merry christmas

ralph: police malidod! police malidod!  i wanna wish you a merry christmas...

cecelia: i am just SO excited to go to winsconsin, i just can't wait!  i wanna go right now!
lionel: yeah!  we can just leave right now and drive for eight hours and dad can run to catch up with us!
mom: no, we can't leave without dad.  we would miss him so much over the holidays!
lionel: yeah... like his church weekend. (sweet boy!)

cecelia: there are actually people who don't believe in santa!
mom: why, on earth, would you NOT believe in santa?
cecelia: mmmmm... i dunno.  lainey and caroline don't.
mom: you know what i say?  if you don't believe in santa, he doesn't come to visit.
cecelia: yeah!  they say that parents buy the presents and eat the cookies and move the elf.
mom: there is no reason for us to buy you presents.  you know we would NEVER buy the things santa brings you.
cecelia: yeah.  like you would NEVER buy me a camera or an ipod.
mom: :)

meet your date

mom: a lunar eclipse happens every 19 years, the next lunar eclipse will be in 19 years.
cecelia: what?  what's 19 + 8?
mom: 27
cecelia: ugh!  what?!?!??
mom: i was 27 when i met your dad.
cecelia: so... i'll meet my date on the next lunar eclipse?  i'm really glad to be eight on this lunar eclipse!
lionel: i'll be like 18.
cecelia: no you won't!  you'll be like 25.
lionel: i'll be driving.
cecelia: you drive when you're like 16.  you meet your date when you're like 18!

ralph: (singing) lovely lady recipe... with her book of leprosy!

mema: lionel, do you want to go to chicago this summer?
lionel: how long will i be gone?
mema: about 2 days.
lionel: i can't be gone that long.

k-pro

ralph: is there a game with wickeds in it?
dad: wickets
lionel: what are they?
dad: the wires you push the ball under in croquet.
ralph: in that game, k-pro, what are the wickeds, again?
(it's croquet)

cecelia: green is the most popular color.
mom: it's because you were the first to like it so much, before you loved black.
dad: you've loved black for quite some time, now.
lionel: I love orange, red, and blue... in that order.
ralph: MY favorite colors are indigo and turquoise!

misc.

at the friendship club parish luncheon, ralph and i were the only ones under the age of 65.  ralph was charming the folks with his antics and his angelic smile while they all oooed and aaaahed. he scrambled up his chair, across my table place, onto my lap and whispered in my ear, "what are all these old people doing here?"

lionel won a trophy in a chess tournament today, even though the rest of the chess club had been playing since kindergarten, and it consisted of 1, 2, 3rd grades.  he skipped it a 'go-see-it' badge in cub scouts in order to play in the tournament.  you should have SEEN his face all lit up!

lately, cecelia and lainey have been struggling with the pressures of 3rd grade girls and have grown distant.  last night, i brought lainey home from school with us and the girls did their homework together, snacked together, played together.  at bedtime, cecelia and i were sitting on the couch chatting about the day and she was telling me how great it was to hang out with lainey and how they had gotten past their differences.  she became DEAD serious, looked at me, and said, "NOTHING will break our friendship, mom.  nothing will break our friendship."  and looked away, deep in thought.  *sigh* i remember those days!

prayers

cecelia and i were saying our usual nighttime prayers: thanks for... please help.... i love you, God! i give less and less guidance as the kids get older and start to understand and take over on their own.  tonight:

mom: (please help) oh!  and the inmates in leavenworth
cecelia: what?
mom: inmates... in leavenworth.
cecelia: oh, okay.  and the inmates in lemonora...

ps.
ralph cleaned his room today!

christmas lists

today was scheduled down to the second from 440AM until 8PM.  it went off without a hitch, thanks, in part, to patrick watching our kids after school.  when i got home, i was greeted by ralph, "cecelia, lionel, and caroline are upstairs playing chest!"  (chess)

lionel: today is opposite day, and i'm NOT playing!
ralph: inka binka bottle of ink, pull the plug and you stink!  i mean i stink!  hee hee, i don't really stink...

ralph's christmas list: baby zip with a nuk and a diaper, batman mighty beans, a lego box, and a fan.

best friends

we were in the car discussing our best friends.

ralph: i just have one best friend.  guess who it is!
mom: myles?
ralph: no.  will.
mom: it's okay to have lots of best friends.  i have more than one.
ralph: okay, okay.  i have another best friend, too.
lionel: myles?
ralph: no.  it's lionel.  because he really cares for me.

the s-word

lionel was saying good night to dad, when the s-word came up.
lionel: not the sh-word, but the one begins with s and ends with e.
dad: you mean 'stupide?'  (said with a french accent)
cecelia: *giggle*
lionel: yeah.  but in english

cecelia: you know, lionel doesn't want to say the s-word.  not just the sh-word, y'know, s-h-u-t-u-p.
mom:   :)

lionel was telling dad about a scene from annoying orange.
lionel: someone wanted to get in a tub full of mondoo
dad: what's mondoo
lionel: you know, the green soda! (mountain dew)

dad'n'daughter

jonathan and cecelia went to a father/daughter dance friday night... a sock hop.  she wore a poodle skirt (thanks to maggie!) and he had the time of his life!  he danced the night away with his little girl, went to a photo booth with her, and hung out with his friends.  she stood in line for 15 minutes with her girls to take a picture with them, but when the music started, she willingly stepped out and hit the dance floor, giving up time with her friends to be with her dad!

