Typical

Well, there is nothing typical about this much snow.  I haven't seen this much snow in years and I don't know if my kids ever have.

As we were playing in the snow on Christmas day, enjoying one of the best and biggest snowstorms in years, I thought....I should write a blog about ALL of the snow we got and about how much fun we had in it and then include a photo of the kids in our winter wonderland. So that is what I set out to do.  And as far as the fun and the snow, it's all true.  

However, as I looked over my photos, I had to laugh because I realized that as I attempted to take one beautiful staged photo of our kids in the winter wonderland, I actually captured a series of pictures that tell a much bigger story.  The following photos exemplify exactly how things typically go in our household.

Let me elaborate...

It starts with me making a simple request of the kids.

"Can you all please look at me for just a second so I can get a picture?"

But I am ignored.

Rather, Carter, the typical instigator of trouble, smears Paige's face with a handful of snow.

I ask again, "Hey, kids, stop a minute.  Just one smile."

Still no one seems to hear me.  Instead, Paige retaliates.

And as usual, her retaliation includes far more volume and furry than the original attack. Typically causing her to be the one to get reprimanded, even though Carter often starts it (which we don't learn til later).  This time she all-out tackles him.

(You got to love Taryn's face in this picture.  As usual she is mixed up in the middle of things.  Thankfully, this time she's laughing and not crying.)

I'm getting a little louder ...."HELLO, can anyone hear me? I just want one nice picture."

Not quite yet.  I haven't asked 4 times and that's usually what it takes.  Besides, Carter still looks a little dazed from Paige's assault.

"LOOK AT ME."

There!  We did it!  They looked and smiled!

So yes, it usally takes at least 4 times for me to ask before they give me the response I'm looking for. 

And I'm sure there is a parenting magazine out there somewhere that would tell me to just ask them once and then either walk away or have some sort of consequence that I would need to follow through on and then eventually, I wouldn't need to nag.  I believe it's probably really good advice because most of the time the fact that I am completely ignored until I raise my voice makes me crazy.

Oh well, for today, if they had listened the first time, we would have missed a lot of fun!  And all I would have is one boring photo of them smiling!

Christmas Greeting 2009

Do you ever still feel it...That child-like excitement over Christmas....That energy-charged feeling that surrounds everything in the season?  Where every little moment is filled with wonderment?

I'll admit I rarely feel it any more.  Every once in a while a phrase of a Christmas carol will bring back that nostalgic feeling -- but only for a moment.  I'm afraid I fall into the majority of people whom I know who feel a bit frazzled and unprepared. 

It certainly didn't help that yesterday, 3 days before Christmas, as I was trying to buy the final 5 gifts on my list, I ran into a bit of car trouble.  I was in a hurry and feeling guilty because my kids were already on Christmas vacation and sitting home by themselves, rather than playing games, making puzzles & eating cookies with dear old mom.

I was leaving the mall parking lot, when I notice this blinking warning on my dash -- "Check Tire Pressure".  I think to myself, "That's interesting, I'll need to ask Cal about that.  I hope it is like the 'Low Fuel' warning that allows me to drive another 40 miles before taking action."  Well, apparently that is not the case. As I pulled onto the road into the crazy, last-minute-Christmas-shopping traffic, I experienced a lurching "th-thump, th-thump".  Not good.  I manuever into the next shopping center parking lot and call Cal's cell...then his work...and then I text him. Where is he when I need him?  I have no idea what I should do.  I'll admit that I pride myself on being a relatively independent girl with an "I can handle anything" kind of attitude, but this was way past my limit.  Me? Change a tire in the slush and snow? I don't think so.  I figured I might as well shop while I wait to hear from Cal.  He called me back shortly to say he was on his way to rescue me.  He bravely faced the elements...changing my tire, while trying to keep his nice work clothes clean.  I sat in his warm car offering words of encouragement through the window and telling him I was paying attention so that I could do it myself next time. :)  An hour and a half later, I was on my way home.

Well -- with that fun adventure behind us and one more day of preparing for the festivities accomplished -- I am now looking forward to a joyous Christmas.  And in an attempt to bring some nostalgia back to our Christmas season-- I thought I would share Christmas through our children's eyes:

Christmas Lights

 Merry Christmas from our Home to yours.  According to our children, the simplicity our lighted wreath and trees is boring.  They would much rather our house looked like the Griswold's.

The Advent Calendar

An early morning ritual.  The anticipation of counting down is essential.

Let it Snow...

The snow is beautiful, but, unfortuneatly, has already ruined a few holiday plans as the biggest snow storm in 7 years is predicted for Christmas Eve.

Cutting down The Tree

Carter was almost "man" enough at 9-years-old to help carry the tree this year. However, in his naturally uninhibited way, he kept yelling "Ouch" and sharing with everyone exactly where the tree was hitting him.  I had to take over.

