We are Thankful!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Seriously, one of the best, least stressful holidays I can remember. We got up and got ready, went to Granny and Papa's (my parents) house. We hung out with them and ate Thanksgiving lunch around 11:30. We left there and headed to a picture perfect photo session with my good friend (and also our photographer) Jen. I cannot wait to get those pictures!

Then, off to Nana's (Ben's mom's) house for dinner there. Everyone was well behaved and ate a ton of food. We left there and I came home to change clothes. Then, it was off to Black Friday shopping with Mimi (Ben's step mom, Misty) - we got some of the most awesome deals and had the most fun I can remember on Black Friday!

I am so thankful for well-behaved, healthy, happy kids, a wonderful family, and the greatest life I could have imagined.

Rebuilding Lives

Baby girl awoke earlier than usual this morning. But really, it was no biggie, I was up already - Parker likes to sneak into my bed in the middle of the night to cuddle, which I love, but he forgot to stop at the potty on the way, so I awoke to wet sheets.

I was a little irritated, he's almost 4, Jackson was never this hard to potty train and he HAS special needs so I'm not sure why our "normal" son is having problems, but whatever. I try to be understanding and accepting. Each kid is different, each kid has their own time table...

Anyway, Parker was awake, Delaney was awake. I was awake. But it wasn't even 6 AM and I don't even think the chickens were awake yet! (The sun certainly was not. Our rule is no kids out of bed before the sun.)

I was nursing Delaney and perusing my Facebook on my phone when I saw pictures from my friend Meg. Her house caught fire last night, they lost everything. When she heard the smoke detector, she at first thought it was her alarm clock, but realized it wasn't. She grabbed her three year old, Memphis, her purse and a blanket and ran out the door. They literally have only the clothes on their backs.

I sent her a text to let her know I was here and that's when it started. My other friend, Steph and I started getting things together. Steph called her church and they're accepting donations there, we set up some fundraising at work, started getting things in place. I'm trying to help as much as I can because I just cannot fathom...

Meg awoke to literally run for her life, stopping to only grab the absolute most important thing in the world to her.  I awoke with the most important things surrounding me and was frustrated and annoyed. I am disappointed with myself for being like that this morning. I'm going to try to make it a point to be more thankful. (I already really try. I know everyday is a blessing.)  But, you know what? Tonight Meg will go to sleep, cuddled up to the most important thing in her life and know, for certain, how loved she is. There was a huge outpouring of love and support.

People always talk about the bad things, people being jerks, crime, etc. I want to tell you about all the good things I saw today.

Steph and I were standing at the bar, talking about how we could help Megan. A guest was there eating his lunch, minding his business. He didn't say anything to us, paid his bill and left. About an hour later, he returned and handed Steph bags and bags of new clothes for Memphis, towels, pillows... He went to Target and bought these things. He also went to Home Depot where they donated gift cards. Kindness from strangers.

I work in a restaurant, so it's not like many of us are swimming in cash. But every single employee today asked me how they could help. One of the guys who also lived in the house but wasn't there and didn't lose anything except his XBox still can't get in to get his things out. I asked what he needed (toothbrush? deoderant? anything?) He said, "Don't worry about me. Help me take care of Meg and Mems." What an awesome guy!

The point here is be thankful for today, say what is in your heart. And when you see those "What would you grab in a fire" posts on Facebook, think about it. I have 2 evacuation plans from our house, I know exactly what I would grab if I could. The boys know how to get out and where to meet. We are prepared. Hopefully we never need to test that theory.

One last thing - check your smoke detector - it literally saved their lives. They lived in a rental house and did not even check the functionality when they moved it. (I mean, really, does anyone? Besides me, I mean!)

If you're eating out this Friday (Nov 16)- Please come to Buffalo Wild Wings in mason. We are donating 10% of all food sold to the people who lost everything last night. You gotta' eat, may as well help someone in the process, right??

Happy Halloween!!

I love Halloween. It's almost my favorite holiday (right after Christmas.) I mean, let's be honest - who doesn't like free candy??

Well, this year, it was 75* the week prior to Halloween and 34* on October 31, oh, and don't forget the rain. We decided it would be best to have a Halloween party instead of traditional trick or treat and invite our closest friends, then the kids could trick or treat indoors. Best of all? I didn't have to traipse around in the cold and rain and we still got tons of candy!!

