In a nutshell

I posted this on Facebook this evening.  It is a piece of our conversation at the dinner table.  I later realized that in those 30 hilarious seconds, when we somehow managed to get from hot pork loin to the Golden ratio, you could see exactly who we are and what is most prominent on our minds at almost any given moment.

A: It's hot!
me: Take little bites. Big bites are hot. Little bites are not.
L: I get it! That's why some big people are hot, and little people are not. O.o
S: That's a different meaning of hot, like when you like someone.
me: It can be used as a slang term when you think someone looks nice. I like how Daddy looks, so I will say that he's hot.
D: If your ratio was 1.62, the ancient Greeks would think you were hot Mom.


This means that Anna is trying to get as much meat as possible into her mouth, as quickly as she can.  This is what she cares most about - eating.  That and playing, but at 7 pm, it was all about the meat.
I'm mothering.
Leah is making grand connections and thinks and says the darnedest things, that are usually quite clever.
Sarah is of course making sure that everyone and everything is *right*.
Now I'm teaching and thinking about my hot husband, who doesn't get home until 11 pm on Thursdays.)
David is absorbed in math and history, with a side of humor.

Yep.  That's us in a nutshell.

update, where I scan through pictures to remember what I've done in the last two years

brief:  I've been living and mostly enjoying life, writing blog posts in my head for the last two years.  The fourth baby coming along mixed with my work and volunteering made for good blog material.  Just no time to do it.  Maybe there still isn't enough of that elusive time stuff, but I'm going to try.  I'm hoping it helps with the whole solo parent deal we've got going.  There isn't very much adult conversation right now.  So I'm going to talk to myself here.  HA!  We'll see how well that works.

Feel free to stop now.  This is where I start rambling talking to myself.

more details which I may or may not write about in the future: I still teach Play and Learn.  Culture Cinderella was awesome and amazing, and I think I'm going to offer it again.  Since then I've taught Chemistry, Physics, and Playground Party for the 6-8 year olds at our co-op.  We went to the beach every summer, sometimes on a weekly basis.  We went hiking with our families each summer.  We made maple syrup each spring.  We have a cat.  Leah stopped dancing and started riding horses.  Sarah's still dancing.  David tapped for a time.  Now he wants to program computers and take drawing lessons.  We raised toadpoles.  Jesse and the children grew garden, after garden, after garden.  (There are a lot of pictures of beach days and vegetables.)  We went to Ft. Mackinac and saw one of my grandmothers.  Another grandmother died.  One of my sisters made her first profession with the Sisters of Mary.  Then she got to come home for a week.  We took her camping and square dancing.  I got back to Falling Water.  Jesse caught a bat.  David caught a fish.  They went to a Pirate's game.  We met our Norfolk friends up in Pennsylvania.  We spent many an afternoon at the Botanical Gardens, Zoo, and Aquarium.  There are new (to us) cabinets in our kitchen.  I finished one knitting project - the cutest robot you ever did see.  Family came to visit.  