Is this a Photo Blog?

While I'm posting pictures, I thought I would share my film version of Caedmon's self-haircut. Remember that? I don't think the digitals captured how drastically he snipped, but this photo does. I can't stop laughing!

Another Christmas Post?

So I have already admitted to the humiliating fact that we do not own a digital camera. Someday I will drag my butt into the twenty-first century, but for now, I will continue to use my beloved Pentax K-1000. I really, really love it. And I'm afraid that if I ever DID get a digital, it would have to be this little beauty. Not too easy on the pocketbook though. So I guess we will just stick to Nate's little camera phone. That, and you will have to enjoy delayed photos as I will be posting them when I get my film developed.

Which is what I am doing today. I picked up my Christmas photos the a few days ago and thought I would share. Every year, on Christmas Sunday, I make the kids line up on the couch for a picture before church. I usually take way too many shots, but I ADORE them because you end up getting a feel for the moment when you look at all the pictures in a row. One year they played pass-the-baby-Jack. I had four pics of the group with each kid taking a turn holding the baby. But I LOVE this year's pictures. I laugh every time I look at them. Ahhh, can you feel the brotherly love?

Distracted

You know, most of the stuff I write here is pretty fluffy. I don't really go delving into the inner workings and thoughts of the Heth very often. Honestly, it's because I know some of you in real life and how weird would that be? Its one thing to have you all know that Caedmon and Jack are up to no good most of the time. Running into you in Wal-mart would be a little awkward if you knew everything from the depths of my heart and I knew nothing about you. Anyway, that is my disclaimer.

But today I think I will go a little more serious.

I think the adjective to describe me lately is "distracted". I find distraction creeping into every area of my life. If you look around my house, you will see tell-tale signs. The pot of coffee that I started to make, I poured in the water and started to grind the beans, but I was interrupted before I could turn the pot on. There is the lineup of laundry baskets, half of them are empty, but I never got back to the rest of them. I am reminded of the painting I started on our bedroom wall. Beautiful shiny silver script of love poems and quotes. I was very pregnant at the time (with Jack I think) and I couldn't get down on the floor on my belly to write the last few lines. Ummm, yeah, that's still not done. The girls' dressers are primed, but never painted. The Christmas decorations are put away, but the living room is not put back together. I could go on and on.... You've all probably read "If You Give A Mom A Muffin." It made the email loop a while ago. They wrote that about me. (at least I'm pretty sure they did) But it goes deeper than stuff around the house.

It has spilled over into my identity as a mother. I am a MOTHER not a house keeper. Yes, I need to run an orderly place around here and at least keep the toilets scrubbed and the kids fed. But what about reading books, and dressing up like ninjas, and doing puzzles? Why is it so hard for me to join Tyler in a little two player on the Nintendo, to be a part of his world? Why don't I let Noelle use her Easy Bake Oven? If I was honest, it's because it's too much work for ME. How do I get so wrapped up in stupid stuff that I have to try to think really hard to remember if I hugged Camryn today. Have I let my "duties" distract me from a deeper relationship with my kids?

But the area that scares me the most is my relationship with Christ. Have I become distracted here too? I think maybe I have. Sometimes the daily stuff distracts me from spending more time in the Word. I can pray while I'm doing dishes, but my mind easily wanders to my to-do list. I think the biggest distraction for me is works. Sometimes I just get this list of things in my head that I THINK I SHOULD be doing to make God happy. It's almost like I am trying to earn my way into favor with Him. Like I'm buying a palace in heaven with my good deeds. I get distracted by legalism and I forget that He loves me. He saved me by His grace and He just loves me. The more I love Him, the more I will WANT to do the things that please Him.

I want to get back to the basics. A simple, orderly home. A family who is confident of my love because of the time I spend with them. And most importantly, an undistracted love for my Savior.

Luke 10:40-42

40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.

She came to him and asked,

"Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?

Tell her to help me!"
41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered,

"you are worried and upset about many things,

42but only one thing is needed.

Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Dance like no one is watching?

Hannah posted a great video over on her site. Remember those other dancing guys back in the archives? (I'm to lazy too go find the old post) I think this guy may have them beat. Check it out.

http://www.military.com/Video/050303_DanceTime.wmv

And go check out Hannah's blog, she takes pretty pictures.

Packrats

This morning I was sorting through the girls room. Taking on the job of picking Polly Pockets shoes from Ello pieces and Barbie clothes is a very noble job. Noelle (9) and Camryn (6) love purses, and they pack them with some interesting things. I think they each have about 4 purses each right now, and if I'm missing something around the house, I go digging through their purses. Let me give you a quick list of what I found in one small purse this morning.

• A Hot Wheels car
• one Fairytopia strappy sandal
• a dirty sock
• a rock
• a wadded up Sunday School paper
• Polly herself
• Some sort of bean bag thing one of them made at VBS this year.

Where's the lipstick? The mirror? The cute little wallet? Apparently they didn't get the memo about what to put in a purse.

Some haunting questions.

• Where were GI Joe and Barbie going in Barbie's convertible and why was their dog driving?
• How many thousands of googly eyes did Caedmon and Jack dump out on their floor?
• How long has this shirt been wadded up behind Noelle's dresser?
• What in the world are Polly's clothes made out of that they can stretch so much?
• Why am I jealous of the wardrobes of the My Scene dolls?
• What in the world am I going to discover when I clean the boys' room?

An unexpected concert

We just attended our first fifth grade band concert. I wasn't really ready for it, literally. We found out about it as Tyler walked in the door after school. "How was your day?" "Good, and oh yeah, I have a band concert tonight." Communicating important school info is not one of his stronger suits. Remember, we already discussed the condition of his backpack.

So we knocked out everyone's homework and chores, shoveled some supper into our mouths and ran out the door. It took a little shuttling, the Beast is in the shop (that's a whole other post) so we had to figure out how to transport eight people with a five seater. The xB is great. Love it. I took the younger four to my parents and then came back and picked up Nate, Tyler, and Noelle.

Tyler plays the trombone. We have heard him practice a few times. You just can't get the whole picture from listening to your kid practice their instrument solo. He does a great job, but there's not much melody in the trombone section. Those fifth graders put on a great show, seven songs and I wasn't even bored. Seriously, I wasn't. One thing I remember from my own fifth grade band experience was the foot tapping. And guess what, it's still there. And it's contagious. Tonight I found myself tapping right along with them.

Good times.....

The mind of a four year old

Gabe (my college freshman little brother) comes in the front door and greets Caedmon (4) "What's up?"

Caedmon "What does that mean?"

Gabe "It means how are you." (thinks to himself, "Wait, not really. Oh well.")

Caedmon "Oh"


A few days later, Gabe once again greets Caedmon with his usual "What's up?"

Caedmon (without hesitating) "Good"

Shoes I have loved in 2005

I apologize for the quality of the photo, but I used hubby's camera phone.

Let me tell you about each of my lovelies.

Ok, front and left is a little brown corduroy slip on I just bought this fall. Payless Shoes. $1. I am not even kidding. One little dollar. And I love them.

Behind that is my running shoes. New Balance 680's. Took a few tries to find one I liked, but these babies carry me through my morning run quite well.

To the right of the 680's we have a fun little black pump with some pink stitching. Target? Payless? I don't remember. They look great with jeans though.

To the right again is a little brown sandal. Walmart. I just want to gobble them up. Aren't they fun?

To the right, a cream ballet slipper. I love them, but I wear them without socks. The inside is really gross and dirty if I wear them to your house, I will probably not take them off at the door. Either that or I will disown them and wear someone else's shoes home.

The red ones. I have had these for a long time, I think I will keep them forever. I bought them at Walmart. They are red, what else can I say?

The pink and black tweed pair at the top are my most recent purchase. I bought them and had nothing to wear them with. So I went shopping for new clothes. I had to have them. I love them. I wear them too much.

There you have it. I am such a loser, I arrange my shoes for photography. But it's easier than taking pictures of the kids. The shoes don't make funny faces at the camera. I neglected to put my flip flops in the photo. Pulling the flip flops out of the back of the closet would just make me long for summer. I'll just have to do a "Shoes I Have Loved in the Summer" sometime in August.