The week before Halloween we went to trunk or treat at my cousin Amanda's church. Luckily we did because the kids felt like they had a real trick or treat then. Jackson was an army guy, Parker was the Incredible Hulk and Delaney was a ladybug. Two of three children wore the same costume for the duration of the Halloween festivities but in normal Parker fashion, he wore a different costume for every event. (We have a dress up box, they were all in there, so no biggie.) For the school's fall family fun night, Parker was Ben (the Thing) from Fantastic Four. And, on actual Halloween night, Parker was Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch.)

The kids decided they liked the Halloween party and want to do it again next year!!

Craft Fairs

Even before I was a girl Mom, I made hairbows and tutus. But now that Delaney is here, I have even more of an excuse!! If you're not busy on November 17, stop by the shopping plaza at Landen Kroger and check them out. If you have something in mind, let me know, I can make it!!

RACK

RACK, or Random Acts of Christmas Kindness, is a new tradition we will begin this year. We are trying to raise our children not to be entitled brats. We want them to know the holidays are about spending time together with friends and family and that it is always better to give than to receive.

By now, most people know about Pintrest. I spend way to many hours on their pinning things I may  not ever make or do. This idea, though, is something we have discussed doing but didn't really have a well thought out plan. I saw this idea (and the acronym) on Pintrest, so I can't fully take credit for thinking of this.

Basically, we will countdown the 25 days til Christmas by doing one nice thing in our community every day. We aren't sure which activity we will do or in what order, but something will be done together every day. Here's a list of ideas we are tossing around. We plan to have a family meeting and vote on which ones will work best for us:

Donate books (probably to Shriner's Burn Institute.)
Donate old toys
Donate new toys / adopt a family / Toys for Tots
Project Linus
Adopt a troop / platoon
Cookies for neighbors
Cookies for firemen
Cards for nursing home
Quarters on bouncy balls
Candy canes on ATMs
Operation Christmas Child
Donate food to pantry
Donate personal care items to women's shelter

I'm running low here and need 25!! Share your thoughts and I will be sure I take pictures and post about things we do!  Stay tuned.

Jackson's Parent Teacher Conferences

As expected, Jackson is very well behaved in class. Also as expected, he was described as "shy." Upon speaking to Mrs. M a little more in depth, we discovered a better word choice may be unintrusive. He doesn't want to interrupt or draw attention to himself. He's the opposite of an attention hog.

This is something we have been struggling with for years and while no one ever believes us, this really is a huge improvement over years past. He will share in class, he raises his hand to participate, he answers his teachers questions with more than one word replies. This IS an improvement.

We discussed his reading and math skills (both above grade level) and how he really loves school. He is such a people pleaser. The most impactful part of the conference involved me crying (yes, in front of the teacher. I know, totally embarrassing.) when Mrs. M told me she knew I was a good mom. That is all I want to be. We expected his life to present some challenges and there have been some, but it's far fewer than we pictured and he excels at so many things. It is truly amazing to see him fitting right in and the other kids not even knowing he's a little different.

Now I'm the Mom of a Preschooler too!

Parker has been wanting to go to school for literally years. The deal was, though, that he had to use the potty all the time first.  Sometimes he would, sometimes he wouldn't. (That stubborn streak is showing.)

Finally he put his little mind to it and decided to use the potty all the time so we signed him up for preschool. The coolest thing is his preschool is in the same building as Jackson's elementary school, so Parker thinks he's big stuff now, since he goes to school where the big kids do.

Like his big brother, Parker just wanted new shoes and a back pack to start the year off right. He chose a Thomas back pack and some Kobe Nike's.

His teachers, Mrs. F and Mrs. S, have been amazing so far. Parker loves going to school and the teachers report he is perfectly behaved and doing well. (I've always said I'd prefer my kids to be angels at school or with other people and act up with me if they must do it.)

Parker waited patiently until school started. He sat in this chair and just looked SO big!

 is class lined up to go in and not a single one of these little guys cried. I'm fairly certain, though, that had one started, they all would have!

 This was the craft they made after reading The Kissing Hand, which is an awesome book about a baby raccoon that goes to school and is sad to leave his mom. She kisses his hand and tells him she will always be with him, just touch that kiss and she will be there.