The rainbow blocks got played with, a lot.  We picked pumpkins, went trick-or treating, and played in a few musical salons.  Spent Christmas in Pennsylvania with our families.  Had our first and only doctor visit for a sick child.  Poor Anna!  Had our first and only ear infection.  Poor Sarah!  Another sister got engaged.  Then she got married.  I was the matron of honor.  Sarah was the junior bridesmaid.  Leah was a flower girl.  Jesse was children juggler extraordinaire.  ooo!  I knit a doll's hat too!  (I think I knit a few other hats for little girls, but they still have unfinished ends.)  We almost bought a house.  We almost bought another house.  We almost bought another house.  I wanted to buy another house, but then our future here became less certain.  I re-purposed some furniture and re-organized the toy room and library room.  One of my brothers got engaged.  We found Easter eggs in our yard, and lots of red, ripe strawberries.  Jesse took all four children canoeing in the Lafayette River.  (It's just at the end of our street.)  David made his First Communion.  Back to the sister getting married part.  I planned a Bridal Shower.  (You should read that last one again with great emphasis.  I planned a Bridal Shower.)  Leah and David now read short chapter books independently, silently, just because they like to.  Sarah reads Shakespeare and complains that there are not enough looong books for her to read.  Jesse was awarded the Congressional Fellowship.  We visited with friends. frequently.  I sprained my ankle, but it still hurt six months later, so maybe I did something else to it.  We broke the bed.  Jesse fixed it.  We have a new baby.  She's a beautiful, 1931, pear shaped Kanbe.  I could, and do, listen to her for hours.  Anna started to play her own imaginary, independent games.  Now she talks too.  We evacuated due to a hurricane and went north to pick apples and make applesauce, only days after the house shook and cracked a bit in an earthquake.  The hurricane took down a tree and blew a few window panes out.  After almost four months, the windows were finally replaced.  The big girls and I went on a dolphin watch tour.  I spotted the first ones, with my new glasses.  (They look even better on me!)  There were calfs!!!!  We now have two Girl Scouts in our family.  I started teaching Leah's First Communion class.  Moe died.  Jesse finished off half the attic for a room for David, accessed by a rope.  We met our new niece, Nitsah!  Jess and I had an over-due, overnight date.  (It'd been three long years, baby.)  Jesse moved to DC.  I drove to Michigan to see my sister, with all our children, after Jesse moved to DC.  Melanoma was found in a lymph node of Jesse's 94 year old grandfather.  After searching and scanning for cancer elsewhere, finding none, followed by surgery to remove the lymph node, Ray is cancer free and feeling fine.  Except he says he has to take more naps now.  :)  Everyone had birthdays and grew a little, or a lot. *sigh*  All this while I led League meetings, took helping calls, taught piano lessons, taught grades K-6 in our home - just not all at the same time, nursed a babe turned toddler turned preschooler, did the cooking and cleaning, or relied on my husband to cook and clean while I took care of the last bits of my PPD only to discover that there is a little (or a lot, depending on the day) SAD there too.

