Car Ride

I really miss our van.

We finally fixed the window that fell down (previously mentioned in an older post) and then three other things went wrong.  The starter, the battery and some pipe thing that was leaking.  Our guy took the van and said he would need the week to fix it.

That was the day before we were scheduled to leave for PA for Thanksgiving. 

So, we loaded up the car (which thankfully, had a lot of trunk space) and squeezed in for the 300 mile drive.

I know people rode like this before the wonderful invention of mini-vans, but I have no idea how they did it.  The fighting that happens over the littlest things...it is quite ridiculous.

Actually, Abby and Caleb were not too bad.  That might have something to do with the fact that they could play with the ipad and kindle and they both had lots of books to read.  Now Noah, on the other hand-he was struggling.

The poor kid just wanted something to do.  His books only entertained him for so long, he was too young to play the Alphabet car ride game with us and he did not understand why he was strapped down for so long in that blasted car seat.

He entertained himself by pulling Abby's hair and whining.  It was delightful.

To all of the parents who drove cars without leg room and without DVD players before the blessed mini-van, I salute you.  You are amazing and have the patience of a saint.

Abby's Prayer

I was cleaning (I know, a rarity in my house these days) and found a small piece of paper, folded up between two books.  On it was written a note to myself of something that I would eventually share on here.

I have no idea how long ago it was (judging from the level of dust on the bookshelf and the lack of correct spelling, probably sometime last year), but Abby had written the following prayer...

Dear God,

Thank you for bing my dad.  Thank you also for giveing me never-ending love.  I love you more then anything in the wold.  In your name I pray,

Amen.
Abby

In a week of the van not starting (and the window breaking) and Noah being sick, I really needed to find this paper today.

How I Failed Today

Ever have those days where you completely fail as a parent?  In more ways than one?

If your answer is no, then stop reading because you will be judging me.  If your answer is yes, then feel free to read on and make yourself feel better.

Let me back up to yesterday to set the picture...

After defrosting the van, I piled the kids into the car, backed out of the driveway and started to head to school.  A little bit of the frost was still dripping down my window, so I pressed the button to roll down the window.  Immediately, I heard a grinding sound and the glass quickly slid down.  Thankfully, I grabbed it before it disappeared out of sight. 

So, there we were, driving to school, freezing our little butts off, while I held on to the window with one frost bitten hand and drove with the other.  Eventually (thanks to non-moving traffic) I was able to mess with it a little bit and pull it back up.  I still held on and once it seemed that it would stay, I let go.

Yeah, that lasted about two minutes.  I hit one little bump and, crap, there it went.  Out of sight.  No way to pull up the window.

Awesome.

On to today...

Nick, being the amazing husband that he is, drove the van to school today so that the kids and I could ride in comfort in the cadillac.

By comfort, I mean all the kids crammed together in the back like sardines, but-we had heat!

After dropping everyone off at school, I ran some errands.  I stopped at Once Upon a Child to drop off some items (had to make some money to pay for that broken window).  Now, these were my two options:  Take Noah out of the car, chase him around the parking lot while I struggled to carry two large totes of stuff OR leave him in the locked car while I took the totes into the store.

Come on, moms-what would you do?

I need to point out that I was parked right by the door, could see him the entire time and I was in the store for less than 30 seconds.

As I started to walk out, a women came in and said to me, "Excuse me, is that your child in the car?  He is all alone and awake!"

I had no response, but "Okay" as I continued out to the car.

I chose not to respond with what I wanted to say to her, which was, "Excuse me, why are you bringing in your newborn baby with no extra layers on and not carrying him in a pumpkin seat with blankets?"

Okay, so chalk up my "leaving my kid in the car alone" to another way that I fail as a parent.  And add that to "driving in 30 degree weather with no window" and I was on my way to winning parent of the year.

But, oh, it gets better.

As I drove home from being reprimanded by that super awesome mom who knew everything, I had to quickly pull over for an ambulance.  As I did that, I heard a "Whoa, fall!" from Noah.  I looked back and his carseat was completely sideways while he hung there, frantic.

What the...?

As I used my super human strength that moms tend to get in cases like this and pushed him back up, I pulled into the nearest gas station and got out to help him.  It was then that I discovered that he had unbuckled the seatbelt that was holding in his carseat.

