Thanksgiving Vacation, How I Love You.

I'm officially on vacation. I think my end of the year vacation time is what I look forward to the most - even more than a beach trip - because it means rest and slowing down and soaking in my family. By the time Thanksgiving week gets here, I really need some rest. I may be a tiny bit resentful this year that our school system doesn't take the whole week off because I had to set the alarm and get Ella to school, but I'll get over it. At least I didn't have to get myself ready for work.

It's only Monday and I've already put the kids to bed in the 7 o'clock hour twice, soaked in my tub, and watched a non-animated movie. Those are things that just don't happen regularly. The kids have had fun, too. We took them to a movie, we had a fire on the patio and roasted hot dogs, we already had one Thanksgiving lunch with lots of cousins, we've studied photo albums, and had a movie night. When Ella gets out of school, there will be a tie-dying project (because suddenly she is very into tie-dyed things), some baking, and we'll decorate the house for Christmas - after we eat all the turkey. Mostly, we'll just enjoy being each together.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17 NIV

Colossians seems to be all over my life lately - in my head, in the sermon yesterday, as the verse of the day today on Biblegateway - I know it's a reminder to count my blessings, even when I'm tired and overwhelmed as I have been recently. That's what my Thanksgiving vacation is all about, taking a time out to savor the blessings and rest my soul.

Around the House

A word mix up, bad language, and a new nickname for Dave.

One evening while I was cooking supper, Ella asked me, "Why are you wearing that easel, Mama?" She meant "apron".

After asking to watch Brave, which he as seen numerous times, and watching half of it, Luke called me into the living room one morning with his panic voice: "Mommy! There's a bear on TV! Turn on Nemo!" It wasn't news that there would be a bear in Brave. I'm thinking he's just the child embodiment of Dory at this point in his life. Are all little boys so easily distracted?

Grandmother was telling Ella and I that she had a chair she thought she would paint for her new living room. Ella was not in favor of painting the chair and required a reason. Grandmother explained that it would match her coffee table, to which she immediately responded in her completely rational, this-is-the-end-of-this-conversation voice, "Well, you don't drink coffee." She has an answer for everything.

"I think Daffy Duck needs to watch his mouth!" - Ella, emphatically, when Daffy said he hated coconuts. "Hate" is a bad word in our house.

"Here's a tip: When you're dressing one, stretch the clothes, not the kid." - Practical advice from Dave in response to an unfortunate Polly Pocket clothing accident.

"Hey! I'm playin' baseball! Calm down!" - The neighbor dogs were barking and disturbing Luke's peace in the front yard.

About once every week or two, I make brownies after supper because the monkeys require them. One evening when there were no brownies, and there had been no brownies in quite a while, Luke asked for them. I told him we didn't have any and he asked me, "Big 'Ole Daddy ate them all?" That is now Dave's name in our house.

A Perfectly Boring Weekend

It was a fantastic weekend - and by fantastic, I mean I only left the house twice in three days. I'm not even sure one of those counts since it was just to ride down the street on the golf cart. Doesn't that sound gloriously boring? Sometimes I just need a few days in a row to be a recluse and recharge. And get some things done.

Football season started with a home game Friday night, so we made our way via Bulldog Bridge.

Our own "secret" passage.

Luke was beside himself with excitement and he wore his new football outfit that he got for his birthday. It's our team colors AND it has a football on the front of it. We sat with the statistician's wife and the band director's mother. There was a time in my life when I could never imagine living in my hometown. I guess most people think that as teenagers. I'm glad I do though. It's kind of neat that my child is going to the same elementary school that I went to, and that my dad went to. I like being down the street from the family, I like walking to the football games on Friday nights, I like knowing the people in the stands. There was a time when I needed anonymity, but I think that's passed now. It's comfortable to know someone when you go places.

As for the Bulldogs, they didn't do so hot in their opening game, but the Marching Troubadours sounded fantastic.

It was a tough game to watch.

