It's A Small World After All

Ridiculosity

2012-01-27T09:03:00.003-05:00

On this week's installment of "just how ridiculous is my life?"...

There are five, FIVE, opened boxes of cereal on my counter.

Oh wait, toddler just dragged a box of the "healthy" marshmallow type I stopped buying because he only eats the marshmallows and leaves all the cereal on his tray out of the back of the cereal cupboard. And is ripping the box open himself and feeding it to the dog. So make that SIX.

Close gate so baby doesn't fall down stairs trying to go down. Open gate so dog doesn't fall down stairs trying to go up.

I mopped the floor yesterday. Actual, move the chair out of the room and mop underneath the table and everything mopping. While I was upstairs changing the baby out of his milk soaked clothes, someone knocked a bowl of cereal milk onto the floor. (I think it was the dog. She can't hear, see, or walk quite right, but apparently she can climb up on the table.) I pick up the dog off the floor where she has gotten stuck in a sprawled out position, and move the chairs again to mop up.

In the meantime, my own toast breakfast has burned. I made extra because I knew as soon as it was ready, someone else would want some. Now there is only one piece left in the loaf.

I just made a new cup of coffee because mine was still sitting on the table, cold, again.

Thankful Tuesday

2012-01-24T22:03:00.000-05:00

I'm bringing back the gratitude.

Tuesdays, I'm going to try to show up and share the thankfulness. (I know, Thankful Thursday sounds better, but I'm already trying to do the RWOP thing on Thursdays, and that's enough, right?)

It makes everything look a little better at 5:30 on a Tuesday (most often, a solo-parenting gig night) if I'm staring at the frozen box of pizza still not in the oven and the pools of melting children circling the kitchen island through the lens of "what am I going to say I was thankful for today?"

I'd rather write some thoughtful composed essay, but for today, I'm settling for some bullet points.

Thanks be for:

Total uninhibited, unbridled peals of laughter bouncing from one of three kids to the others.
A sixteen month old's thrill for attention that makes him throw the stuffed animal, then hit someone with a pastry brush, over and over and over again to make them laugh even harder.
Watching American Idol at naptime with my girl. Who sighs and says "Enchanting..." when a girl with an angel voice sings a song.
The sight of toddler legs pumping in a waddly run as fast as they can to run away with someone's something he is not supposed to have. Then seeing his grin over his shoulder right before he throws his entire body into a couch cushion to "hide."
Taking turns reading with sweet O., who is really truly, finally doing it. Slowly, and methodically, but with pride and accomplishment and NOT frustration. It is one of the best things yet about being his mom. He reads me a O. speed book, and I read him a chapter, or two, or three. We're back into The Magic Tree House series, after a year or so's break. We also got the chance to see Hugo together, after reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret before Christmas. O. is calling this his favorite story now, and feel so honored to have shared it with him. Have you read this book yet? If not, you really should. I'm hoping against all hope this boy will still want to read with me on his way to high school.
Having my family to dinner after watching the twins again for the first time in a while. Conversation, food, drink and N. keeping my cousin (who she has only met twice before) completely in her thrall the whole time. (And many thanks to him for being so indulgent of her). Snuggles and smiles with babies all day beforehand.
Swimming session in our indoor pool (aka Mommy and Daddy's bathtub) on a January afternoon. For N., just because she saw her Fourth of July swimsuit, it made her think of her cousin S., and she needed to put it on. Saved me from having to bathe all three children at bedtime tonight.
Plans for exercise tomorrow -- mall walking with my friend and her baby while N. is at school. I need the movement and the company.

And that's all I can think of right this very minute, though I know there are plenty plenty more. What about you? Feel free to share your own Thankful Tuesday thoughts in a comment.

Real Men Do Pinterest Too.

2012-01-19T20:55:00.000-05:00

If you've ever been to my house for longer than an hour or so, you've most likely witnessed a costume change or two by N. Sometimes it's to switch into pajamas, sometimes to put on one of her own sundresses in December, and often it's into a princess dress-up outfit.

Whatever the case, there are almost always piles of clothes in the corners of rooms, or behind chairs, or underneath tables. I have to be vigilant about seeking out laundry not just in hampers. I've purchased bins to keep the dress up clothes and accessories contained, but nothing has really done the trick. A year or so ago, we had a playdate with a friend from school. There are three girls in that family, and they have an unfinished basement that serves as their playroom. Along one wall, the mom had hung a closet rod between some storage crates, and all the dress up clothes were hung from hangers. This was pretty much N.'s idea of heaven. She kept asking when we could go back so she could play dress up, or when she could have her very own set up like this.

Since N. has to share the toy space in this house with Playmobil animals, legos, nerf guns and assorted baby toys that L. does not play with, I could not see devoting quite the same amount of floor space to what amounts to a second closet.

However, I did come across an inspiration project on Pinterest that looked like it might work. It was a super cute dress up space made by removing the drawers from an old dresser and installing a rod to hang the clothes from. You can take a look at the tutorial here.

A friend also saw this project and took it on, posting her own very cute version on Facebook. We have no extra dressers lying around our house, but I found myself looking for them at Goodwill and the like. Then I realized what we DO have are extra bookshelves. The kind I bought at KMart back in the day and used in my classroom to hold all the novels that high schoolers pretended to read during Sustained Silent Reading. J. had recently moved one into the storage area of our basement when he got real furniture for his home office.

