Christmas Trees

TREES are one of my favorite parts of Christmas (along with reindeers or moose, and stockings). We've done the living tree with rootball to plant and pray over while it dies a slow death. We've done the cut living tree with needles all over the place and holy cow why won't it ever get straight. We've done the mini tree, where the stand (a cardboard box with a christmas tablecloth over it) was actually 2x as tall as the tree... the Charlie Brown tree, which was a tiny pine the year we made all our decorations instead of hauling them to another state. Now we have a 6 ft artifical tree, covered with a variety of ornaments (mostly handmade or given to us).

But my all time favorite? It's the one that is totally exhausting, takes 3 weeks to complete, and involves a ton of people. That's right, folks--- the Giving Tree!

At church, the Youth Group sets up 2 trees and covers them with tags that have a special code and then indicate the age/gender/clothes sizes of the lucky kids. Church folk take 'em, then return a wrapped gift with the tag attached on top. Today was "Collection Day" where the Youth Group helped folks put their gifts on the altar at church. Then after all the Masses, the kids brought them over to the hall. There we sorted, organized, counted, assigned the random tagless gifts, wrapped the unwrapped donations, and ate lunch. Our local nonprofit (another church ministry that works with Catholic Charities) came and filled their van-- totally, up to the top, with barely enough room for the driver and his helper to sit. Grand total- 400 gifts!

I meant to leave after my classes were done, but it's hard to resist taking part in the Giving Fun. Plus, the teens are always eager to play with Kade, so as long as he's willing I stick around. For most of the families, these will be the only gifts the kids get. It's easy to be stressed and overworked and worried this time of year. It's also pretty easy to be amazed by the Spirit in us all...

Christmas Prep- Cards & Cookies

After posting every. single. day. in November, I feel like a serious slacker going back to 1-2 times a week. Oh well, we'll all adjust.

Keeping with the holiday-preparation theme, since a few cards have already arrived (congrats Alicia and Patty, you're the first two!) I thought we'd talk about them. Jane was just saying she finally ORDERED her photo cards, and I bust out laughing (quietly, since Kaden is still sleeping) (long nite, we were up at 5am!). I haven't yet decided to TAKE the holiday photo. Er, it seems to me I may have talked about this already, but I'm too lazy to double check my post history. Hey, this makes the blog JUST like talking to me in person, when I often repeat myself! Lucky you!

Anyway, I like to send out Florida style photos. Oooh, I should find past years and post them. But the tree-at-the-beach, or Merry-Christmas-written-in-the-sand, can only be done so many times. I have 3 great ideas for this year, but one of them involved finding a white, short sleeve 2t oxford shirt. Apparently that doesn't exist. The other one involves aa BIG prop, also which I cannot find. Or did find a medium one that might have worked, but couldn't talk my hubby into buying it (a rare grinch moment, lol). And of course, there's finding the time to get to the beach, which we had planned for the sunday after thanksgiving, but sickness postponed it and now... well who knows when we'll get there.

But, honestly, part of the FUN of writing cards for me is to have it happen in that week before Christmas, when everything slows down a bit and the Spirit is high. Or even the day after Christmas. I operate on the theory that the Church celebrates for another 2-3 weeks, so I can too. (Liturgically correct in terms of timing, haha).

Anyway, Kaden is stirring so we'll leave the cookies for another time. Enjoy the holiday madness!

Kaden's Christmas Program

I would've titled this "a star is born" but it seems a bit sacreligious during *this* season!

Did I mention we switched K's preschool/daycare? We did, and they are BRAVE-

they actually held a Christmas Program! with 2-5 year olds!

Hi Mom! and Dad! and Nana!

It was only 25 minutes or so, just the right amount. I was suprised that it included a little preaching, but then again they do consider the daycare as an outreach. And it wasn't much.

And, actually, it was a pretty good message.

Being a good 2 year old- he was watching one of the teachers...

There were a few songs the kids sang, which had motions too.

This actually cleared up why Kaden's been talking about the stable and the manger.

If only we could figure out where all the "firefighter" play comes from!

Did you call me?

We have 2 or 3 good videos of different songs. Email me and I'll send you the link.

Kaden is such a ham around family and friends, but also can be shy in new situations.

We were wondering if tonight he would be following along, or just staring out.

One happy "Joseph"

Can you guess? He did great. He knew the movements and at least some of the words to all "their" songs. He was a bit antsy here and there, but listened when a teacher re-directed him back to his spot. What a great kid! I have a feeling these "programs" are only going to get MORE fun...

Month in Review

Well! I'm squeeking in one last November post. For those of you who've been reading along each day- thanks! Your emailed comments keep me going :) I doubt I'll be updating daily for any length of time in the future, but this has been a fun project.

After glancing through a month's worth of daily posts, it occurred to me that I'm fairly optimistic, posting what I HOPE will happen almost as much as what daily details just did happen. I really don't want to give the wrong impression, so here's a few short "updates" from this month's posts...

Nov. 28 - Sunday Adventures- I'm not sure I can adequately express the struggle I have with Kaden's church behavior. While he IS cute, and I do want him to feel at home, I'd also like it if he learned to consistently play quietly in the pew. There's a lot of embarrassment and pulled attention away from the group prayers when he and I are sitting next to each other... his father seems to handle it a tad better, but we (Jim and I) don't always agree on what's acceptable toddler church behavior!

Nov. 26 - Buy Nothing Day- I love this idea, but I usually wind up buying something. I'm not sure if that was clear :)


Nov. 24 - Thanksgiving Cooking - I did no cooking, almost no cleaning this year. And never did get to that detox weekend.

