Lately

It has been so long since I have kept up with my blog that I am having a hard time deciding what to write about.

I could write about how Izzy dumped chocolate cake mix on the kitchen floor and how he and Malachi then proceeded to play "hockey" in it, thus scattering it everywhere and resulting in me having to get down on my hands and knees with the shop vac to clean it up while I felt very much like puking because of my morning sickness.

I could write about how Aaron took the boys in the bike trailer to pick up some pizza from Blackjack one night, and how while he was inside getting the pizza, Malachi decided to ride his bike down the middle of 16th St.  And how Izzy decided to chase him, so they were both in the road.  And how once they were all back in their proper places, Simeon decided that he didn't like hot boxes of pizza and cinnabread on his lap and shoved them off on to the sidewalk, causing them to drag and eventually get run over, so that when we opened the cinnabread the icing was all stuck to the top and there was a bike tire track running down the middle.

I could write about how one morning the doorbell rang and when I answered it was two policemen who came because someone had called and told them that there were no parents at home here.  This came as a surprise to me since I hadn't even left the house that day.  I later figured out through questioning Malachi that he had talked to someone passing by in the alley behind our backyard and when they asked him where I was he said I wasn't there.  Only I suspect that they may have said something like, "Can you go get your Mommy or should I call the police?"  Well, guess which one my five-year-old picked!

I could write about how Simeon finally decided to start walking on his own at eighteen months of age, officially making him the child that started walking the latest in our family, and how he was almost beat to it by his cousin who is not even a year old yet!

I could write about how one morning my children got into the closet with all of our games and took several outside to scatter the cards and pieces to the four corners of the yard, and how the ones they didn't take out got dumped on the floor of the closet, those being Life and Monopoly which both have lots of small pieces to lose.  I had so much fun cleaning that up.

I guess there are a lot of things I could write about, but I really can't decide....

Following

It struck me this morning that being a mom is a lot like playing "Follow the Leader".  I went down to the basement to put a load of clothes in the dryer and Malachi and Israel came trickling down after me.  While there I realized that my washer was becoming dirt encrusted around the top, so I went upstairs to get a paper towel. 

"She's going upstairs!" said Israel, and they trooped right after me up to the kitchen. 

Then I turned around and took the paper towel back down to the basement, where they of course followed me again. 

This morning I got plenty of enjoyment out of them following me up and down repeatedly, especially sicne it takes them longer to get up the stairs, only to find when they got there that I was going back down.  I had to chuckle inwardly about that one.

This kind of thing happens a lot.  If I got to the bathroom, they want to come too.  If I lock them out of the bathroom, they sometimes beat on the door and wail for me to let them in.  If I go upstairs, they are sure to follow, unless they are distracted.  Even then it is only a matter of time.  If I'm gone for more than a few minutes, they want to know what I'm doing. 

Sometimes even Aaron will follow me around the house when he's home.  That part is kind of cute, actually.  It lets me know that he still likes being around me, even after six years. 

In a way, I guess it lets me know that they all like me, and they just want to be with me, which is nice.  It's encouraging, especially when I know that at times I'm probably not so nice to be around.  Sometimes I lose my temper with the boys, and more often, they lose their temper about every little thing that doesn't go their way.  Between me yelling at them, and them screaming at me, it could become difficult to tell whether we like each other at all.  And then they follow me, up and down, down and up, up and down.  That's as good as an "I love you" for me. 

What's In a Name?

This evening was sort of a flurry of activity.  After work Aaron went back to Lowe's and got the flowers and garden soil so we could plant flowers out front.  Apart from eating dinner, we all spent most of the evening outside.  We also had an unexpected guest come check out what we were doing.  It was a golden retriever(?).  I don't know who he or she belonged to, but I don't think I have seen the dog around before.  The boys seemed to think the dog was a girl, probably because Aaron's mom and dad have a golden retriever named Phoebe that's a girl.  Malachi wanted to give "her" a name.  Sadly, I must confess that usually my boys aren't very creative with names.  Usually they want to name everything either Malachi or "Tookie", which makes the name they came up with even funnier.  For some reason, Malachi decided to call her "Assally", with an emphasis on the first part.  It was almost a pretty name apart from that, and the fact that I'm almost 100% sure that it was a male dog.  Aaron and I just snickered every time they would call the dog by that name.  That part was funny too.  They would alternate between being terrified when the dog came around and calling it back when they couldn't find it.  I just really hope that it goes back to it's owner and it's rightful name.  Otherwise, we'll all be stuck with "Assally".

