Brother Time

It is really fun doing what I get to do.  Witnessing what I get to witness on a daily basis.  Watching little boys grow up, and developing a strong brotherly bond.  This post is dedicated to them.  

On a Sunday afternoon.  I was trying to take a nap.  It didn't work.  It turned into a "selfie" session.

Bennett loves Theo a lot, but he really adores his little 9 month old cousin Norah, whom he's never even met in person.

Yesterday morning I was laying in bed with Bennett in the morning.  Max brought Theo into us.  Bennett excitedly greeted him.  "Good morning baby!  Did you sleep good?  You are so cute! ....I love Norah."  Theo smiled at him with admiration the whole time, and was not offended at all.

It's too much to have 3 little boys into the bath at once.  We usually get Theo out pretty fast, add a bit more water to the tub, and then Harrison jumps in and joins Bennett.  Recently Theo has not liked this plan so much.  He wants to be in the tub with brothers playing.  We have a hard time keeping him away.

Bennett trying really hard to keep Theo in the picture with him.  It doesn't always work out.

I really love that these three all have an apron, and want to help me bake.  This usually happens on a Sunday afternoon.  Here we are making Strawberry Muffins.

  

I've posted stories and videos on here before about Harrison singing songs.  He's been singing a lot to Theo lately.  I captured this recently.  He came in as I was cuddling with Theo, and about to go lay him down.  He wanted to sing him to sleep.  I told him he could try, and he did pretty well.  Theo was actually laying down, and starting to fall asleep, until the song got a bit too up beat.  This video makes me laugh so hard every time I watch it.  

Last week Max was gone all day, every day, at cub scout day camp.  He came home one day to his eager and bored brothers.  He dressed them all up like Pirates and they ran all around the yard, house and neighborhood for an hour before dinner.  Max was the strongest, Harrison was the scariest, and Bennett was the hairiest.  

Bathing beauties.  Summertime joys!

Every now and then the brothers hurt each other.  Sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident.  On this day Bennett tripped over Theo, who was busy digging in a kitchen cupboard.  When Bennett landed on him he slammed Theo's head into the bottom edge of the cupboard.  It was so sad!  Theo had a concussion.  He started throwing up in the middle of the night.  It took him a couple of days before he was back to normal.  I was pretty freaked out.  Jason was good at monitoring the situation.  

I really love being their mom.  I have the best job ever.  Nothing is better than watching them form their personalities and relationships.  My biggest complaint is that it is going too fast.

Love Is In the Air

Years ago, when we were still only married for a few years, but had 2 little kids, we realized that going out and making Valentine's Day all about 'Our' love was not reasonable.  First of all, all babysitters are taken, weeknights are crazy and restaurants are packed.  It was just not even enjoyable.  Over the years we have changed our perspective and traditions of Valentine's Day.

I have come to accept the fact that Valentine's Day is really more about the kids.  Jason and I sometimes will do something nice for each other on this day as well.  He almost always will at least get me flowers.  This year he gave me the Second Season of Downton Abbey on DVD with flowers.  He went way far and beyond by also getting a new RED knife set for the kitchen too!  I really needed new knives.  Downton Abbey was a very romantic gift, and we had a lot of fun watching the whole season all the way through together, cuddled up.  I'm not sure if the knives are romantic.  Jason would argue that they are.  First of all they are RED!  Second of all, his desire for me to not injure myself with the old knives shows a lot of LOVE!

The kids really look forward to Valentine's Day.  We plan and eat a special candlelight dinner.  We go around the table and share what we love about each person.  Dinner can be super fancy with the likes of Beef Wellington, or just fun with homemade heart shaped pizza or pink pancakes with strawberries.  This year we had the pink pancakes with strawberries, eggs and bacon.  We had candlelight and ate on our nice dishes. 

Every year is slightly different.  The common thread is that Jason and I try to do things for the kids to let them know how much we love them.  This year I packed their lunches for school with all PINK stuff.  The lunches included - 

PB&J with Raspberry Jam

Strawberry Applesauce cups

Strawberry Yogurt cups

Pink Cupcakes

Glenn peeked into his lunchbox before leaving for school and gushed, "MOM!  I just knew you would do something special!!!"  It was a close one because I almost didn't do it!  I am really good at using the "I'm pregnant with #6 and too tired" excuse.

