Rayburn Update

"Ni Hao" written by Lillie on her iPad

It seems I am only capable of writing 2 or 3 blog posts in a year, so here is an update on our family:

Lillie is going to be 9 in less than three months. Where did the time go?! She is in the third grade, and she's doing wonderfully. She still reads everything she can get her hands on ... today she took to school an old college textbook of my mom's. It's an anthology of children's literature. It's hardcover, thick, yellowed pages, a little light reading you know. She also loves science. She questions and examines everything. On her first quarter report card, her science teacher wrote:

Lillie is making great progress in science.  She is engaged in learning discussions and activities and she puts forth great effort to use the  science vocabulary in her communications.  Lillie makes super learning connections and she often has insightful questions for her teacher and  her peers.  Lillie moves us all to a deeper understanding about science!  Lillie works well independently, in partnership, and in a group setting.  She is able to focus on her science learning and to complete her notes with detail and accuracy.  

Funny ... her homeroom teacher wrote that she had trouble focusing and completing assignments, and seemed bored working in a group. I think science may be her "thing." :)

  

Harlan is having fun in first grade! His weekly behavior reports have been pretty consistently great over the past couple of months, which is AMAZING!! I think he has become more mature lately ... overall, that is ... he can still throw a doozy of a tantrum when he feels inclined. He is getting really good at reading, and he reads ahead of his grade level. A little girl in his class has decided (and he is fine with this) that they are going to get married. She has even named their children. And last week he brought home a few drawings that had "I Love You" written on them. I thought he made them for me. NOPE, this little girl gave them to him. I think it's funny (because they are 7, not 14) but her mom is not happy with her daughter's single-mindedness on getting married and having babies. It is quite amusing. (Again, because they are not teenagers... in a few years, I'll have something quite different to say if this is still going on!)

 He is trying out a new sport to see if he likes it. Recently on a walk on the University of Missouri campus, we saw some guys from the Mizzou Lacrosse team tossing a ball around, and Harlan was really intrigued. Long story short, one of the guys let him use his stick and Harlan got in on the game! The guy told me that they were all really amazed with how fast Harlan seemed to pick it up, especially for a first time playing and using a stick 2x his size! So tomorrow he is having a lacrosse lesson, and we're going to see the Mizzou team play a game! I picked up some cheap plastic lacrosse sticks ("Fiddlestix") and he has been practicing. ... with a foam golf ball, because within 10 minutes of opening the package he had thrown the rubber lacrosse ball on the roof. That's my Harlan! :)

Sophie LOVES junior kindergarten! She has all sorts of friends in there, including a boy named JT, who holds her hand on the playground and orders lunch for her in the cafeteria. (That's for real.) We are just glad that she's out of her boy-crazy phase from the beginning of school, when she only played with boys -- several boys, evidently -- and they played "bad guys" on the playground. Every night at dinner, she would tell us all about her "Bad Boyfriends." We were a little worried. She has started reading some sight words and she's figuring out how to sound out words she doesn't know.

It has come to our attention that Sophie is having some difficulty learning songs at church and school. I think she has trouble differentiating the sounds of the words from the sounds of the music, and in the words of her audiologist Michelle, "The sounds get mushed together." So I've been researching music therapy, and working closely with her piano teacher and primary presidency, to figure out the best way to teach her songs. I've also been communicating with her music teacher at school, who thinks Sophie is doing great and doesn't need any extra help. I'm hoping to go observe her music class soon to see for myself. It would be odd for her to be struggling with church songs and piano, but somehow understand music at school with no problems. Maybe he has a different teaching style that is working better. Hopefully I'll know soon enough.

    

The 3 bigger kiddos have all been involved in extracurricular activities lately. Lillie and Harlan have Chess Club and Running Club once a week after school. All 3 played soccer this season, and started taking piano lessons. At school they are all learning Mandarin. Lillie has the best handwriting and pronunciation in her class (according to her teacher) and the other day she and Harlan had a conversation at home! "What animal is that?" "That animal is a dog." Cool stuff!! I need to learn, too, so they don't start to have secret conversations right in front of me that I don't understand.

Suzie turned one! She is cruising all around the furniture, but she hasn't ventured out into the middle of the room yet without holding on to something. We bought her a little toy for her birthday that has a handle and wheels, so she can hold on to it and walk around. She has a lot of fun with it. She is happy almost all the time. She really enjoys the dogs and squeals, "Dah! Dah!" when she sees them. She also makes noises that sound a little like Dad, Lillie, and Hi. But she's got Mama mastered. She likes to call me Mom. :) She has the sweetest laugh and is just a little ray of cheery sunshine. Unless she isn't getting what she wants, in which case she screams and hollers at the top of her lungs. She knows how to get attention.

Suzie is always busy. Reaching for whatever is within her grasp, exploring all the places she shouldn't go, crawling treacherously close to the top of the stairs, then turning around with a mischievous grin to see if I'm watching. She is constantly on the MOVE, which makes me wonder what will happen when she's old enough to actually get around a little more, and too old to be strapped into a high chair or confined to a "Jenny Jump-Up" hanging in the doorway. I have a feeling this kiddo is gonna bring trouble. :)

Wes is working A LOT. Besides his residency, he is also working about 40 hours (or more) per week in the emergency room in Boonville. So we hardly ever see him. And when we do, he is sleeping, or changing out of scrubs into khakis, or vice versa, and rushing out the door. But we paid off a few credit cards this month! When we get a handle on our debt, and start to bring up our credit scores, he will be able to back off the moonlighting and we will be able to factor him into our daily routine again.