I mentioned the project to J., sure that he would think me crazy, or tell me that we didn't need another item to feed N.'s quick change habit. But, turns out, the costumes all over the floor bother him even more than me. And he agreed to at least look into it. I showed him the inspiration photos and he remembered the one the friend had posted to Facebook.

A little measuring and collecting of materials from his workbench, and the project started to take shape. And then he got a little obsessed with it. He made multiple trips to Lowe's for the proper colors of spray paint and sandpaper, searched out drawer pulls to mount accessories on the sides.

He worked on it over his lunch breaks during the day, sanding and painting and mounting the dowel rod. He contemplated how to personalize it with stencils to read "Princess N." He drilled holes to install the accessory hangers, and finally inscribed it with a message on the back "To my Favorite Princess, Love Daddy."

Needless to say, she was thrilled when she saw it on Christmas morning.

Had to try on the new Cinderella bride dress right away.

It's now installed on the one remaining open space of wall left in her bedroom. Can't say that she's particularly good at hanging everything up again when she's done, but at least everything has a home now. And she thinks she's pretty special to have her own dress up area in her room.

J. may not be browsing the boards of Pinterest, but he's proof that Real Men can get on board with a crafting project, as long as it means making his little girl happy.

Are you Pinteresting too? Seems I've gotten a lot of new followers lately! If you're interested in taking part in the Real Women of Pinterest, link up over at mep's place. Or send me your photos and I'll post them here.

O. & N. Speak, Old and New

2012-01-18T21:56:00.002-05:00

I've been saving up some O. and N. speak for a while now, since well before Christmas, and haven't gotten around to sharing it yet.

I've wanted to write a year end/year beginning post, to reflect on all the wonders of 2011, and all that I'm working on for 2012.

But, after a pretty magical Christmas season this year, we had a tough border between the old and new year. My sister in law's mother passed away very suddenly, Jim's dad spent some time in the hospital (he's doing okay now), and it looked for a while like we were going to have to make final decisions about my dear Scout dog (she's doing better for the time being). All emotional events, each life altering to varying degrees, enough to make me pretty darn sober about the dawning new year for a while.

For right now, 2012 seems to be about helping and supporting those I love that are aging, the ones that are sometimes suffering, and those that are grieving. It's about continuing to be grateful for all that we have been blessed with, and for finding the ways that this year can be built on creating good things and good memories, even as we struggle to deal with difficult ones.

I have some small, concrete ways I'm working on staying more organized and healthful and overall just mindful this year, that hopefully I'll be able to share in more detail as the year unfolds. I'm hoping I start to feel more like writing, and writing with more purpose and intention. November's gratitude project really got me excited about having a reason to write everyday, so I'm hopeful there's something like that awaiting me this year.

In the spirit of making sure I capture and celebrate as many of the things that are good and right with my world, I thought this was as good a time as any to share some of the highlights of conversing with O. and N. over the last month or so.
(I should say, that another reason I had not shared some of these in a while is that there seemed to be many more from N. right now than O. I'm going to just chalk it up to the fact that she is at a particularly adorable point in her thinking and sharing. Also, O. is in first grade. Which means he is not only not at home all day, he is also nearly physically incapable of uttering a sentence without the word 'fart' in it.)

N., snuggling before bed: "You'll always be my little mommy. I love you by my heart."

N., indignant about being asked to help clear off the table before dinner: "What am I, Cinderella, and you're my evil stepmother?"

O., home from tae kwon do: "I'm working on my macaroni punch!"

O., commenting on a neighbor's Christmas lights the week of Thanksgiving (I told you these were old!): "Geez, dude. I think someone's getting ahead of himself!"

O., running from the family room near L., to the kitchen: "I'm getting out of the poopy section!"

N., every day after we purchased her Christmas dress until I finally let her wear it to school: "Is it a special occasion today?"

N., losing at Old Maid: "Hicklesticks!"

N., refusing to help me empty the dishwasher: "Princesses don't do chores!"

N., discovering a snapshot of O. from two years ago: "Awww. Look at this picture. O. was so cute then. That's when he was nice to me. He was really helpful then."

N., as I try to discuss with her a new trend of tears at preschool: "Can we get over this already?"

O., to N.: "You're a shenanigan."

N., reporting about our trip to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis: "Of course I had a favorite. There was Barbies there! Can you guess what was my NOT favorite? The dinosaurs."

N., parenting judge: "That was two things you were right about today. You're a great mom."

N., to her dad: "Can you just give me a rest, please? Mommy already told me all that."

N., cheerleader of failed Pinterest projects: "But Mommy, you I thought you don't ever give up."

N. to L., who keeps knocking down her wall of pillows on the couch: "L., can you just let me wewax!"

O. to N., when she complains that the living room is too messy for them to present their planned stage production: "N., it's okay. It's not the end of the world. Geez."

And okay, Mr. L. has a few words of his own to share:

Dya! (yes)
Doe. (no)
Da! (Daddy)
Hi! (Hi!)
Du. (juice)
Baa. (ball)
Woof. Dow. (dog/Scout)
Hot! (for candles, coffee or ovens)

Faux Snow

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

With temperatures hovering mostly in the 40 to 50 degree range, January hasn't felt much like winter around here so far.

