One Last Night

This is it. Christmas break is officially over.

It was hardly a break for me. I was working most days. But even so, I didn't have to pack lunches in the mornings, I had a very light commute, and for the most part the boys were with Steve, so I had evenings to relax in (or do laundry in, but still...)

Tonight after dinner I asked the boys to shut off their screens and get ready for bed, and the realization hit. Tears were shed, complaints were made, and we reached a verdict: School Sucks.

It just does. Sorry. You have to sit there and pay attention to stuff you don't care about, do work you hate, and no one is paying you for it. Maybe people pick on you in the halls. Maybe you hate the horrible cafeteria food. Then you go home and it's still not done because you have to do the HOMEwork they give you, and study for tests on the stuff you don't care about. And it's hard and uncomfortable and so exasperating.

Today I marked up the schedule with the events of the month. I posted the boys' individual schedules - the days they have gym or library, so sneakers will be worn and books returned. I posted the rotating instrument schedule so the flute and the violin have a better chance of being there on the days they are needed. I posted individual index cards with events so unusual they'd be forgotten... Student Council meeting 8am Wednesday. Basketball 10:30 Saturday.

It wasn't a vacation for me. I was working. But these are things I didn't have to do or deal with for a couple of weeks, and now  will be dealing with them again.

Tomorrow morning, wake to alarm (6:30 of sleep if I fall asleep right now.) Work out. Get the boys awake. Feed them. Clean up after them. Pack snacks / lunches. Shower while supervising boys getting dressed (which means getting walked-in on three or four times in the shower.) Get the boys on the bus. With backpacks. And snacks. And library books and / or gym sneakers and / or instruments. And sheet music. And school folders. Rush for car the moment children are gone and spend 30 minutes doing a 10 minute drive.

I can do this.

Sweet Beginnings

I hate February.

I really really hate it. It's overcast and it's cold and grey, even though by mow I'm ready for spring. January is enough for me. And yet, year after year, February settles itself in between the holiday recovery month and the month of March (which is when Spring begins to appear) with it's bland, cold, icy, self.

Sure, February is a short month. And it's a short month full of things like Valentine's Day, Birthdays of various Presidents, my mother's birthday, and an entire week of school vacation. Not to mention Groundhog Day, and Imbolc (the spring equinox). And a whole month of February is Black History Month, or African-American History Month, depending on how you feel like expressing it.

All respect for these important events and occasions aside, I still hate February.

But today, February 1st, is a little different.

It's Ice Cream For Breakfast Day.

We Celebrated. Even me. I strongly urge you to begin observing this sacred day of over-indulgence. It's Awesome, unexpected, and fun. We've gotten to the point where Nick starts counting down the days.

This morning, as we were navigating our way through melting ice-cream and sticky syrups, I asked the boys if they would celebrate Ice-Cream for breakfast day for ever, from now on.

"Yes!" said Nick. "Unless I get diabetic. Then I'll just do it for my family."

Nibble Nibble, Little Mouse...

This year I was going to make my own gingerbread house.

Usually we purchase the pre-fab ones from the supermarket, and I just let the boys have at it with icing and the stale enclosed candies, but this year I was going to make my own, and it was going to be bigger and cooler.

What made me decide this was a logical and doable task, you might wonder? Well, when I was a kid, Linda made one that kind of resembled our house, and it was awesome! Not so great that we didn't destroy it by prying the licorice tiles off the roof.

Also, last year I saw this video of the Downton Abbey House being created out of gingerbread, and I was filled with a kind of.... I don't know. Longing. Jealousy. Need to create something that didn't fall apart in three minutes.

So last week I purchased our usual pre-fab gingerbread house for the boys to decorate. I figured I was dealing with enough and would wait until I had a little more... a little less... I would wait a couple more years.

Here she is. This year I got additional candy for the boys to use. I hope you enjoy the photos, because the house no longer looks like this. She is naked. And it's not just because of the boys. Those chocolate roof tiles were tempting.

What's In The Box?

If you're anything like me, you've ordered a lot of things online over the past couple of weeks.

In fact, I've ordered so many different types of items from a multitude of stores, and the delivery people do not seem to be at all concerned that there might be children around begging to know what's in the box. At least all of the boxes that have arrived have been brown. When you order a larger item from certain places, such as ToysRUs, the item sometimes arrives simply in the original packaging, with the photo of the item on the front, and no way to disguise what's inside from an over-excited three year old.

Anyway, I whisk the boxes upstairs as soon as I can, and figure out what's in them later. Sometimes I know, because the store is on them. Sometimes I have no idea, because the item was actually ordered by another person.