Nov. 23- Holiday Group Activity - I had planned for two: one was a "fingerprint" sweatshirt for Jim's mom... when the grandkids did fingerprints instead of handprints since there's so many of them. We had the fabric paint and then never actually bought the sweatshirt. Doh! The other was a thanksgiving centerpiece: first, the kids hunted the "turkey" feathers in the yard, then wrote something they were thankful for on it, and stuck the feather in the turkey body. I had supplies but no gumption when thanksgiving day turned out so cold! So I totally missed this year's craft ideas.

nov. 17 - Holiday Travel - I realized, after the fact, that a lot of what Jim and I go through is a sort of 'anticipatory anxiety.' We don't get to spend a lot of time with his family, and we'd both like it to go really well, so we worry ahead of time about how to make it a good visit for everyone. Add to this my own personality quirks, which means I *need* alone time to read/think/be, and traveling thoughts turn anxious easily. Even though we love traveling, and the J clan too!

Nov 15- comment about Holiday Photo- still haven't taken it. I realized ONE of my possible ideas wouldn't work because the mini palm tree out front is totally crooked. And then a nother idea wouldn't work because it was too much "chippendale" style for a toddler. So we're working on it...

Nov 10 - Harvest - We actually pulled a few more radishes today. Which means we have room for... something?

Think that's it. Let me know if YOU find any hanging questions or stuff like that. Merry Christmas Preparing!

What if...

Sunday Adventures

Plans: enjoy the 9am Family Mass, reconnect with friends, K works for 20 minutes while Jimdad and Kaden hit the playground... quick change for all then off to the beach to dry out any lingering sickness. Return home for showers and naps and, if time permits, to go to a fantastic hispanic carnival in a neighboring town.

Reality: wake up at 9.30 am to Kaden complaining "it hurts" while holding his stomach. Dreading the 12 hour stomach flu that is still making rounds among our relatives, I asked, "does it hurt like you got hit? or like you're hungry?" His face and voice brightened immediately: "Yes, Mama, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuungry!"

He proceeds to eat 2 plates of oatmeal, 2 glasses of juice and 1.5 apples. During which, Jim and I talk and decide he's well enough to continue our plan, just aiming for the Noon mass instead. The boys get dressed as I shower... and come out of the bedroom to find Kaden curled up on Jim's shoulder, completely asleep. Okay, maybe he's not so fine?

Jim heads to Mass by himself, and I curl up with Kaden and new book. Oh, and some of PBS's special show- ADD and Loving It, which was hysterical and informative! Fun! (unpaid opinion there). Jim comes back and whips up a batch of nachos for lunch... Kaden wakes up with a huge smile: Chips? Proceeds to eat 2 small helpings, a hot dog and another cup of juice. Oh my.

We scuttled the beach plans and instead had a relaxing Sunday. I can't remember the last time we had one! Well, at least it was relaxing until Kaden and I headed to the 5pm Mass at Nana's church. She's sitting in the 3rd row from the front (!!!) and so we settle in too. The priest blessed the Advent wreath, and Kaden pops up from the pew to ask "What happened?"

We whispered that the wreath was lit for Advent. Can't wait to see how we'll explain God becoming human...

Farky, Farky, Farky!

For the last week, we were at my inlaws in Pennsylvania. You can tell by the mountains and lack of green in this photo:



You can also see some of the many wonderful cousins, just one branch of our family tree. Kaden is the little guy in the (can't you tell) black Steelers hoodie, kicking a football in a physics-impossible kind of way. The cute dog in the middle? That is Sparky.

He belongs to Jim's parents, and is about 9 years old. He's darn cute, and a really good dog. He puts up with all the grandkids (up to at least 16 of 'em now). He barks a lot too. He is a superstar, according to Kaden. Whenever we call Grandma and Pop, he wants to talk to Sparky.

To prep for our trip, I made Kaden a little photo book, Monday-Friday, with photos of what we'd do (airplane ride, Hershey's Chocolate World) as well as people he'd see (relatives). We "read" his book over and over, practicing names of people and letting him know what to expect from vacation. I was pretty impressed how quickly he got names, and how often he said them correctly.

Then we arrived. He must've been overwhelmed by all the excitement, because he started mixing up people. And, my favorite part, SParky became Farky. As is, "Farky goes to work" which was really "Sparky's going to bark". or "Shh! Farky sleeping" which is what we said to calm Kaden down as Sparky hid in his happy place behind the chair. Oh, Farky, Farky, Farky.

I'm lucky, or blessed depending on your point of view, because both my birth family and the inlaws are all pretty wonderful people. We have a pretty good time when we're together. My pre-travel worries hinge mostly on us getting sick. It seems to happen every fall trip. Two years ago, my MIL and I ate turkey off paper plates, with a 3 month old Kade balanced on my knee. Everyone else was throwing up. This year, we got off easy. It was only a 12 hour stomach bug, and only 6 of us were hit (as of Saturday am!). We've slept a whole lot since arriving home, and are all getting back to feeling normal now.

What? You missed that we were on vacation all week? Of course! I figured out how to schedule posts ahead of time, thereby limited by screen time at my relatives' house (sometimes a sign of rudeness!). You didn't think I'd tell you, my internet stalkers, that we'd be gone, did you? LOL!

Here's two of the coolest moms in the universe. My opinion might be slightly colored by the fact that I didn't have to clean up much, since they did the lioness' share of the work. That's reason #4503 I love 'em both!

Too Much?

I realize that today is not the best day to mention this, but... did you know that today is

BUY NOTHING DAY?

It's true: the idea is to be counter-cultural. Instead of responding to ads and sales, YOU get to decide what's important. It's to be a "special day for you to unshop, unspend and unwind." To do nothing for "the economy", at least for a day.

