Countdown to Thanksgiving...

#1 - the list. Okay, so it's cheating a little. But, I've been a little worried about what to make #1 on my thankfulness countdown - I mean I've already covered my three boys, my hubby, etc. But, then I checked out Jill's great list and thought - oooh, fun. So, here goes - a simple list of simple things for which I am so thankful...

*toothless baby smiles
*the perfect rollerball pen
*hot chocolate made with milk
*a pair of crazy comfortable casual boots
*sleeping in
*cuddles from sweet little boys
*a great bargain
*bedtime after a long day
*dark nail polish
*curling up on the couch with a book and two little boys
*parents who love my kiddos
*my oldest and dearest friend
*overpriced mochas
*a sister who makes me laugh
*chocolate, preferably dark
*a new recipe that turns out just right
*pictures
*an old movie I've seen 50 times but still love
*fuzzy slipper socks
*a new scrapbook magazine in the mail
*awesome customer service
*a shared laugh with my husband
*a big hug from an old friend
*an old song on the radio
*giving the perfect gift
*letting the boys be creative
*doing something I didn't think I could do
*saying something out loud that needed to be said
*cuddling my baby as he falls asleep
*getting dressed up

Countdown to Thanksgiving

#2 - my sweet sweet Seth. I love this little guy. Sometimes I feel bad that he was the first baby to a clueless mom - but I'm pretty sure that plays into all that birth order personality thing. He's a bit high strung, like me. He likes to do what he likes to do, when he likes to do it. Maybe a little bit like me, too.

I was really worried about school because of those less than flexible characterstics, but not only does he love it, he's learning SO much. He loves to point out what letter a word starts with or show me letters on signs. He counted to 99 a couple of days ago. And he loves his teacher and the assistant and has made lots of friends.

I got to go to the Thanksigiving party at school. A teacher (other than Seth's teacher) stopped me and said he is the smiliest little boy. I keep hearing that from people at school. It makes me wonder a little if he's just so happy to be away from me? When I told Dave about the teacher stopping me, I looked at Seth and told him how happy I was that he loved school so much and that it was making him happy to be there. He looked at me and said, "Moooommmm, I smile for the ladies." HUH?

And finally, Seth loves his brothers. I love to watch him and Luke from a distance. Unfortunately, they can downward spiral into a fight in so little as a blink of an eye, but when it's good, it's adorable. I also love to see him interact with Max. If prompted, he'll tell him about his day or about his toys or whatever else pops into his head. He's very sweet to Max.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

#3 - bread. Okay, after "yesterday's" more serious post, you had to know today's was going to be silly. And, I've spent my day with flour and yeast, making bread and rolls so it was a logical pick. This could have been a fairly painless experience, but for the part where, in the midst of trying to form cloverleaf dinner rolls and roll out the dough for these sweet rolls, Luke got out of his bed 7 times. It wasn't pretty. I plan these things for naptime so I can try to knock them out quickly. Luke was having none of it today! But, I digress...

Back to the thankfulness! I do love bread. I know, that's not a good thing. But, I do. It's who I am. I also love my bread machine. I was reminded of that today, as today's recipe was not a bread machine recipe. Bummer. But, I do feel a sense of accomplishment when I succeed at non-bread machine bread. This one recipe of dough made 24 dinner rolls (for Thanksgiving) and about 18 sweet rolls (for who knows what).

Rolled out, sugared and chocolated up, and ready to form into rolls. Mmm, yummy. I will tell you though, that if you decide to make these rolls, ease up on the salt. They're a bit too salty for my liking (and I like salt, too). The finished product, with some icing.

I mean, who wouldn't be thankful for these?

Countdown to Thanksgiving

[Okay, so I was on such a roll of keeping up with my thankful posts (so rare for me) and then I got bogged down and started feeling more frazzled and frumpy than thankful. That said, I'm cheating and backdating this one so it looks like I still kept up.]

#4 - God's plan. I'm thankful to live where I live and have the freedoms that I am privileged to have. I could go on and on here about not taking things for granted, but this is supposed to be about thankfulness, not whining. The specific freedom I'm thinking of today is that of religious freedom. I'm thankful that we can go to church wherever we want. There was a guest speaker at church a few weeks ago and I find myself still thinking about his message.