I'm still juggling -- kids, pottery, laundry, dishes, cleaning (that ball gets dropped a LOT), church, errands, bills, etc, etc, etc. I've been exercising consistently for a while now. I set a personal record this week of 5.33 miles in an hour on my elliptical machine! That is my main method of exercising, although I occasionally go for bike rides with friends on the MKT / Katy trail. I exercise to ward off migraines and as a "mood stabilizer." (That's my fancy way of saying I was depressed and this is helping.) Oh and there's also the bonus of being able to fit into my skinny jeans again, a nice side benefit!

Update!

Hello, family and friends! Just a quick update ... It has been a very hectic year so far! We have had a total of over 2 feet of snow descend upon us in the past month. Last week the kiddos were out of school 4 days because of the snow! We are very happy to be back in school this week. Besides the snow, we also made a whirlwind trip down to Jackson, MS, for my grandfather's funeral. Daddo was 91 years old and had lived a very happy and full life. We will miss him. The bright side of it, though, was that it brought the family together. I got to see cousins I hadn't seen in years!

Lillie is having a blast in 2nd grade, reading voraciously and learning cursive! She loves science best of all, I think. She recently celebrated her 8th birthday and was baptized! (More about why kiddos are baptized at age 8 here.) She is excited to start going to "activity days" at church every other Wednesday.

Harlan is doing great in kindergarten! His amazing teacher, Mrs. Washer, is very patient and understanding of my little man. Just in the past month or so, I have noticed a remarkable improvement in his maturity and his ability to handle his frustrations. He is growing up! He looks forward to his piano lesson every Monday after school, and he has even started composing a song of his own. He's excited to start playing soccer next month.

Sophie is silly and fun as ever! Friendly and boisterous! Her speech and listening skills are improving all the time. Even her audiologist is very impressed. She had surgery in December to put tubes in her ears, hopefully to relieve some pressure she was having that was causing her right ear to hurt when we put her processor on that side. So far it seems to be doing the trick! She will start horseback riding again next month.

Suzie is the most delightful baby you could ever meet. She is happy and calm, she only fusses when she's tired or needs a diaper change, she has got herself on a schedule, and she sucks her thumb to put herself to sleep. She smiles a lot, giggles, blows bubbles, and babbles. She loves to watch her big siblings play, and I can tell she's just so excited to be able to go and participate!

Wes is working hard at the Rehab hospital as well as moonlighting in the ER. He doesn't get much sleep. He continues to impress the attending physicians and other residents. He is presenting a poster at the AAP (Association of Academic Physiatrists) meeting in Phoenix in April. So we are all going and having a vacation! Finally Lillie will get to see the Grand Canyon!

I'm trying to keep juggling everyone and everything. People need to get their homework done, have clean clothes to wear, get around to different places on time, eat, etc ..... I've done a little pottery lately but not much. I'm hoping to do more soon.

That's about it! I'm planning to write more regular updates, so check back soon!

Tis the season to be jolly?

(People who have - or pretend to have - perfect families just annoy me. I do not want to be one of those people. So here is the real, true story of how I made Christmas cookies with my kiddos today.)

Although we are not traveling this season, I am determined that, in January, my kiddos will not look back and feel like their Christmas break was wasted. Yesterday we didn't do much, except Harlan, who played at his friend Sam's house then had his piano lesson. While he was busy with those things, the girls and I went to the grocery store. Hooray!

Today, (1) the kiddos were fighting and yelling at each other, (2) I'm currently being tormented by an awful cold which makes my throat sore, my ears throb, my nose run, and makes me extremely grumpy, (3) I couldn't sleep very well last night, so that makes me even grumpier. BUT I was determined to spend quality time having FUN today! We made Christmas cookies. Everyone was grumping at everyone else about whose turn it was to dump the next ingredient, whose turn it was to get on the chair to see in the mixer, whose toes (MINE) were getting smashed when people were sliding the chair around ... but we made those cookies!

 Getting ready to start

 Harlan adds the shortening

 Suzie helped, too!

 At least someone was happy!

 Harlan threw a big fit! I don't remember why.

She was a big helper.

The kiddos went to play while the cookies baked. I made the frosting (yum!), then I cooked some tortellini and discovered too late - after a frantic text to Wes - that he had thrown away the one jar of Alfredo sauce we had. It was brand new! What the heck?! So I put pesto sauce on it, which is great for me but made kiddos whine even more. I forced them to eat it, using the cookies as a bribe. They ate it -- but they were not happy about it!

Then we mixed colors into the frosting! Decorating the cookies brought more contention. There was more arguing, about who would get to use the pink frosting first, who was sitting too close to someone else, and who was licking the spoons in the communal frosting cups. Oh, joy!

Harlan, caught in the act

Still helping! (Notice she's wearing different clothes ... I'm leaving that loveliness out of my post...)

Would you like some cookie with your sprinkles?

 

And now they are all in their beds, in the room that they share, NOT sleeping as I told them to do. I hear giggling and scurrying and someone - probably Lillie - saying, "SSHHH!" And maybe I should be mad that they're not napping ... but I'm just glad they're finally getting along.

Update

Oh my, oh my. Lots going on around here ... if you are my facebook friend (which I think all 3 of the people who read this are), then you know most of it.

