A Few of My Favorite Things

Fridays will be a weekly wrap up of snippets of my favorite things from the week.  Because I am me, we are kicking off Favorite Things Friday on Saturday.

• Toddlers kisses and the exaggerated puckered lips

• Twins holding hands and running through the house together giggling

• Big D's school work helpfully pointing out to his teacher that "My mom's feet are big". 

• My husband coming home earlier than expected.

• Hearing my older kids reading to their siblings.

• Bug organizing a concert and helping his brother and sister work on and practice their songs.

• The director getting stage fright when it was his turn to sing.

• Getting the mail and opening more Christmas cards than bills.

• Timing right for the kids and I to watch their Dad get loaded with mud from the lake project.

• Taking a long shower and not having the door knocked on once, or having any conversations through the door.

A Memory is a Picture Your Heart Takes

 One of my more recent favorite pictures.  Big brother and his littlest sisters.

Small Blessing #258

I am fortunate.  My children aren't nearly as picky eaters as I was. (Though the Big D is going through a not eating the color green unless its a salad stage.) I would have ate cheerios 3 meals a day. I hated pancakes and french toast...and also tacos.

My kids like pancakes.  I wouldn't say they are my favorite,  but I dont hate them. I actually like them with blueberries or chocolate chips. The kids love them plain or with any combination of things I have thrown in. Made from scratch or a mix, with whole wheat flour and honey or white flour and sugar. To them it's all good.

My kids also like french toast. Again plain or with toppings and additions. For the record I also like french toast these days.. .though probably  everyday.

This morning was rough. I stayed up too late reading a book. Then I was up too early with the baby. So I layed like a lump on a log curled up on the couch while my children swore to be dying of starvation and thirst. Finally I stirred and I heard "couldnt we at least have toast? ANYTHING we are soooooo hungry". I looked at the time and was embarrassed at how late it was. So I made french toast.

So quick and easy, yet still has the look of a thoughtful meal. And it struck me. I was such a pain as a child because I didn't like any breakfast meal that was quick and easy. (Aside from cold cereal). I'm sure Mom had the same kind of days I do. Same list of chores and varying amounts of sleep...and she DIDN'T drink coffee! Seriously Mom, how did you childrear without caffeine?

A Christmas Story, the Pirate Version

Sunday was the kids CCD Christmas program after mass.  We received a phone call personally inviting us to attend Saturday night, as they planned to dedicate the performance to the deployed military members of the parish.  They also had a small token they wanted to present the families. They gave us a very pretty wreath, and after mass we stayed in our pew for the much anticipated performance.

The Christmas story as told by a Grandmother mouse who apparently was at the stable where our Lord and Savior was born.  They are lucky that cute children played the parts of the mice, otherwise a story of vermin living for several thousand years wouldn't have been my idea of a great story.  Anyway, the costumes were adorable, one of my favorites was a little star.   Who I felt bad for, he had no lines and just had to stand there.  The Big D loved the sheep and immediately stood up to give them a standing ovation, complete with clapping, laughing and pointing....SHEEEP SHEEP! SHEEEEEP!

Most of the kiddos read their lines in that monotone-self-conscious-why-am-I-being-forced-to-do-this kind of way.  The audience was expected to sing along with the common Christmas tunes, but not understanding the low mumbled lines, and being Catholics, audience participation was poor (really you would think everyone would have caught on to the fact that Catholics don't sing...and if we do it isn't well.) My memory of some of the songs was rusty...my little family did a lot of humming along.  The true stand outs of this play were the camels though.  They came in with dark shades dancing and bee-bopping on altar stage..  They had no lines as a rap song version of we Three Kings was played and they danced, I laughed so hard.  It was cute, they were really the only animated and in-to-it characters...and it didn't fit with the rest of the play, but was so fun.

Not the actual KCs/Kings from our parish,
but a visual to help with the story.

Apparently there weren't enough child actors so three of the Knights of Columbus played the parts of the three kings.  I'm not sure if you have ever seen the KCs in full costume, but when they came into view the Toddler loudly shouted "I think those are PIRATES!!!"  At the end of the play when the procession of thespians marched by, he again was excited to point out them out. "Yep, those are three pirates! one-two-three!"

As a thank you to the CCD, I did truly love the play.  Thank you for the wreath and acknowledging our troops that won't be home for Christmas.  The program was cute, and I honestly didn't expect Gangsta Camels or Pirates. It was a memorable twist.