But that's not stopping us from doing a few wintry Pinterest inspired crafts! We haven't quite resorted to cutting out snowflakes for the windows yet, but I did find this very cute idea for a ice skating scene.

N., always up for a "project"!

The idea was to use salt for the ice, cotton balls for the snow banks, and then cut out some figures to do the skating.

We "painted" a piece of construction paper with glue, then applied some kosher salt and stretched out cotton balls. N. wanted to just stick the balls on, but I didn't want to waste so many. (Really? Why do I get like this about our supplies?)

We may have gone a little overboard with the salt. Looks a little more like a street in our neighborhood in anticipation for one inch of snow than a sparkling rink awaiting skates.

We went through a few of N.'s coloring books and found some pictures that were winter sport related. Or just dancing, in Minnie's case, though she does look like she's doing some sort of figure skating move. N. colored them, I helped her cut them out, and then we glued each picture to card stock. I gave each one a little paper stand like a paper doll.

And then N. got to playing with it.

Figures obviously not to scale, but N. played with it on at least three occasions.

This post is a part of the Real Women of Pinterest series. Go check out what mep and others are crafting as well!

Oh, okay, we did have ONE day of a smattering of snow. Barely enough to call snow, but the kids were excited, and it gave J. and I a reason to give the kids the sleds we bought them for Christmas but forgot were in the back of his car until the end of Christmas day. So, here are a few photos of the kids doing their darnedest to play in snow that was melting all around them.

Moooom! These don't work at all!

Ha Ha Haaaa! Mine does!!

Cute boys.

Love this one.

"I am cooold! Can I go inside and have hot cocoa now?"

Tree Time

2011-12-21T06:30:00.000-05:00

I already filled you in on some of the post-decoration Christmas tree drama around here this year. So far, the wire and Jenga blocks are continuing to keep it upright, and my glue gun is keeping up with the L.-associated breakage. Here's a photo essay of the choosing and decorating the tree this year.

Animals! L. making his standard growling noise for all creatures.

L., sick of being manhandled by his siblings.

Anxious to get in the straw maze.

Three of my favorite men.

Lights on!

First ornament on the tree. N. has been playing with this angel for two months now,
and talking about putting it on the tree.

Is this one considered fragile, Mom?

Performers.

Helper.

Ball!

A Zooful of Cheer

2011-12-20T11:00:00.000-05:00

Last week we continued one of our favorite Christmastime traditions: visiting the Cincinnati Zoo for the Festival of Lights.

The kids and I visited the zoo back in early November, when they were already getting ready by stringing lights in all the trees.

O. has been asking when we will get to go back and see Santa's reindeer ever since. The mild weather this year meant we got to enjoy everything without dealing with too much whining about how very "chiw-y" N. was, at least until the end, when it was time to head home anyway.

O. was literally bouncing with excitement the whole walk in from the parking lot,

so I'm amazed that we got him to stand next to the

gigantic Christmas tree long enough for this shot.

Once we started seeing the animal shaped light creations, O. kept asking to get a picture with them. I was surprised, because he lately does not like to cooperate with posed pictures.

Then I figured out that he had a plan for a whole series.

N. is not in on the act quite yet.

Ah, now she's got it.

What fun we had together!

Should have been our Christmas card this year...

2011-12-16T19:01:00.000-05:00

We already sent out our cards, a montage with some semi-professional pictures of the kids throughout the year. I wasn't up for trying for a group shot where all three were both smiling and had eyes open. I found myself a little sad I didn't have a Christmas-y shot of them yet this season, so I tried getting them to don Santa hats the other night.

Yep. These are my kids.

Clowning princess, my mostly sweet Cub Scout, and the happiest baby on earth.

RWOP: Ballsy Attempt

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

This week's RWOP installment was inspired by this tutorial for making a wreath out of Christmas balls.

Since the smallest Small is obsessed with balls, and likes to pull all spherical objects he can reach off the Christmas tree, we had a lot leftover when we finished decorating this year.

I really thought this looked easy. Just requires a wire hanger and some ball ornaments. You unfold the hanger, shape it into a circle, then string the balls on by their loops. Twist the wire back together, and hang!

As usual, I thought I could somehow rig my own version of this craft, and that I wouldn't necessarily need the EIGHTY balls that were recommended. Seriously. Who has eighty balls just lying around, or is going to buy eighty balls for a wreath? When will I learn though, that crafting is not cooking? I really can't always just improvise with what I have, unless I'm willing for the end result to look a little forlorn.

Anyway, here is where the initial magic happened, on my kitchen counter. You are supposed to hot glue the top onto each ball so that they don't fly off when you start stringing them on the hanger. Again, I thought maybe this was overkill. But then I strung a few on, and the minute I tried to touch any of them: Yes. They fell off. So hot glue it was. A little tedious, but not too bad.

O. helping me with the stringing of the balls.

I did try to pay attention to the pattern of color and size when stringing them on, as I would do when making a bead necklace.

Okay, I don't have any of the in between shots of this project, where I ran out of balls, tried to hang it up anyway with the top third of it basically bare. The problem with trying to use less balls and reshape is that the balls are not very flexible, and tend to burst into a billion smithereens if you mess with them too much. Also, the weight tends to fall towards the bottom, making it impossible to spread them out just how you'd like.

Sooo. I went and bought some new balls. Target had some in the dollar spot, luckily. But, it meant I had to unstring all of my old work, so as to redistribute the new color palette. J. helped me twist the wire more securely than I could do with my fingers.

