New versions of an old classic

I really need to get my act together - it's been over a week again since I've posted anything!

I emptied out my camera today, and I have pictures on there of soccer from way back in October. Yikes! I'm behind on all my archiving stuff! Some of the pics were of Thanksgiving, and I was reminded of something that I wanted to blog about but never got around to.

For Thanksgiving at Mom and Mikes, Missy and Brandon and their families came over, and we all had a nice dinner together. After dinner, while all the adults were ready to crash on the couches, Meagan and Carmen found a new burst of energy. They spent about forty-five minutes or so sprinting back and forth from one end of the room to the other. When that finally (FINALLY) got old, they moved on to 'Ring around the Rosie.' I must say, I've never seen or heard it played in quite that way. Each of them had their own funny little version.

Carmen just spun in circles saying 'Ashes ashes ashes ashes ashes' until someone (other than her) finally said 'We all fall down!' Then she would topple over (half from dizziness I think) and fall down like the song says.

Meagan, spun in circles singing the following:

Ring around the Roadies.

A pocket full of Ponies.

Ring around the roadies? Don't you wonder what she thinks that song is actually about? We were laughing so hard at the two of them! My mom had tears in her eyes, and I thought my side was going to burst. At any rate, they were 2 of the most interesting and entertaining versions of Ring around the Rosie I've ever witnessed!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We woke up this morning with snow covering everything outside. The kids were so excited that the first snow fell on Thanksgiving. We got up early, had breakfast and got ready to start our day. We went to Wal-Mart this morning, supposedly to buy the ingredients for wilted lettuce. But as we were getting ready, Sebastian's coat zipper busted. And Isaac's shoes wouldn't go on (they've been getting tight for a while). Plus, we still hadn't gotten Sebastian his gloves for winter. So, we added gloves, shoes, and a coat to our shopping list. Then, I remembered that I needed a new powder compact. So, we may as well add that to the list. Then, when we got into the glove area, we decided to get matching hats and scarves (plus Isaac got another pair of gloves to match his new hat and scarf). In short, I went for onion, bacon and lettuce, and I got out of there with $95 worth of stuff. (It's funny how that stuff happens, isn't it?)

We had our Thanksgiving for lunch - just the five of us. Lucas got out of work really early!!! I was so super excited when I heard the garage door opening at 9:30. I was bracing myself for him to be gone all day. Anyway, we had ham, homemade mac & cheese, broiled potatoes, peas, apple bread and apple crisp...plus wilted lettuce. We have tons left over, so I guess we don't have to worry about what we're having for dinner tonight. Tomorrow after Lucas gets home from work, we're heading to the families'. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone....the kids are counting down the minutes until we leave (as well as the days left until Christmas, but that's another story).

For the rest of the afternoon, I'm going to work on some layouts for Grandma's album, and maybe we'll watch a movie or something. Just chillin'. We're a just chillin' kind of family. I'm thankful for that.

Oh, one more thing. Lucas asked the kids today what they were thankful for. Sebastian's answer: the Mayflower. ??? Isaac's answer: I'm thankful for Jesus....and food. LOL! Our kids are too cool.

Ninjas

Here's a layout of the boys playing ninjas this past June. I blogged about it (thankfully, because my journaling came almost directly from the blog entry), so the story may sound familiar, but I really wanted to do something with the pictures. They were sooooo seriously into their imaginations! I love that!



Journaling: What happens when Daddy falls asleep watching a movie while Mommy is in the basement scrapbooking? The boys watch the movie still playing on TV and begin to imitate it. Today the movie just happened to be House of Flying Daggers. The next thing I know, the boys are flying around the house babbling made-up Chinese, like 'hung chu ku do wa' and other such nonsense. Occasionally, English prevails in the form of 'OW' or 'Mom, he hit me!' or Isaac, no throwing swords!' It's great to be a kid - to be a boy growing up with a brother to play and imagine with. It's the best to play 'ninjas' with pirate swords that have blood colored on them with red crayon (very creative, I might say). But the best is knowing you've passed a warm day in june playing outside and having a grand adventure. You just can't beat that.