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this morning...
ralph: mom?  can i get my own cinnamon roll with a statula?

peter and jesus

lionel: i know who milo is.  he protected peter.  he really liked jesus.  and then a master warrior came and tried to fight jesus and milo protected jesus and blah blah blah...

ralph: i know a prayer!  hail mary, full of grace, i don't know and i don't know and i don't know.

extrasize

today, after picking ralph up, we went home before going to the zoo.  sometimes we put itunes on and do push-ups and crunches or planks for 5 songs.  we haven't done it in a really long time as i have had to teach the past few weeks :(  when we got home he yelled, "let's extrasize!"  i was putting together lunch to go to the zoo... i told him i'd be right there.  i heard little hands slapping in the other room, "ralph?  are you okay?"  with strain in his voice, "yes!  i'm just starting without you.  i did my jumping jacks (thus the hands slapping) and push ups (which are more like yoga positions) and now i'm doing this extrasize!"  i go in to look at him, he is flat on his back with his feet up in the air crossing and uncrossing his legs bent at 90 degrees at the knees, "...ugh!  and it's REALLY hard!"

venix

driving in the car, on the way home from a party-ralph: are we in venix?
lionel: what!?!??!  WHAT is venix, ralph!
ralph: i SAID, are we in VEnix!
cecelia: there's no such thing as venix, ralph!
ralph: VENIX!

mom and dad in an early morning snuggle (5AM) in lionel's bed, after being squeezed out of our own bed by two little boys, discussing upcoming events-
mom: really, it is such a pain in the A--
lionel: *GASP*
TOTALLY did not know anyone was awake!

q: what do garbage men eat?
a: garbage!

credit cards

the boys are playing something rough involving pillows in the other room while we clean up from dinner.
ralph: i have a credit caaaaaaard!
lionel: i have ten thousand credit cards... and they're all cut up!

ralph (to jenny): if i could just have three pets i would want them to be a moth, a worm, and a cricket.
brian wolfe (overhearing): ralph, we can make that happen for you!

lionel: oh sweet mother of mercy!  that's what you say, sweet mother of mercy.
ralph: what about midnight? it has storms.
lionel: not storms, snores!
ralph: i saw it on qubo.
both: moooooooooom!
lionel: ralph, let me tell you something, sometimes rupert is not true.
ralph: i'm not listening!

tuesdays with ralphie

while making oatmeal cookies, lionel was naked.  ralph 'slapped' him on his sweet buns:
lionel: mom!  ralph slapped me on my B-U-T-T
mom: ralph, time out.  take some time to think about what you have done.
(5 minutes)
mom: ralph, do you know why you were in time out?
ralph: (whispers) yes.
mom: tell me about it.
ralph: i slapped lionel on his T-O-A-R.  (he can't spell)

ralph: mom!  mr. tuohey was lying that we eat thomasita (the hamster in his classroom.)  because she is cute and i don't want to eat her!

ralph: (singing a song by the dameans) spefor, are you listening?
actual words: speak, Lord!  i'm listening.

levels

lionel is on the couch playing on the ipod telling us all about his levels when he is interrupted by ralph.
ralph: i am SO going to ground him! (his balloon from "short clips" named strucula)
dad: what does it mean to ground somebody?  is it when you keep them on the ground?
ralph: no, it's when you get mad at them and then you get happy at someone else and, and....
lionel: no it's not, ralph!  it's when you get sent to your bed for a day or a week or...
cecelia: (from the other room, doing a book report) ...or a month.

lionel is singing loudly and baritone-y.
dad: lionel, why are you singing oferetto?
ralph: it's ofra, dad.
lionel: who is alfred?
cecelia: it's opera!
ralph: no, it's not!  it's OFRA!!

dreams

ralph: uh, dad!  i'm going to dream about things that i like tonight. like nice insects, dressing up, fun stuff!
dad: fun stuff like what?
ralph: uh, i forgot.

lionel: hey guys!  cecelia's allergic to soup!   (he means addicted!)

tonight jonathan and i looked at professional pics taken from the weekend celebration of the first 100 years of rockhurst.  his favorite picture is of four people we encounter pretty regularly who have no idea who we are!  (tee hee)

centennial celebrations

today we went to the rockroom for breakfast.  there were free video games, pool tables, shuffleboard, and foosball.  the kids were in 80's hog heaven.  breakfast was continental, ralph thought that a cheese bagel was a donut.  it took one bite for him to realize it wasn't.  he tried to sneak the bagel with one bite missing into the harvester's bin, on his tippy toes, looking around suspiciously, hand teetering above the opening to the bin.  fortunately, for harvester's, dad lead him in the right direction just in time.  then we loaded up on a bus and headed to harvester's.  we organized the breads into boxes and ALL the kids helped.  it was awesome and they can't wait to go back for each of their birthday parties!!!  on the bus the boys were pointing out bodies of water, cars, trucks, piles of dirt, ducks...