Woo Hoo, bring on the Memes

Chilihead tagged me. Thanks Chili, I just love this kind of stuff.

Four jobs you have had in your life
1. Picking up rocks from a field. Why? So they don't ruin the machinery.
2. Waitress at Country Kitchen. I was the worst waitress EVER. I'm not kidding.
3. Waitress at Godfather's Pizza (this was better, just worked behind the counter, the customers got their own drinks. PHEW!)
4. Mom to all these kids

Four movies you could watch over and over
1. Romeo+Juliet The weird psychedelic one. Come on, you know you love the fish tank scene.
2. Emma
3. The Notebook Wahhhhh. Bring out the Kleenex.
4. Sense and Sensibility So noble.

Four places you've lived
1. My Parents house
2. University housing in Grand Forks, North Dakota
3. The Ghetto (in Grand Forks North Dakota)
4. Here

Four TV shows you love to watch
1. What Not to Wear
2. Good Eats
3. Spongebob
4. The Biggest Loser

Four places you've been on vacation
1. Out West
2. Down South
3. Up North
4. DesMoines, IA

Four websites you visit daily
1. Homestarrunner, But what is UP?! Nothing new for over a month. I hope it's not over...
2. Bloglines brings me all your blogs. (yeah I switched, I like bloglines better than Google)
3. A message board for moms with more than 5 kids
4. A message board for runners

Four of your favorite foods
1. Pancakes
2. Tacos
3. Red Velvet Cake
4. Chicken Enchiladas

Four places you'd rather be right now
1. Taking a nap
2. Reading
3. Shopping
4. Sunbathing on a beach

Four Bloggers you are tagging
(I'm hoping to wake up some sleeping bloggers here)
1. Shawn
2. Bill
3. Haleigh
4. Everyone else. If you are reading, you are tagged.

Lunch with Nate

Today the three littles and I had lunch with Nate. We had Pablo's burritos*. They. Were. Huge. I'm guessing about thirty pounds each. Ok, not thirty, but close. Nate wrote a tribute to the burrito a while back. You should read it. The kids (Caedmon and Jack, not Gemma silly!) had McDonald's hamburgers, apple slices instead of fries, and chocolate milk instead of pop. Am I the meanest mom ever or what? Of course I didn't give them the caramel sauce for dipping their apples, do you think I'm insane? I'm saving that to pour over a slice of Brooke's coffee cake. Ohmygosh,I'm about to pass out just thinking about it.

*I only ate 1/3 of my burrito and he ate the WHOLE thing. My remaining 2/3's is in the fridge right now, waiting for me. Oooh, I can't wait.

Putting it all away

I just finished up De-Christmafying our house. Everything is being packed away in plastic totes until next December. As I took the lights off, I noticed that our tree had the texture of shredded wheat. You know, like all the little crunchies that are left at the bottom of the bag. I wrestled and wrangled the old cactus out the front door and on to the curb where it now awaits it's delivery to tree heaven. It is a bit windy outside today and I keep looking out the window, fully expecting to see the tree go tumbleweeding down the street. Half of the tree was left all over the living room floor, but it is all safe inside my vacuum cleaner now. I had a lot of help from my two little boys, thanks guys, it was fun re-living the green and red Christmas ornament snow ball fight again. The latest in the girls' snowglobe collections are snuggled tightly with the boys' new nutcrackers. It's a fun little tradition my mom started a few years ago. I even clearly marked whose are whose so as to prevent any future squabbles due to memory loss on my part. Hooray for a moment of organization.

I always have an inner debate with myself whether or not to leave out the more "wintry" decorations so the place doesn't seem so stark. This year I opted for no. I have a history of not really getting those last few trailers put away with the rest of the stuff and then we have little mittens hanging on the wall in June. My mother-in-law has gotten us each a little wooden mitten with our name on them, she ends up having to place a new order with the mitten lady every other year. I think she deserves a discount since she single handedly keeps the woman in business.

As I'm looking around the living room, I am extra aware of every nail hole and scuff on the wall. Maybe sometime in the next year we need to switch colors. Any ideas on what would go with tired rose colored carpet, a green love seat, and a purpleish couch? And Nate, don't you have some business trips coming up?

Linkage

Ok, so I finally added some links on my little sidebar there. Here's the dealio: That is a list of some of the blogs I like to read. I only added people who actually update more than once every three months or so. You know who you are. I also didn't add anyone under the age of 18. (love you guys though!) I will continue to update it as needed, but it's tricky business. I don't want any hurt feelings since I know some of you in the real world. The non-cyber world. The world where you walk out to your mail box and reach out and open it with your hand when you want to check your mail. The world where you can eat pancakes.

Back to school

It was like we were standing on the edge of the pool, just about to dip our toes and test the water, when someone ran by and shoved us in. We are fully submerged in the routine of real life again, and the water is great once you get in.

The oldest two were having a hard time falling asleep last night. I guess two weeks of no bedtimes was a habit hard to break in just one day. Everyone was a little slow this morning, but after a bowl of Cheerios, they changed gears and were early to the bus stop.

Things I will miss:

• People sleeping all over the house. No, we didn't have house guests, we all just crashed where we wanted to. Usually there was someone on every couch and a couple of kids in bed with me.
• Christmas food
• Staying in our pajamas all day.
• Having Nate home.

Things I will not miss:

• Having Nate home. (just kidding!)
• Constant Nintendo
• no bedtimes
• Kids on a 24 hour sugar high

It seems that I spoke too soon in regards to Gemma's 12 hour sleep plan. I suppose I was asking for it though, proclaiming her angelic night time sleep habits to the whole internet. And so she did NOT sleep 12 hours last night. She does have a well baby check up today, maybe I will ask for a prescription for Ambien. For her.

I have high hopes for this day. Hopes of getting a whole lot of something done to make up for all of the nothing we have done the last two weeks. I let you know how it goes......

Happy routine to you all!! Hooray!

Overachiever

Gemma has a new trick and we are quite surprised.

She is six and a half months old. Babies aren't supposed to be pulling up to furniture at six and a half months old. Didn't you read the manual Gemma?!! This new trick has created a new problem. She doesn't nap anymore. Here is a visual for you.

We lay the little Precious down in her crib for a nap, and she stands up. Then she is stranded because she hasn't learned how to sit back down yet, the crying starts and there is no sleeping. The positive side of this whole thing is that she is sleeping wonderfully at night, sometimes up to 12 hours. The girl is exhausted. Infact she is asleep right now, probably for the night, because she did not nap. All. Day. Long.

Notice the little Glo Worm in her crib. Isn't that cute? I think she hates it but WE like it.

Our little New Year's baby

Today is Noelle's birthday, she is nine. NINE! I can't believe it. I can still see her toddling around the house with a little fountain of blonde hair spouting out of a rubberband on the top of her little two year old head.

Noelle was born during a season of winter in our lives. We were living in North Dakota, the state of perpetual blizzards. Over five hundred miles away from family, in a tiny little university apartment, we waited for our baby. We were young and poor and excited to meet our second child. A week overdue, but perfectly timed, she was a New Year's baby and was showered with gifts from all around town. Her ride home from the hospital was a free ride in a white limousine, and we didn't even have the cash to tip the poor driver.

Little Welly was a ray of sunshine in a bleak time in our lives. She is a ray of sunshine in the bright times too. One day, she will be the best cheerleader/lifeguard/pet shop owner that this world has ever seen. Happy Birthday to our little optimist.

Eleven Years

You wore the white tux, and my little black dress fit like a glove. I wonder what we would have thought if we could have peered past the Senior prom into our future. I think we would have been dumbfounded.

Two kids in love, beating the odds. Happy Anniversary Nate.

End of the year Meme

I saw this over at Dolly Mama's and I thought it was a good idea, figured it would a be a catalyst for reflection over the past year. Heck, I don't even remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, so this could be very interesting.... I mean very boring.

1. What did you do in 2005 that you had never done before?
Saw a real live ballet. It was impressive, and boring at the same time.

