Roar!!!!

I finally got it scanned! This is what we did over Thanksgiving. Crazy, huh?

What About the Big Yellow Chicken?

Obviously my children did not watch enough "Sesame Street" during their formative years. Caitlin was doing a maze in a Sesame Street writing skills tablet during homework time today. She turned to me and said "Hey Mom, am I suppose to get this big yellow chicken from here to there?" Big yellow chicken? She knows who Elmo and Oscar the Grouch are, but Big Bird has apparently not made much of an impression.

Trapped in the Body of An Office Worker

I had a massage today. It was wonderful. Then again, is a massage ever not wonderful? I woke up in the middle of the night last week with my lower back in pain. I must have done something to it, but I don't know what that was. All I know is that I woke up in a lot of pain. Enough pain to get up and turn on the closet light in the middle of the night to look for my heating pad, knowing full well that I might wake up Brian in the process. That kind of pain.

Although the back is slooooowly getting better, I'm still in daily pain, and a massage was in order. So I made an appointment at a place nearby. The woman was great - I'm sure I'll go back. And, she does mostly massage therapy, which works better on my neck (and back) than massage for pure relaxation. About half way through the massage, at the turning point from front to back, she asked me how many hours I spent at work in front of the computer. When I told her I didn't work, she seemed surprised. She said that the muscles of my shoulders, back and neck feel like those of someone who sits and works a full time job, usually one in front of a computer.

Great. So, I'm a stay-at-home mom trapped in the body of an office worker? How fun for me. I've been working hard at home to get sore muscles and a tight back. I've tried hard to get sick, to stay up late and not get enough sleep, and to not exercise. It's been rough work the last few weeks to get me into this condition. Maybe now I can trade in the mom jeans and over sized sweatshirts and get me some office clothes. Anything to look like the person whose body I have. Bleah. Maybe next week, after Caitlin's birthday/slumber party is finished, I can get back to the mom routine I had prior to the Christmas break. Things are starting up again. School's back in session. Things are looking up.

Way to be Prepared!

Caitlin went through her school backpack yesterday and pulled out her extra set of clothes for school. These are emergency clothes. The kind you only use if you accidentally wet your pants, or spill a vat of paint all over yourself. Those kind. In the year and a half that she's been in preschool, she's never used them. However, I like to be prepared. Obviously I'm not, since this is what she pulled out:

Lovely. A size 4 t-shirt and some size 3 leggings. She's a tall girl, and has been almost completely out of size 4's for a couple of months now. And size 3 leggings? Geez!! Good going, Mom! Way to be prepared! Good think she hasn't needed these in the last month. Seeing that it's currently a whopping 8 degrees outside right now, there are 4 inches of frozen snow everywhere, and we had a high of 15 yesterday (for a whole 20 minutes, I think), I think I should dig through her winter clothes and come up with a few we can put in the extra clothes bag. These ones wouldn't cut it in the snow and ice we've had the last few days.

Lights, Lights and more Lights

Going out and looking at Christmas lights is a tradition in our little family. Brian and I have been doing this since we got married. We lived in a highly immigrant neighborhood back then, and very few people decorated their houses with lights. At the time we were in an apartment, and couldn't really do much with lights and decorations outside of our home. We drove down to the Willow Glen area to look at all the beautiful lights on all the beautiful houses. Now that we live in Colorado, which has a far more homogeneous population than California, we don't have to drive as far to see all the beautiful lights that people display on and around their houses.

We braved the dry, 25 degree weather tonight to go look at some impressive light displays. The kids didn't even put on sweatshirts, so they were a little cold. Luckily I had some extra clothing in the car for them to wear. We went to a beautifully decorated house whose owners had this type of display in mind when they designed and built the place. The kids were fascinated by the trains both inside and outside the house, and the fact that Santa (not real) was inside sitting at the table. The pictures are somewhat blurry, as I kept the flash off to see the effects of the lights, but are pretty nonetheless.

So, What About the Talking?

For a couple of years now, Brandon has been our bedtime talker. He'll be pretty quiet about the day's events, but suddenly opens up at night after reading and tells us all sorts of things. Sometimes they're worth hearing about, sometimes not. Either way, we try not to discourage him from telling us what's on his mind. Caitlin has recently picked up on this, and now wants to "talk" at night, too. The problem is, she has nothing left to talk about. Caitlin talks all day long, all the time. She talks to us, to herself, to her friends, and to anyone who will listen. In fact, one of things we ask her to do the most is to stop talking!