Grandma Jesus

This morning after breakfast, I turned noggin on in the living room for the kids, and I went upstairs to fold some laundry. While I was folding, I decided to watch a tivo'd episode of Joyce Meyer (for those of you who don' t know, she's a lady on TV that teaches about Jesus). I was about 1/2 way through the show when Meagan walked into my room. She looked at the TV and said, 'Aaawww, I don't want to watch Grandma Jesus. I want to watch Word World.' I almost couldn't believe my ears. Did she really just call her Grandma Jesus!?! That's the funniest thing I've ever heard! What makes it so funny is that Meagan picked it up all on her own. I've never told her what the show was about. She just figured it out...what an observant little girl we have!

Journey

One more layout done for Grandma's book. I'm getting down to the end! I had a bunch of miscellaneous pictures of Grandpa from his younger days. I thought it would be more effective to group them together than to scrap them individually.



The quote says, 'It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.'

Pregnancy Prevention

This was a few weeks ago now, but I thought you might get a kick out of this glimpse into our daily lives. (This is one of those stories I meant to tell you, but then couldn't remember when I sat down to type.)

I think it was 2 Mondays ago...I went to pick the kids up from Nicole's, and in conversation I asked how the kids were that day. "Meagan was horrible," Nicole says. She went on to explain that at lunch she wouldn't eat her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and in fact, she chewed it up and spit it out all over. She screamed and yelled. She woke the babies up at nap time, and she bucked all day about the potty. Lovely. It was a Meagan day, to put it mildly.

That night for dinner, I ordered Applebee's for Lucas and me. The kids all wanted PB&J, so I made them sandwiches instead of ordering them something (way cheaper that way anyway). Even though Meagan had made such a fuss at lunch about PBJ, she asked for one for dinner. So that's what I made her.

She started out good. She took a few bites of sandwich without incident. Somewhere along the way, however, she decided she wanted her sandwich cut into 4 pieces instead of 2. I explained it was already cut, but she insisted, so I cut her 2 rectangles into 4 squares. Oh, that's when it all started! She screamed at the top of her lungs, 'NO YOU BROKE IT!! FIX IT! PUT IT BACK!!' Are you kidding me?! She went on for a few seconds, until I got her attention and told her to knock it off. Clearly not in the mood for authority, she took her stand. In a matter of seconds, she had peeled her sandwich apart (so the peanut butter and the jelly were exposed), and threw both pieces across the room. They stuck flat on the kitchen floor. I whipped her up out of the chair and marched her straight over to pick them up. She bucked and threw herself backwards and screamed and yelled, and ultimately got herself a 'consequence.' Finally, she appeared to have given up her struggle. She bent down and reached for the sandwich. BUT, when her hand got about an inch from the bread, she froze. I could see the wheels turning in her two-year-old brain, and clearly, they were turning in the WRONG direction. She paused, stood up, turned and looked me straight in the eyes. And then she crossed her arms and STOMPED on her sandwich, smashing it onto the floor.

Needless to say, there were more consequences for her actions. When all was said and done, however, she picked up her sandwich, sat down, and actually ate the sandwich that she had just picked up off the floor (her idea, not mine...I just wanted her to pick it up). She finished dinner without another word or another step out of line. Lucas joked that I had tamed the beast, but, WOW, that child has a will about her! (I'm thinking of lending her to a pregnancy prevention program! I think she would be an effective tool! What do you think? LOL!)

Girls' night!

I've not forgotten about you! I don't know what my deal is, but lately every time I sit down with a free minute to blog, I can't think of anything to write about. During the day the kids will say and do funny things, but then I totally forget them by the time I get a chance to come downstairs to the computer. Sad, isn't it? My 7th grade history teacher used to say, 'You know, your memory is the second thing to go with old age ... I can't remember the first.' He was an interesting character. But right about now, I am starting to understand what he was talking about! LOL!

Here's one thing I can remember...

This past Friday I had a girly spa party. If you know me, you know that I DON'T do home party things. I tried once, and the only person that showed up was my mother (thanks Mom!). But I had gone to a spa party a few weeks ago, and it was really a lot of fun. I decided to give it a try, so I broke from the norm and scheduled a party at my house. I was hoping for at least 4 or 5 people to show up, since the lady was driving from an hour away to do the party. I was shocked...8 people came! It was a great time (although my living room was barely big enough for the demonstrator, myself, and 8 guests!)! And I even got to know some people that I don't know very well, and do some good ol' girly bonding with those that I do know.

