Beyond "The Cloud"

Even Windows "The Cloud"  can't help this kid.  Apparently The Cloud allows you to merge pictures of groups of people so you can take the best shot of each person.  Which shot is the best of this silly kid on the left?  Seriously!!!  What a ham!!!  (Love ya kid!!!)

A Mom Story...

My oldest son isn't with me today.  He spent last night at my parents, a delayed birthday tradition. There was a snowstorm during the first attempt.  This date was the make-up date and Eddie was not about to let anything stop him this time; not even a broken arm.  We talked about rescheduling, but he was resolute.

Only 24 hours after breaking his arm, he departed for Grandma and Grandpa's (a.k.a. Baba).  Eddie is a very sensitive kid; as in he is very aware of his needs and emotions.  So, he knew he needed to be cared for and loved right now, while the pain was still at it's worst.  Plus he is grieving the loss of his passion for the next 2 months, Taekwondo. 

I have to say, I am really struggling with the fact that it is not me providing that for him.  I feel bound, I feel restricted.  This is uncomfortable.  I should be caring for my baby.  I know he is in amazing hands.  My parents are truly wonderful.  Still, I have this deep, uncontrollable need to care for my hurting child.

It's strange, the timing.  This isn't the first time he ended up at Grandma and Baba's at a pinnacle point in his life.  Four years ago, he witnessed another Grandfather (his namesake) pass away.  It was the night before Eddie's birthday, the night before he was going to spend the night at Grandma and Baba's.  That time we also discussed cancelling, and it was hard to let him go, but that was where he was meant to be.

There are some very clear moments in my children's lives where I feel God is at work.  It seems obvious that some events were planned and happened just as they should.  For Eddie, these moments when he ends up at Grandma and Baba's seem fall into that category for sure.  I'm sure he will never forget the nights he spent there when he needed love, support and reassurance the most.

I think I'll feel unsettled until he returns to my care, but he is where he is supposed to be and I am thankful.

The Dirty Sock Blog

Let's talk about socks. Dirty Socks.  They are all over my home!
(Disclaimer:  No photos in this blog are staged.  No socks have been tampered with, augmented, situated or otherwise manipulated.  All photos are candid, as is, discoveries.)

When the kids were little, expected things were left around the house, for sure.  Sippy cups, stuffed animals, blankets, toys.  I anticipated that with having little kids.  Now my little kids are bigger kids.  They are developing autonomy and focused thinking.  For example, one will be so focused on relieving his raised body temperature that he doesn't even pay attention to where he is discarding the dirty socks that he is removing!  Seriously.

                          

Exhibit A - The Kitchen Table

        Exhibit B - On Top of the Dresser

Exhibit C - On The Toys

Exhibit D - Next to the Shower

Exhibit E - In the Living Room

Exhibit F - Next to the Wii Fit Board

And last but not least, my all time favorite, an American classic...

Exhibit G - On the Floor.  
Right in Front of the Hamper.

My boys are 12, almost 10 and almost 8. I have a feeling that this will be a part of my life for many years to come...    Lord help me.

I Don't Belong Here

I've been reading the Harry Potter series.  My son started reading it a year ago and I told him I'd follow along and read it after him.  I haven't been doing that great considering I'm still in Year 3 and he is deep into Year 5.

Anyway, the fact that we are both reading it lets up speak in "Harry Potter" language.  We make up our own spell names and recall funny parts of the book.  It's a way I can connect with him in a world in which he feels like he belongs.

Today when I dropped him off at school, I said, "Here we are... Hogwarts."  Then as I looked around, I corrected myself.  "Oh.  This isn't Hogwarts.  These are all muggles.  This is a muggle school.  Oh no.  You don't belong here."  He immediately retorted, "Nope. I don't."  We smiled and off he went.

It struck me. That feeling.  Ah.  School. Not belonging.  I remember that.  I was just another insignificant person floating through the halls full of clicks and people who were all different from me and didn't get me.  And as I remembered that feeling, I realized that is how my son feels now.  School is a foreign land to him that he must partake in, but his real place, the place he belongs is somewhere else.