2.Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't really remember making any last year. hmmmm, probably won't make any this year either. Gosh, I'm goal-oriented huh?!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Ummm, me? Gemma was born June 8th.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
Stayed the good old USA.

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
More patience and optimism.

7. What dates will remain etched in your memory and why?
June 8th, Gemma's birth, and why? Because mother's are supposed to remember their children's birthdays.

8. What's your biggest achievement of the year?
I'm pretty proud that I re-learned how to drive a stick shift, and I'm getting almost good at it. It's only every once in awhile that I get cruising along and then suddenly remember...ACK! I"m driving a stick! Shift Heth, shift!

9. What was your biggest failure?
Pass? I don't know. This is hard.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Me-just the occasional sinus infection. There was that stomach flu that whipped through here, Caedmon and I shared the toilet one night. The poor kid will be traumatized forever from the synchronized vomiting with his mother. Oh, and Noelle had stitches in her chin after a mishap at the swimming pool.

11.What was the best thing you bought?
Without a doubt, the Beast. Our twelve passenger van with all captain chairs. You just can't beat the "Welcome Enjoy Your Stay" sign/light from it's previous life as an airport shuttle.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Both Tyler and Noelle were baptized this summer. I believe there was definitely a celebration in heaven that day. We were so proud of them making the decision to make public their love for Jesus.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and disgusted?
I don't know

14. Where did most of your money go?
Good question. Have you seen it?

15. What did you get really really excited about?
The Blindside Show

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
"Put Back the Stars"

17. Compared to this time last year are you?
a)happier or sadder? happier
b)fatter or thinner? thinner, I was PREGNANT this time last year!
c)richer or poorer? richer

18. What do you wish you had done more of?
More smiling and laughing and hugging.

19. What do you wish you had done less of?
Less scowling and worrying, and criticizing.

20. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
Playing games and eating with my husband and kids.

21. Did you fall in love in 2005?
Yes, with our newest daughter, and I stayed in love with Nate

22. What was your favorite TV program?
The Biggest Loser

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don' think so

24. What was the best book you read?
The three books "Black", "Red", and "White" by Ted Dekker

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I discovered that I don't hate techno ALL the time, I like it for running, but otherwise it's ANNOYING.

26. What did you want and get?
I wanted a really big washer and dryer and the laundry fairies heard me

27. What did you not want and not get?
I didn't want to mess with potty training Jack yet, and either did he

28. What was your favorite film this year?
Star Wars Episode 3, I know, I'm a loser.

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
We ate. I was 28.

30. What one thing would have made your year measurably more satisfying?
ORGANIZATION

31. How would you describe your personal fashion in 2005?
Transitional

32. What kept you sane?
Nate

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I don't think I fancied any one famous

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
none

35. Who did you miss?
My Grandma

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Gemma

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be."-- Thomas a Kempis

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"We're gonna rock (the baby) around the clock tonight."


So that's it, my 2005 in a nutshell.
I'm tagging everyone who is reading this, join in if you want to.

Keyboards

Well, I just spent the last hour and a half cleaning up the coffee from the depths of my keyboard. Quick question and no counting. Just off the top of your head how many keys do you think are on your keyboard? I know it varies, but I know how many are on mine. I know because I manually scrubbed every single one of them with diaper wipes. I stink'n love diaper wipes, I use them for everything and I will be buying them when my kids are in college. I also used about 40 q-tips to clean in and around under all the keys. Yuck, it was pretty disgusting in there. Seriously.

But all to no avail. I plugged the newly cleaned, shiny keyboard back in, and it just beeped at me. So now I am using a back up that my computer-geek husband had stored away in his techno-bin. I don't like it already, the "home" key is right by the backspace, that gets a little annoying. But it does glow a pretty blue, so that's cool.

104. My old keyboard had 104 keys. This new one has 105 and 19 little buttons, I'm not sure what they do.......

Snowmen

Here is some fun from a few weeks ago. Mariah (my younger sister), Noelle, Camryn, and Caedmon had a great time playing in the new snow. After all this warmer weather we are having, the snow is suffering. The fort lost it's roof, and three of the four snowmen are dead. One is still standing but he looks a little emaciated.

Guesas who just spilled coffe on her keybosard? Suck.

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jog.

*waving and grinning*

I'm back!

Whew! What a crazy couple of days this has been. I'm excited to announce that this is our first full day at home. We have stopped in just long enough to drop off loot before we ran to the next thing. The living room looks like a hurricane blew through, I have no idea where I am going to put all this stuff. It's dangerous for poor little Gemma, who is mastering the art of crawling this week. She is also popping out two new teeth. I forget how much that changes their little smile.

All in all, Christmas was a success. We had our moments of stress and un-merriness, a few squabbles and bickering. Keeping a schedule like this one is exhausting on the parents AND the kids. We SO enjoy time with the family, but it is good to be home and to start thinking about how to get this place whipped back into shape.

Some favorite things this week:

• The annual wrapping paper war at my grandparent where all the adults and kids engage in pummeling each other with wads of Santa and snow flake covered bombs.
• My Dad's yearly Christmas letter to all of his kids. He reads it to us on Christmas morning and there are usually tears flowing all around the room
• Homemade caramels. Waaaaaaah, I miss them already.
• New little baby girl clothes, specifically, a little red and white poncho for Gemma
• Shopping yesterday with my sister-in-law Anna. We had a ton of fun and got lots of great deals.
• Opening the gifts our kids bought and wrapped for us. Just precious, and also hilarious.
• Hearing about Tyler and Noelle going off the big jump while snowboarding with my brothers.
• Watching four little boy cousins all dress up like ninja clones.
• Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix.
• Running at the gym to Spongebob music. I borrowed Tyler's new MP3 player which was loaded with yellow sponge happiness. At one point I literally laughed out loud, I wonder what the other exercisers thought.

I hope you all had a GREAT week, it's great to be back.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Laundry Crew.

Christmas is a coming, a coming, a coming.

It's the countdown to the big three day event. We have quite the Christmas schedule, let me tell you about it.

Christmas eve morning-Opening gifts at our house with our kids

Christmas eve noon-Opening gifts with Nate's parents and sister and family

Christmas eve evening-Christmas with Nate's grandma and family

Sleep over at my parents

Very, Very Early Christmas morning-Opening gifts with my parents and siblings

QUICK, back to our house to get everyone to church by 9:30ish. Are we insane? Yes, we are.

Christmas afternoon- To my grandparents' with my Mom's side of the family

Sleep over at my parents again.

Day after Christmas morning-Big traditional brunch with my parents that we couldn't fit in before church.

Day after Christmas afternoon-Opening gifts at Nate's parents again but with his other grandma who we all call "Matoo".

Whew. But I love it and I wouldn't change a thing.

There was also one other even that got postponed because of weather, we will probably visit my Grandpa with my Dad's side of the family in January sometime.

Ok, so two days to go and I have so much left to do. And like all of you I am fighting the internal battle not to just scream. Or maybe you have all had your presents wrapped for weeks now and you are sitting around drinking egg nog while listening to Christmas music. I may murder you. I'm trying to savor these special moments with my kids instead of wringing their necks for pulling the cushions off the couch for the millionth time. I'm trying to remember what it is like from their perspective, the excitement of the first day of break, the anticipation of all the goodies and all the gifts. Actually I'm not having THAT hard of a time identifying with their excitement over the goodies.

So today, I am burying all my frustration over the state of the house, and I am diving head first into the list of Christmas things left to do. Christmas will come if my house is messy or clean. I'm trying to do it all with a grin pasted on my face. I really do feel joyful today, seriously. Must be the fact that "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" has been looping through my brain all morning. Now if I only had a week left instead of two days.

Christmas Shopping With Jack

I should know better than to try to take a two year old Christmas shopping. Especially Jack. Jack, I am writing this specifically so that some day when you are old and mature, you will know exactly how you acted in stores when you were two.