Scooter Guy

After dinner this evening, we decided to go for a walk.  It wasn't really just a walk, because Malachi wanted to ride his bike, and then Izzy had to ride the scooter.  Aaron and I were the only ones actually walking, since Simeon was riding in the bike trailer which can double as a sort of stroller.

It all was going well.  It was a nice evening, not too hot, not too cold.  We like to look at all the different houses along the streets around where we live.  It gives us ideas for our house, like flowers and fences and paint colors. 

At one point, we did have a snag, when Chi wanted to go one way, and we were going a different way, but we got through that okay and kept going.  Izzy was a little trooper on his scooter.  Aaron would ask him if he wanted to ride in the bike trailer instead, when we could tell he was dragging a bit, but he would just shout "NO!" and push his little foot even harder.  I had to laugh at the way he said no, like it was almost an insult that we would doubt his ability to scooter all the way back home, and his determination to keep going. 

Finally, after much stopping, and Malachi not wanting to ride his bike anymore (I tried to ride it back, but it is really hard riding a kid bike when you are a grown up!), we were a block away from home, and Izzy got off his scooter, walked back to Aaron and said "I want to ride in the bike trailer, Dad."  Of course.  Then he said, "I'm okay with it because I said it, not you."  He really cracks me up.  He's so stubborn.  I know if we can just point his stubborness in the right direction, it will be a good thing.  God can use that.

Tonight was a night when, even with some frusterations, I saw my children as the blessings they are.  With all their willfulness, stubborness, and determination, they are still gifts from God.  They are each unique, and each brings a different dynamic to our family.  My, I love those boys!  They drive me crazy, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Date Night

Last night we had a date night.  We went to dinner and actually got to see a movie for a change.  We went to Palomino for dinner, mostly because it is the one place you rarely have to wait long to get a table.  Don't get me wrong, we like the food, but we go there so much with the kids (they eat free on Monday night!), that to us it feels more like a family place than a date place. 

Usually, we eat dinner and then are tired and don't want to wait until 9:30 to see a movie because we know that means we won't get home until midnight and the kids will be up quite early, and it's just not worth it.  Last night though, the stars aligned or something (ha ha) and it actually worked out. 

What movie, you ask?  Date Night of course!  In case you haven't heard of it, it has Steve Carrell and Tina Fey in it, and they play Phil and Claire Foster, a married couple who, stuck in a rut, decided to try something different for their date night.  They go to a nice restaurant in New York, but can't get a table.  So, when "Tripplehorn, party of two" doesn't show, they take their reservation and pretend that they are the Tripplehorns.  Unfortunately, the real Tripplehorns were involved in some shady dealings, and the Fosters are now involved too, since the bad guys think that they really are the Tripplehorns. 

Much chaos and hilarity ensues from that point.  The whole movie is pretty hilarious.  I can't really remember when I laughed so hard through an entire movie.  There is a lot of sexual innuendo, although I have to say that since I've been married that doesn't bother me as much.  And there is a scene at a strip club, whch doesn't show nudity (it is PG-13 after all) but obviously has a lot of scantily clad ladies and sexual implications.  I think for an adult, it would be fine, but for teenagers, maybe you'd want to wait til it comes out on video and can skip the strip club part.

We had a really great time, and when I got home my face hurt from laughing so much. 

Welcome, One and All

Aaron has a gift with people.  Some would call it hospitality.  He "comes by it honestly" as my parents would say.  His grandfather was a Mennonite preacher.  He and his wife had six children, and often had a variety of other people in their home as well, some for a night, others for months at a time.  Aaron will often call me, "There's this couple...." he will say, and I know I'm about to be involved in his gift.  I do my best to go along with it, but I am not always thrilled.  Usually, he drags me along with him anyhow.  Not that I dislike people.  The other night we had a houseful for a birthday party and I loved it.  I loved being surrounded by friends.  I like taking care of people, feeding people, talking to people.  It's the unplanned that I have trouble with, and Aaron is one of the most spontaneous men created, I am sure. 

His sponaneity comes in many forms.  Once it came as us knocking on a neighbor's door to welcome them when we were supposed to be going to Wal-Mart.  Another time, it was a homeless couple who lived in our basement for three weeks.  Often, Aaron will tell me something like, "Oh, by the way, I told this guy we'd make him dinner cuz his wife just had a baby three weeks ago.  I said we'd bring it tomorrow night." 

