Famous Last Words

This has been a summer of famous last words!  The summer on steroids, at least part of it, is over.  Sniff.  Little girls off to school.

Here are some highlights of the week:

I was making a pie for my husband's birthday, which has become a tradition over the last few years after he revealed he isn't crazy about cake, when I got a little distracted for five minutes during a search for an ingredient.  When I returned, I found this.  This cute little boy who desperately needs a sand box, because he just does!  (He is so tempted by the kitty litter, too.  I have to have eyes like a hawk whenever he is anywhere near the garage.)

So, of course, I got out the camera, and my two enthusiastic helpers, and we joined in for a few minutes before shutting down the flour operation.  Cleaning up from the clean-up was an even bigger chore than the clean-up, if you know what I mean!  Ha.  That flour was spread to kingdom come, in little white footprints.  So cute, though, even if he filled his brand-new-yesterday shoes up with flour (they started out black, ha).

 This adorable. Face.  I'm in love.

 Sorry this is blurry.  He was just pleased as punch about the whole thing, if you know what I mean.

 Notice the circumference of the contamination zone spreading since photo number one.  A neighbor stopped by right as this was happening and I invited her in to have a good laugh!  She taught the kids how to write words in the flour with their fingers.  :)

 Birthday pie, a success.  Birthday boy, happy.

Aw, little girls off to school already?  What?  I'm trying to keep an open mind, here, hoping year round school will treat us well and make up for this short-summer inconvenience.  Gonna miss these faces, I tell you.

A couple more tidbits: the getting-the-baby-to-sleep-at-night thing is not working out.  Totally derailed on night number one when I took him back to his bed at he looked up at me through the dark, with little voice trembling, and said, "I'm scared."   How am I supposed to resist that?  The same thing has happened every night since.  And I just can't help it, but I just can't make him cry!  So I'm going to try a different tactic, maybe weaning him first?  See if that either gives me more energy or helps him sleep better?  All other goals are going just great, thank heavens-- something to balance out the epic night-training fail that didn't even last one night!

If you need travel advice or just a virtual vacation, check out my sister's travel blog here.  She has been everywhere, I tell you.  And she is really beautiful and smart, if I must say so myself.

Crazy (Good) Summer and Here Comes the Bride

We have had a really great, super busy summer!  We have had to squish it all in because my girls start school next week.  We will see how year-round school treats us.  I'm sort of excited and a little scared, but definitely trying to keep an open mind and be positive since we don't have much of a choice.  So it feels like we have had a summer on steroids.  We have had some wonderful times together in spite of its hurried nature!  We just got back from another short trip last week, I can't wait to share!  In the meantime, I'll be working on the Mount Everest of laundry.  (I also have loads of California photos to share, I just haven't had a real chance to go through them yet)

Enjoy these photos in the meantime!  One morning I was totally shocked when this beautiful girl came walking down the stairs and her sister announced they had been playing "here comes the bride."  It wasn't so much the fabulous sister-wrought hairdo, complete with fresh flower tissue wrapping paper (requisitioned from her sister's recent present), or the beautiful girl that surprised me, but the fact that she was wearing her blessing dress (?) (can you say size 3-6 months?).  Of course she looks so cute in it but I was a bit horrified since I am trying to preserve the dress as an heirloom for her.  So after a quick reluctant bride photo shoot, we very carefully took off the baby dress and tried to locate a different dress!

 This bride is not too happy about getting her photo taken lately.

I'm envisioning a career as a wedding planner here?   Helping the "bride" smile.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  We met a new friend whom we really enjoyed and were sad to say goodbye to.