First, we're expecting another baby! Estimated arrival date: October 18. My two very best friends have October birthdays, so I'm super excited for this! :) (You know who you are!) (Actually I don't think they read this. Oh well.) I'm hoping we'll be able to find out what kind of baby this is on May 18. Then we can finalize our name and start calling him/her something other than "baby in the tummy."

In not-so-great news, my mother's illness is back. Her esophageal cancer has made a horrid return and spread also to her liver and spine. She got some not-great news from the dr on Monday, so we're all dealing with that. Hopefully Harlan and I will be able to make a trip down to visit her next weekend.

Also, Wes is getting ready to take the Step 3 board exam! He has to take it in St. Louis, so he will leave today after church and come home Tuesday night. It is a BIG DEAL, so we're pretty nervous about it. :-\

Speaking of Wes, we're about to celebrate our 10-year anniversary! Wes's mom is driving down later this month to watch the kiddos and pup for a week while we head to Breckenridge, CO. The trip is largely courtesy of my parents, who are providing the condo. We were planning to do some whitewater rafting, but with "baby in the tummy," I'm thinking we probably won't be allowed to do that. We'll hike instead! And sleep late every day! And eat ice cream without having to share! :)

Speaking of Wes's mom, we are very excited to see her, since the last time we saw her was in September! And maybe we will get to see June, too, but we're not sure of that, yet. Everyone is super excited for Granyan's visit!

When Land drives down to watch the kiddos, she will be driving our new car! My dream car, of course, a red 1971 VW bus! WooHoo! I'm so anxious to see the bus, especially after all of the hard work and elbow grease Land has put into renovations and cleaning! :)

Also, my pottery has been selling pretty well! I've been making a steady $70/month at the Marriott for the past 3 months, which is cool, and I've also stayed busy with special orders! :) For now, the pottery is my hobby that pays for itself, and I think that's great for now!

Kiddos are great. Sophie is talking circles around us ... except Lillie, my chatterbox who never stops talking! Harlan is doing well in the boys' gymnastics class and looking forward to starting kindergarten next year. And Lillie's great, too, reading like crazy and learning her math facts and playing outside. She just had her spring concert for school, and she did a great job!

I think that's about all for now. We're dealing with some scary stuff with my mom, but otherwise life is good!

Get to Know the Rayburns 2010

Wow, that is the first time I've typed the new year ... it looks so sci-fi!

Anyway, It's time again for the annual new year's email, with all the information you ever wanted to know about us ... and some you didn't!! So, without further adieu, here goes .....

Sophie...
Favorite food: She loves it all. She is our best eater! Of course, she goes crazy over chocolate.
Loves: Babies, Sport Dog, her family, Ella (her favorite friend at school), her teachers, pushing the kid-sized buggy at the grocery store, bathtime, doing things HERSELF!
Does not like: Taking naps. Otherwise she is a really happy kiddo.
Favorite movie: She loves Dora the Explorer now, especially the one where Dora turns into a "true princess." She also likes the princess Barbie movies.
Favorite book: Pinkalicious, Purplicious, Goldilicious (by Elizabeth and Victoria Kann)
Favorite animal: A little plastic toy unicorn. Today, anyway! OH, and Sport Dog, of course!
Wants to be: A doctor, I guess. She insists that she already is! ("Daddy is a doctor. And I am a doctor too!") She also likes to tell me, "Mommy, I am the teacher," and then boss me around. Also she wants to be "Girl Superman," and she insists that Superman is coming to take her to fly with him.
Annoying habit: Rolling around on the floor and making her processors come off. I hate that! Also grinding her teeth. Yuck!
Best trick: Putting her 'ears' to bed! Every night, she puts the batteries on the charger, the processors in their special drying box, and the 'ear gear' (the cloth cover that clips on to her shirt) in its box. Then she signs 'good night' and 'stay in bed' to them. :)

Favorite color: Why, pink, of course!

Challenge: Keeping her processors on her ears.

Sophie is our little ray of sunshine! She is happy, friendly, agreeable and fun. She makes us laugh all the time, but there's nothing big I can share ... it's just a million little things all through the day. She is fancy. She calls her eyelashes "eye-licious" and must always eat her food on pink plates and bowls. She makes the funniest faces and loves everybody. When she gets excited, she jumps up and down laughing. She is very gentle and nurturing. I would say she is the best of the kiddos with handling Sport Dog. She touches him softly and cradles his chin in one hand while stroking his head with the other, and whispering to him what a good boy he is. She wants to help take care of him. She loves to look at books and sing songs for us and dance. Music is still a big deal with this one!

Harlan...
Favorite food: Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, fruit and cereal. Really, that's all he wants to eat. He humors us by eating pizza and rice and other things, but if he had a choice he would live on those three things. We're cutting down on his gluten, and I've bought some pills that he can take when he eats wheat that will help him to digest it, and his tummy aches have ceased! Hooray! Now he can eat and grow a little -- maybe!
Loves: Watching movies, making art, writing 'notes' -- like one from yesterday that says, "I LOVV YOO MOM AND DAD" (and the O in love is shaped like a heart.) He loves pretending to be a hero, playing outside, driving his little jeep that Wes fixed up for him, working at the food pantry, HELPING. He doesn't just love helping; he feels a compulsive need to do it. Always. And if we don't let him, he cries. He also loves making pottery with me!
Does not like: Sitting at home doing nothing. Too bad he's not in school yet!
Favorite movie: The Superman movies with Christopher Reeve. He loves all four. He also watched Spiderman for the first time recently, which was thrilling!
Favorite book: This week, he loves this book called "Snowmen at Night." We have a couple of snowmen in our front yard, and the book is all about what they do at night and why eventually they start to look a little droopy. It's because of the Snowmen Games. He also LOVES the pigeon books by Mo Willems.