Saturday morning, Dave took the children to breakfast and grocery shopping so that I could fulfill my promise to clean out all the kid things. With the closing of the summer gift giving season, it was time to purge. I worked most of the day on their rooms and sent away two bags of toys they had ignored or outgrown, a bag of clothes, and threw away two bags of trash. As of yet, the only thing anyone has argued about was the ever increasing Barbie population. We negotiated down to getting rid of five of them and she got to pick which ones. We should have gotten rid of three times that many, but this was but one battle in the war on clutter. Super Fast informed me that I could not get rid of his new "aputer" (that's computer, for that those that need a translator - a Disney Smart Pad and books to go with it), but I assured him that it wasn't even in the running since he just got it for his birthday. He doesn't grasp how the elimination process works yet. Aside from the Barbies and a small stack of books that we gave to Jake, no one has even noticed what is gone - and some of it was big stuff that just took up space. That tells you how much they played with it. It also makes me think I left money on the table. I probably should have put a few more things on the truck. After that, they played like children in toy store in their rooms with their stuff that they could actually find, and we watched college football and cooked on the grill. 

Sunday, we went to Sunday School and church. I'm involved with the puppet ministry at church and we do a show for the kids during Children's Church at the beginning of every month. It's a fun and easy thing, and the kids love it so much. The lesson was about how people define beauty by what's on the outside, but God defines it by what is on the inside. It was very timely for our household. Having thrown up my hands Friday morning and asked God for help, I was once again amazed by answered prayer. Both the Sunday school lesson and the Children's Church lesson reinforced the points I've been trying to make. My favorite part of doing the puppet show, though, is standing behind the curtain where the kids can't see me and listening to them interact in the class. I always want to observe them at school when they don't know I'm watching, and this is the closest thing to it. 

Sunday afternoon, I napped and the children did not. Not even Luke. They played and helped Dave wash cars and I slept until Ella woke me up by yelling into my ear, "MAMA! I'm stuck in my shirt!" It was so ridiculous that I couldn't even pretend not to hear it, so I got up. 

Monday, the children slept until 7.53. I said 7:53 ya'll. That's LATE. Dave made breakfast and Luke and I ate on the front porch in our pajamas. I stayed on the front porch reading Leviticus until Dave was ready to put the ribs on the fire for lunch, and I finally got myself dressed and did some kitchen work. After lunch, he he fell asleep in the chair. Since Dave napping is a very rare occasion, I took the children outside to play hide and seek. I learned a very important lesson: Luke is the worst hider in the history of hide and seek. He cannot be quiet and he cannot wait to be found. He gets so excited at the prospect of being found that he runs out of his hiding spot at the most inopportune times. I wasted a few good hiding places with him as my partner. Once everyone was good and sweaty and one of them had fallen down and commenced bleeding, we decided to fill the baby pool and cool off. That lasted until supper, and then we fast tracked them to bed. 

It was a great weekend.

What Love Smells Like

It seems that my children inherited my sense of smell. They smell every little thing, even the things that only I used to be able to smell. I finally have some camaraderie in my "What is that smell?!" weirdness.

When they smell stinky things, you know it.

When they smell something yummy, you know that, too.

Luke thinks it's funny to tell us we smell like garbage can or poopy diapers. He can barely get the words out without collapsing into giggles.

When I wear perfume or body spray, they line up in my closet to get sprayed, too. Even at the end of the day, when we are snuggling on the couch, if Luke smells my perfume he pipes up with, "I want spray, too."

They have both loved having their toes sniffed. Smelling Luke's piggies has always been a sure way to halt a tantrum before it gets out of control and change shrieks into laughter.

Smell my piggies!

My favorite weird thing I share with them is the way we love to smell each other.

Grandmother brought them to eat lunch with me a couple of weeks ago, and as I was telling them goodbye in the back of the van, I sniffed both of their necks respectively and said, "You smell like Ella" and "You smell like Luke." And they both yelled, "I want to smell you!" I leaned in so each of them could smell my neck and they told me in turn, "You smell like Mommy."

I love it when they tell me I smell like Mommy. It's like another way to say, "I love you."

When I stepped out of the van, Grandmother asked me, "Did he just say he wanted to smell you?" I said yes. She thought that was so weird. I tried to explain that it's a thing we do, even Dave does it.

Maybe it is weird, but we know what love smells like.

And, it doesn't always smell like poop.

Around the House

It's been a while since I did a round up of the things they say, so here are a few from the last several months. 

"What we ridin'? Wheee! I fly like a bird." - Luke, during his first experience in the IMAX Dome at the McWane Center. I could not convince him that we weren't actually moving.

"Was Ananias an eye doctor?" - Ella, during a conversation after Bible school one night. After hearing the story of Saul's conversion from persecutor of Christians to Paul, follower of Jesus, she was understandably confused about how Paul regained his sight when Ananias touched his eyes (Acts 9:1-19).

