Day of Thanksgiving

I am sure there will be a million blog posts today, all about what we are thankful for, the bounty in our lives, the food we will eat later etc. So, in the spirit of conformity, I decided to do the same. I pulled each of our family members into the room, one by one, and asked them all the same question: If you could tell God "Thank you" for something in your life, what would it be?" This question of course is a bit harder for the twins to grasp, but they still did pretty well with it. I know for Tom and I, this year will have some very basic necessities on the list as there are so many families who are having to find their way this year, with out the certainty of the necessities.

Harrison was the first to visit for his interview. He answered this same question Tuesday at school, I will have to save his answer so his brother and sisters some day can give him a hard time that the family dogs were listed first while they were at the bottom, maybe it had been one of those mornings? Harrison said this morning he is thankful for "My family, my toys, my food, school and my friends" Really, in the grand scheme, those are all necessities and basics of living for a 7 year old boy!

Nick had a very quick answer, which was totally a Nick answer: Noodles, just noodles (or, as Nick would say: Noonas, just noonas"

Abby was a little embarrassed and put on the spot: "I am thankful for my pets, Nana, Grandma Kay and our whole family, all our cousins and friends and "stuff."

Millie has a very limited vocabulary this year, but I know those wheels are turning more than we would ever know right now. I could tell she wanted to spout off some profound speech about all the blessings in her life, instead she tried to climb up my shirt to nurse, so, I think it is safe to say that Millie is thankful for the boob.

Tom: "I am thankful for my family and for the angels among us."

So, in closing, I would like to say that I am thankful for the fact that we made it to another Thanksgiving, healthy, blessed and content with all God has given us. It is easy to look around and see people who have more, who have a bigger house, drive a nice car, have more wiggle room in their budgets, but they have their own struggles, ones we may never know and ones we may never want! I am thankful for the opportunity I have to stay home on a daily basis and be the Mom to my kids that I want to be. I am thankful that I am the one who is there when the get out of school, wake up from a nap, spill their milk at lunch, scrape their knee while playing at the park or just need a hug. I am thankful for my husband, who is willing to make the sacrifices necessary to make that dream happen for me, and our family. I am thankful for my mom: she lives right across the street and plays a daily role in the kids lives. I am thankful that despite her health, she is still here with us. Thank you Lord for the time we have with her, it is truly a blessing and one we probably take for granted too often. I am thankful for our 'necessities' and the fact that we have a roof over our head, we have cars we can rely on to get us where we need to be, for food in our pantry and freezer, clean running water that we can drink or bathe in, and the safety and security that our country offers. I am thankful for our pets, although they do drive all of us nuts sometimes, I think our children will grow up to be better adults, more compassionate and whole for having the opportunity to share their childhoods with the dogs and cats, someone to snuggle up to when they are in time out, someone to play ball with them when no one else wants to go outside and play, someone to teach them about forgiveness when they snatch the last cookie out of their unsuspecting hands.

The list goes on, and on. Right now I need to practice my thankfulness and go be thankful for the shower and for my roaster oven, in other words, I need to take a shower and cook the turkey!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, maybe your bellies be full and your hearts be warm!

Some early Christmas Cheer

Each year Tom's company buys all the makings for 300 boxes for the Operation Christmas Child program and then on a Saturday morning, invites employees and their families to help assemble and stuff the boxes. We decided it would be a great way for the kids to get in the spirit of Christmas and remind them, early in the season, that it isn't all about them and it certainly is not all about gifts they receive. The three older kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and worked very hard to stuff the boxes and get them ready for their journey. I over heard Abigail having a discussion with one of the teddy bears, telling him that someone far away was going to love him! One aspect of Tom's company that I really like is their generosity and also the openness of the faith of the owner of the company. There aren't too many companies where you could attend an event like this and be able to open in prayer and not worry about who was going to be offended.

Harrison, Abigail,Nicholas and Millie, standing by all the boxes of shoe boxes that every one packed today

Nick packing one of the boxes, he really enjoyed himself!

Abigail inspecting some of the candy options that some little girl would be enjoying far away!

