Eliot and Ice cream

The other night Eliot had a little bit of ice cream left. You could really tell that he was getting full, but he also was having trouble parting with the ice cream. That is when we heard him very inquisitively ask, 'If you go to sleep with ice cream, does it get in your hair?'

Not his wisest idea. The answer: Yes, my son, yes.

Happy 10th Birthday!

I cannot belive Jack is 10. Time really has flown. We celebrated with some friends by playing dodge ball at the church's gym. We capped it off with pizza and cookie cake. Here is Jack's birthday interview:

Jack's first job - and a costing lesson

Through a weird sequence of events (involving Jack's bike sitting outside), Jack accepted his first job as a doormail deliverer. The gig involves walking to 100 houses and getting paid $.15 per each doormail delivered. Jack did the math and realized that he would make $15. He thought this sounded like a good deal. The first time went well.

When the second round came (roughly every six weeks), the doormail guy asked Jack if he would consider doing 300 houses. Jack quickly did the math and with $45 in his mind he quickly said 'yes'.
Although after some brief reflection, he asked if I would help him. I told him that I would drive him to the right neighborhood but that I thought he should do the bulk of the work by himself. I told him that if he thought he wanted help he could consider hiring Theo to help. He very quickly said, 'Yah, but he is going to want to get paid too!'

After I explained that it was only appropriate that Jack pay anyone who helped him with his deliveries, Jack did decided to ask Theo to help. He went downstairs to negotiate. He came back up and said that Theo would help. I was pleased with this result and asked what they had agreed. Jack said he had told Theo he would pay him $10 to help for an hour.

I then gently told Jack that paying someone by the hour when you are getting paid per item is a dangerous agreement. I asked Jack what he would do if Theo only delivered 20 things in that hour. His eyes got really big when he realized that he may have just struck a bad deal. He then said, 'I don't think Theo would do that, do you?'  I laughed to myself. And then Jack went and agreed to split the route with Theo. Jack would do one side of the road and Theo would do the other and each would get 50% of the pay. Deal done!

Eliot gets even

We were really excited today when Grandad called and asked us to go to lunch with him. It was a fun surprise because we didn't even know he was in town. We decided to meet at Culvers. It was a great time. The kids enjoyed their fizzy drinks, their cheese curds, and their custard. What's not to like?

Well after Grandad had to leave, we were getting ready to leave when Addie did something that made Eliot mad. In his retaliation, he very angrily said, 'Stop it Addie unless I am never gonna play house with you again!'

Too funny. Although in Eliot's defense, this would be a really sad consequence for Addie because she loves it when Eliot goes along with her house shenanigans!

Second Banana

A few days ago we had quite a few things scheduled for the day so we wanted to get a good start on school work. The kids really woke up with some drive. Charles returned home from the gym to find them sitting around the kitchen working. Here is the conversation that transpired:

Addie: Dad, I'm already on my third subject.
Theo: Yeah, I'm already on my second subject.
Eliot (without missing a beat): I'm on my second banana.

Addie's Baseball Knowledge

The other day I was impressed by Addie's knowledge of baseball so I decided I would kind of quiz her on more. So I asked, 'Addie how many innings are in a baseball game?'

She answered, 'I don't know.' I was prepared to be underwhelmed and admit that she didn't know much when she piped up with more...

'You see it depends. There are nine innings but if the score is 5-5 at the end then you keep going until the score is 6-5. It the score is 6-5 at the end of nine innings you stop. If the scored is 6-5 at the end of eight innings you keep going because you have to play at least nine innings.'

Well said Addie. Well said.

Addie, the DH

Addie has really gotten into baseball because she has quickly learned that it is something that allows her to play with her brothers and be fully included. The other day I heard Addie and Theo making up baseball line-ups.

And this is what I overheard:

Theo: Addie you can be DH.
Addie: What is DH?
Theo: It stands for Designated Hitter.
Addie: Okay, I'll be DH.
Theo: Yes, Addie I think you are well suited for it. You don't have to have great speed or anything you just have to hit the ball.

Hilarious - a great backhanded compliment.

Eliot Sayings....

Last night at Bible Time we had two Eliot moments:

• First he told me that he wanted to sit on my wap. Thinking that his lack of saying the letter L correctly, was really cute, I said, 'you want to sit on my wap?'. He was clearly annoyed that I didn't say lap, but incorrectly imitated him by saying wap. He cleverly tried to change his wording, and said 'No I want to sit on your wegs.' 
• Second, he told me that he 'had a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister, and a Jack.' Too cute. 

