Mother's Day Lesson

I don't like Mother's Day. (Well, hello there. What a nice first sentence back, eh?) It's not a bitter "I don't like" such as those anti-Valentine's Day sentiments you sometimes hear. I even enjoy bits and pieces of it. I just don't like the pressure of all that attention. Is that weird? I'm pretty sure it is.

Growing up, there was a lot of pressure to get holidays and special occasions right. There was an elaborate plan and there were high expectations: Everyone had a role to play, lines to say, and appearances to uphold. I probably don't have to tell you that there was a 100% fail rate. It was stressful and I don't know if I will ever completely get over it. I feel this way about all holidays to a certain extent but the worst are the ones where the attention turns to me. I face the day with dread, knowing beyond certainty that I will never be able to act and react in the ways expected of me.

This is all internal, of course. Self-induced torture. And decidedly unfair to my kids. I should be able to just enjoy the--my--day without being a mass of nerves. I should be able to let them, and Jason too, make a big deal about me without feeling...selfish and wrong. I need to remember this. It's an important lesson, I think.

***

Other, good, things I want to remember about the day:

Sam walked four miles this morning to buy me flowers while I slept in. They were from everyone, but Jason didn't want to leave and have me wake up to an empty house. Sam was so proud that he picked the flowers out himself.

Jake made me a magnet and a card at school. The magnet is classic Jake, stick figures on a baseball field with his family in the stands. He is, of course, at bat.

In the spirit of being real, Zander was a true pill bug today. He gave out hugs and kisses aplenty, but there were several tantrums today. Eh. He's four--and a passionate four, at that. I wouldn't trade this kid for any of a trillion others.

Cuddling with Izzy after his nap may have been my favorite moment of today. Sitting with him in my arms I took in the sweet lines of his face; the rounded curve of his cheek, his upturned nose, and his bowed lips. I know from experience that someday soon I will wake up to find that he's turned into a little boy overnight. I want to remember always the way his little arms feel when he's hugging my neck.

***

I don't know how my kids are going to remember this Mother's Day, but these are the things I'm hoping to take with me from the day. Did you learn anything this Mother's Day? I hope you all had a great weekend.

A Message for My Love :)

Baby, this song says it all. I love you, Jason. Happy Valentine's Day!

2010, Reviewed

I cannot believe that this year is coming to a close. Not so much because it went by so quickly-- although it most certainly did--but because we spent such a long time waiting for it to get here! The build-up was absolutely nuts but the reality of the year has not been a let down. It has been an incredible year; one that I am sure we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Here's a little look-back!

We spent last New Years with friends. Fireworks, crafts, card games, and seven kids. It was fabulous.

In February we took what ended up being our last trip to our favorite German city, Heidelberg.

We also enjoyed our last Fasching parade in our village. Ah, Germans and all their various excuses to party and drink!

March blew in, along with what was (I believe) the worst windstorm of the year in Europe. Not realizing that, the little boys and I went for a walk. The worst of it hit south of Germany (thankfully) but several huge trees in our village were blown over and one of the statues was knocked over and broken.

In April we were finally able to break free long enough to go to the Island of Mainau at Lake Constance. It was every bit as beautiful as we hoped. (If you are currently living in Germany, put this on your "must-see" list!

We also managed to get up to see the tulips at Keukenhof in the Netherlands. Another trip that is so worth it! My favorite picture of the year (you know I have to stuff it into the blog just one more time!):

I did not take many pictures in May. At the very beginning of the month we found out we were heading to Beale AFB. Then we found out there was a possibility we might have to stay in Germany. (This obviously did not end up being the case, although it was a close thing.) Then our van got broken into for the second time. Hmmm. No wonder I didn't take any pictures in May! May sucked!

Then in June we went to Paris! Paris!! PARIS!!! We spent an afternoon hanging out by the Eiffel Tower. We saw the Mona Lisa. We toured Notre Dame. I never really considered myself one who would freak out over Paris...but PARIS!!! I am so happy that trip worked out for us.

In July we said good-bye to our friends. We finally got the blessing to move and our orders. We did a lot of prepping for the movers. We did not take many pictures.

