Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

In celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday last Friday, students were encouraged to dress up as their favorite Dr. Seuss character for a fun filled day at school! The morning began by singing "Happy Birthday" out in the school yard, followed by a parade around the playground and costume contest, and stories/movies were available throughout the day for teachers and parent volunteers to share in the classrooms. Ice cream sandwiches were a final treat at the end of the day! Dylan, Caitlyn, and Meghan said it was one of their best school days ever. :)

I had so much fun running around town with Kristen and Austin earlier in the week, seeking inspiration and putting together items to use as costumes. We all brainstormed together and really loved the costumes we came up with! Dylan really wanted to be the grinch, but we couldn't find any green clothes. (Too bad stores aren't stocking sweat suits anymore! Everybody has switched over to more spring like attire!) We also thought Bartholomew Cubbins would be fun (from The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins) but it was still a little too cold to wear shorts.  I happened to find a plush "Wocket", though, as I was browsing in Savers one day and his costume came together really quickly after that!  Brown cargo pants and a long sleeved red tee, also found at Savers that day, completed the look of the main character in There's a Wocket in My Pocket! 

Caitlyn was absolutely decided that she would be the Cat in the Hat, and I LOVE the way she looked in her finished costume!  I found a soft, fuzzy black sweater on clearance at Walmart and a white turtleneck to wear with her black leggings, and the party supply store my brother suggested to me carried a Cat in the Hat accessory kit with the cutest hat, tie, and gloves!  Meghan's costume was also so much fun to put together.  I found the most perfect little dress on a clearance rack at Walmart (only $3!!!!  It was the only one, and it was her size!!!) to wear as little Cindy Lou Who from the Grinch movie featuring Jim Carrey.  (It's not my favorite version, but the Cindy Lou Who character is so adorable that I knew it be the perfect costume for Meghan!)  We found some faux hair accessories at a little store in the mall that just added so much fun to her hair.  I found a tutorial online to make her hair really stand up (a card stock cone placed on top of her head with her hair brushed up around it!).  We added little braids and ribbons around the sides and back of her hair and now I'm really wishing I had thought to take some close ups of just the hair—it was so wild and cute!   She acutally won the best costume in the Cindy Lou Who category! 

Caitlyn was a little disappointed that she didn't win in her category, but was thrilled to see that a full color photo of her was featured in our local newspaper the next day!  Dylan didn't mind a bit that he didn't win anything; he just had a great time being silly!  (We did get him a really neat Dr. Seuss biography the next day, though, because we didn't want him to feel left out.  We had apparently gotten rid of our old one, and he had been so disappointed!)

It was a fun, happy day, and I so enjoyed helping my kids celebrate!

Hello again

It's been too quiet here.  I never intend to lapse into such long blogging silences.  The things that weigh heaviest on my heart, though, are not topics I care to discuss in such an open, pubic forum, so instead I say nothing at all but lose, in the process, a record of all the other little happy things that should rightly have mention here.  I just spent some time looking through my archives, alternately laughing and tearing up a bit at the joys and struggles I've shared here in the nearly six years since starting my blog. I'm so glad I have those posts to look back on, while on the other hand, I find myself in such an unfamiliar, transitional period of my growing family's life right now that it's more difficult to discern what is or is not appropriate to share here.  As my children grow older I find more and more often that I'd rather not risk violating their privacy by sharing intimate details of our happiness or heartaches.

One thing I was particularly struck by while reading through old entries was how comparably easy my life used to be.  I never would have imagined it then, but I can say for sure now that having only babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers, while busy, was infinitely less troublesome than this mix of big, little, and in- betweens I have now.  Conflicts are frequent, loud, and emotional.  Feelings are hurt on a daily basis.  My level of anxiety, having always tended towards the high side, is through the roof far too often these days.  I'm on edge, stressed out, irritable, and overwhelmed by a number of things (big and small) over which, in some cases, I have no control...and no means to control in other instances.  I'm seriously considering the need for pharmacological intervention (for myself or one of my children.  Or both.).

I think there is a natural human tendency to want what we don't have.  And I don't want much, really.  But what I do miss is weekends with my family. Time spent with my children not yelling or fighting.  Reading to them on the couch.  Knowing what they're learning every day.  A semblance of order about our house.  My mom living here in town.  A natural liturgical rhythm observed with celebrations and traditions.  Feeling at the end of the day that I've done a good job of fulfilling my vocation.  I miss having an identity with which I felt comfortable.  Gradual changes in our family life have necessitated a shift in my role and, consequently, in how I identify myself.  For the most part, I feel like an impostor.  No longer am I the homeschooling mother I was for years.  Austin is the oldest toddler I've ever had without having another little one on the way, but there are no more babies in our foreseeable future, so neither am I the pregnant mama I loved being.  (Thank goodness I can still be, for a while longer, the nursing mama!)  As my children grow older and more independent, though, I am slowly reclaiming my individuality, but far from being liberating or exciting, it is, more accurately, often lonely and more than a little scary.