Who is Always With You?

Tonight Addie woke up from a nightmare. Charles and I went running to her to give comfort. After we had held her for a minute and it was clear she was ready to go back to sleep,  I thought it was worth reminding her that 'It was just a dream. It isn't real, and that Jesus is always with her.'

I started to tell her these things and then prompted her, 'who is always with you?'

She responded without hesitation, 'Eliot'.

Not the answer I was looking for, but fairly true. Charles and I looked over and saw Eliot sleeping across the room from her and smiled. They are really good friends when one is asleep!

Ice Cream with Blueberries

So today we had some friends come over for a play date. I confidently offered all the kids a Popsicle and then realized I didn't have but two Popsicles and collectively we had 7 kids with us. Eliot was still in bed so I thought I would leave him there until I sorted this play date debacle out.

I decided that two kids could have Popsicles and I then enticed the older 4 kids to have vanilla ice cream with blueberries on top as a consolation dish. They were satisfied, more than satisfied.

After they all finished and I had cleaned the kitchen I went to get Eliot up. I walked in and greeted him and then said you want to get up and have a snack. He immediately said, 'Yes. Ice Cream with Blueberries.'

Three observations -

1. Our walls are thinner than I think. 
2. You cannot pass anything by this kid. 
3. He's not a baby anymore. 

The Key to a Good Marriage by Addie Anderson

A few days ago I had an interesting time trying to explain divorce to the kids. We had played at the pool with a friend who had his dad's girlfriend's son with him. On the way home Jack asked who the other little boy was. I told him it was D's dad's girlfriend's son'.

Addie immediately piped up and said 'that makes no sense.' She continued by saying that you couldn't be married and have a girlfriend. I told her that she was right, but that D's dad was not married anymore. We then had an interesting conversation about marrying someone for life and that many people go into marriage expecting happiness (instead of holiness) and then they don't know how to cope when they aren't happy.

It was one of those rare parenting moments when you realize your kids are really listening, and to be honest I probably starting preaching a bit. Well, Theo piped up from the back with confidence but also the need for a little reasurrance in his voice and said, 'But daddy does make you happy.' Realizing he needed a little reassurance about the state of his parents' marriage, I said, 'oh yes. Daddy makes me really happy.'

Without missing a beat Addie then said, 'Yeah, He makes you happy when he brings you candy.' There you have it. Addie's husband is going to have it really easy. In her five-year-old mind, candy is the key to a good marriage!  Love it.

Happy Mother's Day to Me

When we were in London I wanted to get a dress. I love shopping there because then you can be more assured that your dress won't be duplciated back in Missouri!  It didn't take long before I found a dress that I really liked and went to try it on. When I was in the dressing room, my friend Ruth came in with the same dress in Addie's size and said, 'Look you can get the same one for Addie.' I was sold. We both agreed that my opportunity for wearing matching dress was running out. It wasn't long before I was the proud owner of an adult sized and child sized dress in the same fabric.

It will come as no surprise that Addie has been dying to wear the dresses together since we showed her them. I told her that Mother's Day would be the right first time. You should have seen how excited she was to put her dress on this morning. We had a lot of fun being twins today. Here are some pictures to show - (and of course we had a little brother that wanted in on the action so we obliged).

Theo watching baseball

Whoever claims that watching television is a sedentary activity has never seen Theo watch Royals' baseball....enjoy!

PS - he had no idea we were taking this video.

Airplanes, Monkeys, and Spider Webs

Here is a glimpse of a, not so unusual, moment in my life...

Before bedtime Eliot notices a nail that is hanging above his bed and asks what it is for. I tell him that we use to have a picture hanging on it when Addie's bed was there. I then explain that I left it there for him so now we just need to find a picture to hang on the wall there. I ask what he would like the picture to be of. He replies 'airplanes or monkeys'.

Addie then, overhearing, came to the rescue (Addie is always a problem solver, sometimes it is helpful) -

Addie: Mom you could look on web for those pictures.
Erin: You mean the web?
Addie: Yes, you could look on the web to see if they have any monkeys or airplanes.
Eliot: Where spider web?

When you are tired this is mildly funny. Once the kids are in bed, it is really funny.

Eliot's Oberservation at a Ballpark

Last night at Theo's baseball game Eliot came up to me and said, 'Mom, that lady has what you have.' I looked over at the group of ladies he was referring to, thinking I would see someone who had a bag of popcorn or the same shirt on as me. I didn't see anything remotely like that. So I inquired further, 'what do you mean Eliot?' He then very clearly put both his hands on his chest and said 'these, that lady has these like you do.'

