A Contradiction of Feelings...

I have to record this memory because it is so funny to me. It captures this stage of Piersen so, ummmm, nicely (?).

All the kids were loaded in the van for the morning drive to school. We were on time and everyone was happy. Reece asked if we could play the spelling game so we began.

I threw out words to Reece like "complicated", "quiet", "quite" and "disgusting".

Chase got simpler words such as "school", "happy", "mad".

And, as always, Pierce wants to be included, so I built his self confidence with "Pierce" and "stop" (since we were right in front of a stop sign).

We arrived at the school and dropped the big boys off to Kindergarten and 2nd grade.

The drive back home is when things got interesting.

Pierce wanted to continue the game. I gave him "Pierce" again. Taught him "mom". But then he stated that he wanted to spell "happy". I began to walk him through it but one look in the rearview mirror showed me a very UNhappy face. His arms were crossed and his lip just about down to the floor. I encouraged him - or tried to - and he just started saying "I am not gonna listen. I am so mad because I can't spell happy"

I told him again, not to worry, that he is right where he should be and will learn more about letters and sounds and spelling when he goes to preschool next year.

***sidenote: this kid cracks us up. He follows the leads of his big brothers in SO many ways. The school boys read at least 15 minutes each night for their homework. Pierce assigns himself the same task and if he doesn't do it, he gets onto himself :) He also feels like he is past reading story books - he's on to the the big stuff: chapter (or as he says: chaptew) books. He will sit for a long, long time, following the pages of black and white print - with his finger - and creating stories...sounding out words, and so on. It is entertaining!

So back to the UNhappy speller. I chose to let him sulk in the back seat, even after arriving home. He grumbled at me and hid his face under a blanket when I told him to unbuckle and come on inside. He just kept saying - "I am so mad that I can't spell happy."

I left him in the van (I know, mean, mean mother). But the door was open and he knows how to come inside :)

Before too long, he came stomping in. Still mad.

So he was sent to his bed to fix his attitude.

Within a few minutes, he came back to the kitchen, this time with big sad eyes, explaining that "it hurts my feelings really really bad"

WOW! I guess it is time to teach him spelling. Specifically H-A-P-P-Y!

This is the face he always makes as proof that he has "fixed his attitude" - it is the fakest, but sweetest smile. If I "encourage" him to fix his attitude, he always says, "I already did! Its fixed. See!!!"

A Yard Full of Wishes

My kids love the beautiful yellow weed called the dandelion.

Well, most people call them dandelions.

Chase calls them "wishes".

I have had several bouquets of them picked lovingly for me and I proudly place them in water and set them on the counter or the kitchen table.

They have become even more appealing to the boys when they turn to their white fluffy phase. They have blown many a seed to the neighbors yards, or along the path to the park. Making their "wishes" fly.

Maybe that's why we haven't cut the front yard...much dreamier to have a yard full of wishes :)

Choosing Paths

I have not written very much about this area of our life...and I am not sure why. It isn't a little thing. We happen to be facing some major changes in our life journey and as the days unfold, and the paths present themselves, we will be called to make a decision. We will be choosing a road that we, as a family, or even as a couple, have not chosen before.

For a little background: Benjy and I met in 1996 at a missions program. From the first moments of our friendship, and then dating relationship - "missions" was "the plan". He had served 2 1/2 years as a missionary apprentice in Mexico city and I was on my way to Kosice, Slovakia to do the same. Benjy was at the very early stages of mission team formation to return to Mexico. As we grew more serious in our relationship, I eventually married him and on to that mission team. The early years of our marriage involved preparation and planning for Mexico and then, going and spending 7 years on the field.

It is hard to believe that that brings us up to last June where we said our difficult good-byes to so many special Mexican friends and moved our little family of Mexican born and raised boys to Kentucky.

