Butter Thief Strikes Again!

Three chunks missing, one set of teeth -- belonging to our lovely three-year old.

What Have I Done?

This year for Riley's birthday party with friends, we came up with a mini-spa day.  I'll be doing little facials and fingernails and suffocating in a cloud of mixed perfume.  What was I thinking?  I hardly ever do my own nails, much less 5-8 sets of little hands.  We'll see how this goes, and I hope it's fun.  Seriously.  It's the only way I'll consider giving any more birthday parties ever again.

Happy Birthday, Riley!

Nine years ago yesterday, we held our chunky bundle of joy in our arms for the very first time.  I remember thinking that I was prepared for parenthood.  Most of my tween and teen years were spent babysitting.  Diapers were no mystery to me, and I could prepare bottles one-handed. 

I soon discovered that no amount of practicing could prepare me for Riley.  She was (and is) a beautiful girl with bright blue eyes and a mop of light brown hair on her tiny little head.  I loved to run my fingers through that hair of hers.  In addition to her adorably cute features was her strong, volatile personality.  She could be as quiet as a mouse one minute and screaming the next.  She never slept, and wanted to eat every hour or so.  By three weeks old, she was colicky.  Great.  After a trip to the doctor and some soy formula, the colic worked itself out.  And eventually she transformed into a fairly mellow baby who would stare at bright colors and learn to talk by seven months old.

And not just mama and dada.  We're talking real words like kids and boom.  Sentences strung together by one year old and a vocab list of over 100 words by 15 months.  That old adage, "We spend the first year trying to make the kids talk, and the rest of our lives telling them to be quiet" seems appropriate.  The child even talks in her sleep.

Now Riley is nine, and I have loved every moment of being her mommy.  She tries my patience and tests her boundaries frequently and sasses me almost every time her mouth opens.  She loves fashion and beautifying herself.  Art is one of her passions.  Most days I want to pull my hair out.  But I try to remind myself of her tiny little newborn head, and running my fingers through that mop of hair.  I tell myself that God has entrusted this girl-child to my care because he knew I was the perfect mama for her.

Was I prepared for children?  Sure.  Was I prepared for Riley?  Not so much.  I'm still learning.  I hope she looks back on her life and knows how much she was loved, even though I wasn't a perfect parent all the time.  I hope she realizes that she will always be my baby.  My fussy little baby girl, the first to be held in my arms, and the first of my own to hear me sing a lullaby.

Nine precious years.  Happy Birthday, Riley Claire! 

Isaac Walking

He's been taking a step or two here and there over the last couple of days.  

Finally got the cute little sucker on video.  He absolutely loves playing with his Riley.

The Law of Nines by Terry Goodkind

Alexander Rahl is a struggling midwest artist who gets an unwelcome gift on his 27th birthday:  insanity.  Or, at least, that is what everyone believes.  His mother went insane at 27 and it looks like the crazies are coming his way.

This is a fast-paced adventure that follows Alex as he tries to save two worlds from a "different kind of human".  Fans of Goodkind's previous Sword of Truth series that began with Wizard's First Rule will recognize the Rahl name.  I'm pretty sure that you can follow this story if you've never delved into that other world, but I find it fascinating to read a parallel. 

I will admit, I'm only thirteen chapters into this one.  It's a hefty book, easily used as a weapon or a doorstop in a pinch.  But it's killing me to wait until bedtime to pick it up again, and I may just neglect the kids a while.  Kidding, kidding.  

Kind of.  ;)

Laundry Day

Super Saturday!

Ah, Saturday.  A day to relax, kick back, maybe putz around the house doing odd jobs that I've been putting off.  Uh, not so much.  The first day of my weekend was a continuation of the Friday before, which meant lots of preparation for Savvy's birthday party with her friends on Saturday afternoon.  I gave up on trying to get the basement clean for a play area.  Instead, I threatened to take all the girls' things if their room was spotless.  Room clean:  check.  Made the birthday cake on Friday afternoon and let it cool for frosting.  This year's theme was horses.  Got up Saturday morning and finished the cake, so check that off the list.  Got some cool little crafts at Target on clearance for the kids to work on at the party.  Opened those up and prepped them as much as I could and still have parts for the kids to put together in a short period of time.  Tidied up the house, stuffed a bunch of laundry baskets up in my room, locked that door, made Kool-aid, hung decorations and glanced at the clock.  2:58pm.  Nice!  Two minutes to spare.  

Overall, the party was fun, but it would have been nice to have a helping hand now and then with the little ones.  But I survived and was pleasantly surprised that Savvy's friends were well-behaved and didn't scream and cry and tear up and down the stairs.  Riley fed Isaac his bottle at one point, and the day pretty much went better than expected.

Then I got to relax for about 27 minutes before getting everyone ready to head to Jesse's parents' for Carol's birthday get-together.  It was nice being with family and getting to see Jesse's brothers and my sis-in-law.  Who called me her "sister" and not her "sister-in-law", which just about made my day.  (I heart you, Carly!)

Eight o'clock and we load up, come home, chuck the kids in bed.  Relax until 2100, and then hit the hay.  I finished the book White by Ted Dekker, and was very pleased with the way the trilogy ended.  I will review it in another post.

So, today is Sunday and I'm keeping the little ones home with me and sending the older ones to Sunday school with Grandma and Pop.  Isaac and Brooke have a cold, and I'll spend the day praying that I won't get it next.  I'll count my blessings and thank God that tomorrow is a day off for Jesse, and I'll remember to be grateful for these random bits of normalcy in an otherwise chaotic life.