lionel: look at all those ducks!
ralph: what if all the ducks came onto the bus with us?
lionel: that would not be good at all.  they would just peck us!

pizza and poker

tonight, for the first night in many many nights, we were just a family.  so we celebrated with pizza outside and poker.  mom taught dad and cecelia and lionel how to play 5 or 7 card draw or stud.  tonight we introduced the ideas of chips, antes, and poker faces.  cecelia put us all to shame with her EXCELLENT use of a poker face!

lionel threw a chip in for mom, who was running LOW.
cecelia: why did lionel give you a chip?
mom: because he loves me!
cecelia: oh! in that case... (throws a chip at lionel)
lionel: BIG toothless smile!

ralph showed off his friday folder.  he REALLY loves school now!  he also has a black eye.  he fought with the playground equipment and lost :(  BUT... he did get to bring home the 'mystery can' tonight.

lionel got to bring home curious george and the various stories to be read this weekend.  hope we can find time between all our centennial celebrations at rockhurst: breakfast, service project, mass, dinner/dancing, brunch...

mom played itunes throughout.  the song 'say' by john mayer came on.  ralph decided to sing along, "samwich you need to say..."

God's creation

last night, my little God's creations and i were sitting on the porch enjoying dessert.  the crickets were singing, the breeze was blowing, the air was cooling down.  Lionel pipes up about how he loves this time of night.  "I can hear God's creations, the crickets, chirping.  Are those crickets?" "yes." "oh. 'cause i thought maybe it was a nocturnal animal."

the boys proceeded to turn their bed into a 'birnnest,' and sleep in it!  the next morning, they came bounding into our room, acting like birds, flying from their birnnest into our bed!  what will mornings be like when they decide they are too old to snuggle with us? :(

certificates

tonight we went to the royals game.  a first for all the kids.  a celebration of "half-way to st. paddy's day."  we went to guest services to get certificates for each of the kids to commemorate the experience(jeff howe's idea.)  the lady behind the desk was asking them what their names are and how to spell them.  "cecelia, C-E-C-E-L-I-A. klem, K-L-E-M."  "lionel klem, L-I-O-N-E-L, K-L-E-M.  and my middle name is jude."  "ralph, you spell that R-A-L-P-H.  and that comes with a rulus."

the park

today after mass, ralph and i went to a park across the street. ten or so years ago it was a nice park, new recycled tires for bedding and new structures made out of recycled products... really cool! today, not so much. there were bullet holes, graffiti tags, and debris everywhere. granted it IS, technically, in the hood, but i was still disappointed. i'll tell you who was NOT disappointed... ralph! he had a ball! there were still structures intact and fun things to do, we were there about an hour. the first thing we did was swing on a tire swing. i got it going around and around and whizzing. ralph was giggling and laughing and said, "mom! this makes a tickle in my penis... it's really weird!" when i told jonathan, he told me he remembers saying that as a kid.

cecelia was SOOO helpful the other night to jonathan, that he decided to buy her a new binder for school, something she has wanted for a while. they went to officemax and found one for $8. but the one cecelia wanted was $16 dollars. she was fine with the $8 one. but jonathan demonstrated to her how proud we are of her and how much it means to us when she is helpful and he splurged for the $16 binder. she was SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!! she thanked and thanked and thanked him! then at bedtime, she said, "if i had a little sister, i could give this binder to her when i am finished with it, but i have brothers!!"

house of cards

"angel of god my guardian dear, to whom God's love convinces me here..." (lionel)

" i pledge allegiance to the flag, da da da da... and one nation and liverty and justice for all!" (ralph)

"mom! ralph can rap dance!" (cecelia, as ralph spins on the kitchen floor on his butt)

after dinner we made houses and teepees out of cards. and ralph 'bowled' them for us.

life is hard when you have a broken neck!

so yesterday i come home from my run and ralph was laying on the couch ensconced in the blanket we throw over the corner. he said, with a frown, "hi mom. i broke my neck." he looked SO pathetic! "i feel killed!" he said. then he limped around the soccer field, when he wasn't pitching a fit about his leg, his neck, or his shoulder. poor baby! he spent all of saturday and sunday with his head at a 50 degree angle to the right.

