VBS Check In

Well, we have two days of VBS, and three days of being a family of 6 under our belts. Overall, everything is going very very well.

Duane came up with the idea of dubbing the four boys the Webiharas - a combination of their last name and ours. The guys seem to really like the idea of having a family name for the week and answer right away when we call it.

Ryan really seems to have taken the whole "Webihara" thing to heart. At VBS today they learned a Bible point that said, "Family and friends help us stand strong."  So check out what the little guy did at his craft today

It's a picture of the Webihara family! There's Sho, Kei, Cleo the kitten, Ryan, Mom and Dad. And yes, we did notice that Wesley was conspicuously absent in the picture. We just decided not to tell him about Ryan's (accidental?) oversight.

Since we are working both the morning and the afternoon sessions of VBS, Sho has been helping me out in the morning while Kei and Wesley go to child care and Ryan attends VBS. I wasn't supposed to have a helper, but I honestly don't know what I would do without Sho in there with me. He's been a lifesaver.

After the morning session, some women from the church prepare lunch for all the volunteers. It's been so nice to able to sit down to a ready meal after the crazy preschool session.

We've taken a quick trip to the playground each day too - mostly to warm up a little. Today Ryan was trying to emulate his oldest cousin and let of the chains while he was swinging. Poor kid didn't last a second in the saddle before he was flat on his back in the dirt and the swing smacked him in the head.  We dusted him off and went inside to clean up his scratched back.

As we were entering the church, I noticed a red splotch on his neck. "Huh," I thought. "I wonder how Ryan got squished strawberry on his neck."  I'm sure you've probably figured out that it wasn't strawberry I was seeing, but blood.  A quick examination told us that Ryan had cut the back of his head when he fell and was dripping blood onto his neck and shoulder.  It wasn't bad and nothing a quick mop up couldn't fix, but it didn't stop him from begging me to put a bandage on his head. He doesn't know how lucky he his that I refused to do it. He doesn't really want a bald patch when I would have to pull it off.

The afternoon sessions have gone really smoothly too. I've been worried about the Bible stories with the older kids because I'm much more comfortable with the little ones, but it's been okay. And don't tell anyone, but I think the kids are having a pretty good time too.

Wesley and Kei in their knights capes and crowns -with Ryan providing the photobomb

Two knights and a squire in the castle

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I was not oddly touched when Ryan decided I needed to use the Disney Princess place mat at dinner one night.

I am not so spoiled that when we lost power one night, I pulled out the iPad and downloaded some movies from HBO and the library to watch.

I did not tear up saying good-bye to my mom's cousin who is moving back to CA. Nope, there is no way I'm going to miss him that much!

There is no way we willingly and happily volunteered to keep our nephews for a few days, bring the boy total in my house up to 4 - 6 if you count Duane and one of the cats.

Family Pictures

It's been two years since have had any kind of family pictures professionally taken. Maybe three. Anyhow, we were long overdue so I made us an appointment with Portrait Shoppe (www.portraitshoppe.net) AKA photographer to the librarians. I have admired her work for quite a while and I am THRILLED with our pictures! Here are a few of the highlights.

After our professional pictures we went to have dinner with my mom's cousin, who is moving back to California today. This one isn't exactly a professional picture, but I love it none the less.

There's nothing like family. Nothing

Star Wars Day

Yesterday was Star Wars Day at my library. Even though I didn't have to work, I volunteered to go in and help out because, hello, it was Star Wars!

My main job was to help run flight training, where kids made paper airplanes/space ships and flew them through hoops we had suspended from the ceiling. It was a little chaotic with all those those planes flying around, but a lot of fun.

Grandma H. and Daddy brought Wesley and Ryan up for a bit. They are not total Star Wars fans yet, but I think yesterday might have helped their convert them.

I think their favorite thing was the Jedi training course.

There were a lot of costumed characters around too, but in true Wesley fashion he only had eyes for one character - and it was a princess

Ryan Says

Last night I had to trim Ryan's toenails, but as I examined his nails I noticed that only the little toe and the toe next to it on each foot needed trimmed.

"That's weird," I said, "I wonder why only these nails need trimmed."

"Oh! That's 'cause I can't reach to bite those toenails," Ryan explained. "I like to bite my nails to keep them nice and smooth so you don't have to trim them."

The Night the Lights Went Out

As I've mentioned many times, our new neighborhood is quite different from our old place. Most of the differences are very good, but there is one way in which the old place was superior - we didn't lose power there. We think it was because we lived immediately behind a hospital, but our roads were always plowed and the power didn't go off.

We knew when we moved into the new place that this neighborhood frequently loses power. It's just one of those things.The funny part is that Grandma and Grandpa H., who live in the same subdivision, are on a different breaker/grid/transformer/whatever and if we have lost power, they usually have it - and vice versa.

Last night was one of those random times that our power went out. It happened hours after the storm rolled through, about 8:00 pm while Duane was at a meeting at church. It was still perfectly light outside but Wesley immediately started stressing about the power being off.

Wesley: What are we going to do?

Me: I'm going to sit by the window and read.