You use the original hook from the hanger as your wreath hanger. You'll see here that I have covered up the remaining bare wire with a very cheap looking bow. All the ribbon I had was too translucent when I made my own bow, so I went with the pre-made 99 cent bow from Michaels. Kind of fits with the retro/dime store feel that the whole thing ended up having. Here it is hanging on the inside of my front door Might look better on a solid door than my glass one, for contrast.

So, here's a poor quality closer-up view on my living room chair.
Not awesome, but not too bad. I miss the extra sparkle all of these ornaments gave our tree, but I'm sure J. is glad we may not have an entire box devoted to "Ornaments: Balls" to put away this January!

This is my weekly Real Women of Pinterest post. What are you pondering producing on Pinterest lately? Would you like to share? Email me your photos, or if you're a blogger, link up below!

RWOP: Trying to Keep Christmas Together This Year

2011-12-06T15:39:00.001-05:00

This seems to be the Christmas of broken things. Looking back, my dustpan first started getting use before Thanksgiving, when I dropped a friend's casserole dish in my front hallway. I was trying to help her juggle her potluck dish, her toddler, and baby on her hip, and the casserole dropped right through the bag she had been carrying it in, and smashed to bits all over the floor, with children who had just taken shoes off everywhere.
Since then, I have broken a couple of glasses, which is relatively unusual for me. I wasn't even holding L. at the time, so mostly it's just distraction.
Sometime before Christmas, I found this image of a square vase turned into a Christmas decoration on Pinterest. I thought it was lovely, but wasn't sure I could forgo my usual dining room centerpiece -- our enormous brandy snifter filled with jewel colored balls. In January, I swap out the balls for snowflake napkin rings.
Well, there must have been a larger plan, because when I went to the basement to get the glass snifter, and began to unload the snowflakes and candle holders that had been stored in them, one of the candle holders slipped out of my fingers and smashed right through the glass, shattering the whole object. All the times I'd been so careful washing that glass vase by hand, all the way back in the tiny house J. and I first lived in together flashed through my mind. I'm not beating myself up over a decoration, but still, a stupid way for it to be broken.
So, new format to display glass balls it is:

I like it -- maybe more than my good old giant brandy glass.

And then there was our Christmas tree. I'm not sure if you've heard the story of ours falling over two years ago, but it did. We lost a good number of ornaments. I've never really gotten over how completely quiet it was, just a little ringing on the way down, and some tinkling of broken glass as it landed. Amazing. Well, we have made sure to wire the tree to the wall since then. This year, our tree is a big improvement on last years', mostly because we didn't buy the first one we saw so that we could get the heck out of Lowes. However, just like last year, the buying, lighting, and hanging of ornaments on our tree this year was quite a marathon of a day. Just keeping L. away from ornaments was a full time job, and only the top two thirds of the tree are actually decorated.

Guess who has his first word? "Ball! Ball!" And he's only broken one so far!!

J. didn't get the tree wired to the wall. My parents showed up the next morning, and were admiring the tree. Just as my mom was observing "It does lean a little to the left, though," I saw it go. Holding L. on my hip with my left arm, I caught the falling tree with my right. No chance for ringing or tinkling, but this tree was not having any part of standing up straight, and the tree stand was not working quite as it should.

An hour later, using an combination of wire and Jenga blocks (yeah, don't ask.), the tree is stable again. And thanks to an idea I found either via Family Fun or Pinterest (can't remember which one at this point, we'll always remember the tree that almost fell down.

If your family is of the "real tree" variety, you can check out the instructions for creating your own keepsake ornament from a cross section of your tree here. It's not too late to do so -- you can always cut a slice off when you throw it out. I decided to decorate ours using another idea from Pinterest, a thumbprint string of lights. Not sure if mine ended up looking like lights, but it's colorful and festive anyhow.

Up next week: my semi-successful ornament wreath project!

I'm a little late on my Real Women of Pinterest post this week, but I'd love it if you'd link up your own projects. Bloggers, link to your site below. Other readers, send me your photos and I'll share, or just tell us about it in the comments!

All Dolled Up

2011-12-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

Ask N. what she wants for Christmas this year, and she will immediately reply: A Camerican Goyl. (American Girl).

Ask me what she's getting, and I'll admit, I'd love to get her an American Girl, but I have my doubts as to whether she's ready. So, she's getting a fake. And I'm conflicted about that. Feels a little like giving The Sunshine Family instead of Barbies. Okay, not exactly like that.

Truth be told, what N. really wants is the zebra print dress in the American Girl catalog. The one she can wear, and the one the doll can wear. It does not come in her size, so she will definitely not be getting this dress. I haven't decided if her Target doll will be getting the real dress, or if she'll be settling for the one I ordered on Zulily. Are you sensing a theme here? It's not the money, necessarily, though I really don't want to spend thirty dollars on a dress for doll. It's that N. is more focused on the zebra print than which historical time period might be her favorite. She can't even decide whether she'd rather have a doll that looks like her or one that looks like her cousin. Because she's FOUR.

Clearly, not ready for the American Girl. But she thinks she is, so it could make for an interesting Christmas morning.

Anyhow, she has been enjoying dressing up her baby dolls and stuffed animals lately. So this week, we decided to make them some diapers out of felt, using a pattern I found on Pinterest. Super cute, and just as easy as it looked on the tutorial.

