Tea with Milk and Sugar

Since I’ve been on bed rest for 13 days now and counting I’ve seen what a good mother Joseph Sr. can be and he deserves some praise this Mother’s Day. I also now see why my Mom mentioned a few times growing up that she could use a Father’s Day card (single mom). When one parent is taken out of the picture (bed rest in this case) the other parent has an opportunity to shine or freak and Joseph has shined. He’s served, washed, disciplined, scrubbed, catered, sang to, entertained, prayed for, on and on and on for the kids and I while keeping up with work. Thanks to our amazing family and friends and the enormous amount of help they have given us, he hasn’t yet cracked in this season. I’ve been so blessed to see him carry this outrageous weight of responsibility and still super syrupy call Violet Sweetie 2 hrs. past her bedtime when she has gotten up. He’s amazing, the best husband, father and on this day “acting mother” of our home.

I peeked in the kids room after lunch to see Jordan sitting down on the floor,  lifting his shirt, exposing his 4yr. pot belly to Violet and saying ever so sweetly “say hi to your baby sister.”  She will be so surprised when her sister arrives as an actual baby and not a big fat belly or bellybutton.

Today was such a good day, for many reasons.  First of all I’m happily six and a half months pregnant, body functioning well, little Willow Beth growing well.  Contractions happening for whatever reason a few weeks ago , have mostly stopped.

Secondly, school has been so good.  We began the last quarter of the year, Geography, and I can’t believe we are nearing the end of Kindergarten.  Joseph is really grasping math well, writing with less and less effort and struggle, reading more each day and I’m encouraged.  We had a fun impromptu project that took half our day.  I feel my life can often be like the book “If you give a mouse a cookie”,  sometimes good like today when one thing led to another, there was time, everyone was peaceful and it was a success.  Other times it’s “Mommy can I climb this tree? Can I make a sling shot from this branch?  Can I walk to the park to shoot pinecones from the tree with my new sling shot?  Can we get ice cream from the truck that just drove by?  Can we go paint pictures of our ice cream cones?”  Times like these have potential for stress because I keep saying yes to the detriment of myself and possibly another kid and am hurting by 5pm.  Today however was so fun.  This is how the book came about.  The boys saved money for watches which they bought on Saturday.  Joseph can roughly tell time but hasn’t known at what hour things occur so he is now needing to sort this out.  After school was done he began reading a book I’d forgotten we have about the subject.  Jordan and Violet were absorbed by their books so I decided why not show Joseph now.  What started as my idea to write clocks showing each hour and a simple sentence saying what he does at that time turned into him reading it, drawing detailed pictures and coloring it in which I then assembled into a book.  He learned so much, we all had fun, Jordan and Violet were happy drawing their own clocks (easter egg clocks, monster clocks, princess clocks, robot clocks ) and now we have this great book. 

Reason for great day number 3, our dryer is finally fixed thanks to my ever persevering husband!  We did laundry at the laundromat Sunday because there were heaps, not the first choice for a date but it felt good not being overwhelmed by no clean clothes to start the week.  It’s fixed!  Simultaneously three things broke in our home that for weeks caused me to live Amish (in my mind) and now I feel like I have all this free-time.  Tough times like this are great for my perspective on life.  It will at least take a month for me to think a complaint about having to do 10 loads of laundry a week. 

Last reason, I can’t believe it, but Joseph Sr. to celebrate the dryer wanted to go out to JJ North’s Buffet (sick).  What’s fun about that is all the kids ate huge plates of raw veggies because they could pick them out themselves.  We eat plenty of veggies, but if I ever set a plate of plain raw veggies in front of them pronouncing it dinner they would pick and wait until breakfast. 

We had a wonderful whirlwind trip to Disneyland to celebrate Violet and my birthdays.  It was so much fun, the kids did great, we did great and thankfully the plane trip went fine (except for the way home when Violet “turned 2″ a day early in her heart.)  Yikes.  Her favorite gifts this year have been a flashlight, new purse and Hello Kitty electric toothbrush.  She also adores the matching dress “Valerie Reese” her baby, now has that matches hers. 

  Happy Valentine’s Day!  We celebrated with our 4th annual tea party and then Daddy stopped in with gifts.  The tea menu: pineapple, strawberry yogurt, homemade heart shaped sugar cookies they helped with, red grapefruit juice and of course tea with milk and sugar.  Yum, yum.  This afternoon I’m taking Joseph and Jordan to our homeschool group Valentine exchange and roller-skating party.  More pics to come.  I love to roller-skate but with 5 month belly bump (or barrell) we’ll see.  I tend to forget I’m pregnant when I want to play or get competetive ( I know, shouldn’t happen with a group of small children).  Let’s see there was kickball while pregnant with Jordan, tripping and falling on my face while trying to boot the ball for a homerun… trampolining while pregnant with Violet… so I won’t shoot the duck or speedskate but I think I can teach the boys how to roll forward.

My 3 little “bunnies” have now completely fulfilled the storyline of one of our favorite  books, Bunbun the Middle One, that we’ve had since just Joseph Jr.  Benny and Bunbun are boys and Bibi is the little sister.  The last page shows them in their 3 cozy beds, alas my kids new room.

