Mt. Dew Laced Baseball

 I have no excuse.  I am a bad mom.....at least at Lucas' baseball championship game.  His team fought their way through a tough season and then continued to fight through the tournament games until they made it to the championship game.  After a billion trips to baseball practices, games where we didn't get home until after midnight....I wanted to watch this game.

Eli was with us (his team was eliminated earlier in the week) and usually pretty good about watching the game.  Until this game.  He wanted everything the snack stand had to sell plus all the food and drink I had in the cooler.  I wanted to watch the game so wasn't a 100% focused on all that Eli was yammering about.  He asked for a soda, I reached in the cooler and handed him one, a couple minutes later I looked over at him and realized that I handed him a Mt. Dew.   

This soda and Eli are not a good combination unless you are running an experiment of some sort as demonstrated a few minutes later as he catapulted off the top of the bleachers, leaping sideways about 15 feet and snagging a foul ball in mid air, tucking and rolling to come up off the ground to hand it to a little girl.  The crowd didn't know which way to look, at the field or in Eli's direction.

Yep.  Bad Mom.  I paid my dues because it is now 10:45 and he's still running full steam ahead.  The makers of Mt. Dew are missing out, they should figure a way to get cars to run on the stuff unfortunately I will no longer be contributing to their corporate coffers.

Saturday Morning Conversations

I will be the first to admit this was not so much a conversation between Sydney and Eli but their version of good morning to one another.  While enjoying a nice (quiet) cup of coffee in the kitchen this is what I hear:

Eli:  "Hey Syd, what happened to your hair?" (She'd just spent an inordinate amount of time on it)

Sydney:  "I don't know Eli.  What happened to your face?" ( Ouch! But not to be out done....)

Eli:  "I don't know Syd.  What happened to your feet?"  (Huh?)

Sydney:  "Dude!  What is your obsession with my feet.  Stop talking to people about my feet."  (Who is he talking to?)

Eli:  "They aren't right, they are too small!"  (apparently there is an appropriate size in Eli's world)

Sydney:  "That's just mean!"

Eli:  "I'm not mean.  I just tell you they aren't right."

I think Sydney may have gotten the last word though......she's in there pestering him about which dress she should wear for her date tonight.  Someday he may understand that it does not pay to critique a lady, especially the sister who is majoring in communication and is REALLY  good at it.

When You Leave Guys Home With No Babysitter....

....stuff happens, like they decide between them that the new kitchen sink can surely be put in with no big problem....yep that does not end well for them, my kitchen or my ability to do much cleaning on a Saturday.  I am however glad I missed the first 4 hours of installation and opted for a nap during the rest of the installation....it just worked out best that I should vacate the area.  That's what smart wives and moms do on a Saturday that the guys decide to be "helpful".
    While this "helpful" guy activity occurred a week or so ago I thought it was worth a note and the possibility that I might need proof of such enthusiastic initiative at a later date.

In appreciation of their efforts...the sink was eventually installed and I do enjoy it on a daily basis.  Thanks guys!

Remembering The Past

During our trip to the Philippines to bring Lucas and Eli home we were pleased to have their orphanage and the foster agency give us the only pictures they have from their lives both in Zamboanga City and Manila.  The first month we were home Lucas would quietly look at the photos but did not want to ask questions or talk about them.  He said they made him sad.  Eli....didn't want anything to do with looking at them.  Each of them finding their own ways to deal with the past.

Over the past 4 years the albums and documents were stored until today, being brought out occasionally and then put away.  Over the last month both Lucas and Eli have asked to see the "youngest" picture we have of them.  So in midst of the house cleaning we dug out the photo albums and paperwork.

Needless to say housework came to a complete stop and they dove into those memories and a whole lot of questions started pouring out and even more information about their lives prior to coming into our family.  Lucas has often been able to fill in blank areas of our knowledge but this time Eli added his perspective.  It was remarkable to watch them as they looked back. 

Rediscovering their memories together.

 Eli's comments..."Huh.  I remember this, Hey Lucas what was this place?"

"See dad, let me tell you about this."

Wow! We're Not 2

I spoke about doubling the number of children (today I am calling them ALL children) we have in the house during college summer break.  The view has switched from introducing boys into the household when Lucas and Eli came home to reintroducing girls back after being away for college during the year.

So far everyone has done fairly well with a few bumps in the road....no one has locked anyone in a closet...it's been a successful transition.

This morning was the day for an all out house cleaning project which involved every child in the house.  It didn't take long for the bickering to begin.   We all range from those possessing OCD tendencies to the easily distracted (unmotivated).  

I have to say I'm pretty good at keeping 2 kids (Lucas and Eli) moving constructively forward, add the 3rd and 4th adult children (Rachel and Sydney) and things become more opinionated on how things are being done.  At one point the boys were breezing through tasks and I was working in the laundry room with Lucas.  The girls apparently hit a snag (also known as two college kids learning to live together) and as sisters do they disagreed....vocally...and loudly.  Lucas looked over at me and said, "Wow Mom!  They sound like Eli and me but we aren't 2 years old anymore...how old are they?"