I have no idea what made him notice this lady's breasts in particular - but he for sure took notice!

Peter Rabbit

Jack and Theo's music class at Heritage Enrichment Morning performed Peter Rabbit this semester. Jack was cast as Peter, and Theo was cast as a bunny in the chorus. Later, for the program, each chorus bunny got to pick their individual name; Theo then became the 'baseball bunny'. What made this play even more fun is that our good friends, Will and Caroline, were cast as Mr. McGregor and Flopsy, respectively. 

One really sweet story that I forgot to blog about earlier revolves around the casting. At dinner the night the boys found out their parts, we were going around the table doing highs and lows. Theo quickly shared that his high was when Jack was selected as Peter Rabbit. We all agreed that was a great thing and we praised Theo for being so excited for Jack. I then inquired about what his low point of the day was and he quickly said 'My low is that I didn't get a part'.  He was so sweet when he said it. We then reassured him that he did get a part and that the chorus bunnies were super important. He looked somewhat convinced.  But a few months later and after a lot of practicing, he looked more convinced. Here are some pictures of the boys and then a small video with Jack singing his solo. 

A Sign You Have The Best Friends....

So when your husband is overseas, and you are home with four kids, and you attend a good friend's nine-year-old son's birthday party, and they get the cake out, and they have a cake for your soon-to-be three-year-old, you feel loved...really really loved.

Happy 40th Birthday Charles!

We celebrated Charles's birthday in London. We were 'camping' out in an empty house on campus at Oak Hill. The kids slept well, but they found their way to Charles in the morning. I got kicked out and decided to turn lemons into lemonade. Here is the resulting picture:

Fourth Child Jet Lag

So when it is opening day for your big brothers and your sister has pre-school, you just try to fit in - even if you are jet lagged and asleep. Sweet Sweet Eliot.

Not many people can say....

So when we were getting ready to leave England (more posts to come, I promise!) there was a nice piano sitting there that said 'play me'. I looked at Jack and said, 'Not many people can say they played the piano in the middle of Heathrow airport.' That was all it took - he was sold. And here is his little solo -

Theo's Opening Day - Coach Pitch

So Theo is on theTexas Rangers this years. They aren't the greatest team in baseball but they do have a nice blue shirt which he looks really cute in.

Theo's first game was last night. He had a blast. Charles is out of town so I wrote him an email telling him the details of the game so I am going to cut and paste some of it here:

Hey - tonight went as well as I could have hoped for. 

I had a fully loaded coffee at 4 and that helped. I took sandwiches out to the park and we were on field 4 which is the nice big one - kind of funny but really helpful because it has the little playground area right there. The kids did well. Our group of parents seemed really friendly and nice so that was encouraging. Matt (the coach) is a good pitcher which is also encouraging because so much rides on that. Theo did GREAT. He looked so super cute. The blue shirt is great on him and he was the only one with a red belt so he looked very professional. He played right field the entire time. It looks like that is how Matt is going to do it - just play the same position the whole time. He came with a big wipe board and vecro names and velcro at all the positions. He then had the boys names moved to where they should go. He also had the line up in velcro - very elementary school teacher but VERY helpful. 

Theo batted second. He was three for three with hits all down the first base line so a little slow on the ball. The third was a great in the air hit that made it to the outfield. He rounded first like he wanted to go to second but Matt held him back. His second time he hit solidly but right to the first base man so he got out and he handled it very well. He also had a good ball hit to him (they had him playing in almost like a short stop position between first and second) that he fielded perfectly and then made a dynamite throw to first but the first baseman didn't catch it. It was clear though that he knew what he was doing. So a great start. He prayed at Bible time - thank you for making baseball and thank you for letting us play it. 

Amen to that. A great opening day.

Jack & Theo go to Bonkers

So we had a friend who was visiting from Chicago and then they went back to Chicago and left their six-year-old with his Grandma in Columbia for a few days. The Grandma called and asked if Jack and Theo would like to go to Bonkers (an indoor playhouse) with her grandson. They were thrilled with the idea.

She made it very clear that it was going to be her treat so I prompted the boys before they left to make sure they used excellent manners and to thank her for being so generous in asking and taking them. Both boys took this advice to heart, here's how (you see their personality in full view here):

Theo walked straight out to the car and very quickly and boldly said, 'Hello Mrs. Miedema. My name is Theo. Thanks for taking me to Bonkers."

