Sunday Ramble

It's been cold here the past couple of days. When I was growing up and pretty much lived at the barn we always noticed that on cold, brisk days, the horses acted nuts. They would ignore cues, kick up their heels for no good reason, and spook at things they would normally go right by without issue. It was always on those days that our horses would refuse a jump or try to run off.

Apparently, my kids have a lot in common with horses.

They have been crazy today. Just the older two, of course. Seth has been fine except, of course, that he is attached to me at all times. But Ava and Jace have basically been uncontrollable. Things they know they're not allowed to do...things that they've never even tried to do before. In fact, they may or may not have scaled the van today, all the way up to the roof, when they know...KNOW that I don't allow that. Of course, it helped that we had friends over and the kids totally convinced Mike that they do it all the time and it's always totally fine with me. Luckily he's smart and didn't buy it for long. I guess they thought he was like a substitute teacher and they could totally put one over on him. They think they're so sneaky.

This morning at church, the kids got up on stage and sang Christmas Carols and it was just as entertaining as it is every year. I don't put Seth in the nursery to try to keep him from getting sick, so we killed some time watching the elementary kids practice their songs before they went on stage. Seth spent a few minutes with his face glued to the floor to ceiling window that looked in on the elementary room, but then he found a few of the life size inflatable snowmen...and all he did from then on was try to knock them over and look really confused when they kept popping back up. Then he cried because I dared to walk five feet away from him. Then he cried because someone else who he knows perfectly well offered to pick him up. Then he cried because I set him down. Yeah...it's a good thing he's the cutest thing ever.

It was especially fun tonight when we went to a covered dish dinner at church and he refused to let me put him down while I went through the food line. Have you ever filled two plates of food with one hand while holding a wiggly toddler in the other? Yeah, it's about as fun as it sounds. By the end I was throwing random food on the plates and hoping my kids would eat it. Finally I managed to appease him with chicken nuggets and he let me set him down to eat for a few minutes. I swear, we all thought the baby was going to be work...it's totally all the other kids, not her. All she does is sleep. And sleep. And then I wake her up to eat. And then she sleeps. I could post more pictures of her, but truthfully, it would be just like the last sleeping picture I posted with a different blanket or hat. If she's like Seth she'll start to wake up more as she gets closer to her due date.

Did I mention that our "extended family" next door is also expanding? Evany will be getting her very first best friend or boyfriend in the spring, and after everything they have been through, I have been through, we have been through together, I am so thrilled. They have been through four miscarriages in the past few years and while they have three amazingly cute and fun kids, I am so excited that they are adding one more. Although I am sad that we will never get to ride together in one car anymore unless one of buys a Dodge Sprinter.

Um, sidenote...I am in love with the Sprinter and I am so sad that they've discontinued it. High ceilings, shoulder belts in every seating position, and tons of seating positions with LATCH. It's a car seat tech's dream. Well, if they want to be able to stick a whole load of kids in one car, that is. One of my favorite things used to be driving places with friend in one car, and I hate the I never get to do that anymore. I love talking, and my kids never want to chat, they just want me to "Turn it up!" (The radio.) Every time I ask them something, they'll answer quickly and then be all "Okay mom, are we done? Turn the music back up, seriously!"

That just reminded me that last night at dinner, I brought food to the table and Ava's mouth just dropped open and she stared at me and said "Mom, this is NOT pizza." I was confused, because I never said it was pizza, but I just agreed with her that she was correct, it was not pizza, and to eat it anyway, and she just looked so wounded like I'd kicked her puppy. Then she raised her eyebrows at me and said "Um, you specifically said we were having cheese pizza tonight!"

Um, no Miss Sassy Pants, I did not say that, and I definitely didn't specifically say it. But you get bonus points for vocabulary, I guess.

The kids are in bed and quiet and I'm totally going to go find cookies I can eat without anyone asking me to share.

Oh, by the way...I've had a ton of questions over the past few months about cloth diapering, and I'm posting on that really soon. I promise. Like, within the next day or so soon.