Getting shamed by a 3 year old and a state on a stick

Yes, I was shamed by this guy.



I was talking to D in our office when we heard LB start crying. We heard James say, "Go ahead and get up. You'll be fine." Monkey boy (MB) comes in to announce that LB and Kimi have had a collision. No sooner does he get that out when we hear James say, "Oh, you must have hit hard, your nose is bleeding." I jump up to help, and immediately James and I are concentrating at the task at hand...okay, I'll clean the carpet, you get more tissues, Sissy wants to get boo bunny (an ice pack). Behind me I hear MB say, "Oooooo, that's bad." Kimi is pronouncing her innocence rather loudly with "It was an assident (accident)!" I have to admit, it did look bad. LB had rubbed his hand over his nose and across his face, thereby smearing blood all over his face and hand. As we are busying ourselves with the task at hand, I hear a little voice behind me say, "God, please heal LB." I turn to see MB, with tears in his eyes. And so I am shamed. Here my 3-year-old saw his utter dependence on God and asked for help while I and my pastor husband were busy with the logistics. From the mouth of babes indeed.

So what does this look like to you?



Yeah, yeah, a paperclip, but what do you think that is next to it?

Does it look like this?



MB announced that he had found "Arkansas on a stick."  Truth be told, I had to consult the map to verify his find.  I guess that's shamed twice by the same kid...why do I not think this will be the last time?

Okay, just to prove this blog is not just about a certain Monkey boy, here's some pics of the other kiddos:

How is this for triple trouble?



This is Sissy at the fire station visiting Dad.  She is wearing his air tank that probably weighs about as much as she does.



Here is Bob with an umbrella in his hair.  Don't even ask.


A shot of brotherly love...





LB has his dad's helmet on which is so heavy he has to hold it with his hands.



Alright, alright, just two more shots of MB to make you laugh...
Here he was asking me to cut his hair around the bowl.  Must be the Asian in him...



This is just for laughs...

I've lost my identity and other goings on

We were working on the letter "J" in the tods' schooling.  I enthusiastically asked, "And whose name starts with 'J' in our family?" Here's what ensued from that question:

MB: "Bob" (well, his real name)
Me: No, that starts with a 'G.'  Whose name starts with a j-j-j-jay?
Kimi: Sissy!
Me: No! What is my name?
MB, Kimi, and about three seconds later, LB: Mommy!
Me: Yes that is my name and my title.  But what do other people call me?
Kimi: Mom!
Me: No, like at church, what do people call me?
MB: Dear!
Me: Well, that's what Grandma calls all of us.  Maybe someone at church calls me Dear, but if someone calls me on the phone, who do they ask for?
Kimi: Mommy!
Me: Okay let's try this, what is Daddy's name?
MB: James!
Me: Right, so if people are coming to our house, they say they are coming to James and ________'s house.  What other name do they say?
Kimi: Mommy!
Me: Alright, let's try this one more time.  When our friends come over for community group, what do they call me?
MB: Napoleon! (I am not lying, that's what he said).

At that point, I realized that Mommy is who I am and always will be.  Why fight it?

Okay, picture time! I still have not found my camera, but was able to use my tablet to take not so great pictures, but ones I could at least post.

After they had spent the morning being the naughtiest kids in the whole church, they were being as cute as could be once they got home. I told them to strike a pose, and this is what they did: Monkey Boy just looks like trouble about to happen. Actually that day he was trouble that already happened. I don't know where Kimi got this pose, but I perhaps modeling is in her future. LB is unfortunate enough to have a mom that snaps these kind of very cute, but someday incriminating photos: The next pictures were taken when LB was having one of his not-so-frequent-anymore meltdowns about putting on his pajamas. While he was having his fit, MB decided to put his own pajamas on...first upside down (yes those are the feet of his footie pjs on his hands) Then he put them on backward, which was particularly impressive as he got it zipped that way too. The frown is an act... I asked LB what he thought of MB's pajama prowess, and this is the response I got:

Kimi just started Sissy's old bike, and for some reason I was struck by how big she looks.  Her accomplishments seem to strike me a little bit differently, I guess I can't help thinking about the little almost bald baby that first came to us and how far she has come...



