Happy Birthday Will!

Will, where do I begin? Well, you are a joy. You have been my little buddy for as long as I can remember. You were my first child so I apologize for many early parenting mistakes. Despite my best efforts to be a perfect parent and falling totally short, you are an amazing little boy and an awesome big brother! In fact, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that you are one of the most thoughtful people that I know and you are only 7 years-old.
Ok, so you weren't the easiest baby. You really didn't care for sleep. As a new mommy, I couldn't understand why people said that babies slept a lot. I would put you in your crib and you would just lay there and look at me. Again as a new mommy, I followed all the other good mommies at that time and enlisted the help of Babywise. Well, after a few weeks of working so hard to get that schedule just right, I learned that I was still Babydumb and you were just going to do all of this at your own pace. For at least the first year, you woke up every night only for a few minutes not really to eat, just to say "hello". I guess I should have known that this was an early clue into your personality. You were Mr. Social then and you still are to this day.
You have a tender heart which worries me because I know that you will have your fair share of heartbreak. But it also blesses my soul to know that your tenderness will make you a tremendous friend, husband, and daddy. I can see it already in the way you play with Sam. You are so patient and play with him even when he is being a bit bossy and unreasonable. I see it when you run to rescue Ike from the frustrations he encounters as a crawling baby with little control over his world. I even saw it very early on in your first phrase to me. We had not lived in NWA for very long so I was a little low on friends and lonely. Most days, it was just you and me. So, when you looked up at me at only about 2 1/2 years-old and said, "Well yook at you. I yove your belt", my heart was lifted.
Will, you have a sparkle in your eye. Of course there are times when you feel defeated and in those times you throw your head back, mouth open, and just howl. (It is kind of funny to watch.) But so much of the time you see the endless possibilities in the world. You make rocket ships out of boxes and plan on them flying. You have lemonade stands and stay open for hours on end because people that pass by promise to return and you know in your heart they will because when you give your word, you keep it so why wouldn't they? You believe the tooth fairy recycles baby teeth and gives them to younger babies just cutting teeth. And although you are certain your leg length discrepancy makes you run faster, you still hope that maybe you will find another boy with one short leg and then you can just trade:)
You like organization and cleanliness. I rarely have to ask you to clean up more than once. You just stop playing, look around, see the mess, and get to it. You do mumble under your breath now and again about how Sam never helps and I am sorry he doesn't have quite your enthusiasm for tidiness. You button your shirt all the way to the top and have as long as I can remember. I have tried explaining to you that most people don't do that but you really don't care. So, I have gotten over it and now realize that everyone else is just boring. You climb everything in our house including your dad and are rather good at it. I know you have a future in Cirque du Soleil. Unfortunately, Sam sees you do these stunts and isn't quite as balanced as you which is why he has the grey tooth:(
Will, I have treasured these last 7 years. There have been some rough times. We found it appropriate that the first chapter of The Strong-Willed Child was entitled, The Wild and Woolly Will. But, we have had mostly sunny days, and I can't imagine life without you. Sam and I wander around aimlessly some days waiting for you to come home from school. You are the rubber band that keeps us together and organized. I am so blessed to be your mommy. I love you. Happy Birthday Will!

PS - I chose these two songs (Lemonade and Cartoons) by Chris Rice to play for your birthday post. I picked them because they are just positive, happy, and fun songs. Will, that is exactly the way I see you!

Pay It Forward

**This is copied from http://thelumpkinsfamily.blogspot.com/**

THE RULES: The main focus is doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and pay it forward.I will send a small, fun gift to the first 3 bloggers who post a comment on this entry. In turn, those three will post this information and pick 3 people they want to send something to and then the game will continue!!If you are interested in participating, be one of the first 3 bloggers to leave a comment!! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found, anything you want!! Just a gift that will make the person's day!!You have to promise that you will then post about this on your blog, link back to me, and then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog. Doesn't this sound like fun!!??

Happy Birthday Sam!

So, my post is a little late for this one but life got overwhelming the last week or two so I am taking a pass.