Now if you've made it this far, you can see why the blog posts are only in my head, if they're thought of at all.

And I'm too tired to form coherent sentences.  I look forward to writing here again.  It was good for me to look back and catch up.  Now it's time to look forward.

me, looking forward and back

The good and not so good adventure

Tonight we had a little adventure. All day was an adventure of sorts. But tonight we were in the back of a police car and the baby had to nurse, so I can chalk that one up on "where have you fed your baby?" Some parts were good. Other parts were not so good. This makes for good adventure. Right? Well, the kids will remember, and it may become one of those family stories that everyone laughs and sighs over decades down the road.

We sell almost 100 boxes of Girl Scout cookies! ~ good
I am dead tired. ~ not so good
I take the kids out to dinner. ~ good
We have to wait and wait for our meal. ~ not so good
But we have our favorite waitress. ~ good
One of the senior gentlemen at the table next to ours hollers over to me. ~ not so good
He hollers: "What's your secret?" ~ good
My response: "Me??" in total shock. ~ not so good
His reply: "Yes! What's your secret? I see a mom walk in with four kids and I cringe. Yours are delightful! You must be doing something right! Whatever it is, keep doing it. You must be doing something right!" ~ good, no, great.
That gentleman will never know how much I needed to hear that tonight. My mind's been spinning in negative circles lately about how I'm not doing something right somewhere or some such stuff, but he's right. I have delightful children (most of the time) and need to work on those negative thought cycles.
Back to the story:
I forget to give the waitress our coupon and have to wait for her to re-figure our check. ~ not so good
She returns to tell me that the gentlemen have left money to buy each of the kids a scoop of ice cream. ~ good Excuse me?! I am floored and almost choke-up.
The kids are allergic to everything on the desert menu. ~ not so good
They can get something else she says, to take home with them. ~ good
They can't decide what they want. ~ not so good
They pick something, then change their minds, and the order can still be changed. ~ good
We have to wait another 30 minutes for their treat. ~ not so good
We finally leave at 9 pm. ~ good
The van suddenly stalls on our way home. ~ not so good
I manage to steer it into a turning space on the median. ~ good
We are out of gas. ~ not so good
We can see a gas station from where we are. ~ good
We walk the two blocks to the station to find that the service area is closed and locked and they do not have a gas container. ~ not so good
We walk to the pizza shop to use their phone. ~ good
oops! I forgot. I don't have my cell phone. ~ not so good
I cannot find my roadside assistance card to call for help. ~ not so good
The pizza delivery man offers to give us a ride. ~ good
I have too many car seats. ~ not so good
There is a fire station a block in the other direction. ~ good
We walk there and ask for help. They too do not have a gasoline canister. ~ not so good
They offer us a warm place to sit, turn on the Disney channel for the kids and call for roadside assistance. ~ good, no, a God-send
A police officer comes instead, also without gas. ~ not so good
He offers to take me to a different gas station, but agrees to take me home instead since that is closer. I have gas at home! ~ good
We all get in the back of the officers vehicle. ~ I did not feel so good about the five of us back there without a single car seat, although the officer assured me we would not need them.
He asks on the way if my gas gage is broken. ~ not so good
No. I pulled up to a station, but due to a fussy babe, decided to go get dinner first. "I bet you won't make that decision again." No. I won't. Thank you.
We arrive home safe. ~ good
Jesse arrives home just as I retrieve gas from our garage. ~ double good
It is Thursday. Jesse teaches late. He usually gets home at 10:30 pm but was a bit early tonight. Perfect timing.
Jesse goes back with the officer to retrieve our stranded vehicle. ~ very good
Jesse fills up the van's gas tank. ~ also good
And all the children quickly go to bed and fall asleep. ~ so good, so very, very, good

And that is our good and not so good adventure, and how we got stranded and brought home in the back of a police car, and why I was nursing in said car, but how it all turned out well in

the end.

What are your family adventure stories?

eta: I haven't asked him yet, but another layer to this story is "What was Jesse thinking when he rode up on his bike at 10:20pm to find a police car parked in front of the house with three of our children inside?" good? or not so good?

One Thing Leads to Another

Today was hard. Every Thursday is now. Jesse leaves before 9am. He does not get home until after 10pm. He teaches all day. I'm a wreck all day and do not get in my "I can do this by myself" groove until 9pm or so. We're working on this, together, but it ain't easy.

Here are the highlights of my day. I just realized that if I share these it may show how low the day was. Tough bricks. I'll share them anyhow.

I hung two loads of laundry on the line! The wind is doing most of the drying and nothing is coming in frozen. I got a load out yesterday. I have two more loads ready for tomorrow, before MORE SNOW falls over the weekend.

Jess called. From work. Enough said.

Anna took two naps. Each was one hour long. In my arms. She's weaning down to one nap. I'm not ready for that yet.

Anna fed me for the first time.

And she said "book" three or four times. She first said this earlier in the week, but now she's using it frequently. That's word #16!

Leah picked up her Legos. David cleaned off his bed so I could put clean sheets on it. Sarah helped with Anna. All after 9pm. That's when I got in my groove. Remember?

I caught up on the few blogs I'm following. I fell off the blogging wagon, in case you haven't noticed. I think? one of the best ways to get traffic and make friends (my goals) is to find a niche, (working on that) comment on others' blogs, (failing. I'm back to lurking.) and write. Write? Oh yes. That.

One of my new favorite places to lurk is at Apron Thrift Girl. I feel really good there, like I fit in. I want to keep going back. Today she wrote about getting good food cheap. I followed the link at the bottom to see if there were any discount groceries near us. Nope. But we may stop by one the next time we are in Richmond. Well, in that Salvage Grocery article there is a link to folks spending $50 or less each week on all of their food. I was instantly intrigued. Could we? How much for the kids? What about all the specialty foods we have to buy due to allergies? How many exceptions would I have to make? Could we still do lots of organic?

