Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

We finally have our Christmas tree up. It isn't decorated yet (well, except that one ornament that Ellie insisted on hanging and re-hanging), but that is planned for tomorrow night. They also hung all of our stockings tonight. The girls are beyond excited! I, however, am not overly hopeful that the boy will leave the pretties alone.

They have been quite disappointed in us this year. Clearly we aren't meeting their timeline in decorating our house for the Holidays. Abby has been especially vocal in telling me what we need to do and when. It doesn't help that many of the houses in our neighborhood had lights on as soon as they were done eating their Thanksgiving meal. We had planned to have them on and ready by then, but it just didn't happen. And now, we've missed our prime opportunity to hang them without freezing our extremities off. A few nights ago she went so far as to threaten that she wouldn't go to bed until the lights were up on the house. First of all, she is in a big phase of making threats about everything. Second of all, we are not getting on the roof to hang up lights in thick fog and drizzle. It just wasn't going to happen. I decided to take my odds that she would eventually fall asleep, and she did.

I sure do miss going out and picking out the perfect Christmas tree, creating those memories of us stomping around in the snow in search of the one for us, and the smell and beauty of a fresh tree. But there is absolutely nothing better than connecting three sections of a fake tree and just plugging it in. I had truly forgotten that the tree we got last year was a pre-lit. I had been thinking about how we'd be up until midnight stringing lights. I was thrilled when I was reminded that all we had to do was plug it in! From start to finish, a whole 20 minutes. Just the type of instant gratification we needed this year. Maybe in a few years we will return to the fields to pick out a real tree... maybe.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

As usual, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

The flurry of preparation and activities began Wednesday night for us. Somehow Carie and I managed to get all the necessities, which seemed like the entire house - including the kitchen sink, packed and loaded into the van. Only a small list of items remained to be gathered and loaded Thursday morning. It was nice waking casually Thursday morning, watching the Thanksgiving Day parade with the kids, baking that last pie, getting everyone through the bath/shower and then loaded into the van. We were off and on our way to celebrate Thanksgiving with Carie's family, 12 people in all.

After enjoying the most delicious meal, the girls sat around and played a game, the boys (i.e. grown "men") played some shoot em up game (or that is what it sounded like), Grandpa and the kids watched movies after they had played outside, Spencer took a nap, Carie's BIL dozed in the chair for a bit, and Arwen took her nap. Once all the napping was out of the way we headed up to the neighborhood park. The kids had a blast swinging, sliding, and playing on the merry-go-round. I, however, got a little sick from the merry-go-round. I don't know what I was thinking getting on it to begin with! We then enjoyed delicious Turkey sandwiches, fixings, and more dessert than anyone really needs. After hanging out and playing some more, we got the kids all jammied up and we were on our way.

Our weekend was extended by both Carie and I having Friday off. I tackled "Black Friday" shopping and succeeded! Other than being pooped from the earlier than usual rising and all the hustle and bustle, I really enjoyed it! People were very pleasant. Lines weren't terribly long, no longer than I had anticipated. The stores were prepared for the volume of people. I had lists ready to go, managed to stick to those lists (a huge accomplishment for me), and found some amazing deals. We are able to gift some incredible gifts, we think, solely because of the Black Friday deals. Even better, we have a lot of our holiday shopping complete. That says a lot given the amount of shopping we do each year.

If all that wasn't enough, I managed to score some great deals for Carie and me. I was able to use my birthday money and got a really cool external hard drive for next to nothing. Then I stumbled on a Laser Printer that I thought would fit Carie's needs. I wasn't looking for a printer as our cash flow doesn't warrant such a purchase at this time. But I couldn't help but notice this deal as I walked in the door. Needless to say, I scored huge! Partly because it was a floor model (still in excellent shape), partly because the sign was way wrong, and then partly because the cashier wrung it up way way way wrong. Given my other purchases and rebates involved, I didn't notice that she had made that error until later that day when I was looking at the receipt. In the end, I walked out of the store with this printer for $120! I got it hooked up last night and it works awesome. Better yet, it fits inside our computer desk... in place of our two non-working printers. And now we have a very clean and clutter free desk!