Seriously, Noah?  Since when did you learn how to do that?

And this is where I point out how much I love my mini van and the lack of damage that Noah can do in it.

So, where does that leave us?  Freezing my kids in the car, leaving them alone, and letting them go seatbeat free. 

I would try and defend myself, but Noah is currently standing on top of a toy that has wheels trying to grab the Halloween candy bowl.  I should probably try and stop him.

Noah Update

Noah has been pretty busy, lately, so I figured that it was time for an update.

The kid talks.  A lot.  I know, shocking in this family, right?  I thought Abby was a talker because she was a girl.  Then I figured Caleb was a talker because he wanted to keep up with Abby.  Apparently, Noah is a talker because he feels the need to be heard in the midst of the chaos.

It probably helps that every time he says something brilliant (like stringing two or more words together) we applaud him.  Hey, I would perform more if everyone clapped for me all the time, too.  Applause for a great dinner, a clean house and laundry actually put away on time?  Bring it on!

No matter what word Noah says, he says the word "the" before it.  However, his "the" sounds like "zah" so bascially everything he says sounds French. 

"Zah ball," "Zah phone," "Zah book."

He is a cute little Frenchman.

Noah also likes to rattle off his ABC's.  And count to ten.  Both of these things always surprise me, consideirng I do not spend as much time teaching him things as I did with the older two.  Thank you, Super Why.  I owe you.

I must point out how much this kid mimics his big brother.  Everything, and I mean everything, that Caleb does-Noah does as well.  Caleb takes his shirt off to play football in the house, Noah runs up to me begging for me to take off his shirt.  Caleb makes any kind of gesture at the table during dinner, Noah repeats it.  Caleb runs around and throws himself on the floor, Noah is right there with him.

Sometimes it is a nice thingc like when I find them both curled up together reading books.  Other times, not  so much, like when I find them both jumping on the bed.

I love that even though he is quickly becoming his own little person and wanting to do things on his own, he is still content to curl up with me and snuggle.  Sometimes, when I find myself needing to get up and get a thousand other things done, I stop myself and realize how short this time is.

I love my little tornado and savor this precious time with him.

Election Day

So, election day.  Fun times.

I am kicking myself for looking at facebook this morning.  Actually, I looked at it in the middle of the night.  I had gone to bed before finding out who had won and when I woke up for no reason what so ever, I figured I could either walk downstairs and turn on the television or simply roll over and check facebook on my phone.

After reading all of the terribly mean comments, it is a wonder that I even fell back asleep.

Regardless of anyone's political background, it just makes me sad to see how we all treat each other over our political views.  We are allowed to have different opinions, right?

Now, for my friends who simply said, "Yay!" or "Too bad," I have no problem with that.  But, for the friends who made comments all day about defriending anyone who disagrees with them...seriously?  What could you possibly be thinking?

I actually saw someone post, "If you even think of voting for Romney, just defriend yourself now."  Another person wrote how he was defriending people left and right because they voted for Obama. 

Fine, go ahead.  It is your freedom to be friends with whoever you want, especially in facebook land, where you really do not hear from most friends until it is your birthday.  But, I ask this:  For people who complain about the government and parties never getting along, what do we expect?  We as citizens are hating each other because we disagree politically-can we expect the actual officials to be any different?

My own personal facebook status yesterday was this:  ""Just voted.  No matter the outcome, I am grateful for a sovereign God and that my permanent home is with Him."

That is pretty much how I am feeling this morning.  I would be feeling this way no matter who won.  Whatever decisions this president and government make, no matter which direction our country goes, no matter what happens to my family's heathcare, no matter what taxes we face, no matter what the future holds for my children-I have peace because I know our ultimate future is all about Him.  This is our temporary home.

Our temporary home.

I think I will spend it remaining friends with those who I disagree with, since we still have an eternity to be around each other.

Carpool Talk

The pumpkin patch, soccer parties, and Halloween-many fun stories to come from those events this past week.  For now, I give you another fun conversation overheard during the adventures in carpooling...

Abby (while talking about wearing a boot and using crutches):  "Yeah, it's a big, fat bummer."

Izzy (kindergartener carpool friend):  "Why does she have a big fat bum?"

My apologies to her mom.  Between conversations like this and the kids singing along to "Call Me Maybe," I may lose my carpool privileges.