Grateful

I'm so grateful!  For what, you ask?  Well, lots of things.  It's been a great year with a few bumps in the road.  It's the bumps that keep it interesting.  You never know what you're gonna get, but I'm learning it's my reaction to the bumps that shape my life.

 

I'm grateful for my cute little family and my cute extended family.  They love me and I love them.  It works out pretty great that way.

 

I'm grateful for all the people who make me laugh--some I know personally and some are on t.v.  You guys are the best!

 

I'm grateful for Costco, Clorox wipes, washing machines, dishwashers, and cameras--in that order.

 

After preparing my own Thanksgiving dinner last year, I'm especially grateful for my mom who has made me nearly every Thanksgiving dinner.  That's some serious love.

 

Not only does she prepare ALL the food (with the exception of the green bean casserole--that's my assignment) but she prepares a lovely, heartfelt table for us.  This year she made the sweetest felt pictures of each family and adorable, almost edible, little felt pie slices.  It's a feast for the eyes!

 

 

Are ya still with me?  Good.  Most of all, I'm grateful that I have the freedom to worship and believe in a loving Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  This is the blessing that made all the other blessings possible.

Boys + American Girl Bistro = Laughter

For Ruby's birthday, I wanted to take her to the American Girl Bistro.  She is a girly-girl and I knew she would LOVE it.  The whole family went, and it was quite a night.  We had been there before, but the boys didn't really remember it.  I think we'll all remember it now!  Here's how the boys did.

Step one: Look goofily annoyed.

Step two:  Act cool.  "Hey, doll,  I'm only doing this for my sister.

Step three:  Try to act civilized.  Good effort.

Step four:  Shock the server by putting your baby in a headlock.

Step five:  Laugh, laugh, laugh.

Step six:  Watch your sister having the time of her life.  Realize she is the reason we're here.

 Step seven:  Eat.  The food isn't poison.

Step eight:  Embrace it.  Forget about all the pink.  Feed the doll and hope your mom doesn't post any photos of this on her blog.  You don't ever have to admit that you LOVED it.

Eat Up! See ya later, alligator.

 They've gone back to school.  The house is quiet.  Well, maybe I shouldn't say quiet.  It is more quiet.  I tried to get them excited with the annual Back to School Breakfast.  The theme?  I Love School.  (Because I do love school.  For many reasons.)

The spread

The summer porridge was met with mixed reviews.  (I don't know what those pinterest tasters are thinking.)  The english muffin melts were my favorite (thanks, Pioneer Woman). 

 The kids loved the chocolate chip muffins.

Remember those letters from last year?  I also reused the bunting from Ruby's birthday party. 

I have been dying to use these tiny glass milk bottles.
 They make me want to snuggle up with a warm bottle of milk at night.  Isn't that supposed to calm the soul or something?

Every year I look for some kind of small charm the kids can keep in their pocket the first day of school.  I found these teeny tiny sterling acorns.  After a quick Google search, I learned about the symbolism of the acorn.  Acorns have long stood for patience, wisdom, and strength--all qualities I would love them to have during the school year.

 My wish for them this year is that they will make good choices, good friends, and enjoy learning new things.  I'm excited for the many adventures to come.

The Party

Growing up, kids always wanted to be invited to my birthday parties.  Without spending lots of money, my mom always thought of every detail and we had so much fun!  She's still planning great parties and making wonderful memories for my kids.  I wish I had my mom's creative brain, but you work with what you've got.  I know that Ruby won't remember her party, but it was fun to have the family there to celebrate.  I enjoyed making everything and seeing her excited face.  She isn't interested in too many things, but Sesame Street is the one thing she loves.  She knows the songs and all the characters.  Here are all the details.

My parents made these sweet signs!  This one greeted guests at the front door.

Is this so cute???

I found this photo backdrop and put it up in the living room.  I have to say that I had high hopes of taking Ruby's picture, but she didn't hold still for one second.  I even left it up for a few days after the party to see if we could get another photo, but she's always in motion.  She's two.

Homemade oreos and Nana's famous chocolate chip cookies.  Every crumb was gone by the end of the evening.  That would help explain why we had to peel the boys off the ceiling (that and the soda).

I did try to sneak in some veggies.

