Snapshots: Games

Joshua and Hannah finished their first ever standardized tests this week.  Praise the Lord!  As a special treat (and since we had the tests scheduled all week and managed to complete them on  Wednesday) we took Thursday and Friday off from school.  The kids enjoyed free time and playing outside, and while it rained yesterday afternoon we played some games.

Rachel wandered around scavenging for stray popcorn.  She found more than her fair share!  She also rummaged through the fruit drawer and rounded up all the oranges her little arms could carry.  I am convinced she would eat all that we would peel.

Jeremiah played along and turned the same two tiles over each turn until he finally got a match.  Some of his older siblings were quite generous and donated their matches to his cause.

The kids usually get pretty upset if they don't win.  Maybe it was having unlimited popcorn to snack on and being able to enjoy a piece of candy, but they didn't seem to mind when I won.

 

And, as things usually go, moments after snapping these photos the entire fun operation came to a screeching halt.  The older kids were on a sugar high, the younger kids were crying, and the middle kid was coughing, sniffling, and starting to feel pretty terrible from an oncoming cold.

Such is life with a crew of littles!

45 Minutes

 The morning was great.  We got up, made it through our morning routine, even read a few books with the little kids.  School time was smooth.  Everyone was in their places doing what they were supposed to be doing.  It was a good day.

12:05pm - Two children began throwing tantrums for different reasons.  I cleaned up Rachel from her lunch, attempted to put her in her bed and quickly realized that she needed a new diaper in a bad way.  Jeremiah walked in the room and it became obvious that he also needed a new diaper.  So I began the process.

12:15pm - Both tantrums persisted as I cleaned up the little guys' diapers.  Both messes were a bit bigger than I had anticipated.  Rachel needed a new shirt.  Neither diaper swished out in the toilet nicely.

12:20pm - One tantrum ceased, but the other ramped up as I rinsed out some pretty fowl cloth diapers.  It didn't take long to be literally elbow deep in some pretty mucky water.  Ewww...

12:22pm - Hannah comes through the front door, screaming, "Abby won't let go of the jump rope and I already asked her to!"  Oh, yes...this requires my direct attention.  Not.  I send Hannah back out to resolve the jump rope issue with her younger sister.

12:24pm - Still up to my elbows in diaper water, trying to keep Rachel out from underfoot, and Hannah enters yet again.  This time sreaming about ten times louder than the last time.  "Abby hit me with the recorder!"  Cry.  Sob.  Jump up and down.  Yep.  Another tantrum.  At least the tantrum from the other room had toned down to some moaning and groaning.

12:30pm - I look up to explain to Hannah that I cannot deal with the recorder/jump rope situation because my hands are covered in poopy water.  I see blood streaming down her face.  A blood nose.  Perfect.  I send Hannah to get some tissue.

12:33pm - The diapers are rinsed.  My hands are scrubbed.  The bath tub is bleached.  Hannah is still freaking out.  She runs in to find me and I send her right back to the bathroom where she started.  She leaves a drippy trail of blood through most of the downstairs.  My usual pregnancy heartburn rears a very ugly head about now.  Oh, well...no time for that.  I get the hydrogen peroxide, put Rachel in her play yard, and hope that this is over soon.

12:35pm - After cleaning the blood trail, I find Hannah standing over the toilet.  Screaming.  There is blood everywhere.  Her hands and arms are covered.  Her clothes are covered.  The toilet seat is covered.  Blood is splattered on the walls, the floor, the outside of the toilet, the sink, the mirror.  I'm glad I have the hydrogen peroxide and that I apparently have a strong stomach after working through those messy cloth diapers.  I start cleaning.

12:45pm - Hannah is clean and changing into fresh clothing.  Her nose is no longer bleeding.  The bathroom is clean.  The laundry has been rinsed with hydrogen peroxide to prevent stains and is in the washing machine.  All tantrums have stopped.

12:50pm - Three of the kids are playing play dough.  They are laughing as if none of them had thrown a tantrum, produced a blow out poop, had a blood nose, or beat up their older sibling with a recorder.  (Please note, the blood nose was NOT from Abby.  It happened all on its own.)  Rachel is in bed, not asleep yet, but on her way.  And the complaining from Tantrum-Thrower Number One has ceased.  Now it's time to dictate a spelling list, supervise violin practice, heat up lunch, and prod the preschoolers as they clean up the Duplos.

