The Unexpected Elements of Christmas

Tonight at dinner, Meagan decided to entertain us all with a song she has been learning at pre-school. The lyrics are 'The Virgin Mary had a baby boy...' Something like that.

So she sang it for us. Only she sang, 'the berginary had a baby boy.'

"What's a berginary?" Isaac asked (and for good reason... what IS a berginary?)

So I explained that the actual words are, 'The Virgin Mary.'

Pause................

"Then what's a virgin?" Sebastian asked.

Yeah. Sorta saw that coming, but was hoping it would go unnoticed... I should have known better.

How to explain without offering too much detail??? "It's a girl who is not married who has never been with a boy in a way that could make a baby." (Praying for no follow-up questions... but I'm thinking non-fiction, informational, Discovery Channel-ish stuff... maybe? Please please please don't ask any more questions, LOL)

Whew! He went a different direction. "Then Meagan is a virgin!"

"Yes she is."

"But I'm not, because I'm not a girl."

"Oh. Um. Well, it is for boys and girls... I just said girl because Mary was a girl."

"Do you remember Hank?" (Hank is Grandpa's friend... where on EARTH did that come from?!)

"Yes, I remember Hank. What about him?"

(This is still Sebastian, by the way) "Well, when I was little, he wasn't married, so I think he is a virgin too. Unless he got married since then."

Hmmm... does this kid's mind EVER stop?!

"Well, honey, Hank has kids, so.... "

"Oh, then I guess he's not one."

Finally, end of that topic. It switched from there to "I think Mary was married to God" (Isaac), to which Sebastian explained that she was married to Joseph and that God isn't married... etc etc. Goodness, these are the elements of the Christmas story that you just don't think about, ya know?!

Gorgeous Freebie Kit

Hey all, just wanted to pass this along for those who are into digi scrapping...

Through the remainder of the day, The DigiChick is giving a free kit when you spend $15 in the shop. Normally, I don't get too excited about these kinds of things... often the freebies that stores offer are not all that great, in my humble opinion. BUT... this one is WORTH it! It's gorgeous, and crammed full of a TON of stuff! Here's a preview of the kit, and a link to the shop if you're interested. Happy shopping! Love The DigiChick!

I am a FLAMING idiot! (LOL!)

Wow! What a morning it has been! Everything started off just fine... I slept until about 9:30 while the kids played Pokemon cards and watched TV. Meagan finally succeeded in bugging me enough to get me out of bed to make breakfast, so I got up and headed upstairs to make a special breakfast of cinnamon rolls.

Oh, it was special alright!

I got the rolls out of the refrigerator, got the baking sheets ready, and preheated the oven. While I was waiting for the oven to get up to temp, I went about my normal morning routine - you know, bathroom, face wash, all that good stuff. When I came back into the kitchen, the oven beeped, indicating it was up to temp. As I walked over to it to put the cinnamon rolls in, though, I noticed smoke rolling off the stove top. Well, there were a bunch of things sitting on the stove - a bag of potatoes, a container of dinner rolls, salt & pepper shakers, etc. I thought somehow one of them had overheated... the potatoes seemed to be the most likely candidate, so I grabbed the bag and moved it straight over to the sink... but it wasn't the potatoes. So I grabbed the container of dinner rolls... not that either. My process of elimination was not working, and the smoke continued to roll.

Thankfully, by this time, Guy had taken an interest in what I was doing, and he came over to help. But he went straight for the oven. He opened the door, and there we found a plastic storage container that had once been filled with tortilla chips... Now, however, the bottom of the container had melted out and oozed all over the oven racks and the bottom of the oven, and the tortilla chips were in a charred pile at the bottom of the oven.

Oh. Um. Ooops. I never even thought to look INSIDE the oven before preheating it. I had COMPLETELY forgotten that Jane used to (and apparently still does) store stuff inside her oven. I had successfully managed to start a house fire. Immediately, the smoke alarms started going off like dominoes all throughout the house. Guy took over with the plastic blob, while I tried to find hot pads or something that he could use to keep from burning himself. So, I ran down in the basement to see what I could find. While I was there, I made a stop at the bedroom to wake Lucas up. My poor husband was awakened today with, "Hey Luc, do you think you could help us? There's a fire in the kitchen." He SHOT UP out of bed (much faster than when I thought there was a dead cat in the bed, I might add), and came upstairs to help. We opened doors & windows & set up a gigantor fan in the kitchen to try to get the smoke to move out of the kitchen.