During the party, Lucas took the kids to McDonald's to eat and play, and then they went Christmas wish list shopping through the isles of Wal-Mart. The next day, the boys had a list a mile long of things they saw that they just have to have! Now, if I can only remember them all when it comes time to buy Christmas gifts, I'll be good! I know there were several transformers on the list! And some video game from Isaac (no surprise there). The boys picked out 2 new chess sets - one Pirates (I think) and one Transformers. And Meagan wants one of everything Dora and Diego. We'll see....

When can we get a back yard like this?

Tonight the kids and I went to a bonfire at our children's pastor's house. She and her husband live about 15 minutes from us, way out in the country, on 3 acres of beautiful, wooded property. Well, when we showed up, it was about 7:00. We rang the doorbell, and no one answered, so we headed out to the back yard where the fire was. We walked around to the back of the house, which has a walk-out basement and gorgeous landscaping that backs up to a big wooded area. Isaac looked at me and said, "Mom I like this back yard. When can we get a back yard like this?" Funny, I think his daddy might feel the same...especially with the permanent tree stand about 50 feet from the back of the house.

The kids were great! They were the only kids there, but they were really well-behaved. They went back and forth between playing in the toy-furnished basement and playing in the big back yard. They had a ball and were bummed when it was time to go. But with all that energy they thought they had as we were leaving, by the time we got home, 2 out of 3 were asleep, and the 3rd was only minutes away. I had planned on giving them a bath tonight, but I just stuck them straight into bed. I guess they're gonna smell like camp fire for church tomorrow.

The Art of Word Use

I think it was yesterday that this happened...

While I was making dinner (or maybe lunch?), Sebastian got out one of those giant coloring books that's about 3 feet tall and started working on a dinosaur page. He was taking his time, being very detailed, as he typically does - that's just the Sebastian way. Well, about 10 minutes into his masterpiece, Meagan wanders into the kitchen and decides she would like to join her brother in his coloring adventures. Sebastian offers to share, but tells her in no uncertain terms that she can't color his page; she has to color the page opposite. So she starts scribbling all over some tree tops and whatever else is on the page to scribble up (although she really was giving it her best shot). Well, as I was finishing cooking, Lucas walks in. As I got plates together, the kids greeted Daddy, and the coloring book clean-up was neglected.

Well, our dinner conversation finds its way to what the kids had been doing that day, and Sebastian proudly announces that he has been working hard on coloring in the dinosaur book. 'I bet you can tell which page is mine,' he says, pointing to the book still laying open on the floor. Lucas, teasing, points to the other page - the one Meagan had been working on. 'You mean the one that's not scribbled, right Dad?' Lucas points again to the scribbled page of trees and says, 'Yeah, I mean that one.' Trying his best to be patient, Sebastian says, 'You mean the one with the big dinosaur, right?' 'No, the one with the trees,' Lucas says, somehow keeping a straight face.

With a hint of exasperation, and a notable amount of shock, Sebastian says, 'No Dad! That one's not mine. It's all scribbled. Mine's QUALITY!'

We about rolled out of our chairs laughing. All Lucas could say was, 'That's a great use of that word, Buddy!' That kid cracks us up!

Updates

For those of you who are wondering, Sebastian is doing much better. Thursday he stayed home from school. He was still pretty lethargic and had a low fever. He didn't eat much, and he slept a little during the afternoon. We went to the doctor that afternoon (for me actually), and our doctor put all of us except Meagan (and Lucas, because he wasn't there) on medication. So we all took it pretty easy Thursday.

This morning when Sebastian woke up, he seemed much better. He had a lot more energy, and quite a big appetite. I still made him take it easy on what he ate...thankfully, because he got full a lot more quickly than I think he thought he would (after not eating for 2 days, he thought he could eat one of everything!). Anyway, there was no school today, so he stayed home again. We ended up going to motor development this morning. He seemed to do fine, and he ate a little more at lunch. I think we're on the road to recovery. So there's your update.

Speaking of updates...I can't seem to leave things alone! This layout was bugging me for some reason. It felt too harsh and empty for what I was trying to do. So I opened it back up and messed with it a little more tonight. I think I'll have to look at it for a little longer before I decide for sure if it's really an improvement or whether it's just the mood I'm in right now...LOL! I'm such a moody scrapper. Tomorrow I may like the older version better! But I thought the background of this one felt softer. Anyway...I'm gonna try to leave it alone now.