If ever you hear a mother or father with a few (or more!) small children in their constant care, this is what you should think of when they say things are "busy", "hectic", "crazy", "exhausting", "tiring", or "non-stop" at their house.  This can happen any time of day or night without warning, without due cause.  Things are running smoothly and then BAM!  Everything spontaneously combusts and chaos abounds for 45 minutes.

Okay...so on a good day it only lasts 45 minutes.  I won't even get into what a bad day can look like.  You're smart.  I'm sure you can imagine.

After you have imagined, then you can say a prayer for any parents you know who have a troop of little tikes at home.  You may just be praying at the precise moment that a blood nose, two tantrums, two incredibly messy diapers, some heartburn, and a few other urgent matters collide in one big train wreck.

Snapshots: Playing Catch Up

We haven't updated much about the general comings and goings in the Crew.  Things haven't been out of the ordinary, but they certainy have been busy.  I can't quite imagine what things will be like with another Crew member in tow this summer.  For now, the five little guys running around here keep Claude and I on our toes and ensure that we fall asleep without difficulty at night.

Here are some photos from the past month or so, just as a bit of a catch up on what we've been doing recently.

Working backwards...here's what we did today.

Ice cream for lunch.  :)

Don't tell Rachel she missed out on the ice cream.  She has no idea!

Our church hosted a 5K to raise money for a girls' home in the Dominican Republic.  The entire Crew was supposed to participate, but with a few of us being sick, Hannah and I went on our own.  It was a fun way to kick off a mother-daughter day.  :)

Last Friday we did the big seasonal clothing switch.  We have been working on acquiring all that each child needed for spring/summer for a few weeks.  It was so much to keep track of that I was having anxiety dreams over it - even with my master checklist!

Praise the Lord, the final clothing items arrived just in time to put away the old and take out the new.  But by the end of a long day, I could hardly stand on my feet.  Joshua was sick that day, so these guys were my clean up crew - chocolatey faces and all!

Hannah and I may have walked a 5K, but Claude ran about 20 times longer earlier in March.  We hung out near the finish line, played on the playground, and ate candy.  :)

The kids were pretty excited to see the sun set and watch the stars come out while we waited for Claude to finish.  Here they are, enjoying some rest while Dad is slogging away in the mud.

And he did it!  100Ks!  Joshua is wondering when he'll run 100 miles...

We had quite a bit of snow in the late winter.  The kids loved it!

Claude and Jer built this snowman just after the last (Lord willing!) snowfall of the season.

There was plenty of shoveling to do.  Since Claude never did get a snow day, we had a pretty long driveway to clear with each storm.

 

I recruited a new team of kitchen helpers.

I have to watch these three.  They all like to taste test, especially Rachel.  Just this week she shoved her face into a measuring cup of cocoa powder.  I don't think it feels great going up the nostrils!

Hannah and Joshua helped sew some wash cloths.  They are begging to do more on the sewing machine.

Of Forests and Fields: An Ode to Inspirational Trail Running Films

When someone in your household is into trail running you end up viewing many short films meant to inspire and encourage a love of the sport.  Here's the Chew Crew's take on the whole thing.  Hope you're inspired to go run a few miles!

Password: 2005ChewCrew



Of Forests and Fields from Chew Crew on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Becca!

33 years ago the Lord saw fit to bring into the world Rebecca Lynn Valentino who would eventually become Rebecca Lynn Chew!

And boy am I glad that He decided to do that!

I don't have anything necessarily eloquent or profound to say, other than I am humbled and blessed by the Lord to have been brought into marriage with Becca, not quite sure why He would pick the two of us from completely different backgrounds and geographical locations (try the other side of the world, literally) to be one to represent the love that He has for the church (try Ephesians Chapter 5).

So let me attempt an acrostic poem to try and capture the essence of how we feel about Becca:

R - Radiant

Becca continually reflects and shines the light of Jesus more and more everyday to her family and to our friends!

E -  Encouraging

Becca is an encouragement to other moms in their journeys in following the Lord Jesus!

B - Beautiful

Not much to say here, other than Becca is beautiful and continues to reflect and be adorned with,"the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. ⁵ For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves..." - 1 Peter 3:4-5

E - crEative

When it comes to organizing things, making things, crafty things, teaching things, Becca is very creative she often has a different way of looking at things that is usually helpful, once I get over thinking that my way is right... 