"moooooom! do i have a folder in my packpack? yes! i do!! whaaaaaat's in it? why, look! it's a picture of the americas of unite a states!" as he stands there holding an outline of 'AUS' with scribbles in and out of it representing oceans, and mountains, and grass, oh! and volcanos!

here it is two days after i started this and now i'm having a hard time remembering everything that has been said.

last night we watched staci and graham's girls so they could go to the chief's game. those girls just absolutely WORSHIP cecelia. and cecelia really stepped up to the plate and became 16 all of a sudden. she was such an impressive babysitter! rallying the ladies, helping put on pajamas, reading them a bedtime story. and her face...! you should have seen the pride in her face. i wish we could provide a baby sister just to see that face again.

the rules

today was ralph's first day NOT at border star. i think he was a bit sad being the only one NOT going to school today... but not for long. i took him on a 'venture.' we went to powell gardens and caught butterflies and grasshoppers with our bare hands. ralph learned that you catch more butterflies when you approach them slowly and gently, not by batting your hands at them and clapping. he was pretty excited. he also loved all the giant wooden 'bugs.'

the weather cooperated. we went to the store for banana milk and came out with peaches, apples, oranges, makings for chili, ro-tel dip, greek yogurt, and a bunch of other necessary/unnecessary items. you decide.

after school we went to the playground, home with the tuoheys, then off to our respective sports. cecelia and lionel had soccer, and i ran. 6 in 54 min! i forgot we were going to dinner to celebrate my mother and her birthday, and i accidentally made dinner. it smelled delicious, hopefully it will again, tomorrow! greek chicken with cumin, cinnamon, garlic, and ginger; rice with a home made tomato sauce with cumin, garlic, onions, and cracked pepper.

after dinner we came home and ate my mother's birthday pistachio cake. yum! and the bedtime routine played out exactly perfectly. as we lay on the boys' bed and prayed, i asked that we pray for denise (my PT who is in jail on manslaughter charges.) lionel asked if she was STILL in jail and when she would get out. i suggested maybe we could visit her (she always loved the kids!) he got scared and said jail might be spooky. ralph agreed. so i said we could just write her notes. lionel asked if we could, please, just mail them. ralph said, "no! we'll drop them off!" and lionel immediately worried about the guards. ralph said we could ask them to let her go. i gently suggested we just make her pictures and notes and, if ralph wants, we could drop them off on thursday. ralph said, "sure! we can write them notes saying to let her go out of jail." i said it's not that easy. he explained to me that we should go by his rules and just get her out because his rules are better... just more fun! ... he's right about that!

i snuggled with cecelia as she drifted off to sleep. as i turned to go, she told me i could leave. i asked her if she really wanted me to stay, she said, "no. because i'm a tired awesome girl and i have homework to do early in the morning." ...and SHE'S right!

good night!

labor day 2010

happy birthday, peter!

as i sit here listening to the sounds of my kids, i hear... coughing. cecelia's allergies are out of control and this weather is nuts!

lionel is in the boys' room (with a new set-up: the boys' beds are pushed together and that make for two VERY happy boys!) reading the yearbook to ralph. he is prepping ralph for life at st. elizabeth's, which starts wednesday. ralph is excited and actually HAPPY to go to school. he can't wait to be reunited with all his old buddies from pre-preschool. luke, will, and myles. miss erin is like a dream come true compared to the mess that is the evil miss langston (principal.) we did, however, have a tearful goodbye with ms. fletcher. possibly the best teacher in the kc metro area! we are sad to leave her :(

we have had a very kansas city weekend. we went to irishfest last night and a block party (black pride!) at the power and light district today via the max with nicole. now, in this awesome weather, we are chilling out with our NEW windows OPEN!!

we went to mass at st. e's; to american girl (just cecelia and me) to barbeque at the wolfe's house, to hang out poolside with susan and her friends from new york, jim and john; to dinner at the weidler's to celebrate peter's birthday: porkfest! pork chops marinated in a few different types of marinade, pickle juice won hands down! i felt like we were living the american dream this whole weekend. it was chock full of bbq's, late nights at the neighbor's house, festivals, bus rides... so fun!

right now, they are looking through the yearbook for 'john bush.' cecelia's name for the presidential candidates (all rolled into one) from 2004, john kerry and george bush. dad just informed them he is 'right there.' lionel said, "really?" and ralph answered, "yeah! he's up in the sky."

cecelia is showing us ralph's 'feature.' he is pictured in a montage in cecelia's first grade yearbook. "yeah. here he is... and he is playing with a marker!"

ralph:" on the rescuers, this bird was like... mayday! mayday!"

lionel: "i know."

ralph: "um... i'm talking to my pengie." "bertend a pillow fell on your pruple bear."

ahh the sounds of playing boys, and a quiet, hormonal girl.

good night and god bless.

i have a friend who loves me, who loves me, who loves me...

i have a friend who loves me and jenny is her name! hi jenny! today was a trying day... certainly not the worst, just difficult, and i was feeling AGGRESSIVE to top it all off. yet, right now as i sit here on my deck with a beautiful evening breeze blowing, i feel like everything is going to be okay. it always is.

today was ralph's first day of school at border star. ralph, although the most easygoing of our children, is being used as a weapon/pawn against us by his principal. stupid lady! she'll get hers! so we are looking into st. elizabeth's after all. i really hope i can work it out to have ralph at st. e's this year and, subsequently, have one more year with him home with me once or twice a week. i have missed those days and longed for those days.

i made up with my mother-in-law. hi sue! it was a hard phone call to make simply because i had no idea what i was up against. but there ended up being nothing but love. thanks for that!

