Just Gotta Dance

(Replay of My Yesterday)

I walk the last block and reach my house. Opening the door I enter not the Norris Ranch, but the Norris Rave Club. The music is bumping from the computer speakers, the little boys are dancing in the front room, and the older kids are clapping and urging them on.

Oh yeah...this is what I'm talking about!

I drop my pack, kick off my shoes, and get down. I have Parkour Boy turn up the music a little more (it can never be too loud). The little boys and I alternate who decides the dance moves. Then we get to some freestyle. As the crescendo, we do a little spotlighting.

Holy Terror starts it off with a little arm wave action, moving into some righteous robot frames, and ends with a body wiggling belly dive. Oh yeah, he rocks!

Super Wy starts with a body wiggle, leading into a half jumping twist, a couple ninja kicks, ending with something akin to the splits but not as...painful looking. Whoot Super Wy!

Okay, it's on like Donkey Kong. I can't be out shined by these little squirts. Time to bring the smack down. I start with a little sprinkler, transitioning into a link arm wave combined with a hula hoop motion, ending with a nose plug wiggle drop.

It was so close...we decided to call it a draw.

A Quiet House

A quiet house...

There are days when I dream of a quiet house. On those days where the two teenagers bicker over nothing, complain about chores, or slam the door. Or those days the little boys have dumped a pitcher of dirt into the dogs water bowl, then threw a blanket over the fence to the farm behind our house, then headed off and threw eggs on the backyard cement.

Usually, these are the same days where work was bad, the drive/walk home slow, or the hubby and I grouchy.

But then the house is quiet, like tonight. I've tucked the little boys in their not so clean room (I relinquished the battle to win the war). I've signed all the last minute school papers the teenagers forgot to give me after school. The dogs are fed and laid in their doggy beds.

The house is quiet.

And I am sad. I realize that soon, the house won't only be quiet just after bedtime. The house will become quiet all the time. I will arrive home, not to the little boys trying to ride the dogs like horse. Not to the older kids telling me about a fart in class, or a silly shirt the teacher wore.

No, one day...not very far away. I will come home and the house will already be quiet. Empty of the energy and life children bring. Void of the laughter and chaos they wreak.

For today, at this moment, I will not wish for a quiet house. Instead, I will wish for more time. It's a scientific impossibility. I know. But maybe, just maybe...if I pause what I'm doing and watch more, listen more, interact more. Then maybe it'll almost be like I slowed down time.

I think I might give it a try...no harm in that.

Things Parents Say During a Week...

I thought I'd dedicate today's post on the things parents say during an average week. These are the ones hubby and I compiled from this last week.

1. Stop jumping off the coffee table
2. Quit pushing your brother with the tiger
3. Shut the back door
4. Stop throwing your stuffed animals into the ceiling fan
5. The toilet is not a swimming pool for your action figures
6. You are making me crazy
7. Flush the toilet
8. Shut the back door!
9. Those are your brother's marbles and he doesn't want them lost
10. It is not going to kill you
11. Quit that
12. Stop it
13. SHUT THE BACK DOOR!
14. Because I said so
15. Are you listening?
16. This is the third time....
17. I swear, if you do that one more time
18. You call this clean?
19. SHUT....THE....BACK...DOOR!!!

and the thing we said the most this week?

The Apple Tree

It's late in the evening and Hubby and I are catching up on each others day. Hubby relays a Holy Terror story for me.

Little man came running in excited. "Daddy, daddy, daddy! Come see!"

Daddy followed him out to the back part of the yard where Holy Terror proudly pointed to some muddy dirt.

"Look Daddy, I put my apple seed in the ground and now we'll have a great big apple tree in the back yard."

A couple hours later, Hubby's friend is over and Holy Terror showcased his first gardening endeavor.

"Cool buddy. Are you going to swing on it when it gets bigger?" he asked.

"No. When it grows up I'll have all kinds of fresh apples to eat," Holy Terror said, thrilled.

As Hubby is relaying this story to me, there's an expression of overflowing pride. He gestures with his hand. "You don't understand, honey. He's one step away from growing his own food. If keeps up with taking care of the seed, it means he can survive and provide for himself."

I chuckle and kissed him. "Okay, proud papa."

Losing Your Marbles

I could hear Holy Terror arguing with Billy in the frontroom...it was getting heated. Finally, he comes stomping into our room where we're still laying.

"Billy won't let me play with those little balls!" he cried.

"They're marbles, honey, and are Billy's," I replied.

"But I want to play with them!"

"His marbles are very important to him and he doesn't want them lost," I said.

...Really, does anyone want to lose their marbles?!

Our Soundtrack

I was reading an article today about the healing powers of music and (of course) it got me thinking about what role music plays here at the Norris Ranch. For me, music has been a big part of life. Ash has also always been a big fan of music.

I grew up in a household where Saturday mornings was disco or early rock housecleaning. I'd go to sleep with the radio on. As a child I'd listen to music in my room and write more than I'd watch television. Even now, I have the music on low as I go to sleep. Music is comforting to me personally.

Looking at our household, it plays a large part there as well. My husband and I have music on as we relax, clean the house, or work on projects. My older son and daughter listen to music in their rooms as they fall asleep or when they're drawing. writing, or reading. My little boys love jumping on the coffee table and rock out to all genres of music, as their older brother and sister did when they were little.

It's a connector for us. Whether Ash and I instilled this in them or they were born with a musical muse...it is as much a part of them as us. But it doesn't only connect us; it also individualizes us.

Each older child has identified with a main genre that helps them understand and better define who they are as a person. I've seen them evolve through the types of music they listen too. My younger boys still use mommy and daddy's music to understand and perceive the world around them. Eventually they, like their older siblings, will start veering off into their own music style.

So, I guess music is the background soundtrack at our household. I'm sure it's the same in many, if not most homes. Take a break and listen to the music of you and your children...see what it tells you.

Lucas Turns 11!

I'm a lucky Auntie for the most part. In a time where more extended families are living farther apart from each other, I get to live near half of my nieces and nephews. Yes, we're large enough that I can use the term half without it seeming ridiculous: I have 4 nieces and 4 nephews.

Wednesday was my oldest nephew's 11th birthday. He's the second human who made me an Aunt and the first child of my sisters. He's the first to nickname me something other than Aunt Amber, and the nickname I only allow him to use (sometimes to the jealousy of my other minions)

I don't tell his mom, because it's a mother's constant battle to fret over their kid, but I love Lucas' wild child side. He's a one and only and couldn't ever be mistaken for anyone else.

I love that he can be moody, tempermental, and mouthy. I was moody, tempermental, and mouthy. Heck, his mother was too. (See a family trait immerging?)

He's those things because he's energetic, passionate, and full of life. He's a special soul that doesn't want to conform to societies whims. Part of me, that inner anarchist, roots him on. "Fight the system, my little man!"

I can't wait to see what kind of man he grows into, what kind of mark he leaves on this world...because I'll tell you what, no one else will leave quite the same mark.

Below is a slideshow to a very fitting song. Hope you enjoy this glimpse of my first nephew.



Luc-e-Bear...happy birthday, sweetie. Love you honey!