The rules are as follows: $50 each week for each adult. One of the writers has a 3 year old. He gets an extra $25 each week. Alcohol is not counted. Caffeine is. Eating out is.

I record all our expenses. I have for almost ten years. It's easy to look at 2009 and see... our monthly average for groceries and eating out, including alcohol, was $653.99. Excuse me?? To meet the challenge we have to spend less than $700 each month. We did it last year without even trying! And the number was even more impressive before I added in what we ate when we traveled. There. The highest moment of my day. (I will disclose that for the two months after Anna was born, the bills were higher. We bought more processed food. I was always eating, to the tune of $825 and $770. Cheap months helped to balance those out.)

I've had numerous friends ask me recently about living frugally. How do we do it? I think that will be my first niche. My goal for 2010 now is to get our monthly grocery bill even lower. How does $500 sound? I'll be back, promise, and let you know how it goes.

And speaking of one thing leading to another: After my last post there was a wonderful 5 year old's birthday party. On that day, Sarah started coughing. 6 days later, I started coughing. Jesse was coughing 6 days after that. This was near the now 9 year old's party, that had to be re-scheduled due to two sick parents. The cough did not spare a single one. I'll do the math for you. David got it on Christmas Eve. Anna started around New Years. Did I mention it came with two days of fever and aches and stayed for two weeks? No? And we traveled for over two weeks smack dab in the middle of hacking and aching? No wonder I fell off the wagon.

Clean-Up

Yesterday we started to clean the street. After being cooped-up inside for three days, it felt good to get out and work.

Today we started to clean the house. (Sorry, no pictures.) After being cooped-up inside for three days, it felt stifling. There was crazy follow the leader that left things turned upside-down. The toyroom floor was submerged in, well, toys. Lego ziplines connected every surface in the toyroom. The Playmobil had a party in the bedroom. And the living room saw charades, puppet shows and a museum. Time to clean-up! (Oh! do I love our yard!)

6 month old Anna in just a part of our yard

The Flood

In case you haven't heard, we got some rain. Three days of it. Fifth highest flood lines in fact. There was actually more than 12 inches of rain in our trash can. Every time I tried to post a picture on FaceBook, the power went out. We never lost the electricity for very long. I cooked extra spaghetti, just in case. What we did loose was our phone and Internet connection, for four days. That's long enough to make me realize how much I've come to rely on those particular wires and long enough to put me behind on posting every day. Who knew a Nor'easter and remains of a hurricane would meet in our city and leave all this?

east end of our street

Those lights coming out of the water are along a street across the river.

more east end, an hour before high tide

There's a submerged dock out there.

west end

west end at high tide
The river took over the parking lot.


west end the next morning

Needless to say, we were stuck. The water rose on either side of us and in front of us, but our house stayed dry. We are grateful.

random

Well, yesterday got so full, I couldn't even blog about it. I sat down to do so, and Leah stumbled into the office crying that no one was cuddling with her. After cuddling, I rolled into bed.

I think that is what happened to the blog here. Life got so full my thoughts were all mush by the end of the day. Having a goal to write everyday helps me to retain a few bits of what I want to get out. I think it would also help to have a laptop to carry around the house and some wireless going on, or at least another computer for the kids, but none of that is going to happen any time soon. And having a theme keeps eating away at me. Maybe that would help. I know some blogs do, some don't. The fact that mine doesn't shows that I started it to keep in touch with family, perhaps build some community, but more a space to remember things. The fact that that is bothering me (lack of coherence here) shows that its time to get focused. But on what??

• homeschooling
• present parenting
• natural living
• living frugally
• allergies
• breastfeeding
• knitting

Now is when I get stumped and decided to just keep writing about life and perhaps a common thread will appear, somewhere.

