Ode to a washer...

Tilden and I are about to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary. As I went downstairs to start some laundry this morning it dawned on me that my washer and dryer are also 22 years old!!

I felt it was fitting to write a sonnet for my washer and dryer. Celebrating 22 years of fine work in the Tatebe household.

Ohhhh fair washer with your unassuming off white color. Did you know that we paid extra for that tint on your housing? Yes, if we had chosen white we would have paid less. But YOU fine washer were worth that extra pigment.

You have worked tirelessly for our family.

You didn't fuss through all those potty training years.

Those days when I filled your drum with stinky damp tiny clothes.

You didn't flinch as I grumbled at tossing endless pairs of "accident" undies into a load. I complained...you did not.

You worked feverishly through soccer season.

Often running 5 times a day to clean those uniforms before the next game. Remember that year that we had 3 kids playing at the same time? I was lulled to sleep at night by the gentle hum of your motor as you spun the water out night after night...summer after summer.

In your old age you are still a champ. Washing whole loads of stuffed animals for Jake. You gently clean his stuffed friends and he thoroughly enjoys watching his pals churn up and down. A fancy front loader wouldn't have the same entertainment value that you do. Those new washers can't hold a candle to your longevity! They can't accept just "one more" stuffed animal after the load has started. You are so accepting, dear friend.

Wash On , oh yee Kenmore beauty. WASH ON!!

Spring is coming!!

We have been having our usual hints of March springtime..aka "Ohio Spring". We will have a day where the temp. only goes up to 23, but the very next day it hits 65...only to drop to 40 the following day. It's a topsy turvy month at best.

I keep some little kites in the back of my van and when a warm day hits...we hit the skies! LOL Jacob is new to this whole kite flying fun and has been extremely exuberant as he runs across the field with his fish kite following him, clipping the ground with each step. This year I found little nylon kites at Wal-Mart. They are perfect for Jake and don't take up any space in the back of the van either. Micah has a kite shaped like a hawk and it's nearly the exact size of the local hawks in flight too. We were cracking up because his kite attracted a few hawks to the field we were using this last time. I guess they saw competition and had to come check it out. :)

Micah flew both kits for awhile....it was a fun challenge! LOL

House of Boys

I had my daughter first...and she grew up way to fast. The days of "My little Pony" and "The Little Mermaid" are long gone. When I fold laundry I never see shades of pink or purple, but only blue, brown and black. Not that I don't LOVE having 3 boys, but those of you who don't have a house full of boys - - I thought you needed to know a few things.

You know you are living in a house full of testosterone when:

- ESPN is a logo burned into your TV screen because it's on so often

- You can't watch an entire episode of ANYTHING on TV without getting hit in the head with a ball

- You can't watch an entire episode of anything without someone spilling their drink.

- If you dare to sit on the couch you automatically become one of these things, depending on the mood and season of the night.

1. home base

2. soccer goal

3. goalie

4. sliding board

5. First baseman

6. the pitcher

7. audience...required to clap and/or cheer for various feats of glory

- You go through band aids faster than you go through toilet paper.

- Farting and burping is a dinnertime ritual...followed by peels of laughter

- You have learned the starting line-up for the Dodgers, even though you don't watch them play

- You totally understand the rules of all major sports...even if you don't watch the games.

- You haven't heard a conversation with the words " Drew Barrymore", " hunks", " ballet", or " scrap booking" in several months time.

- You never flinch at taking jock straps and cups out of the laundry basket.

- Your backyard is worn away from all the soccer games, baseball games, football games, and games of tag. There is usually a permanently worn out spot from standing at home plate.

- You learn how to play Rock Band...so you won't be left out.

- You have scars on your feet from stepping on Hot wheels cars and Lego's one to many times.

- You have ridden a real train...for the sake of the kids.

I'm sure that there are a zillion more "boys live here" attributes. They are rolling off the top of my head in a steady stream right now , but I will stop myself. LOL Maybe you guys can add to the list.