Weekend

(photo cred belongs to my dear mother)

We had an eventful weekend around here.  On Saturday I helped my parents remove some wallpaper in a home they are buying (five minutes from my house!  how exciting is that?), went to my oldest son's soccer game (he is a great little goalie, only he is not so little anymore!) while I kept an eye several places (my girls were taking very good care of E., mother-henning him all over the place, but when he got tired of that, he enjoyed splashing through a long puddle several times in a row.  After a busy work day we got cleaned up just in time to help at my cousin's wedding.  The wedding was the perfect Pinterest wedding, if I may say so (but I didn't have my camera!).  It was in a barn strung with white globe lights and two beautiful white chandeliers.  The tables were decorated with vintage eclectic flower vases filled with Redbud branches in full bloom and other assorted spring flowers (and a light farm animal scent for ambiance, too).  Gorgeous photos and little chalkboard sayings hung around the room; the bride and groom stood in front of a large chalkboard with their names artistically rendered in beautiful clean white chalk across the top.  I got the best of all the worlds, because I got to serve milk and cookies in a cute apron with my sister while my husband chased the baby outside on the grass (by the time we left he was convinced we should buy the place, and it was cute but...) and my other girls helped (sometimes a little over-enthusiastically) pick up after people who were finished with their milk and cookies.  And we got to sneak some treats for ourselves here and there.  I thought it was funny how many sheepish older men felt they needed to apologize for or explain to me why they were taking chocolate milk (huh?  is chocolate milk unmanly or something?).  It was dreamy, I kept kicking myself for not bringing along my camera.  When we were all finished, they let us take an antique vase home.  Trust me, I got to listen all weekend to a little girl who somehow felt cheated that her sister had gotten the cutest vase and why oh why couldn't she just giiiiiive it to her?  (there were many tears over this)

Saturday night we were awakened in the middle of the night to some eerie sounds (not the wind, it was doing a number outside), only to discover that Maia was puking her guts out in the middle of the hallway.  Of course the ruckus woke up the baby, so I sat with him for a few minutes (praying that he would go to sleep?  or praying that he wouldn't?  so I wouldn't have to face the...) while my husband dealt with the throw up and the thrower upper.  Pretty soon, though, my baby duties didn't exempt me from throw up duty.  (thank heavens he got the worst of it! I  have the worst possible constitution as they say, for vomit.  I can clean up pretty much anything else, but trust me, I contribute to the mess when I have to clean that stuff up)  So we spent the next hour or so cleaning spots from her bed to the bathroom, no small trek if you ask me.  The baby got up again (I guess I have to stop calling him "the baby" now?  He is two after all, ha.), and started hanging on me and begging to watch Mater, so I set him up watching Mater's Tall Tales in the middle of the night, it was actually pretty cute, he wanted to watch it on the tablet while he laid on his tummy, elbows propped, on a single stair leading to my bedroom closet, with the glow lighting up his little face in the darkness.  (and I tell you what, Dad Gum, that show cracks me up, Mater and Mator)

By the time we got it all cleaned up and I started to get him back to bed it was 5am, after he fell asleep I figured I may as well get up for the day, since I had things to do.

I got to go to church with just one little girl, since everyone else was still sleeping when it was time to go (I couldn't bring myself to wake them up, since we had lights and noise going on in the middle of the night, in one of their rooms), so we had a good little date.  She brought her little vase of orange flowers from the wedding and I was too tired to care.  We had a few touch-and-go moments in church, as she wanted to hold the flowers up above her head (several times?  you'd think since she was unhappy with her vase she wouldn't be wanting to show it off to a whole congregation of people?) She spilled the water a few times but she always ran to the bathroom right away to get some paper towels to clean it up.  :)