August was, hands down, the busiest month of the year. Our household goods were packed up and shipped out. Our van and our truck went out. We planned a trip to Indiana on the fly. ("On the fly" because there was so little time to plan once it was all said and done.) We flew out of Germany, spent a day in Baltimore, flew into Indiana, and spent a couple weeks visiting. It was surreal.

In September we said hello to California. Although we had been told that the area was ugly and barren, we found it to be quite beautiful in its own way. We started to realize that as hard as we had tried to end up just about anywhere else, California was not going to be so bad.

Although we love the look of the area where the base is located, we ultimately decided to move up into the mountains. Honestly, who wouldn't?! It's gorgeous up here.

In October we went to Long Beach to get our truck. That guy there in the striped shirt? Yeah, that's my baby brother. He lives in L.A. and this was the first time I had seen him in three years. That ship in the harbor there is The Queen Mary. (I should probably admit here that I am more amused than I should be about being in L.A. and Paris (!!!) during the same calendar year.)

We also discovered a wonderful little spot right down the road. You know, 'cause we need more reasons to love it here.

In November Jason and I celebrated our 15th anniversary. We also found out that it does, in fact, snow in California.

December found us feeling pretty comfortable in the area, although it was the first month that I really experienced a touch of weirdness over being back in the states. We were (not very great) witnesses to a nasty accident. We continued to explore the area, finding a local railroad museum where Santa comes to visit every year. The boys had so much fun; I think we'll be back before Santa is.

And now it's time for 2011 to begin. I can't imagine where we'll be at the end of it, but I sure do love where we're starting out!

Happy New Year to everyone out there in blogland! Have a wonderful (but safe, please!) evening. May 2011 bring you everything you want and need.

New Years Ideas for Kids

It probably will not surprise you to find out that our home does quite a few "kid-centric" activities throughout the year. (You know, what with the four kids and all.) We have all the usual suspects, of course--Halloween, birthdays, Christmas, Easter--but last year we added some New Years projects to the mix. I thought I might share a couple here in case you are looking for some last minute ideas.

Now, I want to preface this by saying that these ideas aren't necessarily "pretty". These are just activities that we threw together to give the kids something to do leading up to midnight. If you are like us and have a ton of kid-crafty supplies laying around, you can probably do either one of these things without having to leave your house to go get anything. And our kids really enjoyed themselves, so it's not all bad.

Anyway! Our first activity of the night was making fireworks. This is super-easy. You need construction paper, glue, and glitter. Do I really have to tell you how to do it? No. I didn't think so. Here are the kids doing their thing:

Even Zander (3.5 at the time) was able to get in on this one. He was so impressed with being able to squeeze that glue everywhere. It was pretty funny.

Finished product! Look how proud he is! We taped these up in the entryway so that people could see them when they came by the house.

Our friends' oldest daughter did this one on her own later in the evening. I love how she took all the different materials we had on hand and make fireworks out of each thing.

This next project was our "noisemaker" project and I wasn't completely happy with how they turned out. The kids didn't seem to mind, but I'm hoping to make some improvements this year. We used old, cleaned out soda bottles, dried beans, construction paper, and anything else the kids could find on the art shelf. Fill the bottles with the beans, glue the cap on, decorate the paper, and then wrap the paper around the bottle. Bam! You are done.

Here are the kids during the process:

And here are a couple of the finished products. When we went outside to ring in the New Year, the kids took these outside and shook the tar out of them. It was a noisy, fun affair. This year I am planning to have the kids pick different items to put inside the bottles so that they don't all sound the same. I also plan to glue the paper down to the bottle better.

This year we are adding a couple projects to the list. I want to do some decorating like this. I think I'll probably go a little less pink, however. I also want the kids to make a time capsule to open next New Year's Eve. I'm still brainstorming on that one a little, but I think it will be fun. I'm stoked because we just found out that Jason will be home that night; originally he was going to be at work. So yay!

What are your plans for tomorrow? How are you planning to ring in the New Year?

Belated, but that's rather fitting...

This was supposed to be posted over the weekend but I had some computer issues. I think it's too fun not to share, though! So here is your Merry {belated} Christmas greeting from me! We'll just think of it as my Christmas card to you, shall we?

Have I mentioned lately how much I love living here? No? Well, I do. A whole lot! We see these guys every single day. It's been three months and it's not gotten old yet. I don't think it ever will!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. My heart and thoughts were with those families not able to be together this holiday season. I wish you all the best and hope for your loved one's fast and safe return.

