I'm dreamin' of a wide Christmas

Because that's what I'm going to be, now that I've found a place nearby that serves Funnel Cake FRIES! Couldn't believe my eyes when I went with a friend to pick up a pizza one night and discovered THIS. She couldn't believe HER eyes when I whipped out my camera from my pocket and snapped a photo. *Clearly* Amy needs to read my blog more often... then she would have fully understood my obsession with all things funnel! (You really can't expect anything less from a pizzeria called, "Between the buns!") Ohio really IS the heart of it all!

But even more important than finding a source to get my funnel fix, I brought out the Christmas decorations over the weekend. I feel like I got off on a technicality (since I don't normally decorate until this coming weekend) by NOT putting up the Christmas tree. Because there are 2 rather disobedient/mischievous boys and 1 REALLY bad dog living in our house, we have a table top Christmas tree (which goes against all things good and right in the world, but hey, it works for this season of life) and I will wait until AFTER Thanksgiving to put that up.

But in the meantime, I lugged all 9 of the 50 lb. Rubbermaid containers from the attic to the downstairs so that I could re-decorate our house for 5 weeks.

Isn't it really just the stupidest thing ever? WHO DOES THAT? Americans, that's who! As I was muttering under my breath about all the work (even the plates get changed around here for the month... stupid) I was secretly LOVING it.

Maybe even more this year. Because for the first time I had a little apprentice. Olivia was in heaven. As I got certain things out of boxes she would gasp in excitement, "Mom! I remember THAT." Or "Look mom, its the Nutcracker toy Bebe got me" (I had certain words reserved for that toy myself, but I kept them to myself... curses on your head, Bebe!) She was riding high for a few days!

And so weird, but the boys LOVE this snow globe that plays piano Christmas music. Pretty sure my mom got it off QVC a few years ago. Worth it's weight in gold I tell ya.

I know the next stop on the holiday train is Thanksgiving. But a girl can't get too excited about the whole holiday season, right?! And although this picture of Turner in no way shape or form has anything to do with anything, I had to include it because isn't it just the cutest thing??!! The kid found these glasses in the toy chest. They used to be O's when she was a toddler and he wore them around for about 20 minutes. Hey, when you get a laugh, you gotta ride that wave!

Life currently is presenting some challenges, but all in all I have to say... 'Tis the season to be jolly!

If I had only known!

These photos are from Olivia's last ballet class of the last session on Halloween. The parents are not allowed to be in the studio during class except for the last class of the session. So I snapped some pictures.

If I knew then what I know now I would have done several things differently (ahhh.. the story of my life!)
First thing would have been to NOT sit in on that lesson. Because little did I know that sitting in on that lesson would be the end of O's ballet career.
The next session began the following weekend. Interestingly enough, there were more boys than girls this session. There is a short tumbling portion of the class right at the end, but honestly, most of it is ballet and jazz. Call me sexist, but it seems like most 3 and 4 year old boys would not want to do that.

I don't know if having more boys than girls was intimidating for her but the second week of the new session, O clung to my leg and refused to go into the studio. I dragged her in and the teacher let her sit on the floor and watch. So I spent 45 minutes waiting for her to get done sitting on the dance studio floor. Very frustrating. She *insisted* she was sick (without any actual signs of being sick.)
Fast forward to yesterday where she, once again, protested like crazy. Clung to my leg and refused to go in. She said she wanted me to go and sit in her class with her. (Thinking here that the class on Halloween ruined my independent dancer.)

I turned into *ballet mom*. I gave her a lecture about how she loves ballet and how I don't understand how she marched into the class for 8 weeks with enthusiasm and now she's scared. I also lectured her with how mommy and daddy paid for the class and have sacrificed time for her to go. I was mad/embarrassed and waving my finger. Oh, lord, how I hate the finger wave. But I swear that finger had a life of it's own yesterday morning.

I gave her a choice. She could either go in and dance by herself or we could go home. She chose to go home. Crap. Choices backfired on me that time. So, we left. I huffed and I puffed all the way to the car. Then I looked in the backseat to a crestfallen little girl.