"Mommy, you're not my best friend ever!" - This is what Luke tells me whenever he is mad at me. Sometimes he adds, "I so sad at you."

"Mama! Look at the sea eagles!" - Ella, pointing out a flock of sea gulls on our first day at the beach.

"There are certain things of a girl's that you just don't play with, and a jewelry box is one of them." - Words of wisdom from Dave after Luke grabbed Ella's jewelry box and ran with it, accidentally dumping all of the earrings in the floor.

"Look at all this snow!" - Luke's first reaction to the sand on our beach trip. He insisted on calling it snow and even made "snow angels".

"Love grows best when you can smell each other's poop." - Dave, on the benefits of smaller houses. Given that one of the four of us is a two-year-old boy who relishes bodily functions, and another of the four of us had 4 feet of intestines removed last year, there is a lot of love growing in our house.

Nine Things I Learned on Vacation

1. Led Zeppelin's Ramble On makes a reference to The Lord of the Rings. How did I never hear this before?

2. My oldest child can swim. Officially. She swims well enough that we feel comfortable sitting on the edge of the deep end of the pool while she's in it.

Before swim lessons - with floaties and hanging on the steps.
Georgia is the best swimmer of us all.

A month later - jumping into the deep end. No more floaties.

3. The Man Cub will roll in the sand until he's completely covered in it, but he cannot abide sand gloves.

Juke and Lake, playing in the sand.

Even Ella rolled in the sand.

4. Little boys are so compelled to kick down sand castles that they will meltdown into fits of tears until you finally let them.

Pre-kicking. 

5. Looking for shells never gets old.

6. They actually DO close the pool when a kid poops in there. (It wasn't one of our kids. Thankfully.)

7. Just when I think Luke's tan can't get any darker, it does. A stranger asked us if he was Indian, and even Dave commented that he might have been switched at birth. And, next to the lot of them, with a week's worth of beach tan, I still look like I just stepped out of the month of January.

He was fearless in the surf.

She has a pretty sweet tan, too.

8. Plastic bananas and California Raisins catch the wind and land in approximately the same location when thrown off of a 6th floor balcony, despite the difference in size and weight.

9. My children still adjust their bodies and sleep cycles to match each other when they sleep together.

The flash woke them enough that they both rolled the other way at the same time.

Monkey Love

We took an impromptu trip to the zoo today, and saw a mama orangutan with her baby.

Mama and Baby

Every one of us was in awe of them. Baby was sleeping the whole time and mama only moved to kiss her baby's face, over and over again. She could have been me holding my sleeping babies for nap and kissing all over their faces. It was amazing, definitely my favorite thing at the zoo today day.

Nine Things I Learned in 2012

I learned some things last year - some new things and some old lessons reiterated. It's another awkward list of nine things. Maybe I'll just make lists of nine a regular thing.

Nine Things I Learned in 2012

1. God is my Counselor, my Comforter, my Prince of Peace. True, the Bible says it and I already knew it, but I experienced it anew. If cancer taught me nothing else, it taught me to turn to God first in times of trouble. No earthly advisor got it right; no one had the words I needed, but I found them in prayer and in God's Word.

2. My family is precious to me. This also wasn't new news, but I do feel like I learned to be more present with them, to block out distractions and really focus on enjoying them.

3. I need help. Much to the chagrin of my fiercely independent spirit, I just cannot do all the things that need doing all by myself all the time. Learning to accept help more willingly, to ask for it even, was an uncomfortable lesson but one that was also liberating.

4. The world doesn't stop for cancer - nor should it. Though at times it felt like time was frozen, life went on. I worked, Dave worked, the kids went to school, soccer, and gymnastics. People got married, had babies and birthdays, and even funerals. Sometimes I felt too numb to live it, but staying busy living life was better than wallowing.

5. Cancer doesn't always mean death. Sometimes it does and it's heartbreaking, but sometimes it's just part of the journey. Standing in the face of the surgeon last March, I was completely distraught while trying to rectify my previous experiences of cancer=death with the news that my 33 year old husband had cancer. I will be forever grateful for the firsthand experience that cancer does not always end in death.

6. Cancer doesn't end with remission. Technically, yes, it does, but the after effects of treatment continue on indefinitely. It's a price willingly paid for remission, but it's very frustrating and sometimes disconcerting - especially when the after effects are similar to the original symptoms.