Yesterday began with Anna's "Aaiaheeeee!" She always wakes with a smile. If I'm already up, she'll lay and talk to herself for some time, just like Leah did. If I'm still in bed, like yesterday, she'll wake me up to nurse. What a joy-filled way to start the day! (I just love the family bed! [well, most days.])

2 month old Anna

I went to Bible study with Anna. Jesse stayed home with the others. We're reading Scott Hahn's A Father Who Keeps His Promises. Yesterday there was a guest speaker who shared a bit of Hahn's history with us and her ministry. You could feel the Spirit flow from her. It was nice to feel that again, and come home excited rather than drained.

I needed that excitement for the rest of the day. We had the second and final sugar experiment play date. I cleaned the kids room for the occasion. Well, as clean as 20 minutes with three helpers and a baby could get it. After the day's observations, it was very clear that if you want kids to help pick up, give them candy. Seriously. The house looked better when they left than when they arrived. I joked that I was doing it for the sake of Sarah, not Science. But we had a great time! Every single one of the 13 kids here was awesome. The moms were pretty awesome too! Thank you again for coming out and subjecting your children to sugar for the sake of Science (and Sarah.)

Then it was off to Sarah's dance class, dinner and shopping in the evening. ToysRUs had a few items on sale, namely a Razor scooter, and now my holiday shopping is done! I got Anna to sleep on our bed before I left. At bedtime Leah told Jesse that since Anna was sleeping in his bed, that he could sleep in hers. so sweet and thoughtful...

NaBloPoMo

How do you do it? So, if anyone is still out there, (I know a few are.) and you are anything like me or know someone like me, how do you do it? The whole four kids, homeschooling, teaching outside the home, cooking, cleaning, knitting, planning, blogging part? Maybe I'm forgetting something? Oh yeah, add nursing, volunteering, socializing, partnering, sleeping and chauffeuring to the list. I'll let you know if I think of anything else.

I have a bunch of balls up in the air right now. I dropped the house one. It shattered. I spent two weekends picking up the pieces and have that one back together. I dropped the blog one. You all know what happened here. My one year anniversary went by. My 100th post was back in May. I know by the numbers that others were visiting more frequently than I was. *sheesh*

In an attempt to get myself back in gear here I've joined NaBloPoMo. Some of my friends are writing novels in 30 days. I'm going to post here every day, maybe.

And please leave a comment if you have any blogging tips!

Three in One, Plus Some

Anna is teething. When Sarah got a tooth, she did not sleep well. When David got a tooth, he got a slight fever. When Leah got a tooth, her nose was runny. When Anna gets a tooth: she doesn't sleep well, she gets a fever, her nose runs, she's cranky and she poops a lot. Heavens! Oh, she also begs for soy ice cream. (Have you ever noticed a dog panting, sitting beside the table? Well, this is what Anna does when you get out the ice cream or pour yourself a glass of water. She also waves her arms up and down. So, imagine a dog panting excitedly, bouncing on their hind legs, waving their little front paws, perhaps grunting a bit in their effort to communicate, and that's Anna.)

We've been at this for a month now. The morning of September 13th marked the beginning of the end of my sanity. Well, the whole teething on a plane ride back from my grandma's funeral was when I lost the sane part. Two more teeth appeared on October 1st. Number four arrived on the 11th, and she's showing no signs of stopping folks. I sure am glad they look so darn cute!

Where I've Been

Here's my favorite commercial, from back when we had TV. This is what I've been up to. Only, I don't look this good, even when I do have the chance to shower. I haven't been writing, so I'm removing that feature for a bit. It's depressing, since I know I'm forgetting things left and right. What have I been doing? Living. Diaper changes. Pillow fights. (Yes. I get Anna happy in another room, and we have at it for 5 minutes.) Breakfast. Shopping. Lunch. (No peanut butter here of course, but I have the same cutting board.) Baths. Dog. (and a cat now.) Dinner. Diaper changes. Outings. Walks. Bedtime. Stories. (*heart* how the baby sneezes here.) and Laundry! (Only, I don't use the dryer anymore.)

