Home again

We survived our trip and had a nice time. Hectic and a bit tiring but nice. The kiddos love, love, love the grandparents and it's nice to see them so happy. We made a trip into Chicago on Wednesday to see Christmas lights and have lunch. Everything took extra long but it was fun. The kids got to see Santa and we had lunch in the beautiful Walnut Room of Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's). At one point at lunch a "Princess" came up to us and asked the kids if they wanted to make a wish (I think she must have been a snow princess or some other Christmasy princess!) The Girl closed her eyes extremely tight and let the Princess sprinkle "fairy dust" on her head. She was so serious about making a wish. When we asked her what she wished for she said, "I wished for sparkles in my hair."

Turkey Day

We're leaving tomorrow to drive 11 hours to my parents for Thanksgiving. I am actually looking forward to it. The kids are pretty good in the car (thanks to numerous snacks and a built-in DVD player) and the Hubster drives most of the way.

There is a lot to do before we leave though and the kids' excitement level is already very high. They both have school tomorrow and the Girl has dance class. I have a feeling they are not going to get much out of the day tomorrow!

Life

I started this thinking I had lots to say. I wanted to have a place to record the kids' lives but also my thoughts. So far I seem at a loss for words. I think too much about what I should "post" about. So I don't end up posting at all.

So, I've decided I'm just going to write and see what develops. It doesn't have to be perfect. Hopefully it will evolve over time.

I have scrapbooks for each of the kiddos that I started when they were born. The boy's first few pages aren't as nice (in my opinion) as the girl's because I had more experience and practice by the time I started her book.

Hopefully this blog will be similar.

A Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

One of my favorite books when I was a kid was Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and Ray Cruz. It is one that my kids now enjoy as well.

I guess I liked the fact that this kid had a day that started off badly and continued that way until he went to bed. I remember days like that when I was a kid. I have days like that as an adult.

Yesterday was one of those days. It started off as any day I guess but by the time the Boy got home from school I was frazzled. Add to that the fact that the bus driver shared some recent antics of the Boy.

He has befriended a little girl who has some behavior problems. The difference is that this little girl doesn't really know any better. And the Boy does. So, he has taken to copying her and is getting into trouble.

I think he must have been upset that the bus driver shared is poor behavior with me because he was awful for the rest of the evening. I tried to help him with his "homework" and I was getting so frustrated I caught myself yelling at him. For doing his homework. He is in Kindergarten! But he was not paying attention and it was driving me insane.

Basically he just needed to go to bed but since the Hubster always puts him to bed and he wasn't home from work, that wasn't working.

The Girl was annoying me through all of this because she was trying to get involved and "help".

Once they were asleep I had an attack of the ever present guilt for having such a short fuse with them.

Let's hope today is a better day!

The Princess

The girl is 4 going on 16. She has become a snotty, back talking, impatient, diva! Just now she threw a fit because I happened to walk by the bathroom when she was in there. I apparently ruined her experience! And, I couldn't put the headband on the way she wanted it.

And she slept in today!

I am trying to focus on the little girl who still likes to cuddle and give me kisses. Because if she's driving me crazy now, I can't wait until she really is sixteen!

Lord be with me!

Trick or Treat

Sandy and Danny ready to hit the neighborhood

The month of October was a lot of fun this year. This marks only the second year that we've been able to trick or treat (that they recall). We were in France for two years and it's just not something that is done there. And, before we went to France they were too little to remember.

This year they knew what it was all about!

We took a hayride to a pumpkin patch and picked pumpkins. We carved our pumpkins and scooped out the "goo". We even toasted the seeds. We made a scarecrow at a local "fall celebration." And, we painted several pumpkins.

The 31st both kids had various celebrations. The girl's preschool had a costume parade and the boy's kindergarten had a "Fall Celebration" that I helped plan.

It was so wonderful to see their excitement.

A neighbor had several families over for pizza before trick or treating began. The kids made it around most of the neighborhood but weren't to the point where they had to go to every house. And, most surprising of all, didn't eat all that much candy. When they have had some of their stash they've actually chosen the "gummies", mini bags of teddy grams, etc. I am shocked! They certainly don't take after me. Which is a good thing!