I think it's awesome. Two very important caveats: 1) I've never been a huge black friday shopper and 2) many times, I'm traveling on this day so to NOT buy something would be much harder. Pack a lunch to go on the plane takes a bit more planning than I like to spend. Or my husband puts up with. And honestly? A good latte in the airport goes a looooong way to soothing Mama's travel nerves.

But I like the idea of Buy Nothing, as well as the Hundred Dollar Holiday. We set that as a goal one or two years and realized that $100 wouldn't work, but were able to make it under $250. That was for the entire (extended to neices/nephews) family as well as friends, secret santa, etc. But we started planning in the fall, and shopped a lot of sales. Another year we started planning in the summer, and handmade a lot of stuff.

So Black Friday isn't exactly the best time to think about *this* Christmas. But on years like this, where I haven't planned anything and have a budget without a lot of meaning(other than not going broke!), I like to start thinking about Fair Trade and a "green" Christmas and what kind of holiday season I want. I give myself a pass for the year, but become a bit more intentional about what we buy (or not) and what we do (or not). And I try to scribble my thoughts down somewhere so that when it comes to next year, I have a better idea of how to have a holiday full of peace and meaning.

Hopefully!

In the meantime, I take the "Buy Nothing Day" and adapt it to my life. Some Advents, I've chosen not to buy anything on a particular day of the week (like Friday). Instead I'll do something Christmasy or Adventy or just visit friends or family. It's a kinda neat way to enjoy shopping without making my life revolve around sales :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm grateful for...

Apples, Books, Coffee, Dads, Elephants, Farms, God,
my Home, Ice cream, the Jenkins clan, Kaden, Lime trees,
Moms, the Neumayers, being Outside, Playtime, the Queen,
Relatives, Schools, the Thanksgiving holiday, Underwear, the Vollmars,
Western wear, Xrays, Yellowstone National Park and Zoos.

Enjoy your holiday, everyone!

Thanksgiving Cooking

Holilday Series- part 3. or maybe part 4- I think I forgot to label that last one ;)

***

I enjoy a bit of experimental cooking. A few years ago, we discovered a recipe for stuffed pumpkin- mmmm. It's got apples and raisins, pineapple chunks and nuts, plus you scrape some of the pumpkin off and add fall spices, sometimes a tbsp of cider, then bake it up for an hour or so. Good stuff, I tell ya. But definately a side dish. We keep experimenting with it. The first year it was so sweet, like a fruit compote, so we added it to vanilla ice cream. Since then, we tweak it a bit each year. It's like an exotic cranberry relish- totally optional but really delicious.

We have a turkey potluck lunch at work - maybe this is the 2nd or 3rd year? It's a lot of fun, since it's potluck. We try to make it healthier, but the "traditional" carb dishes always win out. So we have 1 or 2 or 3 healthy things and 101 carbs and sugar dishes!



***



Actual Thanksgiving Day is rarely hosted at my home. Maybe 2 times in the 11 years we've been married? So I get out of cooking that mess. I mean to help clean up, but you know what they say about good intentions. The place we go has fantastic food, though, so the biggest challenge is to stop eating when I'm full. Especially when the pumpkin pie comes out, again. Every year I say I'm going to "detox" the week before... and it never happens. And then afterwards, we're flung right into the Christmas Sweets Extravaganza... Hmm, but maybe this year I have a week between Thanksgiving and the Start of Christmas Parties. I think I'll start Saturday :)

Oh! Holiday Group Activity Time!

I almost forgot.. in the Holiday prep theme goes the Planning of Group Activities. We (loosely) organize a turkey potluck at work, we have some sort of Christmas-cookie-decorating party. At some point, we get together with extended family, and that involves lots of kiddos. This year, I'm returning to (my personal) tradition of thinking up a Group Activity.


Past classics include creating handprint Tshirts for Grandma and the cousins (harder now because of so! many! cousins!) (and half of them are older with big hands, lol)...

...kids making english muffin pizzas for the family while wearing personalized "kitchen cousin" aprons (very messy but also fun)...

... a group trip to McD for happy meals and then to the movie, meal toy matched of course! This was probably one of our most expensive days, but we were both working with no kids at the time and happy to splurge. Though I think every sibling/family involved offered us money- hey, we could've made money on that day!

... the make-your-own bird feeder with pinecones and birdseed. Much fun, because we first went on a walk to find the pine cones, then came back inside to assemble. Not so much fun was the two year old who decided to eat the peanut butter and seed mix !!!

I'm sure there were others, but this is all I can think of for now. Are you wondering what THIS year's activity will be? Oh, I'm so sorry but I can't tell you! Part of the fun is that the kids never knew what was going to happen. And since I haven't done it in a few years, I bet it'll be a big suprise this time too!!

Refrigerator Art

I love odd things, like post offices and libraries... and people's fridges. Well, what's on them anyway. I don't know if it's a snapshot of the family personality, or their life, but I think it's cool to see what folks put up to look at everyday.

On ours, I tend to put stuff that's important, or that makes me smile. Jim has some say too (!) otherwise there would be less! I also like to display stuff from loved ones far away. It's our way of keeping them close to our thoughts.

So here, above, is our freezer door. There's hardly anything below, since Kaden can reach it. Which wouldn't be a problem, except his personal mission is to store anything on the fridge UNDER the fridge. After solving the mystery of The Disappearing Magnetic Alphabet Letters, we stopped leaving things in his reach.

