Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and can remember everything we have to be thankful for. I think 'Thank you' are two of the most meaningful and most often overlooked words in the world. So I thought I would get my 'thank you's' down in writing to help remind myself that I do have so much to be thankful for. In no particular order:

I'm thankful I have J for a husband and father to my children. And that he loves me for who I am.
I'm thankful for our health and safety especially after the trials of late.
I'm thankful our kids are healthy and bright and seemingly 'normal' for the most part.
I'm thankful for a warm house on this cold snowy day.
I'm thankful for friends God places in our lives to see us through the harder times and to celebrate the better times.
I'm thankful for our families who love us despite our faults and shortcomings.
I'm thankful for our country where even with the current times, we still have the freedoms we enjoy.
I'm thankful for the sacrifices my husband and all our servicemembers and families make to keep our country safe and free.
I'm thankful for God's love and gift of his Son.
I'm thankful God listens to and answers prayers.
I'm thankful for music and flowers and art and every other gift God gives us to remind us that He is able to see us through.

The fun never stops

and I could use a break! I did manage to get the place cleaned up a bit on Tuesday and moved some furniture around and torked my back at the same time... Woke up Wednesday and almost fell down when I got up! Managed to make it to the OSC Luncheon and made a nice Christmas wreath and then went to Bunco in the evening and had fun rolling the dice and chatting and eating. Left a little early since I wasn't feeling so great, got home, went to bed and couldn't get warm then woke up with a sore throat! Two nights of that and chills and sweats, went to the doctor today and I've got Strep throat. Hello, amoxycillin. Feeling better already, but now I have to play catch up for the last two days of laying around! And pray I don't have any sick kids.

I did make it to BB and BG's teacher conferences yesterday and thankfully no worries in the school area. BB is pretty much average in most areas, excels in art and music and needs a little bit of help with spelling. BG's teachers cannot believe that she's my challenge at home since she is such a little angel at school! And performing very well academically thus far in her kindergarten career. They're also impressed with her imagination and creativity, especially on days she dresses herself.

The littles spent a lot of time in hourly care this week and by yesterday they really didn't want to be there. They're fine as soon as I leave and when I went to pick them up they were happily playing as usual. But ready to leave... It's been different the last couple of weeks since they've moved the two-year olds into the same room with the pre-schoolers (3-5 year olds). I think they're a little overstimulated and it tires them out more. Still not sure why the 'Army' decided they would make that change? Harder for the teachers to deal with the differences in ages and development also... Here's a sample of BB's artwork. Subject matter a little wierd but the details are great in my completely unbiased opinion! Also a video of LB singing the Indiana Jones theme song. I finally figured out what he was singing when he pointed to a picture of an Indiana Jones action figure in a catalog and started 'singing' the song.

Why is it...

that when you're at your worst something occurs to make the maintenance man show up at your door? I was so embarrassed tonight that I didn't even mention the mess! So the to do list I published last week was started and therein lies part of the problem... I have three projects started and none completed and the rest of the house has fallen to pieces in the meantime. Plus the pictures I took out from that moment of distraction and didn't put away because I have to move the storage chest they were in to make room for the elliptical trainer sitting in the middle of my living room because I couldn't get it into my bedroom, plus the vaccuum cleaner sitting at the ready for the cereal the twins 'shared' with the carpet just before dinner, plus the mess from dinner, plus the mountain of laundry in the laundry room and toys scattered everywhere. It's only moments like this that the bathtubs fill with brown water. At least they got here quick! Apparantly my water heater was set to 'warm' and I'm to let it get hot and hopefully clear out the sediment, if not call them back in the morning. I guess I can at least vacuum...

