It's inappropriate

Overheard in the bathtub last night:

Blake: Brady, don't pour water on Max's head.
Max: No Way!
Brady: But I want to.
Blake: But don't.
Max: No WAAAAYY!!!
Brady: But why not?
Blake: Because it's inappropriate.

Did I miss the 1st grade vocabulary list that included "inappropriate"?

Now I get it...

I remember when my sister called to tell me that her son had just broken a dozen eggs all over the kitchen floor. I'm sure I thought to myself something like, "How on earth could one child make so much mess?"

And when I heard my sister-in-law say that she blocked the ignition from her son's view because she feared he would figure out how to get the key in and drive away if he ever saw her do it, I thought she was nuts. I mean, what two-year-old could do that, and when on earth would he have opportunity, right?

And when one of my girlfriends used to call to beg me to let her kids come over just so she could clean her house, I just thought she was totally high maintenance that she couldn't clean her house with her kids IN it.

I think the devil had me actually believing that I was just a better parent.

And boy, do I owe those three women (and I'm sure many more) a HUGE apology. So Erin, Sara, and Maryellen, watch your mailboxes.:) Because now I get it.

Here's why.

Yesterday, Brady and Max came home from school, and I sent them upstairs to watch TV for a few minutes while I unloaded the groceries. By the time I had finished unloading, I went upstairs to find all the clothes I had folded in one big pile on the floor. This is not the first time they've done this, and I guess I'm not smart enough to remember to put them all away IMMEDIATELY or suffer the consequence. So I sent them outside to eat their snack while I refolded it all. They were out there all of five minutes when they come back in, covered in mulch. Wet mulch, because it had rained. Now the mulch was all over my floor. So I stripped them down and sent them back upstairs to the room they had already destroyed once so I could get the floor under control before it stained my carpet. By the time I had vacuumed and treated a spot or two (couldn't have been more than 5 minutes), I heard Max screaming. I go upstairs to find wet toilet paper everywhere, but mostly on top of Max's head. Sydney's toilet is filled to the top, and the boys are both covered in potty-water soaked toilet paper. Brady is grinning ear to ear because he thinks it's hilarious. Max is not quite so thrilled with his new "hat". And no, I did not have the presence of mind to take a picture because I was too busy trying not to beat them.

So apparently Blake and Sydney were just remarkably well-behaved children. And apparently, I do not deserve a mother-of-the-year award for that because I really had nothing to do with it. I really have no love left for the Babywise guy, who had me falsely believing that because my first two children slept through the night at six weeks, I was a superior parent.

So I'm thinking that there's a good possibility God sent me Brady and Max to teach me a little humility. Ouch.

Now I understand that some children are just more "high-spirited". With more personality comes more mischief. With a greater sense of adventure comes a greater sense of independence. And independence is just not always pretty in a two year old.

But somehow, though my life is more hectic and more frustrating, it's also more fulfilled. The little guys have brought a kind of joy that I hadn't experienced before them. Not that I don't adore Blake and Sydney. I do. I just think that Brady and Max have brought us the personality that now defines our little family. And they somehow make me understand my relationship with my Savior a little better. And anything that brings us closer to the Lord makes our joy more complete.

Yelling match

I've been meaning to tell you about the evolution in conversation between Brady and Max. It has come to this:

Max: No way.
Brady: No way!
Max: No WAY.
Brady: No WAY!
Max: NO WAAAAAAY!
Brady: NO WAAAAAAAAAY!!! Mom, Max is yelling to me!

Actually, it's hard to tell if they're saying "no way" or "go away", but you get the idea...

Good times.

Brady's adventure

Brady had a field trip with his preschool class to Boerne Gymnastics last week. To say that he loved it is an understatement. He was so excited to go on an "adventure with Mommy". As far as he was concerned, this was just an extended imaginary Diego adventure. He swung through the jungle looking for Baby Jaguar and rescued just about every animal ever mentioned on Diego. It was a delight to get to be there to see his joy.

At one point, he looked up and saw some kids climbing and exclaimed that he wanted to go climb on the HEB's. This is what he was talking about:

Wow. ABC. 123. HEB. San Antonio really needs another grocery store.

After we'd played downstairs for a little while, they took all the kids upstairs to the special preschool area. They had this foam pit that the kids just loved. Now, I'm a little too germophobic to be comfortable with this concept. If you look closely at the pic, that sweet little girl on the left is reaching for a stuffed animal. Yep. That's right. They weren't content to contaminate my child with foam blocks alone. They had to add 50 year old stuffed animals to the mix. I'm just waiting for my sweet little Brady to contract some kind of horrible disease...

But after I got over my initial impulse to grab my child and head for the safety of our bathtub, I had a great time watching him jump in over and over and over again. He loved it so much that I might actually think about letting him try gymnastics this summer. So I'll be looking for a gym that actually has disinfecting on their to do list.