Anyway, there's a few "inspiring" magnets, though I use that term loosely. One reminds us to LIVE SIMPLY (ironic considered it's buried under stuff), two others are for businesses I love (one fair trade coffee and one creative book place), one is from our visit on the Royal Yacht in Scotland (no, I can't remember the name of it but yes, Diana slept there). Practical magnets include a local delivery place, a notepad or two, and the library (!). Ironic magnets include a smoke dectector one that says "beep! beep! beep! a sound you can live with" - ironic because that blasted thing goes off whenever I cook and we're not so convinced we can live with it.

Then there's photos: Kaden, of course, our friend's little boy, and one each of Jim and I when we were toddlers. And then there's the ART. One magnet made by my brother, a Kaden coloring page, and this picture- my most favorite drawing from our nephew Tali:

So, what's on your fridge?

Snippets from an Actual Conversation

Scene: at church, in the middle of Mass. 3rd pew from front. Jimdad leaves the pew at the Sign of Peace to head up to the altar, like the other 9 Eucharistic Ministers.

Kaden, suddenly realizing Jim left: Where Daddy go?
Me: to the altar.
Kaden, starting toward the end of the pew: I go to altar, too.
Me, grabbing the back of his shirt: not yet. stay here.
Kaden: I go to altar too!
Nana: Shhh! Daddy's going to help Father.
Kaden, standing up straight and tall: I help Father, too.
Nana and me, whispering louder: No! It's for bigger boys, older boys.
Kaden, very loudly, dragging his last word into a loud whine: I a big boooooyyyyy.
Mamak grabs toddler and exits quickly, stage right.

Tri- Thoughts

This morning, the boys woke up early to head to a local park for another charity 5k. This was a walk, and family friendly, so Jim packed water bottles, the stroller and Kaden... and off they went. I stayed home for a little extra sleep and even got to mail out those turkey cards. Well, finish them, put them in envelopes, stamped 'em... then moved them to a different part of the counter.

But, the 5k! This one was for a walk for suicide awareness, and Jim did it for his coach, who has lost 2 family members that way. It turned out he knew a few others who showed up for her, too, so it was a pleasent morning. And, Kaden walked about half the route (so, 1.5 miles) (ish). Maybe he IS a racer after all! After all, he did "check his time" (Kaden pokes his wrist and says beep-beep-beep before running off).

Coach is also involved in some other charity stuff, and is currently trying to talk me into a half-marathon. Wha? The fundraising commitment is immense (I think $1400)... and I'm not personally attached to the charity... and it's a half-marathon. I'm thinking no.

But I was talking with another mom about doing a mini-tri. We think we might be able to talk our group into it (Mini-tri's are 200 yard swim, 5 mile bike ride, 1 mile run) (ish). There's at least 3 regulars who work out, 1 or 2 who could go either way, and then 2 of us who are, ah, out of shape. To put it nicely.

Would YOU consider doing a mini triathlon? half marathon? What's the craziest athletic type thing you've done?

***

Photos from Jim's first mini-tri in May 2010.

The Post in Which Kaden Tells You About His Day

Today was a rough day for me. I think the schedule stress has caught up to me, and I'm a bit tired and irritable. So shut off the computer and go to bed already! Why yes, that's a brilliant idea. I need to change Kade's dipe first- that boy is back into his nighttime-pee-thru-anything phase. Oh, and add ointment to TWO scrapes he managed to get today.

It was a rough day for Kade too; I'm sure it was connected. I'm not sure if it's the new daycare (where he's with a bigger crowd in terms of both #s and ages) OR that I was missing for 2 bedtimes in a row this week... but the little man is a little more aggressive these days. He had a revolving door to time out due to his propensity for sticking trucks in his friends face, or hurling them towards her. Then we visited the twins later, and he wound up trapping his friend between a door and the wall- and repeating banging him with the door. Well, repeatedly until I got close enough to peel him off! We left apologetically and quickly after that.

But the sweetest thing was later in the day. Kaden's been doing more storytelling these days, some of it incoherent, some of it retelling his day or another story, and some of it seems imaginative. So, after dinner I think, we were playing with 2 toy guys, and he starts one guy yelling at the other. Hey, hey, I say soothingly. What's up with those two?

Well, I was jumping on the bed. And Nicky (he waves one of the toy guys around) pushed me down. I hit my head and got hurt, here (he points to the cut near his eye). And then I GOT TIME OUT. But Nicky pushed me! And I got time out! Nicky! Pushed! Me! (He looks at the two toy guys in utter bewilderment). Oooooo, I say (even though he has successfully merged two separate events into one incident, I now have a glimpse of what triggered the door-boy-wall sandwich). How does this guy feel, I ask, pointing to the other toy guy. Idontknow. Happy? No. Sad or mad? Yes! sad AND mad. Mmmm, I say, rough day for everyone. (Sigh) Yes.

*Photos from a happier day ;)

Music Edition

Bon Jovi came on the radio as I just drove home. I totally turned it up and rocked it out.

Remember we talked about Percy Jackson? Well, I did anyway. Different Gods for different elements. But the Hebrew people (and now Christians among others) had ONE God for ALL things. I flashed to the Lightening Thief movie when I heard the song "here I am" today at a prayer service: I, the Lord of Sea and Sky...

Holiday Prepping for Travel

Well, hello there! I'm interrupting a bit of my worrying, ah, research and planning to get today's post in. I'm also interrupting our dvd date of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Which, for the record, is a LOT scarier than the book. Also, I like how in the book Percy had to figure things out. In the movie, they just tell him things, or give him stuff, to set up the fight/mythical creature scenes.

But isn't the scene (book or movie) where Percy & pals get caught in the hotel california type place interesting? Especially since it is filled with video games/movies/techo-fun stuff. Makes me wonder if Riordan (author) was commenting on the immense time spent in front of a screen in childhoods today. (Says the lady who's blogging every day!)