BTW...if you want the living room to yourself and you don't want to be hit in the head with a ball repeatedly. Simply pop one of those wonderful Chick flick's into the DVD player. The boys scatter at the mere sight of Pride and Predjudice or Sleepless in Seattle. heehee

So, last night...

I took Jacob to his gymnastics class and heard some weird conversations which are prompting me to write out of sheer...."huh?" mode.

We were not at his regular class, but at a make-up class which took part in the early afternoon. Therefor, none of these kids have started school yet and I thought it might be better for Jake because the kids would be more at his level. WRONG!

Let me just type out the conversation that went on next to me. Actually, it was more like "across" me because I was sitting between 2 ladies who felt the need to talk over me instead of just sitting next to each other.
First mom yells out to her son, " Eaton pay attention to the teacher". Second mom, " MY Jakob (yes she spelled her sons name with a "K" so he would be different. I know this because she told me as soon as she heard that my child was named Jacob too).. where was I? Oh yeah..."MY Jakob tends to wander around during class too. I think our boys are so much alike. He's your only child right?" "Yes, he's my only one and he's used to having adult conversations so these classes are so beneath him."
other mom quickly replies, "ohhhh same with my Jakob. He has a hard time relating to kids because he is always with adults. I made sure that he was the only one in his music class and his dance class so he'd get lots of attention, but he is with a larger group in pre school."
I glance out onto the floor and notice that Eaton and Jakob are chasing each other wildly around the gym and frustrating the teacher. She yells at them and they respond with a brief moment of obedience, but quickly decide that they MUST have drinks and run out of the gym to do so.
Meanwhile, my Jacob is standing quietly in line ...watching the troubled boys with peeked interest. I grit my teeth and think, "don't you dare chase after them". LOL
They move to vaulting and much to my amazement Jacob hits the springboard and hops right up on the vault with no assistance. He does it every single time and he's the only one in the class who can do it...which brings out the jealousy in the mom's sitting next to me.
"Is that your boy?"...."yes". "How old is he?" five....."How much does he weigh?" 34 pounds
They think for a moment and come up with a reason as to why he can do this activity while their boys can not. " Eaton doesn't want to be bothered with the actual logistics of these exercises. He is to bright for gymnastics really. He's busy memorizing the planets or working on his alphabet."
"Well, JaKob is in OT...you know occupational therapy. I didn't think he needed it at first, but my husband is an OT and he said that JaKob is to slow and clumsy for a four year old. When he was playing t-ball , he was horrible, so we started him in therapy. " "Ohhh, I was thinking about doing that with Eaton too....so he'd be physically advanced and really stand out in sports."
So...I am sitting there thinking...did they just call Jacob "dumb" because he CAN do the vault? These women are seriously putting their boys into occupational therapy to try to make them better athletes at 4 years old? I am simply dumbfounded.
Things get quiet for a little bit and one of the mom's politely ask me if Jacob is my only child. When I tell her that he is the youngest of four she literally has to catch her breath and they give each other a "look". Apparently, I am from the rabbit family and I have a litter of children. Jacob has a hopeless life and is doomed. He won't be as good as their boys in sports or school....his mom doesn't love him as much because she had other kids.
The class lines up for the final game, which involves planets on the ground that they have to hop to and an obstacle course race. Their boys roll around and pick up the planets and throw them. One of them says, "that looks like Jupiter" and Jacob takes it from him and puts it back on the ground where it belongs and says, "no, it's Saturn because it has rings". The teacher praises Jake for his thoughtfulness and desire to do things the right way, PLUS he won the race.
We all put our kids shoes back on them in silence, but I KNEW they were dumbfounded that this child from the litter of children with the mom who didn't love him as much knew a planet better than their own children. He asked me if he could get McDonald's on the way home and I said "sure". Just adding to my poor parenting skills....LOL BLAH!
Such a weird day. I thought that their were only families like that in sitcoms. Over exaggerated versions of yuppie people. It was weird to see them close up and listen to their chatter. Just thought I'd share!
BTW, I had no idea that Jake knew any of the planets. Must have been the Backyardigans. LOL

Snow snow snow

We got around 9 inches of snow at our house yesterday. It was very pretty as it came floating down all day long. Tilden and the boys didn't appreciate it's beauty as they spent 4-5 hours throughout the day shoveling the white powder off the driveway, LOL. I popped outside and took a few shots early in the day when we had 5 or 6 inches on the ground. We got a few more inches after these pictures were taken.

