Family of Five

There's something different about him.....

Something that's not quite the same as yesterday....

I think there might be something missing....something that fits perfectly in that tooth-shaped glow-in-the-dark container...... 

Wait!!  Not that!!!  My little baby can't start kindergarten, turn six AND loose his first tooth all in one fell swoop!!!!  

Good thing he's awfully cute with a gaping hole in his mouth.

(But I'm STILL considering putting a brick on his head!!)

On Sunday at church my kids were super.  Seriously.  They were happy to get ready after their extra hour of sleep....they were totally excited to see their buddies in their classes, and they all came willingly with us when it was time to go.

Then....we hit the parking lot.

Ethan wanted to go with his cousins.  Badly. Very badly.  Ethan couldn't go with his cousins.  Ethan started sputtering and drooling and totally decompensating in the middle of everyone else's post-sermon bliss.  As I steered him to the car he began SCREAMING that I was hurting his arm.  Badly.  Very badly.

Carolyn was already in the car and ddidn't care for the placement of the chest buckle of the car seat.  Carolyn tried to move it.  I told her "No....that isn't safe!".  Carolyn wanted the chest buckle moved.  Badly.  Very badly.  She moved it down again.  I moved it back and she started sputtering and SCREAMING that I was hurting her.  Badly.  Very badly. 

Bennett said in between his sputtering drooling sobbing brother and his screeching spitting sobbing sister with his hands over his ears.

Barrett stood looking in the window....eyes and mouth wide open....staring in amazement.

I looked over our beautiful children and asked

 him, "What happened to our little angels?"

Slowly, he shook his head. "Halloween.  Halloween happened."

Yeah.....it happened.

It happened to a sweet Snow White, a dashing Batman, and a weirdly freaky dead patriot soldier boy.

You see....the dynamics go like this. 

Snow White loves her hero, Bataman.

And who is that handsome hero unmasked????  

Why....it's Ethan!  One of Nonni's awesome grandsons.

How lucky are we that we have an unbelievable artist to....well....figure out just how to accomplish the crazy inventive super labor-intensive ideas that Bennett comes up with for Halloween.  She concocted a way to adhere a front and back of a plastic sword to make it look like it had (yikes) pierced my baby soldier.  Then....well....what a great makeup job!  

Freaky, huh? 

Bye bye, Halloween.  Let us brush our teeth and run off the sugar high we have acquired.  Let us hide the candy from daddy in a place only mommy knows so she can sneak in and get almond joys and tootsie rolls when ever she wants protect her family from sugar overload.  We shall return to the realm of fresh fruits and veggies and lean meats.  Oh....and maybe I'll run again.

Maybe.

There are certain things that only happen during very specific and limited parts of the year. 

The maple by our mailbox turns an amazing firey pink...which lasts only a few days before the leaves fall to the ground.

The hyacinths in my front garden all bloom at once....but their amazing frangrance only lingers for 2 or three days. 

The gingerbread latte at Starbucks.  Need I say more?

These abbreviated times come and go quickly....but I sure enjoy them while they are here. 

This week preceeding Halloween has some of those things....things that are ONLY going to occur for a limited time.....so I have to share them while I can.

1.  Little girls in spider dresses....

2.  Purple and orange cauliflower (aka....BRAINS) for dinner...

3.  Smashed pumpkins all over the playroom rug.

("Whoops" says Ethan...."It just slipped out of my hands....just like this!"  "Yeah...." says Carolyn, "It goed DOWN!")

Uhhhh.....yeah.  It goed down.  Way down. 

Well....maybe we can roast the pumpkin seeds?

Consider the Leaf.

An impressivel specimen of natue.

When a single one is spiraling off of a branch....what a gorgeous sight.

When many of them are raked into a big pile......what an AWESOME toy!

Gentlemen.....start your engines!

On your marks....

Get ready.....

Get set....

And....GO!!!!!!!!!!

CRASH LANDING SUCCESSFUL!!!!

And if you're not the type of boy who wants to launch himself into a pile of leaves then you need to get away from the video games and get ouside more  how about using the leaves as projectiles to throw at your friends?   

Or as projectiles to throw back at your friends who threw them at you first?

Of if that STILL doesn't float your boat then unplug your ipod and go outside!!!! how about using nature's bounty to play "hide the tennis ball"?

And if leaves still don't look like the perfect toy to you then for the love of all that is holy turn off your iphone and LEAVE THE HOUSE!!!  why don't you try just burying your troubles in them. 

Leaves can work wonders. 

Man.....I love fall.

I love five.  It's such an awesome age.  Still innocent, yet so full of opinions and personality.  Testing your patience their independence, yet clinging tightly with both hands and legs to their moms.  

Then....comes six.  And kindergarten.  And a whole new kind of independence.  They come home saying things you've never heard before, being influenced by people you've never met, and changing into people you are no longer intimately familiar with. 

Yeah....I think it's hard to say good-bye to five. 

BUT......

Six is kinda cool too.    

My baby boy has crossed the line.  (Of course he did this BEFORE I went to Chicago....but for some crazy reason (including tylenol with codiene!) I was not quite able to post about it before now.) 

Ethan is six. SIX!!!  He is an elementary school stud now!!!  He asked for a Mario Brothers party and wanted to invite BOYS ONLY.  This included some boys from his class that I didn't really know....that was a first for me.  Ethan has friends and a life independent of HIS MOTHER?!?!?!?  My oh my.

They had a GREAT time at a local bounce place...our first "out of the basement" party too!

And (although to the skeptical adult eye those pink red blobs look kinda like over-ripe pimples) he LOVED his Mario Cake with Mushrooms!

Ethan had a great time with all of his buddies....Ethan is a social butterfly.  I mean, social Mario Brother.

 My wishes for you this year, sweet Little E..... is that you continue to grow into the smart sensitive curious imaginative kind boy you are already becoming.  That you keep asking questions about God and His love, and that your love and thirst for Christ grow everyday.  That you grow in confidence as you experience the self-realization that you are WONDERFULLY made and that you are so so so very special--to God and to your family.

 Happy Birthday, my six year old.  And remember.....I love you more than the sun and the starts that He taught how to shine....you are mine and you shine for me too, I love you--yesterday and today and tomorrow, I'll say it again and again...I LOVE YOU MORE!!!!!!!