'Tis The Season

I LOVE Thanksgiving and Christmas season. I love driving around in the cold weather looking at Christmas lights decorating people's houses. I enjoy fixing hot cocoa for my family and going Christmas tree hunting with our church, and watching the parade of lights.
But not only is it a festive time of year, it holds a special significance to our family. Two days after Thanksgiving our firstborn son took his first breaths, made his first cries and wore his first outfits. I even picked the day of his birth (no, not a c-section, my water broke two nights after Thanksgiving just like I predicted a month earlier.) Also, a day before New Year's Eve or third child and first daughter made her appearance.
This time of the year is very special not only for us but also for my sister-in-law and her family as they celebrate birthdays of two of their children as well. Needless to say, it means LOTS of shopping.
Though I really hate shopping for myself I LOVE shopping for my family and extended family, especially if I can do it by myself. M likes to participate, too, and I never buy anything for our children on my own, but since he is so very busy and I know what my sister-in-law wants for her children (because we are girls and we TALK (and LISTEN!) it's much easier for me to do it with just Rachael in tow while boys are at school and hubby is at work. In fact, Rachael and I held the following conversation in the car today. Me 'Rachael, mommy needs to stop by the house and get a coke.' Rachael 'No-o-o-o. I want to go shopping!' What can I say, it's a girl thing :)
So, we went to T.arget (couldn't find the lacing beads for Daniel's class but I spied a couple of things that will make a good birthday gift for Jadin. Now I need M's approval and we are good to go.) and TJ.Maxx and bought Christmas gifts for all the nephews and nieces a birthday present for E., my niece. I am going to get a bottle of wine from our local winery (their wines are exceptional! when Sister-in-law and family were visiting, they bought a whole case to take home, so I figured that would be a good present) for sister and brother-in-law, wrap all the presents and mail! I am doing it early because E's birthday is in the beginning of December and that way we only have to go to the post office once.
Here's what I got

Oh, and since I couldn't find those beads for Daniel's class I showed the lace-and-trace that I got for one of the nieces to his teacher and she said that she loved it even better than the beads. Problem solved!
Can't wait to start wrapping them up!

Things Work Out.

Somehow they always do.
I called the pastor's wife yesterday to see if she would watch the kids. She said she would exept she needs to take another church member to the airport at that time. She called another lady from our church to see if she would do it, but she had things going on, as well.
I tried calling other parents to see if they would take my place at school serving. The food was ready to go and I was even willing to bring it to the school.
No one answered the phone.
Great.
As a last resort, I called my neighbor. She works so odds were not good. But I had no one else to turn to. We are not close, though they are very friendly and we exchange dog sitting services when one of us has to go out of town. Lucy (my cocker) loves them! She loves S and plays well with their dogs.
So, I called. You never know, if she is willing to watch my dog maybe she can watch the kids for an hour and a half. She said she will take time off work and come watch them!
WOW! I could not believe my ears. After all, we are not really friends, we just chat occasionally. She said since she works alone (cleaning houses and running errands for people) she can leave and go back later to finish the job. I was moved to tears. I could not believe someone would do that for me. She also said she would be willing to do that any time I need her to. For free! I would never use her generosity without a very serious reason, but what I relief! For years I've lived in this city with no one to turn to in case of emergency. The words are not enough to express my gratitude.
I made her a loaf of bread that night since she commented on how good the house smelled (I baked some bread to take to school) You should have seen the expression on her husbands face when I walked in with a bag of groceries (she came back from the store and had her hands full so I helped her carry stuff inside) and a loaf of bread! it was precious. LOL. I explained that she babysat for me earlier hence the bread.
What a blessing it is to have neighbors like that!

Bad News.

