposed to be clean dishes from the dishwasher.  They started exclaiming  that the dishes were disgusting, filthy, etc.  I shut the door, turned the power on, and it started up, mid-cycle.  "Someone must have pushed the off button." I declared.  "I think it flipped the circus breaker." chimed in Levi.  "Like when Mama uses the microwave and the dishwasher at the same time, it flips the circus breaker."

   Last Friday, we were pressed to get everything organized and get out of the house for a dr, appointment and then pick Scott up in Chateauguay and head to Plattsburgh for a cook-out and overnight stay followed by biking the Missisquoi Trail.. One can imagine how many things I was oraganizing and trying not to forget. The children were all clean, and the boys were wearing their matching shirt my mom gave them.  At noon, I planned on eating lunch and getting the kids out the door by 1:00.  Simple, right? 
    I had sent Levi out to puit something in the van with instructions to come back immediately after.  Again, seems simple.  However, as I put the sandwiches on the table, I notice he never made a re-appearance.  A secong later, he is in the bathroom washing his hands, which were covered in something that wasn't coming off.  Oh boy.  It proved to be Crisco.  Levi admitted that he and Tirzah had some in the garage.  I was not impressed, as I helped him wash.  Caelin comes in with the full report.  Apparently the two naughty ones had used the shortening to "paint" the wood splitter, which as a side note, is borrowed from Scott's work.  I regret to say, I lost my cool, and my parenting was not at its best.  I also may have strained some blood vessels in my neck, raising my voice to an unusual level.  There was some unpleasantness indicated for a couple of sets of buns that day. Levi was sent, post-haste with a roll of paper towels to clean up the wood splitter, and I got Tirzah washed and changed.  Their clothes were stained, to boot.  These are the times I want to be able to bring up when Levi graduates from medical school one day, proving that he is responsible for my mental state.