Nothin' like it

Chris and I spent the evening in a hotel in Gatlinburg, which was wonderful, and when we returned home, all the children ran up to us, yelling, "Mommy!" and "Daddy!" and giving us big leg-hugs. What a beautiful, fantastic, enthusiastic love. Down the road, I hope we continue to share this type of love, and that those short-people leg-hugs turn into full-bodied bear hugs.

The Rat in the House

It's a new Dr. Seuss series. You don't want to miss it.

I've dealt with mice before. They are a minor inconvenience, excused because they are just so darn cute.

Not so with a rat.

He's ugly. He's scary. And he looks like he can gnaw my finger off if I look at him the wrong way.

I don't even know how to trap a rat... humanely... "tidily"... successfully.

He has the audacity to come out in broad daylight and scurry--make that lumber--over my feet in the kitchen.

He chewed a hole the size of Lake Eerie in my bag of pancake mix and went for a swim in there. Then, as an afterthought, showered off in my rice.

A rat.

Ick.

I shiver.

and I will not sleep well tonight.

Exciting news!

Saja, 6, asked to be baptized last night. Our church will be licensing Chris on Feb. 7, so they're going to let him baptize her on the 14th! Daddy baptizing daughter on Valentine's Day!!! Isn't that sweet?!

Goodnight kisses

My boys are so affectionate. Tyler and Tobias have begun to play a goodnight game with me--when I get ready to leave their room for the night, I turn and say, "I love you! Night-night!" They either reply in kind, "Ly-lay-loo, Nite-nite!" or give me the flirty-eye. The flirty-eye looks like this: chin turned toward shoulder, slight smile on the face, and fluttering eyelashes. Then I say, "No crying when I leave!" They always giggle, because they know they're going to cry when I leave just to get me to return! When I close the door, they cry the worst fake cry you've ever heard. So I open the door quickly and say, "Hey, there's no crying when I leave!" And they both giggle. I'll lay my whole body on top of theirs so our faces are touching and say through puckered lips, "Gimme goodnight kiss." Sometimes they do, but most times they turn their cheeks and make me chase down their lips... which, of course, I do with glee. Bedtime can be fun, but it sure takes a long time!

THEN... I run upstairs to start bedtime for the older kids. I always kiss them on their cheeks after I read their stories, and sometimes, they'll throw their arms around my neck and yank me down, keeping my chiropractor in business. Tonight, David took my face in both hands, turned my lips toward his, and fish-kissed my lips ten times in a row! I left the room with a smile on my face and a light heart.

The most hilarious van adventure yet

So...

Praise God we're all safe and sound and tucked into bed tonight... and we didn't even have to call AAA Auto Services.

The girls wanted to swing on a friend's tree swing, so I took them over there at about 4pm. Tobias and Tyler had not napped, but I figured they wouldn't be too cranky with the outdoors calling their names.

Wrong.

Tobias fussed so much that I put him back into the car. Tyler thought that would be grand fun, so he joined him. They pushed the button on the van that automatically closes the door.

I knew that Tobias had a habit of plugging in our DVD player, which, when activated before cranking the car, will drain the battery. I also knew it doesn't happen ALL the time, and that I was parked conveniently for a quick jump, were it to happen today, so I let them play in the car for about 15 minutes while I kept an eye on them and the other children in the yard. I also chit-chatted with the Mommy-friend, Missy Rhodes.

Then it hit me.

Tobias has my keys. If he locks the door, I will not be able to get into the van. And I'm not so sure he'll be able to unlock the door on command.

I raced to the van, and sure enough...

It was locked!

I yelled through the window to Tobias. "Where are my keys?"
He went right to them... hanging out of the ignition.
"Can you push the button to unlock the door?"
He, in fact, did push a button. The LOCK button.
"No, no, baby, the other one. The UNLOCK button."
The lock button again. Sigh.
The he climbed to the door and manually pushed the button on the door--to lock it!
I suggested that he go back to the key fob and try again, and this time, he got it right, much to my joy and salvation from panic.

So, naturally, I tried to crank the car. D-E-A-D.
Missy offered to have her husband jump it if we had jumper cables, which I promptly located. Eddie, her husband, did NOT appreciate the fact that the red alligator clips were missing the rubber grips. Watching him try to attach the clips to the battery while thinking his risk of shock was high was like watching a little boy sneaking into the cookie jar. He jumped and squirmed and squealed, and finally asked, "Are you confident that this isn't going to shock me?" to which I, of course, replied, "Yes, I've seen Chris do this fourteen times." (Then I looked at Missy and mouthed the word, "No.") I offered to do it myself, but Eddie's ego would have none of that. He did settle down after I threatened his manhood. I missed a real opportunity with America's Funniest Home Videos having left my camera at home. Sigh.

Eddie, you could have won me $10,000. If I won, I would buy new jumper cables... with proper grips. =)

As soon as it cranked, Tobias turned the ignition back off. That boy.

Chris told me one time that driving four blocks doesn't do squat to recharge your battery, so if you have a dead battery, you should drive around 15 minutes or so. Our fifteen minutes led us to Little Caesar's, where I bought dinner for $5.46, and Kora fell asleep, and I nearly rear-ended someone while my attention was on opening the back windows for Saja.

But we made it home, safe and sound, and full. What could have been a tiresome, stressful evening turned out to be fun and injury-free. Thank you, Jesus!

Mary Kay Miracle Set really works

I started using the Mary Kay miracle set for my facial skin care two weeks ago. Last night, lying in bed with Saja, she caressed my face and then asked, "Mommy, why is your skin so soft?!"

Embarrassing moment of the day

Tobias stripped at basketball practice today. It was embarrassing. I'm sure I'll look back on it and laugh some day, but not now.

Learning new languages

Today at the Y, Saja squealed in excitement when she heard a young boy, about age 3, speak. "Mom, he's Spanish!"

I said, "I know. Did you say, 'Hola?'"

She looked at me puzzled and said, "He doesn't speak Spanish! He speaks... baby!"