Never a Dull Moment

Raising four kids keeps me busy. Here's a random and not-so-thought-out update of our lives:

1. I should never have to say, "Don't put that dead frog in the fridge."

2. We were sitting around the table talking about Jesus rising from the dead. Oren farted and Finn looked at him and with a straight face said, "Oren, did your fart rise from the dead?"

3. For the first time in the 10 years that we've lived here, I am able to consistently keep the kitchen, living room, hallway, and downstairs bathroom clean.

4. My children would rather sleep on the hard floor in my room than in their cozy beds. On the same note, Finn and Maeve sleep together every night. I'm happy that they enjoy each others company.

5. Tillie and Maeve adore each other. Maeve is always picking her up or showing her things. I didn't expect Maeve to care too much about Tillie, but she loves her. I love having some help so I can do fun things like bring in firewood.

6. Speaking of firewood, I almost started my house on fire this winter. I had started a fire like I always do in our wood burning stove. The fire went crazy and the temperature kept climbing. I shut the flu and the fire was still going crazy. As it turned out, when I had emptied the ash pan, I had not shut the door tight so the fire was getting air from beneath. I was *this close* to calling the fire department. That was fun.

7. I have no idea why people call it the "terrible twos". Two years olds are not terrible. Three year olds are terrible. Challenging. Complicated. Emotional. Tired. Cranky. Passionate? Yes, passionate. Passionate about being terrible.

8. My baby is close to walking. This is the time in my child's life when I start thinking about having another baby. I'm on the fence. On the one hand, I want to start doing things without a child attached to me. On the other hand, that has been my life for eight years and I don't know if I'm ready to say good bye to having a baby in my arms. I love my babies. I love my big kids too, by the way. I like even numbers so four is a great place to stop. If we had a fifth, I might want a sixth. Six kids is a lot of kids. It's a slippery slope. I would gladly have a couple more if I could snap my fingers and have my baby appear without having to be pregnant or give birth. Mathew is not open to adoption, but I do love Asian babies. My baby brother is from Asia and he was absolutely adorable.

9. I'm going to start taking the kids to the Catholic church by our house. I miss it and they can learn to love it.

10. We were talking about Jesus dying on the cross and I told the kids about the cross necklace that I own. I got it out, put it on, and Oren said that it was beautiful. He loves yellow and told me that gold is like yellow only sparkly. I stopped wearing my cross because I prefer silver jewelry, but since Oren loves it, I will keep wearing it.