Our weekend adventure

Will got out of school for the Christmas break. We hadn't been to either of our parents' homes since school started, so we hit the road for the weekend, and headed toward Allen's parents home first. We arrived after driving for two and a half VERY LOUD hours in the car. Something upset Jon at the beginning of the trip so he cried almost the entire way. We were thankful to have arrived safely, even more thankful to get the kids in bed for the night and enjoy a bit of silence.

Saturday, the adventure began. Papa and Nana, Uncle Jason and Aunt Jenn, and the six of us spent the day together. We told the kids the day would be an adventure, and it started at the church community breakfast where they did what they do best: eat and charm the others. We then headed south and caught the train to the Dallas World Aquarium. Our family waited in the bitter wind, anxious for the train to arrive. Once we were seated the kids were thrilled to be on the train, especially when it went into a dark tunnel. Ben is still talking about that a few days later. We all found the variety of wildlife at the aquarium entertaining and educational. It wasn't all fish; there was a jungle terrarium full of plants, birds, monkeys, and other wildlife, too.

After lunch we got back on the train and had a quick stop on the way "home." One of the office/shopping plazas has windows full of prisms, and we took a little detour so the kids could dance in the rainbows.

That evening when we finally got the kids to sleep, Randy and Allen enjoyed the Cowboys game while Shelley and I watched Julie and Julia -- and, yes, I savored that movie!

Sunday, Allen had to work remotely, while Randy, Shelley, and I took the kids to church. None of us knew the surprise that would greet us at the end of the service, but the kids were sure excited. Unfortunately, I overheard Will asking Santa for a real motorcycle, and Santa gave me the "look" that meant "that's isn't something my elves make." Hopefully, Will will have fun with whatever Santa decides to bring. The best part? I heard what the little ones wanted; each declared they wanted "Presents! Presents with wrappy paper. Presents for ME!" Now, THAT we can handle! (below: Jon, Maddie, Ben)

The Halls are Decked... Fa La La La La

We've put up as many decorations as we plan to this year. In my mind's eye it seemed like it could be fun to get all the decorations out and decorate with the help of a 6-year old and three 3-year olds. Now, I think I understand why so many people go crazy this time of year. I'm calling it quits on decor even though it isn't all done. We put up the little tree again this year -- really high UP, with the hopes that St. Nick may move it down for gifts on Christmas Eve. Until then, we plan to keep it out of reach of thirty to forty little fingers that like taking things apart and hiding them. Maybe next year, the big tree will come out of the attic.... maybe...
Hallway:

Living room:

Kitchen:

The cards have been sent. The cookies baked. The last of the parties are this week. School finishes up this week and then the holidays officially begin. Now I just need to make time (or find it) to get the gifts for the kids wrapped.

Time Machine Destination - Will's Birthday

December 2nd was Will's sixth birthday. Everyone warned me when Will was a newborn that time would fly. It isn't that I doubted it, but that was the time in our life where sleepless nights were the norm and the end wasn't in our sights. It takes these annual celebrations to notice that time does, in fact, fly. Someone once defined it perfectly for us: long days, fast years.

Somehow the fact that Will's birthday was on a Wednesday went below our radar for awhile. Allen called me Monday and asked if we could get a sitter so we could go to a Christmas party with some people he works with. Sure. No problem. Tuesday, I was going about my normal day, telling Grandma Ann about our Wednesday. As I told her our sitter was coming at 6, I realized that the party was on Wednesday and Will's birthday was on the 2nd; that was the first time I realized they were the same day. Without causing any trouble we just altered our plans a bit. The sitter came at 6 and kept the three younger ones; Allen and I took Will out to celebrate his birthday, and we had a few more options for restaurants. He chose Shogun for dinner and Andy's Custard for dessert.

Saturday, all the family came for a birthday lunch of pizza and cookie cake. It was the first birthday cake I didn't make, but its what he requested. He enjoyed the day, and this year his favorite gift was a doo-dad from Grandma Ann (see photo below). As soon as he opened the toy, he shouted joyfully, "OH, WOW!! An INVENTION!! I always wanted one of those!!"Some of the gift he received include a ball net, a sleeping bag and air mattress, clothes, a puzzle, BrainQuest, a Barnes & Noble gift card, a Nerf basketball and net, a Playmobil knight and castle, books, dictionaries, and a movie.