Christmas Activities for Kids

Well, the kids are out of school and we've nearly arrived at Christmas Day. I can't believe how quickly the month went; wasn't it Thanksgiving just yesterday?

Jason is about to start his holiday leave, so we're about to launch into pre-Christmas activities here at the house. (That's code for: won't be around much for a few days.) We'll be doing a lot of baking, Christmas special watching, light-seeing, and monkeying around the house. I can't wait! We are especially excited about touring the Christmas lights in the surrounding communities. Christmas lights are not something that Germans do as a general rule; the boys have been absolutely enthralled with the displays put on here. (Izzy may or may not have made a big deal about someone's garage light. I'm not sure he really "gets it" just yet.)

I had originally planned to do a few posts throughout the month highlighting some of our favorite Christmas traditions. I started out with good intentions (see cookie and snowflake posts) but just never got my act together enough to get the rest out there. I've run out of time to put together an individual post on each of our favorites, but here's a look at what you were saved from:

snowmen pizza

Awhile back, I ran across this post over at Foursons. (Can you guess what initially attracted me to that particular blog?!) I saw that pizza snowman idea and just fell in love! So we went ahead and did it this year. It was a lot of fun, even if we didn't have all the ingredients we planned to include. I also really love this blogger's idea for a Christmas countdown. I may start that up once the boys get a little older.

jingle bell bracelets

This is something we ran across last year and it was a huge hit! It is incredibly simple (thread a pipe cleaner through bells), but kids really love it! The boys wore their bracelets for days. My friend Stacy over at Kids Stuff World added them to her winter activities and that is where I ran across them. (Her bracelets were much prettier than ours!) She has a ton of great ideas over there. I frequently get lost in the site, surfing from one great project to the next.

salt dough ornaments

This is an old standby for many families but another one that we just started last year. I don't even remember the recipe we used to make the dough; just Google "salt dough recipe" and find one that works for you. (I do know that we went with one that did not call for glycerin and it worked out just fine. Just so you know.) You can shape the ornaments yourself or roll them out and use cookie cutters. Paint away, dry, spray with varnish (optional), and hang on tree!

mock gingerbread houses

This may well be the boys' favorite activity. Who wouldn't love something that calls for graham crackers, lots of icing, and every kind of candy or cookie the kids can find. We've done these for years! Some fun ideas: upside-down ice cream cones as Christmas trees, square pretzels as windows, marshmallow snowmen, candy corn for "fire", or pretzel sticks for a log cabin feel. Just buy a bunch of junk and turn your kids loose; you will be delighted with what they come up with.

reindeer food

If you have a school-age child, chances are that you've done this one. The first time I ever heard of it was Sam's Kindergarten year. Find and mix some rolled oats, bird seed (tropical mixes make for a great look but just plain corn is fun too), and colored sugar crystals. We used to use glitter but that just didn't seem healthy for the birds. (You know. In case the reindeer leave leftovers. Ahem.) Maybe the sugar isn't either but at least it dissolves away. Just a thought! Put them in a container and explain to the kids that it is magic food that helps the reindeer fly. Before bed on Christmas Eve, take the kids outside (or find an awesome window like the one Jason and I had in Germany) and let them scatter the food on the lawn (or roof, if possible). So much fun to watch!

So this is what we will be up to over the next couple days! It may seem late in the month to be doing all this, but we always save the kids' favorites for Christmas break. It breaks the days up and keeps them busy. Plus, you know, they are less likely to drive me completely nuts. That is always a good thing!

Do you do a variation of any of these? Or something completely different? I would absolutely love to see it! Leave me a comment or a link and let me know. I'm always looking for new activities for the kids.

My Christmas Nemesis

Let me tell you about my absolute least favorite activity for the holiday season. The Christmas card. It is, I kid you not, my personal nemesis.

In the 15 years that Jason and I have been married, I have attempted Christmas cards for 13. (No cards went out our first year together for multiple reasons; in 2001 we were both deployed.) I buy the cards every year. I address the cards. I fill out the cards. I put the cards in the envelopes. And then it all goes to poo. I think I have a success rate of around 45%. The problem is bad enough that I've worked it into my 101 goals list. (See #19.)

