Tragedy

 

Barbie had a horrible, tragic accident--orchestrated by Paul.  There were no other witnesses.

 

 

Dear Courtney

Dear Courtney,

It was my most sincere wish that I would not have to write such a letter to you.  Only once have I had to write such a letter and it was to your older brother Paul.  But dear girl, however harsh these words may sound, you deserve it.  The story of your reign of terror will no longer be kept in the shadows.  I am including the above picture as a testament that what I write is true.  If this is not proof enough, I also have pictures of every incident I intend to write about.

The minute you were born and I realized that I had a red haired little girl, I wanted to disprove that awful stigma that people believe about red heads--you know...that red heads are rather hot tempered.  But little girl, you were born with this in your heart and regardless of how your mother loved and coddled you, you wanted to have your own way.  And the way you ensured you would always get your own way was by perfecting the most awful screechy wail.  And you use it all....the...time....

Lets just look at how much you screamed today for instance.  Your dad wouldn't let you eat his entire breakfast (after you had already finished yours), and to ensure that he would have something to fill his growling stomach, he gently took you off the table where you had strategically placed your little behind RIGHT beside his plate.  You were quite literally breathing on his breakfast.  Was this the morning that you sneezed all over his toast and egg too--leaving a wad of snot behind?  No, I think that might have been the day before...or maybe 2-3 days ago...but I digress.....

Oh right...the screaming....oh how you howled when he put you down.  Then you climbed back up and once again were taken down.  You tried a third and fourth time.  Each time to no avail.  By now your dad had finished and I'm pretty sure you used that opportunity to utter your dislike for the present situation.  Soon your momma started school.  Anytime attention is diverted from the 19 month old, we are succumbed to a lovely fit that can last anywhere from between, oh, 1-3 hours.  In fact, we have become so accustomed to the background noise that the work gets done regardless.  Little girl, you screamed during breakfast.  You screamed during school.  You especially screamed when I wouldn't let you eat the tips of my white board markers.  You screamed while we waited for Lindsay to finish her piano lessons.  You screamed when your brother wouldn't let you eat, swallow and digest his little prized rubber cars.  You screamed when I was cooking supper and wouldn't let you dip your foot in my pot of boiling potatoes.  You screamed when I wouldn't even let you walk on my counter tops and on my stove.  You screamed at supper when the cheese had been eaten off your sandwich (by YOU) and ALAS, it wasn't replaced!  Needless to say, is it any wonder your mother marched you off to bed for a nap by 10:00 in the morning--2 1/2 hours earlier than usual?  Really, you wonder why you end up in bed at 6:30 in the evening?

Now to be fair, this was only an overview of one day.  You do not scream incessantly all day everyday.  No, that would make you predictable and I have not found any predictability in your character at all.  For instance, immersing Sunday shoes in dog water 10 minutes before leaving for church is not at all related to standing on my printer and calmly looking outside.  Nor is eating pop can tabs in any way similar to scribbling on the children's half completed school assignments. 

However, in many things we are seeing a little correlation.  For example, when I complete the daily pantry rescue, where I find the 19 month old dangling precariously from the snack shelf (located second shelf from the top) I find it perfectly normal to saturate my socks while wading through the several litres of water that, not 6 seconds earlier, you have released from the water cooler to the pantry floor.

Also, I have discovered the direct correlation between extreme confusion and delay and a 'Courtney bathroom visit.'  Oh, the activities that go on here I hardly dare utter, but when I started this letter I determined not to leave anything in the shadows.  Large wet gobs of toilet paper resolutely sitting on the floor are generally an indication that you were thirsty.  I have also discovered that if the gobs are 'fresh' I can often catch you in another room of the house with one in your hand yet--busily sucking the moisture out of the wet, soggy toilet paper ball.  But once again, you are not always predictable.  Sometimes when I enter the bathroom the toilet paper is undisturbed.  Then, as I look into the toilet, I discover an entire pack of feminine hygiene products, unwrapped, and submersed.  Even then it's not always predictable, for I've also fished  Q-tips, a cup, and even Seth's pants out of there.  Lovely.  Just remember, what you do DOES come back to you one day.  When the toilet paper and the toilet are left alone, I discover instead that you've fed our toothbrushes to the dog outside.  Or...you've sucked on your father's razor and cut your lip.  Or...you've fallen asleep in the bathroom sink.  And remember, I have photographic evidence for ALL of this.