Picture this. A mother with a baby strapped to the front of her, pushing a crazy train-of-a-cart at Target. You know the carts, they are about three feet longer than a regular cart because of the fun little seats for the kiddies to sit in. In the little fun seats of this cart are a four year old who is surprisingly acting like an angel, and his two year old counterpart. I fully expected little red horns to pop out of his head. Did I just say that out loud?

Jack was strapped into the cart but had managed to get his shoulders free. The straps around his legs were still holding firm so he was arching his back over the edge of the cart and screaming. Seriously. The kind of cry/scream where their little voices get a all hoarse and begin to warble. Bless his little heart. I don't know what started it but it lasted a full ten minutes, it seemed like an hour. And all the other customers were so painfully aware that we were in the store.

Please blogging friends, share your shopping horror stories with me. Let me know that it's not my children alone who have meltdowns in the aisles. Because I have plenty of horror stories of my own, one of them being just yesterday when I took all six kids to our tiny little local grocery store at 5 o clock in the evening. Yes, I am insane. That trip involved an escapee in the parking lot and a shoplifting incident There's nothing like making the infamous trip BACK into the store to turn in the loot. Ahhhh the humility of motherhood.

Buzzed

I put everything up. The top third of our house is full of all of the things I don't want the kids to have. Not that it helps. Permanent markers, crayons, matches, toothpaste, nail polish and all other possible offenders are banished to live on top of the fridge, up in the top shelf of a cupboard, or on top of the bookshelf. Somehow, I managed to overlook the obvious.

Scissors.

Here we have Caedmon sporting his new do-it-yourself haircut.

Lovely huh?
So I did what all self-respecting mothers would do in a situation like this. I called Grandma, and she came running with clippers in hand.



When I explained to Mr. Four year old what would have to be done, he cried "I don't want to be almost bald!" But desperate times call for desperate measures.

And I think almost bald looks kind of cute.

Chocolate anyone?

Last night we had a rare weekend evening with nothing going on. We snatched the opportunity to watch some movies as a family. I was the lucky movie-picker-outer who got to tackle the task of trying to find something that would please the tribe. I knew they had already seen it at school, but I chose the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I wasn't particularly thrilled about it, I didn't really enjoy the original, but I was willing to give it a shot. I know, I know, hang me by my toenails for not liking the old retro classic.

I was pleasantly surprised. There are three things I would like to point out about this movie and I would like to start with number two if you don't mind.

#2. At first, Willy (Johnny Depp) reminded me of Michael Jackson, but after while, I got over it.

#1. The Oompa Loompa's cracked me up, I hated them in the original, in this one they were hilarious.

#3. We suddenly became really, really hungry for chocolate.

And so as soon as we hit eject, Nate stealthily slipped on his jacket and made his exit out the back door, leaving me with specific directions to have the kids in bed by the time he returned. Aren't we just the picture perfect examples of parental sacrifice and generosity? "Quick, put the kids to bed so we can eat large chocolate bars without having to share." Actually, I did sneak a couple squares up to the ones who were still awake. Then I turned in, hoping to dream of rivers of Chocolate. Nate on the other hand, stayed up late to watch War of the Worlds. Yuck. There is nothing about aliens harvesting humans that is even remotely appealing to me. Bleh. I'll stick to movies about candy.

Oh come on, you know you love these.....

As Susan, you are mature and respectable, yet with your 'motherly' role you can be quite bossy. Still, you can always be trusted to be loyal and faithful.

Laundry Status 12/15

I have been running a laundry marathon for a few days and as a result we all have full laundry baskets and clean sheets on our beds. I even washed a bunch of blankets, you would be impressed internet. The wet snow clothes are throwing me off a bit. The kids come in after playing in the snow and we have to throw large amounts of soggy apparel in the dryer. Which means that the clothes IN the dryer need to come out and they usually end up on the floor. Oh well, at least we have cute snowmen in our front yard, and at least THEY aren't creating any laundry for me to wash. They stay far far away from the dryer.

Home Improvement

When we bought this house six years ago there were a few things we wanted to change, mainly the siding.

Before. A lovely two tone.

During. Nate (that's him on the orange ladder) took on the project himself.

After. Didn't he do a wonderful job?

The outside of the house was his to take care of, the inside was mine. Some of the challenges I faced were a headache-inducing floral wallpaper in the kitchen, a Packers theme in one of the kids' bedrooms complete with green striped mini blinds, and a hunter green dungeon of a master bedroom. One of my tricks of the trade is to wait until Nate goes out of town on business before I make big changes in the house. Kind of a "While You Were Out" type thing. It got to the point that he would call from his hotel room and ask what room I was painting this time.

One of my favorite rooms is the boys' bedroom. You saw it earlier when I revealed the triple decker bunk. Here is a close up of the ants that climb the walls of their room.

I have pretty much repainted every single room in the house. The kitchen is yellow, the living room is a pale green. I painted some blues over deep maroon wallpaper in the family room, THAT was interesting. The girls' room is on it's second theme from a blinding yellow to a more- comfortable-to-look-at pink. And as a reminder that girls are made of "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice" I painted those words across their wall. The bathroom is a turquoise with some more little reminders to "Wipe", "Flush", and "Wash". Lastly, our room which I brushed from a horrific cave to a very lovely pale purple.

And it is that room that I tackled today. It has been purple since, hmmmmm, let me think. I believe I was pregnant with Caedmon when I did that room. Or maybe it was Jack, I don't remember. Slowly, over time that room had become the place that we just dumped all of our junk on the way to the storage room. Too lazy to open one more door, we just dropped it there. Today I took it on with my Swiffer a-swing'n. There weren't just plain old dust bunnies in there, those things were mutants. I did a bit of rearranging too, and while I was at it, I tackled something a little more advanced. I hung a curtain rod.

Suddenly While You Were Out turned into Surprised By Design. Except it was more of like "Surprised By Holes in the Wall". Yes, I'll admit it. I'm a measure once cut twice kind of girl. I have been known to hang pictures on the wall by just "eyeballin it", and sometimes it takes me a few tries to get it just right. I seem to have pulled off the curtain rod ok though, no one was injured. I did have to use a power tool and there were excessive amounts measuring involved, but I did it and boy am I proud. I think Nate was a little bit impressed too.

Re-takes tonight

Just a sampling of why we are re-shooting the Christmas card photo tonight.

It is so fun to look out the window and see the kids playing in the snow today. They were thrilled when they woke up and I spoke the words "NO SCHOOL!" Nate is also working from home, it's like one big party. Kind of.

We have three lovely snowmen in our front yard from last week and one of them is as tall as me. He freaks me out at night when I walk by the window, I double-take because I keep thinking there is an axe murderer in our front yard. I promise that in the daytime he looks nothing like a psycho, he is a very friendly looking fellow. There are two snowforts in the back yard, and they are working on a tunnel in the front as I type. And it continues to snow. Love love love it.

Coal in my stocking?

In keeping with self inflicted theme of the season, procrastination, we attempted our Christmas card photo last night. Note the word attempted. A few weeks ago, actually on Thanksgiving day, we took our extended family photo with my parents and siblings. We used a regular film camera, on a tripod, with a timer, and there were sixteen people involved. My mom just got the pictures back and every single one of them turned out perfect. My children smiled like angels.

Now fast forward to last night, only eight people, a photographer (my mom) and a digital camera. PURE CHAOS. It was the kind of situation where you are grinning ear to ear but secretly pinching kids and hissing into their little ears "you better knock it off and smile or there will be NO dessert for you." I know, it doesn't sound like a very heavy threat but in this house, that's huge. I might as well have said that I would cut off one of their limbs. But no, they didn't all smile nice, at least not all at once. There were also lighting issues and some flash induced red-eyes that made me look like a raging psycho crazy woman, which isn't that far from the truth. I tried to do a little tweaking and editing but alas, I don't have photo shop and paint just wasn't cutting the mustard. I see retakes in our very near future, hopefully before Christmas.