But yesterday a large box was delivered. And by large, I mean it was huge. Andy could have stretched himself out in this box and taken a nap. And I couldn't for the life of me think of what it might be. Someone had told me to expect a delivery, but it didn't sound like anything this huge, and it was too recent a conversation for this to be that item. I was waiting for a number of smaller things, but nothing this huge.

So I chanced it and opened the box.

And that's when I remembered that I had placed an order for a number of bankers boxes for a project I was doing. Bankers boxes. Ten of them. Shipped... in a box twice their size.

Does this seem absurd to anyone else?

zombie

Happy Halloween!

Costume

I won't buy the boys Halloween costumes.

Seriously - have you seen the prices on those things? They sell great looking costumes all over the place, but they're made so cheaply, and they each go for about $50. I have three kids. We've got years of costumes left to go. I'm not doing it.

So I either tell them they have to buy their own, or make them up from stuff we have. This is good. It teaches responsibility and gets them to use their imagination, get creative... Of course, some times I help them out. We got choir robes at GoodWill last year for the Harry Potter costumes. Yes, I had to pay for them, but they weren't that expensive, all told.

This year, Andy was going to be a skunk. I even bought him a black hoodie and small spray bottle so we could put the costume together. But we needed a white boa to complete it. I took some things to GoodWill, and while we were there we had a look... I found a boa for two dollars. I bought it. Of course, Andy found this Pokemon costume for seven dollars. And he suddenly didn't want to be a skunk anymore. I couldn't say no. He was so excited!

He wore the costume for the next three days. It already has yogurt all over the pokemon's forehead.

Happy Mothers' Day

Today is a day to celebrate mothering, from all kinds of mothers, my own included.

I love you Mom!

But today I'm sending a special shout-out to those who can decipher cards like the one from Nate. Which really has to do with a pair of googly eyes he got from school during his music concert, and absolutely nothing else. But still had be doubled up trying not to laugh.

Nate's Mothers' Day Card - 2013

Happy Easter!

Easter Eggs 2013

I love Easter because it means there will be spring. When I was a kid we'd go hunting for eggs among actual daffodils, and these days it always seems to be thirty degrees and clumps of snow all over the ground, but still...  It's a time of rebirth, renewal of life, new hope. Spring is here. Also, chocolate.

Easter Eggs 2013

This year we didn't manage to do pysanky.  Those are the eggs done with beeswax and layers of dye. The past couple of years I've taken the boys aside one by one and helped them heat the wax, draw on the eggs, and scrape off the wax once the egg was done. But this year I have been trying to simplify and breathe more, and I didn't think the boys would notice.

Oh, but they did.

It's OK, though. They did regular eggs dyed with food coloring, and all turned out well. They had fun. I let them decorate with crayons and stickers and glitter glue. We'll go back to the fancy eggs next year.

Easter Eggs 2013

What Day Is It?

Nick has his on waffles with chocolate syrup and lots of strawberries and blueberries. Andy prefers his in a bowl with lots of Cinnamon Life cereal sprinkled on top. I like a scoop of coffee in my coffee.

So many possibilities. It's Ice Cream For Breakfast Day.

I know, it's so odd, but once a year it's a great pick-me-up, and one of my life's missions is to get more people to do this. Spread the word!

Ice Cream For Breakfast

It's February, the longest month of the year.

But tomorrow will be February 2nd.

February 2nd is Groundhog day. Where the groundhog peeps out and if he sees his shadow, we have 6 more weeks of winter.

It's also Imbolc, a pagan holiday celebrating the first signs of spring.

But more important than both of those, it's also Ice Cream For Breakfast day. Really. It's a real thing. Don't believe me? Look at this site. And also this one. And this one.

If I didn't invent this most magical day, I sure and heck am going to help spread the word about it! Ice Cream! For Breakfast! Do it, and spread the word!

Ooshykablob

Andy, looking like an Elf.

For my birthday last year, someone gave me an Elf-On-The-Shelf.

When I was a kid, Santa knew who was naughty or nice because he Just Knew. He was always watching. like Big Brother. Like the yet unformed Homeland Security. All knowing and all powerful, and you better think twice before wonking your brother over the head with that doll, even if he DID chew her fingers off.

These days, despite the advances in technology, Santa relies on a team of tiny and terrifying looking elves. Elfs? Elves? What's the plural here? Anyway, Santa uses them.