We found the patterned felt at Jo-Ann. A little pricier than I had imagined, at $1.33 a sheet for the patterned, but not too too terrible. We only bought a couple, just in case it didn't work, and really, two are enough to trade around on the dolls and animals.

We folded the felt in half, traced around the pattern, and cut it out.

I had some Velcro squares left over from my framed handprint project, so we used those instead of a whole line of velcro. Since mine were sticky backed, I didn't bother sewing them on. If they come off, I can always sew them then.

And there you have it. Fancy diapers for my fancy girl's fancy animals. Now that they are finished, I'm afraid they look a little more like fancy panties, but oh well. I just hope this is enough zebra print to keep her satisfied for a while.

That's what this Real Woman of Pinterest has found Pinteresting this week. How about you? Link up below and let me know!

Day 30 of Gratitude: Grateful for this Project

2011-11-30T20:46:00.001-05:00

Okay, I know I putzed out here at the end, but you know, I'm really impressed that I was able to write as many posts as I did this month. There are so many days that I have no idea when I'll find time to do lots of essential things, like eat or sleep. (Shower? Not essential. Not every day, anyway.) Finding time to write is like finding time to exercise, a miracle type thing.

What I discovered this month is something I already knew was true, but hadn't put into practice in a while. The more you write, the easier it is. You get into the rhythm, so your words flow easier. You remember how to compose in your head, and the lines get stuck there until you can get them on the page. Also, when you are blogging, and you stop for a little while, there's always this hurdle to get over when you start back up -- how much of what I haven't written about do I need to catch up on? And there's pressure for it to be good. Why write that piece of minutiae when you haven't written in weeks? There's always that thoughtful post waiting to be written that you don't have the time or energy or brainpower to compose, so you just don't write anything at all. But when you expect yourself to write every day, you know it's okay for there to be some junk.

I'll admit, I was a little panicked every single day. I couldn't get ahead of myself enough to write some posts and schedule them to publish ahead of time. So every morning there was a time that I wondered, 'What if I can't find anything to be grateful for today?' How terrible would that be? What if today was the really crappy, I'm feeling really negative, there's nothing new to say under the sun day?

But then, every day, by the time evening rolled around, there was some moment that stood out as "Yes. That is why I'm glad I'm living this particular life." And that's what I wrote about.

There were some topics I knew I'd want to write about going into this project, of course. But truly, each day brought different angles of the best parts of my life to my attention. And I was able to think about them, and write about them, in ways that surprised me as the posts unfolded.

Having this structure to frame my days really did help me be more positive about my life. I had fewer rough days this month. Fewer days when I felt exhausted and exasperated and just plain overwhelmed. Whether that is directly related to choosing to find ways to be grateful, I'm not sure, but I think it played a role. When I was actively looking for the things in my life that are valuable and precious, and making sure that I put into words just why they are valuable, I felt better about just about everything.

There were times when I started to get self conscious about the project. Times when I started to wonder if what I was writing bordered on bragging. Hey. Look at me and this great life I have. I had to just get past those thoughts. Because hey. It is a great life. And I know how very blessed I am to have it.

I think also, my writing benefitted this month from having to adopt a more straightforward, sunny tone.
It's not that I don't write positively about my life. I do. In fact, I think I tend to err more on the side of positivity in general on this blog, as a way of protecting my kids who may someday read this blog. While I want them to understand some of challenges I faced raising them, I don't want them to feel as if I worked out my most serious concerns and anxieties about them for an audience.

I don't always share the biggest difficulties, but I do tend to write about the everyday challenges with what I recognize is often self deprecation and deflecting humor. Adopting a more earnest style this month forced me to be a little bit more thoughtful, and to write with a little less snarkiness as I sometimes feel.

Oh, in case you were wondering about days 26 through 29, it wasn't that I didn't find anything to be grateful for on those days. I just was simply too tired to make myself sit down and compose those posts. That's one benefit of this exercise. Even when I wasn't actually writing, I was writing.

I'm glad to have found ways to be grateful this month. I may take a little break from this particular format, but I'd like to see Gratitude Days become a regular feature here at Small World. I just hope it is on a regular enough basis that I'll still be able to pay attention to the small things I'm grateful for as well as the big ones.

Day 25 Part Two

2011-11-25T16:55:00.001-05:00

So much for praising technology. Blogger froze up, as usual, before I could finish captioning the photos in the previous post & publish. Then my laptop battery died. Of course, I brought the wrong cord for the laptop. So now I'm composing in HTML on J's iPad. Not ideal, but still amazing what is possible to accomplish via all kinds of devices.s Even though technology is not working at it's optimum for me, I'm still so grateful to have all these methods of communication. Amazing. I'll be back on Sunday when I have my darn cord back...

Day 25 of Gratitude: Technology

2011-11-25T12:45:00.001-05:00

Like many of us, I've become pretty blase about the presence of technology in our lives, used to being connected to media pretty much anywhere. But I am still old enough to remember typing on a typewriter and recording television shows on VHS tapes.* Heck, I even remember life before VHS tapes. So it kind of blows my mind a little that I can be typing this blog entry on my laptop and posting pictures to the internet as my husband drives us along the highway on the way to visit his family in Cleveland.