The Christmas Program

What could be better than little children singing their hearts out about Jesus' birth?

Taryn is still wearing her flower girl dress from this summer. We adapted it with red sweater and red shoes for Christmas. (Thank you Jesse and Emily -- we have gotten our use out of this dress. It was also part of her "Beauty Queen Costume" for Halloween.)

The Creche

Over the years, our kids have all pretended and played with these figures.  We figured it didn't hurt to  let their imaginations flow about baby Jesus in the manger.  However, this year Taryn maybe got a little carried away when she introduced Ken and Barbie to Mary and Joseph and the WiseMen.  I wasn't sure if that was crossing the line.  But perhaps that is just the point of Christmas -- Jesus crossed that line and made his home among us -- Barbies and all.

Sparkling Ornaments

The Santa Hat

This hat comes out every year in December and Carter sleeps with it on most nights -- "And I in my kerchief and ma in her cap" ...

Christmas Carols

 Paige plays a wonderful rendition of "O, Come all you Faithful" on the piano which she was able to share at church.

Christmas Cookies

Aren't our aprons cute? (Thanks Mom!)

I'm glad we looked "cute" when we baked because our finished product certainly did not.  As I was lamenting over our sloppy work, Paige said to me, "At least we had fun. And they taste good. And this way you won't give them away."

Family

As I look over all these pictures, I realize that while I might no longer get that giddy Christmas feeling, and cars will break down and schedules will stay hectic, life is sure good when you carve out a few minutes to do something special for Christmas. 

And upon reflection, while the child-like excitement of Christmas may not last into adulthood, the truth and wonder of Christmas is more real to us than ever.  The thought of God becoming a human baby...the idea that the Almighty creator of the Universe came to earth and cried and cooed, that He teethed and crawled and took first steps...is no longer just a sweet story -- it is an event that we can't even begin to grasp.  We can't fathom the depth of God's love for us that He would come and dwell among us.

So maybe it's just a different kind of feeling now...not a giddy excitement, but an awe-filled humility.   

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!  She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel,  which means ‘God is with us.’”  Matthew 1:23

Wishing you a wonder-filled Christmas!

Cal, Jen, Paige, Carter and Taryn

Bye-Bye Tooth

This is one of those years...one of those years that I am saying good bye to more and more things that I will never experience again as a mom.

Recently, my baby lost her first tooth.

Taryn came home from school one day to tell me her tooth was loose.  For two years she's been telling me she has loose teeth...always about the same time her brother was losing one. So this time I, again, didn't think anything of it.  But she kept begging me, "Wiggle it, Mom.  Come on, wiggle it."  So I thought I would humor her and put my fingers in her mouth -- and it MOVED!   I have to tell you, my heart literally fell.  I just couldn't believe it.  Last I remember she was slobbering all over breaking in those baby teeth and now those teeth are falling out!

When Paige was in Kindergarten and lost many teeth, it never even occured to me to feel that she was too young to lose teeth.  I had two other little ones at the time -- and she was my "big" girl.  Makes me wonder how much different I must treat Taryn at this age, then I treated Paige.

Well after 3 weeks of drama over this loose tooth, it finally fell out at school.  I was absolutely fine with her losing it at school -- I am terribly squemish about these kind of things.  Some of my friends LOVE to pull their kids teeth out.  I can't stand it -- I can't even stand looking at the thing hanging there. Anyway -- that's probably the reason her tooth held on stubbornly for 3 weeks -- I wasn't going to help loosen it any.

She was very proud as she came home with a special "tooth" card and her tooth in a baggie.  She couldn't wait to put it under her pillow and collect her dues from the tooth fairy.  She at least kept track of her tooth.  Carter seems to misplace his -- the last three times he's lost a tooth he's had to put a note under his pillow rather than the actual tooth.  His last note said "I don't know why I can't ever find my teeth.  Could you please give me $5.00?"  -- Yeah, right -- Our tooth fairy isn't that genrous!

So I say good-bye to Taryn's baby teeth...I wonder what little thing will hit me next as these kids of mine continue to grow...

Laughs on me!

I don't know what it is about my sister and me, but everything takes on a new note of hilarity when we are together.  Things that might not typically seem so funny, invoke ridiculous giggles that we can't seem to control.  Our time together during the Thanksgiving holiday proved no different.  And let me just add that if my mom joins in the laughing...well...we are all done for.  The males around us just look on and shake their heads.

Our Thanksgiving celebration started out with appetizers, as any good celebration should....stuff ourselves on snacks before dinner!  During this time, Becca thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of us siblings and our significant others, together, on one small couch. She also decided we should try to take a "serious" photo where none of us smile.  You can see below how well that worked out for Becca and me.