Favorite animal: (Besides Sport Dog) ... He still loves this bear that our neighbor Kim (Kiki) gave him for Valentine's Day last year. When you squeeze it, it sings part of "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." He likes to sleep with it. Funny, he didn't seem to care about it when she gave it to him, but now it's one of his favorite things. Go figure.
Wants to be: I have no idea. With this kid, anything is possible.

Annoying habit: (We spend 24/7 together ... so I can make a longer list for him than for the girls.) He still talks too loudly. Except when I'm in the car and there's a lot of road noise, and he actually NEEDS to speak up to be heard. Then he whispers. And he talks to Sophie when her ears are off. I am so sick of telling him that she can't hear him!!

Best trick: He is really strong and can do amazing things on the monkeybars and the bars at gymnastics! He is very creative and makes up the coolest stories and songs. He's a good dancer, too, and I love to see the art he comes up with!
Favorite color: It depends on the day. He seems to like them all.

Challenge: He is really impatient. He gives up easily and throws tantrums when something is too hard for him. Example: today we were playing Beatles Rock Band and he knocked over the drum set in frustration. I think his temper causes quite a lot of his troubles.

Harlan and I have been volunteering at the food pantry for two and a half months, since October 15. We go every Thursday with our friends Sarah and Kaitlyn Stancliffe and have not missed a day yet ... even Christmas Eve and New Years Eve! He loves it (you know, he NEEDS to help!) Sean, the guy in charge, gives Harlan and Kaitlyn (who is four) really great age-appropriate activities to do. They love to stock the shelves, bag the veggies, push the carts of food, open boxes, and even use the box-crusher machine (with supervision, of course!) According to Sean, we are his fastest volunteers! It's been great for Harlan's self esteem, attention span, and social skills. He has to follow directions and do the jobs he's given, not just the things he wants to do. Also, from stocking the donuts, cookies and cakes, he has learned that just because he sees something he wants doesn't mean that he gets to have it. (That was a struggle for us for a long time!) And now when we walk in, Harlan looks to see what needs to be done, then he goes straight to the shelves and gets to work, without even needing to be told! He is friendly and usually has a sweet smile for everyone. He is also very entertaining. He has this awesome fake-faint that he does when we tell him something exciting, like if we're going out to eat, or if friends are coming over, or we're going to the pool ... He smiles, rolls his eyes back in his head, sticks his tongue out of the side of his mouth, and fake-faints on the floor. It is hilarious to see!! He is curious, intelligent, helpful, caring and creative. And above all, ACTIVE! When we figure out how to harness all of that energy, he will do great things!!

Lillie...
Favorite food: Still cauliflower. And strawberries, nachos, and rice with butter and salt. She likes pasta with white sauce and mac-&-cheese. Her favorite pizza is the macaroni and cheese pizza at Cici's.

Loves: Reading! She has a little bookmark light, and she stays up in her bed at night reading. She loves to roller skate for fun, but she didn't want to continue with her lessons. She also loves making art, planning lessons and activities for family home evening (which we don't do every week like we should). She loves planning anything, really, now that I think about it. She is a big planner.

Does not like: TOMATOES. And sweetened coconut. Oh boy, you should see the face she makes when she tastes these things! It's almost as good as my mother-in-law's mayonnaise face. Which is hilarious. :)
Favorite movie: Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure. It's new. She also likes "G-Force," which I still have not watched entirely because it looks ridiculous to me. It's about guinea pigs that are spies or something. But the kiddos love it, Lillie especially.
Favorite book: We still haven't finished the Little House series. It is really hard to find the time each day to read with just her! I need to do better with that. Anyway, she has been reading every smallish chapter book she can get her hands on. She loves the Rainbow Magic series, Junie B. Jones and Katie Kazoo Switcheroo. She really enjoys Choose Your Own Adventure books as well, but it's hard to find them on her level.
Favorite animal: She still sleeps with the huge Care Bear that Auntie-Mel (our friend Melva) gave her for her first Christmas when she was only 11 months old. And "Little Brown Dog," which has been dear to her for a long, long time. She has a few others that are 'special' ... but not really ... at least, they aren't until Sophie or Harlan grabs one of them, then suddenly it's the end of the world because that's her special toy!
Wants to be: Everything! She still can't decide. And frankly, she is so smart that she will be great at anything she chooses to do.
Annoying habit: WORRYING!! She worries about everything! Germs, and weather, and Wes and me leaving to go see a movie, and the fireplace, and burglars, and monsters, and vampires, and the dark ... She is a huge worrier!
Best trick: Reading. She is an amazing reader. She read the Christmas story this year, and I put it on youtube for our family. (See it here.) She's also a talented speller. She sometimes spells entire sentences when she is talking to me, just for fun. She has learned to do really amazing things on roller skates during her lessons these past few months! She can also do the monkey bars, make beautiful art, and create neat stuff out of junk!
Favorite color: Purple.