Some years I get the Christmas card picture taken. I think I even had them printed out one year. Another year I didn't get the pictures done but I did put stamps on the envelopes. And, because I am a freakin' genius, I always write the year up the upper right hand corner of the card--there's no using those cards the next year, in other words. But, more than 50% of the time, the cards don't go out!

My problem is, once again, that perfectionist streak. I want an actual Christmas card; not a photo card. I want personal messages in each card. I want a current picture of the kids in each card. I like to put confetti in the cards. (Yes, I'm one of those people.) And I love putting a sticker on the back of the envelope. If I can't get all those things done then I just don't want to send them out. I've talked about this tendency before. It is a serious problem for me and really affects all aspects of my life.

This year I threw caution to the wind. I ordered our cards from one of the online photo places. I decided that I just want to get them out. They came in yesterday afternoon and after the kids went to bed I sat down to address them. You want to know how imperfect these things really are? No personal letters; I didn't even sign them on the back. No confetti. (All my friends just sighed in relief. Ha ha!) Half of them have a scribble mark in the return address because I kept trying to put our address from Germany. (You know, the one we used for seven years!) I got at least three paper cuts while working on them but I just kept pressing forward, determined to get to the finish line.

I deserve a medal, I tell ya!

All kidding aside, this is kind of a big deal for me. I fully get how ridiculous these issues are. It's liberating for me to be able to put aside some of my neurotic tendencies and just git'er done! I'm kind of proud of myself in a sheepish, let's-try-not-to-get-too-full-of-ourselves kinda way.

What about you? Is there a holiday tradition that isn't exactly your favorite? And how particular about your cards are you?

The Christmas Box: A Holiday Horror Story

One day this week I dropped under the "20 pounds lost" mark. It wasn't on the "official" weigh in day, but it still happened and I am thrilled! I'm trying to not get frustrated at the slower rate of loss; I know that is the healthier way to go in the long run! However, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't secretly wishing it would just go now, Now, NOW!

I probably would have hit that magic number on weigh in day but for the fact that we had a little bump in the road last week. Jason's mom sent us our Christmas box. These boxes are legendary among the people who know us. While we were in Germany, the boxes would be FULL TO THE TOP with candy and holiday treats. There were routinely 6+ boxes of Christmas snack cakes every year. One year there were 10. (No, I'm not joking!)

For some reason I thought that the boxes would have less junk food now that we're back in the states. I guess I thought that we got those things because she thought that we couldn't buy them where we were.

I.Was.So.Wrong.

Six boxes of snack cakes, three bags of candy, three bags of Christmas cookies, two bags of my very favorite peanut squares, one bag of these coconut things that Jason likes--this and more of the usual suspects were lovingly packed into that friggin' box. But guess what? Now that the shipping times are a little more predictable we've added homemade goodies to the mix--in the form of TWO pecan pies and two HUGE containers of peanut butter delights, one with nuts and one without.

Oh, people. It was ugly.

You know what, though? It all tasted good initially but I felt so yucky after eating just a little bit. I noticed that I felt sluggish and jittery and just off. I felt the sugar crash so much more now than what I was a few months ago and I could identify it for what it was. A few days ago I had my first low blood sugar mood swing in weeks...and that's when I called it quits on the Christmas box. No more for me; it's just not worth it.

I have a lot more work to do and a lot more weight to lose, but I'm so far from where I was just two months ago. I have changed a lot in my head and I think that is probably the most important change that needed to take place.

How are you doing with your goals (fitness or otherwise!)? Have you found the holidays getting in the way of things you wanted to accomplish? How have you dealt with it?

The Christmas Ornament Post

I don't know about you, but we've been up to our necks in Christmas paraphernalia for the past few weeks. It started when we went Christmas box hunting in the garage right before Thanksgiving. Since the garage had not yet been organized, this was something of a chore. (I used the opportunity to do the organizing, though. It's all good now!) As this is our first year decorating this particular house, we haven't quite found a home for each and every decoration. We're getting there, though.

Now, these pictures were taken a couple years ago when I was putting our ornaments away for the year, but I thought I would share anyway. One of my favorite activities through the year is decking the halls; the family as a whole really enjoys it, to be honest. I love, love, love how Christmas decorations look when they are piled on our table all together. Is that strange? Oh well!