Sam you are 4 years-old now and you are awesome. You are one of those kids who just makes people smile. I never know what I might get from you. There is no hiding who you are or what you are feeling. You are my boy who will crawl up in my lap for a snuggle and hug one minute and then the next whack me in the head for no particular reason. You are not a morning person or a night time person. You are a middle of the day kind of guy. Until about a year ago you were a huge mama's boy. There was no one in the world like me in your eyes. Now, I am chopped liver and your big brother can't be beat. Most days you won't let me take your picture and find it entertaining to make me work for a photo. Shoot, we bought a faster camera just so that I could get a shot or two of you from time to time. One day when you have serious middle child syndrome and try to complain that we just didn't love you enough and take pictures of you, know that it was not for lack of effort. In fact, I get leery on Kid's Day Out and preschool photo days because they seem to always make mommies prepay. I just never know what you will do. So far, most of the time you have not even faked a smile. Don't get me wrong buddy, you are a happy little boy. But, you know what you want and want to do and anything outside of that is simply a distraction.
You are boy down to the bone. I am reminded of it everytime you smile. One of your front teeth is grey (dead) and the other one is a creamy white color (also dead). Those teeth are chipped too. You just run head first into life. Most of the time, not if, but when you fall down you pop right back up and say, "I'm okay. That didn't hurt." You take some pretty good spills but you rarely stop for medical attention. You might miss something:)
You are an amazing part of our family. You provide so many laughs. I never know what you are going to say or if you are going to say anything for that matter. You can spend hours in silence simply pointing at what you want. (When you were just beginning to talk you left part of words off. We worked hard to figure out what you were trying to say and at times you just pointed. We later found out that you spoke broken like that because you just couldn't hear. We got you tubes and away you went. Our house has not been the same since! I love it!)
I do treasure our conversations. Some days, you are very quiet but others, I can't get a word in. I can pick you up from preschool and they will say that you didn't say one word but then you get in the car and you talk nonstop all the way home! And boy, your take on the world is spectacular.
Right now you are a bit bossy but in a funny kind of way. You might ask me a question but before I can even answer, you tell me what to answer. You ask me for something to eat knowing all the while what you want. But, you want it to be my idea so you make me list off a series of items. Then when I list that one you wanted you reply, "Well, ok!" as if I talked you into something. You love silly words like diaper and underwear. I can't have a serious hygiene discussion with you because you simply think it is all hilarious!
You are a treat my friend. I love you more than I could ever explain. You are sleeping right now with a batman mask on that you got for your birthday. I see many days ahead that I will be taking a superhero to run errands.
Happy Birthday Sam! Thank you for an amazingly humbling and wonderful 4 years. Every day is an adventure with you. Mommy loves you.

PS - I chose this music (Funkytown and Bad Day) to start things off because Alvin and The Chipmunks are some of your favorites. At times I think you believe you are Alvin.

Ike

I wanted to take a moment to recognize the smallest member of our family, Isaac or Ike. He is only 9 months old so his current actions rarely make the blog. So, I wanted to get him a little face time and let you know what a truely joyful baby he really is. I love all of my boys but if I am honest with myself and you, Will and Sam were a little tough in their baby years. They seemed rather annoyed that they couldn't do all the things their little minds thought of doing. Today, they are amazing and really very good and sweet little boys. I am thankful I didn't set them out in the "Free Puppy" box.
Ike on the other hand is really quite content most of the time. He just really desires love in its truest form and asks for little else. Ok, so he wants food alot but he gets a pass there. He is a growing boy! Anyway, the boys dress him up as King Isaac so they can be his knights. We dress him up as a Steak and Shake waiter. Through it all, he just sort of grins and rolls with it. He is a delight and I wanted to give him a moment in the spotlight. I think I also wanted to get this down so that if and when he does hit a difficult period and I am ready to pull his and my hair out, I will be reminded that he has quite a deposit built up in the bank of goodness.

PS - I am sure most of you watch the news and are aware of a little storm brewing out in the ocean, Hurricane Ike. He looks to be a booger of a storm and he may actually be bearing down on the part of Florida where my parents live:( (Say a prayer for them.) I am a little concerned for us here in Arkansas too though. I fear that we also should be preparing for Hurricane Ike. He is a little storm right now but in no time he will gain strength and we better bar the doors and windows because Hurricane Ike Chism will be tearing this place up!