 I sewed felt bunting to hang in all the doorways.  It was soooo easy.  I could sew that all day long!  I plan to use it for other birthdays and on the first day of school.

 Finding Elmo shirts for all ten grandkids was no small task.  So worth it though!  Aren't they the cutest bunch you've ever seen?

 For the favors, I couldn't resist making Elmo's goldfish bowls. I'm still finding Nerds in the carpet.

The games were very simple.  Ruby loved all the attention and cheers when she was playing the games.  She seemed surprised to see so many people interested in what she was doing.

Such a fun night!  I wish we could have party every day!  Well, maybe not every day.  It was slightly exhausting.

My Own Little Q & A

I'm back from my wonderful trip to Washington D.C.  It was beyond fun.  Instead of writing a possibly boring summary of our travels, I will write a summary in Q & A format.  There are oodles of travel guides out there.  We bought one before we left.  It was helpful, but I will answer the questions that none of them would bother to address.  You can all thank me later.

Q:  How much is a cab ride from Reagan National Airport to Capitol Hill?
A:  Wow, great question.  The guide books didn't cover this one.  Depending on the time of day, you can expect the ride to cost you $15-$22 dollars.  If the cab driver sees that you are clearly a tourist from the midwest and tries to charge you TRIPLE that amount, refuse to pay it (unless it's dark and you are scared).

Q:  How are all the government run bathrooms?
A:  I can tell you where the government is not splurging:  the toilet paper.  It's your basic one-ply.  They aren't splurging on the bathrooms either.  And you will find a variety of grooming tasks being completed in these bathrooms.  My personal favorite:  the washing of the armpits with one hand and the brushing of the teeth with the other hand.  Amusing and digusting.

Q:  Should I buy new walking shoes for the trip?
A:  Definitely not.  Wear your old comfy/shabby shoes so your little tootsies don't feel like death at the end of the day(s).  Everyone else is smart and they're wearing dorky shoes too.

Q:  How will the kids do?
A:  We didn't take the kiddies on this trip, but I will say that I observed an equal amount of tantrums and sleeping kids.  Some of the tantrums were thrown by adults, so I guess the kids did pretty good.

Q:  Are there any ice cream trucks?
A:  There are a wide variety of ice cream trucks.  Some that play Christmas tunes while they drive down the street, others that sell giant homemade (scary) eggrolls alongside their popsicles.  There was also one truck that looked like it had been parked in the same spot for fifty years.

Q:  Did you eat any good food?
A:  Yes, the kind of meals you remember for the rest of your life.  My personal favorite was the burger and toasted marshmallow shake at the Good Stuff Eatery.  We also ate our weight in gelato every night.  Other food highlights:  Carmine's italian restaurant, Cocina Mexicano, and Clydes.  Now, my enjoyment of the food could have something to do with the fact that I didn't have to cut anyone's food.   

Q:  If I go on Mother's Day will I miss my kids?
A:  Yes, a little.  Then you will remember that you will see them soon and their pile of homemade paper cards will be just as delightful on another day.

Now isn't that important stuff?

Sanity in Prison

My sister has this fear--if she leaves the country she will be mistakenly arrested and held in a foreign prison. Since she is seriously the NICEST, sweetest, most innocent person I know, it seems unlikely.

Over the past few days, I have come to imagine what it would be like to be mistakenly arrested and held without any rights. I think I might actually be experiencing a similar situation. I have found myself saying, "You've got the wrong girl. I didn't do it." I've also said, "I need a lawyer." And I've been about to yell,  "I just want to go home."

We've had a lot of little things go wrong lately. Nothing serious, but annoying nonetheless. (Disclaimer: I know that my problems are not REAL problems.) I have made more trips to the doctor than I care to mention. I have picked up more drugs from the pharmacy than any other family in my medium-sized city (this is FACT according to the pharmacy tech at Walgreens). I have applied ointments, rocked babies, held ice packs, rushed to the dentist, and (my personal favorite) allowed my four year old to throw up in my sort-of-outstretched sweater while at Target.

How have I been coping while being mistakenly imprisoned?  I'll tell ya.  I've completed a few fun (small) projects.  Mind you, I've been meaning to do these things since before Ruby was born and I picked the most awful couple weeks to tackle them, but they have been the only things keeping me sane.