Do all kids feel like that in the large public schools or was it just me and him?  How about as adults?  I still feel like that a lot of the time.

There is a verse in the Bible that says our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20-21).  Maybe this is where we will finally feel like we belong. Until then, we are special, not fully realized people in a restrictive muggle world.

C'est la vie.

Snow Day 2010

So, Saturday and Sunday were the days of the big blizzard.  Over a foot of snow followed by ten below wind chills.


Sunday morning started out like this:

Fun!  Church was canceled and the boys played in the snow for hours.  They also did much of the shoveling.  My daughter and I watched through the window, nice and cozy inside.  Could the day get any better?    Sure it could!  We could have hot chocolate and watch the Packers pummel the Detroit Lions.  It's gonna be a great day...


Then... the cable/phone/internet service went out.  Wait!  I haven't set up my fantasy football team yet!  I asked my sister to text me updates of the Packer game until I remembered we could listen on the radio. (Apparently I've forgotten about old-school technology.)  I texted my sister, "At least we have power."  Then, finally, not too long into the game the cable came back.  Yes!  So we settle down to watch the Packers... get pummeled by Detroit.  Hey! Something does not feel right about this day.

I got tired of the Packers horrific showing and went outside to unearth my cars from the mounds of snow that were strangling them.  When I came in for a break to get warm, Dan was putting batteries in our boombox to find out what was happening with the Packers.  The power had gone.  Drat!  I jinxed us. 

After 2 hours of no power, I packed some bags and made possible overnight plans for us, just in case.  It got dark.  We lit candles and the boys ran around with my baby girl and her Hippo flashilight. They were having a blast.

We saw lots of utility company trucks scurrying from transformer to transformer trying to find the problem.  The power came on. Yay!!!!!!   Turned on lights, blew out candles. Then, the power went off.  Drat again!!  We re-lit the candles and made plans to go out to dinner and have a belated celebration for our oldest son getting his black belt in Taekwondo.  (All the while the candles were lit, my little girl kept singing Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you.  That was pretty sweet.) Then, boom! The lights went on.  Yay!  No blowing out the candles just yet.  And, the lights when off.  Triple Drat!!!

Okay, this is getting too long.  We went out to a fun dinner and came home 2 hours later (going on 7 hours of power out.)   We drove into our neighborhood with much anticipation.  Quadruple Drat!!!!  The street lights were still out.    But, the untility trucks were still to be seen, so we had hope.  We decided to stay home and risk it.  I bundled my baby up in 3 layers of jammies and put here to bet with her light-up lullaby dolls.  The boys and I set up our "Sorry" game in the living room with lots of candles.  

We all snuggle under a blanket, read the directions and... Boom!  The power came on.  No!!!!!!  The boys all wanted it to stay off, they were having so much fun.  So, we kept the ights out and the candles on and played our game for 2 hours.  The house gradually warmed up and, as it turns out, we had a very fun and memorable day.  I think we will never forget it.  No more "drats," just fond memories.

Christmas Tree Time

In about a week, my kids and I will venture out to find our 2nd "real" Christmas tree. I can't stop thinking about our experience last year with our first "real" tree.  And so I am inclined to repost last year's musing.  Enjoy!  And... Merry Christmas!

Ornaments of Life - Dody's Daydreams, December 18th, 2009

We've had a fake Christmas tree for 10 years. It was easier when we had three preschoolers. No chasing kids through massive tree lots while my hubby and I bicker over the "right" tree. No falling needles to be eaten and choked on. No forgetting to water the tree because I have laundry and spit-up and diaper rash on the brain.

After the boys got bigger, it was a habit we were in. We have the tree, so why go pay $40 for another one, real or not?

Then came the kittens. The kittens loved to climb and bat at things and play! The Christmas tree became their own private amusement park. We tried to deter them by squirting water at them. That was only a temporary fix. When we slept, they played. Every morning I found misplaced and broken ornaments. Eventually, several branches would accompany the glass shards on the floor. By New Years Day, they had left their permanent mark. The fake tree we had used for 10 years was unrepairable.

