You'll never believe this one...

If you've read this blog, you've seen pictures of Noah sleeping in strange positions and different places, 

but this one I wouldn't have believed if I just heard it.  This is truly a "seeing is believing" moment.

Here he is in the back of the Suburban, on Jason's baseball equipment bag during a Mudhens practice.

I don't know if I should feel sorry for him or laugh that he really does this.

Spanish & ISIS

Ten days ago, our Faith-y turned 10 years old.  She had a sleep over with a couple of friends and a party the next day with more friends.  They had fun running around and we even made an attempt at tie dying socks.  (I say "attempt" because they didn't hold the dye because this Mommy forgot to make sure the socks were 100% cotton.)  We'll try again next year, but maybe we'll do headbands instead.  Here they are eating their ice cream treats.

 

Being 10 comes also with it's share of downs to go with the ups, with most of that falling into the category of homework and added responsibilities.  If you didn't know, Faith has only one other classmate in her actual grade, so they are combined with the grade above them.  They all get along great, but some days, the pace of early 'tweens gets to a sensitive girl.

Last week, she was having a hard time getting to sleep and I usually realize that she's got lots on her mind and just needs to release some of the stress before she can get any rest.  After a couple nights of bedtime routine stalling, I sat down to ask her what was up.  The proceeded to tell me her worries about not knowing as much Spanish as she thought Fr. Zach thought she should know.  I know, she worries enough for most of us.  This is her first year learning Spanish, and to Fr. Zach's credit, he is immersing them in it, and they are stressing about it.

As we continue on, she then mentions that Fr. Craig was in their class that week also.  (Yes, we are blessed to have 3 priests in our area that are great with kids!)  So he was talking about Christian persecution.  I don't know if someone asked a question or what, but what he said sunk right to her heart, and she started telling me, "He was telling us about these people that go around killing people (*begins to wail) THAT LOVE JESUS!"  So at this point, she was crying hysterically and I had to reassure her that ISIS was not coming to our house (hopefully not anytime soon anyways) and that even if they did, we would just have to pray and trust that God would protect us. 

What was so beautiful about it, was that her fear was real BECAUSE she loves Jesus, and although I would never hope that my children would die because of their faith, my prayer is that they have a faith strong enough that they would not be afraid to die proclaiming it.  That they love God so much, that no evil could convince them to turn from Him ever, even in the face of death.  As a parent, I hope that that death is only one of death-to-self and not a physical one.  I truly had a God-filled moment when I heard her innocent but mature 10-year old love of Jesus and witnessed her live up to her name.

Hair raising issue

Well, the good news is that lice shampoo smells pretty good.  The bad news is that I now know what lice shampoo smells like. 

It's the call any parent dreads..."You need to come pick up so & so, because we found evidence of lice."  EW!  I'm just itchy and squirmy thinking about it! 

Luckily, only 1 of the 4 in school had it in their class, but unfortunately, you still have to treat them all as if they actually have it.  So after I got home from working this morning, I had to set out in search of lice treatments.  To save myself possibly an hour of driving to Marshall, I headed to our little grocery store to find out if they had any.  After a short visit in the aisle, I QUIETLY asked the cashier, (because there were 2 people in that aisle, which is usually empty every other time I'm in there!), if she knew if they had any.  She briefly looked and then to my dismay, went to the register and uttered into the microphone, "Brad, do we have any lice treatment?!"  (NOT quietly I might add.)  Now not only am I fidgety because my kid has lice, now it's being announced over the loudspeaker and now everyone else in the store knows that I'm looking for cootie treatment!

I quickly set out to my next destination, to buy more than enough treatment to delouse the entire block.  I had to make sure I got enough to treat everyone initially, plus some spray to treat things that I couldn't put in the washer, not to mention another spray that you could put directly onto hair (just in case the shampoo didn't work the first time) and a preventative shampoo to keep the critters away until this all gets under control.  Can you say "overkill"?

As if going through lice treatment isn't enough, adding insult to injury is washing everything that your child has come into contact, pretty much EVER!  Every single bed was stripped of all the blankies, mounds of pillows and stuffed animals and hauled to the laundry room.  Every blanket that was used that I could find had to get washed, and unfortunately it was nearly every one.  My laundry pile looks like Mount Everest and I will be washing well into tomorrow, and if I'm lucky, I might actually get to my "real" laundry on my day off!

Let's just say that today has been "a case of the Mondays" so I will be glad when it's over.  For now, we all have clean heads and clean sheets.  And even though I wasn't a hero, because all of the pillows and blankies were not done by the time bedtime came, I know that I battled the bugs and hope to come out victorious.  If anything, we'll all at least smell good in the process!  So, I'm at least happy that we don't smell like medicine cabinets, but it's also a smell that I hope I won't have to experience ever again!