This gentleman was from another part of the world. The thing that really struck me was how he was able to put together a timeline of his life and corresponding things that were happening here, halfway around the world, that would impact him later. I don't really remember specifics, but it was something like, when he was 3 or 4, an American couple went to Bible school with the intention of translating a portion of the Bible into his language. Of course, this couple didn't know him, but God did and had a plan.

That's the part of the message that I keep going back to. I know God knows me and has a plan for me. So, why, oh why, do I whine about certain things so much? I love love love being at home with my boys. But it's lonely and exhausting and not so glamorous. I had a very social work environment - friends I loved sharing my life with and could laugh with; lunches out; a grasp on current events. I got dressed up every day and put on makeup and nice clothes and shoes that made me feel pretty. Now, there are days where my slippers are the only shoes I wear (and some of you know how NOT pretty those are!). There's a lot of snot and spit up and raised voices and whining.

BUT, I keep remembering the message and thinking, "THIS is where God has placed me. And, knowing that, am I using this time the way that He would have me?" I'm not sure what it all means to me right now, but God keeps bringing it to my mind. And I know He has a plan for me!

Countdown to Thanksgiving

#5 - Max! Today, Max is 6 months old. I won't go on and on about how time flies. Because, frankly, I want to cry each and every time I think about how fast this half of a year has gone.

So, what's Max up to these days? Eating! Max seems to really enjoy most of the food he has tried. He started with rice cereal, then green beans, later peas, some butternut squash, a little applesauce, and most recently sweet potatoes. The only one he doesn't seem to love is squash. We've been making the veggies ourselves (well, not growing them, but cooking them and blending them up and freezing them) so I'm excited to see what fun combos he might enjoy after he's tried everything individually. Max loves his thumb. It really is cute. But, I know that when he's four and still doing it, it won't be nearly as sweet. However, at 6 months old, when he puts his head on my shoulder and grabs my sweater collar and sucks his thumb, I melt. He loves to have something in his hand while he sucks his thumb - burp cloth, blanket, my shirt collar, etc. But we don't put him in bed with anything at all, so today he reached an all new level of pitiful. I went to get him up from his nap and he had managed to wad up enough of his sheet to get it into his hand while sucking his thumb.

He doesn't quite sit up on his own, but rather folds in half if we try. He does roll front to back and back to front, and has started to push himself up on his arms a little. None of my boys have enjoyed 'tummy time' so I think they're a little slow to do much once they get to their bell(ies), other than scream.

And his brothers still adore him. I think they might be asking to hold him more now than before. And Max gets so excited to see both of them too. He's a hair grabber though so we have to remind the older boys that this will happen if they get their hair too close to his little hands.

He's a perfect addition to our family, and we are all so very thankful for him.

Oooh, a tag to chew!

Countdown to Thanksgiving...

#6 - Humor! Yes, you need a sense of humor to do this "job." Things I've laughed at recently:

*Lynette, calling our babies, one born in May of this year and one born in August of this year, "2010 models."

*Overheard today - My husband, "Luke, it's great that you wiped your booger on toilet paper. Next time, take that sheet off the roll and throw it in the trash."

*Luke, mostly nude, running from the bathroom, down the very short hallway and knocking Seth flat in the middle of the bedroom.

*On the way home from school recently, Seth informed me that he just "needed a break" and didn't want to answer anymore of my questions. Once we started talking again, Luke yelled, "Stop talking you two. I'm taking a break."

*Max's apparent enjoyment of sweet potatoes, which causes him to open his mouth and yelp as the spoon approaches.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

#7 - Today I have guest bloggers. I asked the boys what they were thankful for a few days ago, and then again this morning.

Luke: God and Jesus. At 2, I'm pretty sure he doesn't quite understand what he's saying, but he knows we pray and he hears Seth and I talk when he comes home from school, so it's a wonderful start to helping him learn.

Seth: My dog (his favorite stuffed animal in all the world), our Baby [Max], and Daddy. Also, that I learn Bible stories at church and school.

Max: My blue fuzzy blanket, my warm sleep sacks, and my yummy thumb. And that Mommy and Daddy protect me from my crazy brothers. Okay, of course he couldn't really respond, but I'm just sure that's what he would say.

Countdown to Thanksgiving...

