The Ozmerican Life

I heard a quote once and I LOVE it!!



"If you don't like the painting, don't blame the canvas."



Isn't that great? Have I mentioned that before...if so sorry...



I think of that all the time when my kids are doing something that's not really my favorite quality of them. Is there some example I'm giving? Is there something in me that they're seeing, copying, following after? We had this little event happen the other day that leaves me remembering...I'm not the only influence in my house...



N: "Jentzen?"



J: "What!!"



N: "You say "Yes Daddy."



J: "Yes Daddy?"



N: (went on telling Jentzen something....)



K: (quick thinking) "Hey Honey?"



N: (in the same loud rude voice as jentzen) "What??"



And he stopped...he knew...We both laughed...



So if you see my kids doing something a little off...it's totally Nathan!!

I love lists. I love making them, I love being organized, and even more so...I LOVE crossing things off the list.



And if you're wondering, yes I am one of those who will put things on the list that I've already done, just so I can cross them off. Dorky I know...but I know I am not the only one out there that does that.



But recently as mom of 4, I've learned that I have to be as productive with my time as I can and the time it takes to acutally sit down and write out a list is somewhat wasteful. So I've taken to the talent of mind-listing.



Yep, that's right...mind-listing. In the morning I mentally make a list of all things that have to be done that day, approximately what time I will do them that day, and remember them so I can mentally check them off my list, so even though it's not physical pen and paper...I have still checked them off in some form. I know, talented isn't it?



During the morning hours before the kids get up, I carefully tiptoe all around the house straightening up the leftover out of place things from the day before...all this while mind-listing for the day. So by the time the kids get up (which happens to be really early these days thanks to Day Light Savings...they still haven't figured out that they need to stay in bed for another hour) I am all ready with my plan of action.



So the other day it was about 3:30 in the afternoon. I was frantically scanning my mind-list. There must be a mistake. Did I lose my list? Did it get deleted? My list was empty!! I walked around the house, just walking around scanning everything I saw to see if it would reboot my mind-list operating software. It was 3:30...I still had 3 1/2 business hours left for the day until closing time...and yet there was nothing to do??

Laundry was done, kitchen was clean, dishes were done, kids were schooled, dinner ready to go in the oven. Sure there were a few things around the house that needed to be done...but I knew they were already scheduled on a future mind-list, so they could wait.

I must have looked silly, just wandering around my house...That NEVER happens...I'm always cramming about this time of day to get everything checked off that list by closing time. A mind-list left unfinished is just something that should never be done!!

And then I look and see my precious Ava honing up her mouse skills on the computer. And then it hit me...game time with Ava (she needs it every day...sometimes twice). So I am really excited about this next part.

She is always begging me to play games with her...all day long every day. Which is fine by me...I love to play games too. But there are other things that need to be done. So we set times of the day that we are going to sit down and play games. We had already done that for the day but I thought...a mother with nothing to do...PLAY GAMES!

Me: "Hey Ava!"

A: "Yeah?" (while keeping one eye on the computer screen)

Me: (super excited) "Do you want to play cards with me?!?"

A: "Well I kind of want to finish this."

Me: (drop jawed) "What??? You always want to play games with me!!"

A: "Yeah, but I want to do this more."

I was feeling a bit rejected! Really? Trumped by some computer game!!

(Don't worry, I found something to do...I started a puzzle :)

Fast forward to 5:30. I'm in the kitchen getting dinner from the oven, plates out, forks out, dinner dished up so it could cool, Keira's dinner ready....busy busy busy.

My sweet Ava comes up to me in the midst of this....

"Mom, can you play a game with me now?"

"Ava, not now...I'm getting dinner ready, it's dinner time."

"Yeah but now I want to play!"

Well it's been a long time...too long. Every day I think, "I should blog that." or "I wonder where those pictures are?"

I know this guy, He's about 6 feet tall, brown hair, eyes that strangely look just like Ava's, he talks a little funny, drives a loud car that's brown...I mean white, and thinks I'm the coolest person ever. I think if that guy were to download all my pics, resize them all and put them in a neat little folder on my desktop titled "For Karen to Blog"...I would get things done a lot quicker :)

Until that happens just one little story...