Sunday afternoon I took a delicious nap, only interrupted a couple of times.  After a loud and laughing mashed potato dinner (I can't remember what was so funny?  But I do remember looking around and feeling so happy that everyone was so breathlessly amused and talkative all at once), we went outside and played soccer, the oldest two and I.  I just love how pleasant my oldest son always is.  He laughed every time I scored on him (what is so funny about that?).  And my oldest daughter, she was a good sport too.  Maia came walking out in her pj's with her throw up bucket, which was soon to blow away, unattended.  The baby kept wandering in and out of the field of play and so did the cats.  He spent a few minutes crouched next to the porch, where they fled from him, watching curiously and wondering how he could get to those cats (loves them!).  Pretty soon the littest three were bouncing on the neighbors trampoline (sorry!) while we next tried a creative game of baseball. Creative, when you only have 1-2 players on a team, and both members of your team are on base.  Who is supposed to bat?  My husband came out and joined us and we enjoyed some mutually competitive taunting.  Then we trailed in our balls and bats and throw up buckets and made our way upstairs for a twilit story or two, and I finished the day with a little knocked out nursing baby (love him!  there is something so magical about a sleeping baby, too) and we finished the movie Lincoln that we had started the night before.

How was your weekend?  I really enjoy getting a break from the daily tasks, but Mondays are extra work because of it (we let everything go south on Sunday). 

I am really happy about this month's goals.  So glad to get a break from trying to be good at something I'm not (the discipline and the schedules, which I will get back to, just not quite yet), and just focus on showing love to them through spending time together (my favorite).  

Under the Weather and an Unexpected Attachment Object

We are still under the weather around here.  I have some fun photos for tomorrow.  For today, let this suffice:

This cute little car has not been put down for probably three weeks (unless it is involuntarily reliquished).  He always carries it in one chubby fist or the other and he even sleeps with it.  He vrooms it across my shoulder while he nurses. He has been resisting a bath for a while now and today I realized that it's probably because I don't let him take it in the bath (today I relented).  It is sort of interesting to watch him try to manage manual dexterity-requiring tasks with his little forklift nestled in his hand.  After a nap, during which time it invariably falls out of his little hand, he is fussy or inconsolable until it is found.  Because I was at first confused as to which actual character it was in the movie Cars, he calls it interchangeably "Wee-doe" (Guido) or "Wee-Gee" (Luigi).  So super cute.

Back tomorrow. :)

A Little Laugh

...to start your weekend.  (sorry I'm posting late today!  had to take little cute girl in again, this time for tummy pain, did another X-ray-- just some fun little blockages due to all the medicines and fun things she's gone through lately, nothing a little over the counter medicine won't cure!)

Here are some funny things the littlest boy has done or said lately.

The other day, after someone went to the bathroom, he surprised us by saying "bye bye poo poos!  Lub [love] you!"  and then blowing the toilet a kiss, by touching his chubby little open hand to his mouth and making a loud smacking noise.  So sorry if this is offensive to anyone, it's just so funny.

He has a little tiny Cars car he calls "Wa-weegie" (Luigi) that he will not reliquish for anything.  And if he does, and it gets misplaced, he will be sad and fussy until it is relocated (sometimes not for several hours).

The other night, we had some deer in our yard.  He noticed them even before I did, and he was so ecstatic I couldn't contain his excitement.  As you will see in the video below.  Sorry it is dark.  But you get the picture.  I was totally amazed the deer weren't scared away as he rushed back and forth to the window squealing "deer!  Deer!"



Happy weekend everyone!  

LOL

Some funnies to brighten your day.  Afterward, enjoy a few too many photos in a sort of belly laugh reel.

E, the baby, calls my eldest son "Tae-don."  And though he knows his sister's name (and will point to her if you say her name), he also calls her, until recently "Tae-don."  If she walks into the room, he will utter a delighted "TAE-don!"  In order to distinguish the two, over the last few weeks, he has been calling her "Tae-don, sisser [sister]."  Just over the last few days he has been calling her by her proper name.  Boo.

The other night, we had some deer in the yard, and he was pretty excited.  He kept running to me and shouting: "Beer!"  "Beer!"

