Happy New Year!

A great saying from Dear Abby:

A New Year is about to begin, and the less baggage you have to carry into it, the better!

A Reminder to Nurture the Child Within

I was just reminded that sometimes you should pay attention to ‘signs’ that are given to you. I don’t know if they come from a higher power, or angels, or what, I would like to believe that they do. In any case this little story begins with Randy Pausch. In reading his book, The Last Lecture, I was inspired by an article that he carried around with him; it is also on his website. It appeared in the Sun in 1897. At the time that I read this, in his book, it brought me to tears. Recently, I was reminded of it, watching, of all things, a series of commercials for Macy’s, where they quote several lines from the famous letter. And now, as I am going through my desk, readying it for the New Year, I found a print out of it from Randy Pausch’s website. I hope you find as much inspiration from it as I have and remember and treasure that childlike wonder within yourself.

Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say that there is no Santa Claus. Papa says “If you see it in the Sun, it is so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia,
Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds.
All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to our life its highest beauty and joy.
Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus? You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your Papa to hire men to watch all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?
Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.
Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders that are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, or even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view the picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond.
Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else as real and abiding.
No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, maybe 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the hearts of children.

Written by Francis P. Church in 1897

Oh, how I wish it would snow here for Christmas...

NOT Feeling Nice Today

Boy oh boy. I am REALLY not feeling nice this evening.

I'm afraid I am unable to complete my Nice Task today. Isn't it amazing how there is always that one person (or two people super-glued at the hip, so they count as one) that is able to turn on your rage switch? I am generally a pretty nice person, but, flip that rage switch, and I have the angriest, sharpest tongue in the West! Blush. There are a couple of people right now, that I am just so angry with. They did a huge injustice to someone, and then tried to rest the blame for it on me, never acknowledging their own cruel intentions. So, I let them have it. The tongue-lashing they received from me was harsh and, I think, warranted, but certainly not very nice and not very Christmas-Season-ish. So, the nice person within, ran away, and will hopefully come back tomorrow and do two nice tasks to make up for today. As for 'those' people, well, I will not say what they can go do. Ü

It Feels Like Christmas Time

After this weekend, it feels like Christmas time to me now.

-The kids and I have watched the Polar Express movies several times.

-We put up all of our lights outside the house.

-We made a lot of cookies, and ate a lot too!

-We did some shopping for family members.

-We spent too much at the grocery store.

-It’s finally cold here!

The kids and I watched The Polar Express on Friday while I was working. I was trying to really ramp up the spirit of Christmas this Friday. Not only did we watch the Polar Express, but I had also taped some of our favorite Christmas Programs like Charlie Brown’s Christmas, The Grinch, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. The kids loved it, but also wondered if I had taped any new Pokemon cartoons for them…sigh.

We made a family day of it on Saturday, putting up the Christmas lights and doing some shopping. We bought a couple of new props for the front yard, but didn’t over-do it. In fact, on the way home from Walmart, Jon asked if we had crossed the line into Griswald territory. At first, I thought maybe we had, but after we got it all up, I found that it looked great. We even put some cute little snowmen in the kids’ windows on the second floor.

I made Scottish shortbread cookies for Jon, who absolutely loved them. It was a new recipe and I was nervous, but he really loved them, so I am happy. I also made my almond and jelly thumbprint cookies, made with Dad’s homemade black raspberry jelly. They turned out so good! This time I left the glaze off and ended up liking them even more. Then we made sugar cookies and let the kids pick out their shapes, whether or not they wanted sprinkles or frosting, and then let them go to town decorating them. That had a lot of fun doing that, especially when Grandma and Grandpa came over to help.
Best of all, its cold! We have the heater on in our house because it’s cold! Yeah! I know lots of you are cursing my name, but for me, growing up in Arizona, I really appreciate it when the weather represents the seasons a bit more. I like it when Christmas feels like Christmas and not the end of summer.

Thanks for our Troops

Go to this website and send a card to one of our troops currently overseas. What a great way to show them we care and are still thinking about them.

http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html

I want to make the kids some books...