Wesley: Can't you do something to turn the power back on?

Me: Nope

Wesley: Well, when Daddy gets home I'll ask him to turn the power back on.

Me: You can ask him, but he isn't going to be able to turn it back on.

Wesley: Isn't there anyone you can call about it?

Me: I'm sure the people who can fix it know that it needs fixed. They'll take care of it as soon as they can.

Wesley: What will we do when it gets dark?

Me: We'll go to bed.

And that's what we did. But when Duane was tucking Wesley in by the light of the flashlight Wesley asked,  "What about my nightlight? I can't sleep without my nightlight."  Duane left a flashlight on in Wesley's room and when the power came back on sometime in the wee hours of the morning, Duane got up and turned a light on in Wesley's room.

Here's hoping we don't lose power for a real amount of time in the near future. I'm not sure Wesley's stress level could handle it. 

Very Close Friends

Ryan's best stuffed animal buddy is a kitten he named Violet. While he's not nearly as dependent on Violet as Wesley was (and still sometimes is) on Carr, Ryan doesn't like to take Violet places with him sometimes.

This morning Ryan decided to take Violet to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s house. The only problem was that Ryan wanted to ride his bike there and he doesn't yet have a backpack. Being a resourceful almost five year old, Ryan did what any little boy would do when faced with such a problem. He shoved Violet down the front of his pants for the bike ride to his grandparents' house.

His unusual way carrying his stuffed friend worked surprisingly well - meaning she didn't fall out of Ryan's pants on the ride over.

Grandma met us at the door and Ryan called, "Grandma! Guess what made a sound in my pants?" as he pulled his waistband out and plunged his hand down the front of his shorts to retrieve Violet.

Oh. Things you don't think you'll hear your four year old say.

Grandma looked at me and we burst into laughter.

Fast forward a couple of hours when Grandma had to call me at work because Violet was misplaced. She wondered if perhaps Violet had somehow wound up in the van before I left for work.  I couldn't resist asking, "Did you check Ryan's pants?" before bursting into near hysterical laughter.

Ryan and Violet. They're very close friends.

Little Big Man

I can't believe Ryan's 5th birthday is in just over two weeks! FIVE! It doesn't seem possible. He's still at this wonderful age where he is both incredibly independent, but still wants and needs help sometimes. I look at him and see his long chicken legs and his long arms and wonder where my little boy went.

Of course, I think Ryan wishes he was a little older and a little bigger. We hear a lot of "it's not fair that Wesley...." whatever it was that Ryan feels was unfair.

This morning Ryan had a lot of "it's not fair" moments. Over the weekend we went shopping for outfits for some family pictures we are having done this weekend. While we were shopping the boys each found a "fun" shirt too. Ryan chose a Sonic the Hedgehog shirt and Wesley chose a Ninjago shirt. This morning Ryan realized that Wesley's shirt glows in the dark and this caused no shortage of tears and four-year-old angst. Never mind that he chose the shirt he wanted. It wasn't fair because in his mind, Wesley got a glow in the dark shirt because he's a big kid.

We got that under control and headed over to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s for the day. Wesley was busy showing Grandma a collection of small toys he brought with him. He was explaining that a couple of the toys came from the dentist's office - one for having his checkup and he got an extra one because  he had to have x-rays done. 

At this point Ryan crawled up into Grandma's lap, positioned himself as much like a baby as he could and said in a heartbroken voice, "I only got one because I'm too small to get x-rays."

Yes, it's a silly thing. Yes, he may have been exaggerating his sadness to get Grandma's sympathy, but my heart broke for him. I wanted to scoop him up and tell him that he'll be plenty big soon enough. That before too long he'll be able to ride all the rides he wants, and to get the big boy clothes. But not to be in too much of a hurry to get big because I still want him to ask to snuggle me, to hold my hand when we cross the street, to tell me he loves me a million times a day.  I still want to be able to pick him up - I haven't been able to pick Wesley up for over a year. It just slips away. I want him to be my little boy no matter how big he one day gets.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I am not already stressing about how to spend my 40th birthday, when it is still 3 months away! And there is no way I'm considering blowing the whole thing off for a family trip to an indoor water park.

I did not find myself a little jealous that Wesley (who seems to have inherited my sensitive stomach) can read an entire chapter book in the car with no ill effects, while just checking Facebook for more than a couple of minutes at a time in the car makes me carsick.

I do not have to repeatedly tell Wesley to quit changing the rules of his make believe video game so Ryan can play too. In what world does that make sense?

I am not totally and completely over the rain we've been having. And I have not begun to pray for bright and sunny 90 degree days.

When Ryan came up to me with a devilish grin on his face and said, "Mama, I really really love you," my response was not, "What did you do?"

Not Forgotten

Sometimes I find myself wishing for Sanders. I wish I had him to snuggle while I watch tv, or to bury my face in his fur. I often feel like I'm the only one who misses the Puma Boy, but it turns out that this is not the case.

About a week ago, Wesley asked me to bring a box home from work so he could make a play house for Cleo. He strung some of her favorite toys from the ceiling of the box and covered it with artwork so she'd be enticed to enter.