7. Forgiving people isn't easy, but it is right. It's right for the person you need to forgive because they are human just like you - acting and reacting in the world from their own unique experience and not necessarily with cruel intentions. It's right for you, the person doing the forgiving, because it frees your heart from bitterness. Sometimes it takes practice. I think that was the biggest lesson I learned about forgiveness, that it requires practice.

8. Increased use of social media requires increased personal responsiblity. Not just from the perspective of what you share (and I've struggled with that aspect this year), but also from the perspective of what you allow to steal your joy. I love having the world at my fingertips, but I am guilty of letting Facebook drama or unending commentary of politics and tragic events put me in a funk. It's just not worth it, and I'm the only one who can control my reaction.

9. Life really is too short to sweat the small stuff. Really.

Day 8 - Someone you love.

These.



And Him.

More than words.

Day 2 - Peace

I've found that peace comes in different forms and means different things to different people. Peace of mind, a peaceful spirit, peaceful surroundings, world peace, psychedelic 1970's peace - you get the idea.

For today's photo, I opted for the kind of peace I like to enjoy on a Sunday evening.

Yep, a clean laundry room. It means that not only is the laundry clean, but it's also folded and put away. We don't acheive this every week, but when we do, one little compartment in my mind is peaceful. It's like my soul sighs with relief that one thing is finished. I don't have to worry about making sure anyone has enough white t-shirts or underwear of if the leotard is clean on Wednesday. And, we don't have to rob the clothes basket all week for things that aren't in our dressers. Because let's face it, if the clothes don't get put away by Sunday evening, it's probably not going to happen until the next weekend. And that just makes me feel even more overwhelmed when the next weekend gets here.

So, peace is when the laundry is all done - even if it only lasts until the next bath.

Pumpkin Patch 2012

Once again we subjected ourselves to the allergy-inducing fun of hay and farm animals and picking out our pumpkins during what is becoming an annual migration to the pumpkin patch. It was no good for our snot production, but bright, sunny days of playing outside rarely are. We do it anyway.

We jumped and slid down the big slides so many times that my legs felt more like noodles than legs.

Luke and Jake

We fed and petted the animals. The goats are still our favorite because they are just so personable - sticking their heads through the bars, beckoning us to come baaaaack with our little cups of goodness.

Ella wanted to bring a baby goat home.
We told her we don't have enough grass in our backyard to sustain one.

The sheep also put on quite a show of head butting each other and Luke, too, which he thought was hilarious. He kept sidling up to their pen with his head down, trying to get them to do it again.

Luke made new friends.

 Sometimes we acted like animals.

Baby Monkey

Of course, we rode the ponies. This was Luke's first time to get on a horse. He was excited. Dave walked beside him in case he started channeling his inner circus performer and trying to trick ride like the guys at the Dixie Stampede.

They have agreed that they will ride their horses
hanging upside down when they grow up, but this will do for now.

We took our annual mom-and-kids-walking-in-the-pumpkin-patch picture. It required more effort this time because the patch was crowded and the "wittle one" is 2 - thus, not on program.

Look how we've grown since last year.

We picked our pumpkins. Ella gave up her quest for the smallest pumpkin of all time this year and opted for a big one because she wanted to make a jack-o-lantern. She had convinced herself that she couldn't carry this pumpkin until we walked away to help Luke find his. Then the worry that someone else might come along and get it told her otherwise, and she picked it up and hauled it down the row after us.

Ella's prize pumpkin.

Luke originally picked a really big pumpkin, but his need to do all things himself won over his need for a giant pumpkin, so he settled for one he could carry. Also, all pumpkins are now known as "pumpkin patches." For example, "I wanna see my pumpkin patch, Mama!"

Luke's pumpkin patch.

Dave waited until Wednesday to carve them so they will last through Halloween. He ventured into spooky territory with the jagged smiley one, but no one seemed worried about it this year. Upon seeing their glowing faces on our back porch, the children felt compelled to name them. They chose their names on their own with no influence from us.

Meet Lighty and Ella Grace.

Socter Ball!

Despite the fact that some people think soccer is a communist sport, we love it. We love the organized sport aspect of it, the socialization, the lessons about team work and sportsmanship, and the sheer physical activity it requires. Dave and I both feel like soccer is a good foundational sport for any of the other sports the kids might want to play later, so we intend for both of them to play until they aren't interested anymore or decide to try something else instead. (We feel the same way about gymnastics. That's why Ella does both and Luke will, too, as soon as he's old enough for soccer.)