I do all that (and a few other things) holding Anna. She's asleep now, but when she's awake, she wants her mama, and she does not want her mama to sit at the computer. That is boring. A teething baby wants some entertainment to ease the pain. She also wants whatever you are eating or drinking, so beware. She may grab a handful of rice and stuff it in her mouth faster than you can respond. She may pat her hand right into your bowl of soup. (ouch! poor baby! It wasn't very hot, but still hurt.)

And that is where I've been. Living life.

the sky is falling

no. really. I got up this morning to find part of the kitchen ceiling on the floor. The ceiling does not belong on the floor. However, a square foot of it fell onto a chair and shattered. Pieces were everywhere. I heard it in the night, like someone rattling a door with glass in it, but I told myself it was the wind blowing branches against a window so I did not have to get up and check the doors. Nope. It was the ceiling falling.

And I knew it was coming. Not exactly, but Jess and I wondered what would happen this time. He is in Chicago right now, attending the MPSA conference. He's gone for the last nine years, except for when we had a two day old baby, (David). Every year, something happens, something odd, something out of the ordinary, something that takes us by surprise. The first year, I went with him. I was four weeks pregnant with Sarah and did not feel well. We stayed with cousins twice removed. On our drive we kept noticing ants in the car. Odd. As I straightened our room the first morning, I kept killing ants. Surprising. I traced them - to Jesse's computer. I ran it out to the patio and sat and stared in amazement as an entire colony of ants moved out of Jesse's computer to find a new life in the suburbs of Chicago. Another year our cottage was infested with swarming termites, looking for a new place to call home. Hundreds of thousands of termites flying in your living room is out of the ordinary. Then there was our salivating dog. At the time we had Kasey, our Golden. She came in drooling like mad. The poor thing kept pawing at her mouth as her head lay in a pool of saliva. The not so smart emergency vet thought maybe she was stung by a bee and gave me motion sickness pills for her. The knowledgeable nurse said she'd heard of this happening to dogs when catching toads. Both out of the ordinary and scary. The only other time I went with Jesse we stayed at a not so many starts hotel and David and Sarah were with us. I again was tired and VERY cranky (or bitchy, whichever you prefer). We discovered a month later that I was almost three months pregnant with Leah. Surprise! Poison ivy, illnesses, driving on donuts, and now the ceiling. What's next?

walk (and poop)

So, if you happened to be driving through Larchmont this evening and saw this:

crazy mama walking down the sidewalk, two children springing and racing ahead of her, one child lagging behind her, yet another child in a sling, (Yes, they are all mine. WHEN will people stop asking that?? That and that my hands are full. Never an offer to help. Just a reminder, in case I forgot. My response is, "Yes, full of love." and we continue on our merry way. Sorry. I did not intend for my two least favorite comments to come out in the middle of this. Where was I? oh...) and a sweet Sheltie on a leash who is convinced that since he was not walked last night a myriad of dogs must have walked HIS route and he needs to sniff them all out and therefore be dragged or rather coaxed along, all trying to race the rain home and getting damp in the process

then you saw me. But the dog pooped by a kind, elderly man's tree, (nightly ritual he's had for forever - go poop on a night walk - the dog, not the man.) Not on the rug in the kids' room, so it was all worth it.

There, I posted. It feels good, great actually. There is so much I want to get up here, but Anna just pooped, so I gotta' go.

Wednesdays

We're tired.

Teaching on Tuesday is going well, very well. Anna hangs out in the Hotsling. Everyone enjoys their engaging classes and the enriching company. But come Wednesday, we're just tired. We don't go anywhere. We don't get dressed. If I'm lucky, we get half our school lessons complete, and I end the day with a hot shower.

