A Morning So Extraordinary

This was so aweful, I thought I might need to remember some day for reference.

7:30- got out of bed to two crying children.
7:45-changed poopy diaper #1
7:50-Micah threw-up on me
8:15- changed poopy diaper #2
8:30- cleaned up cat vomit on the stairs
9:25-cleaned up sick-doggie poo under the table

Also during this time, I had to enforce two time-outs and administer one spanking.

One Year Old!!!!

This afternoon, I picked Micah up, he grabbed my hair so I couldn't turn away, and he sneezed in my face.
It's been an unforgettable year. I have so much to be thankful for.
Happy Birthday, Micah!

Here's Why You Should Be Glad I'm On Sabbatical

I have a few minutes to type now that the boys are in bed and this is all I can think to write about:

This is the progress of unpacking from the Holiday Journey.

Monday: park the car and drag everything just barely through the door.
Tuesday: take the boys' suitecase up stairs. Take my suitcase to the stairs by the kitchen.
Wednesday: open the boys' suitcase. Get tired of stepping over my suitcase everytime I want to cook or eat.
Thursday: Take my suitcase upstairs and open it. Dump clothes out of all suitcases on the floor.
Friday: put suitcases in closet. Take one laundry basket to the garage.

Goals for Saturday: Wash clothes; put away clean clothes on the floor from the suitcases; put away clean clothes from the washing machine.

I should add that somewhere in all that I took down our Christmas decorations. I swept up all the pine needles and while I was getting a dustpan, Micah crawled through the middle of the dirt pile.

My Apologies

A quick note to say that I'm taking a break from blogging for a while. Micah is crawling and Silas is in the throws of two-year-old-hood. I can't justify spending as much time as I do in front of a computer screen that causes me to face the wall.

But before I say my good-bye for this sabbatical, here's some stats:

Micah is almost 1 and amost 20 lbs!
Abbie's getting married this weekend and Silas will be the ring-bearer.
I got the KitchenAid mixer of my dreams for Christmas so let the baking begin.
Joel is about to be a RESIDENT and not an intern anymore.
I didn't lose any weight for the contest but I didn't really gain any weight this Christmas. Goal accomplished.
Silas and Micah share a room now so we have an extra-free guest bedroom again.

See you later!

-alice

"the Ball"

I promised I would post about the film festival and I know that many of you have been checking multiple times a day to hear the results. Sorry to make you wait so long.

This year's films were fantastic! Here's a list of titles/producers

"So Where Do You Think You Can Dance"- a remake of "So You Think You Can Dance"- by Dad
"the Ball" by me -a remake of a Twighlight Zone Episode titled "the Doll"- by me
"The Prodigal Son" -a retelling of the parable in the Bible- by Joel
"The Argyle Pants" -a retelling of the poem "What Was I Scared Of?" by Dr. Seuss- by Andrea
"The Woods" -a remake of "The Cave" - by Emily
"Kat Kong" -a remake of "King Kong"-by Laura
"Mort and the Sour Scheme"- a retelling of "Mort and the Sour Scheme"- by Katie
"Sleeping Beauty" - a retelling of "Sleeping Beauty- by Sara

There were awards given in many categories, but I'll just list the ones that we the people got to vote on.

The People's Choice Award went to.....Laura!
Best Actor was a tie between Dad in "So Where Do You Think You Can Dance?" and Heath in "The Argyle Pants".
Best Actress went to me for "the Ball"
Best Remake went to me as well.

Tune in a little over a year or so to hear about next year's PFF. The theme?
Christmas Movies...

The only Thanksgiving I can remember being as wild as this year's, was the year we went to Aunt Jean's. I can't remember if all the sisters were there or not, but I do remember 2 Japanese girls, Nana, and 12 doxens involved.

Thanksgiving Holiday started on Saturday for Silas, Micah and me. Just a few hours after we got out of the car, the trickle of arrivals would continue until Abbie, Zach, Stewart, the Bradleys, Laura and Emily were all home. Everyone was home by Tuesday (except Joel, who had to work until 10am on Thursday).



Here's a list of all the noteably things that happened:

1) I helped mom buy a tent for Zach and Stewart to sleep in.
2) We all ate at Cici's.
3) Andrea and Emily made Rum Pumpkin Pecan Pies and Sweet Potato Cake.
4) Muffy (the Cocker Spaniel puppy) got poked in the eye and got an ulcer.
5) My car got a check-up.
6) Dad split about 1000 lbs of wood.
7) Zach and Abbie decided to get married and set the date for less than a month and a half away.
8) Mine and Joel's team won the Thanksgiving Day Softball Game.
9) We played capture the flag.
10) We had the second annual Poteet Family Film Festival.
11) Micah got chest x-rays and had a fever of 105º.



