Good Intensions

My plans for a day revolving around Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement went out the door last night as Camryn burned upwith fever. I got myself to the doctor this morning knowing I would need to get myself better if I was going to take care of sick kids all week. Got some meds. (Bronchitis. Lovely.) Then spent most of the day holding a puny Camryn as she dozed on and off. I caved and gave her Motrin at some point and she started to come around and allow me to put her down for a bit. At that time I broke out my laptop and you-tubed MLK’s  "I Have A Dream" speech.



Ben and Kate have been studying Martin Luther King Jr in school. But I really wanted them to hear the entire speech, read the speech and then have a chance to talk about it and what it all meant. Here’s a little glimpse of what went down in the kitchen today:






Katie “MLK was shot in another country because they didn’t like what he said”


Ben “No, Katie it was our country. But not in our state.”


Kate: “A white man shot him, right mama?”


Me “Yes, that’s right”


Ben “Because the white man didn’t want the laws to change?”


Me “Yeah, pretty much. There were a lot of people who didn’t want things to change. They were happy with the way things were and didn’t believe in the things that MLK believed.”


Ben “Were white people stupid back then?” (He was completely serious.)


Me (trying not to laugh) “Some might have been considered stupid but most were ignorant, not knowing any different, others were scared and some just didn’t agree with what he was trying to do.”


Ben “I’m glad he changed things.”


Me “Me too Ben, he was a very important person in the making of our country”


Katie “I have a dream. A dream where I live in a land of candy”




And that was the end of our conversation.

Snow Day Advice

You know those days in the south when it snows more than 2 inches and everything shuts down? Ever wonder what to do on those days? (Because you know they will turn into DAYS!)

 

Here's what you do. You get out and enjoy it. Bundle everyone up, yourself included, and submerge the family in snow. Sledding, snowboarding, snow fort building, snow man construction. Whatever you can think of to do in the snow, do it. We even played a few games of snow soccer. Fun for the entire family. Plus it's great exercise and tires everyone out. Especially moms.

So once you are over the thrill of snow. And everyone is cold and hopped up on hot chocolate and marshmallows. Here's what you do next: break out the paints. Every kind of paint you own. Finger paint. Tempura. Water colors. Just go ahead and set aside a couple of hours of non stop painting.

 You and the kids will have hours of fun. And hours of clean up as you wipe everything from fingers to window sills and the dogs tail that the two year old insisted should be 'puple'.  Bask in your creativity, or in my case my kids creativity since I have none. Make big messes and take your time cleaning up, but whatever you do, do NOT make these:

These were created by the devil himself. Don't try to tell me otherwise. Ignore the fact they are so easy it took you five minutes to whip them up. Ignore the fact they taste like heaven melting in your mouth. Don't kid yourself that you will just make one more batch to bring to the neighbors. You can't resist these. They have powers beyond your imagination. Think kryptonite. Put down the butter, brown sugar, pecans and almonds and step away. Turn around and run. Run far, far away. Far enough away to burn the zillion calories you just inhaled.

Do yourself a favor. Stick with painting. Just trust me on this one.

2011

School started back yesterday. Blah. The kids were ready and even excited to get back to their daily grind, their friends and teachers. But me? Not so much. I hate school. Well, that's a little harsh. I hate that my kids have to go to school. I hate how it controls our lives and interrupts our days. I just want to be home.  In our pjs. Playing boardgames and doing crafts all day. Is that so wrong?

Of course if they never went to school then Camryn may never stop saying "Watch Me Out!" which means "look out, I'm coming through here." She might actually start saying things like "I don't like that" instead of "Me likes this, no." Who knows she may never pronounce her Ks and always call her big sister 'Tatie'.

And Will may always think that nutcrackers are called cracker jackers. 

 

Ben would still be calling his humidifier a camp fire.

And Kate would still be sleeping in 'jamanas'.

So I guess school isn't all that bad. I just miss them when they are gone. And miss our lazy days of being together and hanging out as a family. I guess that's why parents look forward to summer even more than kids do. Sigh. Just a few more months ...