The photo shoot was an appropriate way to end the day. It was as though my children were little vampire bats fluttering around me and slowing sucking away my life. Morbid? Maybe. Some highlights were the cheetos incident, the perfectly staggered naps so that no more than one child was ever asleep at once, the glimmer in a four year old's eye that said, "I'm looking for trouble today", and a little girl's meltdown over an assault on her very-most-specialist porcelain doll. I felt as though I was being tested and I'm pretty sure that I failed miserably. Don't you just love coming here and listening to me whine??! Happy thoughts Heth, happy thoughts. The one thing that went really really well was bedtime. I sent them all to bed a little bit early.....ok, an hour early, and they were out within five minutes. I snuggled up on the couch with a cup of cocoa and a Spongebob fleece blanket and gazed at the now ever so green Christmas tree. (a little food coloring in the water works miracles) It was so quiet, and so peaceful. Sigh. Today started off a whole lot better, besides how can a day go wrong when it begins with a plate full of pancakes?

Verses

This blog serves many purposes for me. A way to stay in touch with friends and family, a way to express some of my feelings on life, mothering and dessert, but most importantly to capture some of the fleeting moments of my kids' lives and remember them, like an online babybook. Because goodness knows, the last four kids' babybooks are lacking in the content department. So bear with me and my random posts and excessive and improper use of commas. If you haven't noticed, I get a little comma crazy. Anyway, all that to say.....

We are working on our weekly bible verses a little more diligently recently. We let it slide for awhile, but we are back with a vengeance. I even went back to drawing little reminder pictures on construction paper and pinning them to the kitchen wall. Last week's preschooler verse was easy enough. "You will give birth to a son." Luke 1:31 Mary and baby Jesus, easy to draw. The girl's verse was a little more abstract, "Though I walk through the midst of trouble, You preserve my life". Psalm 138:7. I didn't really know what to draw, but I came up with this. A cartoon of Noelle and Camryn walking down a little path, holding hands. On Camryn's side was a tornado, on Noelle's a mean man with a gun. Big giant hands are covering them, or as Caedmon puts it a "shield". The best part was hearing Caedmon try to recite the girls' verse: "Though I walk in the doom of the mist."

The best present of all

Our shopping trip last night was a success! We only bought about seven gifts, but we bought ourselves the best present in the whole world:

A new fridge lock.

We had little safety locks on our fridge and freezer that I bought when Caedmon was two. At some point the one on the fridge broke. Fast forward to this year....Jack is two. Somehow I seemed to have missed the memo that yesterday was a very special holiday. It was the ever popular Living Room Cheese Festival. You know, the one where you drag out all of the various types of cheese into the living room and then proceed to open a few "American slices", wad them up, and crumble them into the carpet. Imagine my emotions when I stepped out of my warm morning shower to find that this holiday had been celebrated without me. Thus the fridge lock.

The shopping trip was also a success because we ate at Famous Daves, a restaurant that I had been wanted to go back to for about four years now but my vote was always vetoed. I hadn't eaten there since the pregnancy-induced-cravings-for-ribs when I was expecting Caedmon. Last night I was able to feast upon roasted chicken with about four different bbq sauces, and corn bread muffins were heavenly as were the mashed potatoes. We were stuffed, and yet we shopped. And happily, we are able to cross a few people off of the list. But there is much more shopping to be done,

Yay! Another reason to go back to Target.

Procrastination?

Tonight we will buy our first Christmas presents for this year. I've never been one to plan ahead and buy people things in June or September, I love being in the stores when all the decorations are up and there is snow on the ground. We usually wait until mid-December, it's funner in December. (is funner even a word? Maybe that should have been more fun, oh well) Nate and I are going to catch some supper, buy a few gifts, and voila, instant date. Well, instant date with Gemma tagging along. Have a great weekend everyone, and drink some cocoa, it's yummie.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLY!

It's my sister's birthday. I wish she lived closer, she is SO much fun to be around.

Today, in honor of you, I am going to "play office" with my kids. When Holly was little, she loved playing school (as long as she got to be the teacher) and playing office. She had a desk full of all sorts of paper, scissors, pens, pencils, markers etc., and she was constantly trying to talk one of us into sitting down and filing paperwork with her. So today, I think I am going to have Caedmon work on a spreadsheet for me, and maybe Jack can sharpen pencils or something.

Holly, I love ya and I hope you have an AMAZING day. Cut out of the office a little bit early, get yourself a Chai at Caribou, eat lots of mint ice cream, watch a movie and fall asleep after the first ten minutes, and find someone to rub your feet for you. I would if I was there.

I love being your sister.

It sucks to be OUR rabbit.

Poor little Banjo. He had no idea what was coming when he was released into that little arena at the fair. I'm sure it was very traumatic to be chased around by a bunch of preschoolers, and I'm sure if he had ANY idea of what was to come, he would have scratched and clawed just a little harder.

Caedmon caught and named Banjo the summer of 2004. We were very surprised that he made it through last winter, as he is an "outside" bunny. He lives in a little hutch behind the garage, and I'm almost positive that he is bored out of his mind. He has thrived, if you measure thriving by weight gain. The kids take turns feeding the big fatty, it's one of the few chores with a life hanging in the balance. Actually, it's the only chore in that category, but I would argue that doing the dishes after supper is a contender. After being away last night and coming home to a sink full of dishes, I was feeling a little bit like I wanted to take someone's life.

Right now, Noelle is on Banjo duty. She is very diligent to change his water a couple of times a day, since in this weather it freezes solid the minute you step out the door. I'm sure she has some kind words for him since she is the animal lover of the family. Maybe she promises him trips into the house, or carrots, or a little bunny "friend". I hate to break the news, but those are all empty promises. We brought him in the house once, the poor thing was terrified of vinyl flooring. We don't want any more little baby Banjos running around so a "friend" is out of the question, but I suppose the carrots are a possibility.

Next time you see a little bunny in your backyard or god forbid, dead on the side of the road, think of our Banjo. Think of him fondly.

Creation and Destruction

Today I did some beautiful work. I decorated the tree and house, and I also made some cute little crafty type things for an upcoming Christmas party. It was very fun. The two little boys had a lot of fun too. They helped me decorate the tree. No, actually they didn't. They just threw ornaments at each other across the room. I started out by chastising them and "firmly encouraging" them to put the little red and green balls down. Then I thought, "Aw, what the heck! They aren't breakable, and I'm not using them this year, let them have a war." And they did. And there were red and green balls all over the living room floor. But that's what you have to do when you can't send them outside to play because it's a million degrees below zero out there.

Then I started in on my own little arts and crafts time. All I was doing was making some little envelopes for the party favors for tomorrow night's Christmas party. Lots of cute colorful paper and stickers involved. I should have noticed the eerie silence. You would think I would have learned by now that quiet=bad. Jack and Caedmon were preparing a feast for themselves on the couch. The menu was flour tortillas with butter and strawberry jelly. Mmmm, sounds good huh?! The silver lining is that I now have a freshly steam cleaned couch AND floor.

And let me just say that I would like to personally STRANGLE the man who invented packing peanuts. Here is a visual for you.


Just an FYI, they don't vacuum up very well. I tried my bestest. It seems that they generate an enormous amount of static electricity, those little buggers were stuck to EVERYTHING, including my flannel pajama pants that I was still wearing at 5:00 pm. Haven't pulled a "stay in my pajamas until supper" for awhile. And let me tell you, it felt great. Ok, no it didn't. It felt gross and I don't want to do it again for a really, really long time.

Google Reader

Ok, for those of you who don't already use something like this....you need to. You can read sooooo many more blogs. And you don't waste your time checking to see if people have updated, it lets YOU know. I must say, the list of blogs that I read has increased significantly due to this bad boy. Time management Heth, time management.....

Arbor Day

It's officially December and today we got our Christmas tree.

Some words to describe our tree this year: quaint, rustic, simple, shabby-chic, primitive, brown, spiky, whimsical, and economical.

For the second year in a row, we have a red cedar tree in our living room. Here's how it works. We all load up in the van. We drive around on various gravel roads, looking in the ditches for something fabulous. We find one, Nate runs out with the saw, chops it down as quickly as possible, and stuffs it in the back of the van. We drive back home ever so nonchalantly. Nevermind the branches hanging out the back door.