Then it dawned on me, I was behaving like the 3 year old! I let Olivia know that I love her when she does ballet and I love her when she chooses not to. I decided that if she doesn't want to do ballet, she doesn't have to, she's only THREE for Pete's sake. I appologized for yelling at her and asked her to forgive me. Then I had to deal with my own issues.

You know what I discovered? Disappointment. I enjoyed watching my little girl love something. I enjoyed going and being a mom of a "big kid". I enjoyed getting a cup of coffee and having 45 minutes TO MYSELF on a Saturday while I waited for her to be done. The disappointment was some for her (because I know she loves to dance and all things ballet... it really is a mystery this whole regression thing) but mostly for myself. And that is crazy talk.

Why pigeon hole my kid into something when she's 3? She has her whole life to dance. I'm going to look around and see what other classes I can expose her to while her interests are still varied. The sky is the limit for my talented and bright little girl.

As for me? I'll have to just treat myself to a cup of joe somewhere and get over myself!

Because some days are random

I just sat here for 20 minutes listening to my two little boys in their beds yelling, "Go Buckeyes" at each other. For 20 minutes! I had to laugh. And then I had to turn down the monitor. Turner is totally a sport lover already and Quinn, well, he just loves whatever everyone else loves. So today, he loves the Buckeyes.

This has been the barfingest week and our house, and I'm ready to move on.

I did the adoption webcast last night and it just re-confirms my philosophy of life... perfection is over rated. I'm REALLY glad that I didn't spend *too much time* preparing because I was on the phone for about 5 minutes and NOBODY asked me any questions. Maybe if I had planned, my story would have been much more riveting, begging people to ask for more. Probably not. So, I'll just keep sliding by in life.

Steve and I are going on a date tonight, thanks to our church that is offering FREE BABYSITTING to anyone. I'm anyone, so I qualify. 6-midnight. Sounds great, right? Except my kids go to bed between 7:30 and 8pm and we might get crazy tonight and not even pick them up until 8. Looks like we're gonna paint the town red!

I'm getting my hair cut at a fancy-shmancy salon tomorrow morning. My girl, Aimee, is still doing it but she can't come to my house, so I get to go and be pampered. Don't be too jealous, I have to take O with me. It's gonna be hard to enjoy the surroundings with a 3 year old who will most likely cry when I go to the shampoo bowl.

Just a few more days until Thanksgiving... and I can't wait. I'm breaking my own cardinal rule of THOU SHALL NOT PUT UP YOUR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS UNTIL THE WEEKEND AFTER THANKSGIVING
this year. Since we'll be gone that weekend, I hate to wait a whole other week, so I'm doing it early instead of late. If I'm gonna break my back "redecorating" we're gonna enjoy it, by golly.

Hope your Friday isn't so random.
Go Buckeyes!

It's my story and I'm stickin to it

It's kind of weird but tomorrow night our adoption agency has asked me and Steve to be on a webcast where potential adoptive parents can call in, here our story and ask us questions. In some ways I'm kind of looking forward to it (even if it IS right in the middle of Survivor!) and in other ways I don't really know what to say.

In fact, I just looked across the room where Quinn was playing with his cars. (He SHOULD still be taking a nap, but that's for a different post.) He was telling me that Olivia and Turner are sleeping. He just held up his shoe and said, "MY shoe!" He jabbers on ALL DAY LONG in English. He even loves our dog (and he *might* be the only one in this family who does.) When he first arrived he screamed bloody murder at the sight of him. He has a funny little dance he does to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that he must have learned at the orphanage, because he didn't learn that from me. He is my little boy and he is full of contradictions and delights rounded out by a few annoying traits. As I took it all in just now and thought about that call, I got a bit overwhelmed with what the heck will I share to people contemplating adoption?

We didn't adopt because of infertility. We didn't adopt because we have this righteous cause for saving orphans. We didn't adopt because we had extra money we didn't know what to do with. We didn't adopt because we wanted more kids. We didn't adopt because its the sexy new cause. We adopted because God told us to. And for some people, that's weird as heck.