Harrison packing one of the boxes, he was a packing machine!

After leaving Summit, we attended the first annual Parade of Trees to benefit the Carrie Tingley Children's Hospital. It is a free event to the public, and the kids really enjoyed seeing all the different trees and the themes that people used to decorate them. Harrison's favorite was the "money tree", gee, can't deny he is Tom's son, a young Alex P Keaton in the making! Santa made the rounds, handing out candy canes.

My mom had a four page grocery list for her employer, so after we were done with "family time" Tom dropped me off at the store where I met up with Mom and helped her find all the things on the list, only after we went to lunch though! A nice, quiet lunch at Applebee's, with out any kids! Mom's employers are very generous and one of the errands Mom had to run for them today was to go to Keller's and buy a turkey for each of the ladies who helps take care of her patient. Move over Butterball, we get the free range organic Turkey Lurkey this year :)

Do you believe in Fairies?

I grew up believing in the tooth fairy, my kids now believe in the tooth fairy. When I was a nanny in Boston, we went on vacation to Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine and visited Cathedral Woods and built woodland fairy houses. They were adorable and imaginative and just really cool. The rule was you had to use all 'naturally occurring' items: sea shells, twigs, leaves, rocks, sea glass etc. Fairies like that and that is who/what they are. The kids and I had fun building them, making walk ways out of stones, fences out of twigs etc. The hike through the woods was also amazing because people really went all out in trying to find the perfect location to build their home. Of course the logical side of any adult makes you roll your eyes and think 'pshaw!' But, there is always that part that makes you wonder... "What if...." Enjoy the very grainy pictures, taken in July '93, then read below for where I am going with this!

So, lately I have been wondering if perhaps there is a Laundry Fairy, or a troop of them, that sneaks in and magically does your laundry. I decided to put my wonder to the test and held off doing laundry for a week. Last Wednesday night I had the laundry completely caught up and we could actually see the laundry room floor and the kids got to enjoy one of their favorite things: coloring on the concrete laundry room floor with chalk, always great fun! Thursday and Friday I actually felt like I needed to seek out laundry just to justify doing a load for the day. Well, Friday I did the last load. By Tuesday of this week, Tom had asked me if I could please do a load of work clothes, which I needed to toss in some jeans for Harrison because he currently does not like to wear anything other than jeans to school. That same day I also did two loads of kids bedding because we had two wet beds in one morning. Tonight I am needing to do laundry for myself as well as everyone else! The drawers are getting empty! In case you ever wondered just how much laundry a family of six can generate in a week, minus a few loads:

Millie's Zoo

Millie has reached the age where she really loves her pets and loves interacting with them, and being fascinated by their goofy antics, anticipating their next move etc. I think it is funny how all of our kids have learned very quickly that if you have food in your hand, the dogs will take it, so you have to keep it out of their reach. So, the logical way to do that when you are 3 ft tall? Hold it over your head. Millie will walk into a room with her cracker in hand, yell at the dogs to announce she has something they will want "Eh!" (said in her authoritative stern voice) and then promptly hold it up on her head.

Rudy loves all of his kids, but in his old age he has adopted the "I'm old and entitled" attitude that we watched Yeller adopt when he got old and moldy. Rudy will now not only try to take the food, but will get the entire hand in his mouth and hold it there until the angry crying child submisses and lets go, about the same time the Mama Bear flies across the room to intervene and throw him outside for a while!

Corsi is an opportunist, always has been and always will be. She will wait for someone to get out of their seat and then jump into it, because it is pre-warmed. She waits for the kids to go to bed so she can go snuggle with one, then the next, then the next. She waits for Millie to let her guard down and take the replacement cookie off of her head (remember, Rudy took the first one) then she will globber on it with her nasty huge tongue and take it, but quickly get back into her sloth like state before anyone knows why the baby is crying.

Elbert is still in his "I am a lab and need to please" mode and is pretty polite and will usually wait until Millie sticks the cracker in his face before he'll take it. Of course she isn't sticking it in his face to offer it to him, it is more of the "lookey what I have, and you don't!" stick, but tell that to a lab and his never full stomach!

