Pumpkin carving

My kids are getting so big!  Kate and Anna carved their own pumpkins this year!

Messy, beautiful love

Real love is messy.

It's not movie love, where both people in a couple are perfect for one another, their quirks and faults no longer noticeable as they fit together like puzzle pieces.

It's not love you see in commercials, where babies have the perfect baby smell and they irresistibly fall asleep on your shoulder.

Real love is messy.

The people of a couple are imperfect.  They make mistakes.  They disappoint each other.  At times the mere sound of the other person's chewing will make you want to grab the couch pillow and silent him forever.

And kids whine and cry.  They complain and are sometimes ungrateful.  And, sometimes they look as physically messy as they act.  You wonder how a child you know you are housing and feeding looks more feral than boy Tarzan.

Real love is messy.

But, that's real love.

Real love takes the good with the bad, the way he makes you laugh with the way he doesn't know where the pillowcases are stored (which have been in the same place for 8 years), the sweet smiles with the unwarranted temper tantrums and snot crusted noses.

Real love sees the whole person, and loves the whole person, and knows that it's the only love that really matters.

Oh, Anna...

Anna still has her "Oh, Anna" moments.  And my very favorite thing about Anna is that she (like her father) can laugh at herself.

The other day, Dave and Kate were discussing one of her tests.  Kate said that she didn't know if an answer would be all of the above, because she knew a and c were true, but she didn't know if b was also true.

Dave said, "That's something you can learn about taking multiple choice tests, in general.  If you know two of them are true, and you can only pick one answer,  it has to be 'all of the above.'"

Anna shook her head a little and said, "The first time I saw that answer on a test, I didn't know what in the world it meant!  'All of the above'?  Like, what?  The sky, the clouds, the stars?  How could that even be a choice!?"

Technically...

Ally was in one of her sweet moods (which are polar opposites to her other common moods).  She looked at me lovingly and said, "You're the best Mommy ever."

Luke piped up on a technicality, "Well, Ally, there are actually a lot of good mommies."

Modified expectations

Do you think the first line is modified expectations?

I'm the best mom *I* can be, but some other mom could sure do a lot better.

Real and not real

We'd gotten to the cottage late, and Anna was overtired and completely afraid to sleep in her own room without Kate.  At the cottage she shares with Ally, but apparently, she feels Kate is a better protector.

I lay down in her bed with her.  She explained she was a little afraid of ghosts and zombies. 

I  said, "Anna, I know it's sometimes fun to read books that have things like that in them, but you have to remember they're not real."

After a while, I told her we'd do a little check on what was real and what was not real.

"Ghosts," I said.

"Not real," she answered.

"Giraffes."

"Real."

"Zombies."

"Not real."  Then she got a glint in her eye and added, "But zombie giraffes are real," and began to giggle.

Rally Luke

Luke had been at a baseball game with Dave.  I was asleep when they got home.

When Luke went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he came in my room for a snuggle.

"Hey, Buddy," I said, snuggling him close, "How was the game?"

"Great."

"Did the Brewers win?"

"Yes!"

I began to doze a bit and he added, "And mom, we kinda made them win!"

Luke, apple picking with his "wasp protector glove"
 (He'd been stung reaching for a pear the weekend before.)