This first picture contains many of our favorites. The swirly blue ball in the lower right-hand corner is something we picked up on our very first trip to Heidelberg. I'm not even sure that it's a Christmas ornament, honestly; we found it in a little glass shop. The patriotic heart right next to that is Sam's favorite. He bought me one at his school one year and was terribly upset when it was broken. The next year we found the exact same ornament and bought it for him as a present.

The Redskins ornament in this next picture is not mine; I just want to make that abundantly clear. Several of the ornaments pictured here are from our favorite little store in Germany, a basket warehouse known as "Frank's". The Christmas selection was a touch lame the last two years we were there, but we still loved to go.

Jason and I do not have an official "First Christmas" ornament, but the Pocahontas ornament below is a great stand-in. We spent our first Christmas apart, but had a tree in his dorm room. (We were in technical training school.) This ornament is one of only four survivors from that first tree. (Do you see the mushroom ornament? That's a Germany find. Isn't it funny?!)

This is one of Jason's favorites. It's a bell and it has the neatest little ring. It makes a sound that is sort of a "Clinkle, clinkle". The red and white behind it is a paper mache Santa that my mother made.

This is one of my favorite ornaments. Jason bought it for me when I was pregnant with Jake. I think we both thought that Jake was going to be a girl--we were obviously quite wrong there! I don't really have a reason for it being a favorite other than the fact that I just like it.

We do not have an overall theme for our tree. My dad's parents used to decorate by color every year. I grew up thinking that I would do the same but that's not how it's happened! We have just picked up ornaments that appeal to us here and there over the years. We have handmade ornaments, kids' character ornaments, wooden, glass, and plastic ornaments. We have a little bit of everything but, as you can probably see from the next picture, it all seems to "go" together. (Well, okay. Maybe Pocahontas sticks out just a little.)

What about your family? Do you have a traditional way of choosing your ornaments or a theme to your decor?

Stay tuned: I'll be posting the winner to the CSN Stores giveaway in a little bit. I'm trying to figure out the random number generator!

Paper and Virtual Snowflakes

One of the Christmas traditions we have is making snowflakes to hang in the windows. We have a ton of windows at this new house, so I think we're going to have a LOT of fun with this activity this year. The kids have already started asking when we're going to do this; I think it's one of their favorite things we do.

The house in Germany had a double entryway. These pictures were taken in the front entryway, which had no heat and was FREEZING. I'm not sure why I don't have any pictures of the snowflakes from 2008 or 2009; these are from 2007. It's kind of fun to look back in the archives, though! I can't believe how different the kids look.

Love the idea of making snowflakes but don't want to deal with hundreds of paper scraps in your house? There are some virtual options as well. This one is part of a charity drive for money to donate toward hospitals for children (no cost to you and they still need some snowflakes made to meet their goal); this one is one that I learned about several years ago. It's a great activity for kids because they can "see" how their cuts make a pattern. It's fun for adults too.

***

In regards to the wreck yesterday, we got a follow-up phone call from Highway Patrol this morning. There are some inconsistencies in the stories the people up front were telling and they were trying to flesh them out with the witnesses from the back of the pack. The officer was able to tell us that both the driver and the dog are going to be fine, which is a relief to know.

I appreciate the comments and the e-mails. We are definitely feeling extra grateful today; that accident could have been so much worse.

***

Furthermore! Please don't forget to enter the giveaway for the CSN Stores gift certificate.

Weekend Plans Derailed (Ha ha!)

I started out the month with an outlined blogging plan. (No, really. I scribbled them into a little calendar and everything!) This weekend you were supposed to see a post about our Friday night tradition (pizza) with a holiday twist; I was also supposed to post some pictures of a couple of our paper craft holiday traditions. Instead, we did a lot of family activities and I posted about my weight loss. I'm so glad I did! The comments made me feel fabulous and I wanted you all to know that first thing. Thank you so much! Signing in and seeing all those comments in my e-mail is at the very top of my Favorite Blogging Moments List. (A list that I made up just now, this very minute, but y'all are on the TOP of it so who cares, right?!)

Jason is getting ready to start his new schedule and that is going to leave me with some great blogging time during the week. This is the positive spin, you understand. In other words, he'll be working a shift that has him out of the house during the times when it's usually just the two of us. It's a regular schedule, though; I am determined to look at this optimistically! Regardless, I am certain that I will get to those previously scheduled posts at some point.