He came down with a sudden high fever one evening.  I always worry about little things like that.  I put him to bed and heard him crying an hour later.  When I went to retrieve him in the dark hallway, he issued a delighted and relieved "MOM!"  Then he told me "scared."  Awwww....  That night I laid with him on the floor and he wasn't content to be in his bed next to me, he kept rolling off and wedging himself between my body and his bed, which is the only way he finally fell asleep.  I could feel his little round head, next to mine, pouring forth the heat, as his little body gradually relaxed, his hot breath warm on my cheek.  I felt so badly for him, but as I lay there in the dark, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world in on the best secret-- I feel so blessed this little one is mine.  The next day, when he held out his arms for me to lift him up in his soft felt dino jammies, the poor little guy was still burning up (Motrin to the rescue).  I told him "you have hot pits!"  I was just joking, but he picked up on that and said "Hot pits. Hot pits. Hot pits."  (after saying something I can't repeat) over and over for a little while.  Lol.

My middle daughter (6) told my oldest son, when they were playing some sort of fake bow-and -arrow game, "I shot you before I even aimed!"

And my little four year old, she is the dressing queen. More on this another day, including photos that I can't always capture quickly enough because she changes to often!  She actually changes into a different skirt for bed, because she will only wear dresses or skirts.  Where did this dear girl come from?  She tells me I am "nice" or "mean" based on whether I am giving her what she wants in the moment.  This is a first for me in the parenting universe.  She is spunky but quite delightful.  Maybe that is what we should name the band?

Funny Little Sayings, Take 22

Some funny little sayings around here lately.

E., who is now 19 months (not fair, going too fast I tell you), and who has never been interested in more than a lick of TV (5 minutes his whole life), has suddenly become obsessed with Bob the Builder.  He usually finishes out the night in our bed, or I finish out the night on the floor next to his bed, so I know the first things that come out of that little cute mouth.  One morning, while he was still in the act of sitting up, bleary-eyed, he said: “Bob!  Maia.”  Then he ran breathlessly off to his sister’s room, found her in bed and said “Maia!  Bob!  ‘Mon! (come on!)” with the cutest little fingers- curling-toward-his-little-chubby-wrist gesture.  He has learned to enlist his sisters any time he wants to watch “Bob,” which is a lot.  The morning after his first Bob awakening, the first thing out of his mouth was “YEH HE TAN! ("yes he can!" from “can he fix it?  Yes he can!”...said right before he tumbled off the bed to go find his sister)  Right now he swaps out all his “c” sounds for “t” sounds, so car is “tar,” you get the picture.  It is so stinkin’ cute. 

My three year-old had a dream that she grew a mustache and couldn’t remove it.  Then she ate a red  tortilla chip and her whole body turned red (not her clothes, she said with great emphasis, just her skinnn).   She turned purple when she ate a purple chip; even the underside of her tongue was purple.  This is the same child who just asked for a bow and arrow for her birthday (more later this week). :)

This same three year-old, taking a cue from her older sister, asked for a pony for Christmas.  When I gave her the same answer I had given her sister (maniacal laugh), she said "okay, then, I'll take a baby horse.  Not a wicked (she is the one who added the emphasis, not me) baby horse, a nice baby horse, that I can ride on." (where in the world did she learn the word "wicked"?)

This very same girl, just last night, prayed that she wouldn't have any bad dreams-- she prayed that she would only have dreams about something cute or funny.  Just moments before, in our family prayer, she prayed that her tooth wouldn't "get blood."  Thats it, the end.  The bloody tooth was the whole prayer. (sisters with minor flossing trauma a few minutes beforehand)

My nine year-old is getting over a case of strep throat, poor girl.  When we drove to the pharmacy, she noticed a new building being erected.  She asked me what it was for.  Then she said, “don’t they know they are killing like 40,000 animals?  ……Including the fleas?”  I didn’t know that she cared about the plight of animals or fleas, for that matter, or connected the dots in regards to building and animals, but I was pretty impressed. (maybe she witnessed me hyper ventilating when we went for a beautiful drive along some wetlands and saw a bunch of duck hunters carrying whole giant burlap bags full of dead ducks!  I couldn't handle this sight--ducks?  Why ducks?  But not to worry, gatekeeper man told us, there is a plethora of ducks because we are taking all of their habitats, so they would be dead anyway....stab me to the heart, why don't ya?  Ducks?  I love ducks!  Go ahead and kill the deer (with moderation, mind you, and then only if you are going to eat them), but not the ducks!  My husband had a good laugh at my expense, seeing as this was my first time even realizing that real, modern people hunted ducks by the dozen like that)

I'm kind of a softie when it comes to killing things (see here.)