I then tried to just stay out of the way. I got the kids dressed in case we ended up having to move outside. Then I steered clear. They proceeded to get everything outside to the garage on the concrete floor... the molten plastic blob over oven rack, the pile of char-broiled chips - all of it. There was smoke rolling everywhere, but THANKFULLY everything stayed contained and was put out without incident. Uggh!

All I can say is I felt like a complete moron of epic proportions! Oh well... what's done is done. Thank God we saw it and the men were able to handle it well.

The house is now closed up, we're regaining the heat that we lost with all the cold winter air blasting in from every open door, and the kitchen is relatively smoke free. I even made the cinnamon rolls for breakfast (which I burned, by the way... no joke!).

Moving on...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, Thanksgiving was a success! We were able to travel to Ohio Wednesday evening to visit family, despite a potential set-back at Lucas' work earlier Wednesday morning. Yea - thankful we were still able to go!

As soon as we got to Grandma & Grandpa's, the kids were flooded with all kinds of exciting things to do. There were singing Christmas trees, snowmen and moose waiting for them, plus Grandpa's train sets...so much to do!

Thursday morning, my mom and I worked together to get Thanksgiving dinner put together, and then Mom, Guy, Jane, Shane, Tina, Lucas, the kids, and I all had dinner together in Guy & Jane's garage (the only place big enough to set up enough table space for everyone).

After dinner - and after a couple hours of clean up - we got the kids wound down in front of a movie (UP again), and the adults sat down for a hilarious game of Catch Phrase! We laughed so hard at some of the clues we were giving to each other. So funny!

All in all, it was a wonderful day! So much to be thankful for!

Christmas Tree Skirt

These pictures are from our Christmas clean-up this past January. Once we took the tree skirt out from under the tree, Meagan realized that it fit her perfectly as a real skirt. She wore it around the house for 2 days, claiming it was her princess ball dress.

Journaling: Meagan found a new use for the tree skirt this year. As soon as it was fastened around her waist, it transformed into a long, flowing ball gown, and she, a beautiful Christmas princess.'

Click here to view full credits.

Write Me

A quick layout I put together the other day to tell the story of my 6th grade pen pal.

Journaling: My 6th grade teacher decided it would benefit us to do a pen pal project. We were to write one letter and see if we received a response. I was given a pen pal from Australia. Her name was Kylie Sedgers. Not only did she respond, but we ended up writing several letters to each other. She sent pictures of her family & of herself. I remember thinking it was so funny that it was sunny & warm at Christmas time! I always looked forward to her letters. I kept everything she ever sent & put it in an album. I was sad when the day came that I realized she wasn't going to respond this time. I never expected a pen pal project to mean so much to me!

Click here to view full credits.

Hot Date Tonight!

Tonight we have a hot date... a family movie date to watch UP! The kids have been looking forward to it ALL WEEK, so we decided to make a big big deal of it. We are going to have a special dinner (hot dogs - since there are DOGS in the movie... plus they all just happen to LOVE hot dogs). We're going to set up their sleeping bags and pillows in the living room floor, turn on surround sound, and kick back! Plus, we'll do popcorn and balloon cookies for special snacks. Here's a peek at the cookies I made for our special event.

Just a bag mix of Betty Crocker sugar cookies, a can of white fluffy frosting, split 4 ways, some neon food coloring drops, and Twizzler strings. Simple, but it doesn't take much to make it a special thing for the kids! I only wish I would have had a balloon-shaped cookie cutter... would have sped things up a bit, and maybe made them look a little less lumpy! LOL! Oh well, they'll still taste yummy!

A few more layouts to share with you. The first:

TINK:



Favorite Thing About Daddy:

For the most recent digi dare: to ask the same question to a boy & a girl and record their answers. Of course, I couldn't just ask one of the boys, so I asked them both. I did think it was funny, though, how girly Meagan's answer was compared to the boys' answers.