The other main thing I did was I got a little gift for each child gave it to them at dinner.  First I went on and on about why I love them the most, then gave them their little gift.  They all really loved it.  Max told me at bedtime, "Mom, thanks for making me feel so special."  That melted my heart a bit.

Here I am telling Max why I love him.

Glenn has been wanting a soccer ball, Lily got an Adele CD and Max got a Star Wars Puzzle.

 Harrison REALLY LOVED this activity.  I started with the oldest and went to the youngest, because it is always the opposite.  By the time I got to Harrison he was DYING with excitement.  He has been really into coloring lately, so he got an Eric Carle Coloring Book and new crayons.  Bennett got a toy Lion.  He carries it all around ROARING at us.

OK, now that I've led you all on and told you how wonderful a mom I am.  Let me tell you that I completely LOST it several times this night.  I am going to be open and honest here.  Harrison was so excited that he just could NOT sit still during eating.  He knocked over Glenn's goblet which hit his plate.  This not only spilled his juice, but SHATTERED the glass!!!  I was so SO stressed out that he would be knocking over the candelabra next and starting a fire.  I was trying not to scream and cry the whole time we were eating.  

After we ate I asked Harrison to please clear the table.  He was SO excited to help me.  Jason was upstairs getting Bennett in the bath.  The older kids also wanted to show their LOVE to me by helping.  So they started to help clear and clean the kitchen.  Harrison was SO not happy about this.  He wanted to be the most important helper.  He was trying to get the table cleared, and do the most before everyone else could do it for him.  

He was running into the kitchen with a plate and tripped on the open dishwasher.  He went flying and the plate flew even farther, crashed and shattered!!!  I was way beyond being able to deal with that!  I won't tell you what I said.  I will just tell you that I screamed it!  (Don't let your imaginations run too wild.  It wasn't too bad.)  Jason, of course, was running down the stairs now.   I quickly came to my senses and gained control.  Harrison was barefoot and crying with a huge lump on his shin.  I told him that I know it was an accident.  He was sitting there with glass all around him, rubbing his leg and crying to me, "Mommy, I'm so sorry..."  That was the climax of the whole evening.  After that things calmed down and became more normal, I am so relieved to say!  

The children went to bed, and Jason and I watched some of Downton Abbey.  The day ended well.

Phew!

I hope you all had a LOVELY Valentine's Day!

Thirteen YEARS!!!!

On June 5, 1998 Jason and Corinne Ritz.

Thirteen Years have passed.  You can tell by looking at us.

We are still having TONS of fun!

* A few of My favorite things about Jason are -

He is a HARD worker!  That boy can work!

He makes me laugh really hard!

He is a very goofy daddy.

He loves the Lord, and serves Him well.

I am SO grateful for our relationship and that we are growing stronger and happier each year.



Third wedding anniversary. On a Rollercoaster!

We got married and got pregnant three months later.  Baby #1 was born 3 weeks after our One year anniversary.  Nine months later guess who was pregnant again.  ME!  So I was 4 months pregnant for our Two year anniversary.  By the time our Third anniversary came around I was ready to party!  We took the kids to Grandma Ritz's in Farmington and then spent the day at Lagoon.  It was FUN!  I am a ride LOVER and Jason not so much. He got sick half way through the day, and I ran around riding all the rides I could by myself.  After being non-stop prego for 2 years it was pretty easy to let loose.  NO WAY was Jason going to hold me back, I didn't care if he was throwing up! (Don't worry, he wasn't:))

After Thirteen years and five kids our lives have changed for sure.  This last weekend was very busy.  Jason was gone camping and I had a packed weekend with kids and birthday parties etc.  We went out to dinner on Saturday night with some friends.  That was a lot of fun for us.  The best part?  They paid!  Late that night, after we were home, I realized that our anniversary was the NEXT day.  Neither one of us had even remembered!!!!  It almost passed without us even realizing it! 

(Our friends paid for our anniversary dinner!  I guess we need to find out when their anniversary is so we can return the favor!)

I never thought, when we got married, that we would evolve to this!  Maybe this should bother us, but it doesn't.  We are both good with it. 
This is something I have learned and know for sure over the first 13 years -

"Love, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way.

And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all."
— Emily Giffin (Love the One You're With)