my husband came home after toiling away, worried and upset. about ralph, about his mom, about the financial state we're in (we've been in worse!) and about our ever changing, seemingly more and more full schedule.

the kids, thankfully, are unaffected. they came home talking about homework, making up pat-a-cake games, and 'tickets' to eachother's rooms. a ticket consists of 1/3 of an 8x10 piece of paper with a giant letter on it (c=cecelia, l=lionel, r=ralph.) now cecelia is hopping in the tub with ralph to teach him more pat-a-cake games. lionel is calling, so gotta go...

i could really use a wish right now, a wish right now...

so tonight ralph is headed back out to the car to look for some lost wings for his guy. on his way out: "dad! i have three, no four, just four wishes! 1. that my pets could come alive, 2. that my blue blankie was a magic carpet, 3. that i could go outside without shoes on, and 4. that i could find the wings for my guy!"

you know at the beginning of the monkey bars? well i fell from there today and now my knee is stiff and it hurts. it's not so careful being a 6 year old as it is being a 4 year old or an 8 year old, you know!

cecelia: lionel? lionellllllllllllll!??!

lionel: i'm not lionel. i'm noah.

my great great granson, lionel, is NOT available!

cecelia worked on her child of god project for GS. this is a picture of what she made! i love her! i love her creativity! i hope it grows!

today, at school, lainey did not sit with her at lunch. lainey wanted to sit with the cool girls, so she left cecelia in the dust. cecelia did not care. she told me, very matter of factly, why lainey was sitting elsewhere. i was TORN UP inside!! i was so mad! i listened to the conversation of those girls... shameful!! rude!! selfish!! downright MEAN!! and they are only in third grade! i'm proud of my girl for being so UNaffected. she really is an awesome little lady!

my baby is gone!

yesterday morning my baby baby ralph left with gramma and papa to go to wisconsin for a week. somehow, this one was harder. i REALLY don't want him to grow up, even though he's been telling me since he could talk, "mama, i grow up."

he left without abandon. he did not care! he hopped right up in that car like it was nothing for him to leave his mother! i guess i have some preparation to do before college.

meanwhile, back at the homestead, we have been living it up with only 2 kids... both of whom can pretty much take care of themselves. fewer fights, smaller messes, faster departures... less love for mama :..(

last night, we visited the library, the mixx, and a meeting at st. peter's. today, we went to breakfast, to mass, to susan's pool, and to the ice cream social. right now i am waiting for two naked little messes to clean themselves up in the tub and shower in preparation for school tomorrow... oh yeah! fewer lunches to pack!

i love you, ralph! i miss my baby baby!

we went to the zoo zoo zoo

ralph was sick this weekend, so i took monday off work (kind-of... i went in from 6AM until 730AM) and took the kids to the zoo. we fed lorikeets, twice. we rode the carousel, twice. we watched the sea lion show, only once. we climbed trees, fed deer, danced in spray areas, visited the brand new exhibit with polar bears, played with crazy monkeys, learned about momma's favorite monkeys (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil... have no fun) and slid down slides. all the world was right that day.

AFS called the other day to see if we would be interested in hosting a foreign exchange student. I told them i would talk it over with my husband and get back to them. she emailed me the information for the 16 and 17-year-old students and jonathan and i looked it over. we decided, after much discussion in front of the boys, that our house will be suitable for a such a visitor in 8 or 10 years. that way, our kids can better interact with the student and offer a more entertaining sojourn to america. in our discussion, we mentioned our own experiences with foreign exchange situations, as a student as well as in the position of host. when i was a senior in high school, we had a girl from the netherlands stay with us for a while, a few weeks. lionel informed me that it's not the otherlands, it's actually SUtherlands. ralph stayed in his own world, as host and student, speaking with british and australian accents.

ralph and lionel's latest obsessions are with the "shakolater." ralph will come up and give my arm some love, then grab it and tell me that, yep, i DO need the shakolater. a shaking weight that is supposed to 'shake' the weight off whatever on your body is not firm.

lionel loves the commercial on qubo for qubo stating that nothing inappropriate is ever shown.

ralph pipes up with another product we might consider where a man 'magics' ingredients into the thing and it magics into a smoothie. (the magic bullet.)

cecelia has her own favorite... telling dad that he needs a tempurpedic bed because it melts the stress of your day away. she says it just like that.

well, it's 10PM, time to hang out with jonathan and melt the stress of our day away...

joy to the world!

