Jake and the sandwiches

When I was sitting on the couch reading my new favorite book (The Shack, you must read it!) Jake came up and was cuddling me. He then asked "Mom, since you are reading your book, can I make lunch for everyone". Jake is so sweet, he always wants to help, and ifIdosaysomyself he makes a mean PB&J sandwhich. I said sure and asked "whats on the menu today dude?" "Sandwiches" was his reply, I was thinking I was going to have this great sandwich, with Jelly oozing out, and with enough peanut butter to make a dog lick his lips for weeks. I continued reading, and he even went outside and picked me a "flower". Its was a dandylion, so it reminded me I needed to get out some weed be gone for my grass. He brought me my lunch. Complete with a diet coke. My boys knows me well. I said "boy, Jake this looks really good! What kind of sandwich is it?" his reply. Peanut butter and mayonaise. My dilema...do I eat that or the dandylion which is looking pretty appitizing at the moment....

My week in Facebook

So Since I don't always update the blogspot (sorry mom), but I do update my facebook, I thought it would be fun to combine the 2. I would like to say that I will do it weekly, but I hate to lie to you. So I will say I will try.

May 12: I asked Jake to get me a coke Zero out of the fridge, he brought me a Miller Lite. Gave it to me and said "I can't find the black ones, is this OK?" Jake, this is beer, I want a soda to bring to church. "oh, its OK, you can drink beer at church". No Jake they might frown on that.

May 14th: I have learned a lot this weekend at Equip (still more to come with Jack Hayford tomorrow), but I want to immediately start putting things into practice, so tomorrow I will be a Proverbs 32 woman. I will stay in bed, and make my kids bring me breakfast there.

May 18th: Well, the good news in my alarm is set for 6pm. Bad news is, all of my kids are VERY late for school. OOPS (that was at 8am, kids start at 730 and we just had woken up)

May 18th: I am speaking tomorrow at REAL moms. Topic: Yes, I am Crazy, just like you. Its going to be fun and helpful, and I am excited! Tomorrow at The Cause, 9am start time with breakfast. Join us and come cheer me on.

May 19th: Dear Mr. President, Israel is our friend. Just like in grade school if you take something that is not yours, the other person will get mad. Don't be a bully. People don't respect bullies. Same on you. Love mom.

May 19th: I am either washing an alligator, or the appliance attack has returned.

May 20th: I started a 13 day fast today. I miss coffee (and eggs and food). I felt like running my kids off a cliff this am while driving them to school. It will get better right? (PS, it did not, next day I was puking and had the worst headache of my life.)

May 20th: At ER with Jake for stitches. Yup, its one of those days! (see, I told you my day did not get any better.

*photo is not for the faint of heart*

Waiting at the ER. Unless anyone is a seamstress?

Jake fell asleep getting his 9 stitches. They called in a plastic surgeon. Lesson learned. Do not play free Willy on your bed, and breach like a whale onto your dresser.

*side notes, I am still doing my fast, but I did break down and start having half a cup of coffee, and I will gradually start weaning that. Cold turkey might not have been the best choice since I pretty much IV it into me through out the day. In fact this am, I only had 1/4 cup*

Kids might get the best of you...

Sorry, I have been a really incredible blog slacker, however I have lots to catch up on. I will do it one at a time. Funny stuff first. You know, funny now, a month later.
So about a month ago, just before I left for Israel, I was a bit on the busy side, packing, and getting everything ready. I went upstairs to deal with a few things, put laundry away, and fun things like that. I can't remember forsure, but I might have even tried to use the bathroom. The 2 middle kids, Jake and Tori were playing, Tara was upstairs with me. They were playing so good, laughing, and having a really good time, at one point I even heard them say "slide down on this" just as I walked by to the girls room to see them slide down the stairs on a jacket. They were having fun, nobody was crying, and nobody was bleeding. Half the battle in this house. Lots of laughing, in fact, I even remember sitting on the bed at one moment and saying "I should remember this moment", they were having a great time. I like those moments. I left them for about 15 minutes is my best guess. Hearing them laugh the entire time. I then walked by the stairs just in time to see Jake's naked butt up in the air sliding down the stairs. I didn't think to much about it, but saw the naked butt. I then went into the closet to grab more hangers and pondered a brief moment...did I just see that? I wonder if Tori is naked too? I wonder if the "slippery jacket" wasn't working with clothes on? Maybe I should go check again. Sure enough, Tori was naked too, and is that water in her hair? What is that that that Tori is rubbing on Jake to slide down easier? Cooking Oil. Yup, you guessed it. My darling 2 children, took this moment to pour cooking oil on themselves to slide down the "slippery slide" a bit easier. Thanks kids.
Yup, these are the moments you will remember...
P.S. Big shout out to my friend Jerry who dropped everything, and was there in about 20 minutes to steam clean the stairs, and leave no trace of oil on the carpet.
P.P.S. Dawn dish detergent really does break down oil....Even in 5 year old's hair.