I still want to have some time to read my book while I'm having some quiet time in the front seat, but boy oh boy, it amazing and good to imagine all those pieces of data flying around the air as we travel.

Here's the photo essay of yesterday's Thanksgiving festivities, courtesy the personal hotspot we are so fortunate to have.

Pinterest inspired veggie tray!

Looking at her daddy makes e. laugh every time!

Two pretty ladies.

m. and her dad.

Grandchildren always stuff the turkey!

Buddies.

Dinner Table Before

Where these two spent most of the meal.

*(One of L's favorite pasttimes is dragging out some of my old tapes that are still inexplicably stored in an end table drawer. It's always a fun little surprise: Oh! The Claire Danes Romeo & Juliet! Sliding Doors where Gywneth has great hair! Oh, Dead Poets Society. Neil, you can pretend to be Dr. House's friend as much as you want, you'll always be starring in A Midsummers' Night Dream to me. And Knox! Stop pretending to be a big shot lawyer on The Good Wife).

Day 24 of Gratitude: Family

2011-11-24T23:14:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Thanks to my family for spending the day at our house sharing my favorite things: my kids, food, and conversation.

I meant to have photos to post, but it was all just too wonderful to enjoy as it happened.

Hope you and yours had plenty of delicious food and moments today too, and that your gravy turned out as great as ours.

Day 23 of Gratitude: This Awesome Boy is Mine

2011-11-23T16:25:00.001-05:00

Today I'm grateful to have an assistant to conduct today's Real Women of Pinterest tutorial.

I'm a little busy chopping celery and onions, ironing tablecloths ( I know I said I wasn't going to, but...), and playing goalie at the lazy susan cabinet.

He's going to tell you about a little activity we conducted last week. I found the inspiration on Pinterest, but he original project can be found here. We painted bread with colored milk, then toasted and ate our art!

Check out the video so you can do it, too!

(Oh, he got food coloring all over his shirt,

which explains the interesting fashion statement here.)

That didn't really take too long, so we also tried out some mini volcanoes by pouring colored vinegar onto baking soda spread onto a baking sheet.

Probably should have had them use droppers of some kind like the original inspiration.

I didn't do a very good job of capturing the 'volcanoes' before it became a lake of mixed colors.

Pretty simple stuff, but O. called his grandparents

to report what an awesome afternoon we were having!

Make sure to go visit mep at Not to Brag today and every Wednesday as she shares Pinteresting things. Stacia at Fluffy Bunnies is also playing along with us in Romania! Please, link your own successes (or failures :)) below!

Day 22: A House that is Clean Enough

2011-11-22T18:48:00.001-05:00

Today, I had some friends from my mom's group over for a Thanksgiving lunch themed playdate. I certainly wasn't thinking when I planned it that we would be out of town most of the weekend, and too tired on Sunday to think about cleaning the house.
So yesterday, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the clutter, as I often am, and was wondering why in the world I had chosen to host such an event at my house. I picked up toys and folded clothes in spurts before and after doing the Thanksgiving grocery run. I wrote a blog post, went to Bible Study. J. bribed the kids with a movie to pick up the toys in the basement.
I wasn't impressed with myself about the level of cleanliness around here. I meant for the carpet to get steam cleaned, and the kitchen floor to get swept and mopped. I did vacuum. I didn't dust. I didn't wash a window or wipe down any cabinets. I have not yet ironed a tablecloth.
Today, for several hours, my little kids romped around the house with 10 other toddlers and preschoolers. N. and her friend tried on every single princess outfit, twice. The grownups shared corn casserole, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. The toys all got dragged all over the family room again. L. was so distracted he didn't empty the lazy susan cabinet once.
And before the other moms left, they threw the toys back into the corners of the rooms. There they will stay until tomorrow morning when L. drags them out again.
I could have spent the day cleaning. I'm so thankful I did not.

Day 21 of Gratitude: Bible Girls

2011-11-21T15:02:00.001-05:00

It's only 3:00 today, and since the baby girls aren't here today, I'm already starting to look forward to 6:30, when I'll be able to hang out with my other girls. My Bible Study girls, that is.
I've been meeting with this patchwork group of women since O. was four months old and I was desperate to find some way to keep my mind from turning into a quivering mass of breastmilk, Zantac and diaper cream. A good friend that I had once taught with, goaded me into going, calling me out on my preconceived notions of (and snobbery toward, if I'm being truthful) ladies who got together to study the bible.
We met in the church basement to study Hebrews, and it rocked my world. Who knew you could spend three weeks on one chapter of a single book of the Bible? Who knew you could spend an entire YEAR studying the book of Isaiah, as we did a year ago, and still feel like you skimmed over a lot of those darn oracles?
We now meet in each other's homes, and are a little more relaxed about the format we follow to study the word, but it's always an indepth, personal, as well as intellectual discussion; we often grapple with honest and difficult questions.
Some of the members of the group have come and gone, and we're a collection of diverse church backgrounds and experiences. We've been through births (lots of them!) and illnesses, weddings and funerals. We've prayed over adoptions, job prospects, and difficult pregnancies, as well as encouraged each other through bad haircuts and parenting disasters.
These are the women I'm glad to turn to when I'm feeling most vulnerable, when I need to not be judged for the ways I struggle in my everyday life, and with whom I rejoice in the small joys of my days.
They have helped me move so much further along in my spiritual journey, taught me about the real power of prayer, and helped me become much closer to God.
If you want to know what the body of Christ looks like, I believe you will see it on Monday evenings in a house in suburban Cincinnati. You'll see it in hugs, laughter, and tears. You'll see it in cups of decaf coffee, glasses of red wine, bowls of guacamole, burned pots of soup, in swaddled babies and in a woman bouncing someone else's child on her hip. It's in binders loaded down with colored pencils, notebooks with lists of handwritten observations, and a big yellow list of prayer requests.
I feel so grateful to be included in such a group, so blessed to have them as my friends, and honored to be able to learn more about Jesus along with them.