Meagan: He likes to hug me & be crazy about me.

Isaac: He plays tackle with us.

Sebastian: He lets us play his PS3.

They gave these answers on Sunday, November 15.

Visit my DST gallery to view complete credits.

Update

We're all feeling much better. Life is busy. More of the same.... skating on Monday. Gymnastics & small group on Tuesday. Church on Wednesday. Gymnastics on Thursday. Free day (of cleaning and catching up) on Friday & Saturday. Church on Sunday. Start over.

That being said, there have been a few notable moments amid all the monotony of everyday life. Last Thursday we had parent-teacher conferences for the boys. We learned that Isaac is "probably the brightest kid in the class" and is reading a few levels above where they want them to be by the end of 1st grade, so he and one other little girl are actually being sent to another class for reading so that they can be challenged. I had no idea, so that was a pleasant surprise. (Truthfully, by the way Isaac made it sound, I kind of thought maybe they had put him in a remedial reading class, so I was not at all expecting to hear the total opposite, LOL ). However, he is having some troubles. He has been having trouble with little outbursts for the past few weeks. In a matter of 2 days of school, he managed to intentionally break several of the class crayons, and smash another little kids 3-D shapes project just because he felt like it. Hmmm... So, we had a long talk with Isaac, and he seems to be responding fairly well to it. I also wonder if a bit of his issues weren't because of the antibiotic he was on... just a little fishy to me that the trouble spiked up during the time he was on the medicine and has improved since he's been off of it. ??? Still, we're working on it with him.

Sebastian's teachers also said he is doing really well. They both said he is super smart, catches on easily, and so on. He talks too much in class (wonder who he might have gotten that from?), and that sometimes he has trouble staying on task. Yup, that's Sebastian. But he's doing really well, so yay!

One other highlight to mention... all of a sudden this week Isaac just took off in skating. He finally seems to have his feet about him, and he is picking up speed. This week was the first week since the very first week that I could visibly see that he was enjoying himself. Hopefully he keeps on improving. I just want him to enjoy what he's doing... so much better than being a grump!

Other than that, not too much out of the ordinary is happening right now. Tomorrow we are planning a family movie date to watch UP. Looking forward to that! So are the kids... not sure Lucas is so excited, but he'll manage.

Under the weather

It's been a rough couple of weeks, but we're slowly turning the corner. I told you the kids and I were in urgent care a few weeks ago. Well, Meagan recovered nicely from her junkity junk, and Isaac, although he still has a bit of a cough hanging out, seems to be doing much better. Sebastian, still hanging out like a champ! Go Buddy! Now Lucas and I have a bit of a stomach bug that we've decided to share with each other. Nothing major - just annoying enough to disrupt the day a bit here & there. But I am hoping & praying it will be short-lived and life will go on as usual!

A Girl & Her Shoes

This morning, as we were getting ready to head out the door, Meagan decided to be very selective in choosing which pair of shoes to wear for the day. She decided on a pair of brown leather clog-ish shoes that have an open back. Very cute. Not very easy to walk in.

As she was climbing into the van, one of her shoes fell off of her feet. She sort of grunted in frustration, got down, and retrieved her shoe. As she climbed in the van for the second time, her other shoe slid to the ground. A little louder with the protest.

"Are you having troubles?" I asked her.
She said yes.
"Shoe troubles?"
Her response, "Yes, these shoes are DUMB!"
"Well, did you want to go get different shoes on before we leave?"
"No. I want these. They make me look beautiful."

Aaah, the power of a cute pair of shoes! No matter how dumb they are! She is definitely MY daughter.

Layouts to Share

Today is Digital Scrapbook Day, and I've been plopped in front of the TV with my laptop on my lap for the past few hours (watching an UGLY Notre Dame football game). I've gotten 2 layouts done today, plus I have 2 from a day or so ago to share.

First, here are 2 Halloween costume pages... one of Meagan and one of the boys...

Fairy Wings

Journaling: The magic of a costume can only truly be appreciated through the wonder of a child. The moment the wings were put into place, your imagination took flight, and you were instantly transformed into a flying fairy.

(Click here to view full credits)

Who's Boba? Who's Jango?