I don't really know where I'm heading or what the future will bring, so in the mean time I'll just keep loving on my honey and our babies.  (And eating lots of chocolate.  And drinking lots of coffee.)  And trying to figure out this new me I'm becoming.

And, as ever, I will place my trust in the only One who knows all of my worries and fears.    

Phones

I think I might be getting old.

I mean, I guess I knew it was bound to happen eventually, but sometimes I have a seriously hard time remembering that I'm not seventeen anymore.  (And then I realize that seventeen, for me, was half a lifetime ago...sigh.)

What got me this morning was my cell phone.  Having rocked Austin to sleep in my quiet, darkened bedroom, I pulled out my phone to play a round (or few) of Angry Birds before moving him to his crib.  Lulled into a contemplative reverie by the hum of the humidifier, his soft, even breathing, and the rhythmic rocking of my big comfy chair, I was struck, for some reason, by the novelty of this ubiquitous little gadget.  It can play games, music, and videos.  It can show me a map of my town or of the night sky.  It can take photos.  It can surf the internet.  It functions as a flashlight, address book, calculator, calendar, and alarm clock.  It tells me the weather.  And—are you ready for this?!—it even makes phone calls!  What a crazy concept!

This whole line of thinking made me nostalgic for, of all things...pay phones.  Remember?  Those big, shiny metal boxes mounted on walls of most public places, with phones attached to actual cords?  It was a strange realization for me that such a simple and commonplace item from my childhood could seem all at once so outdated in this age of smart phones, Skyping, texting, instant messaging...concepts that were, not so long ago, as foreign as pay phones are now!

Funny, I can't remember the last call I ever placed from a pay phone.  I do, however, remember calling my mom a number of times from the pay phone located outside of my high school's office, to inquire about schedules or to excitedly report the results of long studied for tests.  (I know, I'm such a nerd!)  I remember frequent calls to a crush at his place of employment from the pay phone outside the school cafeteria (scandalous!), calling home from a bank of phones in the mall to ask if I could ride a later bus home (I will never ever ever allow any twelve year old of mine to ride unescorted on public transportation to or from the mall!), phone calls from movie theaters, restaurants, the library.  I remember the clink of quarters and hoping for enough time to talk before having to deposit another one. I remember one fateful call home to my mom from a public phone on campus after meeting my husband-to-be for the very first time.  :)

I'm sort of slow to jump on board trendy, tech savvy bandwagons.  I play music on a CD player, not an ipod, and actually still have quite a few mixtapes from the early 90's.  ;)  I read actual books, not a Kindle or Nook, and my computer is of the desktop, not laptop, variety.  I'm still not actually sure what an ipad does.  But, I have to say...I'm kind of loving my little smart phone!  And, I'm thinking that in another few years, I might actually be bold enough to explore another of the above mentioned items!

But I do still sort of miss those pay phones.  And, because I'm feeling nostalgic, I'm closing with one of my favorite songs, even though yes, thank you very much, it does actually predate yours truly.  Darren is just going to loooove me for including it here, hahaha!  (Right, honey?)  ;)

Birthday Girl

Our sweet Caitlyn turned EIGHT years old last weekend!  I can't believe how fast she's growing up!  Since her birthday was on a Saturday this year, we took full advantage of the day by visiting the pumpkin patch, which has expanded even more since last year!  First, though, she wanted to open her gifts. :) Apparently she and her friends have decided that they are all going to dress as purple witches for Halloween this year, so she was SO excited to see the beautiful Halloween costume she received in the mail from her Nonny and Poppy!  It couldn't be more perfect!  She was also thrilled to receive a brand new, beautiful "real" guitar!  It is gorgeous, and just right for her!  She has already gone through two toy type guitars that just weren't made well, but this one is much better quality and we're hoping to also check into the guitar lessons she's always wanted!

Our trip out to the pumpkin patch was wonderful!  It was a gorgeous day, and since Meghan and I had been out there the day before on a school field trip, she was excited to go again and show Caitlyn all her favorite things.  Austin was particularly cute, running around and playing with the others just like a big boy!  I took so many photos of all my children, but since the blogger uploader is so frustrating and it took me so long to format these I'm only including my favorites of the ones featuring my birthday girl.  Maybe I'll dedicate a future post to the rest of my pumpkin patch pictures.  :) 

We were gone for most of the afternoon, but I had just enough time to make her birthday cake before the delicious dinner she requested (chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, and corn!)  Uncle Robby stopped by with a birthday gift but, due to another commitment he had that night, was unfortunately unable to stay for dinner.  Cait absolutely loved the Justin Bieber CD he gave her, though, as well as the cute puffy Halloween stickers!  :) This year, for the first time, Caitlyn designed her cake entirely by herself.  She drew a sketch of it for me and told me exactly how she wanted it; all I did was bake it and decorate it according to her specifications and it turned out so pretty!  My baby girl is really growing up! 