Jesse took the picture this morning. Although I'd just gotten out of bed, I almost fell back to sleep. I love how our arms are in almost the same position.

3031

things decluttered and out of this house!

I stayed up late last night and went through my files and cleared my desk. My goal for 2008 was to declutter 2008 things. Since I did not start until May, I thought I could go a bit into the new year, and wanted to see how long it took me to get to 3000. Now I'll start counting again for 2009. I found that keeping track of the numbers kept me motivated.

The house still feels cramped and small. I'm not sure where I found everything to pass on, recycle or pitch. Goodness knows there is more! It must creep in while we're sleeping. =)

To a King or not to a King

That is the most pressing question for me right now, ever since we stayed with my brother over the holidays. They let us sleep in their king size bed. Our children were on air mattresses. By the end of the second night, they were all snuggling with us. They fit!

On the one hand, our Queen works. Sarah only comes to cuddle a few times a year. David might pop in once a month for an early morning snuggle. Leah is still there numerous times each week, but she starts out on her trundle and still sleeps better next to me. Over the next six months, I expect to see her less and less. This morning, everyone is there except me. After an hour of shifting, searching for space, and knowing there was no way I could fit a newborn into the mix, I think I've made my decision.

When you come to visit and we have a guest room, you can enjoy my queen size bed. I will be sleeping soundly, surrounded by those I love the most, on a King.

bleep!

oh crapity, crap, crap, crap!

I have NO pictures from the girls' dance recital. No video clips. No awesome footage of their rehearsal. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Somewhere in the transfer from camera to computer, they vanished. Actually, I remember seeing some of them on the computer, but now they are all gone.

Leah was an amazing cowgirl, with her pink cowboy hat I found thrifting one night.

Sarah was an angel in the Nutcracker. Granted, this was the Parks & Rec Nutcracker, so you never saw Clara or Nutcracker or a mouse. But there was a Snow Queen, Sugar Plum Fairy, children, Sweets, Dolls, Arabian, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, etc. and Angels - sweet, shining Angels.

I'm so sorry to have lost those pictures...

Winter Wonderland

Yesterday was full, to the max. I got everything done, except dinner. I packed up a dinner for Dawn, made snack for the LLL meeting, taught a FULL day of school - lots of balancing, graphing, reading, grid addition and addition/subtraction families, ran the kids down here, then back up to co-lead said LLL meeting, finally back home to plan class. *whew*

So, either my kids do not find Christmas lights to be as magical and special as I do, or they simply were not impressed with Winter Wonderland. I'm guessing it's the latter, since almost all our outdoor decorations adorn their playhouse.

Perhaps they would have liked the large indoor display, but we were late and missed that part. Here is what they did like:

looking at chickens
playing with goatslifting goatsfinding a Santa/creche sceneand getting dressed up in their new sweaters from GrannyTHANK YOU Granny Wilma! Everyone loves their new things, (and mama loved the gift receipts. It all fits now. =)

Thanksgiving

Both Jess and I wanted to be in PA. We miss our families. With Thanksgiving so late, us traveling there in 20 days, and me being 6 1/2 months pregnant, we decided to stay home. I relaxed, all day, and knit. I finished the homespun sister scarf, an ear warmer to go with it and a scarf for Bitty Baby. (With all the scarves I'm making, Leah wanted one for her doll too.) Pictures forthcoming.

And I made a pie! Jesse really wanted a pumpkin pie. I reminded him that the last pie I made was pumpkin, vegan and gluten free. There is a very good reason why I have not attempted to make another pie for 9 years. I went with apple instead. Success! The crust and filling were from Moms Naturally. Thanks Jen! I made a half recipe of the crust, and made up my own crumb topping. Oh goodness this was good!