Making Memories

See this motley crew? This is my kids and ALL their cousins. Nine kids under nine. My four, Kim + Brian's three, and Chris + Kristine's two. How wonderful that we got to spend the Christmas season with them all together?! Kim and Brian live in Maine, so for them to be here was pretty darn special. It was a week our kids will never forget.

 We made cookies with Ma.

 Will and Zoe were in charge of the flour station. They took their flour measuring job very seriously ... well as serious as four year olds take things anyway.

I had the brilliant idea of making pretzel log cabins instead of gingerbread houses this year. Isn't that beyond creative? In the past the adults have done all the
'building' and the kids just got to decorate. Why not let the kids build? My kids LOVE to build. Log cabins made of pretzel sticks and frosting. Brilliant. 

Except it wasn't. Guess who did all the building? The adults. Pretzel log cabins are not as easy as one (by one I mean me) would think. Especially when you run out of royal icing mix. And get this: round pretzels roll. I know. It was news to me too. And quite frustrating to us all as we tried to build log cabins.

Yup, I'm full of great ideas.

 But we made the most of it. And the kids still enjoyed decorating the houses.

 And the adults had fun testing their building skills. And patience. I always say that a day you aren't challenged is a wasted day.

Ok, so I've never said that. But it's not a bad thought. I would also say that a day without challenges sure would be relaxing and enjoyable. But that's not life in our neck of the woods so let's just go with the first.

Ok.

Moving on.

(Maybe I should have titled this post: Random Ramblings)

 I won't mention any names but BRIAN cheated and used cardboard to reinforce the house he, Kate and Zoe worked on. Leave it to Brian to erase our most valuable lesson we try to impress upon our kids ... 'there is no shame in failure as long as you learn from your mistakes'. Trust me, I live this everyday. For example, next year we will be decorating gingerbread houses. (Thanks for keeping it real Bri.)

Then they all snuggled up on Christmas Eve to listen to Kim read The Polar Express. It was a tear jerker.

Well maybe it was just Kim and I that got a little emotional seeing all our babies up there on the most exciting night of the year. It was so sweet. And loving.

And quiet.

 And then, the day after Christmas we got snow! Lots of snow!! For us at least. It hasn't snowed in Charlotte on Christmas (or the day after) since 1947. Way cool.

 It was a week full of laughter, love, sharing and fun. There were also some tears and arguments and not so great moments, but overall it was wonderful.

Ben summed it up when he said "This is the best Christmas ever! But not because of the presents we got. I think it's because Nolan and Zoe (and Maya) are here."

You nailed it buddy. After all, isn't that what it's all about? Love and family.

We miss them all already.  

Let's Get the Party Started!

It pretended to snow today. We saw white flakes falling from the sky for about 3 minutes. Then it turned to sleet, then to rain. Bummer. We were very excited there at first.

 The kids ran to the front door to watch. I wish we would have gotten buried in the cold white stuff ... it would have been a perfect start to Christmas vacation. But we spent the day in our PJ's, and that's a close second to building a snowman.

 Yesterday was the last day of school for two weeks. YAHOO! I love when my kids don't have school, our days are so much more relaxed and enjoyable. Ben went to his buddy Harrison's house to play after school but the rest of us, Ma included, headed over to the Ballantyne Resort to check out the gingerbread house contest.

 It was quite impressive! And we got all sort of great ideas for our gingerbread houses. Can't wait to start building!

 Yum!

 Camryn loved all the candy houses. She was the perfect height to look in the windows and see all the hidden treasures inside.

 Thursday was spent partying with Katie's and Will's classes. Above the kids in Katie's class are watching their teacher open her Christmas present from them. Mrs. Cook is pregnant with her first child (a boy due in January) so the kids made an Advice Book for her. It was adorable. And yes, Katie is licking icing off her fork. She's a little sugar crazy. I have no idea where that trait might have come from.