So , my sista's....those of you who miss the "pretty" part of winter...here are some shots I took just for you :). MERRY JANUARY!

I know you can see that Caleb's car is covered in snow, but look behind it and you can see the white mound that belongs to Alex's car...heeeheee

It really is pretty...you can't deny that! However, we are supposed to get a few more inches on Tuesday and I am thinking that we won't be as thrilled to see the snow again. LOL

Alex and Caleb went back to college today. We had a wonderful vacation and played a lot of Rock Band and cards while everyone was together. It was sad to see them leave, but I suppose we are getting used to it by now.

New Video

For my sisters :) I taped several scenes of us playing games on Christmas Day at Pam's. I just spliced them all together into one long clip. We had a ton of fun! Here is the web addy if it's not showing up in the sidebar :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcFYdpiLljs

Jake has the most fun...he's a part of the action no matter what we are doing!

Hey, Vita....here are some experiments I did with the new camera, LOL

Christmas memories

Another Christmas is in my past and as I sit back and listen to my kids play with all their new "toys" I can't help , but reflect on my own Christmas memories. There is within each one of us a special memory of our "best" Christmas.

Jacob fell asleep on the couch a few moments ago completely surrounded by his stuffed Yoshi dolls. He has a sweet smile on his face as he drifted off to slumber land surrounded by his little fuzzy pals. As I watched him sleeping there I started thinking about my own childhood and the presents that stand out in my mind the most.

My strongest memory is of a plastic black horse named "Thunder". Grandma Fry used to give us the JC Penny catalog on Thanksgiving and tell us to circle what we wanted. We toiled over that thick book for hours on end...dreaming of all the possibilities. I was about 11 years old and totally enthralled with horses. In the boys section of the toys there were Lone Ranger and other various cowboy dolls. They were the size of Barbie, but they had their own horses (sold separately of course). I carefully circled the Lone Ranger's horse, Silver and Tonto's horse (Scout). I dreamt about those horses for the next month...hoping that Grandma would get them for me. On Christmas Day she arrived with her usual car loaded full of presents. She brought so many bright boxes and mysterious packages with her each year. We sat back and marveled at how many trips Paul and Dad made to her car to carry in all those presents.

As she handed me my boxes I tore into them with visions of those horses in my head. My first gift was a Barbie doll. I sat back and tried to smile and hide my disappointment, certain that she didn't understand that I didn't want the dolls, but I wanted the horses. There I sat with a new Barbie and a Barbie jeep...barbie clothes...a new jewelry box...lots of nice stuff, but not what I was dreaming about for a month. Grandma looked at me and said, "Did you open your big box?". I didn't have another box, but we dug through the mountains of shredded paper and we found one last box for me. I tore into it and when I lifted the lid there were 3 horses staring back at me...Silver, Scout, and a black horse named Thunder. I didn't put them down for weeks on end. Their heads and legs moved and my Barbie's could sit on their backs. I played with those horses for years and years. I took them outside and wore them out...to the point that their heads used to pop off and I was very skilled in putting them back together. LOL My favorite horse was "Thunder"...I didn't even see that one in the catalog, but grandma must have noticed it and figured I'd like that one too. They were awesome!

As an adult I have other memorable Christmas's...that stand out in my mind for all time. The birth of my "Christmas baby" , Alex, is one that looms large in my mind. For some reason though, Micah is more of a Christmas baby to me. I think that I was to tired and worn out to realize it was Christmas with Alex. LOL Micah was 3 weeks old for Christmas day and I can still remember snuggling his warm fuzzy head while I watched the older kids open their presents.

There is nothing quite like holding your newborn baby on Christmas morning...you can never forget that feeling. :)

My 2 Christmas babies: