Proceed with Caution

Warning: This post contains scenes that may be offensive to some.
Disclaimer: The parental figures are not proud of what you are about to read. But it made them laugh.

From time to time Evan, this 5-year old that lives with us, says things we do not agree with. For unknown reasons, he brags about how he is going to make his wife do all the chores. We warn him that no one is going to want to be his wife if he makes them do all the chores. He is undeterred. We are not proud of that. (Is this better or worse than his former desire to be a "bad guy" when he grew up?)

We are also not proud of the fact that Evan and Eli are still learning to wipe themselves. As we were discussing wiping one day (yes, this is one of the many deep conversations that take place in this home), Evan gave Eli some well-thought-out advice that no one in the family was prepared for. It was (brace yourselves): "You should make your wife wipe you."

Oh dear. I see we've got some work to do.

Cousins

We were privileged to have Kendall's cousin, Delton, and his family here for a few days. Our kids have been together several times, but don't know each other well. However, within minutes of getting together, all five of them were running around having a blast.

Naomi and Eli are just weeks apart in age. Joshua and Evan, less than a year. And little Caleb was just the age that Eli can't get enough of. It was so fun to watch them play together. All 5 played so nicely together and acted like the long-lost cousins they are.

And I'll just say: Eli needs a sister. In church he had ahold of Naomi's ponytail. He wasn't pulling it- he was just hanging on to it and teasing her. I told him to let go. A few minutes later I saw he had it again. When I told him to let go of it, he wanted to know if he could braid it. He just learned to braid and wanted to try it out on real hair. Crazy kid. If he had a sister, maybe this hair wouldn't be such a novelty.

I didn't get many pictures, but here are several of the kids who, for reasons unknown to us, were all yelling in unison:


I like this one because you can see that even little Caleb is joining in on the noise-making.

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Bragging on Kendall

Well, Kendall is happy right now for a couple reasons. First of all, he passed electrical inspection! He has worked so hard on that. The inspector is only in town twice a month, 2 days each time. So Kendall worked like crzy to be ready in time for yesterday's inspection. He has been very busy. Friday night he was quite discouraged, but Saturday had several people out helping him. He felt much more encouraged by Saturday night. Kendall worked at the hospital Saturday and Sunday nights, but was back out at the house Monday afternoon with Delton.

Tuesday morning the inspector showed up. He looked around a bit, then said, "Where did you get these wires?" The answer was "In the U.S." The inspector: "Oh no. This isn't good." He went on to say that they didn't have something important printed on them. He let Kendall know that he has already seen a job site like that where everything had to be pulled out. He reminded Kendall that this was not good. Then he went out to call his supervisor. Delton was in the corner praying. Kendall was making a decision to throw in the towel and sell the house as-is. Then the inspector walked back in and passed it!!!

Yay! Kendall was so happy. He told me that he felt like he had just passed his NCLEX again. (That was the test to get his nursing license and he did cry that time.) Kendall said that the past month of lying awake from 5-7am had just paid off.

So, to celebrate, Kendall went off to enjoy the last day of moose hunting season today. And that brings me to the second reason Kendall is so happy today: A few minutes ago I got a call from my mighty hunter. He told me he just got a moose. "Yay!" I said. Then he said he just got TWO moose. "Oh no!" I said. I see much bloody butchering in my future...

And, to clarify, he went hunting with his friend, Keith. They filled both tags, so yes, it was legal for him to take both moose. Yay for 2 freezers full of meat!

Brrrr...

This morning as I was getting ready to leave Eli's classroom, an announcement came over the PA system: "Recess will be indoors this morning due to the fact that it is -37 degrees with windchill." (That's right around -23 fahrenheit.) A cheer went up from the classroom, though Eli was annoyed. Sledding during recess is often the highlight of his school day. As the teacher walked over toward me, I commented to him, "I didn't hear you cheering about indoor recess." He smiled and sarcastically noted that this would make the day "awesome." Yes, I truly feel for teachers when the kids don't get a chance to get outside and run off some energy.

So, I zipped up my down parka, donned my hat, scarf, mitts and boots, and headed out the door for my beautiful walk home. It's a sunny day and that makes me happy no matter what the temperature.

