Back to Life

As I look back upon this blog, I am so disappointed at how long it has been since I have blogged.  Memories over the past year are still in my head, but they aren't as fresh, as crisp, as clear as I wish they were.  Milestones have come and gone, and I haven't blogged about any of them.  I'm not sure why I expected a different outcome considering the fact that I let our other family blog fizzle out as we continued to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life.  

But the week before my 34th birthday back in April, I finally updated our HartzOnFire family blog.  It felt great, but I basically started from scratch and had to reintroduce the family again.  So that is where I will start here as this blog is brought back to life.  Just as I want to be diligent about keeping up with our family blog whether it is one day looked upon by our children or maybe for Peter and I too reminisce when we are old and grey and our memories need some jarring, I also want to keep this one as updated as possible.  I'm sure I'm crazy for double blogging, but the fact that our son Jeremiah is our one and only boy in our estrogen dominated family makes me want to be sure that he has something special just for him, about him, and free from the frou-frou and frills of sisters.  We love our children equally, but I know it's hard for him to feel like he isn't the odd man out.  And let's face it, he is.

So, let the reintroduction begin.  This blog is dedicated to, as I mentioned in the paragraph above, our one and only boy out of our 5 children.  He wasn't lucky enough to claim the spot of the oldest child in the biological or step category.  And he only held the baby of the family title for a little over 2 years before it was stripped away by his baby sister (whom he adores).  Out of our biological children, he is the middle child.  In the combination of all the kids, he is number 4 out of the 5.  So his claim to fame is the fact that he is our sole testosterone carrying offspring.  There has been discussion of trying to add number 6 to the group, but there are no guarantees that we would have a little brother named Zachariah (yes, we have discussed and decided on a name if, and I do me a big IF we were to have another) for him to be best buds with.  So this blog is my special gift to my special little guy.

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting Jeremiah, I can say that you are truly missing out.  He is an amazing little boy whose picture is no doubt in the dictionary beside the words mischievous and kind-hearted.  He is the most destructive child that I have ever met, but in his defense, the destruction that occurs when he is around is usually because he's curious or trying to be helpful in a very unconventional way.  He often says the first thing that comes to his mind.  And he usually says it in one of his three volume levels...loud, loudER, and LOUDEST.  He is either ON or OFF.  That means he is either full throttle or asleep.  And he goes from one to the other in a matter of seconds.  It's really quite an interesting thing to see.  Jeremiah is oh so lovable and he loves to love on others.  He is the best friend that you will ever have.  He will rub your back when you are having a bad day and tell you that everything is going to be okay.  When he hugs, he doesn't hold anything back.  He is a natural born protector and defender.  He is physically the strongest almost 6 year old that I have every known.  I am constantly amazed at his God given athletic ability.  Everything he does, he does it %100...good or bad.  But at least no one can say that he doesn't give his all, because he absolutely does and then some. He is my most favorite Jeremiah in the world.  

I pray to do a better job with keeping up with the memories that he creates for us as we do our best to raise him to be a godly young man in an ungodly world.

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Today has been just the sweetest day so far.  It's my birthday, and Jeremiah has been a perfect gentleman.  Maybe that's why he's had such a rough couple of months lately.  He's been hanging out with his little friend, Disobedience, lately.  And I was recently introduced to his other new friends, Sassy, Defiance, and Tantrum.  I have to say that I feel very blessed that he did not invite that rowdy crew over to the house today.  I quite enjoy his friends Obedience, Love, Giggles, Kindness, and Manners--all of whom are visiting with us today.  In fact they all helped Jeremiah do something special for me.  They made me a batch of homemade lemonade for my birthday present (and it was GOOD!).  And they have helped him be extra sweet to his baby sister today.  They helped clean the house this morning and then played outside through lunch and the early afternoon.  It has made for a very non-stressful birthday day. 


I wonder, can EVERY day be my birthday?