Then we moved on to dinner which was delicious!  My husband made me proud by finishing off three heaping helpings of food.  The man simply loves stuffing...what can I say?  Towards the end of his third helping, he leaned back in his chair, put his hands above his head and exclaimed "I'm done!"  Let me just say -- between the large number of people in the room and an overwhelming consumption of food, he had a mild case of perspiration.  He had also managed to spill in the middle of his shirt.  Becca and I looked at him revealing his pits and the stain on his stomach -- and then looked at each other and had a hard time containing ourselves for the next 5 minutes.  Poor guy!

But I must admit -- the last laugh was on me.  At one point in the meal, Paige asked for Ketchup.  (I know -- what a disgrace -- ketchup on turkey -- who raised this girl?!)  So I attempt to get up from the table to fetch the ketchup.  What happened next will now be talked about in my family with hilarious laughter for the next 20 years, I'm sure.  As I try to squeeze between my own chair and Taryn's chair my foot got stuck and I took a straight, but graceful, nose dive for the floor.  However, what stopped my face from hitting the floor was the kitchen door.  Yes, I did a direct face plant into the door.  Bam!  Time stood still for a moment.  Everyone held their breath -- I slowly put my hand to my face -- wondering how much damage I just did.  I knew it wasn't good.  Eventually, I dared to pull my hand away to discover it was full of blood. 

I dashed off for the bathroom followed by my mother.  (Apparently, that mother instinct never goes away.)  She was closely followed by my husband.  My nose was bleeding profusely and my lip was ridiculously fat.  My mother tenderly washed the blood from my hand as my husband held a cloth to my nose.  What a scene! I told them to both go back and enjoy their meal and I hid in the bathroom for a while.  I heard my husband announce to the group, "I think she's going to live."  The most humiliating part was when I had to go back to the table.  Once it was determined I had no life-threatening injuries...the laughter came.

So what can I say -- I'm glad I can laugh at myself!  I'm glad I have a sister and mother to laugh with.  And if this year the laughs on me, so be it!

Happy Thanksgiving

Here are a few things that today I give thanks for.  (In no particular order)

• South Dakota Sunsets
• Romans 8:38-39
• Friends and family that inspire me to learn more and do more
• Messed up hair and sleepy eyes of  my little ones as they greet me with "goodmorning mommy"
• A husband who keeps me stable
• Singing Harmony
• My slippers
• My down comforter
• A husband who likes to cook
• Spezia's Restaurant
• Top Chef and a glass of wine
• Walking into a clean house
• My dog curled up by my feet
• Taryn's little fingers
• Hearing Paige sing
• Carter still wanting to cuddle
• My parents love for one another after 40 years of marriage
• Time with brothers and sisters under one roof to discuss and laugh
• The Body of Christ
• A God who reveals Himself to us
• Health
• Freedom to worship
• Bible studies that expand my understanding of God's sovereignty and love
• Books that allow me to experience a different slice of life beyond my own small world
• Hearing our kids pray
• The intimacy of sharing a laugh with Cal about something only we find funny
• Paige's generous spirit and helpful nature
• Carter reciting Luke 2
• Linus reciting Luke 2
• Watcing the lightbulbs go off as a Taryn learns to read for the first time
• A sense of humor
• Little children singing "Away in the Manger"
• Candlelight
• The smell of pine
• Anticipation of things to come
• Amazing Grace

To My Son -- On His Birthday

Today we are celebrating Carter's 9th year of life.

Oh the anticipation of a birthday!  As I was driving Carter and a friend home from basketball last night (the night before the big b-day), I could hear them talking in the back.  Carter was saying "When it's your birthday, do you get up early and open presents right away?  That's what we do...my whole family comes into my room and wakes me up by singing the birthday song and then we open presents in the living room."   How sweet is that?!?!  He mentioned the family singing the birthday song as an important part of whole story.  Obviously presents were a bigger part, but those little traditions mean more than we will ever know.

Early morning present opening. (So early, it's still dark out!)

So here's what I'd like to say to my little man as he turns 9 :

Dear Carter,

Nine years ago today was one of the best days of my life because it is the day that you entered this world and changed my life forever.

Thank you for being you!  Don't ever change who you are.  You are like no other being ever created.

Keep your curiosity.

Keep marveling at God's creation -- at spiders and snakes & monkeys and whales...

Keep your desire to learn more about this great world we live in.

Keep doing experiments.

Keep drawing.

Keep playing hard.

Keep shooting hoops.

Keep your boundless energy.

Keep being affectionate.

Keep your tender heart.

Keep laughing with your sisters.

Keep respecting others.

Believe that you can make a difference in this world.