Especially ones that contain their own special stories about when they were born. Check out this website for great, blank, board books.
http://www.blankslatebooks.com/

Gratitude Assignment

I am grateful for my family. I am the luckiest person in the world to have the most amazing kids, they are beautiful both inside and out. I am grateful that my soon-to-be five-year-old still loves to cuddle with me, and loves to hear me tell him his special story of when he was born again and again. I am grateful that my daughter has an iron will that will serve her well when she is older. I am grateful that she finds joy in the most mundane of things and that she is a ‘little mommy’ at heart and that she lets me try fun new hairstyles with her beautiful hair.

I am grateful that I am married to a man that likes to cook and likes to surprise me with little gestures and gifts all the time. I am grateful that he is a good Dad and that he loves our children.

I am grateful that I have two awesome parents and that they are still alive to spoil their grandchildren rotten. I am grateful for all the help that they provide us, and that they really enjoy spending time with us.

I am grateful that I have a job, even though it is very stressful right now. I know that there are many, many people affected by our nation’s current economic crisis with lost jobs and worse, and so I am grateful that I have a steady income that I can depend on. I am also grateful that my boss allows me to work from home on Fridays so that I can spend more time with my kids and also save some $$$ on babysitter costs.

I am grateful that I am a fairly creative person, and that I have a space all to myself that I can get creative in. I am also grateful that I am able to share so much with all of you, thanks to the internet and all of our technological advances of late.

I am grateful that my friends appreciate me for me, and that I do not have to put on a show for them.

I am grateful that I have become more wise the older I get and that one of the many lessons that I have learned is how to be at peace with my messy house. Ü

Wow, there is so, so much more that I could add to this, it makes me feel great that I took the time to jot just this down. You should try it, too, it really boosts your mood.

Go to http://www.operationnice.com/ for more information. I love this website, and I hope you will too!

It's Going to Rain!

Boy oh boy am I excited! Sadly, it is about the weather here in Gilbert this week. You see, one of the negatives of living in Arizona is that it is so mild during fall and winter, that it kind of diminishes the holidays a bit for me. Don’t get me wrong, I DO NOT want to live and work with snow, like Jon says, “You don’t have to shovel sunshine”. Sometimes, though, it would be nice for it to not be so darn sunny. Who wants to wear shorts and a t-shirt for Thanksgiving dinner, because it’s too hot to wear anything else? So, now I am excited because it is supposed to be rainy all week, especially Thursday. We can all get warm and cozy and snuggle under blankets, drink hot toddies, and wear socks. Mmmmmm, I can smell the pumpkin pie now…yummy!

A Cute Collage of Our Recent Trip to the Cabin

A Recent Photo Op...

Steeler's Team Party

We just finished the fall season for the 3-4 year olds in Flag Football. Jon was an awesome coach, and it looks like we are going to be getting 5 of the 6 players that we had, back for the winter session. On the 15th we had our awesome team party, inviting our players, their families, and supporters over to the house. It was a great party and I got some really awesome pictures of the kids. And, as a team, we did the best in candle sales so we got some $$$ to help with the party expenses. Jon and I used part of the money to get each teammate a shirt with his number on the front and Steelers on the back. We did the same for Jon's assistant coach Rob and the team Mom, Carrie, that I have really gotten to like. This was a really awesome season. I just love watching the kids progress so much from the first couple of practices and then into the games. The best part is that all of the parents really got along and had a great time. I can't wait for next season!