Now last year, we had some "aroma issues". Everything smelled great at first, a wonderful evergreen fragrance filled the house. After a few days, we started sniffing and searching, trying to figure out where the urine smell was coming from. We wondered, "did a deer pee on our tree?" Sometimes the smell was overpowering, sometimes it was faint. I called my mom who has the nose of a bloodhound and asked her if she could come over and "smell the pee-ness?". Now say that last sentence out loud to yourself a few times and you will see why my question was answered with roars of laughter. Once I clarified, she came over and we decided that yes, it was the tree. My solution? Air freshener. Air freshener and lots of candles. Eventually, the smell faded, and we enjoyed a lovely Christmas tree. Obviously it wasn't bad enough to prevent us from getting a red cedar this year.

Pray for us. Pray that this will be a "pee-free Christmas tree".

Laundry Status 12/4

I don't want to talk about it.

Not so Grumpy

Just wanted to let the Internet know that I'm not grumpy today.

Three things that are making me smile:

1. School being two hours late due to the BEAUUUUUTIFUL blanket of snow we were blessed with last night. Snow is The Awesome!
2. Jack's recent switch from the word "yah", to the new and improved "yeth". Here, let me use it in a sentence for you: (me) "Jack, do you want some sugar?" (Jack) "YETH!"
3. Watching Gemma learn to crawl. She gets up on all fours, rocks back and forth, face plants, and then starts all over again. It is a slow but sure way to move across the room.

Have a great day everyone!

Grumpy

Sometimes I bloghop. I just jump from one blog, to another, to another, to another. Tonight I have been skipping around the internet, reading all kinds of blogs that are new to me and let me tell you something. I am discouraged. Reading about how other moms have their acts together makes me grumpy. I know, people only show you the parts of them that they want you to see. It would be easy to come across as "perfect" on the internet. Just so you don't somehow come to the conclusion that I in any way have my act together, let me share some of today's failings.

My kitchen floor is disgusting. I don't remember the last time I mopped it. We need a little vacuum cleaner type dog.

Today I made a noble attempt to keep the two little boys from playing computer, playing Nintendo, and watching TV. We tired reading more books and playing legos. They were so desperate, they sat in front of the screensaver for at least ten minutes.

I caved by noon and let one watch Pingu over and over, and let the other save the galaxy from the Rebellion.

Oooh, here's a good one. I got in a "heated discussion" with my four year old today and ended up sounding a whole lot like a four year old myself. Yes, I let him drag me down to his level. I believe the words "Nuh-Uh!" escaped my lips. Someone please remind me, I'm the grown up here.

By the time my poor hubby got home from work, I was is a foul mood and greeted him with a scowl. No, supper was not waiting for him.

After reading all the "happy" blogs, I am now sitting here, typing out all my angst while I enjoy my fourth piece of chocolate cake today.

I think what I really need to do is just go to bed and hope I wake up on the correct side of it tomorrow.

Triple Decker

In the quest for making more space in our little *less than 900 square feet* house, we have started getting creative. The boys are now sleeping in their very own mini skyscraper. Tyler and Caedmon have been sleeping in it for a few years now, but Jack is now joining them.....kind of, he just ends up laying all over the floor no matter where he starts out. The top bunk mess is a ten year old's interpretation of "go make your bed". He really puts a lot of effort into his chores. No, Jack doesn't really sleep on that little mattress while it's under the other beds, we pull it out for him. Eventually it will be a real life trundle, but we just exhausted this month's home improvement energy ration. Maybe by the time he is seven.....

Laundry Status 11/28

I am swamped. Laundry got put on the back burner last week and I am paying the price today. Time to fire up the machines and knock this out or there will be nothing to wear.

Bleh, do I have to?

Trees and Pies and stuff

One more Thanksgiving post and then I will move on, I swear.

Yesterday was the final day of our family festivities. The four from the north didn't have to hit the road until late evening, so we got to enjoy one more meal together. Dad and Mom's dinner table was maxed out with eleven of us squeezed around it and four more sitting at the counter. Mom went all out and fed us another meal of turkey and fixings, including another round of sweet potatoes that I wasn't expecting. Let me pause for a moment of silence in honor of the official "dish of the year".

........

She even made three pies, one of them being pecan. Once again, we over ate. It was fabulous. Don't worry, I cracked the whip this morning and punished myself with an extra speedy run on the treadmill. I'm hoping that I sweated off at least one of the pieces of pecan pie.

Now, just because we wait until December to put up our own decorations for Christmas, doesn't mean we can't participate in the cutting down of a tree that will go in someone else's house. We tagged along to the annual Christmas tree chopping down event. This year we drove quite far to a quaint little tree farm with and amazing selection. It too two vans to get us over there, but once we arrived, we all piled in our 12 passenger van. Sixteen people in twelve seats. It looked something like this and this:

It was a bit muddy, as it had been raining most of the day. We only got stuck once, but Nate rocked the Beast right out of there, nothing like going off-roading in an overloaded 12 passenger van. There were a lot of opinions on tree type, shape, price, height, but Dad finally made the big decision and chose a beauty. Some people missed the tree selection process because they were playing hide-and-seek amongst the firs. It was a perfect ending to a really fun week. And surprisingly, we didn't accidentally leave anyone at the tree farm. At least I don't think we did.....

A weekend of porking out, and little bit of sentimentality.

I'm taking a break from eating to write.

We don't just do a Thanksgiving day feast, we pretty much eat non-stop all weekend, and it has been great. I must say though, the food of the year, at least for me, was Mom's sweet potatoes. She doesn't do the traditional marshmallow thing, she has some sort of a mystery recipe that is just heavenly, or is it just sinful? I guess it depends on how much of it I eat. I'm not exactly sure what's in it, she has kind of a secret recipe thing going on, and I know she won't tell me, I have been known to leak these things to the public. Sorry mom. But I'm sure there is a lot of butter involved, and probably a lot of brown sugar. And in my book, that's all you really need. Yum. I won't tell you how much of it I ate, but it was A LOT, and I mean A LOT. Just ask my Dad, he was sitting right by me, my partner in crime.

The ladies of the family (me, Gemma, my mom, two sisters, and my lovely sister-in-law) did a little bit of shopping today. No, not Christmas shopping, just shopping for us. We're not really into the holiday-giving-spirit yet, still just thinking of ourselves. Today it was all about the shoes. We saw so many shoes I can't even begin to communicate the joy I was feeling. If you don't know me very well, know this: I........LOVE..........SHOES. There was one particular pair that I tired on that is still haunting me. They were green slides with the pointiest toe that I have ever seen. They were weapons. I'm feeling a little bit sad that I didn't buy them. Maybe I will meet them again tonight in my dreams. We did make some great purchases. We are very economical shoppers. Lots of money was saved.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I am so thankful for my family, they are amazing. Growing up as the oldest of three brothers and two sisters, I have been able to observe as they all become adults. Holly has become such a beautiful woman, who is a mentor to so many young women. And she hasn't had a giggle fit at the dinner table for a long, long time. I have watched Shane go from daredevil-oldest brother to a husband and teacher. It seems like just yesterday that Gabe was sitting at the table, refusing to eat his peas, and now he is a college freshman doing his own laundry. Luke was the kid who never stopped smiling, he followed his older brothers around, ready to do whatever stunt they put him up to. Now he's on the verge of getting his driver's license. Little sister Mariah was born when I was sixteen years old. I remember pushing her stroller through the mall. She's almost a teenager herself now, with great new sunglasses I might add. Hanging out with my family this weekend has been almost surreal. I am hanging on to every moment, savoring it. As we all cram around the table for another meal together, or a game of peanuts, I look at each face and feel so much love for each one. Mom and Dad, thank you for going against the flow and having a big family. I cannot imagine life without a single one of my siblings. I am thankful for you all.

Christmas Lights

I know it's still Thanksgiving week, and I'm not usually one to jump ahead. It is an ordinance in our household that thou shalt not put up any Christmas decorations until December 1st. I hate all the brouhaha, and how Christmas decorations are out on the shelves of the stores as soon as they pull off the Halloween candy. Poor Thanksgiving gets overlooked. But this IS a good week to put up the Christmas lights outside.

