I think this spring weather has stirred something deep within me.
Something that I haven't seen for a long time.
Something that I feared would be gone forever.
What is it you ask?
MOTIVATION!!
I have just done the bare minimum around here lately (dishes, laundry, and making food) and letting the kids chores count as house cleaning. But Friday it started. I mopped my wood floors (an hour long task), reorganized my kitchen, cleaned the bathrooms (my least favorite task), went to lunch with my sister, ran errands/worked, and grocery shopped.
That night I began the adventure of swapping bedrooms by not only moving but REPAIRING the white bookcase into Alex's room and loading ALL the books on to it from the various places that they are stored on.
(I had no idea that Alex has purchased FIFTEEN books from the school library. I kept asking, "What are all these library books? Are they over due?" Nope. They're Alex's. I think they cost a quarter? He sure likes to own things but for a boy that doesn't like to read, I think it's a little odd that he's buying books. Oh well. He claims to have read many of them but when I asked him what they were about he told me he read them but he didn't understand them. Well, at least he's honest?)
This morning I ran with my sister (52 minutes thank you very much!) and then with the help of my fabulous children moved the double bed downstairs, the HUGE dresser with the mirror into Rylee's room, the queen log bed and dresser into Alex's room, sold two dressers and got them out of here, cleaned inside and out both Alex and Ry's room, cleaned mine and James room, and get this....PAINTED Devree's new room (the bottom half) a lovely shade of purple!
Phew!
All the kids were big helps. Alex took apart the pine bed and put it back together. (He did everything and anything requiring a tool - need to take the mirror off of the two ton dresser to get it into Ry's room? No problem. Alex whips out his OWN screwdriver!) Rylee worked as long as I did and cleaned out every drawer and threw out all her too small clothes. Once Devree woke up enough, she really helped out too. She helped with the moving, did the majority of the taping of her room and made dinner. Austin was at a sleepover right when we really could have used him but Alex stepped up to the plate and carried equally what I did. He really is a good worker when he wants to be. Austin then graced us with his man power for the final move of the queen mattress, the pine dresser and helped the folks that bought Ry's old dresser off of KSL load it down the stairs and into their van. (He also went and dug out some weeds in the front flower beds.)
I am exhausted - we all are - and my hands are covered in purple paint but I feel such a sense of satisfaction.
We took a break and went to lunch, bought paint and hit the dollar store for brushes (because I'd rather throw them away then wash them out!) and Alex pointed out "Hooba Booba" gum at the checkout stand.
"Hubba Bubba?"
"No. In Ukraine it is called Hooba Booba."
(Teeheehee)
That cracked me up and I have been calling him ""my little Hooba Booba" all afternoon.
He also asked me what "steel" chips were? "Do they break your teeth?" The word he was looking for was "stale".
Often times when Alex creates a new word or mixes words up I think of things the other kids said as toddlers:
Rylee liked to "stern" things up instead of stir and "skabetti" was what she said instead of spaghetti.
Kambree and Austin are 22.5 months apart. When we found out we were having a boy, she couldn't quite say his name and would lovingly kiss my tummy and call him Austy Boy. (His cousin McKay - just a year older - couldn't say Austy so he said Auggy and that name stuck too. Then after falling in Lake Powell around age 12 on a fishing trip he was dubbed "Soggy Auggy." The boy has a lot of names and he answers to all of 'em!) I found it endearing to find out that Kambree has Austin listed in her cell phone as Austy Boy.
Austin didn't talk much because Kambree did all his talking but he would point at the lights and say "yites" over and over. I was worried because that was all he said for the most part. I even went and had his hearing tested. He could hear just fine he just let Kambree do the talking. One of his first sentences was "Shoot magpies Dad?" during a phase James was going through. (Don't ask.)
I don't remember Devree saying too many odd words because she's always been very precise. So precise that when she learned the words for the parts of the body, she would remind us who had what. "He has a penis. She has a vulva." It was quite embarrassing but no one was more embarrassed than my brother. He took her to the mall and was mortified as she happily announced the anatomy of each mannequin as they passed by "Penis, vulva, vulva, penis....". You get the picture? (Troy still teases her about that every chance he gets!)
Since I didn't blog when the others were first leaning and making mistakes (or social blunders) I thought it only fair to share and document!
Well, the shower, my bed and my Kindle is calling!