Courtney, you inhale all my school erasers.  You've pushed my fax machine off the desk where it crashed to the floor.  You smacked my windows with a meter stick.  You run my dishwasher when it's empty.  You smeared pilfered chocolate spread all over my carpet.  You take the phone off the hook, leaving a busy signal to any callers for hours.  You harass the dog.  You erase my whiteboard while I'm trying to teach.  You throw dog food down the stairs.  You destroy your brother's LEGO creations.  You climb on my counters.  You pick holes into the oranges.  You shove toys into my central vac system.  You touch my books.

Courtney, I love you like crazy, but you are a real stinker.  I end this letter on the same note that I ended my letter to Paul so long ago.  It seems to have worked for him. 

I have 16 years to cure you of this behavior. I can only reiterate what I have said in the past; it’s a good thing 2 year olds are so cute, otherwise there would be abandoned toddlers running rampant through the streets causing a lot of chaos, destruction and mayhem. Welcome to boot camp girl, population: 2…you and me!

Love MOM

Daily Reality

 

This is the pile of laundry that awaited me last Friday.  It is approximately 8 loads of clean laundry, waiting to be folded and put away.

 

3 hours and about 68,000 distractions later, my laundry room looked like this.

Today is Tuesday and my laundry room looks like this.  This is approximately 10 loads of laundry.  I need to find another 3 hours...somewhere...somehow...  Realistically, I think it's going to be more like 5 minutes here, 2 minutes there...

 

 

Update: Courtney just stuck a clean towel into an unflushed toilet.  I think I may have died a little on the inside.

Sugar HIGH...

Courtney trying her first slurpee.  She was EXTREMELY possessive.  Yes...she's my little junk food addict.

A Day Out

Upon the sale of our home, the real estate guys gave us Family Day passes for West Edmonton Mall.  We decided to spend them at Galaxyland.  We took the 4 oldest with us, leaving Courtney with grandpa and grandma.  The kids LOVED the rides!  Eric liked the swings the most (like me).  I'm pretty sure Paul and Seth liked the airplane ride the most (they went on it ten times for sure!)  Lindsay liked the virtual reality 'Happy Feet' ride the most.  Eric was too short to go on the Mind Bender with me so I let that one go.  That is definitely my favorite ride--fast and crazy!  We finished off the day by going out for supper at Red Lobster.  Following are some pictures.  They were taken by Dan's cell phone so they're not the same quality I would get from my camera, but I was hesitant to take my camera to a place like Galaxyland.  I am certainly thankful Dan took the pictures for me.

A Well Rounded Day

There are so many things I want to write about. I have 4 future blog posts in my mind if I EVER find the time to write them. But I wanted to write a little bit about this day. It was a good day. It was a very well rounded day.

I got up at 6:30 and was very blessed to be able to get 30 minutes of quiet time. That's really good in this house!!! Usually someone will find me in the office long before that! We did breakfast and some school. All the kids worked diligently (this is a HUGE win for the day and super rare) and as a result, we got quite a bit done today. Plus, in the middle of the school morning I was able to make a 3 minute, uninterupted phone call to my friend. That's a HUGE win too! It left me with a smile on my face :-)

We ate lunch early and 2 elders from our church came over for our yearly visit. It was SUCH a good visit. Very encouraging! I am thankful for the time these men give to build up the members of the congregation. After the visit I was able to spend time with Eric and his catechism. I like to be involved in their catechism instruction. I'm not one to send them off to their room to go learn their stuff. No, I like to sit with them and help them through it. As a result, I've had some great discussions with my kids!

After catechism I sat down and did some piano with Lindsay. Her teacher told me last week that she thinks Lindsay is ready to participate in a recital in November. WHAT??!! The girl has only had 6 lessons! But it's nice to see her hard work paying off--and that girl certainly tries hard!