Last night she climbed onto a kitchen chair that the kids had parked in the 'big kids room' and enjoyed watching Toto the Turtle eat his food. She was fascinated and would yell "Hey!" each time he opened wide to take a bite. He isn't a typical turtle and isn't shy, in fact it seems as though he quite likes the audience the kids provide!

She adored Putter when he was with us briefly. She seemed to love the idea of having something that was small and fun, just like her! Too bad Mommy didn't adore cleaning up after him, see ya Putter!

SO, she is a little Dr Doolittle in training, just like her Mom!"Hey Rudy, what'cha dreamin' about? I can hang my head off too, see!" "You gonna eat that tomato Toto?"

Millie and Putter (former foster dog) watching the big kids play outside

Millie and Elbert, snoozing

"Is that food in your hand for me? Huh? Is it? Huh?"

Bathtub Assembly Line

Perhaps that sounds like a place that assembles bath tubs.. one makes the huge tub, the next cuts the holes for the drain/faucet etc, polish and shine etc...

For those of you who have more than one or two kids, it has an entirely different meaning, much like it does at our house!

Tonight: dinner goes in the oven, set time for 30 minutes. Run down the hall, start filling tub, undress #4 and plop her in. The other kids have now heard the water and are stripping in the hallway. #1 jumps in, with #4, #2 and #3 are queued up in the hall. #1 gets scrubbed, hair washed, rinsed, out to dry off, pj's, mean time, #3 jumps in, same as #1, # 3 gets out, #4 jumps in, same as #1 except he gets soap in his eyes for not waiting for me to start the faucet to rinse his hair. Out with #3, scrub/rinse #4 while the water goes out, rinse tub, rinse #4, out with #4, diaper, diaper cream for blazing red butt (from what????) pj's, done! Run down the hall, 9 minutes left on dinner time!

It is a science people, only the experienced and determined can ever perfect it!

Because some nights I just don't want to do it this way:

The Booger Dilema

This is the time of year that all mother's have to ask: Do I send them or keep them home? We have all had a cold for over a week now but it seems to be at the end, when everyone is just drippy and coughing. I kept the twins home from preschool Monday, not as much for the cold as the kids had locked my keys in my car so I took the opportunity to be lazy all day and stay home! So, then today they both have running noses and Nick's is a pleasant shade of green. So, do I send them or keep them home? They are otherwise fine, definitely could benefit from three structured hours of play and learning, or perhaps I can benefit from their three hours of structured play and learning!

I think all Mom's have that fear of being "The mom who sends kids with boogers" and makes the entire class sick. But, I think all Mom's also have that desire to accidentally not see the boogers and naively send them anyway!

The Pros: If I send them, I get three hours of them at school. They burn off some energy. They come home fully enlightened and brilliant and stimulated (ok, exaggeration!) All the other kids probably have the same cold, so what's the difference? If I keep them home, I would save gas from the trips to and from preschool. If I send them, I'll be able to go to the grocery with just Harrison and Millie.

The Cons: All the other kids might be healthy and have good mom's who don't send them sick, and my kids will make all of them sick. Harrison has a half day, so I won't have time to myself anyway, so sending them with boogers won't really win me any time in the end. I will become the Mom who is scowled at after Nick sneezes and has big boogers shoot out his nose, right as the kids are all walking into class, so ALL the other parents see him! Fighting: if we skip, then that is three extra hours for the kids to fight all afternoon and drive me nuts!

What to do, what to do!

A History of Nick's Head

Poor Nicholas. He has always had a huge head, it has always been in the 95th percentile, usually over 100%. He sat up later than most of his peers which we always attributed to his head being so big, same with crawling and most other early gross motor skills.

He has two spots on his forehead that are probably permanant scars, from always hitting it in the same spot. He and Abby were wrestling once and she body slammed him into the wall and something that was hanging on the wall fell off and hit his forehead, four stitches and three hours in the ER later....He has bashed it when falling from his scooter, while runnign in the house and falling against something etc. His head really just seems too big for his body, it throws off his balance and just pulls him around. I am having a bad Mom moment, I cannot find any pictures on the computer of the stitches! Good thing I have already scrapbooked it!