Photobomb 32

Dear Hubby,

This week we had another infectious disease to combat in our house: ringworm. Which is the same as athletes foot or jock itch...just on a different part of the body.  Gotta love one more reason to not be able to go to daycare.  Not sure where it came from as we aren't a wrestling family and have no pets, but he is a boy and likes to play in the dirt, so I guess it could have come from anywhere.

I relied on a lot of family to get me through the week.  Monday I drove the boys to my sister's because she had the day off...and was feeling insane.  I owe her a medal, for real.  She ended up having 4 little boys in the 3-4 year range and 2  one-and-half-year olds, and that's before her two kids got out of school. Crazy award for being willing to watch them all, hero medal for getting them all to take a nap at the same time!

Tuesday and Wednesday your Madre took a shift, and Thursday and Friday my Aunt drove 4 hours to come stay at the house and watch the boys.  That is a lot of love!  I am so thankful for all the help, and loved having my Aunt here.  She attempted to teach me to crochet, but I was excited to have an adult to visit I kept us both up way later than necessary.  The Toddler deemed her his sister, then the pretty girl, and his best friend. Long story short, she was a huge hit at the house.

The Big D got on my bad side with erasable markers.  By the way, they don't erase off the wall as easily as a white board...

...it does wipe off the cabinets fairly easily though!

Not sure of Mom's new clutter control/toy basket idea.  

He approved of it after finding it was quite easy to empty.

The Big D lov'n him some hats!  And the Toddler loving his new "best friend".

The boys getting into EVERYTHING!

The Toddler looks upset...but he is just making sound effects.

My aunt also tried to help us take a family picture...

...it was hard to wrangle both the boys at the same time...

So after many takes and several different poses, we went with the one we are all in the picture at least 1/3 of us are looking at the camera.  You will see it on the Christmas card, just thought you might enjoy some behind the scenes shots.

And oh yeah, we also got the tree up and decorated. I played with some tutorials to get the glow-y beautiful Christmas tree picture...my camera is still smarter than me.  I was also lazy and in a hurry so I didn't fluff the branches on el'fako...next year I will take more time on that part...haha, maybe.

I'm not much of a photographer,
but I still thought the tree was pretty.

Package from the Hubby

My Hubby sent me a package!  He actually sent it a few days before I was able to get his Thanksgiving Care Package sent out (wayyyy after Thanksgiving was over).  He got his package first.  Mine was well worth the wait though.  He had said he hoped it would get here before Christmas...so when it arrived yesterday I did debate waiting until Christmas to open it.  That idea vanquished from my mind approximately 3 seconds later.

Inside were 8 pashmina/silk blend scarves from Afghanistan, a polished rock egg, and four recordable story books for the boys.

Four new recorded book for the boys!
We loving hearing Daddy's voice!

The boys now have a collection of 7 daddy books.

Am I spoiled? Yep
Do I appreciate it? Yep
Do I feel bad his care package only had nut rolls and shaving cream in it? Not really... but don't judge me its what he wanted!

Et Tu, Brute?

Dear Hubby,

Courtesy of Winter Storm Brutus we have substantial snow abound.  Over the past weekend the windchill made it too cold for outdoor playtime so we stayed indoors.  On Saturday one set of neighbors cleaned our driveway with a Bobcat, then Sunday it snowed and blowed some more.  I had thought about shoveling everything off again that night, but as the wind was still blowing decided against it.  Monday morning I looked out and it looked like the street had been plowed, and I figured if I could get out of our driveway I would have it made and could shovel to my hearts content over my lunch hour.

When backing out though I noticed a car coming, so had to stop and lost my momentum.  Where are you going? No where!  It felt a lot like the first winter storm of 2010, I was stuck in our driveway...again.  I fought with a shovel and driving back and forth several times, but only half the street was actually plowed and the car was stranded on solid ice.  I called work and they said they would send the Dispatcher to come help get me out, also the neighbor came over.  Finally we got out, and our kind neighbors on the other side decided to really help me out and over the lunch hour brought in a Bobcat and cleaned out our driveway again.

I am so thankful to be surrounded by kind people. Embarrassed by how much help I need, but grateful none the less.

I didn't take a before, but the after was sure appreciated.

Does it make you feel a little bit better about being in a sand box?

Finding Thanksgiving

To help keep my mood positive I am once again attempting the 30 days of Thankful.  If you are my friend on Facebook you have been subjected to a new status of something I am thankful for each day for the month of November. I will post them all together at the end of the month.

