"Am I a Dork"?

Things have been busy and that is why I have not been able to Blog for so long.  My priorities have been shifted to daily tasks that having children bring, and those that holding a full time job bring, and ofcourse to those of which owning a home brings.  All has been good though with us RI Juengers and for that we are forever grateful.  We had a lovely Thanksgiving with Jeff, Wendy and Kirsty this year.  It was such a treat to have them join us in RI for the holidays and to simply spend some time with some Juengers. This was something that we had not done for almost a year.  It has been a year since Papa Jim passed away and we do miss his visits and his added twist on life. Having Jim's brother and his family hear for Thanksgiving surely helped to fill the hole that his loss has brought to us and the kids and for that we are thankful.

 As busy as we have been over the past weeks there are a few things that stick out when I think about moments to Blog about.  Here are a few of my favorites. 

I was giving M and M a bath the other day and Molly lined up a bunch of fairy figurines on the side of the bath and asked Myles to pick his wife.  She told him that each fairy would perform and then he needed to pick which one he would marry.  It was so darn cute.  We had one fairy singing "Jingle Bells" another singing "Row, Row, Row your Boat", etc.  After each one sang Myles would flick them into the bath and say, "not my wife".  He ended up flicking everyone into the bathtub and never settling on just one "wife".  Molly did not seem to mind that he never choose a wife; and there I stood in the bathroom (folding laundry) smiling from the inside out at their cuteness. Oh to be 7 years old again. 

Speaking of being young again. Hudson's "thing" these days is to force my mom and me into telling him stories while driving in the car to and from school. I bring Hudson to school every morning and he begs just begs me to tell him stories from when I was little.  This is hard to do for me. I really do not remember as much as I should, but I recall the same dozen stories to him on a daily basis.  As it turns out he begs Grandma to tell stories about when I was a little girl as well and so she gives in and after her long day of working, when she could have quiet time in the car, she forces out stories of my childhood to Hudson.  Doesn't it all sound so nostalgic and sweet?  Well, when your four year old is telling you that "that is not what happened" as you retell a story the next day after it was told slightly differently from Grandma the day before it becomes quite odd, quite stressful, quite intense.  So, lately my trips to school seem to feel more like I am being put on the stand at a trial and being asked to retell what I witnessed in a crime scene rather than bringing on the feeling of coziness from long ago!  Grandma and I need to talk and compare stories and details and apparently get them exactly right so we do not get interrogated by Huddy.  Hudson is a vocal boy, who wants everything his way, who does not like change and who is constantly looking for a story, a true story and nothing but the real story.

So, to wrap up the past several weeks and the type of moments we have been sharing together in our family.   The simply joys of seven year olds and the sometimes wearing whininess of a four year old. I leave you with this from breakfast this morning.

Now let me set the scene-
Kids around the table eating breakfast with me and Shawn getting his morning coffee.
Myles: "AM I A DORK?"
ME: "WHAT?"
Shawn nearly spit his coffee out.
Myles: "A DORK MOM, AM I A DORK?"
ME: "NO!  Why would you ask that?"
Myles: "Oh, okay.  Kids are school call me that so I was just wondering."
Shawn gave me a glance that was priceless and I laid my head on the table nearly busting a gut.  We were careful not to make a big deal of this but can you even handle this?  So, breakfast went on, as if nothing ever happened. I casually said, "probably not a good idea to call someone a dork".  And that was that.

Life is simple, life is innocent and kids are precious!

*One last note....our neighbor just had her 4th baby boy last week.  Myles told me that "Luke (the neighbors 7 year old) said it is his dad's fault that Tina keeps having boys.  That decision comes from the dad.  So, even if Tina wants a girl, Tim gets a final say and he keeps choosing boys because that comes from the dad."