A Hat

For today's viewing pleasure, enjoy these photos of my littlest two and a little hat drama.  I loved this hat my sister gave E. last year for Christmas.  So cute.  But he won't wear it, as you'll see in these pictures (see the distressed look on his face?  and how happy he is when he gets it off?).  I couldn't even stick on the hat and jump right back for a photo because it was already being removed.  It makes me laugh.  Most of my kids have had issues with hats at this age.  Anyone else?

Happy weekend!  I miss you already.  Will your kids wear hats?

Some Funnies

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ok, this month is about over.  So what was going to be a six month update will now have to be a seven month update.  (organized, anyone?)

Here are a few funny or cute sayings around here lately.

From my three year old, when she was two and a half (just found the paper it was written on):

If you stab me with a poker then I will die with my clothes on in the river with the gooses.

The goose rode his scooter through the mud and he fell and broke his arm.

More recently, she and sometimes my six year old have a hard time with the words hamburger and booger.  They call Burger King "Booger King," saying they want a "ham-booger."  But then, when the baby has a runny nose, A will say "E. has burgers!  Wipe his burgers!"  It does not matter what I say, this little confused concoction of words continues.

Baby, who is still interested in trains, confused me one day by saying what I thought was "train" over and over.  Until my hubby pointed out that he was saying my name "Treen!"  "Treen!" (corinne)  It is really super cute.  Reminds me of the time when our oldest was this age and called my husband E-Miguel.  One day I realized he thought his name was "hey Miguel!"  Because I must have said it so frequently.


We thought he was saying "tiger," then "roar," but we figured out he is trying to say "dinosaur."  Those dinos made a big impression (he was so scared in one part that he was literally shaking!  I felt badly...he seemed to be okay the rest of the time, though always a little wary of the beasts).

What a Joke

Today while I was getting something out of my refrigerator, a plastic container filled with Butternut Squash soup fell and broke, spreading orange gooey goodness all down my fridge, on the floor, on my kitchen rug and splashed right on up the cabinets.  Aren't those the times you just want to sell the house rather than clean up the mess?  I just stood there for a minute taking it all in before I realized I did Have.To.Clean.It.Up.   I even had a little eager helper.  As I gingerly lifted my overdue-to-be-cleaned rug so I could take it upstairs to be washed, a nice floor of sandy accumulated goodness was revealed underneath.  Carrying that rug and trying to contain the excitement of my little helper required some delicacy; it felt as if we were carrying the limp and lifeless rug to be sacrificed to the laundry god.

Then not ten minutes later I spilled a whole container full of noodles in the exact same spot!  (a few minutes after that I dropped a clean bowl and spoon into the contamination zone-- hmmm....what is my problem?).  The baby, instead of eating the few remaining noodles in the original bowl (which I had set on the table for him), was now picking noodles out of the sandy, post-pukish looking remnants of the Butternut Squash soup and helping himself. Aaaaaaaaaaagh!  (it truly is amazing any of us survive childhood)

I had an entire day like this a few weeks ago.  It started off with kids scrambling with half-brushed hair for homework and shoes in order to RUN for the bus.  Someone was missing one shoe.  Someone else needed to run upstairs (just really quick, Mom!) to grab a library book that was due that day.  Someone else had no socks on and had to run upstairs to hunt for a mis-matched pair.  Someone else needed homework signed (I forgot last night mom!) Someone else was reading while tying his shoes while late for the bus (more on this later).  It seems every day I am giving them a barely squeeze and almost pushing them out the door saying "RUN!"  (with a trailing 'love you!')



