Kid Funnies

It's around 11:30 and I've finally showered, dressed, and am swilling down the dregs of my coffee in front of the computer- it is vacation after all!

Abe approaches with exclamations of joy...blah, blah, growned up!

Me- Uh-huh...

No, no Mama...your shirt it all growned up!

Me- Amused, but not sure why...hmmmmm???

And then I remember. I'm wearing a shirt that I got for my birthday, over two months ago, that originally was too small. I returned it and got a larger one in exchange. Abers missed the step where I exchanged and so, in his four year old wisdom and joy, is so happy for me that my shirt is now all growned up!

Me- Your right, babe, it did, it all growed up!

And then there was last night...

Per usual when we are all going somewhere, we send the kids out to the car to 'load up'.
Translation? Get your bottom to the car, buckle, and wait for me, or us, as the case may be.

Invariably, I am greeted in the car by complaints by one or the other about transgressions that have occurred in my absence. Last night was no exception.

Gus- Mama, Mommy, I keep telling Grace to stop but she won't.

One of us (Is that scary that I don't remember who it was?)- Well, what is happening?

Gus- She keeps making Ghost noses!

K and I laugh and can't stop laughing even when Gus is sad about it. I reach back and pat his knee and reassure him that we are not laughing at him, but that we totally understand how those Ghost noses are so annoying. And we laugh some more...Pretty much all the way down the road...

Guess you had to be there, but it was sooo funny.

Soon to come- photos of conspicuous consumption/kid spoiling/Christmas Morning

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Panties In A Bunch

First of all, just for the record, I hate the word panties- but underwear just doesn't have the same ring to it, ya know?

I have viewed the recent u tube version of Donald Trump blasting Rosie O'Donnell for her view point of him and the beauty pageant thingy. It left my skin crawling. Apparently, he thinks he is the king of the world. My God, he is offensive, not to mention a misogynistic pig. I can just picture him in a room full of older, white, male, republican types laughing about him "sticking it to her". I think they think that it makes their penis's larger or something. It certainly increases their ego- which is sad.

I'm not really into celebrities and their feuding, noiseless noise- give me a break, lets just lead our own lives and leave the flim-flam to themselves. And I can honestly say I am not star struck...There are a few celebrities I've admired, Kate Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg, and Rosie O'Donnell. Rosie appears to speak her mind, I agree with most of her opinions. I enjoy her candor and her humor. I'm sure the fact that she is also a lesbian helps as well-

In any case, to realize that Trump's kind of attitude, and nastiness is alive and well is scary and sad and bad and...and...and..I'm not really sure what else to say.

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The Excitement Never Ends

Four of the eight are now on antibiotics, one keeps running a fever, two have snoggy noses- but they will, Will, be better for Christmas!!! It is a sad state when the receptionist at our pediatrician's office recognizes my voice at the first Hello! And that when we were discussing who was going to take the last one in the discussion went like this...

K- Do you want to go or do you want me too?

Me- I don't really care, I have already been there three out of the last four days...

K- Well, they are your friends...

That's how often I see the nurses and doctor and receptionist and pretty much how often I don't really see anyone else. Sad, sad...

Needless to say I took Leo in for the Strep test (positive).

We took them all to see Santa today, anyway.

Infecting all who came near. Although hopefully not, since everyone who needs them, has been medicated for 24 hours at this point and there were no fevers this morning. So we all slept last night in our own beds, well...

Grace went shopping yesterday with Kärin for some Christmas crafts and came home with much booty. Which would explain why she was up, dressed and in the craft room at 3:00 am this morning, dragging her little sister with her. Mia had enough sense to come wake us up and report in. Grace was so surprised, but thankfully peaceful about getting back into bed, whew...

And then there's Leo- our planner...

Can I start planning now? Can we talk about Christmas yet? Can we get up earlier? What about, like 5:45? or just 5:50? ok, or 5:30? Do we have carrots for the reindeer? AND APPLES? When should we make cookies for Santa? Are we still going to Grandma's for Christmas Eve? Will we have dinner there? Are we going to church first? What time? How many presents can we open on Christmas Eve? Where is everyone's piles going to go? Should I put names out, like last year? And remember how the doctor said I could have two of those medicines so I can sleep on Christmas Eve?

Oh, yes, Leo you can have two Benadryl on Christmas Eve, how about a couple right now???



I had planned for the Santa photo, but Blogger won't let me. I'll try later.

I added them into Flickr instead...

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Santa's List (Attention Kerri and Alicia!)

Around our house there is a lot of talk about Santa and when he is coming. We have not one, but two, count down calendars. The homemade, quilted tree that we decorate nightly with a new ornament and the box that my sister sent, personalized with our name, each drawer with a chocolate kiss for each child. The kids love this Christmas tradition and look forward to doing the calendars each night. Getting ready for bed never happens faster than during the 24 days leading up to the big day. They all have to be clad in pajamas to do the calendar, so it's a race after dinner to see who can get ready first and then they all hop around waiting for everybody else. And, as a side note it's nice to know that we have dental insurance and can provide our dentist with years of care since we send them to bed each night with chocolate filled teeth...

This morning Mia decided that she really needed to ask Santa for some coloring books so she sat a the table and dictated a letter that Grace wrote for her in her very best kindergarten spelling. They addressed it and put on a sticker (letters to Santa do not require postage) and placed it into the outgoing mail. Sooo cute! I only wish that Santa would return some of those letters for us to keep...

Abe decided that Santa had already delivered a gift for him as he announced 'Santa gave me a cold'. I think, perhaps, that the concept of getting things from Santa may still be a little fuzzy for him.

Gus is clearly requesting one item and one item only, or maybe I should say one theme only.
BIONICLE! That's it. These days it is what he wants 24/7.

