Heaven & Jail (vs. Heaven & Hell???)

Today, as Jaden sat at the table eating his lunch, pizza and watermelon (his FAVORITE fruit by far!!), and as I stand at the sink washing bottles, he randomly asks me..."Mom, why do babies die?". I looked up from the sudsy sink full of bottles and paci's with a confused, and probably somewhat concerned look on my face and said, "What, why do babies die, is that what you said son?". He said, "Yes, why do babies die?". Hmmmm, I wasn't sure where this conversation was going to go, but I took my best shot at giving him an answer I thought he may be looking for. I said, "Well, a baby could die because of an accident, or because they are sick.....". He said, "Well they will go to Heaven when they die, right Mom?". I said, "Yes, I think they do, go to Heaven." He said, "Yes, because when you die, you go to Heaven. And when I am older and not here anymore, I will be in Heaven.". I asked him, "Where is Heaven?". He said, "I don't know Mom, I've never been there!". I asked him, "So, do good people go to Heaven when they die?". He said, "Yep, they do.". I said, "Do bad people go to Heaven when they die?". He said, "Nope, they don't.". I said, "Well, where do they go?". He started to shrug his shoulders, as if he was going to say he didn't know, decided to give it some thought, and answered, "They go to jail.". Jailey & I threw a smirk at each other, over his innocent little answer, and I said, "Well, close enough son.". Jail/hell, same thing, right??

To The Moon And Back...........

After picking up Jailey from her Girl Scout meeting, we headed over to the store to pick up a few things. On our way out of the store, Jailey pointed up at the sky and noticed the moon. She said, "It's a half moon tonight Mom, the other piece of it is missing." I explained to her, as much as I could be it that my astrology & science background are slim to none, and had to put my 8th grade science thinking cap on, as to why the moon looked like it was in "half". After I explained it to her, she said, "I wish I was on the moon, it doesn't even look like it's that far away, like 12 hours to get there." I told her that it didn't look that far away, however, I did know that it took well over 12 hours to get there. She said, "Well if it takes that long, then you better hope you eat something before you travel there, because that's a long trip, and how do you even eat when you're in space - everything floats (as she opened her mouth wide imitating on how one would try and catch floating food with their mouth - I guess she thinks that your arms and hands don't work in space??!!), you have to eat it like this Mom, catch the food as it floats passed you, and hope you get enough in to get full." We laughed together at the thought of having to catch floating food, and I told her that I would probably starve then!

It's amazing to me, that, the moon is simply a white ball in the sky for us adults that comes and goes with each passing day, and that most nights, we often forget or don't take time to take a look up in that beautiful sky of ours, to take even a quick glance at it. But to an eight year old, it's fully visible almost every night, it's a whole new discovery with pure wonderment.

I can't wait for this school project.....construction of our solar system.....what fun we are going to have with this one!!!

Horses & I have something in common

Jailey went camping with her Girl Scout troop this last weekend up in the San Dimas mountain area at a ranch. We took the whole family out there to go pick her up Sunday afternoon. As you can imagine, we were all very excited to see her, as she was too, and we couldn't wait to hear all about her trip. So, on our drive home, Jailey had sooooo very much to tell us about, it was great to hear how much she learned and how much fun she had (the dirt under her nails, the stench in her shoes, the layer of dust & mud on her body, the scratches on her face and arms all proved it - her fun she had - to be true!). The songs she learned and campfire events seemed to be the biggest topic of her conversation, but randomly, she threw in some info about all the animals that she encountered while there. One animal in particular, a male horse named Opi. She said, "Oh my gosh Mom, remember the three horses that were there......the boy one, Opi, uggghh, it was disgusting, you should have seen it, he had THE BIGGEST WEINER EVER!!!!!!" Jaden listening so attentively to his "siser", sat up tall in his car seat, put his chest out, and as loud as he could said, "I HAVE ONE OF THOSE TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leave it to him to remind us how amusing talking about the male anatomy, or should I say, horse anatomy, could be! Our boy, he sure is proud!!!!! Hey, I don't blame him. :>)

DON'T Pass The Peas Please, I'm Allergic

Last night, the vegetable of choice we had with dinner was peas. Jailey has a tendency to push these green little veggies to the side of her plate, as if to try and hide them, and hurry quick to ask to be excused from the table to clear her plate, and successfully, in the trash can they go. Peas are not on her list of faves under the veggie department. But, we still would like for her to eat them, of course!!! So last night, Jailey sat at the dinner table complaining about not wanting to eat her peas.......Jaden said, "Siser (Jaden does not pronounce the "t" in sister, and has always referred to Jailey as siser, sometimes siser Jailey - maybe he thinks she's a Nun, I'm okay with that!), you gotta eat your peas, Mom said.", Jailey said, "Jaden, Mom said I only had to eat 2.", I replied, "When did I say this? Finish them all please", "Ugggggghhhh, Mooooommmmmm!", she said, "I wish I was allergic to peas!", Jaden said, "Siser, this is the best dinner ever.", Jailey replied, "This is the WORST dinner ever Jaden!"

