Holey Socks and All My Love.

I've seen how a lot of people do those cute "birthday interviews" with their kids on their birthdays. I decided I wanted to give it a try with Merrick. It's his 5th birthday today! My sweet, innocent, energetic, curious, ADHD (and a little OCD) first-born. During this interview he was hopping around the room, playing with toys, and climbing the window and the coffee table...just wanted you to get a good visual in your head. ;) (I'm in italics, his answers are in bold.) I was in tears and snorting laughing by the time we were done. I love him so.

1. How old are you? Five.

2. Who is your best friend? Um, I think I have a lot of them. Bernesh, Kareem, Nadjula, Willow, and Brock. And Adair. Toby is not my friend though because he is a dog. So is Baylor.

3. What is your favorite thing to do? Play with cars that talk, that have buttons on their top. And I like to play football.

4. What is your favorite color? Blue and red. And also green. And blue. And I love dinosaurs.

5. What is your favorite food? Ummm...I love candy. That's my favorite food.

6. What do you like to do with your family? Clean the kitchen. And I love playing with daddy and riding our bikes, and cutting the grass. And I love picking strawberries, and cooking waffles, and chicken and fries from Chick-Fil-A. And also I'm thinking about those cheez-its that I ate. I LOVE cheez-its.

7. What is your favorite toy? Football guys. I love those toys. They are my favorite. I have them right now. In my hand.

8. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be Captain America.

9. What makes you happy? Eating pie. *He's never had pie. I really have no idea where this came from. He told me it was because on Word World Pig makes pie.* And I love playing in my costumes. And I also love going "trick-or-cheating".

10. What makes you sad? When I can't go and play outside when it's raining.

11. What is your favorite show to watch? Football. I love football. Football is great. And I love it. Girls can play football sometimes, but sometimes they can't. *Looking lovingly at his football figurines* THESE are football guys. Can I eat something? *It sounds like I don't feed him, keep in mind he's just finished lunch.*

12. What is your favorite book? Um...my favorite book is Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom and the Balloon Book. Can we read it? I'll go get it now. *On the way to get it he got distracted by his new toy guy, picks it up, aims at my head..."I shotted you.")*

13. What do you love to learn about? I love learning about...opening presents. *Had to remind him this questions wasn't about presents.* Oooooh. I love learning about animals and gorillas. I love those to learn about.

14. What was the best part of your birthday? I love eating cake. That's what I'm excited about. Now can I tell you about presents?

15. Where do you like to go? Nanny and Pops house, and to stores that are not cold. And I love drinking milk. Everywhere I can go.

16. Who is your teacher? I don't know. *Told him: you're looking at her.* You're my teacher!

17. What is your favorite treat? Um I love eating candy corns...but they're not treats. I'm going to eat a snack.

18. What do you think about before you fall asleep? Thinking about milk, and chocolate milk. *As he looks at me through his toy binoculars.*

19. If you could meet someone who would it be? Fanchesco, the car. 

20. What was your favorite birthday present? The football guys that are right over there behind you.

He is hilarious, and brings a mixture of crazy and sheer joy to all of us. He simultaneously drives his little sister crazy, and looks out for her saying he will save her from would-be kidnappers with his "good puncher-hands". He is a gift, and I can't believe it's been five years since he made his way into this world. This boy who first made me a mama, who has taught me so much, loved me so sweetly and scraped me so raw (as only kiddos can) at the same time. He's made me realize my selfishness and want to be a better person for his sake, grown like a weed and yet somehow stays a newborn in a fuzzy blue hat in my eyes, asks me questions to which I don't have the answers and teaches me things I never knew, runs through my heart with his holey socks and dirty fingernails, smelling like little boy and all my love. I am so undeserving of the gift of this beautiful boy, and while I have moments of not knowing what to do with him they will never outnumber the not knowing what I'd do without him. I'm so aware, as always, that even though it's his birthday, I'm the one who's received a gift. I love you, Merrick Wilder!

Everyday Bibs

This past weekend the hooligans made me a proud mama. They ran their first race. They both ran the 1 mile course (there was also a half mile and a 2 miler) of the Marathon, Jr. They both literally ran most of the course too...as in no stopping for breaks. What? Awesome.

I think at first their daddy (who granted was planning to carry the ton-o-bricks that is Jericho on his back) was thinking I was a little ambitious with signing them up for the 1 mile course instead of the half mile. (Me? Ambitious with running? Where would he come up with that?) And then I started to think, uh oh...I don't wanna be that mom...the one who gets thrown out of her kid's soccer game. As a person who runs 20 miles at a time, I was guilty of thinking: "1 mile? Pshhhhhh." But we decided if nothing else, we would just enjoy a fast family walk. I didn't want to miss the fun of their first race by expecting them to race, ya know? I wanted them to have fun and hopefully grow to love being active as much as I do.

