How He Gets Out of Things

This morning I heard Babers get up. He called out to me a few times and then started down the staircase. Our staircase has a turn in it at at the turn from the there is a window that stretches from the floor half way up the very high wall and then another window that starts and stretches to the ceiling (no I don't clean the high one). Babers had stopped in front of the window to squeal about the Overnight Surprise we receieved - snow - and not just a smidge of snow but a good 2" of it. SuperStar also did the same. I heard her walk down the staircase and stop and take in her breath and just kinda squeak (see that big area lends itself to echo). Spidey was snuggled next to me in bed and didn't seem to take in what any of the others could be excited about. Later he got up and went directly into his room. I thought perhaps to put some clothes on and head outside - only he never came back out. After going downstairs, feeding Babers (who said that it was "too cold" to go out and play in the snow) and making coffee I wandered back up to see what Spidey was doing. He was sitting playing in the "sleepover room" he and SuperStar had set up the night before. They planned to have a sleepover in his room the previous night - only he fell asleep at 7pm!! Seriously! I told you all we are exhausted. So anyway, I asked him if he had looked outside yet - he got up, pulled back his curtain and just stood there - making funny breathing noises. He was totally excited too - only he seemed to feel the same way Babers did - his focus was "do we have to go to school?" - of course I told him "no", but only because it is Sunday (didn't mention that part though - let him have his moment right?).

Anyway, today was the day that BigGuy set aside to clear the yard of the tree limbs, the leaves (his plan was to burn them - can't say I am sad that won't be happening), dismantle the trampoline (which I have been asking to do for a month now) and hang the Christmas lights (which he says is super quick and easy). Only now we have snow - enough snow that he can't see the leaves - can't easily move the tree limbs about (although my guess is he will do this one because tomorrow is the last pick until spring) and it is not at all safe to be using a ladder on the icey ground. So he gets out of doing it. Another year. Or - worse yet - he will hang the lights on an icey rainy day like he did last year because he procrastinated.

I swear to goodness that he checked the weather and knew what was happening this weekend - because he took it pretty leisurely on those other cool, but sunny days this weekend.

Family Giving

The weekend before Thanksgiving we had the luck to gather all of BigGuy's siblings together in one home - BigGuy's brothers house and his wife, Household Exec. We made a big meal - we rocked out with the help of the game RockBand - we watched the kids play together (remember getting together with your cousins when you were a kid?) and to add to the special feeling of how lucky we are to have one another we decided to create something special to give back to our communities. To do this we made some of the super easy Fleece Tie Blankets. In all I think we made 6 of them. Pretty much everyone participated at some time or another in making them. Either by donation of the fabric, creative work put in, watching the younger kids not able to be around the needles, or just taking a nap on the floor and keeping the room warm for us (Uncle C). Although the original intent was to share with the younger kids the gift of giving to others, in the end the adults were really the ones given the gift. We were all in a room, we shared out time, had serious talks, shared our thoughts and plans and experiences with one another and were drawn a little closer. This is probably the most special gift because it is not often that we had unteethered time together to just relax and be ourselves and touched each others lives. Plus, in the end we had created beautiful and warm blankets to touch someone elses life with. How cool is that?

We had so much fun we have already made plans for the next Get Together. This time it will be at our house - we are so looking forward to the crush (in a positive way) of our family filling up the house!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Are you Ready?

Are you ready for tomorrow? Turkey Time!! This will be our Second Feast - BigGuy will have created the turkey at both events. He is so talented!! Anyhoo - go through your list - pie crust fixin' - sweet potatoes - cranberries - apples - pumpkin (oh, I have to thaw that out) - basic potatoes - bread - celery - onions - aluminum - turkey bag - injecting liquid - drinks - butter - cream cheese - sugar - etc., etc. Make sure any last minute needs are purchased before noon - because you DO NOT want to be at the grocery store after 12:30 this afternoon or it will be crazy!!

Hurry Up - make your list - bake your heart out - no eating today to make sure you are hungry tomorrow - unless you subscribe to the "have to stretch my stomach out to make room" philosophy (which has never worked for me - but seems to for BigGuy) and prepare for tomorrow FEAST!!!



Mmmmmm.........can you already smell the turkey?

Service Projects Are My Life

or so it seems.......I do believe that in the past month we have participated in at least 3 service projects - we are going to Christmas Carol in Dec. at a retirement village too and then we are doing one with our family when we are in Columbia, MO coming up. All of them are fun. All of them are for worth while groups. Most of them are with the Girl Scouts. Which leads me to wonder - if I were not the troop leader would I loose my initiative to participate in service projects? Not sure......I am fairly lazy (no really, at heart I am lazy - I am just too worried people will realize how lazy I truly am so I don't act lazy).........I am not going to dwell on that though. I will simply be glad that I get the chance to plan projects and/or participate on projects that allow me to share with my kiddo's what it means to touch others lives in a positive and helpful way.