The highlight of our weekend was taking the boys to the Nevada City Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum for the annual Christmas event. (De-railed. Get it? Ha ha ha! Ahem. Sorry.) This was our first trip to the museum, but we will definitely be back. It was crowded with people wanting to meet Santa so we didn't get to poke around as much as we would have liked! One of the volunteers told us that one of the trains here (not sure which one!) was used in a John Wayne movie. Jason and I probably found that more interesting than the boys did, but hey! They were pretty stoked about getting to climb on the tracks outside, so nobody was complaining.

This is Zander's fifth Christmas; it's the first year he's willingly approached the Santa. This is Izzy's third Christmas and, let me tell you, he was not thrilled with the Big Guy. I don't think we would have gotten a picture of Izzy with Santa at all this year if I wasn't making it a point to be photographed nowadays. Bonus: I even kind of like the picture. Go figure.

How about you? Did your weekend go as planned? Or, like mine, was it better?

Cookies for Santa

December is one of those months where the "crazy" threatens to overwhelm the "calm" around here. Between school and work functions, holiday planning, and family traditions, it's about all we can do to keep our heads above the egg nog. I'm sure we're not alone here, am I right? The older kids roll with the punches pretty well, but Z and Iz are young enough that it is still necessary for us to have some control over the chaos. They need to maintain just a semblance of their every day schedule or else we all pay the price.

Jason and I do not want to overwhelm the younger kids with tons of high pressure situations over the month, but we want to be able to establish traditions and let the older kids have a great holiday season. It's a delicate balance, but we've found a few ways to make things easier on ourselves. Over the next few weeks, I'd like to share a few of our pre-Christmas activities with you, along with a couple of tips to make your life easier--no matter how many kids you have!

One of our family's favorite Christmas traditions is making cookies for Santa. Young or old, big group or small, this is one activity that everyone loves. When we first started this (waaaayyyy back in the late 1990's), I was determined to make this our ((cue announcer mega voice and flashing lights)) PREMIERE CHRISTMAS TRADITION!!! Cookies from scratch, picture perfect icing, and--of course--everyone smiling every step of the way in photos worthy of family magazine placement.

Reality check, please! Small children + high expectations = spectacular fail. Those of you with very young children (or hopes for future young children) may want to commit that formula to memory. It will serve you better than high school algebra. I promise.

At some point I do still want to find the "perfect" sugar cookie recipe but, in my life as the mother of multiple children, I routinely forget to make the dough on time. Most sugar cookie recipes call for some "sit in the fridge" time and I just can't seem to remember that. So, in the meantime, we cheat. You know those pre-made packages of sugar cookie dough in your refrigerated section at the local grocery store? Yup. We roll those bad boys out and go to town. It gets the job done and I have one less thing to stress about.

The kids help in the rolling and cutting process but we're so involved with the extra flour and whatnot that I never get a picture. I'm not going to lie, they each cut out about three and then get bored and wonder off. Jason and I mix up a batch of glaze and divide it out for five colors. Here's what we usually start with:

My boys take this decorating business serious, folks. Here's Sam, circa 2007.

Jake: same year, same determination.

Zander, 2008. (I can't believe he's only 2 here; he's twice the size that Izzy is now!)

I don't know where they get all that focus and intensity from...

I don't have any great pictures of it, but we have tons of sprinkles, jimmies, and non pareils too. We just pass out the cookies and get to work. You might have noticed that our family uses paintbrushes for the decorating. I don't know if there is a better way, but this way is a lot of fun. Contrary to what the above pictures show, there is a lot of laughing, singing, and joking during this activity. We usually pop in some sort of Christmas cartoon or turn on the radio.

(Note for projects requiring sprinkles or glitter-type supplies: Use one of those disposable plastic table cloths to aid with clean up. All you have to do is gather it up and shake it outside. We started doing that last year after we bought our new table. I'm probably the last mother in the world to think of that, but just in case there's someone else out there I figured I would share.)

Here's your finished result:

Cute, huh? They are yummy too! These cookies keep very well stacked in airtight storage containers. You can throw some bread in with them to help them stay fresh. We just put a layer of wax paper between every layer of cookies. Everyone gets to eat one after our decorating fun. Then, just before bed, each child picks out a special cookie to leave on Santa's plate. (We always do our cookies on Christmas Eve.)