Oh, and we saw Toy Story 3 the other day. Just Jim and I. For some reason, I wanted to see it before Kaden did. And good thing! Have you seen it? Not to give anything away, but I'm not sure it's a kids movie. Certainly not little kids. Again, I was scared! We'll just not mention that any TS sequels exist, and I think Kaden will be perfectly happy wearing his current PJs and yelling TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

But really, this post is supposed to be about how I prep for travel during the holidays. You've got the gist of it. I overthink some aspects (ratio of travel toys to actual entertainment) (best way to carry a car seat in the airport) (which type of car to rent) and worry about the rest (possible asthma attacks) (any sickness potential) (ratio of books to carry to actual reading time).

There's usually some fun planning, too. We get started on Christmas gifts. I print out photos and review all the relatives/names/memories with Kaden. I make a list for packing in my head. I make a list on paper. I plan to pack days in advance. I lose the list. I pack at the last minute. We stop at the drugstore within the first few hours. Pretty typical.

Holiday "Making Stuff"

Part 2 of the Holiday Prep series...

Painting wrapping paper for Christmas.

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I really enjoy making stuff, all sorts of stuff. I prefer if it has a practical use and not just a decorative one, but for the holidays the decorative stuff is good too. I really enjoy making gifts, but rarely set aside time to do it anymore. Used to be, I/we would pick a "new" project and learn how to do that during the summer/fall so we could create gifts for Christmas. But now with Kaden, there's more of a "making-holiday-card" vibe going!

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This is supposed to be his foot as the turkey body with the hands arranged behind it as the feathers. But he wanted to stick them down himself, so...

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So over the last few days, we've been "creating" all sorts of handprint turkeys. Paint, crayon, marker, scissors, foam, sticker-- basically, whatever we could get our "hands" on! It's fun for me and- in small doses- fun for him. We even had fun doing some with our neighbor twins, who were delighted with their "Craft Day"- and even more so when we hung a few on the fridge. The rest of the morning, one of the kids would randomly point at the kitchen and say "hey! those are my hands!"

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Now comes the hard part- getting them into envelopes and mailed out in time for Thanksgiving!!

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the Holidays are Coming! the Holidays are Coming!

I know, I know. We're still reeling from the Halloween festivities. But we blinked. And now it's the middle of November. Thanksgiving is next week. NEXT WEEK, people! Not that we're panicky. This week is too full!



At work this morning, I figured out the week. I have 5 meetings, 1 fun lunch, 1 big event, 1 Rite to coordinate at Mass, 1 morning of classes. And approximately 8 office hours to prepare for it. All in the next 6 days. And my assistant is on vacation. Wha? This is not a normal week at all! A bit much. Even if it involves fun stuff, eh?

Halloween fun stuff included mini-jack-o-lanterns filled with fruit.

A big hit with the littles, though in hindsight I probably should have told them not to eat the orange rind.

***

My Cajun brother wanted to know how we get ready for the holidays around here. Oh hurray and huzzah, a theme for this week's posts !!! (hey, Carolina bro, what do you want to hear about?)

I'm not sure there's an overall plan, per se. I do enjoy a lot of the preparing. I probably begin thinking about Christmas sometime in the fall. I really like doing some type of unique Christmas photo - past years have included a lot of variations on the beach theme. But last year I learned that with a toddler in the house, it's a bit harder to pull those off spontaneously! I finally came up with an IDEA for our card this year, but I don't think we'll have a chance to snap it until after Turkey day. After it comes out, we'll compare the idea with the actual photo, k?

Not a planned holiday photo, but definitely one to put away for his prom date.

(But you do have to admire his "stiff-arm" form! What a running back!)

the World according to Kaden

**photos from a prince's eye view **

Dreaming about Beaches and Football

This morning, we had a great park play date with a good high school friend, her hubby and their 1 yr old son. Really fun times, but I forgot my camera, so you have no images of the boys walking together, or Kaden waiting for his turn at the stairs, or Wesley's incredibly cute smile. So I'm recycling beach photos from a few weeks ago :)



The other night, Kade woke up and came out to find us in time for a coughing fit. We re-settled him into our bed. After he was really asleep, I picked him up to move him back into his room... he started a bit, and muttered "I fell out of the car." Then went back to sleep. He is his father's son...

They continue their football training, and now Kaden has a mean look he gives you, right before he bowls you over. Seriously! If you're not paying attention (ahem), he'll knock you down. As I type this, he is napping with "Bucs", a build-a-bear alligator with a Tampa Bay football uniform (including helmet and cleats). Bucs had to take a nap, or Kade wasn't going to.

He is my son, too, as you can tell by his fascination with digging. Any beach, any park, any scrap o' land with sand (and there's a bit of that down here), and the boy starts to dig.

Finally, this last photo of Jim, aka TriDad, who got in a bit of open water training that same day. He saw a tiny shark (2 or 3 feet), and so swam on the other side of the sandbar. Notice that he still swam! He finished the 5k the other day in about 40 minutes, which isn't a great time for runners, but IS a great time for a beginner triathlete who hadn't trained in a week and was literally running uphill both ways (the race was on a bridge)! I'm proud and impressed with his dedication to being active and competing.

TGIF

Thank God it's Friday! This week was nice, but it always feels even nicer to come to a weekend. Even if I'm working :)

Jane previously asked how I wound up in my job. I suppose I should tell you about my job first... I am at a Catholic church, as a "director of religious education" officially.... unofficially, that means I do a whole lot of stuff for kids /families from birth to grade 5. Even more unofficially, we're required to be team players and help out on all sorts of random things, like fundraisers or thank you dinners or Very Important Masses. And most of the staff likes to collaborate and support each other, so we also find ourselves at things like Senior Luncheons, or helping folks with their computer (?), or organizing a parish wide picnic.