Besides - it is all fun - here are some pics from when we did a food drive this past weekend - these kids hardly worked at all AND some wonderful woman gave the kids money to have hot chocolate from the Starbucks nearby. How cool is that?

Me Either

The children who live in this house appear to have some warped reality about what my desires are.

Oh, did I mention that this is primarily MY blog to talk about OUR family? Too much work running Made By Creative Me - Me In Motion - keeping up with all of you on facebook and running what was the Family Blog all by myself. So now This Blog is MY blog since it was always really mine anyhoo. Plus, SuperStar is toying with the idea of running a blog - which means I will be a co-supporter there. More about that around Winter Break time.

So anyway, these kids seem to have a warped idea of what I want to do for fun. See....each day they come home from school. There is a snack - sometimes very healthy and sometimes not so healthy. On the healthy days it goes something like this -
"Oh I don't want apple slices for a snack. Can I have something sugary?"
"No, I already prepared the apple slices. Have them and maybe later you can have something else."
To which they respond, "All you ever want us to do is eat healthy. You eat healhty all the time."
I am baffled by this. If I ate healthy all the time wouldn't I look a little better? Wouldn't we NOT have candy, chocolate, baked goods and such in the house?

So snack is over and it is time for homework. Since I am often consulted on how to do homework I hang around in the kitchen - which is where homework is done here. I empty the dishwasher, start making dinner if need be, wipe counters or do a load of laundry. Things I would much rather avoid doing - but since I am being held hostage in the kitchen I figure I should work on. As I do, the children complain about doing homework. Most everyday Spidey and I do a dry run on his spelling test so that he can practice.
"All you ever want us to do is our homework. You never want to have fun or to let us watch tv." Usually this is more Spidey then SuperStar - she went through this a few years ago.
"Yep, I am a homework maniac." I might respond. "That is all I ever think about - give me some homework, I need some homework, Jonesin' for some homework."

Do they honestly think that I am sitting at home ALL DAY LONG wishing, hoping, praying, scheming as to How I Can Get More Spelling Test Time With Them? Do I want to nag them to feed the pets, sort their laundry, practice piano, clean thier body, put their dishes away, pick up their rooms?

Aahhhhh.....NO!!

I want them to go somewhere and be quiet. I want to go down in my craft room and close the door and do something crafty. I want to go to the gym. I want to read a book. I want to watch Oprah - is her show even on anymore? It has been soooooooooooo long since I have actually seen it. I want to do ANYTHING that is not standing in my kitchen working on homework and hearing complaints about the snack I provided if it isn't chocolate coated.

Unfortunately - I don't get what I want so Bring on the Homework!!

Why Face Painters Should Be Illegal...........

Okay.............so how cute are they? Totally adorable. Everyone loves to have their face painted and become someone else. Even if you stay yourself - the face paint is like a temporary tattoo that fancies you up without the permanance. However, there is a dark side to face painting...........Duhn Duhn Duuuhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.....

What? How could that be? Look how cute this little man is - sitting there, holding still for something (which in itself is amazing). Looking so peaceful, hopeful and happy......Yes.......however, after having experienced Face Painting, after having had many people tell him how darn cute he was, after being so proud to be a Blue Tiger........
























He did THIS with his paints...........



















and he did THIS with his markers!!..............



BigGuy found himself impressed with the marker rendition of the Blue Tiger. He looks like he truly attempted whiskers and managed to succeed - in a way.

And This is why FacePainting should be Illegal. No, no, no, don't try to blame an inattentive parent. When he did the marker thing he was sitting at my feet coloring a character in a book - secretly coloring his face - maybe I wansn't looking at him, but hey, he was at my FEET!!!!! I wasn't worried. I know it is all suggestion of experience made when he had his Face Painted!!

See the little girl in pink here? She was a friend invited to a GS event we recently had. Not one of my troop girlies - although she said she is interested in joining. She brought some perspective into my head and reminded me of how I felt about things when I was much younger.

We have been here for more then a year now. Gotten comfy in our house. I wish we were further along in the painting of things and "upgrading" of things (besides the basement and bedrooms). Often when people come over (because we host fun stuff like always) I feel like I am constantly saying to guests, "Well we hare hoping to get some painting done" or "Just don't know what to do with this kitchen floor" - almost kinda apologizing for the way my house looks. Does it look bad? No. Do I wish it looked better? Yes. Did I think it was beautiful when we bought it a year ago? Yes. So what has happened between now and then? Dunno.........