Oh, what a morning

My backyard looks like it's covered in snow.  

Darren was home from work for the past six days, four of which I spent in all day re-certification courses for work, but it was so nice having him here that it was really, really hard to send him off to work this morning.  Things were actually moving along well for us and we were even just the tiniest bit ahead of schedule, but...things quickly went downhill as soon as he walked out the door.  

The new hairstyle I was attempting on Cait was clearly just not working, but, being the hardheaded determined person I am, I just had to try a few more times until finally I admitted defeat, re-wet her hair, and went with something simpler.  (Which meant that Meghan's, in turn, was even simpler, because I had wasted so much time on Caitlyn's.)  As I was putting shoes on Austin I realized Dylan didn't have his glasses on, so I made him stop playing his new DS until he found them.  But, he couldn't find them and I won't even begin to describe the drama that ensued when I told him he couldn't have his DS back until the glasses were found.  (I finally found them under a box of trading cards under his bed.  !!!!)  

It wasn't until I was helping the kids put jackets on that I realized I had forgotten to pack lunches last night!  (My only defense is that Darren and I were SO wrapped up in LOST!  We've almost finished season two and OH, boy.  These past couple episodes are killing me!  The questions!  The suspense!  I have been so tempted to take just the quickest peek at Wikipedia to clue me in just a little, but I really don't want to ruin the surprise of anything.  I love guessing what new twists the plot will take!)  So anyway, this morning.  I logged on quickly to MyLunchMoney dot com and found, to my relief, that we still had enough in our account to cover lunches for today.  Caitlyn was disappointed to see on the lunch calendar on today's menu...chili fries.  (Seriously?!  Chili fries?!)  But, as she said to Meghan, "Well, at least we also get a pumpkin cookie."

We finally made it out the door and had already finished saying our morning prayers by the time we were halfway down our street.  Glad to have survived the chaos back home, something made me reiterate, "Okay, remember you're all buying your lunches today, right?  And we all have our jackets.  Does everybody have their backpack?"  To which Dylan quietly replied from behind me, "Except me."  What?!  Oh, you have got to be kidding me!  Checking my phone, I saw that the time was already 7:44, much later than we're usually leaving.  We turned around and RAN back to the house, grabbed the backpack, and started off back down the street.  We made it to the school yard with just enough time for the girls to play for a few minutes before the bell rang, and I sent Dylan off with (hopefully) everything he needed.  (Thank goodness I had at least had the foresight to check for pink socks last night, necessitating a trip to the store for a pair of pink anklets for him to wear today.  It's pink sock day today for breast cancer awareness week; tomorrow is pink accessory day and I'm thinking of trying to make him a friendship bracelet with multiple shades of pink embroidery floss I have in my stash, but I haven't make one since middle school and I'm not sure I remember how!)

I was so glad to be back home with my little ones.  Quiet.  Relative calm.  Passing by the dining room window, Kristen says to me, "Um, mom?  Come see."  Giant balls of white cotton stuffing, all over the backyard.  Which is why it now looks like it's covered in snow.  Mounds and mounds of fluffy stuff ripped right from the big comfy quilt I had just bought yesterday (second hand, thank goodness) for the puppies.  What!  The!  Heck!  Those pups...urgh!  My mom assures me they'll outgrow this stage.  For their sake, I sure hope so.  ;)    

So...how is your day going?  :)

A Super Mario Birthday!

At long last, here are (finally!) some pictures of Dylan's Super Mario Birthday cupcakes! I still can't believe my boy turned TEN years old on September 21st!!!  I was sad that he had to go to school that day, but he really enjoyed his birthday anyway.  We made him a special breakfast and I packed him a fun lunch with a little card tucked inside, and, since Darren took the day off, we were ready to open presents as soon as the kids got home from school!  He was SO excited to see that we finally got him a Nintendo DS Lite, something he has wanted for a very long time!  He also got some really neat Star Wars Lego gifts, which he loved, and some nice cards in the mail from far away family.  We grilled cheeseburgers, his requested birthday meal, and enjoyed his Super Mario cupcakes with ice cream.  All in all, a wonderful tenth birthday!    

My ten year old birthday boy before school!