Tonight, as a result of Aaron's friendly and hospitable nature, a neighbor kid from down the street was playing basketball in our backyard.  Meanwhile, I was making a meal for the people with the baby (yes, that part was based on a true story).  I was also trying to take care of Simeon, and get ready to go out with my sister-in-law.  In the midst of it all, Malachi whacks Andrew (that's the nighbor kid) in the face with a plastic sword, giving him a bloody nose, a sore eye, and a slightly wiggly tooth.  Then he lies and says that Izzy did it.  He was in BIG TROUBLE.  Although, I do have to somewhat abashedly admit that I was a tiny bit impressed that my four and a half year old could take out an eleven year old.  I mean, of course, it was wrong.  But I feel safer knowing he can take care of himself in that way.  You know, if he really needed to. 

Anyway, Aaron parked Malachi on the couch to await his judgement while he went down the street to talk to Andrew's mom.  I was very thankful that it was Aaron and not me doing that part because since I was the baby of my family and never whacked anyone with a sword, and I therefore have no experience with what a parent does when that happens.  Aaron, however, being the oldest of three brothers, has tons of experience.  Then the kid came back with Aaron and sat in our kitchen while we finished making dinner for the people.  I was a little miffed because it meant I would not get to talk to Aaron before he left to take the food, and then I'd be leaving not long after he got back. 

I know it is good for me to have my "best laid plans" disrupted, but sometimes it makes me just want to stamp my foot on the ground and huff and puff.  My kids do it all the time.  It's really not fair that I can't do it too.  I guess that's all part of being a "grown-up".

Five Things

Five things I am thankful for, inspired by a morning at MOPS.

1.  I am thankful for my husband.  He is such a good dad, and I love how he involves himself so much in the boys' lives.  He takes good care of us all, and he took great care of me while I was recovering from my wisdom teeth being removed.  I don't know what I'd do without him.  God answered my prayers better than I could have imagined.

2.  I am thankful for Simeon.  No matter how crazy my day is, he always makes it a little brighter with his sweetness and his little grin.  The love that a baby gives is a very simple and special kind of love, and there is no doubt that they are a gift from God.  Toddlers I am not always so sure about, but babies, yes.

3.  I am thankful for Dr. Pepper.  I am trying not to drink it as much right now, but it is nice knowing such a good thing is out there in the world.

4.  I am thankful for my sister, because she just gets me.  She is one of the few people I feel like I can be 100% myself with, and that is a beautiful thing. 

5.  I am thankful that God is faithful, and He never gives up.  I'm thankful that He loves me more fiercely and determinedly than I am even capable of.  And I'm thankful that He never lets go.

Wisdom Teeth

At nine o'clock tomorrow morning I am going to have my wisdom teeth removed.

They are going to put me completely under, which is a good thing, but it makes me nervous.  Better than being awake for the whole thing, I guess.  Still, for whatever reason, I look forward to it with much trepidation.  I was really, really hoping I would be one of those people who don't need to have their wisdom teeth removed.  No such luck.

The nice part is that Aaron is taking the day off for it, and

Monday too, so it will be a four day weekend.  Also, his parents are keeping the older boys for us for a couple of days.  Knowing that causes me to swing back and forth between being nervous and being excited.  The boys will be gone.  Aaron will be home.  I'll be able to sleep, relax, maybe watch a couple movies if I'm not totally out of it.  If it weren't for the teeth pulling part, it'd almost be a vacation!

In any case, I may be taking the next two or three days off from my blog, so if you read it as often as I write it, now you will know why I won't have a new post.

Through The Years

Picture 1: 2005
Picture 2: 2006
Picture 3: 2007
Picture 4: 2008
Picture 5: 2009

(I would have put pictures from before 2005 also, but we didn't have a digital camera *way* back then)

Impressions and Breakfast

This morning Aaron and the two older boys went to a homeless breakfast and cooked bacon for them.  I didn't go.  I never go because I usually feel like I'm wandering around trying to take care of my kids rather than doing anything really useful.  If I was talking to Aaron about this, he would now be giving me a speech about how I should just not worry about the kids and how I am useful just by being there, etc., etc., etc.  Well, he's probably right, but I still don't want to go.  I'd rather be at home and take a nap.  This is not a politically correct feeling.  It's not even very Christian when you come right down to it.  But it is an honest feeling and that's about all I can muster up right now.  I don't mind that Aaron goes.  Now, there was a time that he went and it resulted in a homeless couple living in our basement for three weeks, which was quite an adventure.  But mostly, I'm glad he does it, apart from the fact that he returns smelling like breakfast foods for the rest of the day. 

