Toy Dilemma

Our children have been very blessed with innumerable amounts of toys. If you come to our house, you will see bins and bins and laundry baskets and containers and boxes full of toys. They are in our living room, school room, the boys' room, Carmelita's room, the office . . . everywhere! I have had organizing fits and put them up neatly, but in my desperate moments, I let the boys take out bins and play with more toys without putting back the other, and utter chaos ensues.

Well, I am on an organizing and purging rampage right now and am about to continue with it after this post. Ahhh, how I love order, but the time and energy it takes is quite overwhelming. And doing it with the wee ones discovering "new toys" or "toys they love" makes it virtually impossible. So, right now at 1 AM, I am going to get my rear in gear and blitz this task!!!

Snackies

The other day the kids and I were on our way somewhere and they were hungry for some snacks. I told them, "Don't worry, I have some snackies that we can eat as soon as we get there."

"Mommy, I hope they aren't good for us." Martini replies.

The boys looooove sweets and when they want a snack, they would prefer sweet fruit snacks or cookies much more than cheese or fruit, although, they do get excited over grapes and mangos, thankfully!

Carmelita's Walking!

Well, on Thursday morning, Carmelita took her first three steps, unassisted. I saw her pull to a stand by her bed and kind of twist her upper torso back and forth like she was dancing. Then, she walked to the laundry basket about three steps away. It was so cute. I cheered with excitement for her, but that scared her, so she dropped to a crawl and scurried into my arms.

Last night she was walking about eleven or more steps at a time and started walking to the armoir and kitchen table and couch. She was loving it.

Yesterday, we went to the Miller Outdoor Theater with a couple of girlfriends and their little kiddies and had a picnic by the hill. The kids were having so much fun running up and down the big hill. Ethan would run to the top of the hill and wave his hands at me making sure I saw him and run down so fast almost falling various times. His round cheeks were so cute just bouncing up and down with his mohawk flapping all over the place. His face was beet red and he would come down with a huge smile and do it all over again, but Martini would not go without me. He is very cautious and takes the stranger thing very seriously. Anyway, I finally went up the hill with him and Ethan and Carmelita.

"Come on, kids, let's go up the hill. I will come with you now, Martini. Let's go!"

"OK, Mommy." Martini says.

"Martini, why don't you try rolling down the hill now like Ethan did?!"

"No, Mommy, I don't want to."

"OK, then. Let's all run down the hill. Ready. Set. Go!"

Ethan takes off and I trot down with Carmelita in my arms and Martin jogs beside me saying,

"What are we doing this for?" he says with his hands up in the air while he jogs.

"What are we doing WHAT for?"

"What are we doing THIS for?"

"Because IT'S FUN!!! Don't you think this is fun?" I ask as loads of field-trippers from tons of schools run and roll down this gigantic hill.

We get to the bottom and he says, "I don't want to do this anymore. I wan't to play my game!" (referring to a new handheld game my mom just got him).

I have realized (as I have had to many times) that my little Martini has his own personality, desires, and strengths. MyLove and I love playing sports and outdoor activities and we have hoped and encouraged our little babes to love the same things, but Martini is perfectly content with his Legos, Star Wars figurines, drawings, and games.

I told him, "Martini, I think that you will be a computer programmer one day, like Daddy."

And he smiled a big smile and played his game.

Thank You, Lord, for giving me such a sweet, funny Martini as my son. You have given him special strengths and desires and I pray that they will be used for Your glory! And I thank you for Ethan, who is fun-loving and vibrant and active. May his energy be used to honor you in all he does. And I thank You for my sweet princess, Carmelita, whose personality comes out a little more each day. Who loves people and loves to dance and loves to laugh. May she grow to be a beautiful woman of God who displays Godly wisdom in life. Thank You, Lord, for giving us such special children. In Jesus' name I pray this. Amen.

Gifts

Tonight, Martini took a handkerchief and told MyLove and me that he wanted to wrap a gift for the family. So, he filled up the handkerchief with some items (I still don't know what) and told us that we have to wait until tomorrow to open it up as a family. We told him how sweet it was and praised him for wanting to give gifts to others.

Then, Ethan took out a blanket and said, "I am going to wrap a gift for myself now!" MyLove and I started cracking up.

"You mean you are going to wrap a gift for Martini?"

"No, for myself!"

Later on, Martini asked Daddy to wrap a gift for him. So, MyLove took the blanket and wrapped a couple of toys. Martini unwrapped it and said, "Daddy, this is not a very good gift. Can you wrap another one?" MyLove, the most patient man in the world, wrapped another set of toys.

Martini unwrapped the gift and went through the toys saying, "This is a good one, this one isn't so good, this one is the best one, this one isn't . . . Daddy, can you do it again?"

