Tomorrow is Coming, Tomorrow is Coming!

We had originally planned a very quiet Thanksgiving, sans the turkey. Due to a fun twist of decision making, we have the pleasure of getting to spend out Thanksgiving with THIS family and several other folks that have agreed to come eat her cooking. We did this at least once before, and we still marvel at the time that was had. It promises to be a wonderful day, full of good food and spectacular fellowship. I am thankful for friends! And their willingness to take on last minute guests!

Tis The Season For Thankfulness

We have spent a lot of time this month dwelling on thankfulness in our home. We have our Thankful Tree with is growing number of Thankful-leaves. We have discussed the Pilgrims and the Indians. We have spent much time finding different verses in the Bible having to do with thankfulness.

Because of all this, I find my heart is more readily in a state of thankfulness as the days tick by. I find myself lifting up quick prayers of thanks much more frequently. I like this change. I intend to foster it in myself as well as encourage more of it in my children. It sets the tone for so much!

I could wax all poetic on you and sit here in my tired and slightly drugged state (oh, NiQu1l, I am thankful for you too!) typing out all manner of random, barely coherent bits of fluff that are slowly skittering through my mind, but I won't. I will share with you one of those things that I really don't think about very often, but due to one of my thankful arrow prayers, has been heavy on my heart today.

The kids were going the directions of the four winds this morning as Joshua and I flurried about trying to get everyone ready for church and get out the door. Even though I lay things out on Saturday nights, Sundays are more than a bit hairy around here. This morning, in particular, I was struggling to keep it together. At some point, the thought that I wasn't sure I could pull off getting all four children ready and out the door in time to go worship with our church family every week all by myself and I sure was glad that this parenting thing was a team sport.

I pulled up short almost immediately. Thoughts of single parents started pounding through my head. These ladies or men who parent a child or children without a helpmate. I very nearly cried for all those souls right there on the spot.

I can't imagine parenting alone. Not only is it the physical demands that children put on our lives (it is a fact, not a complaint), but the stress of not having that person to relax beside in the evenings and laugh over antics or things said. Or to hammer out a best course of action for this or that or the other with. The mental and emotional frustrations. And if the child and the parent are of opposite gender? Holy cow. That adds a whole new facet.

I shot up my prayer of thanks that the Lord has blessed me with a husband and our children with such a wonderful father and that He gives us each other to lean on in this full contact sport called Parenting. And then I prayed for all the single parents out there. But the thoughts haven't left me...I look at my husband with a renewed respect.

And I'm seeing single parents as super hero's! But even super hero's need help...I wonder where the Lord is taking me with this one...

This Kid...

...is potty training. And she is doing a super-great-wonderful job!!!!! And loving the M&M treats for each success, too! See that yumminess around her mouth? She doesn't want me to wipe it off. She 'wikes to wick it off.'

Sayings

My friends are a huge influence on my life. I am quick to pick up the things they use as exclamations. Leah spiced most of our conversations with 'Oh, dear!' My friend Jen is the reason I am frequently heard to say 'Oh, my soul!' My friend John planted 'For the love!' into my vocabulary. Lora, well, often times I don't know who said it first and who picked it up, but I am fairly certain that she started 'Mercy!' and I added it to my collection.

Then there is my young friend Maggie. Her name is Megan, but I can't remember the last time I called her that. Since she was 13 years old, she has had this particular refrain that has made me laugh. 'Holy cow!' No, perhaps it's not all that original (but then, neither are the others) but her consistency for saying it as her beautiful eyes rolled huge circles inside their sockets has left a firm impression on my life.

Suffice it so say, my children have picked up on these terms that I spout out daily. It was somewhat humorous to hear Thomas and Sarah Grace as toddlers exclaim, 'Oh, dear!' when they knew they were about to have their little bummies worn out have a bit of training. It is flat out hilarious to hear Thomas mutter 'Holy cow!' as his eyes roll about in his head when something doesn't meet with his approval. (Would you believe me if I told you he got it from his Daddy??))

The saying took on a whole new persona, though, in a recent car ride.

Try as I might to postpone it, the Christmas 'spirit' is already permeating into everyday culture. Don't get me wrong...I am all for Christmas and the celebration of the birth of our Savior. I would just like to get through Thanksgiving before the Christmas decorations go up all over town and the carols start ringing. The kids, though? Not so much. They are ready to do Christmas NOW!

With that in mind, know that I was more than a little frustrated as I caved and suggested that we sing some Christmas carols. Sarah Grace immediately started Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as Thomas and Elizabeth ground out their slightly different versions of Jingle Bells. I interrupted all three of them and suggested we sing a song about Christ, could they think of one? Thomas shouted out Away in a Manger and I was more than happy to sing through it with them. When I asked them if they could think of another, all was quiet. So I started humming O Holy Night. The kids couldn't think of the name, but insisted they could sing it. The opening refrain went something like this...

Oooooo hoooolyyyyyyyy niiiiiight (from me)
Oooooo hoooolyyyyyyyy smollyyyyy (from Thomas)
Oooooo hoooolyyyyyyyy coooooooww (from Sarah Grace and Elizabeth)

I busted out laughing and very nearly drove off into a different lane!

Then I resolved to really concentrate on lyrics with the kids this year concerning Christmas carols.

Look Away!! This Post Is About Children And Sharp Objects!

Dear Mom,

Please leave now. That way you can claim ignorance when 'they' come after me.