I'm sure I'm leaving some things out. I'll add them as they come to mind.
Next post: the film festival!!!

An Everyday Afternoon from around 3:15-4:30

Silas, Micah and I like to play outside every day. Even on cold rainy days, we get out for a least a few minutes.
When we're outside, Micah swings in the red swing hanging from a tree around 4 feet above the ground. Silas pushes his tonka truck up and down the hill, and under and around the swing. Lewis barks incessantly at squirrels in the neighbors' yards or at Silas and the truck, if they're having too much fun. Two days ago our normal afternoon included this series of events.

1. I went inside to get potatoes out of the oven and get a glass of water. When I returned, Silas had Micah's spit-up all over his back.


2. Thank goodness I had that glass of water too because the other remarkable thing that happened was a wasp landed right on my bluejeans!!!!!!!! I screamed and poured the water on him (and my bluejeans) and then I squashed him. I saved the day.


This is Lewis trying to keep Silas and the Tonka truck with the herd.

All Saints Day

Ironic. Behavior here has been anything but saintly.
But the point of this post is to tell you about our All Hallows Even, or Halloween as some have come to call it.

New Year's Resolution #1: don't take Silas and Micah to trick or treat without their father.
New Year's Resolution #2: don't take a wagon for trick or treating when no one wants to ride in it.
New Year's Resolution #3: don't think that just because you leave a bowl of something you think no one else will like (such as oh, say, animal crackers) that at the end of the evening there will be any left for your kid.

The truth is we had fun for about 10 minutes. That was the ten minutes that both Silas and MIcah rode in the wagon. After that, when neither Silas NOR Micah rode in the wagon, the evening fun began to fade. But over all, the costumes were fun and what other holiday is there when people in a community walk around on the street with each other?

This is the end of the fun. Silas didn't want anything else but to pull the wagon. Micah wouldn't sit up any more so I let him lay down in the wagon. It was s l o w going. But we made it home in time to take a couple of pictures. Though
none with all of us together.

Finally, below is a picture from our super fun trip to the pumpkin patch.


P.S. Sorry about the sideways pictures. I'm not sure why ended up like that and I don't have the go-get-'em attitude to fix it just now.

the Great Outdoors in Pictures

The Great Outdoors

We took Silas and Micah on a hiking trip in a national park not too far from home. Some friends kindly lent us their baby back-pack carriers though I was hoping that Silas would prefer to walk rather than be carried. However, after a recent hike at Pinnacle, I suspected we would be hauling around a 35+ load on our backs.
_______________________
Pinnacle
Silas and I started up the trail, hoping to meet Joel, Dad, the sisters and exchange students on their down. After more than 20 minutes we had made it almost 3/10 of the 1.5 mile hike. I realized after 12 steps in that this was not a destination-goal hike. For Silas, it was about digging in the dirt, saying hello to people and dogs passing us as they came or went, stopping to spot every airplane, trailmarker or bird singing overhead. And jumping. Did I mention jumping? I think we stopped 8 times (in 20 minutes, mind you) to jump off a rock.

I realized Silas was tired when he refused to stand up after one of our stops to dig in the dirt. Since I was in exercise mode, I told him we could dig at the bottom but fo rnow, if he didn't walk, I would have to carry him. BIG MISTAKE. I carried him on my hip most of the way back down. He was so encouraging though; he told me things like "You're doing it, Mama!" "Don't fall!" and "Mama, do you need help?" To this I replied, "Yes, Silas. WHy don't you get down and walk now."
_______________________

So, we took the backpacks to Petit Jean. After we checked into our lodge, we hike a mile or so to see the "bear caves." Apparently, no bears live there, but I believe they did before the white man came and sent the bears onto the trail of tears.
Anyway, the trail and caves were lovely and rocky and provided the perfect pre-supper/bedtime exercise Silas needed to prepare him for...

Sharing a 70 sq. foot room with all of us. It was a long night. I think my favorite part was the screaming while banging the crib against our neighbors wall. The next morning, we checked out and hiked the Cedar Creek Falls Trail down the waterfall. I remember hiking this trail in college and thinking, "Gosh, this is a pretty good hike." Going down felt 3 times as long since Micah was pulling my hair to climb out of the pack. The way up was much more grueling yet pleasant than I remember in college. I had Silas singing songs in my ear. In one round, he sang "happy birthday" to Zaccheus.

Overall, it was such a fun experience. We saw fish in the creek, chipmunks and squirrels on the trail, wildflowers and yes, there were plenty of places to jump off rocks as well.
Pictures coming soon.

