Vander Linden Musings

Gerritt comes up to me and says, “Is my tooth loose? It hurts when I chew.” I checked it- and yes it was wiggling a bit. He went outside to let his brothers feel it. Josh pulled so hard it popped it out. I heard Gerritt say, “Oh my goodness- my tooth fell out!” I shouted- “Liar!” Thinking he was trying to fool his brothers. Jake then pipes in, “No it’s for real.” Gerritt comes in with a bloody mouth sans the tooth. He was standing on the deck when Josh pulled, and it fell through the slats. Whimpy Mom decided to brave the spiders and dirt to look for the tooth with Jakob. No luck. Gerritt said, “In my letter to the tooth fairy I’m going to tell her that my brother pulled so hard we lost my tooth- so can I have 100 dollars?” I’m thinking she doesn’t carry that kind of money around. So- I’m thinking- no.

One of Jake’s first comments was, “He beat me to number 5 tooth.” The dentist didn’t want to pull Jake’s teeth- so he’s still at 3 teeth lost.  Then Gerritt said to Jake, “I did beat you to number five.”  Jake said- “I know- let’s say ten.”  So now the race is on for number 10!  They’re funny.

We promised the boys that we would go camping this past Friday. Things happened where we weren’t able to go. Since that was the second time this summer… we had to do SOMETHING for them.

We decided to set the tent up in the backyard and make smores in our fire pit. The boys slept in the tent with our big lab, Jackson. I was a little nervous about that- but we figured Jackson would warn us if something went wrong.

Jake came in around 2 am because the wind wouldn’t let him sleep. Gerritt came in a 6 am since the sun was up- I told him to go to bed- I’m sure he didn’t (he’s not much of a fan of sleeping) and Josh stayed in the tent until Milo came and jumped on the tent to get to Jackson. Guess he figured it wasn’t fair that Jackson got to sleep in the tent and he didn’t.

While we roasted marshmallows Friday night- the dogs begged and begged for some chocolate. To no avail- poor guys. I gave them the crumbs from the graham crackers when we were done stuffing our faces.

Oh how I wish I were one of those women who loves cleaning!  Do they exist?  Are there really Monicas out there (Friends reference)?  It took me until 2 Pm today to get motivated to clean the kitchen.  I called my sister Beckey so that I could talk to her while I cleaned…she was busy.  So I decided to SUCK it up and just do it.  Now the task of cleaning the bathrooms tomorrow is already on my mind.  Dreading every minute that ticks me closer to tomorrow.

And don’t get me started on the laundry!  That NEVER ends!  There is always something staring at me seeming to say, “Wash me!  Wash me!”  I’m not so bad at the washing, since I gave myself a schedule, as I am the putting away.  I have many pieces of clean clothing hanging in the laundry room, and many pieces of clean clothing folded in the laundry room.  I have to pump myself up to put them away.

If only being a stay at home Mom was just playing with the kids, or making sure they don’t swallow something they aren’t supposed to.  If only, If only, If only…

Gerritt was an all star in his league tonight. He lost his first game but won his second game. He got a few doubles and made a few outs on first base. It was a fun night.

They’ll all be playing baseball again in the fall. The schedule is kind of hectic- but without the daily dose of some form of baseball, whether it be practice or a game, I’m getting bored! I don’t know what we did BEFORE the baseball season!