Wise beyond his years

My kids have felt the sting on death again. A little over a month ago now, Jim's Grandma Nannie "went to heaven". When I told the kids with hot tears coming down my face, I told them I had good news and bad news. They asked for the good news first. "Grandma Nannie got to go to heaven last night!!" The kids jumping up and down clapping their hands, so excited, with such child-like faith. The bad news, "we don't get to see her anymore". The cheering subsided, just a bit, but quickly went back to clapping and all the fun Grandma Nannie is having.
This morning, as Jake came down for breakfast, he tells me of his dream.
Jake: Mom I had a bad dream last night
Mom: oh, I am sorry bud, want to come tell me about it?
as Jake comes over and cuddles on my lap
Jake: yeah, I dreamed that Grandma Nannie died.
Mom: Oh, Jake, I am so sorry, I know you miss her, remember, she did die.
said with more hot tears coming down my face
Jake: ha, your so funny mom, She is not dead, she is just in heaven.
Mom: yes, but you go to heaven when you are dead bud.
Jake: Mom, if Grandma Nannie is dead, then Jesus would be dead, and he is not dead because He is alive and in my heart.
Mom: You are so very right Jakey Bake Jesus is alive, and Grandma Nannie is alive too.
Jake: I know, I just don't have to see her, but I know she is alive because I can feel Jesus.

My sweet Jakey you are so wise beyond your years. You teach me something daily. The bible calls us to have Child Like faith. Not to be Childish, but have the faith of a child. Today Jake showed me the Child Like Faith we are called to have.

The natives are getting restless.

So, looking back, I have not posted ANY pictures of the kids on here since April. Well, they have grown...sorry.

I think the biggest news, is that they are in Swim lessons. They LOVE it! Tori is seriously turning out to be my little swimmer. A few days ago she did the most beautiful backstroke to me. About 20 yards of it. I am thinking that after a few more weeks of this I may decide to put her into a US swim team. The Claremont Club (where I swam at) is not far from my house, so I am thinking there! You know, because I am not busy enough. Jake as well is doing incredibly well at swimming. He can swim a bit unassisted, but I dont think he will be able to go on a swim team quite yet. I might look into lessons thru the year? We will see. Tara as well is doing GREAT! This girl L-O-V-E-S the water. You can't tell with the first pictures I am posting...well, because she screamed...the entire time! but the second day she loved it...I promise. She is now floating on her back, all by herself, kicking like a maniac, blowing bubbles, and loving every minute of it. I think it helps that her very best friend/mortal enemy is in swim lessons with her (Sarah my niece). Elijah did not go into swim lessons this year. He didn't want to. :(

Elijah also has some big news. He has been saving money since January to buy a bike. Like a lot of money. He managed to save $280. Not bad for a 12 year old! So he got his long awaited bike last week. We bought it for $300 so we had to put in a bit of money, but lets just say it was a job well done. Plus I like to "own" a portion of his bike. You know, in case I need to take it away. :)

Tori as well got a new bike. Its HOT pink and black and super cute. She loves it, and is doing well on it. We still have the training wheels on it, she is umm lets just say SUPER coordinated, so we will keep those on for a bit....

In other big news, Tori starts kinder in just 2 short weeks. :( Have no doubt there will be pictures for that! And tears for mom as well. sniff. My baby is growing up!

Jake and Tara also start Sonrise pre-school on Sept 1st, Taras 3rd birthday is coming up in Sept. Big party of course! The annual Carlson Backyard Birthday Bash with Blood Drive of course! Tentative date is Sept 11th for the party (so mark your calenders), still need to confirm with the blood donor people. Trying desperately to get American Red Cross, but am thinking its going to be USC blood drive again, they were so incredible to work with last year, and super sweet. I would rather do American Red Cross to choose where the blood goes, but USC was great and donated half of the blood we collected to Huntington for us. So we will see!!!

Well, Jim has my camera today, so I only have these 2 pictures, but be rest assured I do have more, and hopefully will post later today. But for now, hopefully these will calm the natives....and by natives I mean Grandmas.

Conversations with Jake

well, since I did one on Tori, I will do one for Jake as well.
First leading up to the conversation.....
Yesturday (my birthday) Tara was having a really hard day. She was sick the day before, but still holding her on. After her billionth apnea the night before I new we would see the doctor first thing in the am. So I got ready, got all the kids ready, dropped Elijah off at school, dropped Jake and Tori off to school, and was first one breaking down the doctors office door! (so much for sleeping all day on my birthday which is what I asked for, Jim had to go into work early) The doctor (who normally doesn't see her..big mistake) said, "well, she has a virus, most likely she will get worse before she gets better". Awesome totally what I wanted to hear....So I put her in the car, and drove to the grocery store (we needed juice and cereal.) Tara fell asleep, sleep thru the grocery store, back home kept sleeping. Tryed to wake her to give her some juice, she took a sip, then had another sip, and fell asleep, juice in the mouth. Raspy breathing, harsh coughs...not waking up. Needless to say I took her in (did I mention its my birthday???) but not before I had to pick up Jake and Tori and school...Yup, 3 kids under 5 in the ER for 6 hours...fun. So with no further ado...here is the conversation:
As Tara is getting a line put in...
Jake: "mom can I have a spider man too" (a spider man is a iv to Jake)
mom: "no Jake, Tara is not feeling good bud, plus is hurts a bit thats why she is crying"
Jake: "well, it has to hurt a little to become spider man"
mom: "well, not this time, this time its just Tara"
Jake: "aaah man, Tara gets all the fun stuff!!"
Mom: "yes she does...."
*Tara is home now, still not feeling good, but we are working on it...hoping to stay home*