Tooth fairy gone broke

Blake has been very busy losing teeth lately. Of course, he works it and works it and works it, but refuses to actually pull it out. Eventually, it just sort of falls out without much bloodshed at all. When his first front tooth was loose, I took a couple of pics of his "Billy Bob tooth". Gross.

Then it finally fell out:

And yes, I'm aware that he is in desperate need of a haircut. I'm a little embarrassed that I photographed him like this, but it was bedtime already, and I thought it a little ridiculous to comb his hair at that point. He got a haircut yesterday, thank goodness.

Moreland Family Christmas

Christmas was a marathon event for our family this year, and the kids loved it. We celebrated Moreland family Christmas on the second weekend of January. Gran, Grandad, Matt, Sara, Hollyn, Noah and Hannah all arrived on Friday evening. We had breakfast together on Saturday morning, and then the gift opening began. I'm really not sure who had more fun: the kids or Gran.

This has to be my favorite picture from the weekend. Noah IS a pirate. And a cute one at that. ARGH, maties!

Andy takes his role as helper to the little boys very seriously, as I'm usually behind the camera.

I tried to photograph Hannah all weekend, and this is the only decent picture I got. That girl moves FAST. Love those pigtails.

Gran gave Syd a sewing machine, and immediately began lessons. Sydney produced a skirt and headband for her AG doll by the end of the morning.

Hollyn and Sydney both got aprons and Paula Deen cookbooks. Such sweeties. And that cookbook has already come in handy a number of times.

Blake and Noah each got these obnoxious Hulk hands, courtesy of Aunt Carla and Uncle Den. They make noise when you make contact. One thing it says, in a Hulk-sounding voice, is "You won't like me when I'm angry." This has become a common saying in our home. I'm really not sure I should have told you that...

So there was a lot of this that day:

The little kids all liked each other's toys. Max played with the rocket ship that Brady got. He still plays with it every day. It keeps him busy at least long enough to unload the dishwasher.

Brady loved the MP3 player that Hannah got.

Grandad loves to sit in a big chair, draped in babies and read a book.

The biggest surprise was the "big" gift from Gran and Grandad. Both families received Wiis. Everyone was thrilled. And Blake ran in circles like an overexcited puppy for about an hour. It has provided hours of family fun already. Here's Matt and Sara, opening said Wii, looking like they stepped out of a magazine. (As a side note, if you ever need fashion advice, I'm sure Sara could serve as Stacy from What Not to Wear, in a pinch. She has impeccable taste, and I've never seen her look vaguely maw-maw. Although, I don't think she'd give you an Amex card loaded with $5,000.)

The biggest change for us this year was the absence of the holiday food marathon. We opted, instead, for lunch out at Longhorn (a burger joint loud enough to drown out the noise of our crew), and had a very simple dinner at the house. We were honored to have some of Matt and Sara's friends come over to reconnect with them on Saturday evening (in honor of Matt's birthday). The house was hopping with kids, and we managed a fun evening with no injuries.:)

Switching gears, I've been meaning to tell you about the sweetest gift Sydney made for Brady. He's been asking for a field journal for EVER, and I've tried different strategies to pacify him. Finally, Sydney (being the brilliant, creative child that she is) printed out some pics of animals, stapled them all together and BAM, field journal. Brady was thrilled.

Of course, it is now missing...

Saturday morning in the park

Okay, so I had every intention of taking the kids to Brackenridge Park on Saturday morning. Andy's out of town, and I was looking for a way to pass the time. I wanted an activity we would all enjoy.

So we skipped the park and went to Houston instead. Yes, I know I'm crazy. We drove to Spring on Saturday morning, arriving at Gran and Grandad's around noon. We played for the afternoon and evening, and then got up early on Sunday and drove down to our old church (New Beginnings).

Gran and Grandad are always glad to see us, and they were so sweet to let us crash at their place last minute. Fortunately, Gran had already begun a pot of gumbo (yum). Grandad's new TV is awesome, and I think he's probably at least as proud of that thing as he is of his grandchildren. And I'm not sure I'd fault him for that. It IS pretty cool.

We enjoyed a much needed warm welcome from our friends at New Beginnings. We are learning to love our new church home, but miss the small, intimate feel of our old church. I particularly miss the women of that church. In the two short years we lived in Houston, God gifted me with some of the best friends and mentors in the world, and we miss them so much.

I was afraid I might regret this trip. But I don't. Not even a little bit. All four kids are wonderful travelers. They were all so energized by our little adventure, and they were very sweet to each other all weekend. I truly enjoyed my children this weekend. And I think our little road trip was so much more fun that a trip to the park.