We celebrated my dad's 80th birthday last night by going to a teppan style restaurant (think Benihana).

You will not that I am taking the picture from where I was sitting.  Yes, those are my children on the other side of the room...with my sister and brother-in-law.  He, he, he. I had a great view of my oldest son secretly sneaking mushrooms from his plate onto the siblings'plates on either side of him.

James and I had this guy sitting between us. This same guy has a career as a busboy. Here he is collecting bowls and spoons. Here are the December-February birthday "boys" (doesn't my dad look like an awfully young 80?) My dad always makes breakfast for us when we stay over. MB likes to be his helper. Here he is waiting for his Ji-chan to be done with the bacon.

And with that I will leave with this great comment by Bob, "I am a commando.  I'm not GOING commando, I AM a commando."

No pics, how about an announcement?

I've got no pics today.  Why do I have no pics? It's because my camera is missing.  We've narrowed its placement down to "in the house somewhere."  For those whose houses do not include six children, that might be comforting.  For me? Well, it's a little like saying you dropped something in the ocean.  It's a finite amount of space, but there's a whole lot of places in that space it could be.  We have a black hole in this house that doesn't just suck in one sock per pair.  I think someone could go into the witness protection program in our house, because they would never be found. 

So I took my kids to Target today, yes all of them.  Does that thought make you tired? It does me, but maybe that's because I actually did that.  We had to buy a birthday gift for a party tomorrow, and the father won't be home to help with the kid sit.  I thought that as a treat I would let the kids have popcorn while we roamed around.  We had two carts to split the tods.  D and Bob had Monkey Boy (MB) and Sissy and I had the rest.  That was all fairly uneventful, minus the spilling (twice) of popcorn in the shopping cart. An inquiry was made as to whether or not one could consume the popcorn that was laying in the cart.  Now, I'm no germaphobe mom, but engaging in that activity would be taking one's life in one's own hands.

This popcorn eating did provide an opportunity for LB to learn a new skill.  Since the kids were sharing bags, I wanted him to grab some popcorn in one hand, then use the other hand to put a piece at a time in his mouth.  If I'd tell him to grab some, he'd pick one piece out of the bag and put it in his mouth.  I'd say, "No, take a handful."  Which meant pick one piece out of the bag and put it in his mouth.  I said, "Grab the popcorn in your hand."  Which meant squish the daylights out of the piece in his hand (by the way, in case you are wondering, all the other kids were modeling to him how to do it correctly).   Trying a new strategy, I took his hand and helped him grab a handful.  While I was explaining how to use the other hand to put one piece at a time in his mouth, he shoved the handful in his mouth, spilling the majority of it down his front and onto the floor.  Did you know that Target has little trashcans in the store (not to sell but to use for trash)? We were glad to find that out.  I thought I would try one more time, so I helped him get a handful and held his hand so he couldn't Hoover.  I took his other hand and got one piece out to put in his mouth.  I'm explaining the whole time and say, "See, that's how you do it."  Which meant let go of all the other pieces of popcorn in his hand and let them drop to the floor.  So if you were in Target today and heard over the loudspeaker, "Beserk lady on aisle four."  That was me.

Okay, enough for the tease....here's the announcement...We are officially expecting again!  We have been matched with a precious one and her file is locked, meaning at this time no one else can adopt her.  We don't have the final okay from China yet, so no pictures of her until we get that (in about three months).  In the meantime, we are praying for another match before the final okay (called an LOA, or Letter of Acceptance) so we can travel once for both kids.  There are so many contingencies in adoptions it's very difficult to predict when things will occur.  I tell people that the process is regular and varied at the same time.  The steps are regular and ordered, but the timing of it all is so varied.  So here we are again, ready to start our newest adventure.  Oh wait, every day brings one of those, doesn't it?