This Thanksgiving, my hubby picked up a new fake tree, by my request. However, it just didn't sit right with us. It was time to create a new Christmas tradition. I returned the plastic tree, tightly stuffed into it's box and two weeks later we ventured out into the snowy night to buy a real tree.

The experience was great. No arguing, a warm campfire, a tractor-pulled hayride through the beautiful tree farm. It was perfect.

The next day we erected our gorgeous tree. (I'm certain it was the best one on the lot and only fools came before us, why else was is still there waiting for us?) With three little helpers, it seemed almost magical how quickly the tree transformed. Lights and garland and ornaments were flying onto the tree.

An ornament my son made as a toddler, another that his brother made in pre-school, another that was a gift from my stepmom; "Oh, I love this one." "Grandma bought these for us, one snowman for each of us." "Oh look, a handcrafted angel from Stella!" "Nana helped you make that one." "You made this one with your Aunt Jamie." "Mom, remember these from our old neighbors." "Ahaha... this one is from my sister. I miss her." "Baby's First Christmas, one for each of you."

The memories of our loved ones and past Christmases flooded every open space on the tree. Many of the people from these memories aren't here anymore, but these decorations, these ornaments, these precious trinkets, they represent life. My life, my children's' lives, my relatives lives. This tree may be a living tree, but it wasn't truly brought to life until it was donned with our treasures.

The kids are already planning which ornaments they will take with them when they grow up and move out. The memories will live on with them for years to come.

Maybe I am just more sentimental this year, maybe it's because our tree is living, maybe I am intoxicated by the smell of pine; but I know that I am smitten with this tree that is very much alive.

Dinner or Leaf Pile?

(As previously required for me to express, sorry for major blogging drought. Party Foul!)

So, during the last two days, I was faced with the same decision, twice!  Dinner or leaf pile?  Both times, I chose leaf pile. 

We have a huge maple tree in our backyard that drops leaves a bit late in the season.  The kids wait and wait as they see nearly all the other leaves in our and surrounding counties succumb to the season and drop to the earth.  They wait, and they watch our maple.  In late October, it finally decides to let the leaves lighten to shades of yellow-ish green.  To be honest, our first fall in this house, I felt whamboozled that my glorious maple only kinda-sorta embraces the leaf changing phenomenon by barely, whimpily and subtlely altering leaf pigmentation, then clinging to it's leaves until the freezing weather comes forcing me to clean up it's massive shedding while I get chilled to the bone.  Talk about a party foul!

Anyway, I digress.  The leaves have finally, mostly fallen.  And, I guess I've unnecessarily complained about it being November when the leaves fall because it's actually been very mild here this year.  So, two days in a row I was faced with the choice of making dinner for my family, or playing with them in the massive leaf pile.  Both times I chose the later.  Was there really much of a choice?  I only really cook a dinner two or three a week if the family is lucky, once if they are not.  So frozen pizza and Burger King it was. 

But you see, who cares?  We got to do this...

 

and this... 

 

I think I made the right decision.

I rest my case.

The Girl Who Shopped

Once upon a time...

a girl went shopping.

She found a bag of really  

cool rubber-bandy thingies.

 She wanted them.

She wondered how much they cost.

 She was... SHOCKED!

Could this be right?

"I better check the other side," she thought.

 "Do you know how much these

rubber-bandy thingies cost?" She asked.

"I guess we're not buying them, huh?"

The End.

I'd Be Lost

I'd be lost without my handy dandy cell phone.  Truly lost.  

It's smudged and chipped.  It's been through many falls.  It almost landed in the lake three weeks ago.  Oh my gosh! I would have died.

(My wallpaper is Grover in a chrysalis. Not a scarf, a chrysalis, as so beautifully done by my 4-year-old God-daughter who recently had her own caterpillars transform into butterflies.)

It's been said that every time a woman has a baby, she loses a quarter of her brain.  I have four kids. Do the math.

Actually, I must be pretty smart to use my phone to compensate for my brain degeneration, though I would argue my brain is just fine and it is the pure chaos of my life that leaves me mentally challenged.