Grandma has been taking pictures at the games this year, so I thought I would share a few. She got some really good ones!

I tried to catch this first picture all spring, but Grandma finally got it.

She's pretty good at kicking.

I'm really proud of how hard she works in practice. My expectation in everything she does is that she work hard. 

She is much more comfortable during the games this season.


Taking a breather.

Dave decided to help with the coaching this time and he's loving it. Ella really likes having him as a coach, too.

Water break.

In addition to soccer, he has taught the kids to chew straws while they wait for their turns to play. I looked over at them last weekend and he and four kids were lined up with coffee straws hanging out of their mouths.

Coach Dave

Saturday mornings are a family affair. Grandma and Pop the Pop and Grandmother and Papa are there.

Pop the Pop and Luke

 Even Aunt Becca, Uncle Nate, and Jake come to watch.

Jake can't wait until he can play.

Sometimes we steal borrow other kids' balls to play catch during the breaks.

Luke loves socter.

 And sometimes we just relax and watch the game.

He's still my baby.

Halfway There

Round three of chemo is over, I guess. He has energy and has already developed the week 2 side effects even though he didn't have the second crash first. That messes with my head. I was expecting the crash Monday or Tuesday of this week, even had meals lined up for those days, and it didn't come. So I'm calling round three finished.

This one hit him hard and fast but he recovered more quickly, too. I'm certain that's because he had no choice but to sleep in the two days following the treatment and that's what his body has been needing. I'm hoping he can arrange his schedule so that he has time to sleep like that for the next three rounds.

This round was hard on me. I haven't been about to lose my mind, but I'm feeling less like, "Let's do this thing" and more like "How am I going to make it through three more rounds?" He told me after the first round that he thought it might take all of his willpower to survive six rounds of chemo. I'm thinking it might take all of mine, too, and I'm not the one being poisoned every three weeks. We are living in a bizarre world right now.

I was laying in bed with Ella the last week and she kept asking me when we were going to eat at a certain restaurant. It was taking me forever to figure out which restaurant she was talking about and I asked her when we had been there before. She said, "You know, that day we walked around and passed out fingernail files." And I did know. She was talking about a restaurant we stopped in one day when we were handing out campaign literature for one of the local elections. It was Sunday, February 26, two days before I took Dave to the ER. It was all I could do not to lay in her bed and cry, thinking about how drastically our lives changed two days later. Not for the worse, but never to be the same again. Having a new normal thrust upon you without warning takes some getting used to. I occasionally find myself in situations like this one with Ella where old normal and new normal collide in my mind at the same time and I struggle to process everything that's happened since the end of February. Some days it's hard to believe it's been three months already and some days it's hard to believe it hasn't been three years.

I've come to realize that cancer has a time warp similar to the one that happens at the end of a pregnancy. All at once, time is flying and standing still. And, cancer is a line of demarkation in our lives together. Just like having kids. In the timeline of us, there are periods of time I think of as Before Kids and After Kids, and now I've added Before Cancer. There's no After yet because this isn't over. I'm not sure it will even be over at the end of chemo. I'm thinking there will be other time periods known as During Chemo and After Chemo, but I don't know when After Cancer will happen. Will there be another line of demarkation or will we just ease into it without realizing it until we're well on the other side? Now I'm rambling, but at least it's cathartic.

Anyway, three rounds down and three to go. With my whole body and soul I'm looking forward to this long weekend of playing in backyards with my family, to soaking up the sun and fun and laughter, to restocking my mental facilities in preparation for round four. And Lynyrd Skynyrd's Tuesday's Gone in my ears has mellowed me out just in time for the weekend. 

Busy Living

We had a fantastic weekend. The kind that makes you miss the kids on Monday and puts you in a good mood to start the week.

It started at the ridiculously early hour of 5:30 a.m. on Saturday for Ready.Set.Cure. - which is a 5k fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My sister decided while Dave was in the hospital that she and our friend, Kendall, were going to run it in his honor. I jokingly told her she should have t-shirts made that say "I hate cancer." Well, a few weeks later, she sent me a t-shirt design and I told her I wanted one but that I wanted it to say "Lymphoma Sucks". She redesigned them. And she made a special one for him.

