100's Day

Brynn's kindergarten recently celebrated 100's day. (The 100th day of school)

Each kid had to bring in 100 of something, and the whole day revolved around 100. They came home with goodies all having to do with 100. It was pretty cool.

All said and done though, please, please, please don't make me sit through another round of attempting to count to 100 "all by myself - without your help mom, you are not allowed to help me. If I mess up, I have to start over!" . It's a nifty time filler, but right now, I don't have that much time.

...78, 79, 80, 81, 82.....

Busy, busy, busy!

Yeah....really, really busy!

When it rains it pours right? And I am not talking about the weather. (Although, on a positive note, this excessive rain - now I am actually talking about the weather - has filled up our local lakes to almost 97% capacity! Maybe no mandatory water rationing this year again????)

Seems like there is a cluster effect in my life. It's either nothing on the calendar, or EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND BOOKED TO THE MAX! And when I say booked, I mean participation is required and for a good part of these occurrences, I am throwing, hosting or leading. Wow!

I do work well under pressure, and enjoy the opportunities that I have been given, but maybe for my own sanity, and my kids sake, I need to learn how to space things out a bit!

Here's a run down of my next 3 weeks:
Birthday Party
Birthday Party
Informational meeting on Mentoring Ministry
10-15 new mentoring groups starting
Birthday Party
Birthday Party
Baby Shower
Party
Valentines Party

Whew! Wish me luck!

My Kids...

I recently reconnected with an old friend on Facebook. We haven't seen each other in 12 years, and basically lost touch after she got married. I was in her wedding, and had just started dating Rich when she moved away.
She asked me about my kids, and I told her a bit about each one. She said that I should write down what I wrote her....so here it is...for what its worth.

"Brynn is my 5 year old, and she is turning into a really sweet kid. We have had our battles, and I am sure there will be many more, but overall she has a desire to please, and a need to be affirmed a lot. She doesn't really enjoy school so far, but I am hoping that will change as she gets more and more used to it. She does love to be home with us, and feels like she is missing out when she has to go to school. And to be quite honest, I miss her when she is gone from me all day. She is the ringleader, and the mastermind behind a lot of play at our home. She is creative, and imaginative, and I have yet to hear her say, "Mom, I am bored."

Cannon, the 3 year old, is the future politician. We call him our 'wordsmith'. He uses these really big words, and is always concerned with how people are doing. He says really sincere nice things out of the blue, and I always laugh because its like he is trying to win a vote or something. He is stubborn as sin though, and I am praying that he uses that in a good way! I would hope that he would remain stubborn about his morals and beliefs, rather than stubborn against them.

Maeve is our "old soul". Its like she knows what is going on, even though she is way young. She makes us laugh with her silly antics, and expressive eyes. She is just learning how to talk, and putting words together in sentences. Even though she has been with us the shortest amount of time, she fits right in, and we can't imagine what life was like without her. She is truly my joy!"

So there you have it. My 3 little ones lives, summed up in a paragraph. Doesn't really do them justice, but I thought I should write it down while it was on my mind.
Night Night!

Is it just my son...

That makes war and missile sound effects when he is pooping?

(Sad thing is, he is actually pretty good at the sound effects!)

7 words

I want to adopt a Haitian Orphan.

Snort....Snark.....Snork....

I don't know what to call what happened at our breakfast table this morning.

Brynn burped at the table, and Rich commented that she needed to be more discrete about her burps. He demonstrated that she should put her hand over her mouth, burp and then say "excuse me".

Then I had to take it a bit to far and show her how to do it "differently". I pretended to burp and added a pretend gag to the scenario.

We all laughed.

Then Rich did it again. But he went full force. He even produced a pretty accurate gag sound while covering his mouth, then politely said "Excuse me". I couldn't help myself and actually gagged a little myself....but not as a joke...it was for real. (I have a strong gag reflex, and have been known to puke sympathetically...hence why a vomiting kid is my worst nightmare! - When one of my kids puke, I usually dry heave with the best of them, as I clean it up. Dry heave so much that my nose runs, and my eyes tear up - no scratch that - and I cry.)

Rich laughed at me this morning at the breakfast table. I guess it is pretty funny- to others - that my gag reflex is so strong. I don't really think so, but oh well.

Anyways, back to the table. A few moments passed, and right as I took a huge gulp of coffee to wash down my toast, Rich can't hold back his laughter that his fake gag had caused my real one.

And then it happened. I laughed. Laughed right as I drank my coffee. Laughed and actually inhaled my coffee...

Of course I choked! Choked hard. Choked so hard that even though I slapped my hand over my mouth my coffee came spraying out. Spraying out all over the table, my robe, my kids, the flowers on the center of the table, my breakfast plate, etc. I coughed, and coughed and gasped and coughed some more. I looked up through my coffee splattered eyes at Rich. He had his hand over his face and was laughing - no vibrating with laughter - over my "situation". I looked at Maeve and she was staring at me like I was an alien. I looked at Cannon and he was trying to make sense of the whole situation.