Because I was tagged several times-

MAN TAG:
1. Who is your man? Joel Bryant
2. How long have you been married? 5+ years
3. How long dated? a little over a year
4. How old is your man? 28
5. Who eats more? pretty sure I do
6. Who said "I love you" first? Joel did
7. Who is taller? Joel
8. Who sings better? I do, but he's not bad when he's serious about it
9. Who is smarter? Like Kim said, "which kind of smarts?"
10. Whose temper is worse? mine!
11. Who does the laundry? I do
12. Who takes out the garbage? it's a tie
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do
14. Who pays the bills? I do
15. Who is better with the computer? Joel
16. Who mows the lawn? Joel does 9 times out of 10
17. Who cooks dinner? I do
18. Who drives when you are together? we take turns
19. Who pays when you go out? we take turns
20. Who is most stubborn? we couldn't decide. PROBABLY Joel
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I am- this probably means I'm less stubborn than Joel
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Another tie
23. Who kissed who first? Our first kiss was at our wedding
24. Who asked who out? Joel asked me out
25. Who proposed? Joel
26. Who is more sensitive? I am.
27. Who has more friends? I do.
28. Who has more siblings? I win 6-2
29. Who wears the pants in the family? We both wear pants

I tag Andrea

Time to clean up our language

Today from the back of the car, Joel and I heard Silas say,

"Learn to drive, people!"

Get psyched.

It's far better than the Crop Circle Conspiracy.
Thanks to Joel and Laura, my movie for the
2007 Poteet Family Film Festival is completed.

"the Ball"

Coming soon to theaters everywhere.

Cooking with Silas

Is God in a bad mood too?

Septermber in general is one of the greatest months of the year. October is the first greatest month followed by September, which is tied for second three-ways with April and Christmas (I know Christmas isn't a month, but I'm pretty sure that it would be more simple for everyone if December were renamed "Christmas".

Here a couple of September highlights:

1. It's the month just before October.
2. Yom Kippur
3. the First Day of Autumn
4. September 13- International Chocolate day
5. September 19- Talk like a pirate day
6. Of course there's Labor Day as well. Labor day would mean nothing to me if people didn't come to visit us every year. Why? Joel doesn't get the day off and neither do I. This year was fun because Labor day was Baby Mania with the Kruses. 5 babies, 2 and under just having a great time eating and trying to learn to share.

September 22, however, has been called (by me) the worst day of September, 2007.

Here's what happened:
I found out we ran out of grocery money.
Micah pooped 3 times in a single hour.
Silas cried without any breaks for about an hour. This was a temper tantrum like we haven't seen for a while complete with door slamming and screaming. After 45 minutes of trying to ignore him and after having woken Micah up TWICE, I called Andrea for help. And help she did because apparently Ava was doing the EXACT SAME THING at their house! I gave him yogurt and granola, tylenol and told him we would go see the Big Dam Bridge for a walk. This stopped the crying for the amount of time it took him to eat the snack and then the crying resumed until we got in the car.

A day before all this happened, I was having a mini-breakdown from all the crying and whining that both Silas AND Micah were throwing at me. I told God I needed some way to have a break from the insanity. I remember praying something like this: "God- I am SICK of tripping over toys, hearing that I'm doing a bad job all day long, and smelling poopy diapers!"

On the worst day of September, 2007, I woke and 2/3 of my prayer had been answered. I had cramps so bad I didn't care about the toys and head cold with a stuffy nose so I couldn't smell the diapers anymore.

Sorry. No pics for this post.

It's Silas' party! (but I'll cry if I want to, too)

I keep wanting to say that I can't believe that 2 years have passed today since Silas first made his introduction to us. But we've known Silas longer than that. He was long awaited and much loved months before his actual birthday. I get a little teary when I think about how quickly he's growing out of babyhood and into "child" hood. I've had flashback after flashback about many of the details of his birth, home-coming, and developmental mile stones over the last week and I can't think of one that doesn't make me smile or laugh.

The birthday celebration started yesterday with a party get-together with the LR/Hot Springs friends. I have to say that I wasn't the only one a little teary eyed. Events leading up to the party (which was at lunch time) didn't equal a party-time attitude. He bumped his head 2 times, got a mild spanking and had to have his diaper changed when he wanted to play.

I have to say that being consistent with discipline was particularly hard with friends here to celebrate Silas.

Sadly, Silas had to sit in time-out. After nearly 45 minutes of near-hysteria (not 45 minutes in time-out. Really it was only every other minute or so that a melt-down would occur; pretty predictably when it was Garrett's turn to play with the tonka truck), I thought he could use a little time to himself with his paci in his bed until we were ready to eat. Turned out to be a great idea. Apparently, 3 friends wasn't too few.


Everyone is happily eating sandwiches, grapes and TWISTY CHEETOHS!!


This is the same scene less than 30 seconds later.


That afternoon, Aunt Emily P. showed up and we went to our most frequent place for eating out: AR Children's Hospital Capital View Cafeteria! Silas ate crackers and tuna fish, celery, hard-boiled eggs and for desert, we shared a pudding parfait!