#8 - Today I am thankful for Luke. Well, technically, I'm thankful for Luke everyday. But today Luke is 2 years and 9 months old. Two years ago today Luke cut his lip open and had to have stitches. That day definitely ranks among my top 3 scariest (post-delivery) mom stories. I only remember the day because he was exactly 9 months, to the day, when it happened. He had to be sedated in the ER so they could stitch his lip and we weren't supposed to touch him when he woke up, etc. It was crummy. But that was then... Luke is a force of nature. My prayer for him is often that his personality will outshine his food allergy. That he won't be the kid in school that teachers groan over having to have in their class because of his allergies, but that rather they will be excited to have so much enthusiasm all rolled up into one person. And he does exude enthusiasm!

He loves to play with all of the Cars movie cars and reenact movie scenes, complete with dialogue. "Fly away Stanley, be freeeeee."

He still sleeps in a crib, although we've purchased the sheets and comforter for his bigger bed. I wanted to keep him in the crib as long as possible so he was "contained." However, he figured out how to escape a few months ago so there's really no point anymore. Besides, he sleeps with two blankets (fire trucks and numbers), Rescue the dog, Pat the hammer, Rusty the wrench(?), pretty Lightning, Buzz, sometimes Woody, Cupcake the dog, and whatever else he picks up on his way to bed. It's getting a little crowded. But, he's taking steps of his own to make some room in his bed, by shedding his clothes. He has decided that he doesn't want to wear his shirt to sleep. "My bwanket will keep me warm." This is hard for a mommy who sleeps in fleece pajamas and socks to put her sweet little boy in bed in shorts and nothing else!

Luke is as loving and cuddly as he is rambunctious. He loves to be held and to cuddle on the couch or watch a movie in our bed. He loves his Baby Max. He loves to go with me to get Max up in the mornings. But he always says, as he peers over the side of Max's crib, "I can pet him." Ummm, he's not a puppy - how about if we just love on him?

And finally, I love Luke's independence. Oh, it drives me crazy, no doubt! The massive meltdown, throw-yourself-in-the-floor-pounding-your-fists-and-screaming-at-the-top-of-your-lungs, when he doesn't get to put his own straw in his cup or put his own toothbrush back in the holder makes me want to scream. And maybe sometimes I do, but I love that he wants to do his own thing and be his own person. "I do it myself" is a phrase I hear often.

So, there you have it - just a few of the reasons that I am so thankful for my little Lukey!

Countdown to Thanksgiving...

#9 - I am thankful for the generosity of my husband. You see, today he is spoiling me. Today someone else is cleaning my house. I know many of you (okay, the two of you who read this) are saying to yourselves, 'HUH? She's home all day long and someone else is coming to clean her house? Insanity!' But I like to liken Lukey (say that 3 times fast) to a hurricane. The child can blow into a room and destroy things faster than I can clean them up. As such, I could not even tell you that last time my ENTIRE house was clean all at once. We are hosting Thanksgiving here again this year so my job is to keep it under control for the next week.


This has also given me a great opportunity to focus on decluttering rather than daily cleaning (sorry cleaning person, it's gotten pretty bad around here -not that she's reading my blog). I made a big list of everything that really needed tidied/decluttered and then I put all of those items on a calendar so I knew I could get it all done. I came close. However, my to do list tends to get preempted by everyone else's list - you know, hang Christmas lights while it's not freezing crazy cold outside and before it begins raining so you can bundle the kids up and take them outside in the rain in the dark and show them the lights turned on and then reassure your new neighbor that he did not move in next door to the Griswold's and you are heading inside to unplug the lights until the day after Thanksgiving. Oops, I digress. Anyway, the house is very tidy and I can't wait to come home to clean! So very thankful for the generosity of my husband today!

Countdown to Thanksgiving

#10 - I am thankful for music. Truthfully, I've had this post open and sitting here on the computer for a little while this morning, just sort of wondering what would strike me for today. Then a favorite group of ours came on the television and Seth got all excited and then it hit me - music!

I love how it can turn your thoughts to worship, turn around a crummy mood, induce a good cry, or inspire you to go just a little faster on the treadmill.

I love goofy dancing to fun songs with my boys.

I love how Luke can't hear an upbeat song without grabbing his little play guitar and being "a wocking man!"

I love that I can drive for a good five minutes, alone in the car, before it hits me that I'm still listening to Veggie Tales.

I love hearing Seth sing songs from school, of course when he thinks I'm not listening. My favorite so far is one that says, "obey obey obey, obey obey." I've also heard some "Happy birthday, Jesus," likely preparing for the Christmas program.