"...that barney's dead. they bar-b-qued his head! don't worry about the body, just flush it down the potty. it circles around in o's, like a bowl of cheerios..." sung at the top of ralph's lungs.

knock, knock...

who's there?

cowp (or: imep)

cow-poo (im a poo)

tee hee

lionel cracks up, EVERY time, making the hole in his mouth even more prominent.

dad! dad! dad, i sawl a beetle and he was so cute and nice and he thought i was going to kill him but i wasn't i was just going to pet him. (ralph)

lionel's response to controversy stirred by ralph about WHO broke ralph's ship: what do you think i am, ralph, an octopus? i can't do three things at once!

i think you're a stupid kid (gasp!)

i think you're a mean brother.

at dinner at blanc burger with dad and cecelia (who ordered salads and burgers) lionel ordered the hotdog with seasonal, sliced fruit and dipping sauce... just like that, using all those words!

well, we are packed and ready for camp! i can hardly believe it. my dad bought us battery powered fans and batteries, just in case the two industrial-strength fans i bought last year don't work. we loaded a few items into his car and plan on meeting him for breakfast at bob evans. the kids are so excited. ralph danced and jumped and rolled his little brains out all over the living room.

ralph went to a birthday party tonight for his good friend, will. he marched right in and inserted himself in the middle of a familial embrace being shared with will and his aunt or grandmother or something and patted will on the head (will's hair is crazier than ralph's or lionel's!) the two wrapped their arms around each other as his family exclaimed, "oh! this is Ralph!!" when dad went in to pick ralph up, he was sitting in a booth by himself with two bags of candy, countless pieces of ice cream cake, and a giant lollipop. he looked up and said, "oh. hi dad." he had the time of his life and immediately shared all his treats with his siblings.

cecelia, currently, is sitting on her bed making up card games. like 'even/odd' where you put the two's in one pile and the three's in another... in order! it's really hard. and weird. her words. thank god jonathan spent much of his single years collecting decks of cards! we have three little cardsharks trying their best to sleep, despite the excitement of camp looming!

we had a delightful visit with fr. christian today. he came to see jonathan, discuss their book, and stayed for lunch with ralph and the girls. he is a pretty interesting character. and pretty entertained by my assignment to witness for spirituality at the next CRHP weekend. he actually laughed when he heard! i was slightly more than slightly offended. but i got over it.

i ran 9 miles this morning. i had planned on 12. i JUST couldn't do it! too humid. my headache just went away about 1/2 hour ago. i think i need some sleep.

good night!

good friends are hard to come by

difficult times these days. but i have learned it's the simple things that really matter. today i made a request that was uncomfortable for me to tackle. it turned jonathan's frown upside-down. i also realized what a good, good friend we have in patrick. he came by while i was drowning in my tears, quietly listened to my concerns, and cried with me. then he made me laugh and took my husband to dinner.

we ran some errands while daddy went to dinner with mr. tuohey. mema's house to return tupperware, target to buy cecelia some face soap and running shoes (and maybe a few other "important" items... like 62cent cars) and then to mary's house to drop off some forgotten movies. lionel promptly unbuckled to get out and pet the dog (his FAVORITE thing to do) and promptly pitched a fit when i told him "no." so mr. hart beckoned the dog to the car so lionel could pet her and she promptly jumped in the car! it made everyone's night.

tonight, after bath time, cecelia requested one of my shirts to wear as PJs. one of my occupational therapy shirts! i was so proud.

other than the heartache of the culmination of our fighting, the day was pretty benign and i'm GLAD it's over!

g'nite!

stream of consciousness conversations at the klem house

ralph: that ambliance is empty. it's not going anywhere, it's just empty but its home is in the hospital. i MEAN i'm talking about the hospital where cecelia went to. MOM! daddy poured water over my head and i was brave! i'm brave about shampooing and water over my head, but i'm NOT brave about real live monsters that live under my bed and in the closet. i thought i was going to throw up in the house, but i wasn't. we're going to watch sord in the stone, where the girl squirrel loves the boy squirrel! daddy's hooking up the vcr! jonahhhhhh, was swallowed by a whale. jonahhhhh was swallowed by a shark whale, it actually was a shark whale.

lionel: speaking of sord in the stone, remember when the fat squirrel loved the boy squirrel or whatever, or....

cecelia: lionel! want me to take a bath with you and not be rough and talk about card games? mama, do you mind if lionel and i take a bath together and talk about card games? we promise we won't be rough.

lionel: (whispering) what did she say?

i am just sitting here typing conversations as they occur while i wait for our kids to take their baths. they are cute. i love that i get to witness these things.

three smooth criminals

so i'm sitting here listening to lionel and ralph argue as to whether or not it's okay that ralph likes the smooth criminal (ralph: geez, lionel! i'm just sayin' i like the smooth criminal, alright? lionel: fine! whatever!) and cecelia humming the tune of 'wiggle it.' (i stomp my feet. i boogey to the beat. i turn around. i touch the ground. i wig-gle it... just a little bit!) thanking my lucky stars that my kids are cute, funny, interesting human beans. ralph is trying desperately to keep lionel awake. lionel is trying desperately to ignore ralph so he can go to sleep. this is the time of night i really love, hearing their little selves settling, their little voices winding down, their little body movements slowing to an eventual stop. then ralph's feet hit the floor and he RUNS to tell us something very important/about his growing pains/his headache/his stomach/his plans for tomorrow/about broken promises to lay with him (that were never made, by the way.) i came home from my run to three little angels in our bed, cecelia holding court reading to them about dodger and oliver. they are really good to each other. i love that. i love to think about them being close as they get older, being close and continuing to be good to each other as adults. how blessed we are!