Since the day was absolutely beautiful, and I felt we had totally wasted the awesome weather, I decided to take the kids on a walk around the farm. Behind the barns there's a really nice trail that goes through the bush. I took all 5 kids with me. Seth held my hand the whole time. What a sweetheart! Courtney held my hand most of the time too. Eric told me that Paul and him had made a trail in the bush. Did I want to see it? Sure! So I went bush whacking with the kids. That was a blast! It was quite a long trail and we had to stomp down a lot of 'spikes' as the kids termed it. We ended up coming out of the bush at the end of the driveway.

During a supper of chili, toast and garlic bread, we discovered that Courtney had shoved an orange crayon and 7 puzzle pieces in the toaster slot. Unfortunately, this discovery was made AFTER the toaster started smoking and smelling like melted wax crayon. Perhaps more surprisingly, I didn't even flinch. This seemed like a typical Courtney stunt.

After supper I sat down to do some LA with Lindsay and some Social with Paul. Paul was learning about the different ways we communicate. Seth was sitting at the table and kept repeating the word 'Communicate...communicate...that means talking to someone, mom.' It was super cute. By then it was 7:30. Time was getting away from me. I closed the school books and took Paul and Seth to my room where I read them a story about Frog and Toad. Then I read a story from 'More Little Visits With God." Seth was getting cranky so off to bed they went. I told Seth while he was in bed that tomorrow he could help his dad in the barn again. That brightened him up. I told him he was a real man and that I would make him eggs for breakfast.

I headed back up the stairs and settled on my bed with Eric and Lindsay. This is our time to do Social Studies. Currently we are learning about the Incas. Today we learned about the High Inca. A High Inca's son went through a series of tests to ensure he could follow in his father's footsteps. So we pretended that Eric was the son of the High Inca. At first Eric liked this because it meant he was a warrior who fought and passed tests of great strength. But once we learned about what happens at graduation, Eric wasn't interested any longer. Besides having his ears pierced and stretched over time (until his lobes touched his shoulders) the graduate received sandles and a new girdle for his loins. Also his head was endowed with flowers and evergreen leaves. Really...I can just SEE Eric's expression during THAT kind of a ceremony.....

The kids went to bed at 8:30 (too late really) and I sat down to figure out how we were faring with our school year. I wanted to find out how far behind we still were. Turns out, if we work hard the school year can be completed by May 31. This gives us a 2 week break at Christmas as well. But, the schedule will be intense, and we'll have to stick to it. Positively, it is a 4 day schedule which gives us some room during the week for extra barn work, visits, field trips and the like.

Anyways, like I said, it was a good day. I felt like work got accomplished and I was able to have fun with the kids too. I wasn't overly taxed with obligations.  It felt like a normal day should feel.

Sunrises

I love sunrises.  They make me think of heaven.  Rays of light piercing through the darkness.  Pink and orange hues scattered throughout the sky.  Sunrises breathe hope into a new day.  They chase the long dark night away.  Sunrises make me think of God's faithfulness--of His mercy in giving me another day...the reminder that's He's preserved me.  (Lam. 3: 21-26).

Generally I start my day when it's dark.  I get up and make some coffee.  I read for awhile, then I go and watch the sunrise.

One day there won't be any more sunrises.  A trumpet will sound.  The heavens will open.  Christ will have returned in all his glory.  I will meet Him, whom my soul loves, in the air.  I won't need sunrises because I will live in His light forever.  The Lamb, my Lord Jesus Christ, will be the light (Rev. 21:23).   Darkness will never settle over me again.  There is no more night (Rev. 21:25).  Just glorious, beautiful light. 

Sunrises remind me of this day that I know is coming.  It is a most wonderful, glorious thought in which to begin a day.  Oh blessed day, please come soon!

Q: What comfort is it to you that Christ shall come to judge the living and the dead?
A: That in all my sorrows and persecutions, with uplifted head I look for the very same Person who before has offered Himself for my sake to the tribunal of God, and has removed all curse from me, to come as Judge from heaven; who shall cast all His and my enemies into everlasting condemnation, but shall take me with all His chosen ones to Himself into heavenly joy and glory.
--Lord's Day 19, Q&A 52 of the Heidelberg Catechism--