Oh Boy

First day of summer break.
Jake was up at 7:00.
What?
It usually takes 3 trips down to his room.
Every morning.
The first time a little shake and a good morning, buddy.
The second time a little harder shake and get up now, Jake!
The third time hollering, threatening, grounding.
Then, he might make it up the stairs by 7:25.
This morning he said his alarm woke him up.

Question #1: Why was your alarm on?
Question #2: Why did I hear it blaring yesterday morning
yet when I went down there
you were sleeping with your mouth hanging open?
Question #3: How is it possible for it to wake you when it shouldn't
and not wake you when it should?

Ezra was up shortly after Jake.
Then Jobe a few minutes later.
The three boys played together for maybe 30 minutes.
Before the fighting began.
Sigh.

Not sure I'm ready for summer break.
It is really noisy here.
They have yelled at each other.
Made each other cry.
Made themselves cry.
Insulted each other.
Fought over toys.
Fought over food.
Fought over the spoon they were using to eat the food.

Right now?
They are getting along again.
For the moment.
But it is still extremely loud.
There are fake guns being fired.
Fake swords being wielded.
Fake bombs being hurled.
With plenty of sound effects.
Loud sound effects.

Scratch that.
Jobie just got hurt.
More crying.

Who's jealous right now?
Who wants to spend some time here over summer break?

Come join the mayhem.
I'll make you something yummy.
And we can yell talk to each other.
While the kids kill each other play together.
It will be fun.

Lots.
And lots.
Of fun.

She Did It

Lara went thru an American high school graduation Saturday.Apparently she was really excited about it.Ok. So now the excitement is building.We had to sit a mile away from the graduates.The other kids were really happy to be there.
Ha!
At least they looked happy here.
Probably because it was over.
And we were going out for ice cream.So proud of Miss Lara!
What an accomplishment.
A year of school in another country.
Not to mention putting up with our family.
That deserves another award all together!

Saturday

Soccer season is over.I will miss it.
But now our Saturdays are a little more free.

We are going out to work in the yard.
Our hedge needs trimmed.
It's our kids most favorite job.
Ryan runs the clippers.
I rake together the clippings.
And the kids take the clippings to the brush pile.
There is never any complaining.
In my dreams, anyway.

Good times at the Entz house!
Hope you have good times this weekend too.

Jobe's Big Day

With my other kids.
The twos were bad.
The threes were worse.
And the fours got better.

That's not proving to be true with Jobe.
So far, in the week that he has been 4,
he has gotten worse-r.
The formidable fours.
So.
Much.
Fun.

But I did have a good time with him on his big day.
It started off with a trip to the donut shop.That Nike shirt is a favorite of mine.
It was originally my now 15 year old nephew's.
So it's gone thru 5 boys.
Not sure how it made it this far...

While we were at the donut shop,
I took a picture of Jobie with my phone.
And sent it to Ryan.
He texted back: Yummy fun!
Jobie thought that was so funny.
He is still talking about it.
Just this morning he said:
Mommy let's send daddy a picture
so he can say, "yummy fun"!

Mac n' Cheese for lunch.
And Wendy's for supper.
We go all out.Jobie was the only one who got a Frosty.
The others didn't think that was fair.
Awwww.
That's just too bad!
I didn't get one either.

Well, not really.
If only they knew that I saved Jobie's.
He never eats all of it.
And ate it the next day.
After they got home from school even.
I would sneak a bite every time they were out of the kitchen.
Bwahahaha!
Jobie decided he wanted a "lightning k-king" birthday.
I am not a cake decorator.
I stress myself out each birthday.
Trying to figure out how to decorate a cake.
It's ridiculous really.

I searched the internet and found nothing.
Nothing I could make anyway.
A replica of Lightning McQueen?
Not happening if I'm the baker.
Super simple.
That's what this girl can handle.
So this was the best my brain
and limited talents could do.
I put frosting in a baggie and cut the corner to write "Lightyear".
Who needs those fancy Wilton decorator icing tips?
Ha!Look at Jakie.
Does he think Jobie's going to blow the fire on him?Funny stuff.

Monday, Monday

Mondays are different.
I never seem to get much accomplished before lunch.
The house is quiet.
Well, for one more week anyway.
Then, SUMMER BREAK!
(Not sure if I'm excited or not.)
I just find it hard to get back into my routine on Mondays.

Busy weekend.
As always.
Soccer game.
Church.
Ryan's family over.
Band concert.
I took no pictures.
Of anything.

Parenting stinks sometimes.
Just getting that out there.
Brookie and I had a talk last night.
She's almost a teenager.
Fun times ahead.

It's getting to that point
where her friends can
do more/different things than she can.
We're much more conservative than most of her friends' families.