Love,
Your Daughter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the rest of you fine folks, understand that this post is not for the faint of heart. There was no blood involved, just a Mommy caving into the pleas of my preschoolers to be helpers, albeit with much hesitation on my part.

The day dragged long and the children were feeling a bit pent up. I finally got everyone down for a nap, including me. When they started waking up, the two older girls found me in the kitchen making half-hearted preparations for dinner. I was pulling out veggies to rinse and cut up, thinking it might save my sanity at the witching hour.

As I got set up to begin, Sarah Grace entered and begged to be allowed to help. I assigned her the task of rinsing. It was not enough. She wanted in on the heavy action. So I handed her the veggie peeler and set her to work on the carrots. She had just found her groove when Elizabeth entered the kitchen.

I tried to convince Elizabeth that simply putting the chopped carrots into the bowl would be of great service to me, but she wasn't biting. I finally handed the two year old a knife.

Re-read that last sentence a couple of times. Let it sink in. Make sure you absorb the full impact of what I just admitted to.

I gave my two year old an instrument sharp enough to do bodily damage with. Sharp enough to mutilate with. To the TWO. YEAR. OLD.

I am nothing if not ripe for the asylum.

To their credit, they handled the sharp objects with grace and ease. Probably better than I usually do, really. But my heart was thudding along as I stood over them and directed.


However, I did step away for just a moment to be sure that I could catch this all on film. Or a memory card. Whatever. And I took the knife with me. I totally gave it back to her for the photo op, though.

Random Bits of Life

It's a quarter of nine on a Tuesday morning. I have bathed five people today, myself included. I have breakfasted four people today, myself not included. I have started laundry, cleaned a poopy diaper, administered TLC, lost my temper, found compassion, read a book, stubbed my toe, trained children, prepped the school day for the kids, cleared the dishes, unstacked the dishwasher, put a baby down for nap, and checked my email.

There is still the entire day in front of me. Gymnastics, a dentist appointment, school, lunch, nap time. There are children with runny noses, meaning I will walk around with a box of tissue in my hands most of the day so I can tackle the younger two to wipe their noses or so I can hand out tissue and instructions to the older two. There is laundry to catch up on, due to the marvelousness of having spent a long weekend away with my husband doing things we enjoy. There is baking to be done, handprints to be attentioned, and a van to clean out.

And this post? Just barely two weeks old? It means that there is a party to be planned. Invitations to be made and sent out, cake to be thought about (yum! cake!!) and the traditional DVD slide show to be compiled.

It boggles my poor brain. So if your wondering where we are and what we are up to, just know that no news is good news. There are stories to be told, and some of them may actually be told! For now, though, I need to get back to living them.

Until the next time...

Through Her Eyes

I never claimed to be a fashionista. I have spurts of caring separated by l-o-o-o-ong episodes of the real me. I mean, I believe in looking nice (most of the time), but I can't keep up with the trends. It just makes my head spin. When shopping, I tend towards classic styles and comfort over cutting edge fashion.

Given that our weekends are generally nuts, I greet Monday with blurry eyes, jeans, sweat shirt, and a pony tail. I ease up and allow the kids to wear their pajamas until they are tired of them, then let them pick out their own cloths. And keep my mouth, as well as my eyes, shut. However, due to a change in our weekly schedules, we now have a standing Monday appointment. At 9:30. Late enough to easily get everyone prepped, early enough to have to make a concerted effort to get everyone dressed. To my we-are-going-out-in-public standards.

Which are, admittedly, getting lower every day. Good thing I'm not a celebrity. Of course, then, I could pay someone to care about my clothes as well as theirs...

As I was tying the last of the shoes, Elizabeth came and stood her little sassy self right in front of me.

'Mommy, are you ready yet?' she asked with pure innocence.

'Yes, Lizzie, I am. Let's go get in the van.'

She turned to obey, stopped after a few steps, looked over her shoulder at me, furrowed her little brow, and scrunched her nose. 'Mommy...are you wearing dat today?'

I glanced down at myself. Jeans, t-shirt, tennis shoes, hair combed...what was the problem here?

'Yes, I am wearing this today,' I replied, perhaps a tad defensively. To soften my offended tone, I added, 'Will you be seen with me?'

'Yes...I will walk waaaaaaaaay in da front and be good so you don't have to spank me and I can't see you.'

Mercy!! Where did that come from?!? She's two and a half, for crying out loud! Here I was thinking I still had a good ten years or so before she was mortified of my appearance.

Anna Joy - 11 Months

I am eleven months old, and...

...I officially am not nursing any longer.
...I have finally cut my first tooth!
...I can wave bye-bye.
...I love to crawl up to you and head butt you in the shins until you pick me up.
...I also enjoy pulling myself up on your legs and yelping at you until you pick me up.
...I am also quite talented at just sitting on the floor and reaching my hands out to you and smiling and yelping until you pick me up.
...I am a pro at crawling around after you and crying until you pick me up.
...I love to feed myself!
...I like crayons. Taste great, less filling.
...I have a lot of fun in the laundry room.
...I like to push the laundry basket around while I walk behind it.
...I am really good at unfolding the laundry and stashing it in various places.
...Mommy is totally in denial of my progressing age.
...despite my lack of words, I can definitely get my point across.
...I have earned the nickname Mouse for all my scrounging around and managing to find every single little thing that gets left on the floor.
...I am the quintessential baby of the family...everybody loves the baby!!