My only other sanity saving tip would be to make sure you start early enough for post-activity baths. Especially if you have a Zander.

Or a Sam.

What kind of cookies does your family leave Santa? Do you have any additional sanity-saving tips for baking/decorating cookies with kids? Please leave them!

I'm Tired of Turkey.

There. I said it.

For the past seven years we have been making our Thanksgiving meals in a German oven. German ovens are tiny, and by "tiny" I mean minuscule. I don't know the exact dimensions (and am just now shocked that it never occurred to us to measure it!) but I would not be surprised to hear that it was just a little over half the size of the typical American oven.

The German kitchen is something that Jason and I discussed frequently while we were there. We never quite understood them. It's very common for multiple generations to inhabit the family home. Sometimes there are two kitchens in these homes, but most of the time there's just the one. The typical German fridge is also very small, only a little bigger than your average-sized dorm fridge. How do they fit enough food in there to feed a household of five, six, seven, or more? The answer to that question is pretty simple, just very foreign to The American Way. They shop daily, as they need it.

"That's all fine, well, and good, Amanda," you say. "Maybe it's even mildly interesting. But what does that have to do with you being tired of turkey?"

Well, I'll tell you. Jason bought a 26 pound turkey. For the six of us. Just because he could.

So, yeah. I'm tired of turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've told you about the wildlife around our house, right? Well, you know, moving is expensive. So is turkey. And we have so many running around the place...it just seems like a natural thought process...

Meet Tom Turkey!

Tom Turkey goooooood...

Just kidding! The wild turkeys are still running around wild. Ours came frozen from the grocery store. But it was good! Jason is a turkey god. Despite the turkey incident which I have been forbidden to put on the blog. NOTHING happened. Move it along, folks. Nothing to see here!

P.S. We broke out the German wine tonight. I'm sure you can tell. Ha!

Thanksgiving Prep

Today has been filled with baking and planning and cleaning. I've been trying to get things done so we can just R-E-L-A-X all weekend long. Everything is on schedule and ready to go.

My favorite moment of the day? Making the apple pie at the island in our kitchen. I stood there, peeling and slicing apples, while my two youngest sons sat on the bar stools across from me. We talked about pie and apples and candy and turkey. (And cars and Star Wars and fish. What? They are 2- and 4-years-old; they have the attention span of a couple of gnats.) Every so often I would hand one of them an apple slice and they would munch on it while we talked. It's a simple thing, but those are the moments I hope they remember later on. The small and beautiful moments.

Tomorrow we may or may not change out of our pajamas. Some years we do, some years we don't. We start watching Jason's favorite movie, "A Christmas Story". We spend the day in the kitchen together. We eat. We play games with the kids. We take a family nap. We get up and eat again. It's low key. It's low maintenance. It's just like us.

Holiday Traditions, Looking Back

Well I think we can all agree, we have officially reached 2010's holiday season. With Turkey Day just one day and a wake-up away, it's time to drag out all the Christmas ornaments (if you haven't already!) and fire up the holiday music. And, of course, it is also time to dust off all those holiday memories.

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday. I loved driving the three hours it took to get to our family, playing with the cousins I didn't get to see near enough, and eating until we all burst. It was one of the most perfect days of the year. The laughter, the noise, the hustle and bustle, the love, and the food, and the music--it fell simply and perfectly, stitched together like a warm quilt.

I don't remember the starts of the day well, but I remember the drive. The sibilant sound of the tires sloshing through the November slush, the whir-whir-whir of the windshield wipers clearing the wet off the windows; I watched the scenery out the window, knowing that each mile marker brought me one moment closer to that envelopment of love that can only come from family. I watched the landmarks. Here's the bridge, we're close. There's the double-silo, we're closer. Finally, we would arrive and Thanksgiving would truly begin.

Running through the house with my cousins was bliss. We played board games, watched movies, and ran outside in the cold. They were the only constant friends I had in my childhood; our frequent moves brought other kids in and out of my life too quickly to form a strong and stable bond. My cousins and I had shared history, a common past. It probably meant far more to me than it did to them, but it was something so important to me that I could nearly touch it. Our relationships had a certain solidity that my regular friendships lacked. A substantialness that can only build with time and familiarity.