Saturday was round two of our Thanksgiving celebrations. We had tried to get everything together the previous night, and mostly succeeded. Most importantly we had all the food prep (turkey, green bean casserole, and 4 pies) complete so we could just load that and go the next morning. Again we were able to wake fairly casually, watch more of the Thanksgiving Day parade, and get everyone ready to go. We were off and on our way to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family, 13 people in all this year. We arrived, helped mom get the food pulled together, and ate a delicious and incredibly filling meal. The little kids, Spencer and Haleigh, took their naps while the bigger kids happily played on the back patio. Carie, I and Spencer took my grandma to a couple of stores near my folks place, hoping we could pick up the last sale item I couldn't find on Friday. Mostly it was good to get grandma out of the house, get a little walking in, and get some fresh air. We returned to my folk’s house in time to watch part of the big football game of the day (OU vs. OSU), ate some pie, talked, got Spencer an unusual but needed 2nd nap, and began getting dinner fixings out.

As we are eating dinner we determine that there is an available Husker Volleyball ticket available. Carie assures me it would all be fine and I should go. I'm not so sure, feeling guilty about leaving, and worried about the kids and the late night. Long story short, I go to the game. So with only about 15 minutes before the game started, we left. Dad dropped me off at the coliseum and I found my seat before the players were even announced. It was a great game and I had a great time. Though, it would have been more fun if Carie or the girls were able to go with me. As it turned out, it was the final game of the season and the Huskers were awarded the Big XII Conference Title. Post season play begins this week and the Huskers are the top seed. YAY! After the game we helped my niece get all the players autographs on her mini volleyball. It was fun to see her excited and having fun.

Today was a much needed low key day. I did grill another turkey, the 2nd in three days. We were able to give attention to a few areas of the house that needed it. Now only if the rest of the house could magically become clutter free and clean while the newly cleaned areas remained clean, we'd be set. I can dream, can't I?

Do Not Leave Child Unattended

So I have so much to write about. I've got lists of topics and things to say. But this particular one cuts in line.

I know companies put warning labels on things to protect themselves from people who don't think. Like... "The contents of this cup may be hot". No kidding? Then there's the warnings all over baby equipment to remind you (but does it?) to not leave your child unattended. I know we all make decisions each and every day that affect the safety of our children. We all take some risks, often without really realizing it. But this one tops the cake, for me.

Last night I took Ellie into a public restroom to wash off the cheesy popcorn residue she had all over her hands and face. We entered the restroom to find a woman with her young boy, who I'm guessing was about 12m old given his size and skills. The boy is in a crawling position, and scooting backwards, on the changing table. Oh, and his pants are around his ankles and his boy parts are hanging free. The mother, with back to child, was clearly looking for something in one of the two strollers she had with her. Yes, two strollers, one child. The other child, who I'm guessing to be 3ish, was with dad in the hall.

I say to her, he's about to crawl off the end of the changing table. She was seriously only a couple moves away from the boy sliding right off the end and onto the floor. She turns around, picks him up, flips him over, and lays him back down, then turns away from him again to resume her search for whatever she was searching for.

What do you think happened? Of course the boy flips right back over! At this point he is now holding on to the edge of the table, peeking over the edge, and could easily topple over. Visions of Ellie's shopping cart accident totally came rushing through my head. I know what can happen if a child falls that far. I think I say something again, I don't remember. I'm a bit shocked and my mind is filled with all the horrible thoughts about what is going to happen.

I DO remember her being all worried about the unpaid merchandise she had brought into the restroom with her. She picks up the boy, with pants still around his ankles, and stands him on the floor next to all her gear. She then takes the small stack of merchandise to her husband. Then she returns to put a diaper on the boy.

Unbelievable!

My First Gig!

Today I got to attend a "photography" class. Basically, a class that was supposed to teach me how to use the semi complicated camera we own. Ya know, taking the camera off the auto setting.

This was one of my incredible birthday gifts from Carie and the kids. She thought I would enjoy it, called around and found some options, and enrolled me. She found a great option in Lincoln and thought the drive would be worth it. She was right! While I felt extremely guilty for leaving her alone with the kids for yet another day, I was thrilled to get to do this.