Last night, after I'd read to Brandon, he asked me a few questions about something. It was so random and mundane that a mere 12 hours later, I can't remember what it was. After I'd answered his questions and tucked him in, I headed next door to Caitlin's room. We talked for a few minutes. I changed her CD and tucked her in. Then she put her hands behind her head (elbows out), and said, "So, what about the talking?" When I asked her what she meant, she said it was now time to talk. No subject matter, mind you, just words. Let's just spew forth words. I had to laugh! She's such a girl! She wants to wear dresses even though she's the most unladylike thing you've ever seen. She likes play dates at friend's houses, and tells me that it was fun "because I've never seen the inside of her house before!" And now she wants to randomly talk right before bed, because it's what your suppose to do. I must say, it's a privilege to have a boy and a girl. It's so fun to see how they are wired. No boy ever says "So, let's just talk." But not Caitlin. No doubt about her girly wiring there.

About the Pageant

Caitlin's Christmas pageant was the other night. We were a little better prepared this year. The weather helped. It was a warm day that turned into a cold, but not frigid or icy, evening. I managed to get the kids fed and out the door on time. It didn't seem as crowded at the church for the Wednesday service as it had last year. Maybe because it wasn't as difficult to get to without the snow and ice.

Caitlin has been preparing for this big event for nearly a month now. She's mangled many a lyric, and yet somehow managed to get them all correct and even wrap her mouth around the word "triumph", which isn't an easy word for the preschool crowd. She was so proud as she walked up the aisle. The amount of time and energy she has put into her performance this year as opposed to last year, when she was just 3, was impressive. She cared so much more about getting all the hand motions correct, and really practiced all her songs. We didn't get a great seat for her performance (who knew the angels would be sequestered to one side?), but we did get a few good pictures.

Her halo fell down at the very end, right before exiting the stage. Somehow, I'm not surprised.
Practicing her Miss America wave to the fam

Fireplace Reading

This is where I found Caitlin this morning. Should I tell her that it's suppose to be a record-breaking 70 degrees today, and not the cold, snowy December that we're use to?

AWANAS

We decided to put the kids in AWANA this year. So far so good. Sometimes I think I'm crazy, since it goes from 6:30 - 8:20 on Wednesday nights, and is in a neighboring town some 8 miles away, but the kids love it. It does make for late nights, though. Brian and I get a date night (provided he's in a town) for those two hours, which makes us feel like a young couple again, and not old, worn out parents. Here are the kids studying their verses for the Sparks class (Brandon) and the Cubbies class (Caitlin).

The Saga of the Washer and Dryer

You know you're an adult when you buy a washer and dryer on Black Friday. No sweaters. No cute shoes. No electronics. Just a washer and dryer. That was our exciting, and only, purchase of the day. It was Black Friday. And it was a good deal. Half price.

I'm now the proud owner of a front loader HE washing machine. I've only washed a few loads of clothes, and have discovered something already - I'm kind of a slob when it comes to washing. Things fall out of the laundry basket on the way down the stairs. Caitlin's socks reside all over the house, and I am not good at collecting them all. I forget things. I find clothes behind the kids hampers 10 minutes after starting a load of laundry. I'm going to have to come up with a new system, because you can't just re-open the front loading machine when you realized you've forgotten something (or, in Caitlin's case, suddenly spotted a sock under the sofa). I use to be able to do this, long ago, when I had to walk to other buildings, or down several flights of stairs to find a laundry room (hoping there was a machine available). But then again, I was only washing my own clothes. Maybe over time I'll get better, but we have a lot of kids socks whose mate is still hiding somewhere.

It is nice to have a dryer that just works. With the exception of the 5 months in our rental house in Colorado, I haven't had a reliable dryer for almost 7 years. In 2002 we rented a duplex with a very nice washer and dryer. Brand new. After years and years of apartment living, laundromats, and sharing washers and dryers, we felt so spoiled. We moved from that place in the spring of 2004, and I've had to monitor the dryer ever since. The next dryer cooled down so drastically after the machine reached a certain stage - which was about half an hour into the cycle - that I had to reset the machine back in order to get dry clothes. Half and hour later I had to manually set it on cool down. The dryer that came with our current house had no buttons when we first moved in. The cycles were controlled by a vice-grip set of pliers that you used to move to turn the dryer on and off. Right after I bought new knobs, the timer went out. My clothes dried, but only if I monitored the time of the cycle. And manually set it on cool down. So now, almost 7 years later, I don't have to worry about how long the dryer has been on. It turns itself off! I don't have to set a timer. I don't have to panic that I forgot to turn off the dryer after leaving the house (and then turn around and drive home to double check that the dryer is off). The other night I had clothes in dryer, and went to bed before they were dry, because I could! In all reality, I have so little room to complain. I haven't had to share a dryer for years. And my clothes always dried. So it was good. But when you do all the laundry for 4 people, it's nice to not have to always monitor the dryer.