My phone has a calendar.  Each event on the calendar can have a reminder alarm.  I use this on every event in my life.  (To think my calendar used to serve more as a record of the past since I never forgot my appointments.) As an extreme precaution, I even use it for my set work schedule.  When the alarm sounds, my husband will say, "What's that beeping for?" I usually say, "I don't know. I have to check."  It could be anything from "I have to go to work now" to "remember to wash your children's sports uniforms."  

This phone also wakes me up every morning.  I'm all for consolidating gadgets because we have so many possessions in our house with six people living here.  Alarm clock was acting funny. Tossed it.  Use the phone.

My little sister and I  hate talking on the phone, but love sharing random daily happenings from the benign to the intense to the strange.  We text... a lot.  It's how we stay connected and close.  I love my phone for this!

My phone takes crappy pictures.  But, hey, it takes pictures.  You see, I have four kids.  They are adorable and there are always things to take pictures of.  However, I have yet to set an alarm on my phone to remind me to take my camera with me when we go out, so I don't usually have it.  At least I have my phone.

Did I mention it is also my mp3 player?

I'd be lost without my LG.  I love it!

Coloring: Rated E for Everyone

My baby loves to color.  She likes to see the color appear as she strokes the crayon on the paper. And, she likes to see how many crayons she can hold in her miniature, pudgy hands, then let them drop to the table and roll to the floor.  That's a very fun game.  And sometimes we'll catch her chewing on a non-toxic Crayola. (Bad baby!  Ok, not really.  She's an angel. I could never call her bad.)

And her mommy loves to color too!  (That's me.)  I just can't seem to help myself from coloring on the pages with her.  My favorite art is the mix of toddler scratches and creative coloring/shading on the pages of a coloring book.  Maybe I'll frame some one of these days.  "The Mommy/Baby Art Collaborations," I could call them.  Maybe I could put them on display at some free and innovative art gallery.  I can see it now.... the flash bulbs of reporters, the interviews, the national coverage...   Oh. Ach hem.

Anyway, I'm just saying... I love to color with my baby.

Nerf Initiation

My little sister is engaged to a kind, wonderful, conservative boy.  Okay, he's not exactly a boy.  He is a recent college grad entrenched in the madness of the upcoming election, and he is stationed in D.C.

It seems reasonable that he hasn't found the time to journey to Wisconsin to meet his future sister and brother-in-law, nephews and niece.  But, I would like to submit to you that his busyness has nothing to do with it.  I think he's afraid of this...

And this...........

(Yes, that big boy is my husband.)  

Mr. Wonderful... we are waiting to meet you.  What's the problem?  Are you scared of a little Nerf dart?

Actually, we've seen pictures of his semi-automatic Nerf, of sorts, and we only have these little guns, so there is seemingly reason to falter. Still... there are many of us. We are not afraid.

Seriously though, once the Nerf-pelting is over, which is just a normal part of our day, we cannot wait to hug the future Uncle to my children and welcome him right in.

School Supply Stress

School supply organization, recycling (as in using last year's supplies which are still usable) and shopping is getting more and more stressful each year.  I have three boys in school and the oldest is now in middle school.  For him we had 2 full backpacks, a crate and a bag's worth of supplies to cart in on the first day.  Also, everything needed to be labeled.  Insanity!!!

I actually made a spread sheet for shopping and detailed list for each child.  I purchased items at 3 different stores and returned the ones I found to be more expensive to Shopko. (Wal-Mart is the overall cheapest, but the grocery store is where I made out on the loss-leader sales.)

I spent around $80 this year on everything, including a 2GB flash drive and a TI calculator. That is actually pretty good.  I accredit this to my recycling, ad watching and all-around awesomeness.  In moments like that, my kids sometimes ask, "Do you feel like Supermom right now?"  Had they asked me, I would have firmly and resoundingly said, "Yes!"

Despite that feat, all the inventorying, labeling, sharpening, sorting, appropriating, distributing, packing, delivering, re-organizing and discovering what was missing was just a tad anxiety inducing for me.  So glad it's over.  Until next year...

The Girl and The Orange

Once upon a time, there was a little girl...

and an orange.

The girl picked up the orange.

She played with the orange.

The girl, loved her orange.

Then, the girl became interested in her toes.

She tired of the orange and threw it down to the earth.

Poor orange.