Nathan is 7!!!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of the Day

I'm just gonna throw down some random thoughts so they'll be down on paper and outta my head. I always get stuck wanting a cute picture to go with things but I'm gonna have to let down my expectations for awhile if I want anything to remember..

THE GOOD

• Elias spent a whole hour making me an elaborate paper airplane/boat thing out of paper that he decorated with markers and taped together. It had a heart inside that was half red and half purple "for his favorite color and mine (didn't realize purple was my favorite but ok)". Then he asked me to show him how to write "To:Mama From:Elias Love" and copied it onto the inside of the creation. Cuteness. 

• Nathan's face when he finally caught the baby lamb tonight in the pens. We had a huge day shearing, deworming, and banding all our 19 sheep (including babies) that started out from a very small 2 or 3 ewes a few years ago. Not sure the kids love it (especially getting the snot beat out of them from the "little" lambs) but John does. Nathan's a little more timid than Ava so deferred to her until she got busted in the mouth and he took over for that one lamb. He was pretty thrilled that he got it and it was awesome to watch. 

• Playing Patty-cake with Adele alone on the couch before we joined everyone to the craziness in the barn. She is such a doll baby and melts me with her perfectly timed "Mama, mama"'s, half of the time which she whispers to me as she's gently cuddling with me. But just for a second. Cause this kid has places to go and things to see! Adorably cute all the way around. 

• Ava stepping up to the plate and swooping in to take Adele to play, even after she got nailed in the face with a lamb's hoof. I got to take over as gate catcher for the rowdy big sheep and Ava kept a sleepy and getting grumpy Adele happy the whole time. She's an awesome helper when she wants to be and I'm so glad that she still let us see her sweet side more often than her tweeny side. 

• Hanging out with a bunch of new friends that are the kind you not just want but NEED. Don't get me wrong, I love each and everyone of my friends but there comes a time when you NEED some close ones - the ones that run in your social circle, you can talk about school stuff with, that could grab a kid off the bus if needed. Living out here it's crucial to have some of them that will pick up your kid at the end of the driveway and take them to school when you're to lazy to catch the bus and I've been looking for these friends for years and am so glad to be making a few of them now!! 

THE BAD

• Feeding my kids (and myself) Mac N Cheese for lunch and Wendy's for dinner. That's quality parenting there (but in my defense, I was making a good dinner when John thwarted it with a run into town to get dewormer for the sheep at 6pm. And they did eat tons of raw green beans on the way to town). 

• Still not doing the laundry that is now strung around the whole upstairs, sitting in different baskets, being refluffed in the dryer for the 3rd time in a row. Sigh. But at least it fits in with the undone dishes.

• Dropping $79.99 on a stupid laptop power cord so I can feed my addiction to my computer. It still hurts to think about and I spent a good 45 minutes tonight trying to figure out if there's someway I have some warranty to cover it. Let's hope. 

• No planting the poor azalea bushes that someone gave me  free off the online yard sale site. Maybe tomorrow???

• Not getting the kids to bed until 10:30pm and then me staying up till 1:00 am yet again… I'm gonna hate tomorrow but when bedtime is so stinking late for them, I need just a few hours! Gotta get John on board with this one.

THE UGLY

• Luckily there's only one that falls into this category but it's really ugly. Tonight I dumped Adele on the grass, chased Ava down while we were walking back from the barn, put her over my knee and let her know she's not too big to be spanked for being a punk. She's so sweet to everyone but for some reason she and I clash hard sometimes. She's decided it's ok to just blow past me (literally, flinging arms and heads and doors and knocking brothers over) when I'm reprimanding her for something. Like not wearing shoes when she's down in the mature, rusty nail filled barn working animals. Or wearing her nice clothes to work sheep in. Or not actually sweeping the floor but just pushing things around. Or not emptying her bookbag after school - a chore she's had for almost 4 years now! And more often than not these eye-rolling, huffing and pouting are done with a severe attitude and some massive talking back. So definitely not my finest parenting moment tonight (and I think that yes, she actually is too big to spank) but not sure what motivation/punishment I can come up with for this kinda behavior. I know rewarding the good would probably work a whole lot better for her but sometimes I just want the immediate snottiness to stop!! Gotta work on that one and come up with a better plan. Luckily, the evening ended happily with her falling asleep between John and I, declaring that "ah, this is Heavenly". And I caught her writing in her journal as she was getting ready for bed and she let me read what she wrote. It was all about things she's learned in the past month since she last wrote and here are 2 of the things she listed: 1. The tooth fairy is really your mom and dad since she caught John in the act a few weeks ago and 2. Always, ALWAYS turn around and listen to your mom when she's talking to you.    So maybe she is listening after all. 

A Rare Glimpse

Never before seen footage of the elusive…

Nathan: Orange-Legged-Tiger-of-the-Valley and Elias: Crouching-Leopard-of-the-Mountain,

(Sometimes also known as nose-pickers-of-the-wild and bed-heads-of-the-jungle-top), 

…interacting on the hillside. 

Oh look!! A gentle touch… amazing and hardly ever seen!! 

Rapt and attent without electronics??

 This is the chance of a lifetime viewing. 

Watch carefully everyone and you'll see an incredible sight unsurpassed in the four year history of togetherness!! 

Wait for it, wait for it….

YES!!! IT'S IT!! A TENDER HUG CAUGHT ON CAMERA!! 

And what's this folks???   

Sharing and caring going on??

With only a single object between the two??

UNHEARD OF IN HISTORY!!!!

Oh, no.

We've been spotted. 

And just like that….

…the moment is over…

replaced by their usual jumping and flying selves. 

But we were a witness to the once-in-a-million opportunity to view them in their natural habitat, getting along…and we have the pictures to prove it!! Call  NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC!! Someone will pay millions for this!! 

(Ok,  probably only their mother but she'd pay all she had for the behavior specialist who can train them into daily interactions like this. Or maybe she should just fork over the $4.99 more often that bought the shark book from the school book fair and initiated this amazing chain of events. Live and learn.)