Violet has graduated to her toddler bed and is doing very well staying in it. Yeah! She hasn’t even glanced over at her crib which is still in the room awaiting little Willow. The weird thing is her collections each night. I’ve heard that often little girls in particular have their “collections” for the day. The boys haven’t done anything like this. I tuck her in bed with 3 blankets, about 5 babies she’s insisted on, a book and pillow. I check on her in 15 minutes and this is what I find on any given night:

3 pairs of shoes, a coat, 8 books, 6 more babies, 7 more blankets, some diapers, wipes, baby powder

What’s so funny first of all is that we spend time telling her what’s okay for bed and what is a no-no. She responds to this very, very well all throughout the day but when it comes to her bed it’s a free for all.

I go in take things out and then when I check on her in 15 more minutes when she’s asleep the collection has doubled from the list I shared! She’s asleep on a pile. Tonight she upped it by having a wooden doll cradle (2 feet long) on top of her with her baby tucked into it.

I have been trying to think of what this means? How do I act this out in my adult life? I can’t see it. Does she want to be prepared? I guess right now I am collecting live babies… hmmm. Any input is welcome.

Today Joseph Jr. and Jordan made a huge fort in the living room, utilizing every pillow, cushion and blanket.  They first made signs and drew up blueprints for how they wanted it to look.  My job… to keep King Kong (Violet) from destroying the “clubhouse” by keeping her interested in other things.  During the construction Jordan somehow really hurt his back, probably jumped and then slipped by the fireplace because three vertebrates are scraped badly and it has a large red mark around these.  He came in with a small whimper and I assumed they had a scuffle about whose building plans to use, which had been the case earlier.  Without listening to him I told him to just sit down a minute and take a quick break from the fort since they are having a tough time.  He of course didn’t like that so ever quick on his feet replied “Oh I’m just crying because I love God so much.  I just love God SO MUCH it makes me cry.”  And off he went in happy victory.  And yes I did hear him whisper “hey Joseph know why I’m crying?  I told Mommy I love God so much.  Look at my back.”  Joseph “oh yuck! MOMMY did you see Jordan’s back?” which is when I got to see the injured and feel guilty for my hasty response to his whimper.  My kids respond to pain and other things so differently that I’m still learning to not assume. 

This boy makes us laugh so much.  When Joseph Sr. told him he was leaving in the morning for Florida Jordan said with eagerness and joy “Daddy if you die, I’ll get a stepdaddy!”  We had been studying Abraham Lincoln and he had a great stepmom.

Violet said her first from the heart prayer last night.  She has been moved from her crib to her toddler bed and was struggling with the weight of responsibility that comes with new freedom.  She cried as if to say “mama, there are no bars to keep me here!”.  I did my best to settle her down and then said “let’s pray” because that usually helps her when she’s upset.  She said loudly “No.”  So I went on “Jesus, thank you for this day and for Violet.  Give her good rest  and good dreams.  Amen.”  To which she shut her eyes tightly and lowered her head and with great sincerety and faith said “Jesus!  Cake ah mama, ah cake, la cake, ah mama cake! Amen.”  I had made a chocolate cake earlier in the week that she really enjoyed.  Her prayer was answered today when I treated Joseph Jr. to doughnuts after a tough dr. appointment and we brought some home.  As I set her pink sprinkled doughnut in front of her I realized there it was and told her “there’s your cake Violet”. 

Please forgive the tacky Christmas “card” but we have been just surviving with tough pregnancy #4. Thanksgiving was a blur, although wonderful to be at my sister’s new home, and here we are 4 days before Christmas. Thankfully our kids were happy to decorate our tree for us, haven’t complained about the lack of Christmas lights on the house, and are so content with our Christmas activities consisting of watching classic movies rather than baking and going out a lot. This year has been full of adventure. In September we began Current, our church, with friends Shawn and Dana Klinkner. We’ve had families join us along the way and dear friends from Bible school, Tom and Lindsey Salts, move here to join us. We also began a daily 15 minute radio broadcast last week, done by Joseph. You will not hear me on that but I love tuning in to to hear him. 1330 am 9:45 M-F for the locals.  Joseph Jr. (6) began Kindergarten at home in the fall. It’s been going very well, he is so eager to learn many unusual things (cursive, French) and I keep taking it on and keeping up with him. He’s reading, has a great gift for drawing and loves the computer. Jordan (4) is happy as ever sitting with me holding my hair. He and Joseph spend many hours on great adventures together, either with flashlights in their dark room or dressed up as knights fighting bad guys in the back yard. Violet (almost 2) has really mellowed and is a joy to be with. She loves her baby dolls and dancing to music. The new baby will join the brood in June and has already been seen sucking it’s thumb via ultrasound, a Branchflower kid for sure. Outside of the kids, my sister Beth moved to UAE for a great job this month and we miss her! The boys hear airplanes and Jordan thinks she’s still on it. Violet asks for “bess” often. Joseph’s wonderful and large family became larger as Jon and Christina had their first baby Lauren Ginger. We look forward to the wild and crazy Christmas Eve gathering all year and it’s almost time. We are preparing to laugh.

We hope you are all well, enjoying your blessings and looking up this Christmas.

Briana, Joseph, Joseph Jr., Jordan and Violet growing-family-008.jpg