Thanksgiving

Today I am giving thanks for a light week as far as obligations go. Of course we have Thanksgiving dinner, but that's it. I think I need a break from all the running around every once in a while to recharge. Unfortunately weekends don't usually do the trick because we usually have weekend obligations, too. It's nice to just relax. I'm also thankful that we sold our old washer and dryer. That money is going to go a long way towards our (secret) Christmas project. The storage space gained from getting those out of the basement is also going to go a long way towards helping with that project. Please do not ask about the secret project in front of the kids...it is a secret from them.

I'm very thankful to have 3 parts of our family to spend holidays with; My mom's side and my dad's side of my family and Jay's family. I didn't used to feel like I needed to qualify this, but these days I do. My mom and dad are married, but their parents, brothers and sisters all get together for holidays making two places for each holiday.We've tried to simplify this part by just saying we'd go wherever my parents go, but sometimes they go both places. Sometimes we do two places in one day, but three is pushing it. Plus holidays like Thanksgiving are all about one meal, dinner, and you can't have dinner at 2 houses in one day. Sometimes I wish holidays were 3 days long so I didn't have to choose where to go for each holiday. Of course we try to be fair, but one person's idea of fair is not always another person's idea of fair. Holidays are so complicated, but we need to remember the blessing in having so many people that love us.

I'm thankful for a home, heat in the winter and a/c in the summer, clean water and clothes (even if they are not my favorite and are not so new). I'm thankful for food on the table and full tummies at least 3 times a day. I'm thankful for Jay's job that supports us so well that I am able to stay home with our kids (which is really important to me). I'm thankful for my parents living so close and my mom's eagerness to watch the kids for me and for my brother and his wife being stationed close enough that we can visit them for a day.

I'm thankful for the variety of plants and animals we enjoy on earth and how they all do their part to make everything work. It's so simple, yet so complicated how everything has it's place in the big picture. I sure hope we humans with all our intelligence and accomplishment manage to not mess up that delicate balance too much.

I'm thankful for great kids who have their struggles, but are still the best kids I know (I might be a wee bit biased). I'm thankful for the ability to give my kids Christmas gifts, but I pray for the wisdom to teach them that's not what Christmas is really about. I'm thankful for a husband who is a God-honoring man and is always trying to be the best person he can be.

I'm thankful that our schools are always trying to get better. I'm thankful that Ryan has a teacher who seems to really get him, but pushes him beyond his comfort zone just enough. I'm thankful that it's now okay to end a sentence with a preposition; I always thought that was a stupid rule. I am sad that Pluto is no longer a planet and that all the maps I learned in school are obsolete. Though I'm really thankful that we, in our country, still have our freedom, but with enough order to maintain a relatively safe society. I'm thankful for all the men and women who make that possible, military, police, firemen and all the people that work in those places with initials, FBI, CDC, FDA, etc. The government may be flawed in many ways, but there are lots of people working to make our lives safe in many different ways. I'm grateful for that. I'm thankful I live in the USA.

I have so many blessings I couldn't begin to count. I'm thankful to be reminded of that during the holiday season.

At Least He Makes Me Laugh

Ryan has been watching football with Jay every week this year. He loves it and he is really into the Ravens. It's been cool to watch them bond over football. It has also been Ryan's first real exposure to commercials. [On a side note: I can't believe some of the commercials and previews they show in the middle of the afternoon! Thank God for DVRs so we can pause and skip some of those.] Aaaaanyway, it's funny to watch his reaction to some of the commercials. When he finds something really funny he laughs so hard. For some reason he and Jay find the "money you could be saving" Gieco commercial hilarious.
So the other day Ryan says to Jay, go look over there. He points and says, "Da, duh, duh, duh," his best impression of the Gieco song. This is what he was pointing to...

I'm not sure what amused me more, the joke, Jay's reaction, or Ryan's reaction to Jay's reaction. It was all quite funny.

The Never Ending Fuss

I feel like I've been living in the world of the never ending fuss. I swear almost every word that has come out of Ryan's mouth in the past 2 weeks has been a whine, a complaint or a plain old fuss about something. I've had it up to my eyeball with fussing. I thought he had turned acorner this morning when he woke up cheerfully before I even went to get him. He even leaned over to me this morning and whispered, "I'm trying to be extra nice to Lily and not tease her." He cheerfully let her have her way when she was being a little stubborn. Usually that's the time he digs in his heels. I was so happy.
Too bad I had to run errands after he got home. It may have been the worst shopping trip we ever had. There was fussing, chasing, blatant disobedience, rolling on the floor, climbing on the foam pads, etc, etc. I want my Ryan back!!!

You Be Bruno, Okay?

I wonder if anyone else's children play that way. We're watching Dancing with the Stars. Lily has worn two three different princess dresses and danced a different routine to every song. She's convinced Ryan to join her for some of them. He likes to try to imitate the moves of the dancers. It's so stinkin' cute. I got to be the judges. Ryan told me to say what I really think, "even if it's 1,2,1." Too funny. I wish he would let me sign him up for ballroom dancing lessons, but alas, he has no interest. Maybe when the hormones hit ;-) Wait...Did I just have a moment of looking forward to male hormones hitting my house?! I take that back!

Halloween

Ryan decided to be Anakin without any trouble in the end and he was happy. He was really happy to run into his friend Luke at Trunk or Treat and be able to have a light saber battle. There were also some great adult Star Wars costumes.
Lily wore her Sleeping Beauty outfit (minus the crown) in the morning. We took it off to eat lunch and after that she wanted to be Cinderella, but the only dress up shoes she has that are good to walk in are Sleeping Beauty ones. She wanted to carry Ryan's Cars "pumpkin" from last year. She was quite a mix.
My costume was more subtle, I was a tourist. I wore a Paris shirt and my camera. I wanted to wear a touristy hat, but I didn't have one that I thought worked.
The best part about Halloween this year? It didn't cost me one cent. I had a huge bag of mini-tootsie pops that I had bought as rewards for my kids. Realizing we wouldn't get through the whole bag in a reasonable amount of time I decided to use that to give out to trick or treaters. I also pulled out the candy my kids don't like from the loot they had gotten earlier in the day. I hate throwing all that candy away, but if no one in your house eats it what else can you do? I thought giving it to kids who might appreciate it was a good solution. It wasn't bad candy, just stuff like Laffy Taffy, Whoppers, Blow Pops and Tootsie Rolls and I checked it before I gave it out, too. I did feel a little bit bad about "re-gifting" candy, so when I did I gave out handfuls instead of one piece.
Now my only problems are that I didn't really take "costume shots" of the kids and what to do with all the candy they got from 3 rounds of Trick or Treating. They sure had fun, but there is so. much. candy! I think I'll help them with the chocolate bars;-)