Well, tonight it happened again. He was spinning in circles in the living room, he and Millie, I was in the kitchen cooking and Tom was off doing something. I heard this gynormous thud and waited, as Mom's know to do, but it actually took a few seconds for the crying to start. He was spinning and spinning and lost his balance in a dizzy stagger, and whacked his head into the wall. I probably wouldn't have thought much of it, except as I sat on the couch comforting him, I noticed that he left a DENT in the wall! It was one of those moments as parents where you know you just cannot laugh, but you just can't help it! No, Nick did not know we were laughing at him, his head was burried in my shoulder, trying to get over the embarrassment! The poor thing!

Icing the head after one of the many injuries

This one, the injury was not in the usual spot, but it still counts! Even better, we had their 18 month pictures the next day!

The damage to the wall from tonight's incident! Ouch!

Dog Park

OK, I know some of you have had to hear me ramble about the dog park, which really just says I need to get a life. So, let me explain: Elbert is a great dog, his downfalls are a) he is huge b) he is a young lab. I had quit taking him on a weekly romp at the dog park because we had Putter for a while, Putter was a wonderful way to control and direct Elbert's extra energy, unfortunately that didn't count enough in my book after cleaning up the presents left on the floor from him. So, now that Putter is gone, I have been trying to take Elbert to the dog park on Sunday afternoons. It is kind of nice because Tom is home to watch the kids, so I get out of the house and get some quiet time in which I am not rushing through the grocery, or doing something else 'house' related.

The dog park normally is a rewarding experience. Elbert gets to run and run and play and I get either some quiet time or some adult conversation, depending if there are other dogs there or not. Normally the people are all dog people, most are considered "regulars" and "know" each other from the dog park. Occasionally you get Joe Idiot who decides to bring their dog and that is when it gets annoying and sometimes just plain dangerous.

This afternoon Elbert and I pulled up around 3pm and there was no one else there. So, I just got out, made myself comfy with a magazine at a picnic table and let Elbert do this thing. After a while, a few "regulars" started to straggle in which was nice, gave Elbert someone to play with and burn off some energy. Most of the "regulars" know that the dogs humping is just something they do to work things out, their barking and growling at first is just their way of saying "I am in charge here, we can play but know that I am better than you" and then they run and play and have fun. Elbert is always a sissy and very submissive so I never have to worry about him. Then, after a while, in walks a family with three kids and a clearly unsocialized dog. My kids know, if on the rare occasion they go with me to the dog park, that it is a DOG park and if there are dogs other than Elbert, they are to sit on the picnic table and just be bored, they don't interact with the other dogs, they don't run and play with them or with Elbert and it is boring, so they don't like to go. Everyone also knows when you go to the dog park, you take your dog off leash before entering the second gate, because if the dog is connected to you by leash, that tells the dog that they are to protect you and guard you and be "on duty" and it causes resource guarding. So, this family walks in with a gomer of a boy, about 12 years old, a girl about 10 and then a little one about 2 1/2 who, coincidentally, was afraid of dogs. They leave their dog on the leash and then get all freaked out when she growled at Elbert when he said "hi" and sniffed her butt. This went on as each of the dogs approached to introduce themselves to their dog, and the little girl freaked out when a husky jumped up on the table to say hi. So, then the gomer of a boy decided he was going to "walk" his dog around the parameters of the dog park, on leash, to get her away from the other dogs. Dog people who are reading this, know what a brilliant idea this is. As he is walking, the dog stops to growl at other dogs, because as she sees it, she is protecting her kid. Finally one of the "regulars", tells the family/kid that the dog needs to be taken off the leash or she is going to cause a fight, points to the rule board where it states that all dogs are to be off leash.

Elbert and I finally left. It was just getting ridiculous. If you are going to take your dog to the dog park, let her be a dog! You wouldn't take your kid to the kid park and make them sit on your lap the whole time?