C - Compassionate

Becca is compassionate towards, especially in light of the constant demands of the many needy members of the Chew household, to me this is quite supernatural and can only be inspired by Jesus!

 

C - Charis

   This is the Greek for "grace" or "gracious", Becca is extremely gracious towards us all in the Chew household, even after day after day of nagging, tantrums, bad attitudes, teaching, training, pottying, diapering, cooking, homeschooling, even after all of that she still is able to send me out of the house to go run somewhere out of cell phone reception for a day!

 

A - Aletheia

Becca is interested in the truth, the Truth of Jesus, the Truth of the Scripture, the truth of most subjects, and that is something that the Lord has usually used to unite us even more as one.  I am very thankful to be married to be someone who so highly values the Truth of Jesus Christ.

So there you have it, nothing overly sentimental but believe me, words cannot communicate how much I love and honor Becca!

Happy Birthday Becca!

These Days

At tthis point it has been several days since I wrote this post.  I wanted to put a link to kiviak and Inuits who go under the sea ice to collect mussels in the spring.  It's not going to happen any time soon and I want to push publish.  If you are interested in the diet of Inuit people try Google.  And if you don't care to know, then the link wouldn't have served much of a purpose anyway and I won't feel bad about not including it.

Okay...so here's what I wrote a few days ago...

I wrote this yesterday...didn't get around to publishing.  Between writing this in the morning and bed time last night I witnessed my children gathering mussels from  under the sea ice in the Arctic.  They fermented the mussels in order to make mussel kiviak.  I overheard Abby explain to her two-year-old brother how gums are very small when you're young and will get bigger and bigger as you get older until they are all of half an inch long.  Josua and Hannah spent their evening free time playing a homemade game about seeds - it came right out of the science text book.  I think this classifies them as nerds, if watching the imaginary tides until just the right moment to venture under Arctic sea ice in order to ferment mussels isn't already nerdy enough.

And how could I forget the hugs from Rachel?  She and Jer are the first of our kids to be so affectionate.  I am (sometimes literally) showered with hugs and kisses from them during the day.  If I wasn't a softy before having kids, I most certainly am now.  Of course, a bunch of pregnancy hormones probably has something to do with that.  Or not.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Anyway...here's what I wrote yesterday...

There is a storm coming in today.  Right  now the sky is grey and getting darker by the hour.  The wind is starting to blow so that the trees on our property are swaying significantly.  It's the kind of day when I want to curl up under a blanket and read a good book.  But around here, there is no such thing as a "curl up on the couch" kind of day.  The activity levels are as high as ever this morning, which has proven to be both good and bad.

Today I was reluctant to get out of bed.  There are those days when I just don't want to do anything - not like doing nothing is ever an option.  As my feet drag, especially through the afternoons, I have discovered my coping mechanism.

Earl Grey.  Hot.  It smells good, it's decaf, and it is not chocolate.

We are having some friends over on Saturday afternoon.  As I was thinking of necessary preparations for their visit, I realized that we haven't mopped the kitchen floors since the last time we had people over.  That was sometime before February began.  Sweeping is done at least twice a day and usually three times, but no mopping in over a month?  This says a lot about my current housekeeping habits.

If you could see the clean laundry that resides on the floor in the master bedroom, you would also have a picture of how well I've been doing in the household management department.  Of course,  you should also look at the pantry, re-organized kitchen cabinets, and the fridge which is about to burst at the seems with pounds of newly cooked beans.  So, I suppose only some things are left to the wayside.  Mopping and putting away the laundry just don't rate around here.

While I'm on the subject of cleaning, I asked Joshua and Hannah if they would vacuum the upstairs today.  It's been even longer since that happened than the last time we took out the mop bucket.  My instructions were to be thorough.  They moved all of the large toys and containers out of the toy room, cleared out the underbed storage bins, and even attempted to move their clothing drawers.  My concept of thorough wasn't quite so, well, thorough.

The little ones have been rocking out to demo songs on the keyboard.  They're bottom-wriggling dances are quite funny.  And the laughter that ensues from a good dance session is priceless.