Favorite word: Voracious is her very favorite word. She uses it a LOT. ("Mommy, I'm VORACIOUS!") I don't think she really is, because she still manages to be picky, and voracious people are not picky eaters! Pelvis is her favorite 'body part' word. I have no idea why, but she's been saying that for over a year now!

Lillie is a very scientific, intellectual kid. She needs specific answers and proof to back them up. She asks questions that sometimes stump me, and even Wes, and we can tell that she has put a great deal of thought into them. And they are never-ending! She always has something going through that little brain of hers that she is going over and trying to figure out. She never stops thinking and analyzing EVERYTHING! She is, as I mentioned, quite a little worrier, which is annoying. But it also means she is very careful. She always remembers to wash her hands or use hand sanitizer before she eats, she remembers to say her prayers, she doesn't do dangerous things, she makes sure to bundle up before going out (unlike Harlan, who wants to wear short sleeves and no coat in the 20-degree weather.) She is a great helper with Harlan and Sophie. She sometimes brushes Sophie's teeth for me (actually, sometimes Sophie asks for her to brush them!), she takes Sophie potty, and one night when the phone rang in the middle of book time, I came back to the bedroom to find Lillie reading Sophie's Dora book to her. She had picked up where I had left off when the phone rang! She is very, very good at doing chores! The other day, she collected all the toys from the house and put them in the playroom, then took all dirty clothes to the laundry chute, sorted the clean kids' clothes into a pile for each kiddo, cleaned and wiped off the dining room table, and vacuumed and swiffered the dining room floor! Without complaining! She can also straighten the playroom by herself! She is a thoughtful, loving and caring girl; a wonderful helper; and a sweetheart and a blessing to our family!

Wes:
Favorite food: Pizzas, sloppy joes, grits and fried eggs. He also likes trying the dinners that I make up as I go along. I love him for that! :)
Loves: US!! He has been so, so, so nice and wonderful since residency started this year. While other women are complaining about how their husbands are never at home and/or awake during residency, he is reorganizing my pottery space, building shelves and a toy fridge for the kiddos, doing the yard work, straightening the house, making snowmen, helping friends with various projects (fixing a piano bench, helping to move, making steps on a steep hill in someone's back yard), spending time with me after the kids are in bed, hanging out with friends who come over for dinner and games, and building fires for us in our fireplace. (So that is where Harlan gets his desire to help! I just realized that!) Anyway, so you see, he just loves us! Aren't we the lucky ones!!!
Does not like: Sweetened coconut. Just like Lillie. And clutter. And those times when I think I've told him something, but I haven't really, and I talk to him about it like he already knows. He hates that. Otherwise, he pretty much likes most other things.
Favorite movie: He loves almost all movies. But I think his favorite at the moment is "August Rush." He was recently impressed with "Avatar." He also loved "Slumdog Millionaire" and the Bourne trilogy. And all of the X-Men movies. OH, and Ironman. He gets really excited about that one.
Favorite book: Most recently, he listened to an audiobook called "Born to Run," which he thought was really interesting. He also enjoyed "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell and was excited to get another book for Christmas by the same author called "The Outliers." He also loves the Ender series by Orson Scott Card.
Favorite animal: Phoenix. Hey, who said it had to be a REAL animal?!
Wants to be: A physiatrist. And an inventor. His ideal career would be to work in academic medicine, doing research and coming up with better instruments to help other doctors in his field as well as tools to help the patients get around and build their strength. He has a load of great ideas, of course, and can't wait to get started!
Annoying habit: Falling asleep. I guess it comes with the first year of residency. He usually keeps pretty busy (obviously) but as soon as he sits still for even a few minutes, he is out like a light! It is annoying, but forgivable. And completely justified!
Best trick: Making something cool out of a bunch of junk. (Like Lillie!) And making our house the coolest, most awesomely fun house in town ... with a secret mouse-hole from the coat closet to the playroom closet, and monkeybars in the basement, and the best at-home pottery studio ever, and Lillie's own 'room' made out of the bottom half of her bunk bed!
Favorite color: Black, green, blue.

Life Philosophy: Normal is boring!

(Wes, you can skip this paragraph if you want ... this is where I brag shamelessly about how wonderful you are!) Wes is halfway through his first, hardest year of residency. Somehow he manages to make time for it all, as I already mentioned. He balances his church calling (elders quorum counselor), his 90-hour, frequently-overnight-with-no-sleep job, and his family as well. He is the smartest person I've ever met ... not just book smart, although obviously he is that, but really he is very talented at figuring out unorthodox ways of making things better and solving problems. He is excited about life ... take for example yesterday, when he came in after an overnight shift with only a 2-hour nap, and was so excited that the snow outside was perfect for making a snowman! He changed into his warm clothes and immediately set to work outside. He built a snowman almost as tall as himself before showering and hitting the sack. He makes life an adventure, full of fun, love, learning and creativity. I am so grateful for him!