We are going to start Joci into this, too, I'm hoping it will be a good fit for her. So far, we know that she can run pretty well for her age, almost like Joe, and she REALLY hates it when someone pulls her flags. Let's just all hope she doesn't hurt anyone for doing that. Ü

A Day at the Zoo

We haven't really spent time at the zoo in quite awhile. Yesterday Jon and I took the kids to the zoo and ended up staying 5 hours. As we made the rounds looking at all the animals and playing in all the kiddie areas, we had an amazing time talking and laughing and trying to scare each other while visiting some of the creepier creatures. We attended a cute little show that had lots of fun animals, including a large vulture that flew down over the audience. Joe was really excited by how huge the Galapagos turtles were, and Joci and I really enjoyed the playful otters. We even encountered a special life lesson at the Babboon house when a male babboon finally caught his female, ahem. We even got to see our national icon, the Bald Eagle, two of them. The highlight of the day, though, was the Stingray Bay. There they have a huge pool of stingrays, sharks, and horseshoe crabs. Unfortunately, my camera's battery was too low to get those photos. It took a lot of convincing to get the kids to touch the stingrays as they would swim by. Then the attendant told us if we cupped our hand under the water, palm up, then the stingrays would think it was feeding time and suck on you hand. It was both surprising and yucky at the same time. Jon screamed like a little girl when two went for his hand at once. Then after we convinced Joe to do it, he got ambushed from the opposite direction of where he was looking and that completely freaked him out. He immediately said he had to pee, poor kid. Probably didn't help that Jon and I were doing everything we could not to laugh out loud at him.

At the end of the day we ordered a pizza and took it over to Mom and Dad's house so the kids could tell them all about the zoo while they were still on their zoo-high. Of course, the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Family Traditions and Crackin' Nuts

My Dad’s pecan tree in his back yard has finally been dropping a lot of nuts this year. On Saturday we all stood around the tree looking for nuts that were ready to be harvested. Then we quickly took them inside and sat around the table eating those and others that Dad had already picked. He got out the old nutcrackers and picks that we used when I was much younger. I was quickly transported back to sitting on my Uncle Perk’s lap at their house and raiding the always-present nut bowl there. We would happily crack the walnuts and share, although I’m sure, now, that he gave me the Lion’s share. I certainly felt the sharp pain of deeply missing him and my Aunt Rene. However, it was so much fun sharing this little memory with my children now, watching them enjoy this little tradition with their own Grandparents. What a treasured moment this will be for me recall with them as they get older.

Jon was definitely the best at getting the nuts out whole!

I've Learned My Bad Parent Lesson!

So, I was taking my nap yesterday, yes, I try to take one each Sunday to prepare for the rest of the week, when Jon brought Joe upstairs and sat him down on our bed. Joe, at this point, is looking very wary. Jon tells him to tell Mommy what he did. My heart sinks. I hate, hate, hate having to punish the kids. I do it because it is necessary, but I now totally understand what my parents were talking about when they would say "It hurts me more than you" each time I would get a spanking when I was a kid.

What did this cute little angel do, you ask? Well, he took the can of gasoline (Bad Daddy for leaving it out!) and dumped a little into the dog's water bowl. And if that wasn't bad enough, he then took the matches that Jon had been using that the wind blew off of on top of our big grill, and threw them into the water/gas combo. Thank goodness he didn't light the matches first.

Jon caught him, thinking it was way too quiet in the backyard and quickly figured out what had happened.

I was appalled listening to the story. Not only could he have seriously hurt himself or Joci, but he could have easily killed the dogs, too. We sent Joe to his room while we came up with a punishment.

I am proud of Jon and I in this...we did not yell or spank, we quickly came up with what we thought was a suitable punishment for Joe. First, he had to stay in his room for a long time out, almost an hour. Then he had to apologize to and then hug the dogs. Side note: I was upstairs in the bathroom when I heard Clay wander into Joe's room, a second later, I heard Joe telling Clay that he was sorry, it was so sweet! Lastly, he has to help Daddy and Mommy clean up the house for our Team party on Saturday.

As for us naughty parents, well, we've learned our lesson too, and it's one that I wanted to share. It's easy to get lulled into thinking that your well behaved child should know better than to get into things he shouldn't. Now we are going to be that much more careful about putting things away like we should.

Another New Hairstyle

I did this one quickly this morning for daycare. Yesterday our babysitter said she was disapointed with 'just' a ponytail.

VOTE!

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TODAY! I think this will be one of the most important elections we've had in a very long time, so make sure your voice is heard and vote!

Halloween

I hope you all had as much fun on Halloween as we did.