And I love singing to my sweet little Max. He will just lie there, looking up at me while I sing and then touch my mouth with his little fingers (probably trying to silence me, but hopefully thinking, awww, that's my mommy and she loves me).

It's beginning to look a lot like...

I have decided to take on a little project this Christmas season. It's a scrapbooking project and the really basic description is this: make a book ahead of time and every day of the Christmas holiday season add a picture from that day and some journaling of your day. The idea is to be present in the moment and really enjoy the season while documenting it. But by having the book already made (I started mine about 5 week ago and just have a few pages left to finish) you spend much more time making the memories and just a little time in December documenting the memories. I love to scrapbook and take pictures so it seeemed like a perfect little project. The idea comes from here.


So, I've been listening to some of this to get in the mood:



I decided mine would start November 26th, as that is the day after Thanksgiving and we always start decorating on that day. It will run through at least December 26th, maybe later if we have any holiday festivities that are later than Christmas Day. We often get together with Dave's family the weekend after Christmas and I wanted to be sure to include pictures from that time as well. It's sort of haphazardly (is that a word?) fun to put together a page (paper and embellishments anyway) having no idea what pictures will go on it. We have a few things planned so those days were a little easier to decorate for, but mostly, I am making the pages without a clue whether the pictures will be serious or silly.


Also, I decided to challenge (?) myself to only use products that I already have. I purchased the album and page protectors but all the paper and embellishments are coming from my stash of unused supplies. [I will disclose that I really want some glitter mist spray and am considering making the purchase as it could be used on other projects as well.]

There is a real trend lately toward digital scrapbooks rather than traditional scrapbooks. I know digital books are quicker and easier. I have made some myself and plan to make a few more just to catch up on some things that need scrapped but that I don't feel that I have the time for right now. But I must say that I love when a book starts to take shape and it gets all poofy with paper and pictures and chipboard and memorabilia. Can't wait!

Eureka!

I feel like I spend a LOT of time whining about my trips to the grocery store. Maybe not so much here but often to my poor family and friends who have to speak to me on grocery days. So, why not continue the boringness that is sometimes my life and blog about it?

I like to plan out a menu for three weeks and buy everything I can buy ahead of time all at once. Then I have a running list for the next two weeks for produce, milk, etc. This doesn't always happen, but it's my preference. Last week I went Wednesday morning, with a list that really only covered about a week. But even then, there were three issues. One, I didn't have nearly enough time to really shop before I needed to pick Seth up at school. Two, Luke felt a burning desire to be really helpful (read insist on getting items off the shelves, even though he couldn't really reach them, and scream loudly if I did not permit him to do so). And three, I ran out of room in the cart early on. See, Luke is in the seat with the belt. Max, in his infant car seat, is in the bigger part where the groceries should go. [One day, a likely well-intentioned older woman said to me, 'OH, there's a baby under all of those groceries.' To be fair, I was very very cautious of my grocery placement and he wasn't covered up and was in no danger at anytime. You know, no infants were harmed, etc.]. Anyway, after I ran out of room last week I came home and added a few more things to my list to stretch it a few more days and ended up BACK at the store about 10pm that night, after a little time on the treadmill. It was nice to be alone. It was not nice that they were trying to put out all the Christmas items and change over for the sales that start on Thursday. There were aisles I couldn't get all the way down and had to turn around and backtrack. Then there was ONE cashier working, and he was in an express lane, which meant that I had to ring up my entire cart of groceries. Nevermind that the coupon part of self-ringing is extremely annoying to me. But, I must say the entire trip was salvaged when the poor lonely employee had no more customers in his line and came over to bag the poor exhausted woman's groceries! I was so thankful for his help!


Wow, this post has rambled on just to get to this! Yesterday I took the boys on a little walk through the neighborhood to look for leaves that we could use for a craft. I wanted Luke to walk, rather than ride in the stroller, so he could help. So, I thought, oh, I'll just get the infant carrier thing that straps to the front of me for Max. We got it, as a gift, when we had Seth. So, it's nearly 5 years old and can be a little confusing to hook a baby into. However, it worked great. Max was fine on the whole walk. This brings me to eureka! Today I got up early and got ready to leave the house. Thus, getting out of the house in time to do the shopping. AND once we got to the store I put Max in the carrier, thus freeing up the entire basket part of the cart for, wait for it, ...groceries! Luke still wanted to be my helper, but that's easier to deal with when the other two issues are out of the way. Now we can eat for the next few weeks AND we can try out the pumpkin cake recipe that I want to sample before serving it to a house full of family on Turkey Day. Yeah me! Off to bake.