Even without conscious effort to look around and be grateful, I am reminded of how blessed to be apart of this community again.  One Sunday night October I came home to this fun surprise!

After a bit of detective work, aka asking the neighbors, I found out who I have to thank.  The local 4-H club.  Thank you for thinking of us and getting my house festive.  Coming up on the holidays is hard as my family can't celebrate them together this year.  However, I can't help but smile every time I come home now. There is still so much to celebrate and be thankful for, and the timing couldn't have been at a better time.  I needed that reminder.  Plus the Halloween Decorations work for Thanksgiving too!

Small Town Living

There are many benefits to living in a small town and community.  The biggest, however,  is the kindness of people.  Those who live in small communities can attest to the fact that if you ever find yourself not knowing what you are doing, never fear, everyone else does...lol.  There are obviously pros and cons to this, but thankfully the pros win out.

While I don't know who everyone is in town yet, or how everyone is connected and/or related to who, if they go back from school, sports, church, or the oilfield.  Everyone has a general idea of who I am.  My husband grew up here, and as his wife and a newcomer to town (well new 2 years ago) I am known.  I am grateful for the kindness and understanding that has been shown to me as I am learning to deal with deployment.  It helps knowing how many people honestly care about my husband,  how many people are proud of him, and how many are understanding and thankful for his service.  The fact that they reach out to my children and I is beyond amazing.  Although my husband is gone, I am not alone in this.

This summer I never had to worry about mowing my lawn.  My neighbors built my new front steps (including part of the football team), and even checked the oil on my car.  Which thanks to a local shop, I never even had to pay for my oil to be changed.  Just a "please tell your Hubby thank you". Neighbors pitched in and helped put up our new fence in the yard.  I received numerous offers to watch the boys to allow me to go grocery shopping alone (better than any tropical vacation)   The high school volleyball team wore yellow ribbons in honor of the Hubby, and the band students have been putting together and delivering care packages for my boys.

They light up when they get to open their gift of juice boxes, goldfish crackers, animal crackers, and other kidlet approved snacks. The Toddler says "we get cawe package wike Daddy!"

All I can say is thank you. For the kind words, actions, thoughts, prayers, and support.  Thank you!

Kid Herders and Fence Builders

Sunday was not a day of rest.  Sunday was a day of fence building...and child labor.

Double checking measurements and marking them with spray paint. 

Getting ready to start working...and my sister doing a weird excited dance move.

 The kids took frequent play breaks.

The Big D's need to be the center of attention also caused the adults to take some breaks as well.

 Check out the Toddler's frisbee skills!  I had no idea he could even throw a frisbee!

 Setting the stakes and string line.

We tried a couple different methods for digging post holes....I liked the Bobcat the best.

With the holes dug it is time to start lining up and setting posts (not sure if we already took out the neighbors telephone wire at this point or not)

 Leveling up and pouring the cement to set the posts.

Our quality of material inspectors.

Progress!

 Mixing the cement and happy little neighbor kids taking turns bringing the water.

Uncle D trying to teach an innocent little child pranks

It backfired, the wind blew the water right back at them...but she didn't forget how to operate the sprayer!

If I had to guess I would say the neighbors are wishing they would have stayed in their house and pretended they weren't home at this point. Haha.

 More Progress!

Clearly the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence!

I had an awesome crew of fence building volunteers!

 Checkout the grandpa/grandson team!

The Big D was not a lot of help, but he sure was cute!

Even More Progress! 

Literally wrapping up for the day!  The slats will go up this coming weekend.

 Taking a break for some much needed refreshments.

Did I mention my awesome Aunt-in-Law brought over this fully stocked cooler? She also brought over two pans of manicotti, salad, garlic bread, chocolate milk, mini angel food cakes, a loaf of short cake, whipped cream and a bottle of wine!  She said she wasn't much of a fence builder but she could cook.  So she brought over supper. So that I wouldn't have to worry about feeding everyone.  She also knew I had 8 pounds of strawberries in my fridge, hence the shortcake, mini angel food cakes and whipped cream.  It worked out perfectly! I'm actually thinking about making her an award.

Kid approved refreshment center!

 The Toddler getting his flirt on.

These two are the reason we need the fence :)

Its like a clown car, stuffing as many kids as will fit in the box of a pickup.

Good times, good times.

After a full day of work, the kids enjoyed play time.