30 minutes, and 3 tall glasses of milk for a chaser later, successfully, the peas made it in her belly, not a single one left on her plate. Unsuccessful was the trash can, sorry, no peas for you last night! Hey who knows, maybe tonight will bring it some spinach, the other least fave veggie on the list!

5 Favorite Things About My Five Children

Okay...last post of the day (I think anyway!!), for memory sake, I thought I would sit and think about my 5 favorite things about each of my 5 children. Here it goes.........

JAILEY:
1. The freckles on her face
2. Her strong & stubborn personality
3. Her love of reading
4. When she catches me off guard to give me a hug and tell me how much she loves me
5. Her compassion and concern for others, the earth, animals, and her brothers and sister

JADEN:
1. His big brown eyes
2. His "special" hugs & kisses
3. His good manners
4. That he has his Daddy's heart
5. His love for flowers

JESSA:
1. When she sucks her thumb while holding her blankie and cuddles up close to me
2. Her piercing blue eyes
3. Her eagerness
4. That she calls her sippy cups "mocho"
5. The smell of her blankies

JAX:
1. His name
2. His Alfalfa hairdo
3. His talent to hold his toys with his feet
4. How he says Dada
5. The way he cuddles his blankie when he sleeps

JUDE:
1. His scrunchy nose crooked smile
2. His sensitive personality
3. His sweet little laugh
4. His grunts and growls
5. That he's the baby of the bunch


WOW, that was harder than I thought! When I sit and actually put it down in writing, I have sooo very many favorite things about each one of my kids, choosing just 5 was hard! And I'm sure this list will be forever changing, and growing as they grow. I'm going to miss these "favorite" things!!

This Guy and That Guy, that's my name

When I found out I was pregnant with twins, I wanted to go jump off my balcony (but figured, not such a good idea, I would just break my ankles). I eventually made peace with it, through a lot of therapy talks with my Mom and bff, and really became relaxed about the whole thing. The day that Jax & Jude were born, rather than jump off my balcony, I wanted to fly from my balcony. I was so elated and overcome with the miracle that just took place. They were meant to be, and as a set at that!! How lucky am I, to be able to experience the growth of a baby all over again, and all their amazing milestones, two times at once!! I am still learning about the whole "twin" thing and don't fall into any forums as to reading up on, joining groups, or the how to's about twins. I am just taking it as it comes. Although I must admit, I do find myself dressing them "twinnie" most of the time, I'm almost obsessive over it! So, now to the point of this post, when they were first born, we didn't really know what to call them, and for whatever reason, it was weird for us to call them by their names. So, naturally then, they acquired names like, Baby A and Baby B, this one and that one, and this guy and that guy, to name a few. The name that thus far has stuck with them 9 months later, is this guy and that guy. I find my family and friends, even myself, still referencing them by those names - it's hilarious! "Who ate last?", um, this guy.", "Who has a poopie diaper?", that would definitely be that guy.", "Ok, who's crying?", awwww, this guy is, he's stuck under the table!!" My Mom just realized, last night as a matter of fact, how much we reference them to those names. We were cracking up about it! We do it so subconsciously.

So, I can only hope, that the day will come, for their sake anyway, that they will simply be referenced to as Jax & Jude, as individuals. I mean, not like it's any harm or a bad thing, but soon enough, they are going to have an opinion about it and maybe just want to be "this guy has a name guy". Or, even funnier, I can see it now, them pointing fingers at each other, "No Mom, it was that guy guy...No it wasn't Mom, it was this guy guy!!!" :>)

What do you want to be when you grow up

On our morning drive to drop the kids off at school, Jaden asks sister Jailey, "siser, what do you want to be when you grow up?, a firetruck girl, a doctor to put band aids on people, a driver???", Jailey looking at Jaden ever so seriously, "Jaden, no, I don't want to be any of those, I want to be a Mom." As I smile and look at her expression in my rearview mirror, I catch her attention and ask her, "A Mom?", she replied, "Yep! A Mom who stays home and the Dad goes to work", I said, "A Mom with how many kids?", she replied, "One, just one.", I said, "A Mom who stays home and changes diapers all day?", she said, "Yep!", and Jessa now adding her two cents to the conversation, added, "Poopsth (how Jessa says poops with a lisp)!! hehehehe!!".

I guess this whole stay-at-home-mom job I've had the last 2 years gig is inspiring my kids after all. "Poopsth" diapers and all! :>)