Over our lunch break we were given an assignment. A task to think about and incorporate some of the techniques he had taught that morning. So off I go to a local park that I was familiar with, a dog park. I'm trying to think about all the info from that morning, trying to not look like I was some psycho stalking dogs and their families, and all that stuff. In doing so I had made some small talk with some of the adults. I mentioned that I was taking a photography class and I was just practicing.

Before I knew it, one of the extremely nice ladies hollered over to me and says "I'll pay you to take a picture of my kid and dog". She was even trying to get people to stay out of my way. I said, I'd be happy to take a picture, but you don't need to pay me. So I snapped a few pictures and e-mailed one that I thought turned out pretty good. If I had time, or was at all thinking, or if the girl wasn't wearing shorts and freezing, and if the dog wasn't a total maniac and better yet the girl not afraid of the dog, I would have suggested posing near some better scenery. But as it was, this didn't really fulfill my lunch hour assignment. Heck, if I was really thinking I would have set the damn camera to AUTO.

But it works. I think she immediately thought that I've had weeks, if not months, of training. But in reality I was fresh off of 3 whole hours!

It will be interesting to see what she thinks. She's hoping to use it for their Christmas card.

Hanging Artwork

As any other usual day in our house, the girls drew pictures, made their own story books, created unique artwork.

Except on this day when Ellie was done with her masterpiece she decided it was worthy to hang on the wall. So, she took it upon herself to do the hanging.

After some time had passed Mommy noticed the two additions to the wall, flanking our patio door. They were hung perfectly at Ellie's level. They were beautiful.

Except... she used GLUE! Ya know the white stuff in the bottle.

Momma, Mommy, or ???

Spencer's got Mommy & Momma down pat. He says them frequently and repeatedly. He makes his whishes known. Though lately... I've become both Mommy and Momma. We are in that lovely phase where the boy only wants me, me, and me. He does love his Mommy dearly, we all know he does. He really really does! Though it will be nice when he shows that love and affection equally.

Well, last night we were at the store getting groceries. Carie was a wee bit ahead of us and I call for her to ask her a question. Of course I use her name. What does the boy do? He calls for "Carie" also... repeatedly... throughout the rest of the store. And he thought he was the funniest boy ever.

While I found it so freakin hilarious and cute, I'm not entirely sure Mommy did. For me, the funny part of it was his reaction to it all.

Favorite Word Of The Week

One of Spencer’s newest words (and my favorite) this week is poopy.

Not that we approve of or encourage potty talk in our house. So far we've been lucky that potty talk just doesn't exist in our home... yet. I'm sure there will be a day where Spencer uses his new word in conjunction with another body part. This time though, the boy was really trying to communicate his problems to Mommy.

He was supposed to be napping. He did nap, just not long enough. Mommy tried giving him all of his things back... the important sleeping tools for this toddler that had somehow ended up on the floor in the middle of his room. Mommy leaves only slightly hopeful that the boy would go back to sleep. After a short while he was making it known that he was not going back to sleep and Mommy had better come to his attention now. Mommy goes to the boy's room and the boy says "poopy". Ahh yes... there's the smell and the evidence all over his bed.

Fortunately for us it was just a blow out and he is not yet following his sisters’ footsteps. We can totally do without the poop art!

November?

Is it really November? It sure feels like summer all over again.

The weather around here has been incredible this week. Early in the week it started out incredibly nice and kept getting better. By today it was supposed to be nearly 80 degrees. I almost considered suggesting that we send the girls to preschool in shorts, but it was still on the chilly side in the morning.

Today after preschool I took the girls to their dentist appointment. On our way home we had a great conversation about the weather. They were incredibly curious about this mystery weather. They wanted to know if it was still fall. They also wanted to know if they could go swimming! Even though the weather is trying to trick us, yes it is still fall and no we may not go swimming. Though, I know it would be fun! I reminded them that the outdoor (public) swimming pools were closed. Ellie informed me that our (inflatable) backyard swimming pool was also closed. Then we listed off all the other fun things they could do outside for the entire day.