My goodness how the kids were looking forward to Halloween this year! I try to make all the holidays more fun and interesting by having lots of crafts to do, and books to read, and specials to watch, etc. I’ll admit, though, that Halloween is definitely one of my favorites. I made the kids costumes this year, a cute little bunny for Joci and a big black spider for Joe. Both of them really liked them. Joe’s arms broke a couple of times and I had his proportions off a bit, but who cares, he liked it just fine. We had some friends over from our flag football team and, of course, Grandma and Grandpa were there. Grandpa LOVES to hand out candy. We didn’t have a ton of trick-or-treaters, but just enough to keep the light flow steady. Joci, we have found, has undoubtedly bested Jon in the candyholic category. My oh my, I cannot believe how much candy she ate! Every time we would look at her she had a different piece, thanks to Grandpa! Our friends were taking bets on whether or not she would throw up! She held it all down and cried for more. Joe on the other hand was able to censor himself. Mom and I took all the kids trick-or-treating, and then we had a chili cook-off contest. I was so proud of my chili; it was the first time I’d made it, and thought it was going great, until I put WAY too much spice in it, that pretty much ruined it. Otherwise, I think I would have won. Dad/Grandpa ended up winning he, for once, didn’t over do the spiciness. Jon had his new bubble fog machine going and the kids just loved that. It was really awesome! This machine literally would fill the bubbles with fog rather than just air, so that when they burst there was a little wisp of fog each time. He dressed up as the devil, I could just shoot myself for not getting a picture of him. I helped him with his fake piercings, horns, and make up. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to make my costume, so next year I will be all set!

I love this one. Joci has already raided our candy and looks like she is deliberating about the flavor while everyone else is enthralled with the angel/ghost - don't ask!

Another New Hairstyle

Another new style for Joci’s hair. I really like this one a lot. It was easy to do once I had all the pieces separatd. I just need to work on my ‘messy buns’ more. Right now I think they sort of look like hair bows.
Also, a quick little look at our Halloween yard. I just LOVE Halloween. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. Having kids makes it so much better, too. The kids are really excited about it also. Everyday Joe asks if we can decorate more in the house. He's sooooo like me! Joe is also very impressed with my spiderweb abilities. Last year we told him that Spiderman came by and did the webs for us. This year I said that I used the skills that Spiderman taught me last year and that's why I was so good at it. You should have seen his face. He thought I was the most awesome Mom ever! Even Jon is excited about Halloween, although he drives me crazy waiting till the very last minute to decide and create a costume. This year he even got a new toy at Walmart. It's a foggy bubble machine that literally puts the fog inside the bubble, so when the bubble eventually pops it has this cool little burst of fog. I have to admit, that it is very cool.

Women's Suffrage

I had this passed on to me today. I thought it was brilliant. While I'm not an Obama proponent, I just cannot agree with McCain's elitist views, at all, and honestly, Palin scares me, bad. I do not want our first female representative in the White House to be someone that does not represent me in any way. This Football Mom is NOT voting for that Hockey Mom.

Yoga

The company I work for is really trying to invest in their employee’s health by offering classes, seminars, massages, etc. Today I took advantage of one of their free sessions of yoga…and I LOVED it! I took yoga one other time and really, really hated it. I had this crazy old lady that was going so fast and doing really advanced poses that I was NOT comfortable doing. Today I had a different experience. Now, if you know me at all, you know that I really hate to exercise. I don’t like getting all hot and sweaty, or being in pain or out of breath. To me, it is sooooooo boring. My Mom used to be really into running. I wish I was more like her, I wish I enjoyed exercising. Today I was surprised that I did. I enjoyed it, and…I actually felt good afterward! So wish me luck, who knows, maybe I will actually stick with it!

Bug Triangle

I tried this hairstyle this morning with Joci. It went pretty quickly, which makes me happy, and reminds me that I need to get one of those topsy turvy tail things. Our babysitter told me yesterday that she now looks forward to seeing what Joci's hair looks like for the day. That was nice to hear.