Our experience was unbelievably amazing. We got a great kid with so few "issues" that I'm STILL waiting for the other shoe to drop. He has a new and improved smile and was a trooper through it all. In a heart beat I'd do it all over again. But that's not always the case with adoption for the kids or the family. I don't believe adoption is the right thing for everyone. I can't promise it will be easy and blessed and a joy.

So, I'm still trying to figure out what to tell these people. I guess I'll just go with our story and let that tell itself. It is SO good to reflect on the blessing of the past year! Because sometimes it gets lost in the day to day.

Home sweet home

I'm doing something this morning that I'm not very used to, or very good at for that matter. I'm spending a quiet morning at home with the boys. Last night we were hosting our small group from church where we hire some college students to babysit the 9 kids that attend. The group was just wrapping up when Olivia came downstairs and announced, "Quinn just threw up."

Great! Naturally, I was concerned about Quinn (he hasn't spent a day sick since he arrived home, and I even include the day of surgery and the day after) but I'll go ahead and admit it, I may have been even more concerned for myself. Did I just catapult into the role of *that mom* who has the barfing kid that launches barf fest '09 throughout my group of friends!? "I swear I didn't know he was sick before having all of your sweet little ones in his midst and sucking on his toys for the past 2 hours... sorry."

The 2am wake up call with a son raging a 103.8 degree fever. Crap, I TOTALLY am that mom. Although it was sweetly pathetic to hold a human inferno from 2-3am, selfishness was intermingled with selfless compassion. Thoughts of "Who did this while he was in the orphanage?" ran through my mind followed close behind, "Guess I won't be going to Pilates in the morning, or that really fun birthday party for our friend Sophie tomorrow."

So here I am, thinking "Gosh, I'd just now be doing my leg workout at Pilates right now" as the clock hits 10am (and I have rather mixed emotions on the subject) but realizing its just kind of good to have a quiet morning with the boys, playing with their toys, watching Sesame Street as I clean my house and am not rushing here and there. Is this what *normal* stay at home moms do? Hmmm... maybe there is something to this whole stay at home part that I should practice more often.

PS. as an added bonus of staying around the house this morning, Turner tinkled on the potty for the first time ever! He was pointing at his diaper and mentioned his bum, so I asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty. He said, UH HUH and the rest is history. I'm not sure I'm ready to tackle that one yet but the dawn is on the horizon.

House for Sale

Steve and I were packing our kids up to head over to some friends' for dinner last night around 5:15. I poked my head out the front door to see what the temperature was and this is what I saw.

I had looked out the window five minutes before and there was nothing. But when I popped out this time there were 8 cop cars, a canine unit and an ambulance. Okay, that was not normal.

A couple was walking their dogs and I stopped to ask what was up. They said a man had threatened his girlfriend with a gun one street over. I asked them to describe the house. It's the one that is across our alley and our garage backs up to theirs.
Within the next 5 minutes, most of our neighbors were out and about trying to figure out what was really going on. Our next door neighbor went to take a closer look and got shooed back into his house by an officer with a shotgun. Okay, really not good.

It became pretty clear real quick that we were going to be late, at best, for our dinner. So I phoned my friend, told her to turn on the news and see what was going on. I called back 15 minutes later when it became apparent that this thing was not going to be settled in the next 20 minutes. In fact, our alley, the street and pretty much the whole neighborhood was shut down. No one allowed in or out.

It was gorgeous weather for the middle of November so I sat in our window with it open and watched it all unfold. Within the next 30 minutes the news crews showed up and 45 minutes later the Dayton SWAT team showed up. I could hear an officer on a bull horn telling the man inside to lay down his weapon, turn on a light to let them know he was alright. I continued to listen to that same message for the next 2 hours. They also informed him they were not leaving until they talked to him.

Meanwhile, the wife/girlfriend who reported the whole thing was standing with the cops across the street from my window. We know her. She had a kitchen fire not even a month and a half ago. The kids and I were coming home after picking O up from school. We went to see if we could help. I ended up praying for her and later gave her some gift cards to some restaurants while their kitchen was out of commission. And now this; being threatened with a gun. I can't even imagine.

