Christmas and Halloween in May

Liam just finished crying himself to sleep...poor guy.  Tonight is a good night to list what I'm thankful for, so here goes:

1. The small, pink flower petals that keep falling off the trees and whirling all around when the wind blows.  Everyone's yard is a carpet of pink petals and the sidewalks are lined with piles of little pink confetti.  The girls like to pick up handfuls of petals, toss them in the air, and watch them fly around and land in their hair.  They squeal with delight each and every time. It's kind of magical to see pink petals falling all around like snow.  Love it!

2. The way Liam wrapped his little arm around my neck when I held him and sang bedtime songs tonight.

3. The Free Library.  I love, love, love getting books from the library.  We walked to the local Philly branch after Lilly got off the bus today.  We originally went to get a movie for our "movie night," but I ended up with a bag-load of books as well.  Walking into the children's section is like an addiction for me.  I see one book, then another, and then another and I just can't resist putting it in my bag and taking it home for three weeks.  I'm so grateful that it's a free service (even though I often pay my dues in the form of late fees...although I'm doing much better this year!!)  I can't wait for the day when I can afford to stock my own home library full of wonderful children's literature.  I'm so thankful for the talented writers and illustrators who share their talent and enrich my family's life with wonderful stories and beautiful art.

4. Preschool.  There's nothing like herding together four 3-4 year olds for a fun topic about days of the week, months of the year, and the number 2.  It was a whirlwind this morning, but super fun to watch them learn and explore!

5. My wonderful neighbors.  Many of them know that Bobby hasn't been around much.  I was chatting with one of the other moms this afternoon and as we were leaving to go back into our houses she said, "By the way, you are my super hero."  When I asked her why she said that I always seem so calm and patient with my kids even though Bobby is gone a lot.  It was very nice of her to say, but I hardly feel like a super hero.  My house is basically trashed with dishes, toys, laundry, and a dirty bathroom.  We've been having movie nights almost every week (even on school nights!!) and the kids have had a lot of pizza, chicken nuggets, pancakes, mac 'n cheese and hot dogs for dinner the past couple of weeks.  We're sort of on survival mode, but we're surviving pretty well.  In fact, if it weren't for the kids to keep my company and give me something to focus on, then I know I would be much lonelier and a lot worse off.  Bobby's schedule definitely stinks, but I know plenty of people whose husbands have to be a lot farther away for a much longer amount of time.  I feel pretty lucky to have him only a couple hours away, to see him (either here or there) every weekend, to have awesome friends and neighbors, and also to have supportive extended family close by.  I told my neighbor that if I can find joy in this part of our journey, then I'll be that much more capable of finding joy at other points in our journey as well.

6. Eyelashes.  I'm sitting here at my [cluttered] desk and in front of me on the wall is a bulletin board tacked with a few of Lillian's works of art that she made for me.  As I've been staring at them, I noticed that Lillian has given everyone in the drawings amazingly long eyelashes!  Look closely and you'll see purple eyelashes on the butterfly, pink eyelashes on the blonde girl [Lillian] at the bottom, and neon orange lashes on the girls on the purple card [which Lillian made for me during 'play time' at school today...my second card in two days, I feel so loved!]  I love Lillian's artistic style and attention to detail...everyone's eyes are blue, too!

7. Daddy's stuffed ducky.  A long time ago I gave Bobby a stuffed animal duck.  I can't even remember when or why I gave it to him...I'm sure he remembers.  Anyway, he took it with him on his two-year mission to Riverside, California and he had it with him every day.  It's had a lot of lovin' wear and tear over the years and now it's starting to lose some of its stuffing and it's missing an eyeball.  Irregardless, Sydney has taken a special liking to it.  She carries it around with her and cuddles with it at night.  Daddy must've recently talked to Sydney about his duck, because almost every day this week she has told me, "When I miss Daddy I can cuddle with his ducky because he had it with him every day on his mission."  The way she says it in her sweet, tender little voice is so cute.  I'm glad Bobby held onto it for so long.

8. I was about to publish the post when I read the title and realized I never explained why it was Christmas and Halloween in May!!  Lillian picked Barbie's Christmas Carol for our movie night selection, then she chose a Diego book about bats saving a Halloween party.  We had a full range of seasons and holidays today.  Thankfully, both the movie and the book are from the library and will have to be returned soon (another perk about the library). ;-)

Today I'm thankful for...

1. Sleepy "I love you's".  The kiddies and I had a late night last night.  I tried to get them to bed early tonight, and all three of them fell asleep almost instantly.  After I finished singing the bedtime songs I laid Liam in his crib and he was totally zonked out.  He didn't even roll over when I put him down.  Then I went to kiss the girls good night and say, "I love you."  On most nights they are still wide awake and they ask me several times what we're going to do the next day or they tell me all the things they want to do and who they want to play with, then they ask if I can lay in bed with them.  Not tonight.  Both of them were already half asleep and they didn't even open their eyes when I kissed them.  What was so tender was that each of them responded with, "I love you too," in a half-awake, half-asleep mumble whisper.  It made Mommy's heart melt. :)

2. The law of gravity.  Liam has discovered that if he drops something it will hit the ground.  He likes to take objects (spoons, cups, stuffed animals, ba-boos, food, anything really) and drop them over the side of the high chair, crib, couch-- any elevated surface-- and watch it fall.  Then he will peek over the edge, point to said dropped item, raise his eyebrows and open his eyes big and wide and say, "Uh-ohhh!" until someone picks it up and gives it back to him so he can do it all over again.  It's fun to do just to hear him say "uh-ohhh" over and over.

