Makes My Monday

It's a bit unlike me, but I've joined a Facebook group full of people that I don't know.

We all have one thing in common: we all have two sets of twins.

As of this past weekend, though, I do know two of them. They both live in Houston, and we met up at the zoo on the day after Thanksgiving.

The three of us and our combined six sets of twins.

Here we all are. This picture makes my Monday.

Thankful for . . .

. . . my husband, who loves me enough to declare it on Facebook, clean up after Thanksgiving dinner before he sits down to watch football, and just rigged a towel over the window to keep the sun from ruining the Thanksgiving nap I'm about to take. I am blessed to have him as my partner in this crazy life we live.

. . . my first set of twins, who changed my life forever. Charlie makes me proud with his intelligence and natural leadership ability. Joe amazes me with his intellectual curiosity and wit. They both astound me with their passion and enthusiasm. I love getting to see the people they are becoming.

. . . my second set of twins, who vaulted our family into both craziness and completeness. Helen impresses me with her independence, determination, spunk, and strong will. She exasperates me plenty, but she makes me proud more. Will is the epitome of sweetness in every bone of his little body, with a bit of wry humor thrown in. He rounds out our family and compels us to be loving with each other.

. . . everything that makes my Thanksgiving easy. A husband who fries our turkey, wants cranberries out of a can (so you can see the ridges), and this year discovered that Costco sells pre made turkey gravy. An extended family who doesn't think it weird or get offended that we want to spend the holiday at home instead of traveling, allowing us to enjoy precious time with our kids guilt-free. And eating in our pajamas. There's no better way to do it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Makes My Monday

I am grateful to have a husband and partner who thinks nothing of taking care of our three other children so I can spend a special weekend with just one of them.

And that he obviously does it so well. See how he has everything under control?

Getting emailed pictures like this and knowing what fun they are having with Daddy--it makes my Monday!

The "Sh" Word

For the most part, I am loving our new life as parents of four kids. We've never really had four kids before.

We had two babies.

Then we had two toddlers.

Then we had two toddlers and two babies.

Eventually we had two kids, but still two toddlers.

But now, we have four kids. Independent kids who can do most things for themselves, are capable of listening and following directions, and have the reasoning skills to understand threats when they don't listen. It's a whole new--and much easier--world.

But with growing up comes a certain loss of innocence.

Charlie and Joe had never heard of a "bad" word until they started public school. They soon came home talking about how you shouldn't say the "sh" word -- which I learned was "shut up." Or the "f" word -- "fart." Or the "d" word - dummy. Pretty cute, really. And I agreed with them that we don't say those words. But we don't have consequences for saying them.

This morning, however, the landscape changed. Charlie told Joe: "Say S-H-I-T." Joe was clueless, and obliged: "Shit!" Charlie: "Ohhhh, you said a bad word!!" Joe: "Shit is a bad word?" Charlie: "Shit is a bad word!" Joe: "I didn't know we can't say shit!" And just like that, they both have learned their first curse word. And given the frequency that they violate the rules above regarding "shut up," "fart," and "dummy," we're going to have to deal with this one. I can't have my second graders cussing.

I know this is just a small thing. But it's the beginning. There have been so many sexual abuse scandals in sports lately, and I know that topic--the abuse, sex, or both--is going to have to be addressed soon. Not too mention all the new "bad words" I'm sure they'll be learning in no time.

Maybe this growing up thing isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Communication is important in a marriage

Yesterday Cort sent me this email:

I just deleted 2243 emails from you. 449 were "unread."

Parent-Teacher conferences

We had parent-teacher conferences for three of our four kids this week.

We found out from Joseph's teacher that he is doing wonderfully. At the beginning of the year we were a little worried about his reading, but she says he is reading on a 4th grade level as a 2nd grader and is in the top reading group in his class. She said he skips 98% of the math work because he has already mastered it before she introduces it, so he is given extra work to do independently or with one other little boy. She teaches her class algebra (in the 2nd grade!) and he is loving it. He is also writing stories way above his age level. And he has had no discipline problems.

We found out from Will and Helen's teacher that they are doing wonderfully, too. She recognizes that Helen is headstrong and independent, but says she is very much a leader and it serves her well. She loves Will and obviously "gets" him. She told us that they both pick up on things very quickly. And even though they are the youngest in their class, they are ahead of many of the much older kids.

So now, of course, the question is: Do we go ahead and schedule a conference with Charlie's teacher? Or should we just quit while we're ahead?

Love that girl

Before soccer started, Helen proclaimed that she did not want to play. We signed her up anyway.

The first game, she hovered around the ball, but she would not kick it.

The second game, she kicked it a few times, but fell back as soon as someone took it away. Then she started crying. She spent the entire second half sitting on the sidelines crying. When I asked her why, she said because "I can't score a goal."

During the next week, we pointed out that Joseph had not yet scored a goal for his team, but he wasn't crying. We told her that a player who is sitting on the sidelines crying will never be able to score a goal. And when Joseph scored a goal in his next game, we pointed out that if he had been crying, he would not have scored.

At which point she looked me in the eyes and said, "You can stop telling me that Mom. I know that. And I am not going to cry ever again in soccer."

And then she went out in her game and played her little heart out. She did not score that game. She did score in the next game. Twice. Since then, she has scored more. And not scored. She has been aggressive, she has played great defense, she has been enthusiastic and competitive, she has been in the thick of things every game, and she has loved it. And she hasn't cried once. I really don't think she'll ever cry again.

I absolutely love that girl's determination. She's going to do okay in life.

Snaggle-toothed

Coach Cort

He's really so good at this.