The Things We Are Doing Instead of Working on the House

I haven’t been so motivated to blog lately for several reasons. First of all, our internet was being exceedingly stupid. I had to go out into our hallway and hold the computer in front of the window in the door to get a good signal. Also, the thing that I was having so much fun putting up pictures of (the house) came to what was nearly a screeching halt. So here is a post with a title suggested by Jodi.

1. Telling our Love Story- One night I started telling Eli and Evan about how Kendall and I met. I told them about it for awhile, then I said, "You’ll just have to wait and see what happens next! To be continued tomorrow night!" That drove them absolutely crazy and started something. Now they always want to hear the next chapter at bedtime. It’s good for Kendall and I to tell it together. Eli loved how Kendall accidentally introduced me to his aunt as "Amy." He also liked how Ben and Kendall announced each other’s engagements at church and let us know that he wants to be at church "when Shad does that."

2. Having weird conversations- Evan and I were just eating lunch. Out of the blue, he asked me, "Mommy, don’t you like it when I suffer?" I looked up at him with a very confused expression, only to see the same expression mirrored on his face. Quickly, he asked, "What is suffering anyway?"

3. Enjoying/Battling the Snow- The snow waited a long time to come, but it has more than made up for it’s tardy arrival. We don’t have "snow days" here. The schools are tricky and only cancel bus service. Then school is still officially in session and the missed days don’t need to be made up. From what I’ve picked up, on these days school is basically optional for all students- bussed or not. Anyway, we have already had 3 days of cancelled bus service. That is not normal. Any junk left lying around is now lost until April or May. We’ll wait just as long to see grass. Oh well, at least it’s pretty. Other than the length of winter, though, I prefer this over northern Indiana’s winter. Sunshine and sparkling white snow is beautiful. So, we’re back to deep snow and plugging in the cars and boots and snow pants and mitts and hats all over the place.

4. Learning about world religions- Eli told me he found out that his teacher is a Christian. When I asked him how he knew, he said that there was something about Baby Jesus in their word search. I told Eli that that doesn’t especially mean that he’s a Christian. Then Eli told me that Makale, his buddy, is a Christian too. He said he asked him and Makale said, "Yes. Mohammed." (I don’t get it either.) Then Eli said, "We don’t celebrate that." (I don’t get that either.) Eventually I told Eli that Mohammed is who Muslims believe in. Eli told me that he’s not exactly a Christian. "Then what are you?" I asked. His answer? "A Muslim who believes in God!" And off he ran to play. Has he ever heard of Muslims before? Oh well, we’ll leave it at that for now...

5. Discovering animals a little too close to home- The other day I saw 2 large dog-shaped animals walking across the ice very near to our new place. They were too far to see exactly what they were, but I have my guesses. Hmmm.... When Kendall tried to calm fears of wild beasts and give me a false sense of security by telling me that we were moving to an island, he forgot to mention that the bay freezes in the winter and that when the water is ice, there is no such thing as an island. When I confronted him with this later, all he could come up with was, "Moose don’t like to walk on ice." Excuse me, but it was not the moose in my back yard that were my main concern!

6. Taking care of a 1-year old

We got a call for emergency foster care late Friday night. So we had this little girl here until Tuesday afternoon. Once again, the boys loved her. I am rather spoiled by this point in family life, though, and it was a big adjustment to have a toddler wandering the house. This is a rare picture of her laughing. The boys were the only ones who were really able to get her to smile. Here they were determined that they were taking her outside to play. Have at it guys!

7. Thankfully, Kendall found someone who is able to help him with electrical. He was planning on doing the wiring, but his schedule just wasn't allowing it. He only needed about a week to get it done, but those 7 days would have stretched out into the new year. So someone has supposedly been there this week working. Hopefully getting lots done! Kendall worked Monday night, then got off work at 6am to be at the airport by 6:30 for a 3-day work trip to Fort Severn, way up on the Hudson Bay. His trip got cut short and he got home last night just in time for the boys' keyboard recital. Yea! Meanwhile, I'm trying to adjust my expectations for when we'll be in the new house and just be patient.