We're trying to raise her according to God's Word.
We want her friends.
And her friends' parents.
To see a difference in us.
We want to please the Lord.
We want her to be a godly young woman.

It's hard.

Hard for her.
She doesn't get some of our rules right now.
I told her she may not understand.
Until she has a daughter of her own.
It's not cool to be different in junior high.
(And I don't expect high school to be any easier.)
But she is different.
Our family is different.
(No comments from any of you on that one, thank you!
Ha!)

Hard for me.
I want my daughter to like me.
(That sounds silly and immature.
But it's true.)
But more importantly, I want her to love Jesus.
So sometimes she doesn't like me so much.
Because she doesn't get what I'm doing or saying.
It's hard to trust her to the Lord.
(I have control issues.)
It's hard to see her struggling.

I'm realizing even more I need to pray...hard.
So the harder it gets.
The harder I will pray.

Just some of my thougths.
Not put together well.
But I needed to write them out, I guess.

Ok.
Moving on to happier things.

How about a few pictures of Ezra?
Who's biggest worry is:
When can I have Lawson or Annie over again?

I went on a zoo field trip with Ezzie a couple weeks ago.
His two best friends were in our group.
They are hilarious together.Sleeping in the gorilla nest.
Although I think Lawson is playing dead.
His little tongue is hanging out.Love this one.Kindergarten recognition was last week.
They sang a bunch of songs.
And Ezzie's class did a retelling of
The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
It was super cute.I'm so proud of my little man.His teacher is a doll.
There's really no other word for her.
She is a bundle of energy.
And perfect for Ezzie.Lawson's momma, Amy, helped us out the night of recognition.
When I dropped him off at her house,
I told her how stressed out I was.
(Lara had something going on too.
I was worried about making it to recognition on time.)
About 15 minutes later I got this text:
So would it stress you out even more
to know that Ezra's flip-flop is on our roof?
Nice!
Yes, he wore flip-flops.
And a tie.
It all balances out.

Amy did manage to get Ezzie all put together.
Oh, and her hubby might have helped a little too.
Gotta give credit.
Then she took some really great pictures of the two boys.
Go check them out.
Two sweet, fun boys.

Ezzie and Annie.
They have tons of fun together also.
Brookelynn and Jake think it's funny.
That one of Ezra's best friends is a girl.
I think it's adorable.And the flip-flops?
Might not have been such a wise choice.
When Ezzie's class was in line.
Waiting to come in to the gym.
A little girl with her little heels.
Stepped on my little boy's little toe.

Ezzie told me on the way home:
Mommy, I'm never wearing flip-flops to recognition again.
Ok.
I can agree to that.

Hope you get lots accomplished on your Monday.
It took me so long to do this post,
that Jobie fell asleep beside me.
Must have been a rough weekend for him too!

Not Possible

It is not possible that I had a 4th kid.It is not possible that he turned 1.It is not possible that he turned 2.It is not possible that he turned 3.And it is certainly not possible that today he is 4.My baby.
Who two weeks ago didn't want to turn 4.
Didn't want to have a party.
Didn't want cake.
Didn't want presents.

Today.
He wants me to text "everyone".
And tell them it's his birthday.Four years ago today.
Jobie and I were alone.
For a few moments after he was born.
I remember just looking at him.
Marveling that I had a third son.
A fourth child.
Fascinated by those tiny hands.
Those tiny toes.
Those tiny ankles.
(I've always loved my kids ankles.
Strange, but true.)
A nurse walks in.
Disturbing my pondering.
And says: It looks like you are in love.I was.
I am.

I Walk Funny

It's true.
Look.My toes point WAY out.
Never thought about it too much.
Until the little boys started taking pictures from behind.
All those pics are not flattering.
For many reasons.

Anyway, I waddle.
There's no other word for it.
When I was pregnant my waddle was worse.

Pregnancy and I were not friends.
I hated nearly every moment of it.
Not because I was sick.
Sure there was a little nausea.
And all that fun stuff.
It just wasn't enjoyable to me.
I gained 50-60 pounds with each pregnancy.
That is ridiculous.

You know those husbands that say:
My wife was never more beautiful
than when she was pregnant.
Ha!
Ummm...
Yah...
That was NOT my husband.

I did not "glow".
But I definitely waddled.

Most women do look so cute when they're pregnant.
I was not one of them.
(Your gonna have to trust me on this one.
There will be no pictures here.)

Can we say: off track?

So, I'm working on walking properly.
When it crosses my mind.
Which doesn't really happen all that often.

Not sure why walking properly is important.
Not going to be on a catwalk or anything.
A model I am not.
It's just been bothering me.
But it's hard to break a habit.
That I've had for my whole life.
Likely, I'll still be walking this way 30 years from now.

An old granny.
Who walks funny.
It will give my grandkids something to talk about.