Day 20 of Gratitude: So Many Things

2011-11-20T19:04:00.001-05:00

It's been a grey and rainy Sunday afternoon, the kind of day that can get you into a downer state of mind. Or make you just want to burrow down into the couch while your husband watches football and your kids run wild around the basement, pretending to be jewel thieves and planning pretend parties.
I may have done the burrowing on the couch thing for a while, working on my bible study and uploading pictures, but I didn't get too far into a downer state of mind.
There are far too many things to be thankful for this weekend.
Namely, that J. and I were able to take a little overnight trip to Louisville to see some college friends of his. We met and went to the horse races at Churchill Downs, and did it up right with tickets into the Turf Club. How fortunate we were to be able to sit for an afternoon and visit while making bets on horses that invariably for J. and I, came in last place. I finally won a tiny bit when I started picking the horses I knew O. and N. would choose. Allie's Event was the big winner, and if I had only trusted Grand Illusion to win, rather than show, we would have done better than break even on that bet.
After the races were over, we headed to dinner downtown, and drinks afterward. It was so fun to be out with other grownups, laughing and posting dumb pictures on Facebook, eight adults in one Honda Odyssey, singing along to Red Solo Cup. So nice to be able to share a night away with my dear husband, so I'm thankful to him for making the arrangements so long ago that there was no question that we would be going.
And of course, thankful to my parents, for watching all three kids and our geriatric dog so that we could get away. It's a process to get all four of them packed up and out of the house, but worth it in the end. (I know, I was questioning it, J. But yes. Worth it.)
While we were gone, they took the kids to the local holiday season kickoff festival, and the parade that goes with it. It was a first for the kids, and they couldn't stop talking about the groups of Cub Scouts, dancing girls, fancy cars with girls in pretty dresses, dogs dressed up, and floats with balloons and other decorations.
They fed them pizza and breadsticks, let them watch a movie, My dad bathed all three, and my mom got up with L. at 3AM so I wouldn't have to, at least for one night.
And if that isn't enought, they devote at least one day a week to me and to all five grandchildren while they are at my house. Because while I love taking care of my nieces, I certainly could not do it alone with my own in the house.
While they are here, by the end of the day, the laundry is folded, the kids' rooms are straightened, (O. always goes in his room on those days and says "Grandpa must have been here!"), the basement is decluttered, and the kids have had more stories read to them and stories listened to than I would be able to stand.
My mom also has been known to wipe out my refrigerator shelves, organize my tupperware, and change sheets on the beds. She knows the preschool songs to sing, teaches the baby new words and tricks, and somehow gets N. to wear socks. My dad hangs pictures and curtain rods, finds homes for bathroom plungers, sweeps off my deck, and manages to walk the dog to the bus stop and back. He teases O. and N., each with their own inside joke/invention. (N.: "I hope Grandpa doesn't try to trick me with a banana again!!")
They are pretty amazing, this pair. I got some of the best in the world with my parents, and for that, I am seriously grateful.

Days 18 & 19 of Gratitude: A Break

2011-11-19T08:31:00.001-05:00

A busy couple of days!
Much to be thankful for, especially time with family, celebrating my wonderful dad's birthday, and a tiny overnight escape for J. and I.
I'll fill you in tomorrow with a triple dose of gratitude (mostly for my parents, who make a lot of what happens here at Small World possible!).

Day 17 of Gratitude: Smooth Separations

2011-11-17T20:48:00.001-05:00

N. went to ballet class this evening. Normally, she goes on Saturday mornings, for a combination ballet and tumbling class. It hasn't always gone completely smoothly -- some days she says she doesn't want to stop playing at home with her brothers to go. Other days she gets through the ballet portion only to throw a fit about going into tumbling. The last couple of sessions have gone really well, in large part because she saw the costume she's going to get to wear for the Spring Showcase. It is sparkly and bright blue. You know, like a mermaid? The theme is Under the Sea, and she knows I meant it when I said if we bought the costume, there would be no complaining allowed, or else she can't wear it. And this girl is desperate for as much shiny sparkle as I'll allow.
We can't make it to class this Saturday, so we scheduled a makeup session for tonight. I had no idea if it would be the same instructor, and obviously the other girls would be different, so I tried to prepare for all possibilities. After a near failed speech and hearing screening at preschool yesterday because it came right as she walked into school, with no time to play with her best friend, I had no expectations that we'd be seeing anything except tears again tonight. (And yes, so glad I spent money for a speech evaluation that she conducted mostly in her shyest saddest voice with a tissue pressed up against her face. Nice.)
But, happily for us, her same teacher was there this evening, N. walked right in and stood on the number she was supposed to, and had a grand old time doing the "Turkey Dance" and marching and skipping and twirling with the other little Indians. No one chose a Pilgrim hat -- no pretty feathers on that one!

