Untitled (that's how creative I feel)

Yesterday was productive - I signed up at weight watchers; on the way to Mom's seemed like the best time to do it, so I brought the kids with me. Once back in the car, I tried to recover from the MAMMOTH amount of weight I need to lose (being proactive and actually joining at least helped me cope mentally) and Gabe decided to regale me with what he supposed was the history of weight watchers, which boiled down to the nuts and bolts of it was that the name of the program used to be "Hey, don't eat so much" but eventually was changed to weight watchers to make people feel better. My nine year old obviously has a handle on political correctness.  Zach, on the other hand, not so much. He thought it used to be called "Fat Busters." (I think busters is not a verb in his version, but a noun.) I was cracking up by the time we got to Mom's.

Rilla slept completely through four magical nights this week, only to destroy my illusions of energy and emotional stability by spend three hours awake last night. "Crying it out" doesn't seem to mesh with her headstrong personality. Ah, well, molar number four is poking through and maybe once it is fully here she will tease me again by sleeping through the night.

The thing is...

Here is the thing about your kids. They are so much more than you could ever have imagined. If asked to special order them, to check off all the proper boxes resulting in the child you would like the most, it would be impossible to come up with this winsome, amazing combination that is your child. Each one is the same only in that they are so impossibly unique. (I notice that I use the word "impossible" a lot when speaking of my children - the wonder I feel doesn't cancel out the fact that parenting is the most difficult thing I will ever do.)  Everyday when Katy is one of my best friends, when Gabe laughs uproariously at his adorable baby sister, when Zach once again makes my jaw drop with one of his hilarious quips, when Rilla finds one more thing that will have us all in stitches and keeps doing it, when I think of Jacob and his heart for peace - how is this my family? Can time just stop as I watch them pull the baby in the wooden sled, looking for all the world like a Norman Rockwell painting? Is it possible that Jake is almost twenty, practically the age I was when I became a parent? Who will I spend my evenings with once Katy is gone? The thing about your kids is this - they are each the very best, and that in itself is a miracle.

Birthday Week 2012

As I write this, both of my boys are 8 years old. That will change on Monday, of course, when Gabe will reach the ripe old age of 9. This week has been full of birthday activity - cupcakes and small gifts for Zach on Wednesday (his actual birthday), going out for lobster with Daddy on Thursday and Zach receiving his gift (a wooden runner sled from L.L.Bean), having some family and friends over for pizza, cake and ice cream on Friday, then heading to a late (7:20!) movie with Daddy at the "cheap" theater, and finally on Monday Gabe will get what he wished for - birthday money to spend as he chooses, so he and his best friend Gavin can  go shopping.
Phew. Good thing we get all of the family birthdays out of the way in the second half of the year - no more now until July, when it starts all over again!
In other news, Rilla says "I love you" now, so the whole family is always angling to hear those words come out of her mouth, and she also likes to color!
Katy is finishing up her very last midterms of her highschool career - mostly easy, like making a sandwich in Basic Foods class!
Finally getting a little snow.

Anticipated for months, the lobster sadly left a little to be desired  for the boys.

Yep, this kid could spend his life playing video games if I let him.

EIGHT YEAR OLDS

Normally she loves to color, but the camera causes a dilemma of where to look. 

My domestic help

As I was cooking dinner (a Sunday-night, Daddy-is-working-and-Katy-is-out Special, pasta, rolls and apple slices!) Zach wandered by the kitchen, sighed, and said:
"Ahhh. I love the smell of macaroni in the afternoon..."

Before they were allowed to turn on their mutual favorite Sunday night television treat, America's Funniest Home Videos, the boys needed to clean up their room, and tonight I asked Gabe to grab the small dirt devil stick and vacuum too.  A couple minutes later I walked by, and he coolly gave me a thumbs up as he vacuumed, then winked. He's almost nine and suddenly it's like I'm Fonzys' mom.

Rock, Paper, Scizzors... Shoe!

Lately Gabe and Zach have been enjoying the game "Connect Four" so often before bed we settle down to a tournament, to see who will be the evening's champion. Early on I realized that when we would play "rock, paper, scizzors" to see who would go first, not only did the boys end it by yelling "SHOE!" instead of "shoot" but they would get into a pattern and go through all three options repeatedly. I pointed this out to John, who think it is hilarious to play this with them, because he knows exactly which "hand" they will put forth next, but they have no idea how he knows. It's a riot.

for some reason, Zach loves to call this game "Ketchup vs. Mustard". Looks like ketchup won!

Decking the Halls, etc

AH, the happy prospect of eating the finished product!

Yes, in case you can't quite make it out, that IS an old fashioned playpen surrounding our glorious * fake (*see "Flashback:holiday hilarity, O Tanenbaum) tree.  It at least increases the likelihood that the tree will make it another week.

Every year we decorate a ginger bread house together - it was a tradition in my house growing up,when my mother would actually bake a legitimate ginger bread, and we would build a house. As I added children to my family, starting with my oldest two  who were the perfect ages for such festive crafts at seven and nine our first year together, we continued the tradition, and I recall one year when my cousin Marisa and I were the only ones actually invested enough in this tradition to put the effort into building and decorating the annual gingerbread home (at the time we had seven kids bewtween the two of us - none of whom cared to help).   This year my "big kids" were not here to help, and so we waited for Rilla to be sleeping, invited Nana over, and decorated our first ever pre-assembled house. Even the frosting was ready to go!

Oh man, am I in trouble when Nana sees this!

The Christmas Festival

This year our church decided to up the ante for the annual Christmas party and turn it into a festival complete with an outdoor live nativity, caroling, face painting, crafts, a bonfire, hayride and cooking baking/decorating. It was amazing! Friday I spent the day helping Laurie set up our cozy faux living room in the church foyer, and Saturday around 2 we all headed over to help with finishing touches before kicking things off. My  three middle children were all quite involved, and had a wonderful time celebrating Jesus' birth. Rilla was totally fed up with being at chruch AGAIN and it was a miracle I got to eat, and that only because someone else held her while I quickly piled yummy potluck food on my plate and scarfed it down. John was working but helped set up Friday and many of the ladies sent home leftovers for him.

Rilla was SUCH a help decorating the tree at the front of the church!

A very warm shepherd with one blue and one brown shoe (probably should have caught that one before we left the house).

One of the three wise men (insert "wise guy" comment here!)

Festive face painting!