I'm pretty sure it was a good thing the girls couldn't hear us laughing....that would have been another issue.

Proud of Himself

The evolution of Eli's journey these past 3 years since coming home is something to witness.  He did not have it easy starting out his first 8 years in the Philippines.  He was not the people pleaser that Lucas was.  He did not conform.  He was (and can still be) a very black and white personality.  There is right and wrong in his book and he does not trust easily.  You prove yourself before you are admitted into his trust.  Those first 8 years he survived and didn't have many reasons to build his confidence or trust.

You would not have heard him ever say something good about himself.  The first time I remember him saying anything close to bragging was one day after school when he announced, "I'm not dumb!  I can do this!  They don't think I'm stupid."

It can be a fine balance between building confidence and walking the line of arrogance.  Last night after his baseball game he was so excited.  The kid is good at sports.  He's found something he loves and knows he has talent and skills in sports.  

He was getting cleaned up after the game and kept appearing in the living room (longest shower/bedtime routine on record) to talk about the game.  Finally, right before he went to bed, he came up to me and said, "Mom.  I did good tonight.  I'm proud of me."  Off to bed he went.  Good thing I was sitting down.  I don't think I've ever heard him say those words.  We are pretty proud of him too...for a lot of reasons but mostly for the tremendous journey he's traveled to get to the point of being proud of himself. 

Are We Driving By New York?

This summer we are taking a road trip....a 1500 mile one to be exact.  Disney World here we come!  This trip has been talked about since the boys came home but with everything about Disney (crowds, confusion and overload) we wanted to make sure that Lucas and Eli could handle it....now I'm wondering if positions aren't reversed and it's the rest of us that are unprepared.

Part of the family is flying, Mike, I and the boys are driving.  There is just no way to explain this country and the size as well as enjoying (enduring) a 2 1/2 day road trip.  Lucas and Eli think that the 45 minute trip into Omaha is f..o...r..e...v...e..r!  We have driven to New Mexico which is about an 1000 miles from home....they seem to have blocked the actual riding in the car part from their memories.

Yesterday Lucas asked if we would be driving by New York.  Now let's give his teachers credit they have taught him where New York is in relationship to Iowa.  He just does not see the need to drive from Iowa to Florida via the shortest route...yet.  I'm guessing by hour 3 of the drive he will appreciate not driving by New York.

Both boys have repeatedly asked about New York since coming home.  They tell us that they used to talk about New York when they were in the Philippines.  I'm not sure why just that state, I'd think maybe California too but no, just New York.  Unfortunately for their curiosities we will opt not to do a drive by of the great New York and head in the most efficient route to the land of Mickey Mouse.  By the way they've informed us that they are too old and therefore to cool for Mickey and are only going for the rides.  We'll see.

Teenage Boys Are Not Humorous

With the massive amount of time we are spending in the car running to baseball games, we have been made very aware that pre-teen and newly turned teenage boys are not funny.  They think they are hilarious....they are not.

They tell jokes....that aren't funny....they think they are hilarious too.  They can make more body noises than any mammal alive and think they are geniuses in the making....they are not.  They think bickering is an art form that is also funny.  I've effectively communicated that this "humor" is a sure fire trigger to my mom button that if pushed too far will result in lost Ipods, tv, privileges and pretty much anything else that pops into my fried brain.

Tomorrow come rain or shine, double header or not, I know two young men who have an outside chore list that would make my "rise before the sun and work all day" father proud.  Hopefully it is a start to their understanding that the time to push your moms buttons is not in the car, late at night as she drives your carcasses home from the billionth game of the week.  They will learn this lesson well.

Birthday Underwear!

Yesterday, Eli celebrated his 12th birthday.  On Friday he will celebrate again.  Again on Saturday and by the looks of it Sunday too.  We just can't get everyone in one place these days.

He was so excited when I called home from work to check on his day.  I said, "so do you feel any different?"  His resounding answer?   "YES! I'm 12!"

I mentioned earlier that the favorite past time at our house these days is sibling torture.  Rachel and Sydney decided to have a little fun with Eli.  They told him that all of them were meeting me after work to go buy his birthday underwear.  You also may need to know that both of these girls have been in drama for years.  They are good. 

By the time they picked me up at 3:30 he was hollering from the backseat, "I don't want birthday underwear, I have underwear, I like my underwear, I'll wear my own."  Lucas also bought into the act because let's face it the only thing better than torturing one brother is torturing two.

We started out the 30 minute drive with him asking why I was in a hurry.  I of course had to contribute, "Well the underwear sale ends in 30 minutes so we've got to get there."  They both bought the story until the parking lot of the movie theater.  I wish I could have recorded Eli's scream.  Hilarious!

Rachel said that it was even worth enduring Iron Man 3 for the second time, just to see his smile.