Kade becomes part of the Church family.

Oh, officially I'm also in charge of preparing folks for the Sacraments of Initiation- Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist (Communion). Reconciliation falls in there too, and so anyone of any age who wants those sacraments comes through "my" ministries. Technically, there's 6 programs I manage. We have over 50 wonderful volunteers who really make those ministries happen- my job is more of setting things up to make sure they can do it, both logistics and formation wise. Our parish has about 12oo-1500 families, and "my" ministries serve about 120-150 a year. We're considered small for our area.

Deacon talks about Mass with little kids & their parentals.

But how did I wind up here? Short answer- God. Medium answer- a friend (also a member at the church) told me about the position, and I applied, and ta-da. Longer answer- Way back in the day, when I was trying to decide what to major in, I talked to a bunch of people and realized the actual degree was probably more important than the major (especially because I had ruled out specific areas like biology!). Deciding to focus on what I'd enjoy learning about, that narrowed it down to theology, english or theater (I know, right?). Theology seemed, please forgive me, the easiest option. Less reading and writing (not exactly) and less competition (mostly true).

Youth acting/praying the Stations of the Cross.

From there, I've done about 4 "professional" jobs. They've been either educational or religion-related, though this is the first time I've worked directly for the Church (it's never been a career goal). I've also done 2 years of service (which led to one of the jobs) and I've turned down maybe 3 or 4 jobs. In every single case of a job offer, it's people who already know me. Anyway, to wrap up this long answer, my choice of college led to my choice of the major, which led to me meeting certain groups of people (orders of priests), which led to... this place! Ta-da :)

Happy Veterans Day

... to all our vets, and thank you for your service.


Also, Good Luck to Jim, running in a 5k this evening.

Harvest

I may have mentioned before... we have a few pots and have been planting things now and then. Like radishes. Not because we love them, but because they grow so quick...

He pulled them, cleaned them off, and took a bite. That's about all. Hard to focus when there's pizza on the table, though :)

Fall = Football (and laughter)

I know you THINK we're 100% Steelers around here, and that is mostly true most of the time, but Mama still likes the Bucs a teensy bit, and don't forget our college's football program: undefeated since 1965, or something like that.


Why, no, the University formerly known as Allentown does NOT have a football program.



That doesn't stop us from practicing our tackling.

I don't think I'm ever quite as happy as I am with a lot of little faces right in mine, all of us laughing...

Anniversary Gifts

A friend asked us to post what we've done for our anniversaries thru the years. We try to stick to something similar to the traditional gift, but also will work with the modern. Also, we try to take a trip, but sometimes it's just a night away. Here's the rundown:

1st (c. 2000)- Paper. Our Gift - journals with quotes and personal messages thru out
Our trip - St. Augustine (beach, history, winery tour)

2nd - Cotten. Our gift - organic cotton sheets (we think). Our Trip - Discovery Cove (swim with the dolphins), Sea World & Disney in Orlando

3rd- Leather. Our gifts- K made Jim a leather pouch for his knife, and moccasins. J gave K a leather backpack for her laptop. Still have the bags, moccasins got used up! Trip - Ocala National Forest, camping, with sinkholes and (brr) springs!

4th - Fruit/Flowers. Our gifts- Jim gave K "Burts Bees" products (loosely from flowers) and probably sent flowers as well. K gave Jim local honey, and something else fruit related but we can't remember. Trip- St. Petersburg Beach, dolphin cruise, camping, visits with friends.

5th- Wood. Jim made Kristi photo frames. Kristi woodburned a clock for him. Not sure where any of that is!! No trip, but saw Toy Story 2 in the Theater at midnight (after Mom & Dad Jenkins 40th suprise anniversary party). Oh, but then later in the year we went to NYC for Kristi's 30th bday, so we sorta combined those.

6th - Iron. Gifts- we bought welcome signs for the house at the Art Festival in Pennsylvania. Trip: Think we got off track here. Oh, right, we lived in PA and were planning to go white water rafting/biking in west virginia, but the car totally died and we spent the money on it instead.

7th - Wood/Copper/Desk Sets - Totally can't remember. Desk sets? Whatever it was, it's not around anymore! Trip: up at the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs (on the banks of the Suwanee...) but had to leave early due to Titi Amada's (Kristi's great aunt) death and funeral.

8th - Pottery. Gifts- we went to one of those paint your own places. We made an alligator welcome sign and a serving cup. Trip- Local fun stuff on Sanibel, like kayaking, deep sea fishing, eating at Doc Ford's (you totally need to read his novels).

9th - Pottery/Willow/Leather. Gifts- no idea. Trip- oh, this was 2008 and I was 7 months pregnant, so we spent the night at the beach.

10th - Tin/Alum/Diamonds. Trip(s)- night on the beach for our anniversary, then to Scotland in the Fall. Gifts? ah, we think it's tin but can't remember really well. It's very likely it was something recycled, like Christmas ornaments.

11th- Steel. Trip- stayed at the beach. Maybe or Maybe not. Gift- Tix to see the STEELERS play the Dolphins in Miami. Totally awesome time!

More Q&A

5. Do you regularly get together with friends? kid-free or play dates? Good question. I don't have regular times to get together with friends. Not all my friends have kids, either. So... I think it's a naturally happening mix of play dates, dragging Kaden along, and a very occasional adult-friend-only thing. Mostly unscripted.


6. If you work full time outside the home- do you like it/does it work for you/do you just tolerate it because you need to? Depends on the day. I always thought I'd be a stay-at-home mom, but life hasn't worked out that way so far. When I'm at work, I enjoy it. There's enough autonomy and creativity involved, and lots of different personalities (among the whole church, not just the staff) to make it interesting.