Christmas lights have always been an interesting topic of discussion at our house. There are various opinions on what would look just right. Sometimes the words "tacky" and "gaudy" are thrown around. You see, Nate has a thing for blue lights, and I lean towards white. Since we have lived here, we have had beautiful white icicle lights wrapping around three sides of our house. Obviously not the back, who sees that anyway? Nate has lovingly, without complaining, and with a cheerful heart, climbed up on the roof every year to bejewel our house. Ok, that is an outright lie. He climbs up the ladder, usually grumbling and scowling. You see, he likes the lights to be perfect. He buys the little clips and makes sure that they are all evenly spaced. He usually spends a couple hours up there, freezing off his fingers. And without fail, every single year, a section of the lights doesn't light. Poor Nate.

Of course our family loves to take a drive, sometime in December, to look at all the displays and voice our widely varying opinions on what is classy, tacky, and just plain fun. Surprisingly, our little town has lot of all three. While browsing around on the glorious internet, Nate stumbled across this. You are definitely going to want to watch that. The whole thing. I don't know if you will have to save the file or what, just make it happen. The rest of this paragraph will not make sense to you if you don't. Now if your Christmas lights display experience is enhanced by listening to a rock opera, yay for you. What a combo! Ok, I will come clean, I downloaded some of their songs. Shhh, don't tell anyone. But we have to draw the line somewhere, there will be no synchronization at our house. It's just going to be some plain old white icicle lights, probably with some sections burnt out, much to my husband's dismay. Don't come driving by until December 1st, they won't be plugged in.

In the meantime enjoy your turkey, your family, and be thankful that 80's Hair bands are extinct....almost.

Today's Lullaby

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
and out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
but I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Phases

I'm sitting here at the computer, at ten-ish pm, eating kettle corn and drinking hot cocoa. Kettle corn was a phase Nate and I went through a few years ago. We bought all the different brands to try to figure out which kind we liked best. Jolly Time Kettlemania in case you are dying to know. Sharing a bowl of kettle corn was an evening ritual. But it wasn't always kettle corn.

For awhile it was David Letterman. We watched David Letterman every night before bed. We particularly enjoyed the top ten list, and "Is this Anything?". There was the Yatzee era. That was a fun one, back when we were super poor and all alone in the Great White North. We would put little Tyler to bed, shut off the tv, and roll the dice. I think we also played a little bit of Phase Ten in there too. A couple of years ago was the Star Wars Galaxies phase. I don't like to admit that I have a past tainted by gaming, but I could MMORPG with the best of them. Ok, maybe not the best of them, but I pulled some pretty late nights. It was fun to share one of Nate's interests with him. In a weird(nerdy) kind of way, it was bonding.

One summer, we would put the kids to bed and take tall glasses of ice water out on to the back deck. We would sit there chatting, staring at the stars. Nate would point out constellations, and I would nod and pretend that I could see them. Another year, we made coffee shakes in the blender before bed, never just a small glass, always the biggest cup we could find.

But we are back to the kettle corn, thanks to the Boy Scouts, who are fund raising this month. We purchased a big box and are quickly depleting it. This time we are eating it side by side, on separate computers. One of us with headphones on, winning a virtual WWII, the other browsing blogs and message boards.

I wonder what the next phase will be...

Bliss

I have three words for you:








Girl.......Scout.......Cookies

Eavesdropping

I love watching kids interact with each other. Listening in while a group of preschoolers plays is one of the most delightful things in this world, that is as long as there is no biting or pinching or hitting involved. Here are some random bits I overheard yesterday as two four year olds, a three year old, and a two year old played in the next room.

"Thanks buddy."

"Let's play two-player."

"I know a GREAT idea!"

"I can do it, I'm brave."

"Oh my goodness!"

"No, the penguin is not a bad guy, he's a good guy. He cares about people."

Pumpkin Pics as Promised

Finally got my film developed, so I can share the kids' pumpkin masterpieces.





Aw heck, while I'm at it, I might as well put some costume pics up too.




I'm dreaming of mini Snickers bars. *sniffle*

Laundry Status 11/15, a special treat

Today, a Laundry Pile first. Pictures of the actual, real-life place where I do my laundry everyday. I was messing around with hubby's camera phone, and these are the exciting images I wanted to share. (in my best Kip voice) "Yes, I love technology."

A last minute day

Tomorrow it's supposed to snow. Do you think we have our winter gear out yet? No, we do not. Our coat hooks by the front door are loaded with various jackets, sweatshirts, dress coats, and a few winter coats. But the snowpants and boots were still down in the storage room, until tonight. We pulled it all out and started trying snowpants on. It was exciting, only because we hadn't seen snowpants for eight months, not because we were on our way out to go sledding or to build a snowfort or something. We sorted through about a thousand hats, mittens, and scarves, and came up with an acceptable winter outerwear ensemble for everyone. Everyone except for Tyler. He needs boots. His boots are too small. In fact, we handed them down to Noelle, who handed hers down to Camryn. So here it is, the night before the first flakes fall, and we need new boots. A late night Wal-mart run proved that their selection is lacking. Oops. Procrastination strikes again.

Another incident today: I went on an archeological dig. Yes, all the way back to October, the site was my oldest son's backpack. We suspected that we weren't seeing important papers from school when parent/teacher conference day approached with no little reminder of the time we had signed up for. A quick call to the office confirmed that yes, notes were sent home. Our conference went well, Tyler is doing great. Today after school, Tyler told me that tomorrow is the video. Not A video, not SOME video, but THE video. The infamous fifth grade video, explaining all the changes that come with puberty. The video that all the kids snicker and giggle about. He mentioned that some of the parents were going to watch it, he thought maybe tonight? *sigh* We pulled out the ten pound backpack and started digging. I found massive amounts of candy wrappers, a Gameboy, wadded up school assignments, a signup sheet for wrestling that started a month ago, and finally, a school news letter. I glanced it over and noticed that yes, they were having a parental preview of the movie tonight at 5:00. A quick look at the clock showed 4:50. Of course. I did make it to the preview, only four minutes late. I am still in shock. Not because of all the explicit drawings I witnessed with the other mothers, but because I still can't believe we have a kid old enough to watch THE video. That always loomed ahead of us in the parental trials to come, out in the far, far future. Well, I was blindsided with it out of the blue, and honestly, I think it's going to be ok. Now if we can just get the kid to remember to bring his spelling list home......

My Mom

Today is my Mom's birthday. We celebrated by spending the day with her, a little lunch, a lot of cake, and a few cups of coffee. I feel so blessed to live so near to her. I feel so blessed that my kids get to interact with their Grandma on an almost daily basis. I love having her come by for a cup of coffee some mornings. I love our shopping trips and drive-thru lunches. Mom, you are so generous with your time and money, always sacrificing for your kids. I remember all those late night bowls of cereal at the kitchen counter. You always got out of bed and came down stairs with me. At the time, I had no idea how tired you must have been, with toddlers and babies in the house. I understand completely now. But you made time for your teenage daughter, who thought she was the center of the universe. You got out of your warm bed to spend time with me, even if it was time spent sitting in the dark kitchen, watching me eat a bowl of Cheerios in the middle of the night. I want to be the kind of mom that you are.

You deserve cake for breakfast.

Fear Factor

This week on Fear Factor Kids, contestants had to:

Go Bunk Bed diving:
Take a dive from big sister's top bunk, face first, no safety harness.

Bathe with trail mix:
Raisins and peanuts in the bath water, how long can you stand it?

Clean up the rotten, smashed pumpkins:
They are fun to carve, but can you touch them when they are "over ripe", and all over the yard?

Disclaimer: The stunts described on this web site were designed and supervised by trained professionals. They are extremely dangerous and should not be attempted by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Some episodes contain graphic scenes. Viewer discretion advised.

Veteran's Day

I'm thinking of all the soldiers today. Of my Grandpas. Of my Father-in-law.

I'm thinking of all the soldiers' wives and kids. Of their sacrifices.