Jack instead wanted to be prepared. Preparation is key to Jack. So he took it upon himself while he was at his rest time to write out this note to keep in his pocket. He just wanted to make sure he remembered her name in case he needed to address her while they were there. He is too funny. Here is the notecard he carried in his pocket the whole time they were at Bonkers:

Baseball - Opening Day

Our family was overly excited today for the Royal's first baseball game of the season. We watched the game (which was a smashing success of a start), played some of our own, and even had a friend who left these donuts on our doorstep (Carly is the best!).

Here's to hoping our luck didn't get used all up last year - Go Royals!  We have some little boys who have high hopes - don't let us down!

Saddest Days by Theo Anderson

Today as Charles, Jack, and Theo were walking out of church, one of Charles's colleagues tried to start something by asking Jack, "How does it feel to have already had your highest moment as a Royals fan? To know that everything is downhill after the World Series?"

This prompted Theo to reflect on his 2014 World Series experience. Shortly afterwards, he asked Charles, "Dad, do you know that my saddest day as a Royals fan was when they lost the World Series? I cried."

"Yes, Theo. I do remember that," Charles replied.

But then Theo threw a bit of a curve ball.

"Do you know that was my second saddest day ever?" he asked.

"No," Charles said. "I didn't know that. What was your saddest day?"

"It's everyone's saddest day," Theo said, in an almost reproachful tone, as if the answer was obvious.

Charles was still pretty clueless. "So what day is that, Theo?"

"When Jesus had to die for our sins," came the matter-of-fact answer.

A precious memory. So true Theo. So true.

Theo - Officially On The Bike

I think Theo has been learning to ride his bike for about a year. He shows a bit of interest and then none so it has taken a long time, but over spring break we cracked the nut. Here is a video of him succeeding:

Right after this, he started to be braver and attempted to go down the hill of our cul de sac and try to make the turn. The first time he tried he went straight into the curb and over the handle bars. He landed in the grass and to his credit he got up and wanted to try straight away again.

On his second attempt it became clear to him that the same outcome was coming true again - instead of trying to correct it and turn, he just started yelling 'Oh no! Not Again!' as he soared over the handle bars and into the grass again. It was priceless. A neighbor boy was standing around and was polite enough to not start laughing until he knew Theo was okay. I am afraid I cannot say the same for the rest of us. I so wish I had it on video!

Night Away At Grandmother's and Grandad's

This past week Charles and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with a night away in a bed and breakfast. My parents very graciously had all four kids. Here is a picture of them with back packs packed ready to go.

They had a great time. Spending the night at Grandmother's and Grandad's always means elaborate breakfast which to four small kids just means lots of bacon!

The funniest story was one that my mom texted us that night. Here is what it said:

'All is well. The children are in bed. Dad and I are sitting in a room watching TV. The monitor all of a sudden says grandmother grandmother we can't get our light off. I went downstairs to solve the problem but Jack had already unplugged the light. I said glad you solved the problem I thought God was speaking to me when I heard the monitor go off. Theo said God would have called you Julie. God doesn't have a grandmother.'

Too funny.

Pre-School Cool

Today when I went to pick Eliot up from his Seeds of Promise Class (childcare during women's Bible study at church) he had two mints that he was intent on getting out of his cubby hole. This is an unusual occurrence so I asked the helper where he got these two mints - clearly they had told him that he couldn't eat them until his class was over.

The helper said 'I am not really sure. Two boys came by and leaned in over the half-door and gave them to Eliot'. I then looked at Eliot and said 'were they your brothers?'

He very proudly replied, 'Yes, Jack gave me a high-five and Theo gave me two mints.' Evidently, the homeschooling class had walked by and Jack and Theo had sought Eliot out. That takes 'cool' in the pre-school class to a whole new level. So funny and Eliot was so proud. I think the teachers were a little confused which made the whole thing more comical.

Lesson Learned From Mr. Popper's Penguin

Today we were reading a fun book called Mr. Popper's Penguin. We were reading about how the main penguin was near death and the only diagnosis they could come up with was 'loneliness'. I stopped to ask the boys if they thought that could be the legitimate problem. They thought for a minute and they said yes they thought it could be. Then Theo followed up really quickly, 'I don't have to worry about that sickness because I've got Jack'.

Very thankful for moments like this one. Recording it so I won't forget and also to remind them when they are fighting some day in the future!

Right-handed vs. left-handed

Upon studying genes today, we were talking about whether each person in our family was right- handed or left-handed. Theo very confidently said, 'I'm both. I throw with my right hand and wear my glove on my left hand.' So funny.