Missing...

my mom a lot this past week or so. I was thinking about what to get her for her birthday last week before I realized what I was doing. Her headstone was also finally placed this last week so it was a little bit of a shock and seeing pictures of it made her death seem more 'permanent.' I stopped at the Chocolate Cottage for lunch yesterday after running some errands and was almost crying in my mousse. It's the kind of place she always dreamed of opening someday in an old house, with little tables for two, coffee and tea, and a European menu with delicious crepes and desserts. and lots of chocolate! I could almost see her sitting across from me talking about ideas for her own place and what she would do differently. It's places like that and the garden center down the road or when I want to call her and tell what the kids did that day when it hits me that she's gone and I won't see her again until we meet in Heaven one day. Bittersweet sorrow. So I went on a little quest to find some pictures of my mom (I've had an empty frame in my kitchen for the last year waiting to put her pic in it; sometimes I am my mother!) and of course out of hundreds I found only 5 pictures of her. Here's one from my wedding with her two sisters on either side:

Number one son

is growing up too quickly! I had to take pictures out the other day because I couldn't remember exactly what he looked like as a baby/toddler and I wanted to compare him and Rohan at this age. Anyway, he's much more popular than J or I was as a kid which I have mixed feelings about sometimes. He's friendly and clownish and quick to take the blame instead of get a friend in trouble. So today he and his friends were 'hanging out' in our garage when they got cold. Garage door half-way down, heater on, playing checkers and watching a movie on the portable DVD player. Funny, but it felt like I had a teenager instead of a seven-year old. How do I make it stop?!

Unmotivated...

to do anything. I have so much I need to get done right now, yet so little motivation/energy to do anything beyond the minimum. Maybe if I make a list it will get it all out of my head and be less overwhelming, so not exactly exciting reading, but here's my to do list:

First and foremost, feed, clothe, bathe and see to general well-being of children. After that everything else is bonus:

Finish cleaning out computer armoire in family room
Move current computer into armoire
Rearrange my bedroom to make room for the eliptical trainer
Use the eliptical trainer a few times a week
Shampoo filthy carpets
Lay vinyl flooring down over the dining room carpet to prevent further filth
Rearrange living room to make room for the piano
Transport piano to house
Put rest of junk from back yard into garage before the next snow
Move my planters into the garage
Mulch the garden
Oil change/winterize the van
Clean the van
Keep up on daily chores and reduce the mountain of laundry
Stick to my budget and figure out Chrismas

So, I guess I should get off the computer and tackle at least one thing on there...

I'm blaming the boots...

I finally bought the Frye boots I've been wanting for a couple of years and it seems they really want to get dirty! The first time I wore them, I had to fish LB out of the lake. Today, after 17 years of nary an incident with mud, I got the van stuck and my boots muddy. So it's the boots, or I'm just destined to provide entertainment for others with my occasional bouts of idiocy. After I bought my piano I decided to drive by the LeRay Mansion since I hadn't seen it yet. There was a utitily truck blocking the road so I decided to turn around and go back out the way I came. Well, my front tires went into the very soft, deep mud on the side of the road and that was it... Front wheel drive, stuck real good. Luckily, the public utitily guys were kind enough to winch me out as they were trying not to laugh! One guy kept calling me 'dear' but I could see the 'daft cow' in his eyes. So glad I could provide a bright spot of humor in somebody's day...

Halloween, cont.

The kids and I had a lot of fun Halloween Day! I dug their pumpkins out of the quickly melting snow Friday morning so we could carve them after school. I was able to get the twins in hourly care during the big kids parade and festivities at school, so it was nice being able to help out in BG's class before the parade and with BB's party afterward. I brought them home a little early and we all started on our pumpkins. I'm not sure why I bought four of them since BB was the only one interested in helping after the first five minutes of scooping! LG was actually afraid of them and wouldn't come near them! I've found that our Skilsaw works great for pumpkins when you don't have too much detail work! So we got those done and then I got them all into their costumes. LG was Little Red Riding Hood and wearing an old dress my mom made for me one Christmas (my sisters all had matching), LB was a cowboy, but refused to wear his boots and the hat came off after about 2 minutes. And of course the first thing he did when we went outside was jump in a puddle. Easily distracted by candy... BB decided to be the Grim Reaper and he had a great time Trick-or-Treating with his friends and a neighbor dad. Good thing because BG, dressed as Arwen from Lord of the Rings, is the laziest little trick-or-treater I've ever seen! We made it up and down our street this time, which is a record for her thus far. The twins rode in the wagon for the most part and ate whatever candy came their way... When we got back we sat around the neighbor's fire bowl and handed out candy. Except for LB being a bit cranky the next day, Halloween a success.