Samantha: (My answers haven't changed that much since last year.)
Favorite food: Sushi, Indian food, chocolate, Wes's cheese grits with turkey bacon.
Loves: Pottery, reading, art, yoga, editing, cooking new things, helping others. I love working at the food pantry! I love to help in the community, and I love what it's doing for Harlan!
Does not like: Cleaning clutter, potty training, paying bills, having to be the mean disciplinarian. I'd rather just have fun with the kiddos! But I do what is necessary.
Favorite movie: Different ones for different days. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Star Trek movie that just came out this year! Wow, that movie makes me happy! I can't wait for the next one.
Favorite book: Sadly, my list of to-reads is much, much longer than my list of already-read. I loved Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen. Seriously, though, it's been a long time since I had a chance to sit down and read. Laundry/kids/dishes/misc cleaning/quality time with Wes/pottery have all killed my reading time. All good, worthwhile things. There just aren't enough hours in my day.

Favorite animal: I like turtles. And now I like Sport Dog. He's the best doggy ever.
Wants to be: A great mom, a potter, a person who makes my community better and helps others, a good friend, an open-minded and nonjudgmental person. I'd also like to go to grad school someday. I also want to be the driver of a 1964 VW bus. Now taking donations. ;)
Annoying habit: Making clutter. Losing stuff. Wearing jeans too many times before washing them again. Washing a ton of laundry but not folding it. I'm sure Wes and the kids could come up with a few more ... but I won't let them. I do all the typing around here!!
Best trick: Making pottery. Also my awesome eye trick. And having really cool kiddos. I mean, there are no better kiddos than mine!! I can also make up dinner as I go along and end up with something tasty. (At least Wes says so!)
Favorite color: Easy answer: earth tones. Brown, green, 'brownish-greenish,' as Lillie would say. I wear a lot of black lately as well. But really I love all the colors for different things. For example, I love the red of my dining room walls and my iphone case. I thoroughly enjoy my bright orange bar stools. I like the bright green of my jacket and the flower pot my mom glazed in some pottery class in the 70s and the yellow in my Rosie the Riveter poster.

Life philosophy: Life is short, so try new things!

Sport Dog (just for fun!)

Favorite food: This dog eats everything! He loves peanut butter, apple cores, pancakes with syrup, asparagus casserole (found that one out after I went to put the kids to bed without clearing the table first. Oops!) And he enjoys his beef liver treats. Gross!
Loves: People! And tug-of-war and fetch. And barking at people who walk in front of our house.
Does not like: People who walk in front of our house. Especially the ones with dogs. And they are not allowed to walk on the sidewalk across the street, either. It is all Sport Dog's territory. And ohmygoodness you should have heard him when a family of deer wandered through our neighborhood one night!
Favorite movie: Well. He is a dog. But when a dog barks in a movie, he barks back. So I guess he likes movies with dogs. Or maybe he hates them. It's hard to tell.
Favorite book: We have a board book with a squeaking cricket on the front that he occasionally gets and chews. He freaks out when it squeaks. It is quite funny, especially since it's just a book we got at the salvation army. He has never ever chewed any other books.

Favorite animal: Ummmm .... people? :)
Wants to be: Well fed and pampered. Don't we all? :)

Annoying habit: He is always right at my heels, which is simultaneously annoying and endearing. When he wants to play, he brings a toy and presses it against my leg until I throw it for him or play tug-of-war with him. This is usually fine ... except when it's his loud squeaky toy! Then it gets annoying! Also he eats people food off the table without permission. And it gives him gas. And that is disgusting and annoying. Also, I am very grateful that he was so easy to potty train ... he hasn't had an accident in the house in a couple of months. But I am annoyed at the poop in the yard. I would like the yard to be clean for my kiddos and their friends to play. It would be nice if he would just not poop. I'd appreciate that. Other than the pooping, he's a great dog.

Best trick: He has lots! He can sit, lie down, roll over, crawl, turn in a circle, beg, and shake. My favorite, though, is that he can shut the door behind himself when he comes in from outside.

Favorite color: Aren't dogs color blind?

Challenge: Getting him to quit jumping on people when they come over! He is just so excited to see them! We're working on this one.

Life philosophy: Who are you? Let's be friends! Can I have a bite of whatever that is you're eating? Is that a toy? Looks like a toy! Here's a ball! Throw the ball!! Let's play! You're my best friend!

And, if that isn't enough of the Rayburns for you, check out our pictures!! Lots and lots!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/playwithdirt/NovDec200902

Samantha

Setting goals

Goals (Or maybe just a wish list):

Yoga almost daily (I am afraid of commitment)

Read scriptures daily

Read a book a week

Eat healthier

Stop clutter BEFORE it comes into my house

Finish what I start!

To be continued ...........

One successful day!

Every now and then I have a hugely successful day, a day full of motivation and drive. And usually when I have these days I write about them in my blog. (See, they ARE rare!) So now I will share my today.

Woke up. Showered. Dressed myself and three kiddos. Packed Sophie's lunch. Switched the laundry. Dropped off the girls at school. Took Harlan to gymnastics.

Dropped off Sophie's enrollment forms at the Columbia Public Schools office (so they can pay for her services at Moog). Dropped off Sophie's Medicaid application (a requirement of the Bureau of Special Health Care Needs ... so they can also maybe help pay for her services). Went to the Food Bank to buy t-shirts for our Thursday morning volunteer efforts at the Pantry. Bought groceries at Wal-Mart (no small feat with Harlan in tow!)

Came home. Ate lunch. Switched the laundry. Picked up the girls from school, back home for a much-needed 30-minute rest. Got Lillie dressed in the fancy outfit loaned to us by her wonderful roller skating teacher. Took my friend her 'we work for food' shirt (surprise!), drove all three kiddos to the skating rink for Lillie's special practice in preparation for her talent show (which is Monday).