Lymphoma Sucks has become my life theme right now. I also found a website that offers resources and support for young adult cancer patients and survivors called Stupid Cancer. It's my kinda place, where they focus on getting busy living and giving cancer the bird, so I ordered some bracelets for us. They give Ella an approved reason to use the word "stupid" and she's taking full advantage - as in last night at the supper table when she asked me, "Mommy, when will Daddy's stupid cancer be gone?"

Dave decided he would try to walk the 5k, so we did, and he pushed about 90 lbs. of stroller and kids half the way. And we finished in less than an hour. It was an amazing time! Thank you, Rebecca, for organizing it for us!
 

These people know lymphoma sucks but getting busy living doesn't.

After that, there was back porch swimming and back yard playing. Luke was naked, of course, and we had a little potty training milestone. He heard me tell Ella not to pee where we play, to go to the edge of the yard instead (because we don't have indoor plumbing, you know). A few minutes later, he left the little pool where he was playing and went to the edge of the patio to pee. Do you know what that means? Two very big things: 1. He knew he needed to go before it happened and 2. He had enough control to move to another place to do it. He's been waking up dry most mornings, so it might be time to get serious with this potty business. Yay! Diapers, your days are numbered.

At one point during Luke's celebration of nakedness, after Dave suggested that maybe he needs a pair of swim trunks if he's going to be playing all over the yard instead of swimming, the little dude army-crawled under the car. Naked. Chasing the cat. I had to tell him to crawl out the other side because I wasn't about to drag his little naked self out from under there by the ankle. Swim trunks indeed, but I think Dave will have to be in charge of putting them on and off, on and off, because I know that's what's going to happen.

Then we played cars and chased the cat (she can't get a break) and cooked on the grill. The kids didn't go to bed as early as we planned because we were having too much fun, but that's okay.

Sunday, we went to church and it was my turn to work in the nursery. I got a little caught up in the play and forgot where we were until the shrieking reached playground level when I suddenly remembered that they could probably hear us in church. Oops. After church we had lunch and a big fat nap, then Dave lopped down the camellias and put Luke to work dragging sticks to the street. He was very proud of his job.


Even little ones have to earn their keep.

 In the middle of camellia cutting, Dave decided he needed a chainsaw, so we rode down the street to The Shed to borrow one. That turned into a few hours of visiting and cousin playing. Luckily we had leftovers so we didn't have to rush home to cook. Then baths and books and bed and it was over already!

Getting busy living, like inappropriate laughter, is much more fun than losing my flipping mind.

My Loves

These pieces of my heart actually walk around in this world - a thought that sometimes terrifies me, but mostly brings me great joy. I took these last weekend. I just love the sunshine and the swimming on the back porch happiness.

Ella picked out her new swimmin' suit all by herself at Target and I think she did a great job. I love this happy face she's wearing.

EGR in her new swimmin' suit.

Luke goes naked in the backyard because he loves being naked and because I have an ulterior motive - potty training. He's of two minds about naked peeing in the backyard - a teensy bit freaked out and completely amused.

Luke is very serious about his pool time.

Dave looks like a Very Serious Lawyer doing Very Serious Things on his phone in this picture. Don't be fooled - he's losing his virutal money in a game of Texas Hold 'Em. I think he already harvested three seasons worth of vegetables in Word Mole for a ridiculously high score, so he moved on to something more entertaining.

Dave's Very Serious Lawyer Face

Georgia isn't allowed in the back porch pool, so she has to swim in the little one on the patio. She also has to share her pool with the skin kids, so she doesn't even have it to herself. She gets the short end of the deal, but that's okay because she's the dog.

Swimmin' Pool + Big Yella = Dog Bliss

This is what she was doing right before I told her to show me her cheese face.

Digging. It's almost as good as swimming.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Dave wrote this post for us. Enjoy!

I have long been desensitized to the comings and goings of items on, under, and around the Christmas tree. The self-induced blindness was a necessary coping mechanism for me as an obsessive compulsive person, borderlining on disorder, sharing the Christmas season with, first animals and now, children.

The process began about eight years ago after Amanda and I put up the tree in our first home and the kittens promptly undecorated the bottom branches, climbed ¾ the way to the top and perched on the inside of a branch for a nap. Two days later, we returned from shopping and did not see the tree in the window of the house. It was in the floor and we picked it up and reset it with the ornaments we could find, a process we repeated two more times before Christmas Day arrived.