7. Would the presence of a dishwasher in my home make my life exponentially easier OR is it just the same problem in another form? YES, even if it's only because the dirty dishes can be hidden until they get washed.

8. Do you obsessively watch certain TV shows and what are they? Not really. I enjoy some, like

9. No hardware floors here, sorry.

10. Do you ever iron clothes? No. Should I? Yes. Feel guilty about it? Yes.

Tha-tha-that's all folks ;)

BlueDaisy's Questions

Today's Saturday. Jimdad is off working all day, and I'll need to help at a fundraiser tonight. Normally, on a free Saturday we'd venture out to a farmers market, but the temps are in the 50s for crying out loud! Instead, I'll move some piles around under the guise of housekeeping.

After I answer some questions from my college bud Jane, of course.


1-2. When I'm home, there is no formal attempt to teach Kaden school stuff like letters and numbers. We do use PBS, toys and songs adn he picks things up, but I have a suspicion a lot of that is due to preschool and his Nana.

3. Are you a meal planner & does that help? The rare occasions we plan ahead it helps. One of our main challenges is that I'm a planner but Jim is the chef. So generally if I plan, I wind up cooking, and that's not always a good thing! Winging it involves remembering to defrost something, and then seeing what's fresh in the fridge. It helps immensly if I go shopping for 'fresh' stuff 2x a week (buying smaller amounts so it doesn't spoil), but that hasn't happened lately.

4. How do you and your spouse/significant other make time for each other? How do you keep your marriage/relationship a priority? Jim and I try to get lunch together once a week, away from work. Night dates are rare- I think because we're away from him a lot during the week, we tend not to want to go out (at least I don't!). For the marriage-priority thing, we actually do a once-a-month potluck dinner with 4 other couple friends. It's actually a program/group/ministry called Teams of Our Lady (tool) so we have a short article to read (usually about marriage/family/faith) and when we get together we have prayer and discussion questions. I think we've been doing it for about 3 yrs now, and have become good friends with the other couples. Always kid-free ;)

I'll finish the rest tomorrow! Family, send me any questions/topics you want to see on the blog this month!

Quick Takes Friday

1. This is post # 202 !!! So exciting, because a) holy cow I've written a lot and more importantly b) that was my sophmore college room # ... during the year that the room had its own personality! As in, "room 202 does NOT go to bed before 10:30"... or the "BYOB party" where we had 3 pounds of cream cheese and asked people to bring their own bagels... or where folks over 5'4" would declare "I'm too tall for 202!" Fun times.

2. The only thing more delicious than pumpkin pancakes are ones with dark chocolate chunks.

3. Toddler Cooking Tip: measurements are approximations. Feel free to add more or less, according to the Prince's Whim.

4. Toddler DishWashing Tip: When the child helps, move your cell phone out of the "splash zone". Such zone will be about 2 feet further out than you expect.

5. When eating homemade pancakes with a toddler, do not try to explain how food gets burnt. Especially when the child has toured a firetruck recently. Such conversation will quickly veer out of control, covering areas such as house fires, skin burns, firefighters/trucks/alarms, doctor visits, shots, and sesame street bandaids. The parent will need to lie down after such talk.

6. Also, do NOT make your "safe meeting place in case of fire" something fun like your neighbor-with-children's house. Actual conversation: Kaden, touching back of hand to burnt pancake (with scared expression): Ow! Fire! Burn! (with happy smile): I go to twins house now?

7. Any suggestions out there for little boy Christmas outfits that don't involve cute sweaters?

Sketti 'n Meatballs

If you can see this video, you'll see how much Kaden loves spaghetti. The way he sucks it in with gusto is probably my favorite part. The digging for meatballs... not so much. But as long as we time it so the shower comes immediately after dinner, it's all good!

NaBloPoMo

My bloggy friends might be amused that I'm trying this. For everyone else- NaBloPoMo (or something like that) is the National Blog Posting Month. The idea is to post something on your blog every day during the month of November. I've enjoyed it on my friend's spaces, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. And since we've got the desktop up and running again (woo-hoo), we have pictures too!

I'd like to try to do a "slice of life" thing- post about something in our daily lives each day. Since today is a Wednesday, I should be at work! But both K-boy and I are still a bit under the weather. And since today was an all-or-nothing day in terms of clocking in (conference day) I went with the stay-at-home route.

Runny noses and coughs did not stop us from waking up late... and eventually dragging our butts into the kitchen to make pumpkin pancakes. Kade loves the whole "cooking" thing, which is dumping pre-measured stuff in and mixing it up right now. Then I put his chair at the sink and let him "do the dishes" while I cooked 'em up. We added pumpkin, banana and spices--- yum.

We had a brief set as a mother-son band: Kaden plays drums while I play (pretend) guitar or piano. Coloring for a few cards and letters, and now I believe it is time for a snack and nap! Hope your day is going just as well!

PS- as I write this, they still haven't announced our state governor. The race is too close and not all the ballots have been counted the first time, plus it looks like a re-count will be in order anyway. Gotta love Florida elections!

Election Day Impressions

I VOTED. You know I did because I have the sticker that says I did. Er, wait, our 2 yr old has that. Sticker obsession and all.

It's now late enough that some of the races have been called, but I won't get into how many of my choices are losing. (That's standard, and an entirely other post!) I will say there was a small article about my husband and I in the Sunday paper. Apparently, as a Democrat and a Republican, our "divided" household mirrors the exact divide of our precinct. While neither of us ever votes straight ticket, and our conversations are (mostly) civil, the paper gives a slightly different impression of our (ahem) balanced approach.