Returned home. Fed the kiddos pasta and apples for dinner. (Skipped the bath tonight.) Teeth brushed, faces washed, pajamas on, books read, songs sung, Sophie's 'ears' put safely in their special box for the night.

Washed dishes, folded laundry (most of it, anyway), took out the trash and recycles, played with the puppy. Located two missing library books and set Sophie's Halloween costume aside for her to take to school tomorrow. Typed a blog entry. Went to bed BEFORE midnight ............ maybe.

And all on a day when I had only 5 hours of sleep the night before (up late folding ... we have lots of clothes, evidently), and a night when Wes is on call!

And so I give some credit to my friend Rosie, whose poster and action-figure, proudly displayed on my red kitchen walls, gives me the inspiration to make it through another day:

A few random things...

1. My new favorite Pandora station is the B-52's station. If you are not familiar with pandora.com, you really should take a look ... no matter what kind of music you like.

2. Today my kiddos had their first tastes of Ramen noodles. I haven't bought Ramen in 8 years or more. I was pleased to read the wrapper and find that Maruchan refuses to compromise flavor for some silly passing fad ... like nutrition. It says, "You may reduce the sodium level by simply using less of the seasoning packet." You want healthy? Use less seasoning. Or eat something else. Nice to know that some things never change.

3. I hate plastic bags, so whenever I go to the store I buy the 99c cloth reusable shopping bags. The problem is that I always forget to take them with me when I go shopping, so now I have an abundance of reusable shopping bags in my closet at home. I've tried keeping them in my car. I still forget them when I walk into the store.

4. Sophie refuses to use the word "ponytail" and prefers to call them "kittytails" instead.

5. I love thunderstorms. I didn't when I was a kid, or even up until just a couple of years ago. But I love to hear the thunder boom and see the wind blow and the rain pound. It is so gratifying to see Mother Nature throw a huge tantrum. I think it's because I often feel like I'd like to throw a big hissy fit but I'm not allowed to ... I'm living vicariously through the weather.

6. The huge fundraiser for Sophie's school, "Name that Tune," is one week from tonight. I need to find a rock-and-roll costume to wear, and I only have a week! Too bad I gave away my black vinyl pants ... but they probably wouldn't fit anymore anyway. :(

7. Harlan's gymnastics place, Tiger Academy of Gymnastics, has a float in the homecoming parade this Saturday. We get to ride on it! (Shh, it's a surprise!)

8. Today Lillie stayed home from school (again) with a weird stomach bug (no fever, no fatigue, no loss of appetite, just a little runny-ness.) Anyway, she decided to 'homeschool' Harlan today. She came up with a schedule and everything: free play time, reading time, snack time, spelling test, science, etc. She even scheduled time to teach him to be nice to the dog. She is such a little teacher! Unfortunately, Harlan does what he wants to do ... not what other people tell him to do. Lillie got frustrated. Now they are just playing in the playroom.

Just felt like sharing. I'm trying to be better at this blogging thing!

PS - I just noticed Lillie did not eat her Ramen. I asked her why and she replied, "It was too salty." Hmph.

Moving nightmare

Wednesday, April 1 was our official "MOVING DAY." Lesson to all of you: never plan a big event, such as a move, on April Fool's Day. Not a great idea. We were definitely the victims of some ridiculous cosmic april fool's gag ... read on ...

Our trouble actually started a little bit last Friday, when Wes was loading up our (first) Penske to make the trip with all the stuff. He was moving a metal filing cabinet and almost sliced off the tip of his pinky on a jagged part. I never knew so much blood could come out of a pinky finger. Wes went into shock. He was feeling ill, curled up in the bathroom in the fetal position. He really did turn green. It was bad. I called our friend Spencer, who is an ER resident who happened to be off work at the time (thank goodness!) and he came over, numbed Wes's finger and stitched it up. Three stitches in the pinky. Poor guy. Anyway, after the stitches, that trip went okay.

On Wednesday (Moving day ... April Fool's!) we started packing up early in the morning, hoping to get on the road in the early afternoon. We got on the road a lot later than expected, of course, like always. Wes had the remaining junk from our house loaded up on his truck and on a trailer that he bought on craigslist for $300 (Dixieland Special ... GRRR...) We pulled out of the driveway around 7:00 pm; Wes had to run to the church to do one quick thing; we picked up dinner in the Chick-fil-A drive thru, and we were fed and on the road around 9. Smooth going at first: Wes, Lillie and Harlan were in his truck, pulling the crappy trailer, and Sophie and I were in the car, which was also packed full of stuff (bedding and such), following behind.

The next sign of trouble came around 10:15, when I watched in horror as one of the junky old tires on the junky old trailer blew apart and shredded to junky bits in front of me. Luckily, we had borrowed CB radios from our friends (same guy who stitched up Wes ... they are great!) and I started screaming into the radio for Wes to pull over. We also felt very lucky that the blowout didn't cause the trailer to swerve more than it did, which would have caused the crappy trailer ... and the truck ... to flip over.