Yes, it is still fall. Yes, winter is on the way. But for now, soak up all the sunshine and fresh air you can!

Fall Fun

All too soon the leaves will be gone... (notice they
did survive the shots)

The Boy - 18 Month Well Check

This afternoon we went in for Spencer's 18 month well check and flu shots all around.

No surprises on the well check. The boy is doing great and most of all he is healthy. They are all healthy and it is wonderful. It has been rather nice not being frequent visitors lately. I'm hopeful that trend will continue as we enter into the winter months.

The shots were a downer for all. Abby was brave and went first. Though I could tell that she was rather nervous about it. She was excited to tell Mommy how brave she was when we got home. Ellie really struggled with it for the first time ever. She was downright terrified. She told Mommy (in a very proud voice) that she was not brave. Spencer still doesn't like the darn things. I vow to never take all of them for shots by myself again!

The stats:
Height: 35 1/4" > 100%
Weight: 31 lbs 10 oz > 100%
Hat Size: > 100%

Our Ped is amazed at his strength and his size. She found out just how strong his leg muscles were! Then she picked him up and was shocked. She knew what he weighed but she commented that he doesn't look like it. He's not skin and bones by any means, but he also doesn't have fat rolls. He's just a solid boy! Should we be bracing ourselves for contact sports?

Reassuring Observation

This weekend is a family weekend for us. Time to regroup, reconnect, and relax. It also happens to be a beautiful weekend in the weather department. So... we were off to the zoo this afternoon after Spencer had graced us with an awesome nap. We enjoyed the sun, fresh air, and the antics of the Gorilla's.

With the timing of it all we decided that we would also plan on going out for dinner. It wasn't any special dinner. It wasn't fast food, the food was delicious, and the price was right. But that wasn't the best part about it all. As we are eating our meal Ellie continues to be distracted by things outside of our table. Somehow she was managing to eat an excellent dinner, but she didn't seem to be "with" us.

Then all of a sudden Ellie leaned over to tell me "that girl has two dads". Unfortunately my back was to them, though I did try and catch a look. We weren't able to tell what the family dynamic was, though there was a good chance that Ellie had nailed it. But what really amazes and excites me is that regardless of whether or not they were a family unit, Ellie is thinking in that mindset.

Sure, she knows she has two moms. She knows she does not have a dad. She knows that the majority of her friends have a mom and a dad. She/they are okay with all that. I don't feel like they are "missing" anything and they don't appear to be either. But it isn't something that they care to or seem to need to talk about. It just seems so matter of fact to them. While this is great, I do have the occasional concerns that we aren't "preparing" them for whatever unknown situations are going to come their way. We are open and honest with folks that approach us with questions, which isn't really often. We talk about it if they bring it up, but that seems to never happen. We've casually brought it up in conversations before, only for that conversation to die before it even gets off the ground. So I've been left with these occasional feelings and concerns that they are unprepared. While I'm sure these feelings and concerns won't completely go away, tonight’s observations and the excitement she had when making the observation will go a long way.

Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween!!!















The girls have been counting down to this day for a couple of weeks now, and have been pretty good at keeping track of just how many days were left.

We've had our gigantic pumpkins for a couple of weeks. The trick was finding the right time to make them into jack-o-lanterns. We were quite busy 4 out of the 5 days leading up to Halloween and we didn't want to carve them too early. We were planning on doing it on our "free" night, the night before Halloween. But after a long and busy weekend and the added time change thrown in for good measure we just weren't up to it. Then we decided to do it the afternoon of Halloween, but that turned out to be a no go. The girls were doing great just going with the flow. By Tuesday afternoon all they were focused on was the trick-or-treating. By dinner time, they couldn't contain themselves. They managed to get some dinner in them, after protesting. After our doorbell rang with the first batch of trick-or-treaters, they decided that they'd better finish their dinner so they could go trick-or-treating.