So this little girlie comes to my house. We are participating in the makeup presentation and went into the kitchen to wash our hands of some skin smoothing product we were all sampling. She and I are standing together sharing the sink.

She looked at me very serious and said, "Your house is really big and fancy."

Taking it as a compliment I said, "Thank you, I will take that as a compliment. I would like to paint it though to make it look nice."

She looked at me like I was kinda crazy and said, "Your house is really pretty and fancy. Fancy like I am afraid to touch things."

I looked back at her and saw that she really meant what she said. She sees our house as fancy. Then she added, "I just live in a trailer. It is really small. Not like this." And I was transported back to being a kid myself. Around 5th/6th grade we moved to a townhouse apartment. It was small. My parents were divorced. I was totally embarrassed for anyone to know that my parents were divorced. Hated to have anyone come visit - because most of my friends lived in big houses with two parents and fancy stuff that I was afraid to touch. Except my friend, MJ, who lived with her mom in a trailer that had lots of fancy stuff that I was afraid to touch - mostly horse stuff in MJ's bedroom - awards and such. And I thought her house was cool. I remember feeling more at home there then in my house and enjoying hanging out there. Of course her parents were divorced too - there was probably a comfort in that. Her mom always made me feel at home. So I told this future Girl Scout that when I was her age one of my best friends lived in a trailer and it was really nice with fancy stuff I was afraid to touch. She smiled at me, hugged me and walked away.

And I was reminded that my house is really big and fancy and that even if it weren't - it is warm and fuzzy and filled with things that we can touch and treasure - and that I am super thankful for everything that I have.

All We Have Seen

So last weekend we delivered BoyScout Popcorn because this cute little man sold $1,600 worth of the stuff!! We made a plan as to how we were going to cover ALL the relatives in one day and still get to spend some time with our friends. Not ALL our friends, but at least a few of them that we keep in close contact with. We thought that we would pick the kids up from school right as school got out so we could immediately get into STL - meet everyone at a pizza joint the kids like and then spend the night at The G's house, get up and head to Nona & Popo's, then meet Granma R for breakfast at a favorite pancake house, head to Papa & Gramma J's for a snack and time with AuntB (we have 2 AuntB's), then over to Nanny's for a dinner with her, AuntieB and her clan and Grandpa O. Turned out the pizza place has closed - small catastrophy, but we went to The G's for a spaghetti and way too huge for all of us salad dinner. Then we re-thought the idea of Babers at a restaurant early in the morning- switched that to homemade breakfast at Granma R's.

As I was with some friends here in Central, IL before we left one mentioned, "Oh, have a relaxing time on your trip." What? Hadn't she heard me tell her all the craziness that we were going to do to get the popcorn delivered? Apparently not - we were seeing too many people for it to be relaxing!! We saw..........

I am missing Mr. KG - he kept ducking pictures so we didn't get him in the slide. Maybe next time. We also missed seeing the LW's because they had family in. However, turns out my friend from here was right. We were On Time for everything we did - we stayed at people's homes for everything - we weren't stressed about if Babers was yelling in public - we actually got to RELAX!! (gasp). So it was a nice time after all - and the popcorn was delivered. We also learned that we are pretty darn lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives!!

Volley Ball

Volleyball season is over. The last game was a week ago. This is one of SuperStar's favorite sports. She, BigGuy and Spidey even had the chance to go to one of the college games. They were given posters and SuperStar had hers autographed by one of the team members (that it turns out BigGuy is linked to through a friend at work being engaged to her sister - did you need to know that? No? Oh well....it is kinda like talking to me in person isn't it?). We are looking forward to another season of sports coming up soon - Basketball. My prediction is it will become SuperStar's favorite sport ever - followed this spring by the Softball team she is hoping to join. Whatever she wants is fine with us as long as she is moving and enjoying.....GO BOBCATS!!