Wes pulled over and told me not to worry, that the tires were the same size as the ones on his truck, and he would have it changed in a jiffy. He was actually surprisingly cheerful. But after an hour, he had the spare off his truck, but the wheel on the crappy trailer was rusted on and he couldn't get it off. He had to find his hammer in our Clampett-style mound of junk on the back of the trailer and use it to pry the wheel off. Then he realized that his spare wouldn't fit; the holes were in the wrong places. I emptied the back of my car so he could get to my spare, hoping it would work. It would not. We called AAA, which would only tow us (not possible) or change our tire for us, had we had one. At that point it was after midnight. Something had to be done. Wes's mom booked us a Penske for the next morning so we could just do the 'safer' thing and leave Wes's truck in Jackson (to pick up at graduation time) and put only a few things on the crappy trailer to pull behind the Penske. I voted to dump the crappy trailer, but Wes wouldn't do it. We took enough stuff out of the car so that Lillie and Harlan could get in there with me, and we piled said stuff on the side of Hwy. 55 next to the truck, with a tarp over it. Wes spent the night in his truck near mile 173 on I-55, and the kiddos and I drove the 72 miles back to our empty house to sleep on the floor. The kiddos and I got home at 2:30 am.

I woke up at 6:30 Thursday and called our friends Jason and Christy, who were nice enough to alter their plans (and Spencer and Sonia were nice enough to also alter Spencer's birthday plans) to make it possible for Jason to help us out. He went all over the place searching for a new rim for this crappy old trailer that I just wanted to ditch anyway, but Wes wouldn't agree. Finally, Wes remembered that the guy he got the crappy trailer from had an extra wheel, which he gave us for free. While Jason had been running all over Jackson, MS and calling every dump and salvage yard looking for a wheel (yes it was that old and crappy), my best friend's husband Tim was helping me get our remaining junk together at the house. Around 11, we went to pick up the Penske, and Tim drove it back to our house. There was no way I was getting behind the wheel of that thing. (Phobia of big trucks, you know.)

So on the way to my house, through no fault of his own, Tim accidentally swiped some woman's car. I have no nice words for this woman. She informed Tim that she had just bought the car for $1100, then proceeded to demand $1500 to fix it. (Not the smartest woman.) He offered to buy it from her for $1100, and she refused. Then, although she was driving with a suspended license, she decided to call the cops. And, lucky me, since I rented it, it goes on my insurance. AAARRRGHHH!! (Side note: the cop didn't even run the woman's suspended license. So she just left with no problems.)  (I actually feel worse for Tim than for myself ... he felt awful about it.)

So, here's the scenario: We are sitting in my driveway, Jason and two missionaries from our church in the Penske, the kiddos and me in the car. We are loaded up and ready to go. There's a storm coming our way in less than an hour with predicted tornado watch and golf ball-sized hail. Wes is sitting on the side of I-55 with some of our stuff piled up on the grass next to his truck. Then it starts raining huge drops. I have to go save Wes! And we CAN'T LEAVE until the cop finishes his report!

We finally got to leave, and we drove to Wes. He had been sitting on the side of the highway for 15 hours by then. We loaded the junk from the truck (and most of the junk from the trailer) into the Penske, hitched the trailer to the Penske, said goodbye to Jason and the missionaries, and were on our way around 2 or so. We were exhausted, though, and falling asleep. Not safe. We decided to stop at our friends' house in Oxford (Sherry and Les Driggers), where we were sure they would let us take a nap and help with the kiddos. We walked in the door, and the kiddos immediately ran upstairs to play, and I immediately crashed on their couch. Wes went to buy another tire for the crappy trailer so we could hopefully avoid another blowout. (These tires were $100 each, by the way.) The Driggers convinced us during dinner that we should stay the night and sleep in their RV. It was my first night in a bed in more than a week. Very nice. We woke up at 4:30, and after Sherry stuffed us all full of toaster strudel and packed a huge bag of snacks for us, we hit the road. It was about 6. Friday, day three. We had two new tires (and a spare from Les) and we were good-to-go ... we thought ...

A little while after getting out of Oxford, the trailer started bouncing. It was small at first, and we figured Wes was just going too fast. He kept slowing down, and it kept bouncing. Then a trucker got on our CB and advised us to slow down more because the trailer was bouncing all over the place. By then we were going 45 MPH. Wes pulled off at the first exit ramp (Coldwater, MS), got out of the truck, and looked at the trailer. And I saw a look of disbelief come over his face. Why, you ask?? Because the trailer tongue had broken a little bit with each bounce, until it was hanging on by a thread. Literally. On one side it was only connected by about an inch of metal. On the other, maybe 4 inches. I estimate that after 5 more minutes of bouncing (or less), it would have come completely off the truck and smashed the kiddos and me ... and whoever else happened to be driving by ... into a tangled mess of metal. I am serious. THE CRAPPY TRAILER ALMOST KILLED ME.

We were only 175 miles out of Jackson at this point ... a day and a half after we first tried to leave. And it was all because of the crappy trailer. Sherry and Les came to our rescue, yet again, and helped Wes move everything from the trailer into the Penske. That was when Wes conceded to dump the crappy trailer. His mom found the number of a local salvage yard for us, and Wes talked to a guy there who said we could leave it in a nearby parking lot (since we couldn't take it very far without risking injury) and he would pick it up. Wes and Les took the tires off (thanks for the two $100 tires we can't use, we'll take them) and we left it there.

After the crappy trailer was history, it was blue skies and smooth driving. We arrived in Columbia at 7 pm on Friday, a full 48 hours after we had originally anticipated. For pictures of the crappy trailer, etc ... visit here:

 http://picasaweb.google.com/playwithdirt/MovingDaySWithTheRayburns#