After all the little kids laid down for naps, Will and his two Uncle Jasons (or is it Uncles Jason?) played ball in the backyard.

... then after all the family left, our crew got in pajamas and had a picnic dinner on the living room floor while we watched the movie "Up." He really enjoyed his day!

Santa Clause Survived

We made plans to start or continue some holiday traditions this weekend. The plan was to go out to eat at a restaurant we hadn't tried, drive down the highway to a light show, then see Santa at the end of it. We took the thirty-plus minute drive to a town north of here and ate. THe restaurant was great, the kids manners were acceptable, the parents' patience levels were dropping. Next we headed east to the light show I had heard a lot about and the line off the exit ramp was really, REALLY long. Luckily, we hadn't told the kids our plan so they weren't upset that we didn't stop. We encouraged them to look out the window and they ooh'd and aah'd a bit. We drove around our neighborhood to look at the lights and that, in itself, was thrilling to the kids, so the outing was a success. ... except we didn't see Santa.

That left one other option: to go to the mall. In the past, I've taken them (usually with help) to a mall on a weekday morning when there weren't crowds. Now that Will is in school all day, I don't have many options if I'm to get a photo with all the kids with Santa. So yesterday we took the kids to the local mall first thing in the morning, and we were third in line when he started seeing the kids. Our kids did well, but many of the photos one or more was looking at the crying kid in line behind us. When we caught this pic, Allen had asked for a toothy smile. Maddie gave us a big one, and the little boys both were in the process of putting their "claws" up to go with their dinosaur smiles. Will was distracted, but we went with it anyway.

The kids each got to talk to Santa and Will, again, asked for a motorcycle. We took Will's wish list to Macy's to put in the Santa Mailbox, then we had lunch and naps. It was a nice day. . . . and I LOVE Santa pictures!

PS: If you are wondering WHY we didn't just give Santa the letter, it's because Macy's donates $1 to Make-a-wish for each Santa letter in their mailbox then they send them on to St. Nick. This way the letter would be on Santa's desk when he got home, and Santa wouldn't have to keep up with it while he had all the kids around.

Time Machine Destination - Thanksgiving Week

I am officially back to AVOIDING - avoiding lines, avoiding traffic, avoiding crowds, and . . . yes, I am avoiding my blogging. I hate writing about feeling blue, but that's where I am lately. I know it's all part of life, but this is supposed to be a joyful, happy season, and I am just blue right now. I am busy, busy, busy, but I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. No sooner than I get the house pretty and vacuumed and the kids dump toys, the dog shed, then the vacuum quits working. Piles here and there are disbursed to the correct places, just to make room for the new ones as we put books and decorations up out of the reach of mischievous fingers. Now that I've gotten it down, I hope to move on. In the meantime, so many fun things are not being recorded because I've been avoiding. In an effort to remember later, I will try to remember the recent past. . . .

All the way back to Thanksgiving week. . . Tuesday, Allen got off work a little early and we hit the road. We stopped for dinner and a potty break, but otherwise got to Broken Bow, OK, in pretty good time. Allen's mom and dad and grandma were already at the cabin waiting for us to pick out our rooms. Jason and Jenn (my brother- and sister-in law) came up the next day. In the end Allen and I were in one room with Jon and Ben on thier new inflata-beds on the floor. Maddie and Will were on the floor in the room with Randy and Shelley, and Grandma Ann was on a sofa-bed in the loft bedroom with Jason & Jenn. Nice. Cozy. . . .it took some getting used to, but it all worked out fine. We even successfully shared one bathroom shower for most of the weekend until the other got repaired. The first day, all of us (sans Jason & Jenn) went walking. If we had been a bit more motivated, we could've called it "hiking," but we were really just ambling along the forest trail. We stopped and let the boys throw rocks in puddles and streams, we stopped to let Maddie smell the wildflowers, we stopped to wait for the rest of the group, we stopped and took pictures. It was a beautiful morning, and we just enjoyed each other and nature for awhile. On the way back to the cabin, Will decided he knew better than Allen and I how to cross a creek. (I thought the know-it-allness didn't start for a few more years, but this event proved me wrong.) He stepped across rocks and stopped to ponder his next move while Allen and I tried to direct him in such a way that his shoes would stay dry. This seemed to drag on f...o...r...e...v...e...r, or at least until Ben and Jon started tossing stones into the water in his direction. Suddenly, Will "knew" exactly what to do, and he stepped into the water, soaked his shoes, but kept walking. I wish it was one of those situations that seals into his mind for life that mom and dad often know what they are talking about, but I got the distinct impression he would do it all over the same way just to have it his way. Strong-willed? Oh, yeah!! Maybe it's all in his name, but I have one Will and four strong-willed children, so it must be in their blood.