3. Flat Stanley.  Lillian read about Flat Stanley in her kindergarten class.  She made her own Flat Stanley and shipped him off across the country to her Great Grandma.  He was only gone a week, but every day she exclaimed how much she missed Flat Stanley and she couldn't wait for him to come back.  She wanted to make a "welcome home" banner for when he returned.  ;)  We didn't actually make the banner, but he had a warm welcoming when he arrived home safe and sound.  Great Gma showed Flat Stanley a great time around town, at her work, and he even got to play with Great Gpa and some cousins.  She sent pictures of his adventures and got Lillian a cool sticker.  We're so thankful that Great Gma took the time to host Flat Stanley!

4. My memorabilia pack rat tendencies.  I used to save every birthday card I ever got.  I would even deflate the mylar birthday balloon from my mom each year to save in my "memory box."  I'm not quite that bad anymore, but I still save meaningful notes and cards from the people I love.  No, they are not in a cute scrapbook or other crafty form of presentation.  Rather, they are shoved in a manila envelope and stacked in a closet.  Sydney found one of the envelopes today and wanted to see what was inside.  She had trouble opening the clasp, and by the time I was able to help her open it she had forgotten about it, but I decided to peek inside anyway.  I spent the next few minutes totally engulfed in reading cards and notes from past birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's Days, and just random notes of love and support.  Most of them were from Bobby.  It was a nice reminder to read the tender things he had written over the past few years, and to see how our relationship has developed.  He often jokes that he doesn't know how to be romantic anymore because he's always too stressed and sleep deprived.  We definitely aren't in the "honeymoon" stage of our marriage anymore (it'll be 8 years in a few weeks!!), and having kids often gets in the way of romantic moments, but he's still my best friend and a great guy and I'm glad that I have him to go through life with.  And if he ever really forgets how to be romantic, I can always whip out my memory box full of old cards to remind him of all the mushy romantic things he used to say. ;)

5. Sydney's crown.  It says "I am a child of God."  She got it in her Sunbeams class at church but she didn't have time to color it, so she finished coloring it at home.  I stapled it together and she wore it proudly all morning!

6. Gma and Gpa's surprise visit!  The girls put on a pop star show for them, Liam showed off his walking moves, and we all got to send Lillian off at the bus stop.  It was a fun morning with them!

7. Cupcakes with Auntie Audrey!  Yes, she and Lillian have red dots on their foreheads.  No, they are not sniper marks.  They are bindis...Lillian wanted to be a princess from India.

 

8. Silly faces.  Uncle Nathan and Aunt Kate had our family for Secret Santa this year.  They got us this cool game called About Face.  There are different cards of pictures of household items, natural things and other random stuff for hair, eyes, nose and mouth.  Lilly and I had a lot of fun putting them together to make some goofy faces! 

"Christmas Face"

"Shell Face"

9. The face Liam makes when you tell him, "Say cheese!"

Today I'm thankful for...

1. This blog.  I just spent the last hour (I should be getting ready for bed) reading old posts in the blog's archive.  I forgot how far back this goes...all the way to January 2008...that's FIVE years!!  Oh my, how things have changed and evolved since then, and yet some things have stayed the same.  What a wonderful way to archive some of our experiences over the past five years.  It certainly took me on a trip down memory lane and helped me recall some things I would have completely forgotten about had I not written about it.  It reminds me of all the counsel I hear to "keep a record" or a journal of personal experiences and reflections.  It has truly helped me see how far I've progressed through life, what I've accomplished, what I've learned, and how much I've grown.

2. Lemon wedges.  I bought a bag of lemons a while back for some special event (I can't even remember for what) with the intent of putting round lemon slices in a pitcher of water...I was trying to be fancy, I guess.  I totally forgot about them until Sydney saw them yesterday.  She said she wanted one.  I told her she didn't want to eat it because it would be too sour, but she could have one in her cup of water.  That seemed good enough for her, so I cut a lemon wedge and stuck in on the side of her plastic cup.  Lillian saw this and [naturally] wanted one, too.  When I served it up to her she exclaimed with delight, "It's like the grown-ups' water at the restaurant!"  Yes, indeed it is!  I must be fancy after all!

3. Bobby's empathy.  He's on call tonight.  For the next few months he's covering two hospitals that don't normally get a lot of action at night...huge blessing because that means he can catch up on some sleep (and I get to see him more)!  Tonight we were cleaning the kitchen together and talking like a normal married couple about nothing (this is rare for us) when his pager went off.  Dang it!  Some poor lady was waiting in the ER with a horrible wrist fracture.  Instead of complaining about it, which I was half expecting, Bobby expressed concern for her and how uncomfortable she must be feeling.  I was touched by this.  Yes, it stinks that he has to go out and take care of it, but that's his job.  If I were the one waiting in the ER with broken wrist I would want my doctor to have empathy for me, too.  I'm grateful that this is the kind of work Bobby can do and that he has a good attitude about it.