I have been unable to run for exercise lately (and I miss it so badly!), but I still wanted to try and exercise, so I pulled out the old sweaty step and the old Kathy Smith video and geared up for what I thought was a really low expectation work-out-- 20 to 25 minutes.  I figured the kids would just play and wouldn't really worry about mommy stepping up and down in one place while a boring lady talked on TV.  Boy was I wrong.  I had some little helpers.  My three year-old wanted to try out my step just like the pretty lady, so I went downstairs and found her a little step, which I had to keep moving because she wanted to be right. Next. To me.  (the same child that wants to sit on my lap every meal)  I really think it is cute, and I like having a buddy.  But I'm not getting much exercise.  The baby decides to sit on the step and watch the movie.  He has hardly watched TV in his life, he has never been interested, and he chooses now to suddenly be interested in that boring lady on TV.  He is sitting so cute on my step, what can I do?  So I try my best to step around him; sometimes I can only fit the tip of my toe on the step without squishing little fingers.  It was very creative.  Then about 6 minutes in, he started to say "hold you."  I tried putting him on the couch, but he would return to the foot of my step and cry, holding up his arms and saying "hold you!"  So I ended up shutting it off and holding "you" because he would not be deterred. 

When it was time for dance all we could find were holey tights (laundry room smelling like someone died in there) and a be-smudged leotard (are those stains or is it dirty?  sometimes I can't tell).  And the laundry I had washed the day before but hadn't had a chance to fold (running kids to soccer and scouts and whatever else) was now scattered in a lava-style volcano blast all across my room, as different kids had tossed out items in search of others as they hunted for that sock or pair of jeans or whatever it was.  Earlier we'd found one ballet slipper in the trunk of the car, then went on a hunt for the other one.  I took one look at my floor, almost completely covered in disheveled clothes, and thought, "what a joke."  There was no stinkin' way I was finding that ballet slipper in there.  (all the while thinking-- why do I live like this again?)  I lifted up a few items, but lets just say, it was pointless.  Because I've had this little girl late to dance pretty much every lesson for a year, and I'm always apologizing for it and promising to change, I thought....we can not be late!  Her teacher is going to think I am the worst mother in the world! (as she watches my child dance with her toe poking out of her tights, since we couldn't find her other slipper)

These are the times I can feel my blood pressure rising, rising, rising, that at any minute I might just, well, explode into a thousand mommy pieces in a gooey mess just like that bowl of soup. (I wonder if anyone would clean it up or if they would just step right over it, lol) Over and over this crazy morning I kept saying to myself what. a. joke.

Then of course, the baby was suddenly smelling a little ripe.  Worst timing.  So I quickly plopped him down on the floor and changed his diaper, resigning myself to swallowing my mom pride for at least one more week.

So we rounded up random shoes after finding several pairs with no mates (where in the world do they run off to?  Just took them off yesterday?), fed the cats (can't just leave them to starve while I'm gone), buckled everyone in, and got in the car.  My blood pressure was holding steady at an abnormally high level, but luckily so far no animals had been harmed in the making of this movie.  I kept thinking what a joke.  What a joke.  What a joke.