So now we are officially adults. It had nothing to do with age, I guess, but with lifestyle choices. We own a home. We are no longer nomadic. Now we'll have to decide whether or not we want to move them whenever our time here is done. I'm a little sad that everything we own no longer fits into the small to mid-sized U-Haul. We have too much stuff. We've grown up. But what about all those other adults that really don't grown-ups who don't qualify as adults. They still revel in their child-like living? Maybe they should own a washer and dryer.

Yo Ho Yo Ho

Caitlin's singing her Christmas songs again. This time it's "We Three Kings." She's singing the line that goes "oh, oh, star of wonder, star of light" as "yo, ho, star of wonder...." It's a pirate's life for me.

More Lyrics to Kill

Caitlin's moved on from "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Now she's massacring the lyrics to "Joy to the World". Her lyrics are:

"Let earth receive her king!

Let every heart prepare to hurt!" (instead of "prepare him room")a

And, she's singing it all at the top of her lungs in the store. Lovely.

Even More Lyrics

Today - yet more new lyrics for "Hark the Herald Angels Sing":

Joyful all the nations rise,

Join the tramp above the skies!

With all jelly all day long!

Christ is born in Bethlehem.

I'm starting to think she's changing the words because we laugh. However, many, many people at Target, and at the mall in general, were amused by the constant singing and improvised lyrics. Really. They told me so.

Tramp... Triumph...Who Cares?

The lyrics to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" have changed in the last few hours. Now the line "Join the triumph of the skies" is now "Join the tramp up in the skies." At some point we are hoping that Caitlin will be able to say the word "triumph". Before the church preschool Christmas pageant would be nice.

Join the Trip Above the Skies

Caitlin is currently rehearsing "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" in the bathtub. Her lyrics go something like this:

"Joyful all the nations rise,

Join the trip above the skies! (Join the triumph of the skies)

With all jelly hosts proclaim, (With the angelic hosts proclaim)

Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

I'm worried about the jellied hosts, but the trip above the skies sounds pretty good to me.

Swimming in the Garage

As I was pulling the car out of the garage this morning on the way to preschool, Caitlin said she would like to go swimming. I gently reminded her that the pools in town are closed from September to June. She then told me that she wanted me to set up the blow-up pool in the garage and fill it with water. Ha! That's so wrong on so many levels. First there's the concussion problem we'd have if she flopped into the pool while it's on a cement floor. Then there's the weather now that we've entered the time of year in Colorado known as "it won't be warm for the next 6 months". Brrrr. Might reach 60 today. Who knows?

I guess it's time to tell Caitlin that we'll be heading down to Colorado Springs in a few days. We're staying a hotel with an indoor pool. Although we won't be at the pool all the time, as Caitlin would like, I'm sure it will be enough to make her happy for a while.

The Absentee Blogger

I'm an absentee blogger lately. Sorry. Brandon got sick the weekend of Halloween, and I followed suit. He recovered quite a bit quicker than I did. For a head cold, this one really wiped me out. The head and stomach hurt, and I spent a few days eating only saltines (although the scale is not reflecting my drastic cut in calories). After a week, I was up and down. I'd feel good one day, and be up. The next day I'd feel horrible, and be down on the couch. Top it all off with trouble hearing out of one ear, a sensitive stomach, busy kids and a traveling husband and well, the blog lay silent. I'm now on the road to recovery, thanks to some antibiotics and steroid spray to clear up the non-draining sinus (which should lead to being able to hear again someday!), so I thought I'd catch you up on what we've been up to:

Halloween-

Thank God it's over! Is it just me, or does it get crazier every year until you kids go to college? Brandon was Juice Box and Caitlin was Tinkerbell. Caitlin spotted a cute Tinkerbell outfit in the thrift store when I was looking for a miners hat for Brandon (not even for Halloween - for Constitution Day. Heck - why not add another costume to October?). Yay! Before that she wanted to be Clifford. That would have been labor intensive.