And then I looked at Brynn. Apparently she has inherited more than my good looks, amazing sense of humor and crazy never-can-have-normal-bangs-cowlick. She has also inherited my gag reflex. She had turned her back to the table, and her eyes were filled with tears. They were tears resulting from her gags. As I watched her, between my coughing fits, she continued to gag.....Oh gosh.

I quickly had to find my voice, and assure her that I had not thrown up. It was merely that I had been laughing and coughing and spit my coffee out. It took about 1 minute for her to stop convulsing....sad.

Needless to say, it took a load of laundry, 3 dishtowels, and a shower to clean up my mess. 4 hours later, I am still tasting the coffee that I inadvertently coughed out my nose.....
Nice...

Pretty Poppy

Wouldn't this be an amazing project to sit down with the kids and spend some time working on?

Another blog, "Art Projects for Kids" features an artist who turns paintings into murals in hopes of inspiring creativity in old and young alike! Sure inspires me...and I am not the painting-artsy-type!

This particular project is a 28 page paint by number mural that -all said and done- measures almost 5 feet by 4 feet! What an awesome addition to a blank wall right? And, for $5 you can download the PDF, print them out, and paint and color to your hearts content! It is recommended to use oil or watercolor, but if you are doing this with kids, stick to something easy to clean! Can you imagine how amazing it would look with finger paints?

This might be the gift that I was looking for to get my sister for her birthday! She is definitely the paint-artsy type of girl, and then I could send my kids over there to make the mess!!! Sounds like a plan.

Can't Handle the "Waste"

My husband is one of those types that can't handle to throw any sort of food away. He thinks its a waste. (He is pretty fond of all food, and has no prejudices, like most of us....)
The other night I was making salad to go with our dinner. I pulled out all the fixins' and proceeded to put together a pretty typical green salad...you know, lettuce, tomato, greens. The usual.

After cutting, peeling, and prepping, I had a pile of scraps (that if I could TOTALLY put in my compost bin, if I had one....) to toss. My kids and I won't eat what we call "tickle lettuce". I have no idea what type it is, but its scratchy, and tickles the throat as it goes down, hence the name. I always try to clear that out of the salad before setting it on the table so that I get none of the "Ew....tickle lettuce" comments.

Well, Rich came around the corner into the kitchen just as I was about to toss the scraps, and insisted that I don't throw away perfectly good food, and he would eat them for dinner....
(insert eye roll here)

So, this is what he had.....

Yes, those are the skins of a cucumber....whatever. (insert another eye roll here)

Jesse Tree

This is what our Jesse Tree looked like at the end of the advent. The kids really loved hanging the ornaments on the tree each morning, and Rich and I loved reading about the story behind each one.


This is one tradition that I am definitely bringing back next year!

Christmastime is here....

Don't you just hear the Charlie Brown music playing in your head?

Our Christmas was great....scratch that, pretty good.

This one got sick a few days before Christmas, but was MOSTLY better by the big day.

This one got sick Christmas eve, causing me to miss our church service, and Rich miss the family get together. I made sure that I had a good supply of medicine for Christmas Day, and we went to my parents for the day. (Maybe I should have stayed home though, since I got a call from them yesterday that they are now sick, sick, sick....)


This one got sick a few days after Christmas, but all that ruined was my errand day, so I am not complaining.
Christmas Eve Eve was with my mom's side of the family. My cousin her hubby and her new baby were not there, but I did get to meet sweet Jewel a few days later.

My uncle also (after a year or so of begging) made me a special work of art to go in my yard! I love it!
Christmas Eve was with Rich's family. It was pure chaos, and pure fun! Kids (all 6 of them) ripping into wrapping paper and yelling at the top of their lungs about their gifts! Cannon missed out on the fun, and that made me kinda sad. Brynn got her beloved Bendaroos, and Maeve enjoyed her stackable tree. My smarty pants nephew played with his magnet toy. J, my foster niece (is this what I should call her???), seemed happy to sit and play with her new Polly Pockets. I didn't get a picture of Lola, or Luke, but they enjoyed the evening too!


Christmas Morning at our house was great! By the time Rich and I stumbled out of bed bleary eyed at 6:54am Brynn and Cannon had already opened their stockings, and sorted the gifts into piles. We had to wake sleepy Maeve up in order to get the show on the road before Cannon tore into all his gifts! I guess that we have to instill the rule that no one is allowed out to the tree until everyone is awake...

We then headed to my parents for a day of spending time together with family. I especially love this time. Not because my mom still spoils me rotten at Christmas, but because I get an entire day to be a kid again. I get to be with my mom and dad and sister, and as an added bonus my hubby and kids get to come and share in what my life as a kid was like.
Brynn scored a pink John Deere bike. My dad must have been the mastermind behind that one!

A few days later, we had Christmas with my Dad's family. In one year, the kid count has gone from 4 to 7. I can't wait to watch all the little ones on that side get excited about presents and all that. This year was especially special, because it was the last time that 4 generations were present. Great Aunt Hulda died New Years Day at the amazing age of 101. She was a sweet woman, always smiling, and will be greatly missed.

We will round off this celebration of "Christmases" by heading to Rich's dad's side for yet another Christmas dinner at the end of the weekend.
Whew!
Then we are officially done....

Happy New Year!!!