So we're sitting there, in the car, holey tights and all, but everyone is buckled in and safe and quiet for a minute.  The leaves had changed in the neighborhood and the sun was shining through yellow veined leaves and red ones.  The mountains looked like they had been dusted in powdered sugar-snow over night.  The sky was so blue and the day was just so pretty.  And I realized-- we are all safe, I didn't lose it and go in my closet and scream to myself like I felt like doing (I have never done this, but read about it in a book and I definitely feel this way some days).  I am choosing certain things over others.  I could have told my kids no activities or I could choose to spend less time on them and just be a maid all day.  Or I could quit nursing or exercising or something.  I am choosing my life right now, and its not all good or all bad, and I can keep on working on getting better at being more organized and accept the rest for now.  I can't always choose those last minute little things that are out of my control or whether someone spills or loses something but I can learn to choose to laugh about it.  It is a joke.  A big one.  That I will look back at some day with fondness, in spite of it all.  I will miss those little fingers vying for attention on my Kathy Smith step or the arms up, wanting me, and only me.  I have little ones that want to hang with me all day and into the night.  Hey, I'm popular right now.  And that is a good place to be.  It won't always be that way.  Some day I'm sure I will want to frame those little fingerprints on my step or crave having a little girl sit on my lap, even if it means I can't quite get a full meal in.  Or miss the big boy who wants to tell me all about his friend's weird jokes or a little girl who still loves my hugs or has to be reminded to pick up her shoes (every single day).  It is crazy, but it is crazy good.  And crazy funny sometimes.  And I love it.  I'd choose it again, over and over, holey tights and all.

The crazy didn't end there.  Later that day I attempted to clean my messy house before scouts.  The other leader who works with me, whom I love, she is so fabulous (I have had some really great scout partners, and I love scouts, makes up for having to wear those ignominious yellow shirts).  But she has never even once seen my house clean (and hers is gorgeous and spotless).  Baby was crying and hanging on me, it was a joke.  :)  So I let him play on the porch while I did the bare minimum of throwing in some dishes and running a rag over the beauty that was my sticky countertops.  When I went to retrieve him (he was with his sister and I technically could see them through the window, though I clearly wasn't paying close attention to what they were doing, as you will see), he had taken little fistfulls of dirt and thrown them all over the porch.  It was time for scouts, and in spite of the dirty porch it was still better than my house, so we sat on little dirt crumbs for an hour-- I once had a scout start pulling my obnoxiously big weeds during a lesson).  That night I threw together a plain noodle-carrots-out-of-the-bag dinner, got my kids ready for bed, then welcomed in a man from our ward (congregation) just as hubby was getting home.  After some large small talk, he asked me to be the secretary for the children's organization in our local church.  This had to be the biggest joke of the day!  For the first time in my life, I actually turned to my husband right then and there and commented on the irony of the situation (you are all too familiar with my disorganization and attempts to remedy this).  Me, a secretary?  Aren't secretaries supposed to be the organized ones?  Ha ha, someone has a sense of humor.  Of course I said yes, and we will see if the women I will be working with will be laughing a few months from now.  :)

Yes, I really realized, it really is a big huge joke!  That I get to live in and be a part of and contribute to the punch line.  And remember it with happy tears years later, when the chaos is a distant memory and so are the little voices singing some repetitive song while I'm trying to handle some emergency.  I'll take it.   But it doesn't mean I still can't go in the closet and scream sometimes-- its all part of the joke.  One that I can laugh at, letting that lightness creep into my in-the-moment stressed heart, and see that these crazy days really are funny-- I just need to see it.  And some day I'll miss it, crazy and all.


Laughing about our crazy sledding experiences-- a video on my husband's phone.

How do you help yourself lighten up when in a stressful situation?  How do you help yourself see the funny in it? 

Halloween Number 2

We enjoyed a gorgeous Halloween evening as the sky deepened into a beautiful indigo, lights from flickering jack-o-lanterns and torches filtering through the darkness, the shouts of excitement and children's delight hanging thick in the air.  We shut up the house, left the porch light on and our spooky candelabra flickering in the window (battery powered), set out a paper plate stacked high with goodies, and attempted to corral our excited children as we set off together.  

