SMACKDOWN!

DING, DING, DING The House vs. Vick -- WHO WILL BE ANNIHILATED?  WHO WILL BE LEFT STANDING? In one corner, the house stands undefeated... tough, unstoppable, a rock of meanness, a wicked tower of power... In the other corner, an undaunted opponent, worthy of the name TRICKYYYY VICKIIII... She's got more than a few tricks up her sleeve, and she's ready to weaken her enemy, stop the insanity, bust up the rock, and TAKE DOWN THE TOWER!! ROUND ONE It looks like the house is going to be harder to beat than anyone thought. The sheer strength of this beast is astonishing. It's going to take a little time, and we don't have a lot of that to waste! A powerful struggle is taking place, but there is some wavering; maybe the house doesn't have it after all! OH NO! There's a blow that no one saw coming! Vicki is going to have to figure out how to get a handle on this monster! The fans are going wild! No one knows how this is going to end! This is the sport at its finest! They don't even know who to root for anymore! It doesn't get any better than this. We have to take a break, but don't worry...this show is NOT over!

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

After waiting and waiting and waiting I finally looked out the front door and saw this: Mike's truck at the end of the walk, parked, and the two of them in there talking!  Hey!  It's my mom!  My turn! They finally came inside, after some great discussion, and Michaela and I finally got to say hello. We love you mom, and we're so glad you're here!

She's Almost Here!

My mom is almost here...in fact, I talked to Mike quite a while ago and he said they were very close (on the road that you turn off of to get onto our street) and they still haven't arrived.  Maybe they stopped for a five-course meal? I think they went to get ice, because our ice maker is broken (yes, along with the disposal, and the dishwasher that doesn't work properly).  We need ice.  My mom likes her ice with a little Big Red.  I like my drinks cold too.  I accidentally exploded (well, not totally, because I did open it first) a can of Coke in our freezer recently trying to get it really chilled.  And Mike had just cleaned our fridge so that it was like new!  Sorry, Mike!  I opened the freezer to get it out and  Eliana was on my hip and she said,"Uh oh!" I'm going to go fold some clothes until they get here, so I can pretend like I've been doing productive things while I wait.

With Both Feet

Eliana is at the age where she is doing something new each day (or several new things a day), copying everything, and changing so fast.  One of her latest tricks is jumping.  Real jumps off of the floor with both feet going up at the same time.  It's pretty funny, but not when she tries to do it at the top of the small set of steps in our entry.  (This is where the kids love to play the most.  It is like a playroom.  We think it is because there is no furniture to get in the way, and there is a carpet to roll on.  What is funny about this is we don't wear our shoes in the house because it keeps dirt from outside to a minimum-theoretically-and this is directly related to my OCD issues.  So, of course, they like to roll around on the carpet where everyone comes in and walks before they get their shoes off.  Let's call it therapy...and sorry about this long self-centered monologue when I'm trying to talk about a major accomplishment of my third child-which Mike reminded me the other day that I have three kids, not two, as I said in a post a couple of days ago.  Thanks, honey!  We are such a great team-between the two of us, we usually have all three of our offspring covered.) Does anyone remember what I was talking about?  Right.  Eliana.  So back to huge steps in motor skills.  Well, jumps actually.  Here are some funny pictures of her in action.  Please excuse all of our moving "noise" in the background.  I tried to crop some of it out, but I couldn't get rid of it all.  Too bad I can't crop it out in real life.  That would be so handy!  Unpacking would be a breeze. Coming down... going up... so proud... in the air... a little skip just to switch it up a little... back down... She looks a little scary in those coming down pictures.  It's like those slow-motion moments from the Olympics when the runners are pounding out their final strides and their jowls waggle back and forth while they are concentrating on that finish line with such an intense expression.  Can't you see the remarkable similarity? She is so fun to watch-she knows she's doing something that is a big deal.  She growing too fast!  I really need someone to tell her to cut that out, because she's not listening to me.   See?  Already acting like a teenager!

A Busy Boy

With Michaela sick, we were all hunkered down at home yesterday...Christian's soccer practice was canceled so he didn't even get to do that.  It was too wet to go out and play (sound familiar?  Where is the Cat in the Hat when you need him?  On second thought, we make enough of a mess around here without any help from a crazy cat and his twin disasters Things.).  Even though he was stuck inside, Christian found productive ways to occupy his time. Eating his apple, for instance... It looks like a little owl.  "Please, tell me, whoo, whoo ate this apple?" Later in the evening, while he waited for Mike to finish a few things and before going on to bed, he helped us out by unpacking a couple of boxes and adding an area rug to the living room... This is what it looked like when his work was done... He was a busy fella' but I have to say he was so good. He was patient and you could tell he was concerned about Michaela. He'd ask about her every now and then, he was pretty quiet, and he played sweetly with Eliana.   We also played games in the middle of the day while Eliana was sleeping and Michaela was resting. At the end of the day Mike and I were very proud of him for his good choices. I will say that he was able to sleep in two days in a row, and I think he got a full 12 hours each night.  What a difference that can make!  I just don't think I can get him in bed and asleep by 7:30, though!  I hope this week goes well, that we all remain healthy, and can treat one another with love, kindness, and grace.  That is my prayer for this week.