Amongst answering the door, we all got ready to go ourselves. We were almost ready when their buddies B&B came by to trick-or-treat so we ended up heading out with them. We were very surprised when we got outside and noticed that the wind had stopped blowing. It was still chilly, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. It turned out to be an excellent night after all. All of the kids appeared to stay warm in their layers of clothes, coats, and costumes. The girls witch costumes weren't quite as cool looking with their winter coats on, but we needed to keep them warm. We managed to get a pair of warm jammies on Spencer underneath his full body Giraffe costume and the Giraffe hood kept his head nice and warm. The (hand-me-down) Giraffe costume that he barely fit in! We had gloves, but they didn't seem to need them.

We all strolled up and down our block, visiting familiar neighbors before calling it a night. It was nice visiting familiar houses, having those neighbors recognize the kids and get a kick out of it, and watching the kids have a great time. It was nice to keep it low key and to hear the girls suggest that the neighbor houses were enough for them. I remember Ellie saying "just one more house mom!" Spencer did a great job at keeping up with the bigger kids. He was really into it and his "trick-or-treat" was amazing! So good that other people understood him. While he accepted the candy and clutched it in his fists, he was very interested in investigating the animals that lived inside the homes. The cats and dogs really caught his attention. As did the moon and the stars in the brisk dark night.

When we got home we quickly peeled off the layers and gathered around the kitchen table. The girls were excited to see all the great stuff they had in their bags. Spencer was eager to get the wrapper off the one and only piece of candy he was interested in... a sucker. He knows all about suckers (dum dum's) while the rest were just shiny pieces of paper to him. Each girl picked out their choice piece of candy to enjoy and happily put the rest in baggies labeled with their names. I was happy to see that we didn't end up with a ton of candy. To me, it seemed like they each collected the perfect amount. It was also awesome that while they were extremely excited to see their collection, they had no desire to eat it all at once. We heard more than once that eating all that candy would make their tummies hurt. Maybe it also helped that we had other fun activities planned and they were ready to move on.

Today was "snack day" for Abby at preschool and Abby had chosen to make applesauce to share with her friends. After getting the table cleared we peeled and sliced apples until the big saucepan was full. Once the apples were cooking and that mess was cleaned up, it was time to finally carve our pumpkins.

I think this may become a new ritual at our house. Other than it getting a bit too late, we had a lot of fun. The girls didn't seem to care that the pumpkins weren't carved and out for Halloween night and it was a fun activity for us to do on Halloween. Spencer participated for a bit as well and then it was off to bed for him. Poor Carie was under the weather with some tooth pain from a root canal. So it was mostly the girls and I.

As we were preparing to start they were over the top gung ho about cleaning their own pumpkins. As I carved off the top and they were reminded what the insides of a pumpkin looked like, they were less eager. It was quite funny to watch and listen to them change their tune from one extreme to the next. Especially Ellie. After she saw the inside she didn't want to have anything to do with the icky/gooey innards of the pumpkin. She did end up scooping out seeds... seeds only and one by one. She was careful to not touch anything! Needless to say I sped up that process with my own spoon and hands.

I did end up convincing Abby to dig in with her hands. But of course, we had to do it together. This really meant that on the count of 3 I dug in with my hand while she watched. After I scooped out a couple of handfuls she was convinced to dig in on her own. She enjoyed showing Ellie the goopy pumpkin mess squishing between her fingers.


Once the pumpkins were cleaned out it was carving time. Each girl got to choose how they wanted their pumpkin carved. Starting with Ellie's pumpkin, she chose square eyes, a triangle nose, and a diamond mouth. She was thrilled with her end result! Moving onto Abby's pumpkin. Abby drew diagrams on a piece of paper so I knew exactly what she wanted. She starts with requesting circle eyes. I say something about that being challenging. She replies that SHE knows how to make circles. Well, yes dear, I know you know how to make a circle. So I made circle eyes! Then she chose a square nose (love those straight lines), and what I would call a frowny/sad mouth while Abby called it a scared mouth. But I followed her diagram and it worked perfectly for her! We then lit the pumpkins and they enjoyed them for a bit before heading straight to bed. Of course they negotiated to have a pumpkin in their room. I of course negotiated that if anyone got out of bed, the pumpkin was coming back downstairs.