Do you see a Christmas card here?

Neither do I!

My friend Veronica surprised me yesterday with the first Christmas card of the season. I'm usually on top of this, and with Snapfish, I can have the cards in my house within a couple of days and mailed out within a week. But, good grief, it's not even December!

So, this morning, with everyone dressed for school and looking pretty good, I grabbed the Santa hats and told them to go stand in front of their stockings. (See--I do have the hallway decorated and the stockings hung! I'm not totally losing it.) I subscribe to the stealth theory of photography. That is, slap a hat on the kids and shoot the picture before they know what's happening. I've learned the hard way that going to the trouble of getting them dressed up and posed just does not work! Sorry, Sears, but we're done!

And you can see the results. Caroline was really not into it--can you tell? And Caitlin and Bobby are obviously yelling "cheese" or whatever I told them to say.

Since it's not even December yet, I have a little more time to get a suitable picture. Wish me luck.

Happy Thanksgiving

Pilgrim Caitlin at her feast.
Pilgrim Bobby sings a Thanksgiving song.
Bobby steals a kiss from cousin Sarah.
And Friday night, Caitlin lost her first tooth!

Thanksgiving Eve

I do have cute pictures from Caitlin's and Bobby's feasts, but I don't have the time to upload them and post them right now. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now, and I'm not sure why. All I'm really responsible for tomorrow is cooking the bird and the stuffing. And the mashed potatoes. And yet I feel like there are a million things I need to be doing. I got up at 3:00 this morning to make a list...and right now I should be shredding cheddar cheese for my cheese straws. Okay, I decided to make appetizers. But it really won't take that long--the shredding is the most time-consuming part!

I really feel stressed that I have to take all the kids with me this afternoon to pick up the turkey. And the wine. Imagine my kids in a store where everything is in a glass bottle! Makes my BP go up just thinking about it. Time to breathe. And shred.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

I'm about to jinx myself

because right now Caitlin and Bobby are keeping themselves quietly entertained, and nobody is asking me for anything and nobody is screaming or crying or whining. Aaaaaahhhhhh....

The last couple of days have been stressful. Wednesdays are tough because there's so much running around. Caitlin doesn't handle all the transitions well and I end up getting frustrated with her. I feel like we're always running late and Wednesdays really leave no margin for error. I've had children (or at least one child) for the last seven years--you think I'd get a handle on this by now. But no, we're always rushing to get out the door, and somehow we lose five to seven minutes in the time it takes us to go out the door and get in the car. Sometimes we're early--like thirty minutes early. Usually we're about two minutes late, and it frustrates the hell out of me.

My Shelfari bookshelf at the top of the blog looks like I knocked over the parenting section of the local store. I've been reading all of those books, and while they've been enlightening, I feel like I need a period of relative calm so that I can come up with strategies to deal with our pitfalls. We've been in constant crisis mode, and that is not a good time to try to figure out the root of the problem.

Moment's over. I can hear the dog finishing the kids' lunches.

Things...

So, I've signed up to participate in an ornament swap. This entails my creating and mailing ornaments to complete strangers in the hopes that they will respond in like fashion. I went to the fabric store yesterday to purchase supplies (a really bad idea--Caitlin and Bobby nearly wrecked the place) and I began sewing yesterday because I was just so excited!

Sigh. It's not coming out as nicely as I had hoped. I think I need to re-think how I'm going to stitch the whole thing together. Plus, this morning I got an email from the swap organizers. Two more people have been added to my group! I'm sure everything will turn out fine, I just need some time to work on it. And that has been hard to come by lately. I'm running around like a crazy person, it seems. And we have a kindergarten feast tomorrow, followed by the preschool feast on Friday. Sunday, we'll be in New Jersey for Alex's birthday, then the kids are off all next week. And we're hosting Thanksgiving. Where am I going to get this time? I guess I'll have to give up a few nights of watching Heroes...and I'm really loving watching Heroes.

The Christmas bug

It's starting to bite. I'm getting the urge to Christmas shop. It never strikes this early...Rob has been feeling it too. Here's the funny part: we actually bought Christmas gifts today. For the children. While the children were with us. I have a very strong feeling they're going to figure us out soon. After all, all those gifts can't be for their cousins--and as Bobby told us, Alex already has Lincoln Logs. It was pretty funny. I hope they forget in six weeks' time.

We saw Bee Movie today. I'd give it a B, I guess. Better than Shrek 3. I'm looking forward to taking the girls to Enchanted in a couple of weeks.

Time to go watch Heroes. We got Season one on DVD, and I'm loving it. We watched three episodes on Friday night, and if it hadn't been so late, I could have watched more.

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbour. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

can't think of a title

I feel like I need to check in--with myself, I guess, since readership is low (or nonexistent). [note to Mike: post a comment!]

Anyway, this morning I'm trying to focus on putting the house back together. That means starting with laundry. Mad props to Caitlin for jump-starting the whole laundry pile by wetting the bed last night!

I have piles of paper all over the house, and I can't seem to get rid of them. Some of the piles are the kids' school work--stuff that can be tossed, but I want Rob to see them, or the kids like them and aren't ready to part with yet. Some piles are old magazines or catalogs. We're taking in catalogs by the pound lately, so that stuff has got to go ASAP. Some piles are books--kids' library books, kids' books we own. They need to be put away, but the kids are constantly moving the books around.

I also have piles of laundry--unwashed, washed but not folded, washed and folded, out of season, etc. I could spend days getting the laundry to its proper location.

Lastly, because I wanted something fun to do, I have signed up to participate in an ornament swap. I'm not sure what I'm going to make, but I'm feeling a creative urge that I need to indulge. Don't know when exactly I'm going to find the time to make 10 ornaments, but it's a good problem. I'll keep you posted.

Aaaaahhhhh

It's Tuesday, and I've sent Caroline off to school for the second day. How nice. In the irony department, today is a half-day for her! It's okay because she could use the rest. She was wiped out yesterday--between the week off from school and the time change, she had no stamina for a full day of school. The nurse found two nits on her yesterday, but they were far down the strand of hair, so she could attend school. Needless to say, I still hot-water washed her sheets (again) and washed her hair with tea tree oil shampoo last night. Head lice sucks.

Now it's November, and just looking at my calendar makes my heart rate pick up. It seems like there's something almost every week, and each week will go faster and faster until coming to an abrupt screeching halt on January 2. I do love this time of year.

Things I have learned this week:

1. My washing machine makes a beeping sound to indicate that it has finished the wash cycle. This beeping sound is like fingernails on a blackboard to me. It. has. to. stop. Now.
2. The lice killing shampoo, Rid, is a waste of money.
3. Ditto for the "Robi-comb."
4. If your child contracts head lice, expect her to be out of school for at least four days.
5. Mine was out all week.
6. There is no shortage of lice removal advice on the internet.