 Before celebrating with first graders I got to party down with Will's preschool class. Will is always telling me that Ms. Cecily's lap is big enough for everyone in the class to sit on. Here they are. The size of her lap has nothing to do with her ability to hold all those kids at once ~ it's her heart that makes it possible. She is fantastic. And look at all those smiles, the kids simply love her and she loves them right back. Will is having such a great year in preschool. Not only is he having an absolute blast, he is also learning so much. I am blown away by his knowledge of numbers and  his understanding of addition and subtraction. He is also on the verge of reading. It's amazing! He's WAY ahead of Ben and Katie at four.

Cecily calls Will "The Architect" ... can't imagine where that trait came from either, but he certainly loves to build. This is his ski jump he built at home. At school he tends to build with more creative things, like plastic cups. He's got his work cut out for him over the next couple of days though. We're having a gingerbread house building contest ourselves and Will is on my team. Let the games begin!

Cook's Cooks Cook

I spent the morning with Mrs. Cook's class last week. Cooking with my favorite first grader was loads of fun. The fact they were preparing food for the needy made it even better. Of all things I love about Latin, their commitment to public service is tops. "Everyone has something to give" is their motto. I love that. It doesn't say "we" have something to give because "we" have and "they" don't. It says EVERYONE, no matter what it is, EVERYONE has something to give. Time, talent, advice, a hug, a smile. It doesn't have to be a 'thing' per se. Just share what you have even if you don't have excess. I love that.

And I also love this: a picture of my girl with her friends. She is happiest when she's surrounded by her peeps. There are lots of ways to describe Katie, I have my own list, but the word I here most from other people is 'fun'. Katie is fun, that is true. She loves to laugh and to make others laugh. She is friends with everybody and if you ask the kids who their best friend is, most kids say Katie. Boys and girls alike. She loves everybody and everybody loves her.

As much as she loves to be with her friends. She was the only child who returned to the kitchen after we were done cooking to give me a kiss before heading out for recess. All the other moms were amazed ~ and jealous ~ that she came back just for that. But that's my girl, most would say fun to describe her, but I think she's just the sweetest, loving six year old ever.

This is just a picture I love. Little hands making meatballs for the needy. They had a blast and were so proud of themselves. They made enough baked ziti to feed 38 families! That's something to brag about. Way to go first graders!

Ben's Big Confession

Ben had a big night last Friday night. He got to go to church and confess all his sins. Woo-Hoo, it was a wild and crazy fun. All kidding aside it was a pretty big deal. As a second grader at St.Matthew Catholic Church, Ben received the sacrament of reconciliation for the first time. (For all us lay people that's just a fancy way of saying he went to confession for the first time.)

Side Note: Can you guess what book we read all this time in this house from the statement above? If you have little girls you know it by heart.

I haven't always been impressed with the Faith Formation classes at St. Matthew but they really did a great job with First Reconciliation for the second graders. They made it fun and easy and light. The kids, 300 of them on Friday night... the other half was there on Thursday. Yes, you read that right. 600 Second Graders. Alone. It's a BIG parish. It's the only thing I don't like about going to church there. But that's neither here nor there.) Anyway, the kids got up on the alter and sang a very nice song that they had to sign along with as they sang. It was totally cute.

After the song they waited in the pews with us as ushers came and escorted them to one of the 13 priests waiting around the sanctuary. We could see Ben the entire time. He wasn't nervous at all. In fact he might have been a little too comfortable with the whole thing. He told me he could only think of two things he needed to be forgiven for.

TWO?? In your entire 8 years of life there are only TWO things you need to be forgiven for or need to work on?

Next time I will send him with a list.

The kids have been preparing for this night since September. They were told to talk to the Priests about things they want to improve on in their lives (eg. listening mom, sharing with siblings, helping others, thinking of others before themselves ...) and anything they feel truly sorry for doing and would like forgiveness for.

Ben came up with two. He only shared one of them with me ~ hitting Will so hard he cried.

I wonder what the other one was.

After the ceremony was over we went out for a cupcake at Dean & Deluca to celebrate. It really was a fun night. And we are very proud of Ben. He's a pretty fantastic kid.