Mr. Higgenbottom

This story is kinda all over - the day after the election I decided to totally embrace change - because everyone was saying it and technically Obama can't take office officially until next year so there had to be some kinda of change happening for me in order to keep the feeling alive until then.......so I decided "time to unpack all that crap (I mean valuable stuff) that is still in the basement storage/cat room". And I did. Not the smartest thing I have ever done (because there are sooooo many smart things to choose from), but still it was a good thing to have done. There were 4 wardrobe boxes that we had filled with Fisher Price toys (the big house kinda things), 3 large plastic tubs with books, stuffed animals and toys, then about 5 or 6 regular sized plastic tubs with more toys, kitchen stuff and some coats and various items we couldn't figure out what to do with. I unpacked it all - repacked donation things (4 large wardrobe boxes) with various things listed above that included this Disney Princess Tea Party set.
This puppy was given to SuperStar when she was about Babers age - so that means it has been around for at least 7 years. Yes, most of the pieces are still here. Now.....my blog is not about my unpacking all our stuff (finally)......it is also not about embracing change in the election of President Elect Obama (although I will see how many times I can sneak that in).........this blog is about BOYS - yes, Boys. Do Not PreJudge Boys to Be Boys (a term that I personally dislike - what does that mean "Boys will be boys" - heck, by the standards set to be a boy my daughter is a boy).
You see, this is Mr. Higgenbottom. A gentleman that I had not met before entering my home the other evening and seeing him taking tea in my kitchen. I was never introduced to the woman having tea with him as I found Mr. Higgenbottom and his accent to be so dog gone funny!! A British Gentleman in his underpants having tea in my kitchen. Was it past their British bedtimes? Yep, but it was so cute I decided not to stop it for a bit and took some photos. Of course this is when Mr. Higgenbottom started to think about the Family Blog and requested that his photo not be used. To which his British friend laughed - and he panicked covering the camera lens like some celebrity being harassed by paparazzi.
My real point is though - perhaps it is the more traditional area that we live in - I hear a lot of people say, "Boys will be boys" and when a boy isn't quite like the "boys" and he likes tea (or the other day Babers had a playdate over and they both cried to have a baby - we found them each a Bitty Baby to play with - and they made their babies kiss, snuggle and then they put them down for a nap), playing house or doing crafts people will snicker a bit and say he is "different". That isn't cool. Girls can play rough - so let's let our boys play whatever way they might play and then they won't duck from photos like Mr. Higgenbottom did.

Gotta love Mr. Higgenbottom - I think he must be a Jeckyl/Hyde kinda guy, because the other day he looked like this.............always in the underpants.....

Carnival Time

Chili Carnival is a big event at the kiddo's school. It is one of the major fundraisers that the school does also - so it is loved by all - well, mostly, there are those that do a lot of volunteering and love it - those that don't help at all and complain about it - those that help and complain and those that don't help, but would never want the even to disappear - and those that would rather turn the event into something that would be AS exciting, but not AS labor intensive - and not needing so many permits (our parents cook the chili). In the end most everyone agrees that they had fun though - and that is all that really matters.

Did we have fun? Yep, for the most part. Being PTO Treasurer it seems that my job (I didn't volunteer) was to run around and make sure everyone had enough money (I set up the money boxes early in the day, made certain change was maintained - we had tons of $20 bills and ran out of $1's and $5's (thanks to LW for making a dash for those!). By the end of the evening I had a big old sack of money. The scary thing is - no one knew how much money was in the bag. Anyone of us working money through the evening could have pocketed some - BigGuy and I could have gone Christmas shopping yesterday and reported less money then we actually had - NO ONE WOULD BE THE WISER! We didn't though - and we still have all that shopping to do, but that is another blog.

An interesting turn for this event though - as you look through the pictures do you see SuperStar at the event very much? No, you don't - she is only in 1 of those pics - although she is in a few from when we voluteered early in the day to wrap desserts with our GS troop. Why do you think she is gone? Well, because we deemed her old enough to run around the event with friends............we didn't even have to explain it to her - as soon as we said it she was GONE!

Today it was pointed out to me, by my friend MH, that I never posted any of the Halloween pics we took. Not that you want me to post ALL the pics we took, but a good grouping that reflects the craziness that was the day. You know, there has just been general craziness here - which is why there were never any posts done about the whole thing on Halloween. I did a post saying "Happy Halloween", but honestly, I did that the day before and then most of the posts since were PreWritten and scheduled to appear (even the post about Obama winning the election - because hey, we all knew he was going to win). So today MH emailed and pointed out that we mentioned the things we were going to do - but then never did the usual posting of pics. Thank you for the reminder - it has been nuts here!!

Next Year

This is totally what I want to be next year - SuperStar too. It has total attitude and demands your attention - yet it has a fun and girlie side too.