my God moments... explained

as i lay here, unable to sleep, i am thinking about all of my most recent thoughts. i have had many 'God moments' as they are called by our CRHP people. today, i came to many realizations. i began to think about my many many blessings in life. not things, or people, or anything tangible... true blessings. the moments when i can understand life as i know it, or see people's souls, or my own, even. numerous times this weekend, i had moments filled with such joy and ABSOLUTE happiness true and pure. in these moments, all of my insecurities and self-worth/self-esteem issues disappeared, not because, for a moment, they no longer existed, but for a moment, they didn't matter. they had nothing to do with my life. i began to realize that this life, with all its grace, is not all about being worthy of anything, or anybody, or even of God. this life and this precious, indescribable gift of grace is all about the goodness of our loving God. i was trying to explain it, with some success i think, to jonathan in terms of our relationship to our children. cecelia, for example, is such a good sweet being; but, regardless of her goodness and her sweetness, all i want for her is joy. no matter what she does, or doesn't do, the only thing i would like to give to her, to create for her is moments like i have had the blessing to experience this weekend. the pleasure i experience in her moments of contentment, as well as her moments of excited joy, is heaven to me. i get the feeling that that what this life is all about for God. That is greatest adoration we can give to our Lord. whether or not i deserve my lot in life (which is about as perfect as it can be these days. i have learned to take the bad with the good, the bad drives the pleasure i receive from the good) enjoying life on earth is the most divine form of worship available to us. the story of Job demonstrates it perfectly, if you can read it with an open mind. it took me a few tries of reading and thinking before i got it and when i did, i realized that all these pieces of knowledge given to me about God and life and love have been compartmentalized in my understanding of them, only today did i begin to understand the interrelated quality of them. our life, our love, our God is not all about pieces of understanding coming together like pieces of a puzzle to form one big picture, they are more like ingredients to a delicious cake. there are eggs, flour, sugar... all pieces that form a cake, but mixed together without boundaries to blossom into a wonderful cake. these pieces of understanding that i receive all come together, without boundaries to form a wonderful, wonderful whole. it's not about deserved happiness, it's not about worthiness, or working for a dream, it's about enjoying all the things God made. if i think too much more, i'll not only get lost, but my head will start to hurt. so there it is... life as i know it today, july 25, 2010. let's hope i can hang onto this!

no more tricycles

last night, we put a perfect end to a perfect day. we had a "block party" in the shops behind us. the yoga place was having a balloon artist making balloons for the kids. the new gallery hired a rock band to play. it was definitely a party. we were not too thrilled about the prospect of having a rock band playing until 10PM right behind our house, but to make the most of it, we partied at susan's. we all donned our swimming best and played and played and played. the evening was full of finding toys with flashing lights in susan's pool, innertube races, and varying jumping styles (jackknife, corkscrew, cannonball.)

today was full of moments of grace. jonathan recently taught me about grace, what it is and how to have it. through his book, the faith explained, he has learned so much and consequently, taught me so much about our faith. grace, as i see it, is a lot like the lives you start out with in a video game, with each bad decision made, grace takes a hit. the awesome thing about it is, with every good decision, your grace is replenished. as long as you can keep learning from your mistakes and protecting your grace, you go on living your life that you have built and making it to the next level. (unlocking levels, as lionel says.)

we made it to mass, a bit late, but better late than never. after mass, jonathan and cecelia went on a father-daughter excursion to the nelson-atkins museum of art to discover the joy and beauty of photography through their latest exhibit. they did a little exploring through the older parts of the art gallery as well. meanwhile, the boys had a bit of quiet time while i worked (not so diligently) on my lecture. i'll admit i had to take a few breaks. during one of them, i taught lionel how to play solitaire. seeing his little mind at work as he learned how to play, and eventually succeed was pretty amazing. i finally finished and had such a sense of accomplishment, i think, because it is the last lecture i actually have to write starting from scratch. the first cycle is complete and from now on i can recycle my old lectures, with just a nip here, a tuck there. after jonathan and cecelia returned, lionel's quiet time was over, and he demonstrated his newfound knowledge to cecelia (who couldn't care less.) jonathan put together a delicious and nutritious dinner. we sat as a family and ate, something we haven't done for at least a week. :(

the weather was absolutely perfect! which made for a mind open to thanksgiving all weekend long. after dinner, we went up to the school a few blocks away and rode bikes. cecelia on hers, lionel on his new (ORANGE!) two-wheeler, and ralph on his 'new' hot wheels bike with training wheels. i asked ralph how he got to be so big, he answered, quite earnestly, "i grew up!" i cried. ralph's running commentary all the way to and from the school was pretty entertaining and enlightening (did you have any idea that there are good lightening bugs and bad ones? the bad ones are all black and have stingers. jondavid told him so. and sometimes they light up at night, but never during the day, although they still are out during the day and night.... and so on.) lionel was apprehensive at first, but dad was there behind him all the way. eventually jonathan let go and whoosh! lionel was off! cecelia was racing circles around all of us. that's speed! and extreme! according to ralph. jonathan told me that on the way home, he asked if anyone needed help. at first, cecelia said no thanks. eventually after much repetition, cecelia said, "if you really want to help, you can push my bike home. i didn't want you to push it when you asked me before because i saw a bead of sweat on your forehead. i thought you were too hot and tired. but now you seem like you really want to push someone's bike, so you can push my bike home, dad." her perfect little soul is really shining as she grows.