Lemonade

This past weekend, we went to Springfield to relax and hang out with some family. There are details that I could share and will when my blogging window is not so small (sleeping baby!). However, I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of the kids and their entrepreneurial spirit.

I think one time, a couple of years ago, Will requested to have a lemonade stand. Well, that day was like 25 degrees so I told Will that although it was a very good idea we might want to wait until it was hot so that people would want some refreshment. Hm mm, he took that to heart and now on every 95+ degree weather day, he wants to have a stand. This was the case last week but we were heading out of town to Springfield, so I suggested having one at Granny and Papa's house since they get a lot of traffic on their street. That seemed like an OK idea to Will so I am not sure it this qualifies us as a franchise or chain or even him as a traveling salesman but we were open for business on E. Vincent St. (I am thankful the government only requires paying taxes over a certain amount because I would hate to try to figure out how to pay in AR and MO;))

Anyway, here are some pictures of the little business. There was some false advertising involved when they listed the stand was for the poor. The kids might feel they are poor but I would beg to differ. There was also a little confusion on how to split profits. These kids are no dummies but with some gentle negotiating, everything worked out great and no feelings were permanently damaged.

In the various pictures you will find Sam(3), Aaron(3), Lexi(6), and Will(6).

PS - For those CFOs out there, the kids did alright. Granny and Papa have some very nice neighbors who took pity on the children and wanted to help out the "poor". I think Granny and Papa lost money though. Granny provided the supplies and lemonade making expertise and Papa ran security duty (they are 6 and 3, you never know when one of them might want to flag down a car by just jumping into the street!).

Vacations

Part of the reason why it took me a month to post was because we were barely home. We had a couple short trips here and there but our major trip was to Florida for Brent to attend a conference for work and for the boys and I to see my parents and sister. We flew into West Palm Beach near my parents' home in Port St. Lucie. Also, my sister, Heather, lives in Stuart, FL. We had a fun time both in Orlando and seeing the family. I took many pictures but I think I missed the best one. Unfortunately, my hands were full at the time. As we exited the airport at the conclusion of our trip Brent looked at me and said something about the effort required to travel with such a crew, 4 suitcases, 3 car seats, 6 carry-ons, 3 children, and 2 not-so-smart parents!

Technology

Ok, so when I found out that even my 50+ mother had a facebook account, I realized that I might need to get with the times and sign up too. So, yesterday I did just that. I filled in enough info to get started and quickly began accumulating friends. Oh fun!

It makes you feel so popular, everyone asking to be your friend. It is like school days again, well, except for the fact that I have no idea what to do now. I have these friends but I am not exactly sure what to do with them. In fact, I am not sure what facebook is about. I guess if I was single and wanted to meet strangers, this is a way to do it. It is sort of a cyberclub maybe? I am not on the hunt, so I guess this is a way to chat with my friends but I haven't figured out how that is different from email or even my blog for that matter. And, do I have to keep up on my facebook like I do my blog? You see how well I am doing at that lately;)

Then, there is this way to say what you are doing at that moment in time. Boy, does that make my life seem boring. I only wrote once today about what I was doing because I didn't feel that making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or breastfeeding was facebook worthy.

I will admit that it is fascinating to try and find people but it is also time consuming. I could sit all day and try and think of old school friends but I do have children to feed so instead I just wander through the day completing tasks thinking, "Hm mm, I wonder if she's on facebook." I guess I need to make a list or maybe my friends will find me.

And, I think you should be required to post at least one picture of yourself to help a girl out in her search. I am looking for friends and the generic grey, shadow outline of a man really doesn't help me know if that is my friend Tiffany from long ago. But on the other hand the generic man is nice in some cases because call me prude, but I really don't want a friend who posts the opening pic of herself mugging on some man. First, gross. Second, I can't even see your face to see if you are my friend!!!! Clearly, there are reasons why it has taken me so long to get into facebook. First and foremost, I am really not cool enough!