I'm thrilled to report that all three hooligans really enjoyed their first race, Tizzy (along with Billy and Jericho) ran the mile in about 15 minutes, and Merrick and I ran it in 11 minutes and change. I was pretty proud of both of them. They were pretty proud of themselves, which was even more important to me. Merrick's shining moment was when he passed "Spiderman" (a kid running in costume) and beat him to the finish. He is still telling everyone he is faster than Spiderman. ;) And Tizzy was pretty excited about the purple spray paint used to mark the course. To each his own, right? They all 3 got medals, and the older two are still carrying them around.

Another highlight? The race bibs. They didn't want to take them off, and asked me if they could have bibs everyday. (Be still, my heart.) I did manage to remove them (and those weapons known as safety pins) from their bodies without incident so that I could save them. But only after I showed them their packets they got for running, which included frisbees. It doesn't take much to make them happy.

This was an awesome family activity, one of which I hope there are many more in the future. Not just because I love to run, but because there are few things better than being able to watch and help your kiddos accomplish something they are excited about, whether it's a mile or a marathon.

Homeschooler Problems

As kiddos who are normally at home, with me and each other, my kids don't get a lot of experience with things like lines. Standing in line, walking in line, waiting in line, being aware there is a line, etc. This is obviously something we need to practice at home. ;) They get plenty of time with other kids, but since they aren't in a school setting they seem blissfully unaware that they should ever be found in a line.

We went to this great Fall Festival at our local YMCA last night. There were lots of kids, lots of candy, lots of stuff to do, and lots of lines. I can't count the times I had to remind my hooligans that they were officially the littlest line-slashers and were earning me some dirty looks from mothers of kids who know what a line is. But hey, they had fun and I'm kind of thick skinned, so we survived.

They mostly just wanted to bounce and slide on the inflatable germ stations, so me and Jericho stood around a lot and ate their candy. Well I did, he only had a little bit of Tirzah's tootsie pop I swear. I don't like those things anyway. Tirzah did decide she wanted mama-esque pink hair-spray. (She's currently sleeping on her face to as not to mess up her pink hair. I love that girl.) But we even skipped the face painting and the balloon animals because of the all powerful draw of the bouncy house.

I think if we can get past the line-issues, and the fact that neither of my kids know a stranger and sporadically just run off, we can do more things like this that involve going out of the house. I actually managed to do this on my own, since Billy was working. There was a few moments of sweating when both kids were running in opposite directions and I'm left wondering who to chase while Jericho blinks at me from the stroller, but ya know...I don't do all that running practice for nothing. ;)

Bond, Merrick Bond.

Merrick has been on a Cars 2 spree for the last few days. (That's the one with Finn McMissile...the spy car) So we have had a lot of "spying" going on at our house. So when I saw an idea for playing spy training with the kiddos, I figured it would be a good idea.

We don't really have a good spot in the house to do this, but we've had fan-stinkin-tastic weather recently so the back deck it was. Merrick was confused at first, but once he got that the strings were pretend laser beams that he wasn't supposed to touch? He entertained himself for a good bit of time.

He even introduced his sister to "spy training" when she woke up from her nap. For her it was more like another excuse to trip and fall (as if my sweet graceful child needs another excuse to trip or fall out of her chair) than dodging lasers, but fun just the same.

The end. ;)

Weekend in Review

This past weekend was busy as expected, but it was also really great. Monday is already starting off with a bang, though, so I'll just give you the abbreviated version. I've been training for a marathon (kind of kept it on the down low because you never know how training is going to go) and finished my last big run before the race. Less than three weeks till race day and I am so ridiculously excited. It was a great way to kick off the weekend and the weather was amazing. Wow.

Then we had a photo sesh with my entire immediate family. It was relatively tame for my family, and it was great to hang out with everyone and not do all the "look at the camera!!!" part. ;) We finished that off with an awesome dinner (filet mignon? uh...yeah.) compliments of some friends we haven't seen in awhile. It was great to eat and catch up and just relax after 20 miles and a photo shoot with 20 people. :)

Sunday we just went to church and enjoyed what was one of the prettiest days I've seen in a long time. It was just ridiculous. Both my teams won this weekend (Cowboys and the Longhorns) so that was a nice addition as well. And would any weekend be complete without a little crazy on the part of the hooligans? I didn't think so. FYI: He did this himself. I like to think of it as Ronald McDonald meets The Last Samaria.

Summary: it was an awesome weekend. I could do more weekends like that. Hope yours was great too!

Bittersweet October...

Gonna be a busy weekend around here. We have a lot of family goings-on, a photo shoot, a birthday party, a dinner with some not-seen-in-forever friends. Full of lots of good things, but busy...so just wanted to savor this little bit of quiet before the chaos. ;) This little pause kind of reminded me of the sweet, crisp, quiet of this month of October. After the warm, busy glow of summer, but before the chilly, warmed-from-the-inside rush of the winter holidays. Bittersweet October...

"Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter." - Hipps

Who's the boss?

Jericho may be the baby, but we all know that he's no lightweight. We all also know how much wrestling is a favorite activity among the older hooligans. The other night, Merrick decided he wanted to "wrestle" with Jericho. I was a little skeptical obviously, but it seems that the match was in Jericho's favor.