Aaron has a gift for being able to talk to people.  Mostly he just manages to think of really good and/or strange questions to ask people that gets them talking, and then he listens really well, which is all most people really want.  I don't share that gift.  I can listen fairly well, especially because I am shy of saying a lot to people I don't know.  But I can never think of questions to ask.  Not good ones.  I can think of the obvious ones, but not interesting ones that make people just light up.  I'm more of an observer and interpreter.  I listen and watch and try to translate what I see into an overall impression.  This leads to odd conversations with Aaron where I say something like, "I got the feeling that.....blah blah blah."  And he will ask,"Why do you say that?"  And then I have to somehow convey the feeling that I had from a person when they said whatever they said.  This also happened once with a friend in high school.  She wanted to date this guy, but I knew that she shouldn't.  When she asked why, I couldn't tell her exactly because it was a general impression I had of him.  I couldn't say, "Oh, well, he killed a man," or anything like that.  So, she went out with him.  And then she figured out why I told her not to.  Needless to say, they are not still together.

Honestly, I am not sure what the point of this blog has been.  I really didn't know what to write when I sat down here, and all of that is just what came to mind.  So, I guess you've just had a window into the world of Tammy. 

The Ingredients of Us

One man named Aaron who works hard, and has been working a lot of weekends, but still has time to be a great dad and take his boys to Chuck E. Cheese, which also gives his wife a break.

One woman named Tammy who stays at home with three little ones, and yet also tries to keep up with her appetite for reading, writing, and watching American Idol.

One four-year-old named Malachi who is obsessed with trains, loves TV, and tries to help mom, even though sometimes his help isn't very helpful.

One two-year-old named Israel, whom we call Izzy, who likes messes and Kung Foo Panda and likes to spin in circles in the kitchen while Mommy is cooking.

One baby Simeon who is trying awfully hard to crawl, but can't quite get himself off the ground.  Meanwhile, that doesn't stop him from scooting/rolling around and enjoying new foods such as fish, green beans, mashed potatoes and pizza (the pizza he sort of gums, seeing as how he has no teeth--it's very messy).

Put each one in a yellow house, throw in a little love and a lot of crazy, and you'll have us, the Miningers.

Feeling Quite Contrary

Today I have been feeling quite contrary.  It seemed like nothing was quite right, even though nothing was quite wrong either.  I had a hard time getting the boys down for naps, so I was running up and down the stairs trying to get them to settle, and then Simeon refused to take a nap altogether. Really though, I don't think I was upset about the boys, I think I may have been a bit bummed because Aaron had to go back to work today.  He was off for five days after having his wisdom teeth pulled, and even though it probably doesn't sound like it could have been very much fun, it was just nice having him home.  To be sure, there are moments when he can drive me crazy, but he is still my best friend and most of the time I'd rather be with him than with anyone else.  What's great about him is that when I am in a contrary mood like I was today, he knows just how to cheer me up, or at least smooth my ruffled feathers.  He always will come up with something unexpected that makes me laugh.  And then, he will do something like bring us all to McDonald's so the boys can play and I can sneak off and write a blog in peace.  It's pretty great of him, really.  It's enough to make a person feel...well, not contrary anymore.

Eventfully Uneventful

For the people of our little family, this day has been both eventful and uneventful.

For Aaron, the day began quite eventfully this morning when he got two wisdom teeth pulled.  However, the rest of his day was rather uneventful, as he had to spend most of it in bed and on the couch, and is living off of milkshakes, pudding, and V8 juice.

For Malachi this day probably seemed very eventful because he got to bundle up and go outside, which he hasn't done in ages.  Also, Daddy was home, and had his teeth in a little envelope which he showed to both boys.  And at the end of the day, he got to leave on a trip to Kansas with his grandma and papaw for the weekend.

For Izzy, the day was probably fairly uneventful, unless you count him throwing himself on the floor, kicking and screaming because he wanted food and I offered him a  banana, an event.

Simeon had a fairly average day, but I suppose for a baby, small things like getting to try out some oranges and chocolate pudding (thanks to Daddy), and almost getting off the floor to crawl, might seem pretty eventful.