You get this Elf, which is supposed to sit on your shelf and keep a watch on your kids. The elf looks like a little doll, in that it doesn't move, and it's got a frozen expression. In this case, the expression is eerie and more than a little frightening.

To make matters worse, the elf MOVES IN THE NIGHT. YES! At night it travels back to the North Pole, fast as lightening, and then reappears at dawn in a different location, to see how the kids act from different angles, I suppose. One morning he's on the bookshelf, the next morning he's hanging from the light fixture. And the next he's perched on top of the piano.

I mean, it really moves! All by itself! It would have to. Otherwise, that would mean that a large number of well meaning but most likely misguided parents are actually sneaking around and changing the location of this inanimate object in order to fool their children into thinking their every move is being monitored and judged.

I'm not sure which is creepier.

You also get to name your elf. My kids chose our elf's name. It's Ooshykablob. I was hoping for something cute, like Snowflake, or Crinkle. But Ooshykablob won out.

Ooshykablob is quite lazy. He doesn't do mischief, like the elves in some of our friends' houses. He also doesn't always move. I tell the kids this is because he wasn't sure, or just couldn't be bothered to take the trip all the way back to the North Pole... I mean, Every NIght? He's got to rest sometimes.

Doing Things

A couple of Sundays ago, we did an exercise at church. They passed out paper and pencils and we were asked to write down everything we had to do between then and Christmas.

People laughed, and sniggered, and a few people like me started scribbling like crazy because there was no way I would have time to put everything down, but I remembered most things from when I'd made this list for myself the day before...

And then afterwards, we were asked to think of these things in a different way. Instead of thinking about the list as things we HAD to do, we should think of them as things we GOT to do.

And then this past Sunday we had a sermon at church about the season and reminding us to take time to feel the wonder, to enjoy it instead of just being busy busy busy.

I guess I tend to get introspective about some church sermons.

Anyway, I have decided to apply these things to this holiday season. I'm not going to worry so much about the shopping and the wrapping. Instead, I'm going to just enjoy things. I'm going to take my kids to the cookie swap. I'm going to decorate the Christmas tree with my kids next weekend. I'm going to listen to The Christmas Can-Can 10 times a day because my kids keep asking to hear it. I'm taking Andy to The Nutcracker.

The point is, I'm planning on enjoying Christmas this year. Less to dos, and more get tos. I want it to be Christmas like when I was a kid, all lights and ornaments, very little stress.

Wish me luck.

Candles In The Window

This is what Christmas looks like.

Getting To Look A Lot Like Christmas "Round Here

Nicholas - 2011

I bought new electric candles for our windows.

I ordered hanging bells for an inside door.

I've hung the paper chain in the dining room.

The gold ornaments are hanging from the light fixtures in the dining room. 

The kids holiday projects are hung in the hall.

The holiday card ribbon is hanging and ornaments and cards are already on it.

Christmas is coming, ready or not.

Let Us Be Together Tonight

I am horrible  at taking pictures.

I've gotten better, now that I have children and now that cameras have gone digital. I can take as many as I want, and don't have to pay for film development.  It's just, when I'm standing there clicking away with my camera I'm always thinking "Why am I taking a picture of this? What di I think I'm capturing?"

And then, years later, when I'm rifling through photo albums with the shot arrange according to whimsey instead of by subject or chronologically, I'm metaphorically kicking myself in the head for not taking more pictures than I did.

Thanksgiving is a time to count our blessings. Let us try to remember them the whole year through.

This song has been running through my head lately.  If I had time, I would have put together a slide show of old Thanksgiving photographs to go with this song, and maybe someday I will. For now, please give the song a listen (watching the YouTube slideshow is up to you, I don't care for it much.) You can look at these four photos I managed to scan while you listen.

And we can be Thankful and Grateful for what we have.

Jack 'O Lantern

As of right now, we have two pumpkins carved. One is still waiting for it's artist to create something outstanding.

When I was a kid, we got pumpkins, someone handed us a knife, and we cut out shapes to make scary faces. At least that's what I remember.

These days, they sell kits with stencils to make fancy lit lanterns. The boys want to make these, of course. So much more fun than triangle eyes. But they can't exactly handle the knives.

So I end up getting to do the bulk of the handywork, after the boys have poked holes in various locations.

But that's OK. The boys are proud, and the lanterns are cool.

Ghosts of Halloween Past

Not the Long Past, mind you. The Recent But Still Hilarious And Often Adorable Past. Such as....

2008

2009

2010

Hard At Work

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July to all. Here's to apple pie, or cherry pie, and potato salad. And of course to fireworks on boats.