Wednesday, January 6, 2010

ordered chaos

dear emily,

in raising five lively children, i had to establish some order for
my sanity.  i think children are happier, too, when they have a
framework of consistency.

our afternoon rest time was set in stone, to the extent that hans
had a brass plaque installed at the front door.  it said "do not ring
the door bell between 2:00-4:00...babies sleeping." :)

the babies and toddlers needed their naps, while the older kids
could read or play quietly but had to stay in their rooms.  they
sometimes even fell asleep, too, because they were up with the
sun every morning.  i, of course,  fell into what can only be
called 'death sleep.'

after naptime, we had a snack and watched 30 minutes of TV
to help me transition back from the dead.

one afternoon while watching the lone ranger, isaac mentioned
to max that their great granddad had been a bonafide cowboy.
max narrowed his eyes, "nuh, uh!"

"seriously, he was a real cowboy!", isaac responded.

"ok, well, how many injuns has he killt?" the ultimate litmus
test, i guess...

ninja warriors

dear emily,

we had our last family dinner for hailey's 18th birthday before all the
chicks fly off to those terrible places that steal my children.  :(

max wondered if everyone knew he was getting the most 'hits' on my
blog.  "that's because you are the orneriest.  i'm trying to make young
mommies everywhere feel good about their rugrats."

it did, of course, remind me of two characteristic 'max' stories.  when
isaac was seven, he thought max was the funniest little guy ever (his
own personal 'calvin' minus the 'hobbes'.)

max, who was three, idolized isaac, his big brother who could do
anything better than anybody else.  to get any school work done,
i had to separate them into different rooms.

one time, isaac was drawing an intricate ninja warrior battle.  each
ninja had about three swords, a ten foot long spear, and multiple
machetes, knives, etc. hanging from their leather belts.  max was
bouncing up and down with anticipation of the picture's completion.

he just couldn't stand it anymore, and cried out, "when are you
going to have that ninja shove his spear into that guy and have
blood and guts and brains pouring out all over him?"


isaac quickly glanced at me to check my barometric pressure.  i
was speechlessly horrified, and before i could respond, both boys
were tumbling on the floor in a crazy wrestle laughing their head's
off.

i think i will save the other story for another day...

love,
lea