Jack is still trying to decide weather or not he may be on the naughty or nice team, but he continues to work hard towards the nice side. He has, however, been keeping track of which team all of his siblings are on. Jack has also decided that he now will be asking Santa for an electric guitar and a dinosaur that turns into a car...now where did these ideas come from??? These requests have elicited the ' Well, you know, it might be a little late to ask Santa for those things- he might already be done with your gifts...' Hmmm...

Gracie remains rather wishy washy about her request for a particular gift because she wants so many different things, but thankfully says that she will be happy if she gets toys for Christmas. Love, that!

Leo has decided that he only wants big ticket items this year. On his list is a PC computer- we have Mac's and he wants to be able to play computer games that are only for a PC- a pocket Dish- I think this is like your own satellite TV that fits into your pocket??? Like we would approve of that... a fly pen computer (pen\computer thingy) and a newer Game boy. Santa has always come through for him in the past even with things that we didn't approve of, so, we shall see.

The babes...well, they are easy. No requests from them and they will be thrilled to just try and ingest as much wrapping paper and remnants of tissue that they can find.

And now it is time to get the lights on the tree- we did the outside of the house early in the month and are rather late with the tree this year... I'll try and get a picture of the kids doing the calendar posted soon, I love how they all gather around with Leo in charge...

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How?

Sometimes, like when I look at my family sitting around the kitchen table, or when we are all loading up into the van, I wonder...How did I get here?? Where did all these kids come from??

It's a bit strange , isn't it?

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911

'Tis the season for holiday caroling, festive decorations, lights, and apparently friendly visits from inquiring police officers. This happens for many reasons- noisy parties that are going late into the night, perhaps suspicious behavior in the neighborhood, collecting money for the police fund or maybe after someone in the house CALLS 911!!

Yes, in fact this is what happened at our house a few nights ago. The carolers had been at the house collecting cans in exchange for the singing. The kids were bathed and ready for bed. Julia was being fussy and Ruby was getting rocked to sleep. Julia was waiting, but getting crankier by the second, so I gave her the nearest object that would distract her for a little while, yes, the phone. A few minutes later the doorbell rings. Could it be more carolers?? Not unless it is the local police singing group...

Now, what are the chances that Julia, at ten months, would dial any complete number connecting herself to Belgium, Taiwan, or say 911? Our phone is one of the newer ones that operates much like a cell phone, in that you dial the number and then press talk in order for the number to connect. So, this means that Jul had to dial exactly 9- 1- 1- and then Talk. She's 10 months old, did I mention that?

Thankfully, the officers were very kind. We offered them to come in and take a look around at the house to make sure we weren't being held captive (we are of course held captive by our children, but we didn't tell them that). They took a look at the kids swarming the front door and politely declined. We apologized. They complimented us on our Christmas lights and went on their way.

Needless to say, Julia no longer plays with the phone!


I mean, really, what are the chances???

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The Letter

It is that time of year again to write the annual letter. Christmas form letters. You know, I used to think they were sort of silly and trite. I changed my mind. Like so many other things in life, as more time has passed I see the usefulness of many things that I used to dismiss. Now, what I think about is just how many things that I will look back on in ten years and think - How ridiculous that I thought that 10 years ago...

Are you following..???

Anyway, the Christmas Card- We started a few years back- it really is a convenient way to stay somewhat in touch with folks that we don't get to see as often as we want and to share a picture of our, seemingly, ever growing family. So for two days I've had it on my to do list... and here I sit procrastinating. Instead of actually writing the letter, I'm writing about writing the letter, hmmm... How ridiculous is that?

Not to mention that I should be doing a million other things.

A few days a week I drop off my oldest, Leo, a few minutes before 8:00 and then have to wait until 8:30 to bring Jack into preschool. It's on the same campus. If the weather is decent and the babes are awake we all fall out of the van and hang out on campus. The 'big' kids climb on the playstructure and swing and the babies sit in the stroller and watch. It's a nice way to blow 30 minutes. Lately ,it has been cold and the wee ones have been sleeping so we park in the lot, listen to Christmas tunes and watch the school kids file into their classrooms, participate in PE, and just generally start their day.

This morning as we sat, the kids requesting their favorites, I watched one of our teachers welcoming her students into their classroom. Now, maybe it was the combination of a toasty warm car, freezing weather outside, quiet kids and holiday music, but it was a sweet scene.

Mrs. H. opened the door for her students and while holding the door gave each one a brief, but even from a distance, warm hug. This is customary for our school, each child is welcomed with a side hug, handshake, or a 'how do ya do?'. Which is, in itself, a wonderful thought and gesture...Watching it transpire, feeling the warmth was...nice...really nice.


P.S. The little one that was hurt in the car accident that I wrote about on 11/17 has her own website, if you are interested, please feel free to visit.

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Swollen Heart

You know that saying, "my heart swelled", do you think it really does?

Tonight as I watched my firstborn, our oldest son, perform, my heart felt measurably larger. He twittered, he danced, he spoke his lines unfalteringly, he sang. He was good. He's ten and not famous, yet- maybe someday.

I was leaning forward in my seat hoping to catch each nuance of the actors- I was eager, excited for them. I believe the oldest of the troupe was 16. Which means our guy was among the youngest. Many of the kids brought tears to my eyes. They were performing A Christmas Carol- a touching story told by children. I knew several of them and to watch them strut their stuff, so proud. They would scan the crowd looking for their parent or friend, aunt or grandma. Make the slightest of eye contact, a little smile and move on. So incredibly sweet.

This swelling I think is good for you, probably brings more oxygen to your brain or releases more endorphins or something. But really what I like is that I felt good, I felt proud and my boy did good!

What makes your heart swell?

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