Goats, donkeys, tomato, tomahto...

Our "divided" household has discussed candidates, articles, amendments and ads. We've hung up on political callers in equal amounts. We've debated attack ads and claims and now ignore them in equal amounts. We still have to stop and think when we read the TWO PAGE ballot. Even with sample ballots and local paper endorsements, there's always one or two items that skip by us. Why, honestly, are we voting for the Mosquito Control Board?

Don't be fooled. He's really an independent!

But my main impression for the actual voting process today was this: anxiety. Because we had paper ballots that had to have circles filled in completely in BLACK ink. They provided the ink. And the shaky "booths" that are made of light alumumnim and feel like they'll tip over and crash the whole row if you lean too hard. But here's the thing, folks. I was in sixth grade when the stupid scan trons made their appearance, and my math test doubled the grading time needed because the ovals weren't filled in right. I know, I know, right? I've taken a gazillion tests since then, and not ALL of them get returned, and the machine recorded and beeped my vote, and paper ballots are so much more preferable to hanging chads and touch screen voting with no paper record at all... but still. Scan-tron?

the Many Incarnations of Halloween

Whew! Unlike our northern friends, who have Halloween on whatever day their local authorities decide (wha?)... ours is always Oct. 31. That does not stop us from beginning the celebrations early. A full week ahead, we went to our first party: Kaden as Woody and us as, well, Mom and Dad (the fact that we went straight after a Saturday Mass contributed to our lack of parental costumes). There were, oh, maybe 30-40 kids in costume running around. They had pinatas, guessing games, tossing games, decorations ALL over, themed food, even bobbing for apples (extra funny with toddlers involved). It was THE kickoff of Halloween season!

Pirates dance around after looting, yes?

Then came Kaden's "school" parade- he went as Woody, escorting his friend Tinkerbell. She came instead of Cinderella due to a glitter explosion. They climbed in and out of police cars, walked around trick or treating, ended with a class party, and then came home with an ungodly amount of candy.

The boys went out by themselves, as Mrs Potato Head was feeling a bit green!

Later that night was the church's Halloween family potluck at the park. Jim and Kade went (see above) and had a great time running around, eating good stuff and taking a hay ride. Our boys came home before the train ride (shh) since it was getting a bit late, even by holiday standards.

So the next day, the 3 of us headed off to the town's Fall Festival. We ran into some friends, about 3 random single "Buzz Lightyear" kids (one of whom asked our Woody to pause for a photo) and climbed in and out of a fire truck. There was a lot more to do, but it was over 80 degrees and our kid was sweating up a storm in his PJs. I mean costume.

Lollipops cure anything, though. Just ask "Monkey George"

All this brought us to... October 31st! We dressed Kade in his pumpkin shirt and talked about Grandpa Carl, whose bday is on Halloween (and who would have been 74 - hard to imagine). After church, we headed to Toys R Us, to buy Kaden a present from Grandpa Carl in honor of his birthday. (Yes, we had a hard time explaining how a dead relative he's never met was giving him the DVD he saw us pick out!)

Some friends stopped by to Trick or Treat, and despite a bit of a cough and sniffles, Kaden was all excited to go out. We headed to a friend's house, except by the actual holiday he was refusing to wear the Woody PJ/costume, and just kept his pumpkin shirt on. They lended him a pirate hat, which made for some fun "arrrr" and goosestepping. Then, 2 hours later we came home with even MORE candy and a very tired boy.

Whaddya mean this isn't a real costume? They gave me candy and I hardly sweated!

You know what all this led to, right?? Yep, up all night together and then a sick day today. We need to get better by Thursday, though, because we have our very last (previously postponed) H'ween party. Yes Ma'am, the holidays have begun :)

Signs of a Good Day

For at least a few years, I've tried to scale back on my own bday celebration expectations. Birthdays were always a big deal in my family, and I've tried to pass that along and keep the tradition alive... but you know how sometime, when you're the one that usually does something, the favor is never quite returned the way you expect?

The key word in that is: expect. It's our expectations that set us up for so much disappointment. We think we should do this, or be that... or worse, we think THEY should... I've been disappointed with the random minuteness of my everyday life a bit too much. Maybe it's the vestiges of that fall funk. Whatever the case, my bday loomed on the horizon and I gave strong, ah, suggestions to my family: no big deals. No party, no candles, no whatever.

Lately, we've been doing a little "strength-finding" thing at work and it turns out that 3 of my top 5 talents deal with thinking or learning... both requiring time along and focus on something (as opposed to someONE). It was a great reminder of how I can often focus on the idea or goal and not even consider the person involved... or his/her feelings. Hence the bday expectation-disappointment cycle.

Now, I need to tell you that my family is pretty darn cool. Their love for me spills out in all sorts of ways, even after I sometimes take that for granted (so sorry 'bout that). They TRY to meet my expectations, even when they are unreasonable, unfair or full of perfectionism.

But this year, the reason behind the no-big-deal edict was so simple: I'm tired. My job requires a bit of friendliness and open-ness almost all the time, and I don't know if you've noticed, but we've a toddler in the house who has been going through an "all-mama-all-the-time" phase. I think those personality/strength/talent discussions helped me realize this before I got too cranky. So really, I just wanted a break from having to go places and do things and be hospitality and make the plans.

That was exactly what I got. And you know what? It was a pretty awesome day. Multiple phone calls from far-away friends AND family, good coffee, a decent book, thoughtful gifties, flowers, gift cards for later, a very nice homemade meal, some decorations, some time outside in gorgeous weather...

does it get any better than this?

So, for all of you who took time out to make this day awesome...

Thank you.