For me, it was a strangely normal and yet very abnormal day.  Aaron was home, but it was like he wasn't because he was semi-incapacitated.  So I did all the things I normally do, except that when I put the boys down, I got to go out and get some milkshakes (I had to have one too, of course) and various other liquidy things.  It was a momentary liberation that I normally don't get during the day--going somewhere--alone!

And that was our eventfully, uneventful day.

Day 1

The problem with writng EVERY day is that I don't always feel like I have a lot to say.  I suppose that's why it will be good for me, force me to dig deep and all that.  Actually it's not so much that I have nothing to say as it is that I don't know what I want to say that I also want other people to read. 

Right now, I have two thoughts going on in my head.  The first is "Look I have now kept my New Year's Resolution for one whole day isn't that wonderful."

Secondly, as I write, I can hear Aaron on the baby monitor.  He's telling the boys the story of Moses and the burning bush, and he's telling them how God heard the cries of the Israelites enslaved in Egypt, how God hears us and He loves us.  I am struck by the beauty of it.  I wonder what they think, those little boys, hearing for the first time (or at least not remembering if they've heard it before).  I wonder what they think about God.  I wonder if they really know yet that He's real.  I think Malachi does.  Recently he had been complaining to his grandma that his leg hurt, and when she asked him about it another time, he said that it was all better because God noticed him.  God noticed that he was hurting and He healed him.  It's nice when God notices you...and He does a lot more than we think.  There have been times I have felt like He had forgotten about me...but He didn't.  He noticed me.  He noticed that I felt forgotten too.  He is really always working.  One of my favorite verses is Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."  I'm glad to know that.

Fantasy (as in Literature)

As it was not my intention to only write about my children, and because Aaron recently said something like, “Quit writing about the kids. I‘m sick of it. Write about something else,” I am going to divert the subject to something else entirely this time.

I have recently begun to read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. I have, of course, seen the old Disney cartoon, but I’ve never read the book before. In the particular copy that I am reading there is an introduction by some guy named Martin Gardner, who is apparently a science writer who wrote a column called “Mathematical Games”, which seems odd except apparently Lewis Carroll was a mathematical lecturer at a college in Oxford. So I guess that’s the connection.

A lot of times I don’t even read the introduction, but occasionally I get in the mood to read the entire book from cover to cover, even the introduction and whatever else might be there. This was one of those times, and I’m glad because he had a lot to say in defense of fantasy, which is one of my favorite genres.

He mentioned first that “Many adults dislike fantasy, preferring fiction about the real world.” And then he went on to point out that in spite of this, many literary classics are, in fact, works of fantasy. Such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Goethe’s Faust, Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, to name a few. He mentions that “scores of fantasy novels have outlasted myriads of once admired works of realism.” Among children’s stories, the majority of classics are fantasies. A few more well known are Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, The Chronicles of Narnia, and of course, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Not to mention that J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books are some of the most popular right now.

Gardner also quoted G.K. Chesterton, who said “that fairy tales in their essence are quite solid and straightforward; but that everlasting fiction about modern life is in it’s nature essentially incredible. Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is—what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world? The problem of the modern novel is—what will a madman do with a dull world? In the fairy tale the cosmos goes mad; but the hero does not go mad. In the modern novels the hero is mad before the book begins, and suffers from the harsh steadiness and cruel sanity of the cosmos.”

When I think of a madman in a dull world, I think of the narrator in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. There you have a very ordinary world, a very ordinary situation. Except. The man has some sort of disease which has caused him to go mad and fixate on the eye of the old man he takes care of, driving him to murder him and hide the body, only to give himself away when he imagines he can hear the old man’s heart beating under the floor boards and giving him away. That’s just scary.

When I think of a “healthy man in a fantastic world”, I think of the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They are thrust into a frightening situation, where myths and fairy tales are real, and animals can talk, and the world has been stuck in winter for 100 years or something. Yet, they overcome obstacles, become heroes, fulfill their destinies, and also manage to remain in their right minds. That’s encouraging. And hopeful, too, I think, to believe that there is a purpose.

For me personally, fantasy reminds me that there is more than what I can see. It points me toward the spiritual realm, reminds me that we aren’t just living on a planet spinning through the universe with no rhyme or reason. There is a God, and He has orchestrated everything down to the finest detail. Even when something doesn’t make sense to us, it’s part of His Grand Scheme.

Or, as Mel Gibson’s character in the movie Signs asks, “Is it possible, there are no coincidences?”

I think so.