I finally made a quilt for Ruby's room.  It is my second quilt.  This one was SUPER easy because I didn't follow ANY instructions.  I don't cope with following written directions of any kind.  In fact pretend someone said to me, "Follow these ten steps if you want to save your own life."  I would probably lose interest and patience somewhere between steps 3 and 4 and just choose death.   I (a very inexperienced sewer) finished the whole thing in two evenings.  It's not perfect, but I like how it turned out.  And I learned a lot for the next time.

This second project is one I've been working on for about a month.  I wanted to fill the stairwell with LOTS of pictures.  All different frames, different sizes, etc.  I've been scouring garage sales, Good Will, and Ikea, for cheap frames.  It's quite fun. 

Here is the beginning.  I want to fill the whole thing.  I pause to look at the pictures every time I go by.  It makes me smile every time.

These photos aren't the best, but you get the general idea.

Here's one side of the window.

Here's the other side of the window.  Yes, I know that one of the pictures is horribly crooked.  I will fix it straightaway.

My other project isn't quite ready to be seen, so stay tuned.  I'll post it once I've been released.

Notes from a Shopping Trip

I went to Goodwill today. I was looking for a couple specific things. Some notes from my shopping trip.

I'm collecting little white dishes for this shelf that I have in the kitchen. I wanted to see if they had any that would fit. They did. Here's where it gets confusing. I found a little white pitcher that I liked and looked at the price. I don't know who is in charge of pricing over there. The little pitcher was priced at $2.99. I would like to remind you that I paid $0.99 for the upholstered green chair seen in the picture (below). Yes, that's zero dollars and ninety nine pennies for the chair and two dollars and ninety nine pennies for the tiny white pitcher. Baffling. See, even Luke looks baffled.

Next up...who wouldn't feel a little tug on the ol' heartstrings when they see something like this ENTIRE set of Cabbage Patch Kids books. I actually still have one of my own books on the bookshelf. I was really jealous of the girl I knew who had the entire collection. (My neighbor Nina). Maybe they are hers??? I couldn't justify the money to buy the entire collection of musty smelling books, but seeing them on the shelf made me feel bad. Yes, now I'm feeling bad for books.

The following is a message to my children: I have made/will make you things. If I spend a considerable amount of time on something, you can NEVER, EVER donate it to Goodwill. I saw this needlepoint (see below) and several other projects that probably took people many, many hours to complete. You, as my children, must keep anything sentimental. Even if you don't like it. I brought you into this world, wiped your bottoms, and put up with a lot. You can put up with my stuff. That is all.

Reality

It seems like everyone has their own reality show. They are filled with drama, fighting, rebellion, partying, and irresponsible spending. I'm still waiting for the call, but I've put together my own reality show pilot. What inspired this, you say? My husband has been gone for the last two weeks (including a trip with two of the kids) and it has been quite "interesting" not having him here. I'll give you a sneak preview.

Craziness: Oh, we've got a lot of that in the pilot. This would include, but not be limited to, the toilet overflowing. It gets a little gritty during the scene with me simultaneously holding back two super curious kids while trying to clean up the mess and plunge. It also includes the scene with me trying to figure out which smoke alarm was beeping at 2 a.m. That's a beauty. You'll see some raw emotion there. (I never figured it out and I was mighty tired the next day.)

Wild Parties: Does it get any more wild than Redi-Whip being sprayed directly into your mouth? I think not. Riveting. We also watched Nancy Drew (two nights in a row). Good times.

Irresponsible Shopping Trips: It shows me splurging on this "Open" sign at The Round Barn. I put it in my kitchen. The kids think the kitchen is always open now, but that just adds to the drama. The burlap bow has since been removed by someone unknown to me. I guess I better watch the episode to find out who took it off.

Fear: It shows me awake at night (every night) convinced the "bad guys" are going to burst through my bedroom door any second. I'm terrible at being the only big person sleeping in the house. I may or may not have slept with the house phone in one hand and my cell phone in the other. You'll have to watch to find out. I also may or may not have avoided the basement for the past two weeks. I realize it's going to be difficult to believe that I'm 36 years old, but that's what makes it good television.

The ratings are going to be through the roof.