During that first Christmas, we adopted a rule that any ornament we found on the floor after it “fell” from the tree would be placed in a box and salvaged for next year. We had a fully decorated tree top by Christmas, with more natural looking lower branches.

The next Christmas I knew what to expect and I had well learned to not see ornaments and scraps of papers from the wrapped presents in the floor. We had also added a new member to the fold who kept some control over, or at least provided interference to, the kitten activities with the Christmas tree. The cats of course did not appreciate having to succumb to the larger physical presence, and hence authority, of Georgia Brown Dog regarding the Christmas decorations. And that is why they tried to kill her.

When Georgia came into the house the year after the cats, we knew she would likely be interested in chewing the Christmas ornaments, as would any other four month old Labrador retriever. For this reason, we decorated the bottom of the tree with plastic, wooden and cloth ornaments, placing just a few glass balls toward the top. The day after the decorating was complete, I heard a crunching in the kitchen and walked in to find Georgia chomping on little pieces of glass, bleeding from the mouth and attempting to understand what had become of the pretty purple ball that had just been in front of her. By extreme fortune, she had a scheduled vet appointment the next day and had no damage from the incident. While I did not see the situation resulting in that ball falling from the tree, I have no doubt that the cats we fully involved and acted with full knowledge of the results of their actions.

With such a history, I was decently prepared for the addition of children to the list of Christmas tree admirers and undecorators in our home. I have become skilled at kicking an ornament, sending it gliding across the hardwood floor, so it comes to rest underneath the tree. I no longer have to pick the decorations up and put them back on the tree and torn wrapping paper doesn’t not bother me as long as the gift underneath is not completely visible. Partial visibility is solved not by re-wrapping, but by turning the other direction. [Note from Amanda: Now that Ella is learning to write, many of the presents weren't just partially unwrapped, they also had her name scrawled across them in Magic Marker. You are a special person if you got one of those presents this Christmas!] If a strand of lights goes out, so be it. Out of necessity, I pay very little attention and we are all much happier for it.


This was my first year with two mobile children at Christmas and I could have easily driven myself crazy had the cats and dog not taught me to cope with the tree situation. By Christmas morning, the presents underneath our tree sat in the midst of several ornaments, shreds of paper and other small pieces of trash, and toys. Luke’s “drop it wherever the urge to move on to something else hits” mentality combined with my “don’t stress about what’s going on under the tree” attitude allowed the underneath of the tree to become somewhat of a toy box for the children.

And then on Christmas morning, I was completely taken aback and stunned to the point of tears by what transpired from underneath and around that tree. We had a living room full of presents and Ella was helping her Mommy hand them out. I don’t know the exact number, but there were presents from four separate households dispersed. The process took about fifteen minutes. After the morning presents were handed out, a few were left under the tree that were for our afternoon guests. When everyone had their presents, I expected Ella would tear into her stack, as would be expected for any three year old. Instead, the following conversation transpired.

Ella (moving to the back corner of the tree where the presents for the afternoon company were): Mommy, you have a few more over here.
Amanda: No baby. Those are for this afternoon.
Ella: No Mommy, these are for you.

And Ella retrieved her own small purses from the underneath the Christmas tree and handed them to Amanda saying, “These are your presents Mommy.” And Amanda opened each one to find that Ella had wrapped a few items inside to give to her for Christmas.

Ella's presents for Mommy

I sat in awe and thanked God that I had not moved any of the “toys” from underneath the tree and for the wonder of children at Christmas.

Salute!

Salute!

Ella had her gymnastics Christmas performance this weekend and she was totally excited to see other little girls wearing the same leotard as hers. They didn't all have pink hands and arms though, because I'm sure their mothers don't let them graffiti themselves with magic markers. We let her get away with it because she learned it from Nana.. and they are washable. Bathtime is more fun if the water turns green when you step into it because you've colored the entire bottom of your foot.

She also had her preschool musical last week and she said her part right into the microphone without missing a beat. She even sang the songs this year. I still can't believe she volunteered for a speaking part. Amazing.

Now, she's teaching us the songs. We've had to sing Away in a Manger too many times to count because that's what the angel on our Nativity scene sings and she uses it for the music. When she got tired of that, she decided to speed it up a bit so she turned on our pole dancing stuffed cat that sings M.C. Hammer's Can't Touch This and belted the words to Hooray for Baby Jesus! over the top of it. It was quite something, but hey, you can't have music practice without music.