well a shower ought to do me for now. until tomorrow, sweet dreams!

good afternoon! i am supposed to be writing my lecture, but i am distracted. at church today, they had the choir sing more contemporary songs, not christian rock, but more contemporary than the traditional, conservative music we have. there is a song called breathe by michael w. smith that my sister and i have always enjoyed that they sang today. i have had my newest assignment for our next CRHP weekend on my mind lately, more so now that i know what it is. i will be speaking on spirituality, i am unsure of myself and beginning to doubt that i am the best person for the job, but i welcome a challenge from the holy spirit. anyway, one of the things we are responsible to do as witnesses is have a song relating to our story. this song has been in my life a long time and when i think about the message, it seems to fit. reminding me what i am supposed to do, why i have been chosen is unimportant. if i can, i'll post the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZnuSK9NB_8

more later as the day wears on...

Jonathan here. Here's what Ellen just said in her sleep (after the tooth fairy paid a visit to Lionel at 11:32 pm): "Where did he go?" I replied, "Who's that?" Ellen explained, "Our son. I keep thinking we have a 21-year-old son, and he climbed out of bed and into the trash. And then I open my eyes, and there's no son and no trash. I know that sounds dumb. I can't break it, though!"

here is lionel's newest hole in his mouth.

good afternoon, again! just writing a bit about last night. before we went out on a quick family outing, i took cecelia and lionel to old navy to take advantage of my teacher's discount. lionel REALLY wanted this batman t-shirt, but knew he was size S, and he could only find Ls. so he marched right up to the counter and asked the guy behind the counter to find him an S. after much searching, the man came up with an M from the back, no S. lionel wanted so badly to have it, but first... he needed to know if it was on sale. the man checked and it was! rejoice! lionel asked me if i could just let him have an M and he could just wear it a bit big. how could i say no to such determination? these are the values we teach and try to act out, ourselves. his perseverence paid off, he hasn't taken it off for 24 hours now! then, we headed to crown center and met up with the weidlers for a little interactive Clifford the big red dog action. kind of fun, although geared more towards the 3-5 bunch. then the boys all went home and cecelia, lainey, and i stayed and watched 'julie and julia' on the lawn above the skating rink. the girls had fun feeling so grown up staying up late and eating popcorn while watching a 'parent' movie. we ran into a nurse who used to work at BSP that i was friendly with, julia, and the girls thought it was so cool to talk to someone with the same name as is in the movie. cecelia was REALLY appreciative and loving. very helpful as well, insisting upon carrying the lawn chairs and the keys to the car, sitting/snuggling on my lap, multiple thank-yous, a lot of snack sharing. she is really growing up into a caring and sweet girl. i see a lot of myself in her, even her incessant apologizing and bending over backwards for her favorite people. i would say that i don't want her to inherit all of my insecurities, but i think they have made me a better, stronger person. they are really not debilitating at all... now my faults are a different story and, i'm sure, wrapped up in the insecurities, but that's a different story altogether.

jonathan told me when i got home that upon arriving home, themselves, lionel took some time to teach him how to play some card games. he kept repeating, "i just want you to have a good time, dad. i just want you have fun and to like playing these games." later on in the night, he was sure ralph was awake because he was CRACKING UP!!! when jonathan went to investigate, ralph was fast asleep, laughing in his sleep. i love that! a sure sign of a happy kid living a joyful childhood!

today we went, in 90 degree weather, to a park for emma brown's birthday and ran into an old grade school friend, patrick fanning. a nerdy little brain, but friendly as can be! that was kind-of fun. he insists cecelia is built just like me. lionel was busy making friends with a sweet little year, year and a half old girl. he is a sweet boy who really tries to be good in all things. he works hard to exemplify the rule of the klem house: care!

now i lay on the red couch on the landing at the top of our steps listening to the kids humming either star wars or indianan jones themes while having a bit of 'quiet time.' :)

lionel lost his front tooth! he was very courageous in his fight against the roots of his tooth. finally, he let dad pull on it a little. at the first pinch of pain, lionel stepped back (this tooth has been LOOOOONG in coming out) and lo and behold! the tooth was on his tongue. his face was just priceless: fear, pride, and happiness all at once. what a boy! i'm sitting here lounging in the breeze created by the wind formed by his breath being pushed out of the new hole created by the loss of such an important tooth.

all in all, a happy day!

good afternoon! i'm not really writing for an audience as much as for myself, at this point. just thought maybe a bit of journaling might be beneficial to me at this time in my life where i feel i have so many balls in the air i can't imagine keeping track of all of them, or any of them until one or more drop...