We did it

Well, it is done ... actually almost done since I still have a 50-page culminating paper to write ... but what is that compared to the past six years.
I graduated!!!! And I can say that I closed a chapter of my life as of Sunday, but after deeply thinking about it, this is just the beginning.
I was lucky to enjoy the support of my wonderful husband who pushed me through the hard times ('the I'm going to fail' phases usually before finals) who lifted me up to be proud and shared all my accomplishments and put up with me when I was a crabby sleepless student. And my little children who understood that after the lights go off at night, they really need to go to sleep so momma can study. Lutza has been a wonderful support and inspiration for me ... she loves school herself and one of her favorite game is to put on her heels and purse, kiss everybody goodbye and go to school just so she can come home and we can all cheer "Mommy is home from school!"

At the graduation ceremony, speeches kept echoing what a huge accomplishment is to call yourself a college graduate. And yes, it is but this is really just the first step before we can really accomplish something in life ... the real work is just coming.
"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil." -C. S. Lewis. Education gave me more than knowledge ... it gave me better understanding of the world and awareness about all the great and not so great things going on in our society. Education gave me a heightened level of moral responsibility to make a change and turn this past six years of brain-expansion exercises to the benefit of others. This past six years was not for me - even though it helped to keep me sane by separating 'me' from 'mommy' and gave me goals for my life. But the real hard part is just coming now. I have a big job ahead of me and I hope I find ways to make the best of what I have.

So good bye school ..... for a while ..... I'll be back!!!!

Sibiling Bonding

When we found out we were having three children I knew that life will be filled with fun .... somehow my higher power knew that I can't just have two babies. I knew that the three of them will share lots of special moments together that must happen in a 'gang' and not in a pair. Lutza and Vidor were always the best buddies, joined at the hip, friends in crime or fun. But when Guzer arrived, I realized that he might be left out of the team. So I have been working hard on making all three of them a team, to share games, learn to comfort and take care of each other.

Parental efforts are good .... but nothing is better than a little natural bonding. I have been taking time and effort to separate the children and take them out by two's so they have a chance to focus on only one brother or sis.

Yesterday I took Lutza and Guzer to the doctor's office for shots. Not a good experience - while motherhood fills my life with joy, I have some pretty hard tasks to do that break my heart over and over. Lutza knew what was going to happen and she was determined to not to get those 'pokes' - it took two nurses and me to hold her down. Guzer surrendered a bit easier, but it was still traumatic for both of them. As I held the two, trying to comfort them they looked at each other with tears in their eyes and just hugged. They were 'poke-buddies' now. All the way home they were holding hands in the car and when one said 'auuie' they both started to cry and rubbed their legs.
They were inseparable for the rest of the day!!!!

When Nance Babies help

What would I do without my children? Seriously, how could I get anything done without their help? Some may say that it is easier to do it yourself ... its faster ... but it is no fun. Lately I have been setting up three chairs for baking and we have to have three shovels for gardening ....how cool is that? The end results are always spectacular because they were made with love.

Just me and my boys

In the last month I had a chance to spend some quality time with my boys while Lutza was at school. It must have been the weather that got us out more often ... or just my recent craziness of not wanting to waste a single day without doing something special with my children ... thinking that they are this old only today. So truck and bus spotting, animals, and parks, here we come...

While Vidor adores anything with fur or feathers, Bendeguz thinks twice, if not more, before getting close to any vicious animals (like ducks)... he rather eats the week old bread than feed it to those odd looking waddling creatures. On the other hand, my youngest son makes friends with humans faster than I have every seen anybody do. He can set up games without saying a word and can get the older kids to follow him. He has endless energy and I mean endless ... sunny days mean sleeping well in our house because we literally spend most awake hours outside until our feet hurt and we are all dirty (I love scrubbing dirty babies clean ;o).

I don't know where it came from but one afternoon Vidor runs home from the community park ... he was determined and I knew he had something on his mind. He got his bucket and filled it up with rocks, then explained that we need to go the beach and give these rocks to the whales. Our recent boat ride must have had a deep impression on him. So next day we went to the 'beach' ... instead of the real beach we went to Kirkland. But it was nothing he expected ... no boats to get on and 'only ducks, mommy, no whales'. Broke my heart but somehow he understood the situation ... my smart little boy.

I love every moment I spend with my precious treasures, they make me so grateful.

Horses - wowww!

Last Saturday we went for a drive and found a beautiful farm with friendly horses alongside the road. Of course we had to stop ... not only the kids, but I had to stop to see these amazing animals. The kids were not sure about them ... from a distance they looked just the right size but when we went up to the fence they realized that these were BIG animals. Bendeguz did not want to have anything to do with them .... when it comes to animals, he goes as far as a cute little furry puppy ..... but horses?! No, and please don't even try to get closer to them Momma!!!

I showed Lutza and Vidor how to touch their noses and to feed them because they really don't bite. Lutza was not fully convinced first but it did not take long before we ran out of dandelions....

Wee hour art

Vidor has been asking me to paint for days now but it was always bad timing. So this morning, rested and bright (7.00 am), I let my little artists go to work. Setting up usually takes longer than the actual painting time but since I gave up world management as of Sunday, I did not even present my argument against it. Today was he first time Bendeguz painted. Of course, first he wanted to lick the brush, but I showed him how it works and he actually sat there for almost 10 minutes (notice the lip? it has to be just right).

Happy Sunday

I feel like I have those moments a lot lately when I call three names .... three times and there is no answer ... and our house is not that big. Well, today was one of those days when this happened again. I am doing the dishes and all of sudden it is soooooo quiet. So I call the names ... no response ... call again .... no response. Well, imagine about 600 q-tips scattered around the floor upstairs, and an entire Kleenex box empty. This is why I always have to remind myself to close the bathroom door!!! And then remind myself how grateful I am to have those three rascals to make a mess for me.

We had such a great weekend ... of course the weather helps, sunny days make us all happy. Having Mother's day spent in such big peace and happiness reminded me to many things. I have been so overwhelmed with school, as I am at the tail end of my program, that often times I feel like my days are taken over by transcribing interviews and reading super DRY policy materials.

So, on Mother's day we just hang out and did noting, and we did a lot of that. I had to come back to full Mommy-mode and forget about all my assignment and notice every little sweet thing the children did: sand is fun, unless it is dumped out of your shoes in the living room, bees are cute and you really want to touch them, so why does not you momma let you, eating dinner outside on the back patio for the first time is pretty exciting, and that wonderful Little Mermaid song the bebes love to sing when I rinse their hair in the tub is priceless.

I love being a mommy and there was no better way to celebrate it than being pampered and loved by my children - even the split lip is okay but only when you get it horsing around.