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Short and Sweet...but Sometimes NOT

I don't have much to say with this post other than the fact that I haven't set my son on the curb with a sign around his neck that says "Free to an Okay Home."  That sounds so terrible, but it's true.  I keep wondering if I will survive my son's adolescent years.  Every day hour is another shenanigan waiting to happen.  Yesterday he decided to "walk an egg" in the rain on the back patio.  Translation:  He snuck out of the house with and egg and broke it on the back patio...just because.  Who thinks of these things?  I'll tell you who.  My son.  Jeremiah.  That's who.  The same child who graced our walls with more artwork shortly after having been spanked (yes, folks, we believe in a good old butt whoopin' if it's needed) for the mural he drew in the upstairs hall.  This is the same child who wanted us to feel like we were in Hawai'i by pouring out a full jar of black sand on our bedroom carpet.  How thoughtful, right?  Yeah, it was quite thoughtful on his part especially when he thought to blame the whole thing on his baby sister...who was fast asleep. 

Oh how I love him, but I cannot fathom how God managed to package so much mischief into such a tiny little fellow.  And somehow there is still room for love, sweetness, ingenuity, generosity,  and the desire to be helpful.

Thinking on those things, maybe I'll survive afterall.

My Baby Boy is "Glowing" Up

It's the morning of Jeremiah's 4th Birthday Kung Fu Panda skating party.  It's 7:30am to be exact.  Came downstairs 20 minutes ago to drop a load of clothes into the machine only to find Jeremiah sitting in the midst of his guests' goodie bags with a handful of activated glow bracelets.  Fortunately they were the extras that I had purchased in case there were any extra kids at the party or any duds in the ones that had been placed in the bags. 

He may be a year older, but I guess some things will never change. 

Royal Pain

Once upon a time, there was a little prince named Jeremiah.  His best friend was a little fellow named Disobedience.  One day at school, Disobedience told Jeremiah to hit one of his girl classmates while he was at school.  And he did.  Jeremiah's other best friend, Obedience, must have been out sick that day. 
When Jeremiah's mother, the Queen of Hartz, heard the news, she nearly died of embarrassment.  She immediately put him and his sweet princess of a sister into the carriage and raced to the castle so she could dish out his sentencing.
Little Prince Jeremiah was confined to the dungeon for a nap until King Daddy arrived.  Sir Spanking showed up and had a conversation with the prince's royal behind.

The End

Still Getting Over It

He colored on his ceiling above his top bunk.  That is all.


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Hole in 1...no make that 2

Walls!  Holes in two walls!  Put there by none other than Jeremiah of course.  And as soon as I saw them, I knew exactly what he used to put them there.  An umbrella.  Yep, and umbrella. It was one that I had scolded him about several times.  You see, I tried to be a "cool" mom by setting up a small Mickey Mouse patio table in their room since they have a beach theme going on in there.  I even set up the umbrella that goes in the center of the table which has three sections that snap together.  The very bottom section come to a point at the end (which by the way is ridiculous and dangerous to have on a CHILD's patio set).  I found Jeremiah wielding that piece like a sword on a few occasions and had already made the executive decision to remove the fun item from their room--even at the risk of losing my "cool" mom status.  With that being said, I was obviously too late.  All I could do was glare angrily at my son who was shielding himself as if I my look were setting him on fire.  And if looks could kill, I'm afraid that everyone in a 20 mile radius would have been goners.  Just saying. 

Bedroom Wall

Bedroom Wall

Just outside of the bedroom in the hall

I would probably be blogging this somewhat calmly by now except that I found another wall that had been assaulted by a "sword" wielding three year old.  That would be the hall wall just outside of their bedroom door.  So now I am sitting here stewing as I take out my frustrations on the poor keys on my laptop.  I'm calculating cost of supplies to fill the holes and wondering if I can trust Jeremiah to fill them properly.  I suppose the one good thing that I can think of at the moment that has come of this would be that I can no longer put off painting their room like I have been for the past year and a half.  Time to make get decisive and choose paint colors.  I just wish it didn't take this incident to light a fire under ME.  *sigh*Latest shenanigans brought to you by The Hartz Crew