Because we had planned to be at our friends' house for dinner the kids got PB&J's and chips. Steve and I had nothing. I never felt like our family was in immediate danger, but I did find my knees knocking at points (like when the SWAT team arrived). I was nervous that we would hear gun shots and they would carry our neighbor/others out dead. I could explain all this other activity as the police trying to help a sick neighbor, but I didn't know how I would explain gun shots and body bags.

FINALLY 7:00 rolled around (thank God) and it was bath/bedtime. I just wanted to get the kids in bed in case this continued well into the night. I have to say because the weather was nice, it was like a stinkin' block party around here. What's with that? A bunch of boring Ohioans who don't get much excitement? Seriously, there were neighbors huddled together with wine glasses and snacks. As for me, I just sat at my perch in my window and talked with them from the comfort and safety of my own home thankyouverymuch.

Don't you know that as we were getting the kids to bed, all the cops left. By the time we got back downstairs all of the excitement was over. Just like that. I called one of our neighbors to find out what happened. She said that after all that the police decided he was not a threat, broke no laws and no longer posed danger to the neighborhood. So they left. With the crazy man with a gun IN HIS HOUSE RIGHT NEXT TO MINE. The news at 11 said he will be charged with a misdemeanor of inducing panic.

While I'm glad to say it ended peacefully, I have to say I'm not exactly thrilled that as I write this there is a crazy guy next door!

How about you? What did you do with YOUR Friday night?

The good, the bad and the talented

The good? Who else... our little trooper is healing up nicely from surgery. The bruising on his face is nearly gone. It's now just kind of a greenish hue running down the side of his face. Lovely. We go in two weeks to get the tube inside of his nostril removed. Can't wait. It remains to be a boogery, bloody mess. Gag.

Quinn continues to be a delight, although he does love to do whatever anyone else next to him is doing. So if that said someone is throwing a fit, then by golly, Quinn's gonna match it, and raise you a double. That's the kind of week its been at my house. A hair raising, whiny good time!

But one cute thing the boys started doing this week was making funny faces. They get a laugh and they know they are funny. This picture is Quinn just coming out of his funny face (he likes to squint his left eye, thus the half squint.)
And its a good thing Turner found something cute to start doing this week, because other than "Make a funny face, Turner" its been non stop, "Stop hitting, Turner." "No, Turner." "Time out, Turner." "Do you want a consequence, Turner?"

Can't you just see it in those eyes? I'm pretty sure he's plotting pure evil in this picture. In fact this week he has decided he will no longer wear socks. It was a 20 minute power struggle as we were getting ready to head out to the Y this morning.

In one of my finer parenting moments I *might* have gone into the other room and used the F word. Not sure when the last time I dropped an F bomb out loud was. Seriously, I'm not proud of this but I figured that was a better route than bodily harm. Do you think someone at our house is full on into the terrible two's?! (Hey, I was talking about Turner!)
My daughter, who you may mistake for Hannah Montana in this photo (don't ask), on the other hand has turned into a dream boat.

My very own little miss lippy from two weeks ago had a break through moment the other day. She and her brothers were going to the park with Steve. It was cold outside so I said she needed to wear her winter coat. Here was her response, "I don't really like wearing that coat, but I'll say okay." And SHE DID. What the...??? She got an automatic congratulation prize for that.
She's also been a great helper recently.

Here are the two of us "couponing." She didn't get real ones, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?
In one short week she learned to draw and to snap. Thank you Dayton Public. This is O with her self portrait. The fingers are a bit spooky, but the detailing on the dress is superb.
Since I went ahead and admitted a personal failure, is it okay if a brag for a short moment too?

Steve and I went out on a date last night and we put a major dent in our Christmas shopping. We got some awesome deals and are more than 1/2 way done. After that, we went for some Indian food. We always have an in depth conversation on where to eat without the kids... then we almost always end up at an Indian restaurant. I ordered Indian hot. Living on the edge, what can I say.

I also bought nearly all of my stocking stuffers this week. FYI, I don't know about your Target, but our Target has TONS of Princess and Hello Kitty stuff in their $1 section. I HIGHLY advise getting there soon if you have a little girl in your life who loves all things pink, sparkly and Disney. Santa's not getting caught with his pants down this year!!!

That's it from here. May the rest of your day be fun and family friendly. Wish me luck as I try and do the same.