Trust that you can tell me anything -- I will always listen.

Have faith that God has a plan for your life.

Know with all your being that you are a child of God - and nothing can separate you from His love.

I love you Carter -- so much!  There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for giving me and dad the gift of you!

Happy Birthday, my 9 year old boy!

Love, 

Your Mom

Sure...I'll buy.

It is high time I post a blog again for the simple reason that I need to get the fact that I am "losing it" off the top -- I think I've done another 5 brain dead things this week, but I'm not going to admit to them right now.  Very early on, as I started this blog, I admitted that I created it for the simple reason of being honest and hoping that I would find someone along the way who can relate, and tell me I'm doing O.K.  In reality, I'm finding people who say things like -- "I sure thought your "losing it" list was funny." To which I eagerly reply, "Because you can relate?"  And they say, "No! I've never done any of those things?"  Ayyyee!

Today, however, rather than admit to being a scatter brain.  I'll admit to being a sucker.  I am simply a sucker for people who come to my door selling things.  Sometimes it has worked out, other times...not so well.  I haven't always been this way -- I used to pride myself on being a tough cookie. "Who do these people think they are, wasting my time..."  But I have softened some over the years and it's probably for the best.  "Who do I think I am that these nice people don't deserve a chance to make a living?"  In the last year I have made the following purchases from someone ringing my doorbell:

1.  I bought Avon from the most "glowing from the inside" person I have ever met.  I would see this dear lady walking miles from my house -- always smiling and wondered what she was doing.  Then one day she came to my door selling Avon.  She was trying to establish herself, didn't have a car, and needed cash upfront for the sale before I received the product.  That should be a big red flag, but I decided to take the risk.  If this person needed the cash that bad and didn't return with my product, well I guess she really needed the money.  So I spent $20, hoping she would return with my product.  Not because I was desperate for lotion and bubble bath.  But because I wanted her to be the good person I took her for.  As she left she said "Can I give you a hug?  I hug all my customers.  God bless you!"  She did return with my products -- walked all the way to my house to deliver them.  God bless her!

2.  I bought meat from a guy selling shrinked wrapped frozen beef in many varieties and cuts. I must say I am quite the negotiator.  I talked him down to below half his starting price and got a freezer full of mediocre meat.

3.  I bought some bio-degradable household cleaner from a some salesman.  He had me sold on the product the minute he demonstrated how it could take Sharpie out of a piece of cloth.  (We've had more than our fair share of Sharpie accidents.)  He also began cleaning the mildew from my camper, but stopped after one brilliantly clean streak.  Again, I negotiated down from $40 a bottle, to $40 for two bottles, to $20 for one bottle.  Sold!  It is the kind of cleaner you dilute so I should be good for the next 10 years.  If you have a stain -- let me know!

4.  I bought a magazine from a very polite young man who was trying to better his life.  He was an orphan from Florida who was up in South Dakota on a 35 degree rainy day with some youth program trying to make something of himself.  He could earn points if I just bought a magazine and signed his sheet telling his supervisor how he did.  He let me know that if I didn't need a magazine for myself, I could buy one for the kids in his orphanage...perhaps they would be interested in Forbes, he suggested.  (Yes, by this point there were red flags EVERYWHERE.  First, orphanages no longer exist in the United States and second what child is going to want to read Forbes Magazine ?!?!?(the most expensive one, by the way)).  Well despite those red flags, I decided to chance it again, as I did with the Avon lady.  You just have to go out on a limb sometime and give people the benefit of the doubt.  I bought the Disney Magazine for $25.  The next day it was reported all over the local news about these magazine sales people who were a sham.  I was disappointed, not because I wasn't going to be receiving the Disney Magazine, but because he let me down!

5.  Today I spent 2 and a half hours on my one day off to listen to a Kirby salesman ONLY because there was the promise of a free carpet cleaning attached to it.  Somewhere along the line someone stopped at my front door and asked me to fill out a sweepstakes for free groceries which I, of course, did.  Somehow that turned into me winning a "free carpet cleaning".  (Yeah right!)  When they called to schedule the appointment I asked how long it would take, explaining that I only had one hour and wasn't going to buy a vaccuum.  He said "It will only take an hour and there is no sales pitch."   I believed him...What a mistake!  Eddie arrived today, and after a two hour demonstration which included being shown over and over exactly how nasty my carpets were, he breezed over my carpets with his shampooer and then I essentially kicked dear Eddie out the door.  He was nice and all, but my children were already waiting for me to pick them up from school.  I am happy to report that I didn't buy a vaccuum and my carpets are clean, but boy, did it cost me my time.

So here I sit...my skin is soft, I just ate a decent burger, my spots are removed, and my carpets are clean.  I'm not a total sucker....If only I could read a magazine!