Not that a child throwing up is ever good news. But a child throwing up on that one day when your hubbs is out of town and you HAVE to be at the child's school serving teachers lunch...What am I supposed to do?
I am the room mom for Daniel's class. It means I help organize things, like Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter and serve teachers lunch once a year on the designated day (all of us room moms take turn doing that once a month to show our appreciation. It's not hard, there's only 15 people to cook for including secretary and the principal) Today is my day. And Jadin was sick as a dog last night. He threw up all over his bed and the chest of drawers, the living room floor and the bathroom, of course.
Fun.
We have no family in town, no one to watch them. All my friends work. The only person who might agree to watch them for me would be pastor's wife. She is a sweetheart and I know she will agree unless she has other plans. The thing is, if Jadin has a stomach bug, I don't want to expose J. to it. The are leaving early next week to go visit family.
I have no idea what to do. I can't bring Jadin to school with me. I can't leave him alone at home. I don't have any one to watch him. And I can't re-schedule.
Last year, when I was room mom for Jadin's class, I made sure the lunch was scheduled on M's day off. He would take the kids and I would go and do my thing. The night before M came down with a stomach virus. He was miserable. I was miserable. Neither of us slept. I had three kids in tow including a baby.
I think this is the last time I volunteer to be room mom.

Meet Adam

And here he is in all his glory. Like I said, I am not good at these things.

Now,so you don't think that those three years of humiliation at school didn't pay off, here's my semi-successful project (the dress and the hat,not the baby, she is drop dead gorgeous and a total success :)

Why I don't like school. ANY school.

I don't like them because of projects. I HATE PROJECTS! I am not creative, or handy, or patient. I do not see in my mind how things will turn out. My worst nightmare was home ed class back in 6th-8th grades. We were taught to make clothes from scratch, to measure, make patterns, cut and sew everything from a house robe to dress clothes. My teacher always showed my projects to everyone in the class to demonstrate how things should NOT be done. I once permanently attached a pant leg from one of my projects to an arm hole of another project. And then had to take the stitches out and cut a hole in the said leg while doing it. (Sigh.)
Now, fast forward a week ago. My son comes from school with this huge paper turkey saying that he has to decorate it and they will hang it in the school for their Thanksgiving festivities. UH-OH! You mean, I am supposed to HELP you buy the stuff to decorate the turkey with and then GLUE it on and EVERYONE in the school will see it???? All freaked out, I started contemplating the possibility of switching schools after our 'art project' is seen by others. (I love my son too much to make him go back to that school the day after). No, we already payed for the school year.
(SIIIIIIGH)
(God, can I exchange my musical abilities for a little bit of creativity and a new pair of hands? No? What do you mean it doesn't work that way?)

At least he is still little and in time the turkey will be forgotten.

On top of all that he called his turkey 'Adm' (I did write another 'a' in there not that anyone will notice after they see the poor guy)

Why I Like My Boys' School

The size of the class
The wonderful teachers
The christian curriculum
The fun they are having while learning new things
And, of course, this:


And here is Jadin and his Itsy Bitsy Spider

What We Have Been Up To.

I know, I know. I haven't posted in a while. There's simply not much going on worth to be mentioned here, unless you want to listen to me bragging about my flute accomplishments (I can now reach all the notes except for third B and forth C. YAY!)
We've been having wonderful fall weather here, staying in the 60s for the most part. I do NOT care for fall or winter because of the cold, the wind and the muck so I am really happy it's still warm.
Halloween was nice. I have a hard time celebrating the evil spirits, so we don't decorate or dress up (we can have fun dressing up and playing on any other day, and there's plenty of candy in stores) Our church hosted a nice Reformation day evening service complete with singing, a great message by this man and treats and fellowship afterwards. The kids had their treats and we didn't have to compromise our values. Wonderful!
Kids are having no school this Thursday and Friday and M's bosses have been insisting he take his vacation days. So, we are going to visit grandparents. And since we have wonderful neighbours who are willing to take in our dog, we don't have to worry about M's parents chaining our Lucy in their barn and listen to her desperate cries all night. She simply loves S and A and their two dogs. S keeps Lucy in her house at night and lets her play with her dogs during the day. I L-O-V-E them!
Rachael is talking more each and every day. We went out to eat on Sat. night to our favorite place and the kids always get ice-cream after their meal. I was holding Rachael's bowl so that she doesn't dump ice-cream on herself. She said 'Don't touch it! Momma get her own ice-cream!'. She is not yet two! What am I going to do when she is 13?