MyLove then wrapped up Martini's pirate treasure chest, a toy that Martini loves. Martini opened it up, then looked inside the chest and said, "Daddy, you're supposed to put something in the treasure chest!" MyLove and I were laughing so hard now at the craziness in Martini telling us what gifts to give him and his unsatisfactory responses. Believe me, we had a good talk about gifts and gratefulness. But, it was still fun watching the boys enjoy opening "gifts" that they have lying around already!

Martini's Busted Eye

Well, on Friday night, Martini was in such a good mood and was running to get something. He tripped and fell and hit his head on our coffee table. It made the loudest "thud." Immediately he started crying the most painful cry. It just broke my heart. His eyebrow was split pretty bad and we called his pediatrician who said it was pretty much our call whether to take him to the ER to get stitches or try to close the split at home with a bandaid. We prayed about it and talked and decided to try a butterfly bandage. Uncle Daniel went out and got some for Martini we carefully placed the bandage so that his skin was brought together so that it wasn't split. MyLove and I then nursed his eye with some ice and lovin'. He is doing so much better today.

Here is Martini that night. His eye is quite swollen here, but you can't really tell in this picture.

This is Martini's eye tonight. It had bruised up a lot yesterday, but now the blood is falling down the eyelid. The cut looks great now and looks like it is healing beautifully. Praise the Lord!

It was so sweet. Tonight, Ethan said that he wanted to kiss Martini's eye. So MyLove had him kiss very gently Martini's forehead. They really love eachother.


Tonight, Martini prayed a precious prayer once again. He thanked the Lord for various things including "good food, and sweet food, and for our bodies and for eyes that can see." He then prayed, "please help Carmelita not to get mad as she gets older and for no one to get sick, even us. It is in Jesus' name I pray. Amen." He really says those words. He sounds like an adult sometimes.

The prayer for Carmelita is in reference to some very "spirited" fits she's been displaying when not getting her way. She has started hitting her brothers' heads and getting into things that she is not supposed to, so when we tell her "no" or take her away from a "no touch" item/area, boy does she let you know that she doesn't like it! She has quite an opinion for such a little being!

Martini's Prayer

Every night before bed, Martin or I will pray with the boys and Martini and Ethan will usually pray as well. Tonight I prayed with them and this was what Martini prayed:

"Dear Lord, thank you for all of our food, and for a fun time today. Thank you for all of the things that you have given us. Thank you for Mema and the superprizes she gave us and for candy and toys and Carmelita. Thank you for our movies. And I pray that tomorrow we will have a good day and that Mommy will not get mad and that we won't be so difficult. In Jesus' name, Amen."

I got up and looked at Martini and just hugged him and thanked him for his precious, most innocent and blessed prayer. I thanked him for praying for me and he explained that he prayed about me getting mad and that he wouldn't be difficult in reference to homeschooling. Boy, was I convicted and yet encouraged that I had the prayers of this tiny and mighty warrior behind me!

Thank You, Lord, for such a son who is living up to his God-given name: Martin - Warrior!

Ethan also prayed:

"Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Amen"

Simple, to the point, and full of thanks! Thank You, Lord, for my Ethan!

Mohawk Mania

When all of our kids have turned one, we have completely shaved their heads. This is something I learned from my mom. It is a Filipino tradition that encourages stronger, thicker hair and evens the length throughout. Well, doing this to Carmelita has raised some eyebrows and I have had some pretty interesting comments about it all.

Anyway, in support of their sister, we decided to shave the boys' beautiful, long, thick hair as well. They didn't like the idea of it so short but loved the idea of a mohawk. They have a cousin, Ezekiel, who has sported a mohawk for about two years now (I think), and jumped at the idea of having one like him.

Sooooooo, I shaved their heads before Carmelita's birthday and when we shaved Carmelita's hair on her birthday, we gave her a mohawk too!

Left View


Right View



This picture cracks me up. Ethan is probably trying to explain how hungry he is (as always), Carmelita is bored picking her nose, and Martini is posing tough for the camera.

I looooove this picture.

The boys are so loving with their sister. They really love her and were so excited when they saw that we had given Carmelita a mohawk as well.

Martini helping his sister walk around.

"Oh, no!"

Martini in his warrior pose.

Ethan lookin' cool.

Carmelita looking at her new elephant.

You can see some curls there at the bottom.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Last night I shaved Carmelita's mohawk off and this is what she looked like today while playing in the pots and pans cupboard.

My lovely, little lady.

We plan on keeping the boys' mohawks for a little while. We've gone out various times and they definitely get comments. We tell the boys that having attention like that means they have to be very careful with the way they behave and be good examples to children. They are representatives of not only our family, but also the Lord. It's a big concept, but hopefully some good will come out of this Mohawk Mania!