I am thinking of all the soldiers in Iraq right now, and of their spouses and kids who are here, an ocean away.

Thank you.

Here is a link to a journalist who has been reporting from Iraq. Make sure you read some of his earlier dispatches if you have time.

Thanks everyone

Thank you everyone for your comments about the music on the bus. You all confirmed what I was feeling, that I should be glad that they can talk to me about these things. I have been praying that they will continue to feel comfortable talking to us about stuff, I know it's only going to get more complicated from here on out, the world isn't getting any more child-friendly. May God bless our children as they live in much scarier times than we had to.

Did you guys really think I was THAT healthy? Oatmeal and black-eyed peas? Ewww. Sounds like some kind of a tribal stew.

Keeping it serious

In honor of the books that finally got my son hooked on reading, I am posting this raunchy little number. It's the Professor Poopypants, Name Chang-o-Chart 2000. Make sure to post your "name change" so we can all make fun of you. I'll start.

Hello, it's nice to meet you, my name is Cheeseball Toilettushie.

Just to clarify....

The "satisfied" post below, is referring to Tina and Vashti's blogs, not their comments here. It seems there was some confusion. So click the links and go see what they had to say.

Satisfied

1 Timothy 6:6-8

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

I have been pondering this since yesterday after reading what Tina and Vashti had to say.

Oatmeal and Black-eyed Peas

So we're trying to be a bit healthier this week after last week's Halloween candy binge. So far (two whole days now), I haven't made one single dessert. Those of you who know me can understand, that is HUGE. I made some muffins and even threw in some *gasp* whole wheat flour. I have been keeping them in the freezer so that I don't eat ten during the day. Oh how I love carbs. I also wanted to share this recipe with you all.

Baked Oatmeal
2 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1 cup fat-free skim milk
2 egg
1/2 cup Crushed Pineapple
1/2 cup Splenda
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 banana cut in to chunks or slices

mix all ingredients

--bake at 350 for 35-45 min in 8 x 8 pan that has been sprayed w/PAM
Serving size is 6 bars -- about 160 cals a bar, little fat.. WW girls.. 3pts per bar

Ok, so that sounds mostly healthy right? Well, I don't use the Splenda. Holy cow, have you seen how much that stuff costs per pound??!! I'll stick with regular sugar thank you very much. Which, I guess would totally screw up the calories and Weight Watchers points. Oh well. I have used brown sugar before too, that's yummie. You can throw in some pumpkin spice for a fall flavor, or some peaches instead of the pineapple or whatever. Go crazy. It is very yummie. I double it and make a 9x13 and I recently tried it warm with milk poured over it. Wow. But that's my carb loving self talking. Another thing I do is cut it up into bars and wrap them individually and put them in the fridge for a quick breakfast on the go. For Nate. Because who am I kidding, I don't go anywhere quickly in the morning, now that the kids are riding the bus.

Which brings me to another thought. I'm just thinking out loud here, so help me out and ignore the randomness. My kids have recently told me about the music that is being played on the bus. A little song by the Black-Eyed Peas is particularly offensive to me. It's one of those catchy tunes that gets in your head and stays there all day. I went out and did a little research on it, (thank you internet) and I really, really don't like it. Now should I run around and plug my kids' ears? I don't know. I want them to learn how to deal with some of these things, I don't want to completely keep them in little personal bubbles, but HELLO??! If I don't protect them, who will? And this doesn't just apply to riding the bus, it applies to everything. AAAK! Being a parent is hard. We had a talk with them about the radio and some of the songs they would probably be hearing, but I just can't help but think I am throwing them to the wolves. Now, I heard nasty songs on the bus when I was a kid, and I turned out ok....I think....., but even the most offensive stuff back then was a lot more subtle. I didn't understand most of it.

Now I'm just rambling, but it feels better to get some of these thoughts out. I'm looking forward to hearing all of your wisdom. How much do you shelter your kids?

It's official.

The Halloween candy is gone. All of it. Eighteen point six pounds of candy, all completely consumed. Isn't that just ridiculous?! We don't waste any time do we? Part of me is mourning. I'm really going to miss having the option of going to the pantry at any given time to choose whatever kind of bite sized chocolate bliss I want. But the pros outweigh the cons:

1. Now the kids will not be on a sugar high all day long.
2. No more little piles of candy wrappers all over the house.
3. This will be the end of chewed up and spit out Almond Joys on the couch cushions. It seems that Jack doesn't remember from day to day that he doesn't like almonds and coconut.
4. No more ripping sticky sucker sticks off of the carpet.

Yay! Let's do a happy dance! And speaking of happy dances, my dear friend Natalie started a blog recently and posted about their family dance. I have decided that if our family had a specific dance, I would want it to look exactly like these guys. Check it out by clicking on the "A Million Ways" dance video. It totally cracks me up. The kids have been humming the song for about three days straight now. I love the internet.

ACK! That was close!

This morning I filled the old Beast up with gas. I didn't mess around, no checking the oil or washing the windows or anything like that. It was just a quick pay-at-the-pump, and we're on our way. Well, I guess I did make squishy faces through the window at the boys, I hope no one else noticed! When we got home, but before we went in the house, I put my receipt in my wallet and noticed that my debit card was not in it's slot. Uh oh. I left the kids buckled in, and searched all over the front seat/purse/my pockets/everywhere. No card. Oh no! Visions of identity theft flashed through my mind. I could just see someone sitting on the beach in Mexico, enjoying tropical drinks at my expense. Actually, something like that happened to us this last year, except it was glassware and Applebee's and gas at our expense. Got it all worked out though. But here I was thinking....NOT AGAIN?!

After realizing it wasn't in the vehicle, I started the Beast back up and made the two mile drive back to the gas station. There it was, laying on the ground right by pump eleven. Whew!

I felt a little bit like the lady in The Lost Coin Parable in Luke:


8"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' 10In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Except with me it was a lost debit card, and I'm blogging it.

So will you rejoice with me? I have have found my lost card!

So where should I hide the candy?

Obviously not on top of the fridge.

The 2005 Halloween Report

October 31st, 2005 shall be deemed a success, if you measure success in pounds of candy acquired. It will be considered a failure if you measure success in weightloss. I think even little Jack is going to be fat after all this. Especially little Jack.

Last night, the kids rounded up a total of 12.2 pounds of candy. When added to the 6.4 pounds we collected in pre-Halloween festivities, we come to a grand total of 18.6 pounds of candy. Where would you like that Heather? Directly on your hips or divided between your butt and belly? I cannot control myself. Every time I enter the kitchen, I grab another KitKat, or Twix, or Snickers. It doesn't help that I made Randi's yummy apple bread and ate 3/4 of the loaf myself. NOT an exaggeration. But enough about my bad eating habits.

If I had a digital camera, I would wow you with adorable pics of "Link", a salsa dancer, a pumpkin, Batman, a two year old Jedi, and a baby bumblebee. But I probably won't get my film developed for another week or so. Bummer.

I must say, our pumpkins turned out smashingly this year. We went with the Homestar Runner theme and carved a StrongBad, a The Cheat, a HomeStar Runner, a King of Town, and of course, The Poopsmith. Tyler and Noelle carved their own, Camryn had some help from Aunt Mariah, and I carved Caedmon and Jack's. I had way too much fun, and I think they did too. Carving pumpkins is super, super fun. I may have pics of the pumpkins next week too. If I ever get my film developed, since I don't have a digital camera. But honestly, I'm not sure if I really WANT a digital camera. I really like my Pentax K1000. And honestly, I'm not sure that digitals would ever make it to my photo albums, I'm just not that organized. My photo albums are my treasure. I love them. But not in a scrapbooking kind of way. I'm SO NOT into scrapbooking. I know a lot of people are, and I don't mean to offend, but it's not me. I just want to take my pictures, write names and dates on the back, and stick them in albums in chronological order. Wow, where did all that come from? This is supposed to be the Halloween report, not a rant on photo display and storage.

Ok, Halloween was great. We all had fun. We are all going to need dentures, insulin, and a weightloss program after this week. Happy candy eating everyone!