She's growing up, my baby girl.
I'm grateful for all the little steps she's taking to gain confidence and to overcome her natural shyness.

Day 16: Bloggy Friends

2011-11-16T11:23:00.001-05:00

I'm joining with the Real Women of Pinterest today to bring you a recent Pinterest success.

Maybe it goes without saying that I'm thankful for bloggy friends? Whether I've met all of them in real life or not, they offer real support and a connection with other people on days when I don't always have anyone to talk to over the age of six.

One of my most populated boards on Pinterest is titled Bored is Boring. There, I collect ideas of activities I can do with the kids on long afternoons when they are ignoring the house full of toys and whining that there is nothing to do. We enjoy crafting, but many projects are more involved than my little ones have the attention span or fine motor skils to complete, and I often find myself doing most of the assembly myself. On Pinterest, I've found a whole host of ideas that don't take many supplies, and have occupied my children for more than five minutes or so. I'll be sharing some of the results of these activities, and hopefully some more elaborate life improving triumphs from Pinterest on Wednesdays!

I wish that I could come up with these sorts of activities on my own on a regular basis, but the truth is, I'm a better executer than creator. Actually, I do consider myself a creative person: creating new units of study was one of my favorite parts of teaching. However, it often took me a year or so to develop and fine tune the lessons in a unit so that they worked as well as they could. Then I could teach it to different ninth or tenth graders the next year. This parenting thing has me teaching different grade levels every year -- how am I supposed to keep up with that??

Anyhow, I love the ideas that Pinterest provides. Sometimes they are links to free printables, like these alphabet play cards. N. is still learning her letters and their sounds, and I printed these a while ago, thinking they would be fun to play in a flashcard kind of way, or that we might get around to some sort of scavenger hunt.

N. enjoyed shuffling them around and asking me the names of the letters, but it wasn't until last week that we followed through and went on a treasure hunt throughout the house, looking for objects that began with some of the letters in the deck. We began with the letters she has been working on so far at preschool. They have a letter of the week, with show and tell of an object beginning with the letter each Tuesday. It was fun to try to remember what she has taken in each week. Then we lined them all up on the basement stairs and took some photos.

This was the only letter we couldn't remember what she took to school. Maybe stuffed seal?

They aren't going in order at school. N. was thrilled when they got to A., for Ariel, of course!

Bound and determined to take something "girlish" every week!

O. wasn't home from school yet, so...

The N. card was missing. (We later found it in one of her 'treasure boxes' decorated with markers and glitter glue) We went with "Small" instead!

Fun times with my girl, and I think she is actually remembering some of her letters a little better now!
Once we've gone through all the letters, I think we'll print the pictures out and turn them into her own Alphabet book.

I would love to hear about your Pinterest finds. Link your post below!! (this is my first linky thing, and I'm excited to try it out!) If you're reading, and you're a Pinterest gal but not a blogger, let me know and you can guest post!

Day 15: Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-11-15T20:59:00.001-05:00

What I really wanted to write about today was my gratitude for this blog, and a conversation I had with a good friend today about her thoughts of starting her own blog. I wanted this to be encouragement for her, because having this blog, however rarely I actually post on a normal basis, has brought me back from the brink many a day. But, that's a post that requires a little more thoughtfulness than I'm feeling right now.

So instead, I'll focus on the double batch of the best chocolate chip cookies ever that is sitting on my kitchen counter. I have been thinking of making these cookies and sending them to my nephew since the day he left for college at the beginning of September. Today, it seems, was finally the day.

I am thankful for tasks accomplished (even if it means I didn't yet unload the dishwasher, or fold the laundry, or finish the two projects I began on Shutterfly during naptime).

I am thankful the kids enjoy baking with me, and that by helping me, they were occupied during the 4:30-5:30 hour with activities other than chasing and poking each other.

I am thankful we had leftover pizza and grilled cheese from the weekend so that I didn't also have to make dinner.

Now, if I can just actually get these cookies in the mail tomorrow. (And not eat ALL of the ones we're keeping here in the house.)

Day 14: Sweet Nieces

2011-11-14T21:04:00.001-05:00

I'm grateful today, as I am every Monday, that I get to spend time with two sweet baby girls. I continue to be thankful that my brother and sister in law entrust them to my care (with tons of help from Grandma and Grandpa, for whom I'm grateful every single day) while they are at work.

I'm so glad that we're getting to know these little ones from the start, and that they are part of our world on a regular basis.

N. and I are also glad that Aunt E. and Uncle A. allow us to put silly things on their heads on a regular basis.

Sweet e. with a bow N. and I made for her.

Cutie m. enjoying a royal meal.

All five cousins together.

So, so glad that they are getting this opportunity

to be together each week;

hopefully on their way to becoming lifelong friends.

Day 13 of Gratitude: Imagination

2011-11-13T21:19:00.001-05:00

Yes, thankful for the creativity of my kiddos, even when it means they dash upstairs to clothe themselves in "battle gear" to defend themselves against my vacuum cleaner.

Here they are, teamed up to throw balls and such at me

as I yell at them to get their toys picked up

or they are going to be sucked up forever.

Victim with nerf dart wound.

I don't know. Does it count as

creative and imaginative when they do this

Every. Single. Time.

I get out the sweeper?

Also, wouldn't you think it would be easier for them to just pick up the darn toys?