We have Ladybugs all over our house. They especially seem to love Babers room. Originally they were all over the front of the house - probably because that is where the sun is in the afternoon and it is warm there. We started noticing them when there was a cold spell a few weeks ago. Then we noticed they were somehow getting into Babers room around the window - dozens of them. Then they were in our room, in the kitchen, dining room, one flew onto me while I was showering yesterday. They just crawl around. I have googled them and found that the ones we have are apparently "dreaded" - they are the Asian Lady Bug. They don't seem all that dreadful to us. No biting like many report. They land and kinda walk about us, but don't bite. Some sites report a stinking smell - don't have that problem either. Today I did have to save one. As I was sitting in the bathroom, minding my business, I noticed a little one laying on her back - her feet moving about. I flipped her over and she stayed for a second - probably the blood rushing back into her head (do they have blood?) - then started walking away. Now, I will say there are a few we probably killed - they are tiny and we can't see them all. I just wish I had some indoor plants. Then we could at least put them to work cleaning.

My mom used to say, "Lady Bug, Lady Bug fly away home." Tried that. Doesn't seem to work.

Do you love Thomas like Babers loves Thomas? Betcha don't. Do you carry Thomas around all over the house and then if he doesn't do what you want you throw him to the ground screaming that Thomas isn't doing what you want? Even though you know Thomas isn't real? No? Then you don't love Thomas like Babers loves Thomas. And most likely you are not 2 years old.........

He is so darn cute though - I love Babers the way that Babers loves Thomas. Even with the screaming and throwing.

Yes We Can

Our family couldn't be more proud after an election then we are today. Our nation has chosen the first Black American as President of the United States. He is an African American who is representing the ENTIRE Nation - not just the African American Community. He was chosen not because of his color - but because of his color all people of every color know that they are represented and can rise in our society and be leaders. There is no longer any question about that. This is Historical. This is something to make certain you write down in your family history so that generations later can feel through your words what was going on in the world that You Lived In when stereotypes started to truly be broken down.

Can we make change happen? The nation spoke last night in a big way. Yes We Can!

You Get the Chance to Vote - Go Do It!!

Today is the day that all the hype has been leading toward for the past 2 years. It is here - don't miss it - GO VOTE!!! As soon as the kids were on the bus Babers and I headed out to the polls and voted. We knew 3 of the 5 voting officials - which was nice. No lines. No one even asked for our ID, just our names. Took all of 5 minutes! We saw friends, chatted with people and then headed out to get our......

Free Starbucks Coffee! Yep. Today if you vote you get to stop by Starbucks and have a tall coffee on them. Babers was so excited - he kept saying, "Mommy coffee and we go in!" We did go in - parked the car - no drive thru on election day - Babers picked a chocolate milk and we shared a scone. He danced to the tunes being played and made all the other voters (everyone had stickers on) giggle. A few even grooved with him a bit.


Later we learned that you can get a free star shaped sprinkle donut from Krispy Kreme. We might do that later as a family. Spidey got to vote in class and I believe that SuperStar is too. BigGuy voted at 6am!! He said there was a line out the door at that time, but that it still only took 15 minutes. Papa voted in STL and said his line lasted for 2 hours!! We are totally thankful for our 5 minute line!

Papa also told us that Ben & Jerry's is handing out free scoops of ice cream to voters too. Wish we had one here, but alas - our B&J comes from the grocery store (sad, but we pay less buying it there - we just don't get the fancy flavors).

There are probably tons of other great reasons to go vote - free coffee, free donuts, free ice cream, the fact that it is Your Right!! So go VOTE!!!

Imported

Yeah!!! Thanks to my friend, SS, we now have an Obama/Biden sign for our yard. See, we live in the land of McCain supporters. Nothing terribly wrong with that (but only because I know that the state will go to Obama) - some of them are our best friends - but there are so many darn signs that it feels very....well....wrong for lack of a better word. In STL there would have been few McCain signs - and those would have been stolen and then most likely destroyed (one person I knew replaced his Bush sign last go round 15 times!! Of course he kept complaining about how they kept disappearing and that he was going to get a security system to figure out who was doing it - which basically dared everyone to do it and so I guess they did). Anyway, I started searching for an Obama sign weeks back. Called the Dem. office - left a message - no return call - called again - they said they had a 7 week waiting list!! 7 week!! That would have put me past the election by a few weeks - she said people were still ordering them anyway. I decided to search in STL - and scored 2. Only then BigGuy got the stomache flu and didn't get to STL for his work stuff and couldn't pick them up. So my bestest friend mailed me one.

Then........because I was mailed a slip cover sign.........my friend, CB, a Rep. gave me a sign to slip it over. She admitted that it was against her best judgement to do this, but because she truly believes in the democratic process our country is founded on she knew it was the right thing to do. And now our sign stands out on the corner of our yard - kinda like a sore thumb in the area - but our friends the K's have one just down the road barely out of sight - they are the first 2 signs you see before all the "other guys".

Thank You SS - Thank You CB - Vote Vote Vote on Tuesday!!!