These past 10 months have been an important time for us as a family. Thanks to our sponsoring congregation here in Louisville, we have been given the opportunity to take an objective step outside of our missional life, to evaluate, rest, consider, and seek next steps. What a blessing! And what a task! I will say, it is not an easy thing - to lay it all out on the table and really truly consider what comes next. We have needed wisdom, patience, emotional maturity, and trust.

It actually has been, although a little scary, also fun. The details of our future are unknown, but in that very thing lies adventure and anticipation and excitement. There also lies some sentimentality for the path we are stepping off of. We have made a decision to make a career shift away from missions and that involves loss. The realities of that rise up - sometimes gently and sometimes strongly, and at unexpected times. All the attempts to protect from the finality of it are not working. That phase of our life was so special and will always be. Being a missionary as a full time career may become our title again in the future, but meanwhile, we continually feel gratitude for our past, for our experience in Mexico and our relationships with those we love in DF. I am thankful for God's love, care, and guidance through all of this.

Our kids have a lot to teach us about life. I am trying to learn a lesson from my youngest son. Hudson is 17 months old - and is now confident in his walking. He has so much fun just walking. And stepping up and down a little step. And up and down again. And again. He still falls often. And he usually has no idea where he wants to go, he heads one way and then suddenly turns around and goes the other. He isn't concerned about choosing a path, he just takes his little steps and when he falls down he smiles and gets back up again and continues. He doesn't over analyze it. It is much simpler than that: he loves to walk and is fully enjoying this new stage of his life.

A lot of life lesson packed into that paragraph for me. As these days unfold and various paths present themselves to us, I pray for wisdom and discernment and timing and provisions. But I also hope I can simply enjoy this stage and keep taking little steps in the journey. Just like Hudson.

My Little Albert Einstein

Hudson can have some wild hair when he wakes up. Sort of "Albert-like" don't ya think??

He may not be developing any scientific experiments but this little Einstein is all about discovering these days... Our 16 month old baby is constantly on the move and is constantly learning, experiencing, trying, touching, pulling, grabbing, licking, climbing, falling, hugging, tripping, drooling...and almost any other "ing" verb you can think of! He is so fun.

I really have loved each stage of my nearly 8 years of being a Mom but this one that Hudson is in is really a special one for lots of reasons... (if you are just here for the pictures, scroll down, you will find some!)

I LOVE to watch the development of communication through sweet little word attempts, but also the grunts and the non-verbal pointing and expressions - amazing how they can get their point across! It seems like in all the grunting and pointing, all of a sudden a real "almost-word" comes out of his mouth. Everyone in the family has our ears tuned in - and we all celebrate and announce anything that sounds remotely like a real world. It is funny. His current vocabulary (that we understand at this point) includes: "da da", "hiiii", "hola", "ball", "more", "byebye", "hooray", "yay", "doo-dah, doo-dah", "nana" (for banana) and "ceewal" (or something similar to cereal). Hudson can be a noisy little critter - especially at the table.

He is all about creating a mess at his high chair - food is not so much about eating as it is about playing with. If left alone for a minute he has that plate of food on his head and is smearing its contents all around. Or stacking his bowl on top of his cup. He is crazy about wanting to hold utensils - has a special fondness for forks (but not the fun colored plastic ones) - oh no - he points and screams for the real fork. He loves to jab and stab his food. I have finally learned that the most effective way to get one away from his is to teach him to throw it in the sink - something about the combination of throwing and the noisy clang of metal that make it almost as fun as the dangerous poking motion. He LOVES to drip out the contents of his sippy cup and then either slurp it up like a dog or splash it all around.