Each meal was assigned to a different couple. Overall, the assignment seemed to mean that those people got to decide the menu, make the shopping list, and run the show. It seemed to me that everyone pitched in to do what needed to be done and it was never really overwhelming to create or cleap up a meal for 11 people. The next day was Thanksgiving and Allen and I had requested the main meal. Allen had gotten a smoked turkey and we made stuffing. Other than prep work, I don't think we did much else -- made a salad, opened the cranberry sauce (from a can is still my favorite, I can't remember what else. The afternoon was full of football games for the guys, and I tried getting a little scrapbooking done. You can see from the dinner photo, there wasn't much table space for me to craft upon, so that didn't last too long.

Friday, we all went to a state park not too far from the cabin. Goal #1 -- get out of the cabin and burn off some energy. Goal #2 -- have a great time together. Goal #3 -- find a letterbox. We accomplished all those goals. When Ben laid down in a pile of rocks at the playground and started sucking his thumb, that was our cue to head back for lunch and naps. Friday night we had a campfire. After getting the Girl Scout out and the kids to understand safety rules, the over-protective Mama calmed down and we all enjoyed it. When we cleaned up we discovered the next "fun" thing -- no water. Well, no RUNNING water. . . we flushed the toilets (there were 7 adults remember?) by filling the commodes with the water from the jacuzzi. Saturday we all headed home but stopped along the way for a big family lunch. Sunday, our little part of the family was pretty lazy.

That wraps up the story of Thanksgiving for us. I'll use a few spare moments this week to post pictures from Will's birthday and the party. That was another great time worth recording.

The things they say and do

As crazy as it is around here, the kids provide us many laughs. Here are a few more we caught this week. I promise I've been working on the "what we've been up to" blog entry, but it is taking a while to get it done and get photos posted from Thanksgiving, Will's birthday and party, and decorating the tree with the family. Soon. Soon. Soon. . . . I think. :)

BEN
When I told Ben that Aunt Jenn and Uncle Jason were going to have a little boy, he got really excited. I wasn't sure at first WHY since he's only 3, he couldn't completely understand. When he calmed a bit, I understood: "A boy!? Yay! Can it be ME? I wanna be Uncle Jason's baby boy. Can it be Ben?!"

JON
We were listening to Christmas carols in the car and the radio blasted out "Good King Wenceslas looked out. . . when the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even." Suddenly Jon (3) shouted from the backseat, "Snow around his butt? That's dithguthting!"

MADDIE
How is it that in this room with at least 600 different books in our office, my daughter is proudly plucked from the shelf and sat down to (pretend to) read a 1964 edition of "How to teach children the Wonder of Sex" ??? I am SO not ready for her to ask about that yet.

WILL
Will has decided he doesn't go to school anymore. Instead he has 8 o'clock meetings each morning that he talks about at breakfast. Now he has morning meeting with the board of education.

Overheard

Overheard
Jon: "Maddie, stop whining! It's getting cold!"
Maddie: "It's not COLD! Mama says me whining is OLD!"
Jon:"NO - your whining is cold, not OLD!"

Today was Maddie's day out and I couldn't convince her to go to the library or have a tea party. What does my little girl want to do? SHOP! It was crowded, but she was a wonderful shopper -- Christmas gifts for family, noodles with Daddy, trip through the bookstore, wandering the "crap" store, done, done, done, done. She alternated between calling it a "crap" store and a "cracker" store. Then she was upset that there were no snacks there and "crap" or "crapft" is what stuck.

Overheard:
Maddie: "Hey boys, look at my new rainbone socks cat says 'hello'"
Translation: "Look at my new *Hello Kitty* rainbow socks!"

Overheard:
Maddie: Jesus loves me this I know
Rainbow socks and ho, ho, ho
La la la la rainbows hello
I say Bible tells me SO!!!