We made it around the block, picked up a mummy and some friends along the way, then wended our way home, where we piled in the car and drove to a friend's house.  There we found our friend handing out cotton candy.  As she swirled the colored spun sugar in cotton puffs around and around for a wiggly line of children, lit by a lone lantern, the darkness thick around the edges, some kids tried out the makeshift haunted house in the garage.  They could choose "big scary," "medium scary," or "low scary."  My kids had to try all three, and each time they came out giggling to each other.  On the ride home, we found out our nine year-old had poked one of the "actors" with her sword.  The actor then said a surprised "oh." 

We realized we have never been to a haunted house with the kids-- and had to explain that you don't mess with the scary people, as those ones are our friends and neighbors in disguise, no matter how disgusting they may appear on Halloween night.  My husband and I had a sort of horrified snort-suppressing laugh at that little incident.  We finished the night over a hot bowl of chili with some other friends and yawning droopy sugar coma voices in the car on the way home.

How was your night?  Do you trick-or-treat?  Hand out candy?  Or hide in the dark and wait for all of it to go away?  :)

Harry Potter Care Package

I'm a little embarrassed to even post this, because it is sorta like, look at me!  But, to borrow from another blogger, what is the point of blogs if you can't brag about pointless stuff like that (here)?  I also thought it might be fun in case anyone else wants to do something nice for someone they love before the month of October is over!

I have some dear friends in another state that I miss very much.  This was easy and fun.  I already had these cute treat boxes I bought at my local grocery store.  And the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (here).  And a chocolate frog mold (here-- cheap!).  I used to be so intimidated making my own chocolates but it is so easy! (instructions here ...I just melt my chocolate in the microwave, spoon it into the mold, freeze it for 20 minutes, and Voila!)  I bought some fizzy or otherwise weird candies that fit in with Harry Potter themes, then I took ordinary candies and made labels on my computer using the Blackadder font and brown scrapbook paper that looked old, then burned the edges right over my gas stove (hmmm...not recommended, I almost burned my fingers off).  If I had more time, I would have tried to make cuter wrappings with bows or something fun but I didn't have much time so I just wrapped them in Saran Wrap.  And put a label on top addressed to the witches or wizards on such-and-such Drive, from the witch at Honeydukes, _______ (state) division.

So fun and easy!

Just for a little pick-me-up today, here are some photos of E in the headband he has been wearing around.  It is so funny.  Suddenly I'll see him wearing this headband.  He will wear it in various positions, take it off and put it on over and over all day (the last couple of days).  I think it is super cute.  Kind of funny I had some pictures of him vrooming his cars all around in his headband.  (sorry, they were all blurry!)  When he puts the headband on he will sometimes say, in a high-pitched, pleased voice: "pretty....boy!"

Can you tell he has three older sisters?  (Today one of them said, "love you sonny!" and he said "lub...you...Tae-don!"  so cute)

Happy weekend!  We have been a bit lazy around here with no school the last two days.  We might go do something fun this afternoon though! 

Little Angels

Once a year our kids sing in church with all the other kids 12 and under.  It is my favorite.  Not only is it so fun to watch them sing, and smile, and even sneak in a little (or big) wave, it is also fun to see the beautiful and childlike innocence of all the children, as they beam proudly upon parents and grandparents and sing about who they really are, lifting that little veil for a minute and reminding all of us that what we are shooting for in life is to become more like those little angels in our care. 

On a side note, I bought myself some slacks, and I've almost returned them many times.  Even though I got a great deal.  And I never wear heels except to church.  These are too big.   I realized I have not had a good picture taken of me for years.  Years.  That maybe I should actually do my hair and try a little harder, at least for a picture!  So I put on some clothes that still have tags because I'm still undecided and I asked my 3 year old to take my picture before I changed my mind.  She was pretty cute, shooting that camera every which way and holding her finger on the trigger like she was a drunken cowboy shooting an automatic weapon alone in a desert night.  But she did a pretty good job.  And she gave me tons of compliments, which was cute.  And tried on the shoes.

How was your weekend?  It is getting colder here.  It's fun to break out the boots and sweaters.  Project update tomorrow!  :)