Last night we walked through a Night in Bethlehem so, between that and the musical, there has been lots of Nativity play in our house. Right now, she is pretending to be Mary, Dave is Joseph, and a baby doll in the toy pack 'n play is the baby Jesus in the manger. I think she mostly likes bossing Dave around about the baby. My favorite quote from him this weekend: "No body ever carried around a manger." Oh, I should also disclose that Luke is a shepherd ("Shepherds can't hold the baby Jesus!"), Georgia is the angel, and I am the camel. I'm telling myself it's because I make a great camel noise - which Luke imitated as soon as we walked by the camel in Bethlehem last night. He also made such a great sheep noise that the shepherds in the field asked if they could keep him. He would have stayed in the market place all night if we'd let him, especially playing the drum in the music shop.

Here's our Nativity set at play. Joseph and one wise man are missing because they had to take a trip. Mary is just staying with the baby until they get back.

Mary, taking care of the baby.

Joseph and the wise man riding the carousel.

The CTC

Not to be confused with the Center for Disease Control, the CTC is code in my house for Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Here's how it went down.

Dave: Where are you keeping the CTC, woman?
Me: Bottom shelf of the lazy susan.
Dave: (incredulous) You knew what I was talking about?
Me: The Cinnamon Toast Crunch?
Dave: How did you know?
Me: Because it's the time of night that you eat it and you have a little cup in your hand while you dig through the cabinets.

It also goes by another name: Cinnamon Croast Tunch. That's what Ella calls it.

We are a family of Cinnamon Croast Tunch eaters. I've mentioned my love for it before, but it doesn't even touch the addiction that Dave and Luke have for those little squares of goodness. Ella loves it and asks for it on the cereal aisle at the grocery store; I love it and eat a bowl of it occasionally. Dave eats as much of it as we have and Luke will eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I leave the box on the counter where he can point at it and tell me "Dat!" (If Luke's diet were based on his choice alone, it would consist of Cinnamon Croast Tunch ("dat!"), shredded cheese ("cheechee!") and grape juice ("juju!") .)

I bought a new box at the Lucky's on Saturday night and put it on the bottom shelf of the lazy susan. On Sunday morning, I pulled it out and poured some in a bowl for Luke to snack on for breakfast. It was already open, and Dave said, "As long as Luke eats one bite of it, I can say that Daddy didn't eat the whole box." Done.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

This year's trip to the Pumpkin Patch was a huge success. Ella knew what to expect so she was ready to love it. Luke just loved it.


Ready to go




Luke didn't nap before we left, or on the way, or while we were there. He knew we were going to do somthing fun.

I couldn't get them both to cheese for the camera at the same time. Every time Ella said cheese, Luke turned to laugh at her.


Pumpkin socks for the Pumpkin Patch




Ella picked out her pumpkin socks for the trip. I think this made it a little easier for her to wear her tennis shoes. She's a flip flop kind of girl (so much that I'm probably going to have to hide them when it really gets cold).


Pony Ride



I walked beside her pony, named Pickles, so she would be comfortable and so Luke could get a could look at them. He kept calling them dog-dogs and barking. I tried to get him to say, "Horsey!" but he just moo-ed instead.

We did see a miniature cow at the petting farm. And a llama, goats, sheep, and piglets. The piglets were raising a squealy ruckus, and I think they scared Luke because he sat down hard and cried about it. Otherwise, he loved all the animals and the goats especially loved him. Ella had fun feeding all of them.


We all loved the bounce house this year.




We all jumped in the bounce houses and slid down the big slide. The slide that caused a colossal melt down last year was a blast this year. I slid with Ella four times, Dave did it 2 or 3. She loved it and she was strong enough this year to climb up the big ladder by herself. Dave carried Luke up and slid down with him. We think he liked it, but he really looked stunned when they landed.


On the way to find our pumpkins




By the time we rode out to the pumpkin patch, we were all tired.


Searching, searching for the perfect one.




I love this picture. I love how it shows the progression of our family since last year.















Two prize winning pumpkins.



Here we are with our prize pumpkins. Ella was able to surpass last year's and find one even smaller. It is so small that Dave had to pick it of the vine for her.

As I expected, Luke went with a bigger one. He loves them both and keeps trying to eat them. Ella has already told me that both pumpkins will be staying in her bedroom again this year. We aren't allowed to cut them. I guess Dave and I will have to get our own if we decided we need to carve one.