AWANA-

we signed the kids up for AWANA on Wednesday nights. There is very little close by where we live, so it's a 7 mile drive to the church where they meet. Initially it was very chaotic, but we now understand what we're doing, so it's good. The kids love it, and are very good at verse memorization. Brian and I have made it "date night" for us, since we have a 2 hour window kid-free (!!!). Every other week we meet up with another couple whose kids are also in AWANA. It's a nice change. The only downside is that we don't get home until almost 9:00. That's late for our kiddos to get into bed. But they're learning God's word, which makes it all worth it.

Brandon -

He loves school. We had a parent-teacher meeting a while back, and found out he's reading at an early 3rd grade level. Go Brandon! He loves math and science, and seems to be doing well in his class. His teacher got him into a handwriting workshop that meets twice a week for just under half an hour. I'm glad he's getting help at school with his handwriting. We butt heads on this one at home. It's the one area I almost can't help him with.

Caitlin-

Also loves school. She's in preschool 3 days a week, and is so happy. She has been writing a lot, and attempting to read. Every day when Brandon does his homework she drags out her "homework" so they can do it together. Parenting her "4 Going on 14" attitude is another story. Her favorite phrase is, quite literally, "Just let me do what I want to do!" What she wants to do is wear shorts and flip-flops in the snow, forgo underwear and socks, cut her hair off, and listen to her CD player loudly at all times. So far, I've let her cut her hair short. I've hidden all forms of sandals and flip-flops, and have absolutely no issues going through her drawers if she can't wear appropriate clothing. Luckily, the weather here get cold enough that eventually even the most stubborn of children will at least wear something warm.

Me -

I've been doing publicity for my MOPS group, a Bible study on Revelation, and meeting with a group of women on Thursday mornings. Other than that I'm a full time mother to two children.

Brian-

He's been doing a new job within the same company for a couple of months now. It seems to be going well. You'd have to ask him for more details.

I think that's about it from our little family. At some point I'm going to put more pictures up on the picture site, but that's for another day. Maybe the Thanksgiving holiday. Maybe.

Brandon's Rules

Sign found in Brandon's room this morning. Spelling and rules written just as they appear:

Rules in hear:

1) No snapping (as in snapping your fingers)

2) No wisiling

3) No jumping on the bed

4) No hiding anything

5) No playing with anything unless I say

6) No fiting (fighting)

7) No stomping

8) No annoying

Now you know the rules of Brandon's room for next time. Don't say you weren't warned!

Why I Shop There

Why do I shop at King Soopers? I complain about it a lot. The stores are poorly laid out. The cashiers are slower than molasses. But, this is my latest receipt:

It's the sales. Granted, the prices are better than most grocery stores, but it's still a grocery store. But this week was the "mega event" (really - that's what they're called) "buy 10, get $5 off" promotion. I didn't need to go shopping last week. This whole trip was stock-up shopping on sale items. On this trip I bought 10 boxes of Annie's organic mac-n-cheese, 2 quarts of organic chicken broth, 5 cans of other chicken broth, 2 bags of Ricola, coffee creamer, dividers for my binder, and 3 Halloween pumpkin buckets for the backyard. 24 items in total. By combining store savings, specials and coupons, I bought $47 worth of food stuff for $10. There's more this week, too, so I'll be back. I don't think I've ever gotten a 79% savings before. It's so much better, too, when you can get great deals on organics. They're usually so expensive!

I wish Safeway did this with items I actually use (I'll be skipping the fruit roll-ups and Count Chocula cereals, thank you). It's so much closer, too. King Soopers is by Caitlin's school - a full 8 miles away - so I doubt I'll shop there very often after she is out of preschool. Maybe I'll make special trips out for these great deals. Might be worth the gas money. Since my daily/weekly schedule will completely change yet again next year with Caitlin in kindergarten, I don't know how things will fall into place. But if I can keep shopping like this, we'll have more money to do fun stuff!

Costumes

Okay, I'm a little late on this one. Brandon was sick the weekend of Halloween, but was able to go out for a while to go trick or treating. Combine that with a busy week, Mommy catching Brandon's cold, and Daddy being gone on a business trip, and well... there was very little getting done.

We had a juice box and Tinkerbell around for Halloween. Here's the picture to prove it.

Once I figure out this new computer, I might get a few more pictures up on the Picassa site. Good luck to me.