A Little Slice of Happy Chaos

Last night after dinner, The Big Sister decided to practice saxophone for an upcoming Fine Arts Fair. She hasn’t played for about a year but decided that she’d perform a few solos in mid-May. That kid can do anything. Thing 1 couldn’t be left out so she grabbed her recorder and I gave a tambourine to Thing 2 for good measure. I was scrubbing surfaces and loading the dishes and found myself smiling despite the cacophony of noise. I turned around to find Big Sister focused on her music even though Thing 1 and Thing 2 were doing their best to convince her to let them play her “insta-ment”. I led them to play in the living room so she could practice. Thing 1 decided that if she couldn’t play Big Sister’s sax then she could at least have fun playing along. She pranced (in her just her panties… FYI, pottying is done in mere seconds at our house) and screeched along to Big Sister’s tune. She is 2 (almost 3) and it wasn’t that annoying, considering she was playing a recorder. Also stripped down to just a diaper (Monkey see, Monkey do), Thing 2 played the tambourine for all of 30 seconds and tossed it to the floor. Over all the noise, she stood mesmerized in front of the TV though she couldn’t hear it.

Laughing at Big Sister’s flexibility and determination to ignore her sisters, Thing 1’s dancing and musical abilities, Thing 2’s laid back attitude and Thing 1 & 2’s state of undress, I sat back, watched it all and delighted that I had a little slice of happy chaos for dessert. 

Meals: Not just for nutrition but adventure too!

WARNING: If you aren't interested in Family Circus-type cuteness (ok, maybe not that barfy), then you can beat it.  However, I will continually beam about how cute and smart my kids are and that my husband is a God-send.

One thing I look forward to is our meals together. When scheduling allows, we eat dinner together with the TV off.  I know amazing! We learn more details about Lexi's day when she isn't distracted from a screen (i.e. phone, laptop, TV), Paul shares stories from his day and I love to retell the funny things that Thing 1 & Thing 2 have been up to. Before meals, Thing 1 & Thing 2 have a particular interest in prayer. It's pretty darn cute to watch Thing 1 energetically interlock her fingers ready for prayer and Thing 2 follow her sister closely and attempt to match our words. Thing 2 finds it amusing when we say prayer in unison and Thing 1 loves to close the prayer with a resounding AAAAA-Men! They often remind us to pray because we get caught up in serving and preparing their plates, which makes us feel like decent parents.

Another thing about meals is that I have to be open-minded in my thinking. I don't really follow the 3 square meal rules. I am raising a brood of hobbits so I feed them a lot, which means I clean the floors a lot and look for orphaned food that seems to lose its way from the plate to the mouth. For example, Olivia (Thing 2) decided to have onesies (2nd lunch) and I made a pear, egg and toast. Well, Thing 1 couldn't be left out so she also had the same "lunch". While I fixed Emily a plate, Olivia ate her lunch. In those few moments, Livi's pear disappeared. I didn't hear the pear hit the floor and I searched high and low in all the usual places you would expect food to be. Paul even helped me look. I sat next to her the whole time! I was starting to wonder if she had the ability to apparate objects. Finally I removed the children from the kitchen and began sweeping up crumbs and wiping surfaces for the umpteenth time today. Still no pear. I wiped down the table and pushed in the chairs. I noticed a jacket hanging on the back of my chair, leaning heavily to the right. I found the half eaten pear in the right pocket. See! I told you I had to be open minded about meals. I'm just happy I didn't blow it off. It was Papa's jacket and I'd hate for him to find a slimey pear sometime later.

One thing I can say about my family, they're work but it's worth it. The entertainment value alone is worth it, but they mean more than that to me. It's wonderful to learn and grow together, share experiences and create memories. Sometimes all it takes is a misplaced pear.