Every time we arrive at the hospital, and nearly every time we make our way back to the car, Silas reminds us that there is a bird in the hospital. We always get a better look from inside the elevator. Other than eating, this may be Silas' favorite part about ARCH.


This morning, we started off the actual birthday with some powdered sugar donuts. And then it was off to the Zoo where the new grizzly bear exhibit is open. Scary. The weather was perfect- the high today was 70 degrees. Very different than that summer day 2 years ago.


Here's Micah enjoying a plastic oreo cookie while Silas open his presents!


I think we've had a fantastic time celebrating. God has really given us much in Silas to celebrate.

"Does this ever happen at anyone else's house?" Part II

Do you ever agree to teach beginning Spanish, choose a curriculum, make parents angry by having them spend about $90/YEAR for their child's instruction, book and supplies and then just as things get settled get moved to intermediate Spanish?

Just to do the whole thing over again?

The whole process makes me think maybe I'm not an educator after all.

"Does this ever happen at anyone else's house?" Part I

Bad Company Corrupts Good Character

But we haven't had any bad company, and most character here is still in its early formation. Now here's a word on both.

We've had the fun of hosting lots of people in the last 30 days. After the Morgans came to visit, the Bradleys came, then the adult Fanks, then the Lumpkins. Here are the highlights from each visit (excluding the Morgans since they got a blog post earlier).


THE BRADLEYS-
We ate supper, played at the park, went to the zoo, had naps, ate supper at Children's hospital and played at the hospital park, the men folk went to a ballgame while the women folk got to play with Kristen from the golden days of yore (that is, when I was 10 and Andrea was 9 and we lived on Pleasant Grove Rd.) Then Sunday we all went to church, came home, ate lunch and sent the Bradleys on their way. They only left behind 2 dresses. Anabelle and Ava were so much fun to be around. Ava did not kick or push Silas down the stairs or even strangle him. After the threat of a spanking for taking toys away from Silas, she even started sharing toys and giving hugs. Anabelle really liked running with Lewis. I think he was really glad to have someone to chase. The low point was church on Sunday. I won't write about it here, but I will say that we are visiting other churches again.


THE FANKS-
I baked a pasta dish that was fun to put together and we enjoyed eating leftover apple pie and seeing Pop's Ghana pictures. Sadly, Joel had to be at work all the next day but the rest of us took another great trip to the zoo. This was especially fun because the lowland gorilla's were running from one end of their exhibit to the other and the tigers were swimming in their swimming pool. After the zoo, we ate lunch at home and while the boys took naps, Pops and Debbie sent me to run fun errands. I bought a grill pan at Williams Sonoma that I have returned already because it's not for glass top stoves.

Why anyone would want a glass top stove for functionality is beyond me.

After I got home, we played outside in the pool and then ate pancakes for supper. I am especially grateful for all the dishes that Debbie cleaned up. Having others wash my dishes is certainaly a way that I understand that someone cares about me!

THE LUMPKINS-
The Lumpkins have moved out of their apartment. We were their first of several half-way houses on their journey to Fuller Seminary. Silas really liked waking up to find that Eleanor was here and Eleanor was sweetly attentive to Micah, informing me frequently of his name and location. For supper we ate a taco pizza and after the babies were asleep, or trying to fall asleep, we mixed frozen drinks and celebrated the creative triage systems of UAMS. The next day was a little crazy for the Lumpkins. I imagine if they ever have the internet again, they might write on their blog about their experience with a moving company. I hope so.



As far as good character is concerned, we are working daily to improve manners and attitudes in our home. We are hoping to replace "uh-huh" with "yes ma'am" or "yes sir" and the dramatic throwing of milk paired with the yelling of "Don't want it!" with "I'm finished." It's so rewarding to see success and to feel that we are hopefully instilling respect for parents and elders in a culture that is increasingly self-centered. We are thrilled to watch Silas try to comfort Micah when he's crying and even share some of his favorite toys with him. I pray that Silas' actions are the early signs of a compassionate heart and that we may continue to help him develop this to bring hope to hurting world.


I also pray that we can get the crayon off the screen of our laptop.

In other news,
Micah is rolling all over the place and scootching around and trying to eat everything in sight. He is almost sleeping from 10pm to 7am without waking up. A couple of other favorites about Micah: he loves the johnny jump up, apple sauce, and laughing at himself in the mirror.

Joel is working 8-5 this month and getting ready for his first time as a witness in a criminal trial. Joel is definitely sleeping from 10pm to 7am without waking up. He's fixing up his bike!

I am going to be the elementary Spanish teacher for the homeschooling co-op here. It's the perfect job right now as it's only 1 hour a week, and they will provide childcare.

Harry Potter Craze!

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?