Journaling: I can't keep it straight. I keep asking, and you keep giving me an answer, but I just can't remember.

(Click here to view full credits)

Breathe Deep

I did this layout is for a challenge at the LilyPad. It was really very cool - in the process I learned about a new tool that I'm sure I'll be using again - a color palette generator. Just upload any photo, and it will pull together a color palette from the photo. Here's the link to it if you want to give it a try. I uploaded the picture of Isaac (that's in the top left corner of this layout). Here's the color palette I was given, if you're interested in checking it out.

Journaling: I love to see you taking in your surroundings - enjoying the total beauty of nature. I hope you live your whole lives with this same awe & wonder.

(click here to view full credits)

Perfect Apple

Another LilyPad challenge layout - this time for a template challenge. I downloaded a free template that they're giving away right now and used it to make this layout. These are pics of Meg picking apples on her field trip this year.

Journaling: Apple picking at the apple orchard for your preschool field trip. This year Grandma H. was able to go with us, so it was an extra special day. You picked the smallest apple on the tree, but didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. You said it was the 'cutest little apple' you've ever seen because it was so round & shiny & itty bitty. To you, it was the perfect apple. I'm glad you were happy! That's all that really matters. Although you adored your little apple, you didn't hesitate to eat it!!

(click here to view full credits)

Costume Pictures

I told you I would do my best! I picked a few of the better photos. I didn't take nearly as many pics this year as last, but that's okay. We still got plenty to remember our evening!

I Promise...

... to TRY to come back in a little while to post pics from THIS YEAR's Halloween... I'll TRY. I do still have to get some work done today. And go to the pharmacy for scrips. And go to a lunch meeting. But I've got nothing else planned for the evening, so I should be able to... I think. I'll TRY. xoxoxo

3 1/2 hours later...

Uggh! We have been so blessed to have avoided the yucky junkies that have been hitting everyone lately, but this week, we finally got a taste of it. Tuesday Isaac staid home from school because he was coughing really badly, and he was asking if he could go to bed and just sleep. By Tuesday evening, he had done nothing but rest all day, and he seemed to be feeling much better Wednesday morning. So he went back to school on Wednesday.

However.... yesterday at about 2:30, I got a call at work from Meg's preschool saying she was running a fever of 102. So, I packed up and went to pick her up. With her fever being what it was, our doctor's office recommended we head straight to Urgent Care. I knew that, if I was getting to urgent care at 3:00, there was very little chance I would be home by 4:00 to get the boys off the bus. So I went to the school & picked them up, and took all three of them to UC. My intention initially was just to have Meagan seen, but it was pretty clear after having Isaac in the van with me for all of about 30 seconds that his cough was still going strong. So I decided to have him seen too.

So now here's the picture: Three kids - 2 sick and 1 perfectly fine - sitting in urgent care with NOTHING to do... not the ideal circumstances, to say the least.

We waited... and waited... and waited. For almost an hour & 45 minutes before we were ever called back to be seen. Then a nurse practitioner student came in and checked them all over, after which a regular nurse practitioner would come in and redo all the same stuff all over again. Lovely. But whatever.

So she (the student) looked them over. She was really concerned about Isaac - thinking he might need to be on an inhaler or nebulizer. Then with Meagan, she was worried there might be a UTI or something, so she wanted to collect a pee sample... GREAT, seeing as Meagan had JUST gone to the bathroom about 5 minutes before that... which meant we had to wait until she had to go again! So we totally got held hostage by a 4-year-old's pee patterns. AAAAHHHH!!

Long story short, we were there from 3:10 until 7:50...more than 3 1/2 hours! No UTI or anything else pee-related, so that was all for nothing (but I guess at least we know what it's NOT, lol). Isaac has bronchitis and an ear infection. Meagan has a fever, so they called it the flu because there was nothing else to call it I guess.

So we're all hanging out at home today. Lovely. Meagan broke her fever in her sleep last night, so right now I'm having a hard time keeping her down and still. Isaac is still more than willing to lay on the couch and be a bum. Thankfully, there is no school tomorrow, so we have another day to just chill and recover.

Lesson learned... make a pit stop at home to gather several forms of entertainment before going to Urgent Care with 3 kids. Must remember that. Really.