The other kiddos kind of just laid in the floor and let J-Hawk smack at them and pull their hair. Entertaining for him, and for some reason they thought it was hilarious. I got 5 minutes to sit on the couch so you won't hear me complaining either. I think that as he gets bigger, though, they may not be so anxious to let him pound on them. He is already really strong, so I'm thinking it won't be so funny in a year or so.

I know there is already a famous wrestler that goes by the name of Chris Jericho. I'm sure he's not nearly as cute and cuddly as my Jericho, though. He may be able to offer J a few pointers on how to keep unruly older siblings in line, though. I think, in turn, Tirzah may be able to offer Mr. Jericho some tips. I'm going to look at the bright side here, and hope that the way she bullies her brothers just means I'll never have to worry about Billy using that shot gun routine on her future dates.

Free Loaders

I think, if nothing else, having an excruciatingly tight budget forces you to be creative in your activities. Last weekend, we took advantage of the "all you can carry for $20" pumpkin patch deal, and this week we discovered a completely free outdoor movie night for the kids at a nearby specialty store. I was pretty excited. I had wanted to do something fun with the kids, but this week there would be no spending of the cashes on the kiddos if we wanted to feed food to said kiddos, ya know? ;)

It was a little chilly, but as you can see they came prepared in their crazy hats. They fit right in; all the kids were wearing them. I even saw a Spiderman crazy hat, that thankfully Merrick didn't see or it would have been Armageddon. (I just need to point out I spelled that word without even using spell check. It's the little things, sorry.)

At this movie night they gave away free popcorn (in individual bags...which was obviously thought of by a mother, because to force kids to share would not have been conducive to anyone watching a movie), hot chocolate (only one burned tongue...Tirzah. It didn't stop her from lashing people with said tongue as usual, though), and face painting. No, Jericho did not eat the popcorn, but he did try.

It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad actually that we are learning to be creative on our budget. I always like to think that one day, when we are rich and famous (possibly due to Jericho's football career???) I'll be much more appreciative of the lessons I've learned while living paycheck to paycheck. ;)

Tough Crowd

This was the scene after dinner the other night. (Of course, I got the idea from Pinterest, cuz when it comes to the kitchen I'm pretty stumped.) We had recently made s'mores with the kids for our indoor campout a few weeks ago. They've been asking me for more of those ever since we made them, so I decided to do a little variation I had seen. It was a success I do believe. Although a bit of a messy one. I had to feed it to Tirzah, which made it easier for me to sneak bites when she wasn't looking.

I mean, what's not to like? They eat bananas like monkeys, so add a little chocolate and marshmallows (and graham cracker crumbs on top) and it was a pretty good dessert that made me feel not too bad for ruining their teeth because, duh, banana.

They tend to get stuck in a rut with what they like to eat, (read: they are so picky) so I do try to mix it up a little. Sometimes it's hit or miss, like the time I tried to make apple cinnamon muffins and they kind of gagged. They were not blueberry. Muh bad. But this time I was spared.

Hoodwinked

It's getting to where there is a definite Fall chill in the air. I keep saying that I can't be too excited about a season that involved me having to put jackets on 4 people. Three of whom would rather push a new hole through the wrong place in said jacket than actually cooperate and put their arm in the sleeve. Why do kids DO that? Ugh. I miss the Summer already. But I'm sure no one wants to hear my whining.

But on a positive note, Jericho fits into the jacket of Merrick's that was one of our favorites. (He's considerably younger than Merrick was when Merrick wore it, but ya know. It's a size 18 months. Yikes.) They are kind of excited about the cooler weather for right now, but Merrick was whining the other day when he realized we couldn't go to the pool anymore this year. (I feel ya, man.) I think it is nice though that different seasons provide good opportunities for making fun new memories with the kiddos. I'm looking forward to that, even if not having to wrestle with them to get their jackets on to do it.

Pumpkins and Sharks. Yeah.

Saturday we decided to take the hooligans to have some official fall activity exposure. A nearby berry farm was offering an "all you can carry for $20" pumpkin picking deal. We decided Billy could probably carry a lot of pumpkins. I could probably carry a lot myself (I do carry Jericho all day) but I was carrying said pumpkin on my back. And that's all the carrying I was planning on.

The hooligans did end up having a great time running around the field, screaming at the vines that obviously tripped them on purpose. It was kind of like our own comedy show for the other pumpkin pickers. They picked a few of the pumpkins, Tirzah guarded our pumpkin pile, (Let's face it; she's the scariest.) and Jericho rode around drooling down the back of my shirt.

Billy managed to carry 9 pumpkins. I was so proud. Being that one single pumpkin cost anywhere from $6-$20 I'd say he carried our money's worth. The kiddos were pretty amazed, too. They were even more amazed by the "sharks" swimming in the pond near the patch. And by sharks I mean goldfish. Terrifying creatures. So amazed that both of them almost fell into the pond. That might have been ok though since they rolled in dust the entire time we were in the field.

The pumpkins made it safely back to the house and are all fall-festifying the front porch. I hope they live a long and happy life until the day after thanksgiving, when Billy will be forced to hang Christmas lights. A feat that makes carrying pumpkins look like fun. ;)