It almost seems like a small miracle that Hudson has become a great sleeper, considering how he started out his first months of life. I never would have believed it - but he sleeps GREAT! I simply lay him down in his bed, sing him a little song, say prayers with him - he twirls his hair and goes to sleep. His hair twirling is so sweet because he used to twirl and play with mine before he had any :) Now, when he gets sleepy, he starts twirling his own. He still uses his paci at night (gasp!!) and when he is in his car seat (gaasssppp!) But he is right on track with how his older brothers were raised. I have taught him to "throw it away" when I lift him out of the crib - and he smiles and does it (again, that whole boy - throwing fun!) At times there is some reluctant hesitation, but he does it. He naps well and hard and long - some days twice but he is beginning to transition to just one. Sleeps from abotu 8pm to 7:30am and jumps up and down in his crib with a huge smile when we open the door to come see him (which is a daily fight with his big brothers - they want to get him immediately and I prefer to give him a little alone time)

The simplest things make him happy. Really. An empty milk jug and a few little game circles and he is entertained - walking around, picking them up and dumping them out. A tupperwear container and something to put into it and carry around. A plastic bag to drag behind him. A mini hockey stick and a ball. He loves to play!

My favorite thing right now is that he is really becoming aware of his affect on people. He LOVES to hug - and he will walk around with his arms wide open and hug anything and everything while making this sweet little "awwwwwwww" sound. He is sweet. I mean really, heart-breakingly, adorabley sweet. He pats my face or rubs my shoulder. He is so full of love and happiness. I know it sounds cliche - but I seriously cannot imagine my life or our family without him. He is my amazing gift and I am forever thankful for him.

the simple things = so much fun!

so sweet!

the beloved fork...

yayyy Hudson!

Hudson's Hide & Seeking

Hudson is all over the place these days. It is crazy.

The other evening I walked into the kitchen to find this:

I ran for the camera, holding in my laughter.

Within a few seconds, some re-shifting of position and I saw this:

Already quite an expert at this hide-and-seek thing. He stayed quiet. Until I called, "oh Hudson... where arrrreeeee you???"

He was so excited when he popped open the cupboard door.

Adorable!

My Own Soccer Team

It should be an obvious statement to think that boy #4 in a line of brothers will grow up to be fiesty and tough. He will have to hold his own... And he certainly has the advantage of older brothers showing him the ropes in athletics from an early age.

But I wasn't quite expecting this early... I came upon this scene at the park this past week. The guys are practicing up for soccer season...and Hudson is right in the mix. What a crew! Watch the video to the end where Hudson tries with all of his might to get to the Brednich team goal celebration...he isn't fast enough but he knows to clap!

My soccer team!! (everyone in Mexico would comment on us having so many kids we could form our own team....here we have it!!)

And when those little legs got too tired for running on that big field, he just practiced drills on the sidelines :)

As any little boy his age, Hudson's words are few...but "ball" is already certainly one of the understandable ones!

Go Hudson go - you are already a star but I have a feeling you may grow into a sports star too with all of this big brother coaching!

Mom vs. Reece

As the hockey season wrapped up, Coach Mike informed the parents of the Stallions' tradition to invite the parents to play against the kids in a fun game. The morning of the game, an email came through with the parents' roster - it was loaded with names - seemed like every kid had a parent to represent them. I know my kid and I know he would have been quite disappointed to have neither of his parents out there. My Canadian blood won me the right and the responsibility to get out there and show some spirit....even though it had literally been YEARS since I had skated.

If you know me, you know I am a pack rat. You see, you never know when you just might need something important from your past (ha!) So - I searched in a box or two and pulled out my high school hockey jersey that I wore to cheer on the Mustangs. Over 15 years later, the old thing finally was worn in a "real" game :)

A few moments before the real game, I had a few moments to warm up with Reece and even Chase. So much fun to skate with my guys...Chase dared me to a race and although he tripped over that darn blue line...he magically came in ahead!

I am SO glad I pushed myself because I had so so so much fun. My face was hurting because I was smiling so much. They set it up that every time your kids' line was on the ice, the parent would match up and go out there. Reece is so intense he would barely acknowledge that we were having fun together...until the moment I broke him down at center ice - we faced off against one another...I trash talked him a little, and I saw a slight chip in his armor and he revealed an ever so slight smile :) But only for a moment, then he put his game face back on! Reece scored a couple of goals and the kids won - of course :)

And for the record: there aren't anymore pictures than this because...I was on the ice. Enough said :)