Finally, if you've read all the way to the end of this painfully boring post, kudos to you. And I'm sorry it never really got too interesting. However, here's a photo of Max in the carrier before we headed out on our walk yesterday. Please notice the expression on poor little Luke's face. I think it hit me that I couldn't carry him and Max at the same time. He's a little attached. And apparently I thought Max should smile for the picture, thus the annoying 'don't you wanna smile little baby?' face. Ahhh, good times...

And I used to get paid to do this?

I was practicing my cross exam skills (or lack thereof) this week. I was asking Seth about chapel at school on Wednesday. He didn't seem to be able to tell me anything about it, other than that it had taken place. So, I decided to put to use my education that we're still paying for and create a little timeline of events.

Me: Okay, so you walked into the room. Did you stand up or sit down.
Seth: We stood up for our pledges.
Me: Okay, do you know the pledges?
Seth: Yes, I do.
Me: Okay, and then what did you do?
Seth: We sang some songs.
Me: What did you sing?
Seth: We sang "Holy Holy Holy." [Sidenote here - Luke thinks the song is "Hold me Hold me Hold me."]
Me: Then what happened? Did someone talk to you or did you watch something like a movie?
Seth: She talked ot us.
Me: The principal talked to you?
Seth: MOOOOM. It's Princi"b"al.
Me: No, Seth. It's principal. Puh puh puh pal. Trust me. I know how to spell it. It's a P.
Seth. Oh, okay.
Me: So, what did she talk to you about?
Seth. She talked about stuff and things.


Honestly. That was his answer. Stuff and things. All that wandering around and questioning to get to "stuff and things." And to think, I used to get paid to do this! Yikes.

Halloween and Helmet Head

We started out Halloween night taking pictures, of course, at our house. What's the point in dressing up a 5 month old if not to take pictures? I mean, he can't eat the candy or trick-or-treat so it was all about the photo opp.

Next we headed to Grammy and Grampy's for a little visit and some specially prepared treat bags, complete with all kinds of candy that was safe for Luke, some little stuffed bats and pumpkins and some stickers. On the way home Seth said, "I have a gooooood feeling. I think there's a sucker in here!" So funny!

Then we came home to trick or treat in our neighborhood. Seth lasted about 4 houses, at which time he declared he had enough candy and would like to go home. That was shortly after he decided that I should have put a coat on him because he was cold. And Luke was way more interested in whether there might be ducks in the pond that we walked by than in trick or treating.

Cutest moment: Seth refused to go up to a house but Luke went away. The sweet lady gave Luke two pieces of candy. Luke didn't put them in his pumpkin basket. Instead he walked straight down the driveway to Seth, handed him a piece of the candy, and said, "here ya go." Sweetest little guy ever!

Second cutest moment: My mom put together trick or treat bags, paying special attention to only include candy/cookies that were safe for Luke. I pulled it out Monday night and told them they could each pick one thing out of their bag. I told them how neat it was that Grammy made sure it was all safe for Luke. Seth's response, "Umm, that's because she loves us." Yes, yes it is!

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There's really no great transition here, but perhaps it was all in the spirit of dressing up. Seth and Luke spent Saturday morning helping David clean out the garage. Luke attached himself to this bike helmet. He asked that I call him "Helmet." He wore it to eat lunch and even said, "Please say, 'Eat up, Helmet.'" That was funny. But, seriously, the look on Max's face was priceless.

Here's a little zoom in of the look he was giving to Luke and the helmet. I can only imagine that he was thinking, "that kid's different but this tops 'em all!" Eventually Luke had to rock out in the helmet. And not much else. This was just after dinner, where he got food all over his clothes and, thus, isn't wearing them anymore. Apparently his feet were cold (?). And this kid can turn nearly anything into a guitar. And he means business when he plays it!

And finally, Sunday morning Luke, Max, and I stayed home from church. I laid in bed most of the night listening to Luke cough most of the night. He coughed until he threw up a couple of times. I thought that warranted staying home. [I digress, but I believe it to be allergies - nothing congatious. I would not have even considered taking him to church if I thought he would contaminate others! But I thought at least he and I were too tired and pitiful to go.] Anyway, the point of the story - Luke came to me, wearing the helmet, and informed me, "We are staying home from church and I do not have to take the helmet off!" Well, alright then!