Praise the Lord my kids have been super healthy lately. I can barely even remember that last time we've even had a bit of a sniffle! So yesterday morning Jentzen woke up with a cough. "Oh NO! We're not getting sick in this house!" I thought. I suggested that we all pray for Jentzen. Quaid hops right up, "Yeah come on, let's lay our hands on him!" And continued on with the most beautiful prayer for Jentzen. I was nearly in tears.

I often pray for my kids, for our home, for me (to make it through the day:) But I don't usually include them in this...reminded me that just because they are little doesn't mean that God can't use them!

We went to the como zoo today with the kids. Since Nathan's mom was in the front seat...I was in the way back between Ava and Quaid. Riding along...chit chatting...kids playing...and then......

Q: "Do you smell that mom?"

Me: "Oh Quaid, that's disgusting!"

Q: (while taking a deep breath through his nose) "AAAAHHHHHH.....fresh toot!"

Me: (while trying not to breathe) "That is terrible!"

Q: "I just love fresh toot!"

And I was quite happy to know that daddy was not spared...it did make it all the way up to the front seat :)

Ava, like I've mentioned before, is always up first. She has always been my one who needs the least amount of sleep. So the first moments of my child filled day are spent with Ava...and usually Keira. Ava is always kind enough to turn the light on...all the way...when she wakes up.

We did get those dimmers installed for just a moment as that...when one kid is sleeping but you still need to do something in the room. Ava obviously doesn't see the need. If she's up, then for sure Keira should be too!

So I go on....I was feeding Keira and the whole house was still and quiet except for my sweet Ava. She sat down right next to me....

A: "Mom, guess what?"

Me: "What honey?"

A: "Grandma said that God put man here to take care of woman...yeah she said that...so Quaid is supposed to be taking care of me. And yesterday he was NOT taking care of me. He hauled off and kicked me right in the back. And he left something there, grandma said there was something left there from him kicking me. He was NOT taking care of me and God said he should be taking care of me!"

Me: "Well that's too bad."

I love how Ava has learned that phrase..."hauled off and (insert some form of physical meanness) me. She didn't hear it from me...so who knows where that came from!

Yep that was my only response.

I had my first heartbreaking moment with Quaid last night. Well not the first moment per say but the first of this type of hurt.

Quaid goes to Awana at a local church in our town. He absolutely loves it! He really likes going anywhere, any day at any time. I myself am a bit of a hermit so when the kids get to go out, it's a pretty big deal.

When he got dropped off, one of the leaders told me that he had a bit of trouble with the games. The group he's in is ages K-2nd grade. Quaid is 5 1/2 and a second grader is probably 8. That is a big age difference pertaining to physical abilities.

When I was putting Quaid to bed I asked him what the trouble was. His little head hung down, and with his little sad voice, he said the he was the last one in line every time and the first one that got out. He look so disappointed and defeated.

I'm not one that feels bad every time my kids are sad. It is a part of life the must be learned. Things are not always about them, things are not going to always be how they want them to be. I don't feel bad when they are sad that they only got 1 cookie instead of 3. I don't feel bad when they are sad because they were disciplined for something they did wrong. I don't feel bad when they are upset that they have to clean up their toys...but this was so different. He had done nothing wrong...it was the left out kind of sadness. I tried to explain that they were just bigger than him, that he did his best and that's all that he had to do. He would be the "big kid" some day. That he was already the bigger kid compared to Jentzen. No matter my words, It was still the sad little hanging head with a small voice..."Okay mom," was all he could muster up.

As I think about it today...really it was a pretty trivial little thing. It was a first of many disappoinments he would face in the future. There was sure to be times in the future when he's not he winner, when he's picked on by someone else, when he's left out. It's my job to show him how to handle it and to encourage him...I know he will learn to deal with it and so will I. But yesterday was a first for us both. And I bet he's already handling it better than me! I'm still sad for him and I'm sure he's had a great day and has forgotten about it already.

And it's confirmed...their pain is much more tough on me than my own!

This was a super great idea!! Deb cooked some noodles in water with some green food coloring to make the seaweed. Good ole' hotdogs with one end cut in 4 to make the octopus legs. Also getting the short hot dogs would work a little better because they're not so top heavy...our poor squids were a little sleepy as you can see :)

Now the real talent was trying to make a ketchup face on the hot dogs. One should have figured out that putting ketchup on a wet hot dog might just slide right off, yeah well...we partially managed to get fairly decent eyes and smiles on them.

The kids LOVED them and thought it was the best lunch ever!