With our pie we had a ham, venison roast, tossed salad, brown rice, sweet potatoes, pickled beets, brussel sprouts, pickles and cranberry sauce. I forgot the mandarin oranges, carrots and applesauce, but no one seemed too hungry. =)

I am thankful for my Faith, family, friends and freedom. Pretty general, but all extremely important to me this year. I'm especially grateful for our "new baby sister" and the growth in mine and Jesse's relationship.

How was your Thanksgiving and what are you thankful for?

Election Day

If you are married to a political scientist, you see them very little on election day. Especially if they've become a favorite with the local TV stations. Numerous interviews over the past few months has led up to today and a two hour blogging session. We decided it would be best for him to do this at the office. So back to work he went. I've got the kids watching a "bedtime movie", hope to get some blogging and cleaning done, and will follow the results on the radio and Jesse's blogging.

I voted at 2. Voting here is nothing like rural PA. First, there are computers. Second, there are lines. Third, there are no friendly volunteers to take your children to the next room to use a sample ballot to vote for George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. This was my second time using the computer voting machine. I'm still nervous my card will get "lost" somewhere or will not record my vote accurately. I did not have a line. It did take 20 minutes, but most of that was spent waiting for the two ladies to validate voters, trying to keep three children close, but not touching the screen and waiting for the little old lady to give my little people "I voted" stickers, since they were so "precious." I guess instead of punching chads, they get a sticker. =)

It just dawned on me that I wore red today. My poor, pregnant foggy brain didn't make the connection. I just wanted to wear something with an American Flag. I was given a cute maternity tee with one on it, and it's red. I also had my first hormonal breakdown this morning, due in part to what I could, or rather could not wear. My size is in the middle now. Maternity bottoms fall off. Everything with a closure is too small. Elastic is uncomfortable. *sigh* The other part was dh reading a story to our children this morning. Don't ask. It was 100% hormonal.

A week ago today...

I experienced a freakish accident. I was walking Moe in the morning. This is something unusual, and will never happen again. I saw our neighbor walking his girls to school with their two dogs, on the other side of the street. I made a foolish decision to cross my corner first, hoping to jog ahead. Note: These dogs are 90 and 70 lb. animals. They walk on a joint leash. Moe weighs 21 lbs. One of them attacked Moe when we first got him last August.
To continue: I did get a good distance between us and the other dogs. I could hear our neighbor yelling at his dogs behind us. Moe could not hear him or the dogs barking. He's completely deaf. He was sniffing a tree. What I did not know was that as our neighbor was ushering his daughters across the intersection, his dogs broke the link that connected them to him. They came up behind me at about 15 mph, one on either side, and I did a Fosbury Flop onto my right buttock. Only I did not land in a pile of foam. I landed on the hard, sandy, dirty ground. Note: Many of these details are from my neighbor, who came down twice to see how I was, to see if I needed a ride to the vet, to apologize profusely. I could not get up. There were three dogs on my legs. Two of them were attacking Moe. I remember saying, "Get your dogs away from mine!" and that my sister said it was okay to kick another dog in Moe's defense. So I tried to kick the dogs. My neighbor arrived. With the force he used to pull his dogs, he fell back. He hollered for me to get my dog away, since he unknowingly took Moe's leash with him. I untangled Moe and got him to sit. He calmed the instant he was separated. It's taken me almost a week to calm.

Moe is fine. His chest and stomach were covered in saliva, which then had sand and grit sticking to it. We gave him a bath. He slept the rest of the day. I am fine now. I have one tiny scratch on my leg with a large bruise. Two days after the fall, the entire right side of my body throbbed. No one but Sarah could touch my shoulder. With heat, soaking, yoga and Riki, my body seems to be healing itself. I still want to get a massage, possibly a chiropractic adjustment. Baby is good. I was concerned all day, but movement started at its usual time - when I lay down to read with Sarah at night. I think my neighbor almost had a heart attack. He was so worried about me. He brought me these later in the afternoon.

Yes, he's very sorry.

And that is what happened last week.

When I get the chance, I want to write about what happened a year ago today. The memories are fonder - our first day in Paris.