Every time we would run through the kitchen, there was something else to steal and taste: a bit of ham, some turkey (although I didn't like it then), pies and cookies, casseroles, stuffing, and rolls. The combined smells of the food were intoxicating. Picking out the individual scents was next to impossible but oh-so-fun to try.

I don't remember who made what--I did not spend near as much time in the kitchen as I did playing with my cousins--but I have retained snapshots and snippets of those moments in the kitchen. One aunt pulling things out of the oven and finding space on the counters, laughing and talking the whole time. Another aunt being teased for her yearly contributions: pies from the local supermarket. And Grandma. Of course Grandma would be in the kitchen, making the turkey and rolling out her homemade noodles.

Grandma's turkey and noodles was the only thing I would eat back then. It doesn't surprise me that I would remember that.

When I remember these things I can't help but wonder what my own children will remember about our Thanksgivings. It's still my favorite holiday--and I daresay the boys seem to love it as well--but we have very different traditions from the Thanksgivings of my youth. I hope that we've managed to weave together our own warm blanket of memories for them, even if the threads are made of very different materials.

Are your Thanksgiving traditions the same that you had growing up? Are you able to go home to visit or do you live too far to travel? And how about it? Are you ready for some turkey?!

In Honor of Those Who Have Served

To all those who have served, thank you. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart. I know that sometimes it seems that the citizens of this country have forgotten you. I know that they sometimes take for granted all that you have done and still do, all that you missed and still miss, all that your families have endured and endure still; but please remember that there are some who do know. We love and support you. We lift you up in our prayers and in our hearts. We appreciate you and everything you do. Every. Little. Thing.

Post-Halloween Costume Parade

Feeling a little blue over the end of Halloween? Feel like you didn't get enough chances to display your adorable offspring in all their costumed glory? Well, here's your chance!

Stacy of Kids Stuff World is holding an "after party" of sorts over at her place. Head on over with your wonderful Halloween pictures and join in the fun. C'mon ladies! I know you have them. Show off those cute kids!

P.S. Can someone tell me how to make that picture into a link? I guess I don't know how!

Halloween 2010!

A little late in the day, but here are our pictures from Halloween night! A few notes on the costume choices:

This was the first year that we've really gone the "scary" route with Sam. He decided to be the Grim Reaper. However, he thought that the scythe was "too much" to carry so he left it in the van. The little kids did mostly okay seeing him in the costume. Mostly.

This year is the first in five years that Jake's been anything other than a Redskins player. He'd have worn it again, I'm sure--if he hadn't outgrown the costume. He is a big time Star Wars fan but he hated this costume. It wasn't put together well. I think I may be able to talk him into a homemade costume next year. Yay!

Zander chose a knight because he is IN LOVE with dragons. It was perfect for him and he was absolutely adorable.

Izzy was a cow. BECAUSE! Every. Stinking. Time. We pass a cow he screams, "MOOOOO! It's a MOOOOO!" (Unless he's saying it's a horse. But, you know.) So we thought it would be cute. And it was! But you know what? He said "moo" maybe one time the whole night. Eh. Whatcha gonna do, right?

Last year I took one picture of the group and it came out perfect. This year I took about 20 (in two different locations, no less!) and this is the best I got:

We went to a local festival-type thing at a State Park down the road earlier in the day. There was face painting and Zander agreed to sit for the lady to get a horse on his face. He picked out the horse and at the time I thought that was a strange choice for him. Horse? Really? But then we put his costume on and it suddenly just worked! The boy is clearly a genius.

Last shot, I promise! Here's Izzy doing his first real trick-or-treat. He did a couple houses last year but spent most of the time in his stroller. This year we didn't even bring the stroller. (Sob!) He was so cute. He would yell out, "Cheet!" at every stop, grab his candy, and then run away with a trailing "Dank you!" Everybody loved him; it was great.

So that was our first real American Halloween since 2002! It was a lot of fun. No worries about parking or super-crowded streets. (It's not as bad as it used to be, but Halloween at Ramstein and Vogelweh was not a lot of fun for parents before they put up all those new townhomes. Man oh man!)

I hope everyone else had a great and safe Halloween! And can y'all believe that it is November?! Thanksgiving, here we come!