To wrap things up, I am feeling extremely pregnant.  Aches and pains I normally feel in the last few months have been with me for a while now.  I'm only 21 weeks.  The second half of this pregnancy may just feel like an eternity.  In addition, the first trimester nauseau persists.  I guess my body has gotten mixed up - the second trimester is supposed to nauseau and pain free - hello sixth pregnancy!  Or perhaps that should be, goodbye abdominal strength and general agility.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

This little guy is very active, though, reminding me of the reason for the discomforts.  While I can try and feel bad for myself, and for the first time think that pregnancy is really hard, the pity party can't last long.  We have had two in-depth ultrasounds in this pregnancy.  No complications, just a question about the due date and a routine mid-pregnancy scan.  To see such a tiny person (he was only 3 inches long the first time) wriggling around and putting his hands to his face was nothing short of amazing.

Aches, pains, nauseau, heartburn - none of it can compare to the awesome privilege of watching these kids grow up.  And if this little one is as active out of the womb as he is inside, we'd better be ready.  The Crew is about to not only get bigger but busier.  Much busier!

Tantrums Abound

Last week we had a couple of doctor appointments in town.  The kids did great sitting through everything, but after being in a waiting area or an exam room for three hours we were ready to go home.  Before going home, however, we decided to stop by Walmart.

Walmart, my least favorite place on earth.

Praise the Lord that our trip was uneventful.  Quick.  Smooth, even.  Until we got out to the van.

That is when I realized that I had locked my keys in the ignition.  Thankfully the van was not on.  I suppose if it had been I would have noticed before we had gone into the store that something was amiss.

There wasn't much to be done about the situation, though.  So, I called Claude to ask him to stop by Walmart after work and we set out to kill three hours.

We started our adventure by walking up the hill to Sam's Club.  After a round of hot pretzels and cold water from the soda machine, we began the Alphabet Game.  We walked the store, slowly (always very slowly) for an hour and a half and found the following items:

The rules were that we had to go in order and we could only write down items that we saw as we wrote them down.

Upon completion of the Alphabet Game we realized that Rachel had taken off and dropped both of her socks.  A game of Find the Socks ensued.

Once we had exhausted our options of productive occupation at Sam's Club, we headed back down the hill.  If you ever find yourself in Walmart with a few hours to spare and a handful of kids I would highly recommend locating the fish tanks.  From Chew Crew 1 down to Chew Crew 5, everyone was enthralled by watching the little fish flit around.  We stood there for at least 20 minutes without a single complaint.

And then the nagging began.  From an un-named member of the Crew, I heard "I'm thirsty" at least a million times in approximately 30 seconds.  I had already made very clear the water-drinking regulations for the afternoon.  Designated water stops mean more predictable potty breaks and preventable accidents.  In a family of many littles, this can make or break an outing.

The thirsty child knew when to expect another drink and was decidedly unwilling to wait.  It had to be on her terms and when I didn't budge, she began throwing a tantrum.

First it was just crying.  Then the crying became shouting.  The shouting then led to her sitting down in the middle of the aisle.  When that didn't get her a drink, she began screaming and shuffling next to the stroller on her knees.  This, of course, all started as the after work crowd was making their way through the store.  We had quite the audience!

By the time Claude arrived, she was in a full-fledged temper tantrum.

We decided that Claude would take the other four kids out to the parking lot while I worked with the tantrum-thrower.  Her screams had gotten louder, her nagging about water continued, and she proceded to throw herself onto the floor and wriggle and writhe so that a group of ladies came over and tried to sympathize...with her!

I'm so glad my back was already to those well-meaning women, because it meant that I didn't have to reply to their questions or comments.  I just kept on keeping on, requiring obedience and silence.  It was reasonably successful and we were nearly out of the store, when the nagging began again.

A second tantrum  was right on its heels.  At least this time we were in the privacy of our own car and I had some music to turn on nice and loud so the rest of us could attempt to enjoy the long ride home.

Eventually she stopped screaming...and fell asleep.  But before she did, I got a good chuckle.

"You're never going to make me stop my tantrum, Mommy!" she yelled.  "The more you tell me no water the more I will nag and nag and scream!"

At least we had gotten past all of the pleasantries and could see the beast for what it was: Just another sinful, selfish person trying to get her way.

Don't we sometimes throw the same kinds of fits?  They may be quieter, but I'm sure a four-year-old is not the only one who has ever lost all sense of self-control in the face of not getting what she wanted, when she wanted it.

I doubt she will be the last.  At least not in our Crew.