4. Uncle Pauly.  Today is his birthday so the kids and I shot a quick phone video singing the most beautiful rendition of  Happy Birthday.  He was so nice to reply with "Thank you beautiful ladies" [and gentleman...Liam was in the video, too, but I think he was a bit overshadowed by all the female faces]. We love Uncle Pauly!

5. Kid Writing.  This is the writing curriculum in Lillian's kindergarten classroom.  Every kid has their own book that they draw a picture on one side of the page and on the other they write a sentence about it.  They can write about whatever the heck they want; no writing prompt....what freedom!!  After the kids are done sounding out the words and chewing on their pencil erasers while their little brains try to figure out the ever-so-confusing phonetic system of the English language, then it's time for "Grown-up Writing."  This is when the adult gets to write the child's sentence (with "kindergarten handwriting," mind you) underneath the kid's sentence so they can compare the two...to see what they got right and what they can improve for next time.  The teacher organizes the kids in groups of 4, so she asks for parent volunteers to come in and help.  Of course I signed myself up as soon as I could.  I love any chance to spy on Lillian in class and see what she's up to. ;-)  I go in a couple times a month to help and today was one of them.  Lillian got to be in my group, which was fun.  It's amazing to see her develop so quickly with her writing (and reading, too)!  I was only there for half an hour, but I got a precious little glimpse into what Lillian's afternoons are like.  And some of the kids are starting to refer to me as "Lillian's mom." :)

6. Liam's little hands.  Normally they are pulling at someone's hair, grabbing at something toxic or otherwise dangerous, shoved in his mouth, or wrapped around a choking hazard (if said item isn't already in his mouth)....gee, I sound like a great mom, huh?  Well, tonight Liam put his little hands on either side of my face while I was holding him and singing a bedtime song.  It was so tender.  My mom said he's done that to her, too.

"We are a happy fam-uh-lee!"

Kindergarten, here we come!

The big moment has come- I have a kid in kindergarten!

I remember riding the school bus for the first time with my mom during kindergarten orientation twenty-four years ago.  The bus seemed big and dark and I felt a little wary about the whole process at first.  Having my mom there helped me feel so much better.

Yesterday I got to sit in my mom's shoes and I rode the bus to school with Lillian for the first time!  She was an excited and brave little girl.  She held my hand and I held hers- I don't know who was more nervous.  :)

Waiting at the bus stop

Still waiting for the bus

On the bus!

We walked into the elementary school for the first time together, hand-in-hand.  It's a beautiful school and her kindergarten class looks awesome.  There were number charts, growth charts, job charts, sign-language posters, blocks, art supplies, books upon books, toys, alphabets, numbers, an alphabet rug (no kindergarten class is complete without one, I think), little desks with little chairs, cubbies for backpacks and school supplies, and a kindergartener-sized bathroom.  Her teacher seems really nice and is highly recommended by one of my neighbors whose four daughters all had Lillian's teacher in kindergarten.  When it was time to leave to get back on the bus to go home Lillian said she wished she could stay in her classroom longer!

First story time on the rug.  When the teacher told the kids that they were getting caterpillars  next week that would turn into Monarch butterflies, Lillian's hand shot up and she said, "Monarch butterflies fly to Mexico!"  She either learned that in preschool last year or from watching Diego- sadly, I think it's the latter.  At least she's paying attention. :)

Today was the BIG day.

Lillian toted her loaded backpack to the bus stop and got on the bus like a champ.  We signed "I love you" and blew kisses through the window.

My little trio waiting at the bus stop.

Here comes the bus down the street!!

Oh my goodness, she's on the bus going to kindergarten!!

Just as I was starting to feel a little forlorn about my little girl riding away from me on a big yellow bus, Sydney suddenly burst into tears and said, "I wanted Lillian to stay home!  I forgot to tell her something!!"  As I held her and wiped away her tears, she told me that she wanted to tell Lillian about going to the park.  I promised her that she could tell Lillian as soon as she got home.  Then we spent the afternoon at the grocery store getting Sydney's birthday cereal, dinner ingredients, and cake-making supplies.  I can't believe she'll be three on Monday!!

Helpful little shoppers

Syd kicks back with her ring pop- a bribe treat for being good in the grocery store

Lillian requested that I be waiting on the right side of the road on her way home so she could see me through the window and know when to get off the bus.  I didn't want to miss it, so we got to the bus stop early and waited 20 minutes for her arrival.  As soon as the bus rolled up I saw her smiling and waving through the window.  She bounded down the bus steps and gave me a big hug.  It was awesome!

She made it!

Lillian said she had a fun day and that she's excited about going back tomorrow.  I'm so happy that she had a good first day.  I'm grateful that I am able to be here to be part of these experiences in Lillian's life, and I'm so grateful to be living in this area with access to wonderful schools.  It's going to be a good year. :)