I was looking at the box the other night and saw these pictures on it.

"You Cleo"

"Brother Guss" which should be spelled G-U-S

"Sister Sady" which should be spelled S-A-D-I-E

"Dead Brother Sanders" which made me want to laugh and cry at the same time

At least I know Wesley remembers the Old Man Cat and still considers him part of the family.

Photographic Evidence

Yesterday I was looking through the pictures on my camera and found several that Ryan took when I didn't know he had my camera.  Most of the pictures were of Cleo

Cute, right. But then I saw this picture

That would be the word "play" written in Ryan's distinct handwriting on a piece of my furniture! 

"Ryan!" I yelled. "Did you write on my furniture?"

At least he knew better than to dispute it when I had the picture right in front of me. He apologized, which is good. The bad part is, I still haven't found where the writing is. Guess I'd better ask him when he wakes up.

And of course all I can think is "Great, he's four and already taking pictures of the stupid things he's doing. This does not bode well for his teen years."

Fourth of July Photo Recap

Despite the fairly cool and rainy weather, the W. family had a good holiday yesterday. After sleeping in way too late, we headed over to Aunt Melissa and Uncle Mark's for the annual July 4th cookout.

Ready for the pool

Wesley swam as much as he could until the rain became too heavy and the water too cold.

Right about this time Ryan discovered the water in this pool is much colder than the water in the pool at Grandpa and Grandma P.'s pool. When we told him that was because Grandpa and Grandma's pool is heated, Ryan demanded, "Then someone heat this pool RIGHT NOW!"

Ryan warming up on the deck

A look of bliss because he was eating chocolate while standing in the pool

Ryan unwrapping chocolate while staying wrapped up in the towel

The rain didn't hold off all day, so we spent part of the afternoon inside, which was no hardship for this family!

Duane's cake was an ode to Cyrus

The one and only Cyrus

Cyrus, Wesley and Bella

Bella

Wesley and Bella took a nap

Ryan and Cyrus

Cyrus and Uncle Mark

Ryan playing Wii

cousin Kierstin, Kierstin's friend, cousin Mark and Duane playing video games.

After the cookout, we stopped by to see Uncle Kirk and Aunt Susan, and Grandma and Grandpa H. before heading home.

Wesley walked home from Grandma and Grandpa's while reading his book. He did look both ways to cross the street, but other than that, his nose was buried in the pages. I love it!

Our plan was to go to the community fireworks display, but we were pretty tired and weren't sure the rain would hold off, so we decided to just do sparklers and glowsticks in our driveway. Turned out to be a good plan because we had a steady drizzle the whole time we did sparklers.

We had a fun, low stress holiday. Hope yours was too!

More Bacon?

Wesley and Ryan each have a piece of bacon in the morning as part of their breakfast. One piece. Call it protein, call it a bribe to eat, call it whatever you want. There is bacon nearly every morning (unless we are having donuts). I mean, there have to be some limits, right?

Now that the boys are on summer vacation, they generally prefer to eat breakfast at their Grandma and Grandpa H.'s house, even though they have plenty of time to eat at home before I take them over there for the day. Today I found out why.

Me: So, do you guys want to eat breakfast here, or do you want to eat at Grandma's?

Wesley: We want to eat at Grandma's.

Ryan: Yeah! That way we get extra bacon, but it's a secret.

Me: Extra bacon?

Ryan: Grandma gives us two pieces if we want!

Wesley: Ryan! You weren't supposed to tell!

Me: Apparently I need to have a little talk with Grandma.

Well, you know what they say, "grandchildren are your reward for not killing your own kids". And "spoil 'em and send 'em home!"

Overhelmed and Burning Out

My dear friend and former supervisor always said she could tell how close I was to needing a vacation based on how many vacation hours I had accrued. Well, I haven't reached that magic number yet, but I am absolutely dying for some time off.

I don't think I've had any real time off since we moved, and let's be honest, moving doesn't count as vacation. Neither does attending a conference, no matter how much fun the conference is. Oh! And taking a week off work to teach 2 sessions of VBS, meaning about 8 story times a day for a week isn't really vacation. And neither is jury duty. But that's what I've got planned and by the time all that is done, it will be the second week of August and summer will be nearly over.

I'm just tired. I'm starting to feel envious of my teacher and school librarian friends who get to spend actual time with their kids this summer and on the weekends. I love my job, but right now it's getting harder and harder to go. I just a need a break - more than 2 days off in a row when I don't have to do a bunch of other stuff. Days off where I could just relax.  Sounds like heaven.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

Duane and I did not decide that to try making the kids scoop the litter boxes as punishment for misbehavior. And there is no way Wesley threw up the first time we made him do it. And the same thing certainly did not happen with Ryan

I was not a little bit annoyed/jealous when the boys totally monopolized my mom's time during our first visit with her after she'd been gone for 10 days. That would have been rather childish of me. 

I did not a happy dance when I had the opportunity to see one of my best friends twice in two days!

There is no way I forced my boys to watch two movie musicals in one night. And I know I didn't sing along to each film, causing Ryan to wonder how I knew all the words.